Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Qualitative Exploration of the Experience and Quality of Life of Patients, and their Family Carers, Admitted to a Specialist Eye Hospital with Microbial Keratitis

Background: Microbial keratitis is a vision-threatening condition requiring intensive treatment. Understanding patients’ and carers’ experience during and after hospitalisation can inform improvements in care and outcomes. This study explored the vision-related quality of life, and the experiences of patients with microbial keratitis and their family carers when admitted to a quaternary referral eye hospital in Australia Methods: The study employed mixed methods, including qualitative interviews and a survey in hospital and a telephone interview post-discharge. A convenience sample was recruited of 33 patients with microbial keratitis who presented to hospital between March and October 2017, and 10 of their family carers. Semi-structured interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, coded and analysed using thematic analysis. Patient participants completed the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire – 25 (NEIVFQ-25). Results: Qualitative analyses identified two main themes: Saving sight, with subthemes of costs of saving sight, and travel and transportation; Safe-guarding home and normal life with subthemes of family, work and pastimes. A group mean NEIVFQ-25 score of 74 was similar to other ophthalmic disease groups but pain scores were higher.Conclusion: Findings provide insights into the experiences and often unspoken concerns of microbial keratitis patients and their family carers, revealing the priority and the associated costs of saving sight, and the implications for family and lifestyles. These patients reported similarly reduced vision-related quality of life but greater pain compared to other ophthalmic groups. Findings point to ways to improve their experience and potentially reduce the high rates of unplanned representations of this patient group.
A Case–control Analysis of Exposure to Traffic and Acute Myocardial Infarction Materials and Methods a Case–control Analysis of Exposure to Traffic and Acute Myocardial Infarction

The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. A case-control analysis of exposure to traffic and acute myocardial infarction. Cohort studies in the United States and Europe have shown associations between long-term exposure to particulate air pollution and increased mortality, particularly for cardiopul-monary and ischemic heart disease–related deaths (Dockery et al. 1993; Hoek et al. 2002; Pope et al. 2002, 2004). Several of these cohort studies were limited, however, by the number of deaths from a particular cause, limiting their ability to identify particular diseases at higher risk from exposure to air pollution. Case–control studies, in contrast, allow the accumulation of a large number of cases of a specific disease. Moreover, the coding of specific causes of death on death certificates has been shown to have relatively low specificity, (Coady et al. 2001; Pope et al. 2004), further limiting the interpretation of cohort studies that have examined the association between air pollution and specific causes of death. Furthermore, relatively few studies have evaluated the effects of long-term exposure on car-diovascular end points other than mortality, such as acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The evidence from the few case–control studies evaluating long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and myocardial infarction has been inconclusive (Grazuleviciene et al. 2004; Rosenlund et al. 2006). Most cohort studies to date that assessed the association between air pollution and risk of disease or mortality have also had limited ability to account for geographic variation in exposure within cities (e.g., Dockery et al. 1993; Pope et al. 2002). Recent studies have suggested that this variation is quite important in assessing the effects of long-term exposure to air pollution. Epidemiologic studies that have accounted for intraurban variability in exposure due to local sources, such as traffic , have generally found larger effect estimates than studies that relied on between-city comparisons (Hoek et al. 2002; Jerrett et al. 2005). Although there is relatively little spatial variation in particulate matter < 2.5 μm aerodynamic diameter (PM 2.5) concentrations within an urban area (Burton et al. 1996), finer spatial variability has been shown for components of PM 2.5 emitted primarily by motor vehicles (Lena et al. 2002). Such findings indicate that the health effects of traffic pollutants can be partially separated from those of background pollution levels by focusing on the intraurban spatial variability in components of PM 2.5. Moreover, a …
Macroinvertebrate Habitat Availability and Utilization on the Eno River

