Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bacteriological Quality Status of Spring Waters from the Taanzoult Plain (Aguelmam Sidi Ali Wetland, Morocco)

The Taanzoult plain of Aguelmam Sidi Ali wetland contains several permanent springs of water. They are intended for watering livestock, supplying drinking water and hydrotherapy. Nevertheless, the water consumption from sources in the raw state, without any pre-treatment or hygienic measures, certainly threatens the health of humans and particularly that of traditional medicine patients. From this perspective, the present work is based on a monthly monitoring of eight bacterial germs in the waters of four sources (Aghbalou Aberchane, Aghbalou Dkhiss, Agh-balou Akjdate and forestry post) during a hydrobiological cycle of 12 months from January to December 2017. The results of analyses have shown that bacterial contamination is significant at the water sources, used mainly for watering livestock, compared to those dedicated to drinking and hydrotherapy. The mean content of total coliforms and fecal coliforms at all the stations are higher than the Moroccan standards for surface water intended for the drinking water production. Except for the wet period for Aghbalou Aberchane and Aghbalou Dkhiss waters, the value of the bacterial parameters studied are higher than the Moroccan standards. In general, the anarchic frequen-tation of the area negatively influences the water quality and compromises its potability. Consequently, it directly threatens the health of users and hydrotherapy patients, especially during the dry season. These findings could call on the health authorities and the competent authorities responsible for controlling the quality of surface water to make users aware of the health risks and provide for appropriate arrangements to improve the quality of the widely sought-after natural waters.
A Quantitative Logarithmic Transformation-Based Intrusion Detection System

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) play a vital role in protecting networks from malicious attacks. Modern IDS use machine-learning or deep-learning models to deal with the diversity of attacks that malicious users may employ. However, effective machine-learning methods incur a considerable cost in both the pretraining stage and the online detection process itself. Accordingly, this study proposes a quantitative logarithmic transformation-based intrusion detection system (QLT-IDS) that uses a straightforward statistical approach to analyze network behavior. Compared with machine-learning or deep-learning-based IDS methods, the proposed system requires neither a time-consuming and expensive data collection and training process, nor a GPU-included device to achieve a real-time detection performance. Furthermore, the system can deal not only with North-South attacks, but also East-West attacks, which pose a significant risk in real-world operations. The effectiveness of the proposed system is evaluated for both real-world campus network traffic and simulated traffic. The results confirm that QLT-IDS is able to detect a wide range of malicious attacks with a high precision, even under high down-sampling rate of the NetFlow records.
Estimating technical and scale efficiencies of private hospitals using a non-parametric approach: case of India

This paper applies data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate the technical efficiencies of 50 Indian private sector hospitals for the period 2004–2005 to 2009–2010. The study shows that only five hospitals turn out to be relatively efficient throughout the study period while the average overall technical efficiency (OTE) of the hospitals in India for the entire period comes out to be 79.40%, suggesting that on an average, hospitals have to increase 20.60% of their outputs with the existing level of inputs. The RTS-wise efficiency reveals that on average OTE of hospitals operating at DRS is higher than that of those operating at IRS. This suggests that the hospitals operating at IRS could improve their OTE by increasing their size-scale. The target analysis shows that inefficient hospitals could improve their output level by following the best practices of the efficient hospitals that form the benchmark (peer-set) for evaluating their performance.
Teaching Fundamentals of Finite-Element Theory and Applications Using Sophomore-Level Strength-of-Materials Theory

This paper presents a study module that is incorporated into a formal introductory undergraduate course on finite-element theory and applications. The module consists of an integrative project and homework exercises based upon sophomore-level education in strength-of-materials. The objective of the module is to support the teaching of the finite-element method and to emphasize assumptions and limitations in the application of the technique. The project centers on a simply supported beam with geometric discontinuities. This beam is investigated using commercial finite-element software in five different phases. Each phase uses a different solution model, consisting of a hand calculation, beam, two-dimensional area, and three-dimensional solid elements. The solution from each phase is compared to the solution from traditional strength-of-materials beam theory in terms of the following: weight and center of gravity, deflection, and stress. Static-failure theories, stress concentrations and a redesign are also considered. The approach of a comparative solution to a problem using different types of element has not been considered in any finite-element textbook to date and few books consider stress concentrations and failure theories. The homework exercises involve solving similar though smaller problems using commercial software and verifying the finite-element solutions against the strength-of-materials solutions. The five homework exercises considered here involve: a truss, an L-bracket with re-entrant corner, a plate with a notch, a thick-walled pressure vessel, and a pin joint connection. The project and some of the homework exercises reinforce the following: an understanding of finite-element theory, an understanding of strength-of-materials theory, knowledge of the physical behavior and usage of each type of element, the ability to select a suitable element for a given problem, and the ability to interpret and evaluate finite-element solutions. Emphasis is placed on the importance of verification. The project and several of the homework exercises also illustrate common major conceptual mistakes made by students and, often, by practitioners using commercial software.
Exact inference for competing risks model with generalized type-I hybrid censored exponential data

