Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Cross-Sectional Study of Pesticide Use and Knowledge of Smallholder Potato Farmers in Uganda

In response to increased pest and disease problems, potato farmers use pesticides, which could raise environmental and health concerns. This study sought to promote proper and safe pesticide-handling practices by providing data needed to guide pesticide regulation policy and training for extension staff and farmers. A household survey was conducted in three major potato-growing agroecological zones of Uganda. Two hundred and four potato farmers were interviewed about the type and source of pesticides they use in potato cultivation, the frequency of applications, the use of protective clothing, and cases of pesticide poisoning. The types of pesticides used in potato were fungicides (72%), insecticides (62%), and herbicides (3%). Overall, use of personal protective equipment was low, that is, gumboots (73%), gloves (7%), face masks (16%), and long sleeve shirts (42%). Forty-three percent of farmers who applied pesticides reported having experienced skin itching, 25% skin burning sensation, 43% coughing, 60% a runny nose, 27% teary eyes, and 42% dizziness. An IPM approach involving only moderately to slightly hazardous pesticides when pest and disease incidence has reached economic injury levels and by considering all safety measures during application and storage would be environmentally recommendable and result in reduced health risks.
Extending the Simple View of Reading to Account for Variation Within Readers and Across Texts: The Complete View of Reading (CVRi)

This study leverages advances in multivariate cross-classified random effects models to extend the Simple View of Reading to account for variation within readers and across texts, allowing for both the personalization of the reading function and the integration of the component skills and text and discourse frameworks for reading research. We illustrate the Complete View of Reading (CVRi) using data from an intensive longitudinal design study with a large sample of typical (N = 648) and struggling readers (N = 865) in middle school and using oral reading fluency as a proxy for comprehension. To illustrate the utility of the CVRi, we present a model with cross-classified random intercepts for students and passages and random slopes for growth, Lexile difficulty, and expository text type at the student level. We highlight differences between typical and struggling readers and differences across students in different grades. The model illustrates that readers develop differently and approach the reading task differently, showing differential impact of text features on their fluency. To be complete, a model of reading must be able to reflect this heterogeneity at the person and passage level, and the CVRi is a step in that direction. Implications for reading interventions and 21st century reading research in the era of “Big Data” and interest in phenotypic characterization are discussed.
Spectrophotometric Characterization of Behavior and the Predominant Species of Flavonoids in Physiological Buffer: Determination of Solubility, Lipophilicity and Anticancer Efficacy

The objectives of this study were to investigate the behavior of flavonoids in an aqueous physiological buffer and to determine the structural and functional group substitution which is responsible for their anticancer action. The de- protonated anionic form of 7 flavonoids can easily be determined using spectrophotometry, and owing to its charged state, is highly soluble in aqueous physiological buffer and is not prone to aggregation. The protonated form of these 7 flavon- oids is much less soluble and tends to aggregate following precipitation. For all flavonoids studied except catechin and 5,5� -dihydroxy-6,7,3� ,4� -tetramethoxyflavone, it was possible to determine the rates of deprotonation; pKa value of eri- odictyol, apigenin, kaempferol, quercetin, WP 279, and WP 283 was equal to 7.00, 8.72, 7.86, 8.30, 7.70 and 9.90, respec- tively. The methoxyl group substitutions in place of hydrogen atoms and/or hydroxyl groups at various positions of car- bon atoms in ring A, B and C particularly WP 283 resulted in an increase in the solubility, lipophilicity, and specifically its anticancer efficacy (by 60-fold). The neutral forms of flavonoids are predominantly active molecules and the active sites responsible for anticancer activity are found in ring A and C, especially C4=O, C5-OH and C2=C3.
Targeted Therapy in Ewing Sarcoma