2008 ii ABSTRACT Increasing competition between offstream and instream water uses emphasizes the need for accurate and equitable river management decisions. Minimum instream flow requirements necessary to sustain aquatic diversity can best be determined through habitat classification and modeling. Although previous studies focused on fish communities, the flow needs and responses of other organisms to inevitable flow disturbances vary greatly depending on the trophic level and mobility of the species considered. This research attempts to quantify and describe the available habitats and the suitability of those habitats for macroinvertebrates in the Eno River, as well as highlight management strategies consistent with invertebrate preferences. Through field sampling two sets of data were collected: macroinvertebrate counts and measurements of the physical habitat parameters of depth, velocity, and substrate. The habitat parameters were subset into utilization and availability data. Utilization data described parameters where macroinvertebrates were collected and availability data described all parameters whether macroinvertebrates were collected or not. Results showed that the habitat used by macroinvertebrates was the same as the available habitat meaning, in theory, that the macroinvertebrates can choose their habitat because it is the most suitable for them not because it is the only habitat available. Suitability indices for several macroinvertebrates revealed that low and mid depths and low and mid-high velocities were the most common optimal habitat types. Substrate suitabilities were greatly varied although many species favored aquatic vegetation, sand-gravel, and cobble-boulder combinations. The results of this study will be an important element in the formulation of instream flow management plans in the state of North Carolina. Additionally, the suitability curves could be used by professionals interested in stream restoration, water quality, and aquatic resource management to help them preserve macroinvertebrate diversity and in the process the health and functionality of aquatic ecosystems.
Back schools for the treatment of chronic low back pain: possibility of benefit but no convincing evidence after 47 years of research—systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Back schools are interventions that comprise exercise and education components. We aimed to systematically review the randomized controlled trial evidence on back schools for the treatment of chronic low back pain. By searching MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central as well as bibliographies, we identified 31 studies for inclusion in our systematic review and 5 of these for inclusion in meta-analyses. Meta-analyses for pain scores and functional outcomes revealed statistical superiority of back schools vs no intervention for some comparisons but not others. No meta-analysis was feasible for the comparison of back schools vs other active treatments. Adverse events were poorly reported so that no reliable conclusions regarding the safety of back schools can be drawn, although some limited reassurance in this regard may be derived from the fact that few adverse events and no serious adverse events were reported in the back school groups in the studies that did report on safety. Overall, the evidence base for the use of back schools to treat chronic low back pain is weak; in nearly a half-century since back schools were first trialled, no unequivocal evidence of benefit has emerged.
La estructura policéntrica de los mercados laborales locales de la Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México

Commuting data at a district level and an algorithm designed to delineate self–contained areas show that Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) was organized in 2007 in twelve local labour market areas. Although six exployment subcenters were identified, the MCMA is still clearly dominated by its Central Business District (CBD), being located the remaining five subcenters close to the CBD. Assessment of this spatial structure is not a positive one: diminishing co–location, decrease in speed and increase in commuting time and distance. Nevertheless, the rising percentage of intra–district commuting is a positive sign, even if this trend is not uniform throughout the metropolitan area.
Effect of Water Salinity on Survival and Growth of Landscape Trees in Saudi Arabia

A 20-week-long greenhouse experiment was carried out to determine the effect of water salinity on the survival and growth of landscape trees and soil properties. The survival period of trees decreased significantly with an increase in soil salinity resulting from irrigation water salinity. The survival period of Acacia nilotica and Prosopis juliflora was significantly more than Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Parkinsonia aculeate under different water salinity levels and soil types. The total biomass decreased significantly with an increase in soil salinity. Soil salinity and sodicity increased significantly with increasing irrigation water salinity and sodicity. P. juliflora tolerated soil salinity (ECe) up to 39.5 dS m−1 and A. nilotica up to 44.9 (ECe) when irrigated with water salinity of 12.80 dS m−1; P. aculeate up to 29.26 (ECe) when irrigated with water salinity of 6.45 dS m−1; and E. camaldulensisup to 34.3 (ECe) when irrigated with water salinity of 6.45 dS m−1. Tree survival and proper establishment is possible provided management practices such as leaching requirement (at least 15%), proper selection of trees, right irrigation water salinity, and proper planting methods are followed. The salt accumulation was significantly more in light than in heavy soil. A strong correlation (r2) was observed between soil salinity and plant biomass which indicated a significant decrease in biomass with an increasing soil salinity resulting from saline irrigation. The experiment proved the sequence in salt tolerance for different landscape trees as P. juliflora and A. nilotica > P. aculeate > E. camalduensis. The research findings suggest that A. nilotica and P. juliflora should be cultivated as landscape trees for controlling desertification, for establishing shelterbelts around oil refineries, and in sand stabilization projects under arid environmental conditions.
PetCaretaker: Design to Detect Sleeping Behavior of Serious Mentally Limited People

There has few product or research on designing for mental limited people. The caretaking company have no enough caretakers to keep an eye on the mentally limited clients, who are suffering circadian rhythm disorder. We report on the design of a system to detect the sleeping behavior of mentally limited people in the day time. The system utilizes inexpensive 2D camera trackers and a pet-appearance to get accompany with clients. The system multi-stage wakes up the clients when a long-time sleeping is detected. Our study explores taking EAR, head orientation as inputs, SVM as an approach to managing complex situations in real life.
Camera-based position analysis system for cyclists ordering in bicycle swarms