Recently, exact inference under hybrid censoring scheme has attracted extensive attention in the field of reliability analysis. However, most of the authors neglect the possibility of competing risks model. This paper mainly discusses the exact likelihood inference for the analysis of generalized type-I hybrid censoring data with exponential competing failure model. Based on the maximum likelihood estimates for unknown parameters, we establish the exact conditional distribution of parameters by conditional moment generating function, and then obtain moment properties as well as exact confidence intervals (CIs) for parameters. Furthermore, approximate CIs are constructed by asymptotic distribution and bootstrap method as well. We also compare their performances with exact method through the use of Monte Carlo simulations. And finally, a real data set is analysed to illustrate the validity of all the methods developed here.
Mineral formation in stellar winds. II. Effects of Mg/Si abundance variations on dust composition in AGB stars

Galactic F and G dwarf stars show a considerable star-to-star scatter of their individual abundance ratios of Mg to Si. We study the consequences of such abundance variations on the composition of the dust mixture formed in the circumstellar dust shells if the stars enter the AGB stage of stellar evolution. From thermodynamic equilibrium condensation calculations for the abundant dust components we nd: (i) For 1 2 forsterite and solid MgO are formed. According to observed Mg/Si abundance ratios, about 90% of all stars fall into the rst category, about 10% of all stars seem to fall into the second category, and virtually no stars fall into the third category. For the range of observed Mg/Si abundance ratios 0:6<Mg=Si< 1:5 we have studied the formation of a multicomponent mixture of dust in circumstellar dust shells by calculating simple stationary wind models including the non-equilibrium condensation of enstatite, forsterite, quartz, solid iron, and solid MgO. The variation of the composition of the non-equilibrium mineral mixture with varying Mg/Si abundance ratio is studied. The mineral mixture found to be formed under non-equilibrium conditions is somewhat dierent from the chemical equilibrium composition, but follows the general trends found in equilibrium calculations. Particular emphasis is laid on stars with a low Mg/Si abundance ratio (<1) where quartz grains are shown to form a signicant dust component which should also be detectable by the absorption bands of quartz in the IR.
Bilinear Littlewood-Paley Square Functions and Singular Integrals

In this dissertation we further develop the bilinear theory of vector valued Calderon-Zygmund operators, Littlewood-Paley square functions, and singular integral operators. These areas of harmonic analysis are motivated by potential theory, boundary value problems in partial differential equations, harmonic and analytic extension problems in complex analysis, and many other classical problems in analysis. Multilinear operator theory addresses difficulties that arise from product type operations in harmonic analysis. We first introduce Banach valued Calderon-Zygmund operators in a bilinear setting, and prove weak endpoint estimates and interpolation results for them. By viewing Littlewood-Paley square functions as Calderon-Zygmund operators taking values in a particular Banach space, we are able to obtain bounds of the square functions on product Lebesgue spaces for a complete set of indices. We give an in depth analysis of Littlewood-Paley square functions, which includes estimates on some products of smooth function spaces as well as the estimates on product Lebesgue spaces that are needed to apply the vector valued Calderon-Zygmund results. Finally, we prove boundedness criteria for a certain class of bilinear singular integral operators on product Lebesgue spaces using Littlewood-Paley square function techniques. We provide a new proof of the bilinear T1 theorem that does not rely on the linear version of the result. We also prove a bilinear Tb theorem, a result missing in the theory so iii far. The Littlewood-Paley square function techniques developed in this work are a powerful tool has potential to solve problems in areas like oscillatory integral operator theory, multiparameter operator theory, Fourier restriction, and non-linear partial differential equations.
High-resolution study of oscillator strengths and predissociation rates for 13C18O - W-X bands and Rydberg complexes between 92.9 and 93.5 nm

Models of astronomical environments containing CO require accurate molecular data to reproduce and interpret observations. We are conducting experiments at the SOLEIL synchrotron facility to acquire data for modeling CO photochemistry in the vacuum ultraviolet. The improvement in UV spectroscopic instrumentation, both in sensitivity and resolution, provides more accurate laboratory spectroscopic determinations. We report new measurements yielding photoabsorption oscillator strengths and predissociation rates, for 12 C 16 O at 295 K and 77 K, of four bands from X 1 Σ + (v �� = 0) to the v � = 0–3 vibrational levels of the core-excited W 1 Π Rydberg state and for six overlapping bands between 92.97 and 93.35 nm. Absorption spectra were recorded using the vacuum ultraviolet Fourier transform spectrometer installed on the DESIRS beamline at SOLEIL, providing a resolving power R = 350 000. This resolution allows the analysis of individual line strengths and widths in the electronic transitions and the identification of a previously unobserved perturbation in the W(1) level. Gas column densities in the differentially-pumped system were calibrated using the B 1 Σ + – X 1 Σ + (0, 0) band. Absorption bands are analyzed by synthesizing line and band profiles with independently developed codes. These considerably improved results are compared with earlier determinations.
Engineering Magnetic Anisotropy of Rhenium Atom in Nitrogenized Divacancy of Graphene

