Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Implications of Climate Change on Health among Vulnerable Populations in South Africa: A Systematic Review

Climate change poses numerous threats to human life, including physical and mental health, the environment, housing, food security, and economic growth. People who already experience multidimensional poverty with the disparity in social, political, economic, historical, and environmental contexts are more vulnerable to these impacts. The study aims to identify the role of climate change in increasing multidimensional inequalities among vulnerable populations and analyze the strengths and limitations of South Africa’s National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. A systematic review was applied, and literature from Google, Google Scholar, and PubMed, as well as relevant gray literature from 2014–2022 were reviewed. Out of 854 identified sources, 24 were included in the review. Climate change has exacerbated multidimensional inequalities among vulnerable populations in South Africa. Though the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy has paid attention to health issues and the needs of vulnerable groups, the adaptation measures appear to focus less on mental and occupational health. Climate change may play a significant role in increasing multidimensional inequalities and exacerbating health consequences among vulnerable populations. For an inclusive and sustainable reduction in inequalities and vulnerabilities to the impact of climate change, community-based health and social services should be enhanced among vulnerable populations.
Cerebral white matter lesions and regional blood flow are associated with reduced cognitive function in early-stage cognitive impairment

Background Differences in the extent of cerebral white matter lesions (WML) and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in early-stage cognitive impairment (ESCI) contribute to the prognosis of cognitive decline; however, it is unclear precisely how WML and rCBF affect cognitive decline in ESCI. Objective We examined the association between WML, rCBF, and cognitive impairment in the ESCI, using path analysis to clarify how these variables affect each other. Methods Eighty-three patients who consulted our memory clinic regarding memory loss were included in this study based on the Clinical Dementia Rating. Participants underwent the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for voxel-based morphometry analysis, and brain perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for rCBF evaluation in cortical regions, using 3D stereotactic surface projection (3D-SSP) analysis. Results Path analysis was performed on the MRI voxel-based morphometry and SPECT 3D-SSP data, showing a significant correlation between both and MMSE scores. In the most suitable model (GFI = 0.957), correlations were observed between lateral ventricular (LV-V) and periventricular WML (PvWML-V) volumes [standardized coefficient (SC) = 0.326, p = 0.005], LV-V and rCBF of the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG-rCBF; SC = 0.395, p < 0.0001), and ACG-rCBF and PvWML-V (SC = 0.231, p = 0.041). Furthermore, a direct relationship between PvWML-V and MMSE scores was identified (SC = −0.238, p = 0.026). Conclusion Significant interrelationships were observed among the LV-V, PvWML-V, and ACG-rCBF that directly affected the MMSE score in the ESCI. The mechanisms behind these interactions and the impact of PvWML-V on cognitive function require further investigation.
A high-damping magnetorheological elastomer with bi-directional magnetic-control modulus for potential application in seismology

A high-damping magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) with bi-directional magnetic-control modulus is developed. This MRE was synthesized by filling NdFeB particles into polyurethane (PU)/ epoxy (EP) interpenetrating network (IPN) structure. The anisotropic samples were prepared in a permanent magnetic field and magnetized in an electromagnetic field of 1 T. Dynamic mechanical responses of the MRE to applied magnetic fields are investigated through magneto-rheometer, and morphology of MREs is observed via scanning electron microscope (SEM). Test result indicates that when the test field orientation is parallel to that of the sample's magnetization, the shear modulus of sample increases. On the other hand, when the orientation is opposite to that of the sample's magnetization, shear modulus decreases. In addition, this PU/EP IPN matrix based MRE has a high-damping property, with high loss factor and can be controlled by applying magnetic field. It is expected that the high damping property and the ability of b.
What influences wellness customers to engage in electronic word of mouth? A total interpretive structural modelling approach

ABSTRACT The present study aims to focus on the factors influencing the wellness customer to involve in electronic word of mouth and evaluate and measure the relationship between them. For this, the study followed three research phases: identification of factors through a review of literature, using expert opinion for selecting essential and relevant factors for the study, and applying a total interpretive structural modelling approach to reflect the appropriate association between different factors. A total of eleven factors, including the four that surfaced during the discussion with the experts, were service experience, gratitude, moral obligation, and trust. The other seven were altruism, hedonic value, self-enhancement, social affiliation, venting emotions, advice seeking, and economic incentive. These eleven factors were partitioned into four levels through the iteration process. The factors were categorised under independent, dependent, and linkage using MICMAC analysis. The results highlight a strong influence of economic incentives on wellness customers to engage in electronic word of mouth. The suggested model provides valuable insights to marketing practitioners and researchers that may assist them in designing campaigns around these factors in order to maximise the engagement of wellness customers through electronic word of mouth.
Characterization of Histone Modifications in Late-Stage Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy

The development and progression of rotator cuff tendinopathy (RCT) is multifactorial and likely to manifest through a combination of extrinsic, intrinsic, and environmental factors, including genetics and epigenetics. However, the role of epigenetics in RCT, including the role of histone modification, is not well established. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing, differences in the trimethylation status of H3K4 and H3K27 histones in late-stage RCT compared to control were investigated in this study. For H3K4, 24 genomic loci were found to be significantly more trimethylated in RCT compared to control (p < 0.05), implicating genes such as DKK2, JAG2, and SMOC2 in RCT. For H3K27, 31 loci were shown to be more trimethylated (p < 0.05) in RCT compared to control, inferring a role for EPHA3, ROCK1, and DEFβ115. Furthermore, 14 loci were significantly less trimethylated (p < 0.05) in control compared to RCT, implicating EFNA5, GDF6, and GDF7. Finally, the TGFβ signaling, axon guidance, and regulation of focal adhesion assembly pathways were found to be enriched in RCT. These findings suggest that the development and progression of RCT is, at least in part, under epigenetic control, highlighting the influence of histone modifications in this disorder and paving the way to further understand the role of epigenome in RCT.
Learning Potential in Subgoal-Based Reward Shaping

Human knowledge can reduce the number of iterations required to learn in reinforcement learning. Though the most common approach uses trajectories, it is difficult to acquire them in certain domains. Subgoals, which are intermediate states, have been studied instead of trajectories. Subgoal-based reward shaping is a method that adds rewards to environmental rewards with a sequence of subgoals. The potential function, which is a component of subgoal-based reward shaping, is shaped by a hyperparameter that controls its output. However, it is not easy to select a hyperparameter because its appropriate value depends on the reward function of an environment, and the reward function is unknown but its output is available. We propose learned potential that parameterizes a hyperparameter and acquires its potential through learning. A value is an expected accumulated reward if an agent follows its policy after the current state and is strongly related to the reward function. With learned potential, we build an abstract state space, which is a higher-level representation of the state, with a sequence of subgoals and use the value over the abstract states as the potential to accelerate the value learning. N-step temporal-difference (TD) method learns the values over the abstract state. We conducted experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of learned potential, and the results indicate its effectiveness compared with a baseline reinforcement learning algorithm and several reward-shaping algorithms. The results also indicate that the participants’ subgoals are superior to subgoals generated randomly with learned potential. We discuss the appropriate number of subgoals for learned potential, that partially ordered subgoal is helpful for learned potential, that learned potential cannot make learning efficient in step penalized rewards, and that learned potential is superior to the non-learned potential in mixed positive and negative rewards.
Secular trends in mental health profiles among 15-year-olds in Sweden between 2002 and 2018

Background Studies of secular trends in mental unhealth indicate that adolescents in the Nordic countries, especially girls, have an increased reported prevalence of mental health problems the last decades. This increase needs to be seen in the light of the adolescents' assessments of their perceived overall health. Objective To investigate whether a person-centered approach to research can enhance understanding of changes over time in the distribution of mental health problems among Swedish adolescents. Method A dual-factor approach was used to study changes over time in mental health profiles among nationally representative 15-year-old adolescent samples from Sweden. Cluster analyses of subjective health symptoms (psychological and somatic) and perceived overall health from the Swedish Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) surveys of 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 were used to identify these mental health profiles (n = 9,007). Results Four mental health profiles were identified by a cluster analysis which combined all five data collections—Perceived good health, Perceived poor health, High psychosomatic symptoms, and Poor mental health. There were no significant differences in the distributions of these four mental health profiles between the survey years 2002 and 2010, but substantial changes took place between 2010 and 2018. Here, particularly the High psychosomatic symptoms profile increased among both boys and girls. The Perceived good health profile decreased among both boys and girls, and the Perceived poor health profile decreased among girls. The profile involving the most pronounced mental health problems, the Poor mental health profile (perceived poor health, high psychosomatic problems), was stable from 2002 to 2018 among both boys and girls. Conclusion The study shows the added value of using person-centered analyses to describe differences in mental health indicators between cohorts of adolescents over longer periods of time. In contrast to the long-term increase in mental health problems seen in many countries, this Swedish study did not find an increase among young persons, both boys and girls, with the poorest mental health, the Poor mental health profile. Rather, the most substantial increase over the survey years, predominantly between 2010 and 2018, was found among the 15-year-olds with High psychosomatic symptoms only.
3D DEM Simulations and Experiments on Spherical Impactor Penetrating into the Elongated Particles