Cycling in swarms has gained popularity as a social and fitness activity. To offer enhanced digital services for swarm cycling, it is essential to obtain real-time information about the position of each cyclist within the swarm. While GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) signals such as GPS, Galileo or GLONASS may not provide precise positioning in such scenarios, this paper proposes a novel approach to address this challenge. By equipping each bicycle with a backward-facing camera and leveraging computer vision and deep learning methodologies, we can achieve the absolute ordering of bicyclists in real-time. This position paper outlines a comprehensive framework that utilizes object detection, monocular depth estimation, and object tracking models to process camera information and obtain accurate positioning within the swarm. The proposed solution also enables the detection of overtakes between cyclists, adding an additional layer of information to enhance the overall swarm cycling experience.
Current Trends in OMICS

Thalassemia is a hereditary blood disorder. It occurs due to two mutations in the HBB gene located on chromosome 11. This gene has 1606 base pairs and contains three exons. Moreover, HBB gene codes for β globin protein have been identified to posses 868 mutations, which comprise point mutation, insertion, deletion, and gene arrangement. In β thalassemia major, both alleles are mutated and no β chain is synthesized. In this study, three human families with thalassemia were selectedfrom different areas of Balochistan. For DNA extraction and estimation, 5 ml blood samples were extracted intravenously from the affected individuals, their normal siblings, and parents in 15ml falcon tubes containing 200μl EDTA. Primer sequences were designed on primer 3 for the mutational analysis of the HBB gene. Since the gene has a total of three exons and two introns, three primers, namely HBBX1, HBBX2 and HBBX3, were designed. These primers were used to amplify the HBB gene responsible for β thalassemia in all family samples. The amplified product was sequenced through an automated 3100 ABI Prism DNA sequence. The sequencing results were analyzed by the SaqMan software. This was done to determine if any genetic variable in the selected families showed mutations. In Family 1, 1 bp substitution mutation (c.9T>C) (p.his3his) and 1bp insertion (c.111T>G) (p.Ser10 val) in exon 1 of HBB gene were identified in thalassemia locus, while in in Family 2, 1 Corresponding Author: asmakhan@buitms.edu. pk Mutational Studies of Gene HBB in. 82 Current Trends in OMICS Volume 1 Issue 2, 2021 bp substitution mutation (c.9T>C) (p.His3His) in exon 1 of HBB gene was identified in thalassemia locus. No mutation was observed in Family 03 after sequencing.
The Multi Trip Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows and Release Dates

In this paper the Multi Trip Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows and Release Dates is introduced. The problem is particularly interesting in the City Logistics context, where trucks deliver merchandise to depots located in the outskirts of the city. Goods continuously arrive during the day becoming available for final distribution after the working day has started. This introduces the concept of release dates associated with merchandise. In this paper, a set of instances is introduced and a hybrid genetic algorithm is proposed to solve the problem.
Measuring the eﬀect of foreign exchange reserves on foreign direct investment in Algeria during the period 1990-2020 using the ARDL model

: This paper aims to examine the impact of foreign exchange reserves on foreign direct investment in Algeria during the period 1990-2020 by applying the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag model (ARDL). The model showed that the current variables are co-integrated. Also, the results indicate that foreign exchange reserves have a positive impact on foreign direct investment in the long term only, at a rate of 44%.
The Effects of Land Markets on Resource Allocation and Agricultural Productivity

We assess the eﬀects of land markets on misallocation and productivity both empirically and quantitatively. Exploiting variation from a land certiﬁcation reform across time and space in Ethiopia, we ﬁnd that certiﬁcation facilitates rentals and improves agricultural productivity. We calibrate a quantitative macroeconomic model with heterogeneous household farms facing institutional costs to land markets using the micro panel data. The eﬀect of a counterfactual reallocation from no rentals to eﬃcient rentals increases zone-level agricultural productivity by 43 percent on average. While our estimated institutional costs are strongly associated with land certiﬁcation across zones, there are nontrivial residual frictions to rental market activity, implying that land certiﬁcation only partially captures the overall eﬀects of rentals. A full certiﬁcation reform accounts for just one-fourth of the overall productivity gains from land rentals. This result highlights the importance of comprehensive reforms alleviating frictions to land transactions beyond the granting of certiﬁcates.
Prototypical few-shot segmentation for cross-institution male pelvic structures with spatial registration