The effects of charging on the magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) of rhenium atom in nitrogenized-divacancy graphene (Re@NDV) are investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. High-stability and large MAE of 71.2 meV are found in Re@NDV. The more exciting finding is that the magnitude of MAE of a system can be tuned by charge injection. Moreover, the easy magnetization direction of a system may also be controlled by charge injection. The controllable MAE of a system is attributed to the critical variation in dz2 and dyz of Re under charge injection. Our results show that Re@NDV is very promising in high-performance magnetic storage and spintronics devices.
A laboratory model of the lunar surface potential near boundaries between sunlit and shadowed regions

There is a convincing body of evidence about the mobilization and transport of small dust grains on the lunar surface, and in general, on the surfaces of airless bodies in the solar system. Surfaces in space exposed to plasmas and UV radiation will become charged, and develop a sheath region with an electric field normal to the surface. Typically, this electric field is on the order of a few V/m, too small to lift‐off micron sized grains with an expected charge of a single electron on the lunar surface, for example. Much higher electric fields can be generated due to differential UV charging between neighboring lit and dark surface elements, a common situation during sunset or sunrise. Here we report on a series of experiments to investigate differential photoelectron charging, and the so‐called ‘super‐charging’ effect, related to the moving boundaries between illuminated and dark surfaces.
Description of two new taxa of the ceratobatrachid genus Platymantis from western New Guinea (Amphibia, Anura)

Two new taxa of the ceratobatrachid genus Platymantis are described from western New Guinea on the basis of bioacoustic, morphological, ecological and biochemical studies. One of these, described as new species, is known only from in the Fakfak Mountains (Bomberai Peninsula) and the other, described as new subspecies, from Yapen Island. Their nearest relatives appear to be P. batantae Zweifel, 1969, and P. cryptotis Günther, 1999 respectively. Besides data on the new taxa, some morphological, bioacoustic and molecular data are given for P. papuensis Meyer, 1875 from the type locality Biak Island.
Sub genomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 using short read amplicon-based sequencing

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses a serious public health risk. In this report, we present a modified sequencing workflow using short tiling (280bp) amplicons library preparation method paired with Illumina’s iSeq100 desktop sequencer. We demonstrated the utility of our workflow in identifying gapped reads that capture characteristics of subgenomic RNA junctions within our patient cohort. These analytical and library preparation approaches allow a versatile, small footprint and decentralized deployment that can facilitate comprehensive genetics characterizations during outbreaks. Based on the sequencing data, Taqman assays were designed to accurately capture the quantity of subgenomic ORF5 and ORF7a RNA from patient samples and demonstrated utility in tracking subgenomic titres in patient samples when combined with a standard COVID-19 qRT-PCR assay.
Multi-Compartmental Dissolution Method, an Efficient Tool for the Development of Enhanced Bioavailability Formulations Containing Poorly Soluble Acidic Drugs

The purpose of this study was to investigate the applicability of the Gastrointestinal Simulator (GIS), a multi-compartmental dissolution model, to predict the in vivo performance of Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) Class IIa compounds. As the bioavailability enhancement of poorly soluble drugs requires a thorough understanding of the desired formulation, the appropriate in vitro modelling of the absorption mechanism is essential. Four immediate release ibuprofen 200 mg formulations were tested in the GIS using fasted biorelevant media. In addition to the free acid form, ibuprofen was present as sodium and lysine salts in tablets and as a solution in soft-gelatin capsules. In the case of rapid-dissolving formulations, the dissolution results indicated supersaturation in the gastric compartment, which affected the resulting concentrations in the duodenum and the jejunum as well. In addition, a Level A in vitro–in vivo correlation (IVIVC) model was established using published in vivo data, and then the plasma concentration profiles of each formulation were simulated. The predicted pharmacokinetic parameters were consistent with the statistical output of the published clinical study. In conclusion, the GIS method was found to be superior compared to the traditional USP method. In the future, the method can be useful for formulation technologists to find the optimal technique to enhance the bioavailability of poorly soluble acidic drugs.
SBAR Shift Report Training Program and its Effect on Nurses’ Knowledge and Practice and Their Perception of Shift Handoff Communication