Despite marked improvement in the prognosis of patients with nonmetastatic Ewing sarcoma (ES), the outcome for patients with recurrent or metastatic disease remains poor. Insight into key biologic processes in ES could provide new therapeutic targets. The particular biologic feature of ES, the fusion of the EWS gene with a member of the ETS family of genes, is present in >95% of cases. The EWS-ETS chimeric protein leads to aberrant transcription that promotes tumor initiation and propagation via prosurvival and antiapoptotic pathways. Recent research has identified cooperating mutations important for ES tumorigenesis. This paper provides a summary of the latest research in ES and discusses potential novel targets for therapy.
Opioid-induced hyperalgesia in patients after surgery: a systematic review and a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Opioids can increase sensitivity to noxious stimuli and cause opioid-induced hyperalgesia. We performed a systematic review to evaluate the clinical consequences of intra-operative doses of opioid. METHODS We identified randomized controlled trials which compared intra-operative opioid to lower doses or placebo in adult patients undergoing surgery from MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILAC, Cochrane, and hand searches of trial registries. We pooled data of postoperative pain intensity, morphine consumption, incidence of opioid-related side-effects, primary and secondary hyperalgesia. For dichotomous outcomes relative risks [95% conﬁdence intervals (CIs)] and for continuous outcomes mean differences (MDs) or standardized mean difference (SMD; 95% CI) were calculated. RESULTS Twenty-seven studies involving 1494 patients were included in the analysis. Patients treated with high intra-operative doses of opioid reported higher postoperative pain intensity than the reference groups (MD: 9.4 cm; 95% CI: 4.4, 14.5) at 1 h, (MD: 7.1 cm; 95% CI: 2.8, 11.3) at 4 h, and (MD: 3 cm; 95% CI: 0.4, 5.6) at 24 h on a 100 cm visual analogue scale. They also showed higher postoperative morphine use after 24 h (SMD: 0.7; 95% CI: 0.37, 1.02). There was no difference in the incidences of nausea, vomiting, and drowsiness. These results were mainly associated with the use of remifentanil. The impact of other opioids is less clear because of limited data. DISCUSSION This review suggests that high intra-operative doses of remifentanil are associated with small but significant increases in acute pain after surgery.
Testing Branching Process Estimators of Cascading Failure with Data from a Simulation of Transmission Line Outages

We suggest a statistical estimator to quantify the propagation of cascading transmission line failures in large blackouts of electric power systems. We use a Galton‐Watson branching process model of cascading failure and the standard Harris estimator of the mean propagation modified to work when the process saturates at a maximum number of components. If the mean number of initial failures and the mean propagation are estimated, then the branching process model predicts the distribution of the total number of failures. We initially test this prediction on failure data generated by a simulation of cascading transmission line outages on two standard test systems. We discuss the effectiveness of the estimator in terms of how many cascades need to be simulated to predict the distribution of the total number of line outages accurately.
Comparison of the cost metrics through investigation of the relation between optimal NCV and optimal NCT three-qubit reversible circuits

A breadth-first search method for determining optimal three-qubit circuits composed of quantum NOT, CNOT, controlled-V and controlled-V + (NCV) gates is introduced. Results are presented for simple gate count and for technology-motivated cost metrics. The optimal NCV circuits are also compared with NCV circuits derived from optimal NOT, CNOT and Toffoli (NCT) gate circuits. This work provides basic results and motivation for continued study of the direct synthesis of NCV circuits, and establishes relations between function realizations in different circuit cost metrics
High-performance low-complexity bit-plane coding scheme for MPEG-4 FGS

MPEG-4 FGS (Fine Granularity Scalability) has received tremendous attentions because it has ability to adapt to the network bandwidth variation. In this paper, we present a novel and effective bit-plane coding technique to further improve the coding efficiency of MPEG-4 FGS. The proposed approach reveals three superiorities to the MPEG-4 FGS based bit-plane variable-length coding (VLC): (1) better video quality in about 1.2 dB in terms of average PSNR, (2) less memory requirement, and (3) lower implementation complexity and power dissipation. Thus, it is well suitable for efficient hardware or software implementations.
Issues in Operating Systems for Reconfigurable Computing