In this study, a brass or glass spherical impactor vertically penetrating into a granular bed composed of mono-sized spherical or elongated particles was simulated with three-dimensional (3D) discrete element method (DEM). Good agreement of the particle masses in the cup before and after penetration can be found in the simulations and experiments. The effects of particle length (Lp), friction coefficient, and particle configuration on the penetration depth of the impactor, ejecta mass, and solid volume fraction describing the response of the granular bed are discussed. The penetration depth is negatively correlated with Lp as the corresponding solid volume fraction of the granular bed decreases. A smaller friction coefficient leads to a larger penetration depth of the impactor and more ejection of particles. When the impactor is penetrating the Lp = 10 mm elongated particles, the penetration depth is negatively correlated to the order parameter and solid volume fraction.
A global optimization approach for the BMI problem

The biaffine matrix inequality (BMI) is a potentially very flexible new framework for approaching complex robust control system synthesis problems with multiple plants, multiple objectives and controller order constraints. The BMI problem may be viewed as the nondifferentiable biconvex programming problem of minimizing the maximum eigenvalue of a biaffine combination of symmetric matrices. The BMI problem is non-local-global in general, i.e. there may exist local minima which are not global minima. While local optimization techniques sometimes yield good results, global optimization procedures need to be considered for the complete solution of the BMI problem. In this paper, we present a global optimization algorithm for the BMI based on the branch and bound approach. A simple numerical example is included. <<ETX>>
Tablet in the Consultation Room and Physician Satisfaction

The purpose of the study is to investigate patient-physician interactions during a clinical encounter to ascertain the impact of tablet computing on physician satisfaction during a clinical encounter. This study was conducted at a primary care clinic, and the physicians who participated could use a tablet during their clinical encounters. The authors compared satisfaction between physicians who used the tablet during a clinical encounter and those who did not using data from 122 clinical encounters involving 82 patients. The results indicate that physicians who used the tablet during clinical encounters are more satisfied than those who did not. Additionally, there was a meaning difference in satisfaction between physicians who used the tablet to educate patients and share information than those who did not. HITs have potential benefits, but they also come with risks. To effectively manage the risks and benefits of HITs, healthcare providers should be deliberate and strategic in the implementation of HITs.
A Comparison of VHF Wind Profiler Observations and the NCEP–NCAR Reanalysis over the Tropical Pacific

Abstract VHF wind profiler measurements of zonal and meridional winds are compared with the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis at sites in the tropical Pacific. By December 1999 the profilers at Darwin, Australia, and Biak, Indonesia, in the western Pacific; Christmas Island, Kiribati, in the central Pacific; and Piura Peru, in the eastern Pacific had collected between 8 and 13 yr of nearly continuous data. While these profilers routinely observe winds up to about 20 km, only winds at Christmas Island are assimilated into the reanalysis. The long period of profiler operation provides an opportunity to study differences between the profiler and reanalysis winds in the equatorial Pacific, a region with geographically sparse observations. Mean and seasonal mean zonal and meridional winds are used to identify differences in the profiler and reanalysis winds. Two potential causes for the discrepancy between profiler and reanalysis winds are identified. The first of these is related to different spatial and temporal characte.
Global adaptive observers for nonlinear systems via filtered transformations

The problem of determining global adaptive observers for a class of single-output nonlinear systems which are linear with respect to an unknown constant parameter vector is addressed. Sufficient conditions are given to observe asymptotically an equivalent state without persistency of excitation. Under additional geometric conditions the original state can be observed as well. The results obtained are based on a nonlinear change of coordinates driven by auxiliary filters (filtered transformations). >
Image Segmentation for Stylized Non-Photorealistic Rendering and Animation

2005 This thesis approaches the problem of non-photorealistic rendering by identifying segments in the image plane and filling them using algorithms to render in artistic styles. Using segments as a 2D primitive for non-photorealistic styles is a natural extension of techniques artists often implicitly employ for purposes such as abstraction of unnecessary detail. The problem of segmenting an arbitrary 3D scene in a 2D view using geometric scene information is presented, and a solution based on spectral clustering is proposed. With an acceleration technique, segmentation can be performed in near real-time for interactive, artistic environments. This approach is automatic beyond the setting of segmentation parameters by a user, and it can be extended to temporally coherent non-photorealistic animation by segmenting adjacent frames together. A number of artistic rendering styles are applied within this segmentation framework to demonstrate the effects that such a system makes possible. ii Acknowledgements This thesis could not have happened without the guidance, ideas, and encouragement of my advisor, Aaron Hertzmann. For reading on such a tight schedule, I owe Allan Jepson my gratitude. I must thank Roey Flor for taking the time to help implement some of the artistic styles that appear in this work. Some DGP name dropping is in order for all the people around the lab who make it a worthwhile place to work: Abhishek, Anand,
Fusing Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Images for Deforestation Detection in the Brazilian Amazon Under Diverse Cloud Conditions