Introduction: Handover is a key factor in the continuity of care and is the most vital communication means among nurses. Using an identical method for this can enhance the quality of the handover. Objective: To evaluate the effect of a shift reporting training program using the Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation tool on nurses’ knowledge and practice and their perception of shift handoff communication in noncritical departments. Methods: A quasiexperimental research design. The study was held in noncritical departments on 83 staff nurses. Researcher used a knowledge questionnaire, an observation checklist, and two perception scales were used to collect data. Statistical data analysis was performed with SPSS using descriptive, chi-square or Fisher exact tests, correlation coefficient, multiple linear regression model. Results: Nurses varied in age from 22 to 45 years old, with 85.5% of them being female. After the intervention, their knowledge rose from 4.8% to 92.8% (p < .001), the adequate practice reached 100%, and their perception of the process had significant improvement (p < .001). Using multivariate analysis, the study involvement was the main significant independent positive predictor of nurses’ knowledge and scores, and these latter were positive predictors of their perception. Conclusion: Using the shift work reporting method had a significant effect among the study participants using Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation tool and improved their knowledge, practice and perception of shift handoff communication.
Investigation of PR and TMI Version 6 and Version 7 Rainfall Algorithms in Landfalling Tropical Cyclones Relative to the NEXRAD Stage-IV Multisensor Precipitation Estimate Dataset

AbstractRainfall estimates from versions 6 (V6) and 7 (V7) of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar (PR) 2A25 and Microwave Imager (TMI) 2A12 algorithms are compared relative to the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) Multisensor Precipitation Estimate stage-IV hourly rainfall product. The dataset consists of 252 TRMM overpasses of tropical cyclones from 2002 to 2010 within a 230-km range of southeastern U.S. Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) sites. All rainfall estimates are averaged to a uniform 1/7° square grid. The grid boxes are also divided by their TMI surface designation (land, ocean, or coast). A detailed statistical analysis is undertaken to determine how changes to the TRMM rainfall algorithms in the latest version (V7) are influencing the rainfall retrievals relative to ground reference data. Version 7 of the PR 2A25 is the best-performing algorithm over all three surface types. Over ocean, TMI 2A12 V7 is improved relative to V6 at high rain rate.
Measurements of secondary neutrons produced from thick targets bombarded by high-energy helium and carbon ions

The angular and energy distributions of neutrons produced by 100 and 180 MeV/nucleon He and 100, 180, and 400 MeV/nucleon C ions stopping in thick C, Al, Cu, and Pb targets were measured using the Heavy-Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba of the National Institute of Radiological Science (NIRS), Japan. The neutron spectra in the forward direction have broad peaks of {approximately}60 to 70% of the incident particle energy per nucleon due to the break-up process, and they spread up to almost twice the projectile energy per nucleon. The neutron spectra are similar for the same incident energy of 100 MeV/nucleon for both He and C ions. The phenomenological hybrid analysis, based on the moving source model and the Gaussian fitting of the break-up process, could well represent the measured thick target neutron spectra. The experimental results are also compared with the calculations using the heavy-ion code, and the calculated results agree with the measured results within a factor of 2 margin of accuracy. This systematic study on neutron production from thick targets by high-energy heavy ions is the first experimental work performed by NIRS and will be useful for designing the shielding for the high-energy heavy-ion accelerator facility.
Impact of genetically predicted characterization of mitochondrial DNA quantity and quality on osteoarthritis

Background: Existing studies have indicated that mitochondrial dysfunction may contribute to osteoarthritis (OA) development. However, the causal association between mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) characterization and OA has not been extensively explored. Methods: Two-sample Mendelian randomization was performed to calculate the impact of mitochondrial genomic variations on overall OA as well as site-specific OA, with multiple analytical methods inverse variance weighted (IVW), weighted median (WM), MR-Egger and MR-robust adjusted profile score (MR-RAPS). Results: Genetically determined mitochondrial heteroplasmy (MtHz) and mtDNA abundance were not causally associated with overall OA. In site-specific OA analyses, the causal effect of mtDNA abundance on other OA sites, including hip, knee, thumb, hand, and finger, had not been discovered. There was a suggestively protective effect of MtHz on knee OA IVW OR = 0.632, 95% CI: 0.425–0.939, p-value = 0.023. No causal association between MtHz and other different OA phenotypes was found. Conclusion: MtHz shows potential to be a novel therapeutic target and biomarker on knee OA development. However, the variation of mtDNA abundance was measured from leukocyte in blood and the levels of MtHz were from saliva samples rather than cartilage or synovial tissues. Genotyping samples from synovial and cartilage can be a focus to further exploration.