As the number of system gates available on reconfigurable platforms increase beyond 20 million, the issue of the management of these resources and their sharing among may applications and users will become more of a concern. In this paper we describe the research issues for managing these resources in an operating system for a reconfigurable computer. We also detail a feasible set of components for the operating system and a feasible software architecture We show there is no current operating system implementation with these components. We propose a number of performance metrics which we believe are important measures of the quality of an operating system implementation. These include fragmentation of area, algorithm performance and application performance. We complete the paper with a status report on our implementation of an operating system for a reconfigurable computer.
On Verification Modelling of Embedded Systems

Computer-aided verification of embedded systems hinges on the availability of good verification models of the systems at hand. Such models must be much simpler than full design models or specifications to be of practical value, because of the unavoidable combinatorial complexities in the verification of any non-trivial system. Good verification models, therefore, are lean and mean, and cannot be obtained easily or generated automatically. Current research, however, seems to take the construction of verification models more or less for granted, although their development typically requires a coordinated integration of the experience, intuition and creativity of verification and domain experts. We argue that there is a great need for systematic methods for the construction of verification models to move on, and leave the current stage that can be characterised as that of model hacking. The ad-hoc construction of verification models obscures the relationship between models and the systems that they represent, and undermines the reliability and relevance of the verification results that are obtained. We propose some ingredients for a solution to this problem.
Validation of a glaucoma knowledge assessment in glaucoma patients

Summary To develop metrics to identify knowledge deficits and barriers to learning in glaucoma patients, this study seeks to validate a glaucoma knowledge assessment to use in the evaluation of knowledge in glaucoma patients. Purpose Glaucoma treatment adherence appears to improve when patients demonstrate a greater knowledge of the disease and its treatment. This study seeks to validate a glaucoma knowledge assessment in a glaucoma patient population to assist in patient educational assessments and interventions. Patients and methods The National Eye Health Education Program’s (NEHEP) glaucoma knowledge assessment has previously been suggested as a useful measure to assess glaucoma patient’s knowledge. This questionnaire was administered in glaucoma patients along with a more comprehensive 49-question examination. Demographic data and health literacy were assessed. Statistical analyses were performed to assess the validity of the assessments. Results A total of 12 glaucoma patients completed the knowledge assessments. The mean ± standard deviation age of the patients was 69±14 years, and the duration of glaucoma was 14±13 years. The participants’ mean score on the NEHEP assessment was 7.3±0.8 (of 10, 73% correct) vs 29.3±7.3 (of 49, 60% correct) on the comprehensive assessment. The value of coefficient α was 0.592 for NEHEP and 0.872 for the cumulative assessment. The P-value (proportion of examinees answering correctly) ranged from 0 to 1 for individual questions. Item point–biserial correlation values for each question ranged from −0.402 to 0.813. Discussion The NEHEP quiz may be a good starting point for the development of a reliable knowledge assessment tool to measure and monitor glaucoma knowledge, due to its concise nature and reasonable level of difficulty. This study suggests that questions included in the currently available questionnaires vary widely in difficulty and ability to differentiate knowledge level, which may ultimately compromise reliability and utility of existing examinations. Further examination of individual questions and teaching points included in the current assessments may help to construct increasingly reliable and useful knowledge assessments in the future.
A gamificação como estratégia de engajamento para a prática da educação ambiental La gamificación como estrategia de engajamiento para la práctica de la educación ambiental Gamification as a engagement strategy for the practice of environmental education