The prowess that makes few-shot learning desirable in medical image analysis is the efficient use of the support image data, which are labelled to classify or segment new classes, a task that otherwise requires substantially more training images and expert annotations. This work describes a fully 3D prototypical few-shot segmentation algorithm, such that the trained networks can be effectively adapted to clinically interesting structures that are absent in training, using only a few labelled images from a different institute. First, to compensate for the widely recognised spatial variability between institutions in episodic adaptation of novel classes, a novel spatial registration mechanism is integrated into prototypical learning, consisting of a segmentation head and an spatial alignment module. Second, to assist the training with observed imperfect alignment, support mask conditioning module is proposed to further utilise the annotation available from the support images. Extensive experiments are presented in an application of segmenting eight anatomical structures important for interventional planning, using a data set of 589 pelvic T2-weighted MR images, acquired at seven institutes. The results demonstrate the efficacy in each of the 3D formulation, the spatial registration, and the support mask conditioning, all of which made positive contributions independently or collectively. Compared with the previously proposed 2D alternatives, the few-shot segmentation performance was improved with statistical significance, regardless whether the support data come from the same or different institutes.
Comparison of EMG-to-torque models using an upper-limb exoskeleton

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.
Density-matrix Renormalisation Group Approach to Quantum Impurity Problems Density-matrix Renormalisation Group Approach to Quantum Impurity Problems 2

A dynamic density-matrix renormalisation group approach to the spectral properties of quantum impurity problems is presented. The method is demonstrated on the spectral density of the flat-band symmetric single-impurity Anderson model. We show that this approach provides the impurity spectral density for all frequencies and coupling strengths. In particular, Hubbard satellites at high energy can be obtained with a good resolution. The main difficulties are the necessary discretisation of the host band hybridised with the impurity and the resolution of sharp spectral features such as the Abrikosov-Suhl resonance.
The influence of changing salinity and other seasonal factors on farmed oysters

The changing coastal and estuary environment Marine bivalve molluscs populate shallow coastal waters and estuaries, where phytoplankton for feeding is most abundant (Dame 2012). In coastal waters and estuaries bivalves, such as oysters, have adapted to changing environmental conditions, including exposure to air, seasonal changes in ambient air and water temperature and variations in salinity (Dame 2012). Temperature and salinity are two of the dominant environmental factors which influence bivalve mollusc physiology (Shumway 1996; Kim and Powell 2009; Dame 2012). There are many additional seasonal changes, closely related to temperature and salinity, which also affect oyster physiology, including nutrient abundance, tidal patterns (Cheney et al. 2000), suspended sediment (Ropert et al. 2008) and oxygen saturation in the water (Shumway and Koehn 1982).
ScholarWorks@UARK ScholarWorks@UARK

Microblogging platforms such as Twitter let users communicate with short messages. Due to the messages’ short content and the users’ tendency to type short queries while searching, it is particularly challenging to locate useful tweets that match user queries. The fundamental problems of word mismatch due to ambiguity are especially acute. To solve this problem, this thesis explores and compares multiple automatic query expansion methods that involve the most frequent hashtags and keywords. We built a Web service that provides real-time Twitter Search results incorporating automatic query expansion. Six pseudo-relevance feedback methods were studied and the numbers indicate that results without query expansion perform just as well as results with query expansion. However, the expanded queries ﬁnd diﬀerent relevant tweets than the original query, indicating, from multiple methods, that combining the results is a fruitful area for future investigations.
Down the bot hole: actionable insights from a 1-year analysis of bots activity on Twitter

Nowadays, social media represent persuasive tools that have been progressively weaponized to affect people's beliefs, spread manipulative narratives, and sow conflicts along divergent factions. Software-controlled accounts (i.e., bots) are one of the main actors associated with manipulation campaigns, especially in the political context. Uncovering the strategies behind bots' activities is of paramount importance to detect and curb such campaigns. In this paper, we present a long term (one year) analysis of bots activity on Twitter in the run-up to the 2018 U.S. Midterm Elections. We identify different classes of accounts based on their nature (bot vs. human) and engagement within the online discussion and we observe that hyperactive bots played a pivotal role in the dissemination of conspiratorial narratives, while dominating the political debate since the year before the election. Our analysis, on the horizon of the upcoming U.S. 2020 Presidential Election, reveals both alarming findings of humans' susceptibility to bots and actionable insights that can contribute to curbing coordinated campaigns.