Most of the current deforestation detection systems rely on cloud-free optical images, which are difficult to obtain in tropical regions. A synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is nearly unaffected by clouds, thus providing valuable insights for deforestation detection. In cloud-free conditions, the use of optical images usually provides better results than the use of SAR data alone. Optical-SAR fusion has been hailed as a promising way to improve deforestation detection. However, it was poorly investigated, particularly when optical images are affected by clouds. This letter employs optical-SAR fusion strategies to improve the classification accuracy of clear-cut deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon under diverse cloud conditions. Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 images were fused using fully convolutional networks (FCNs) and early, joint, and late fusion (LF) strategies. Experiments showed that the optical-SAR fusion outperforms the single-modality (optical or SAR) variants for deforestation detection on pixels affected by clouds. The joint fusion strategy provided the best results in all cloud cover scenarios.
Experimental research on consolidation creep characteristics and microstructure evolution of soft soil

The influence of creep deformation of soft soil on engineering construction can’t be ignored. In order to deeply understand the macroscopic mechanical properties and the evolution mechanism of soft soil in microscope during consolidation creep, one-dimensional consolidation creep tests and SEM tests of Nansha soft soil were carried out in this paper. Then the image processing was performed by Image J software to obtain the consolidation creep characteristics, microscopic parameters of particles and pores under different loading pressures. The results of experiment and image processing show that 1) The creep process of Nansha soft soil is divided into the initial instantaneous deformation phase, the attenuation creep phase and the stable creep phase. The creep deformation increases with the consolidation creep stress during the three phases. 2) During the creep process, the distance between particles decreases and some particles are gradually broken, the quantity of particles and pores increases but the volume of them decreases. At the same time, the shape of particles and pores changes from nearly round and strip to nearly oval. 3) The consolidation creep stress determines the particles distance and the degree of fragmentation. And this trend is more obvious with the increase of the consolidation creep stress.
Dietary Histamine Impairs the Digestive Physiology Function and Muscle Quality of Hybrid Grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus♀ × Epinephelus lanceolatus♂)

An 8-week feeding experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary histamine on growth performance, digestive physiology function and muscle quality in a hybrid grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus♀ × Epinephelus lanceolatus♂). Seven isoproteic (50%) and isolipidic (11%) diets were prepared with various histamine inclusion levels of 0, 30, 60, 120, 240, 480 and 960 mg/kg in diets (actual contents were 72.33, 99.56, 138.60, 225.35, 404.12, 662.12 and 1245.38 mg/kg), respectively. Each diet was randomly assigned to triplicates of 30 juveniles (average body weight 14.78 g) per tank in a flow-through mariculture system. The increase in the dietary histamine level up to 1245.38 mg/kg made no significant difference on the growth rate and feed utilization of the grouper. However, the increased histamine content linearly decreased the activities of digestive enzymes, while no differences were observed in groups with low levels of histamine (≤404.12 mg/kg). Similarly, high levels of histamine (≥404.12 mg/kg) significantly damaged the gastric and intestinal mucosa, disrupted the intestinal tight junction structure, and raised the serum diamine oxidase activity and endotoxin level. Meanwhile, high doses of histamine (≥662.12 mg/kg) significantly reduced the activities of antioxidant enzymes, upregulated the relative expression of Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1, and hardened and yellowed the dorsal muscle of grouper. These results showed that dietary histamine was detrimental to the digestive physiology function and muscle quality of the grouper, although it did compromise its growth performance.
On seismic-wave scattering by a rough core-mantle boundary

Summary. A formulation is given for the seismic-wave scattering by a rough solid-liquid interface, in analogy to results derived for a solid-solid interface and a heterogeneous volume. Using Kennett’s approach and the reciprocity theorem, the scattering is formulated as the excitation by an equivalent dislocation. Using interface parameters relevant to the core-mantle boundary (CMB), computational results for several types of body-wave scattering are given and compared to scattering by a heterogeneous volume. In an application to the generation of PKP precursors it is concluded that, whereas some data groups point to heterogeneity (which may not be small) in the lower mantle above CMB, in other cases a rough CMB may be considered equally feasible. Scattering at the source or receiver side of the core by both a slightly rough CMB (radial variations up to a few hundred metres) and a slightly heterogeneous lower mantle (relative variations in physical parameters up to a few per cent) produces the energy level that is observed in most of the PKP precursors; also the relevant scale lengths of variation are about the same ie both mechanisms (10-20 km with possibly somewhat higher values at relatively long epicentral distances).