Este artigo apresenta a utilizacao da Gamificacao como importante estrategia para o engajamento de acoes para a Educacao Ambiental (EA). Foi utilizada uma rede social gamificada chamada MEIO, que contou com a participacao de alunos do Instituto Federal do Piaui campus Paulistana. A pesquisa buscou compreender o engajamento dos alunos durante a utilizacao do MEIO atraves de um trabalho experimental, que apresentou resultados que possibilitaram a compreensao do comportamento dos alunos com os elementos gamificados, atraves analises estatisticas qualitativas e quantitativas, obtida por meio de um questionario antes do experimento e da metrica de engajamento encontrada nos alunos apos o experimento. Os resultados trouxeram diversas contribuicoes, apontamentos e reflexoes sobre a utilizacao da Gamificacao na EA e tambem desafios que busquem resultados de engajamento superiores ao da pesquisa. Este articulo presenta la utilizacion de la Gamificacion como una importante estrategia para el compromiso de acciones para la Educacion Ambiental (EA). Se utilizo una red social gamificada llamada MEIO, que conto con la participacion de alumnos del Instituto Federal del Piaui campus Paulistana. La investigacion busco comprender el compromiso de los alumnos durante la utilizacion del MEIO a traves de un trabajo experimental, que presento resultados que posibilitar la comprension del comportamiento de los alumnos con los elementos gamificados, a traves de analisis estadisticos cualitativos y cuantitativos, obtenida por medio de un cuestionario antes del experimento y de la metrica de compromiso encontrada en los alumnos despues del experimento. Los resultados trae varias contribuciones, apuntes y reflexiones sobre el uso de la Gamificacion en la EA y tambien desafios que busquen resultados de compromiso superiores al de la investigacion. This article presents the use of Gamification as an important strategy for the engagement of actions for Environmental Education (EE). It was used a social network called MEIO, which had the participation of students from the Institute Federal of Piaui campus Paulistana. The research sought to understand students engagement during the use of the MEIO through an experimental work, which presented results that enabled the students understanding of the gamified elements, across qualitative and quantitative statistical analyzes, obtained through a questionnaire before of the experiment and of the metrics of engagement found in the students after the experiment. The results brought several contributions, notes and reflections on the use of Gamification in EE and also challenges that seek higher engagement results than the research.
NIM811 (N-Methyl-4-isoleucine Cyclosporine), a Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Inhibitor, Attenuates Cholestatic Liver Injury but Not Fibrosis in Mice

Cholestasis causes hepatocyte death, possibly because of mitochondrial injury. This study investigated whether NIM811 (N-methyl-4-isoleucine cyclosporine), an inhibitor of the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT), attenuates cholestatic liver injury in vivo. Cholestasis was induced in mice by bile duct ligation (BDL). NIM811 was gavaged (20 mg/kg) before BDL and daily (10 mg/kg) afterward. Mitochondrial depolarization, cell death, and MPT onset were assessed by intravital confocal/multiphoton microscopy of rhodamine 123, propidium iodide, and calcein. After BDL, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), hepatic necrosis, and apoptosis all increased. NIM811 decreased ALT, necrosis, and apoptosis by 60 to 86%. In vehicle-treated mice at 6 h after BDL, viable hepatocytes with depolarized mitochondria were 18/high-power field (hpf), and nonviable cells were ∼1/hpf, showing that depolarization preceded necrosis. Calcein entered mitochondria after BDL, indicating MPT onset in vivo. NIM811 decreased depolarization by 72%, prevented calcein entry into mitochondria, and blocked release of cytochrome c. Hepatic tumor necrosis factor α, transforming growth factor-β1, procollagen α1(I) mRNA, α-smooth muscle actin, and Sirius red staining for collagen increased after BDL but were not different in vehicle- and NIM811-treated mice. Taken together, NIM811 decreased cholestatic necrosis and apoptosis but did not block fibrosis, indicating that the MPT plays an important role in cholestatic cell death in vivo.
Design and Testing of Bipolar Pulsed-Power Supply With High Efficiency and Power Density for Strategic Mineral Exploration

In this paper, a 25-kW bipolar pulsed-power supply for strategic mineral exploration has been described. A 500-V, 12.5-A unit module consisting of a highly efficient LCC resonant converter and a full-bridge-based bipolar pulse-switching unit is designed. The LCC resonant converter has a trapezoidal-shaped resonant current for reduced conduction loss. For achieving high power density, the leakage inductance of the transformer is used as resonant inductance without an external inductor. Moreover, the designed gate drive circuit based on the repetitive short pulse is proposed to operate the frequency range from dc to 8 kHz and reduce the size of the gate transformer. Four modules are connected in series and parallel in order to operate the power supply in either loop mode or grounded dipole mode. Depending on the load condition, the pulse power source capable of delivering the required high voltage and low current (2 kV, 12.5 A) or low voltage and high current (500 V, 50 A) is operated either in grounded dipole mode or loop mode, respectively. In order to satisfy the output voltage balancing of the four modules, the third wire is wound to compensate for the transformer of the LCC resonant converter. Finally, the design of the bipolar pulsed-power supply has been verified based on the experimental results of the field test.
On the control of stratospheric humidity

We present a hypothesis on the dehydration and transfer of air from the tropical troposphere into the stratosphere. The hypothesis is based on the existence of a thick “tropopause layer,” in which vertical and horizontal mixing are both significant. Air is rapidly dehydrated upon entering this layer in vigorous convective overshoots, then slowly ascends through the layer before fully entering the stratosphere. Dehydration and genuine entry into the stratosphere are separate processes that happen on much different time scales.
Meet-in-the-middle preimage attacks revisited new results on MD5 and HAVAL

In this paper, we revisit previous meet-in-the-middle preimage attacks on hash functions. We firstly present a technical improvement for the existing local-collision and initial-structure techniques. With applying some equivalent transformation, we can significantly reduce the memory requirement from the original proposals. We then revisit the previous preimage attacks on MD5 and HAVAL with recent techniques. Consequently, we can improve the memory complexity of the previous preimage attack on full MD5 from 245 to 213 and on full 4-pass HAVAL from 264 to 232. Moreover, we extend the preimage attack on 5-pass HAVAL from 151 steps to 158 steps, and present the first preimage attack with a single block message for 3-pass HAVAL.
A Competitive Attentional Approach to Mitigating Model Drift in Adaptive Visual Tracking

A critical issue for adaptive visual tracking is that of model drift, which occurs when the state space of the object of interest is polluted by observations that should have been attributed to background clutter. One approach to mitigating model drift in adaptive feature-learning visual tracking systems is to introduce prior information about the object of interest, such as key-frames. We propose an alternative solution to mitigating model drift, which is to track everything including sources of clutter and then assign observations to the tracks that best describe the observations. We demonstrate that by having multiple single target trackers (Shape Estimating Filters) that interact in a competitive attentional framework, observations from clutter (objects that are not of interest) can be explained-away allowing each tracker to focus its attention on its object of interest.
Protected Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

The network made up by small nodes wirelessly is known as wireless sensor networks. This is one of the demanding technologies which are grown drastically. Now a day in most of the fields we use sensor technology. As per as the demands increase several other issues are also associated with it. These issues are security, fault tolerance, energy consumption, quality of service etc. Our main aim to write this paper is to give the more efficient approach to tackle with security issues. Due to increasing demands of sensors in military and other fields, it is very necessary to make them secure. Loss of useful and confidential information may lead the network to greater deficiency. Due to inherent computer constraints and inherent resources sensor networks security poses various challenges that traditional security scheme. We have surveyed various types of attacks related to WSN . The most common attacks are sinkhole attack, Sybil attack, black hole attack, wormhole attack etc. Many researchers have given the solution for all these attacks . We also worked to improve the security of particular protocol like GPRS (1). We use the concept of "supervision time" to give better results in the case of selective forwarding and Sybil attack. In this paper more efficient and protected technique is proposed for sensor networks by using that supervision time. Simulation results prove that Protected GPSR technique outperforms the S-GPSR by reducing the traffic, packet dropped nodes and improving the delivery ratio and delay of the networks.