Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Onset and duration of epidural analgesia with bupivacaine and bupivacaine plus fentanyl: a comparative study

Background: Bupivacaine has got the more cardiac toxicity due to high degree of protein binding. There have been many attempts for improving the duration and onset of epidural block. Fentanyl when administered epidurally was found to reduce the requirement of doses by double in some cases. The objective of the study was to compare the efficacy of bupivacaine plus fentanyl in terms of onset and duration of epidural analgesia. Methods: A clinical study was undertaken to evaluate the onset and duration of analgesia with bupivacaine and mixture of bupivacaine plus fentanyl when given epidurally for patients undergoing lower limb orthopedic surgeries. The study was undertaken in 50 patients who were divided into two groups of 25 each. The patients were undergoing surgery in orthopedic theatre at S. V. S. Medical College and Hospital. Patients studied comprised of both the sexes between the 18-55 years of age. Results: It is seen that the onset of analgesia was equal in both the groups 72% of patients in group II had excellent quality of intra operative analgesia compared to only 36% of patients in group I. This difference was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). It was seen that none of the patients had analgesia of less than 1 hour 30 minutes. The two-segment regression time was uniformly distributed amongst the two groups. It was found that the incidence of intra operative complications like bradycardia, hypotension, nausea/vomiting were almost equal in both the groups. It was found that the duration of post-operative analgesia in patients of two groups was almost equal. Conclusions: Addition of fentanyl to bupivacaine was found to increase the quality of intra operative analgesia. Otherwise there was no added advantage over bupivacaine alone.
Retrieval Spectral Albedo using red and NIR band of SPOT/VGT

Albedo is one of the critical parameters for understanding global climate change and energy/water balance. In this study, we used red and NIR reflectance from Satellite Pour I’Obervation de la Terre (SPOT)/ Vegetation (VGT) S1 product. The product is preprocessed for users that they are atmospherically corrected using Simple Method Atmospheric Correction (SMAC) by Vision on Technology (VITO) for calculating broadband albedo. Roujean’s Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) model is a semi-empirical method used for BRDF angular integration and inversion. Each kernel of Roujean’s model was multi integrated by angle components (i.e., viewing zenith, solar zenith, and relative azimuth angle). Black-sky hemispherical function is integrated by observational angle; whereas, white-sky hemispherical efficient is integrated by incident angle. Estimated spectral albedo of red (0.61 ~ 0.68 μm, B2) and near infrared (0.79 ~ 0.89 μm, B3) have a good agreement with MODIS albedo products.
Circadian aspects of the sleep structure

Sleep dominates our daily life and is yet so little understood. Why do we sleep, what triggers our sleep, what induces our awakening. What are the essentials of sleep structure and sleep quality. How is sleep modulated by a circadian signal. In this symposium several aspects of sleep are discussed ranging from the circadian sleep structure, the interaction with deep body temperature and the changes that occur at ageing to the effects of shift work.
Next-generation Sequencing in the Clinical Decision Making in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Next generation sequencing (NGS) is becoming a valuable tool in clinical decisions. Here, we discuss the case of a family (2 parents with 3 children) with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy where we applied a NGS method developed by us to determine the genetic background of the disease. When the youngest sister underwent sudden cardiac arrest and successful reanimation, her genome was tested with this approach and two disease-causing heterozygous mutations in the MYBPC3 gene (p.R495Q and p.S593fs*11) were identified. After this, all of the family members were screened targeting these two mutations. The mother carried the frameshift mutation (p.S593fs*11) while the father’s genome contained the point mutation (p.R495Q). All the children were compound heterozygous. Information collected from our genetic testing panel helped to make the decision of implanting ICD that is associated potentially severe complications in children. This case further reinforces that a full-scale, cost-effective NGS method can be utilized to supplement diagnostic and therapeutic processes of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in clinical practice.
Wavelet-Based and Database Approach for Locating Faulty Section of High Impedance Fault in a Distribution System

Locating a faulty section of the high impedance fault (HIF) in a power system network is a major challenge especially for a distribution network. This is due to the effect of the complexity of the distribution network such as branches, non-homogenous lines and high fault impedance that results in variation of fault locations. In this paper, analysis of fault locations using Discrete Wavelet Transform-based Multi-Resolution Analysis (MRA) has been proposed. A three-phase voltage signal measured at the main substation is analyzed to locate the high impedance fault. The 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd levels of detailed coefficient resolution for each phase were used for the classification of fault locations using the proposed method. The simulation was conducted on a 38-node distribution network system in a national grid in Malaysia using PSCAD software. The proposed method has successfully determined the actual fault location of a high impedance fault. Streszczenie. W artykule przedstawiono analize metody lokalizacji awarii w sieci energetycznej, wykorzystującej analize wielo-wynikową (ang. Multiresolution Analysis), opartą na dyskretnej transformacji falkowej. Analizie poddawany jest sygnal pomiarowy napiecia trojfazowego w podstacji. Przeprowadzono badania symulacyjne w programie PSCAD na systemie dystrybucji energii elektrycznej o 38 korzeniach w malezyjskich panstwowych sieciach energetycznych. (Lokalizacja awaryjnej sekcji w przypadku awarii izolatora w sieci dystrybucji energii elektrycznej - wykorzystanie analizy danych i transformacji falkowej).
Antioxidant Activity of Nanoemulsion Gel of Rambutan Fruit Peel Extracts (Nephelium lappaceum L.) Using DPPH and FTC Method

Muhtadi*, Riyan Eko Hartanto, Erindyah Retno Wikantyasning Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta Jl. A. Yani Tromol Pos I, Pabelan Kartasura Surakarta 57102 *email: muhtadi@ums.ac. id Abstracts Rambutan fruit peel extracts had been reported to have quite high antioxidant activity. There are several compounds classes of phenolic and flavonoid contained in Rambutan fruit peel extracts such as ellagic acid, corillagine and geraniine that are responsible for its antioxidant activity. Antioxidant compounds are commonly used in cosmetic preparations. This study was conducted to explain the antioxidant activity of rambutan fruit peel extracts in nanoemulsion gel formulation which was tested with DPPH (1.1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) and FTC (Ferric Thiosyanate) method. A method of DPPH was done by making 5 series of concentration and read as absorbance at λ max by using spectrophotometer UV-Vis and for the method of FTC, it was read as absorbance at λ 500 nm. The result of absorbance could be used to determine the value of IC50 (DPPH method) and inhibition percent (FTC method). The result of the study using DPPH method obtained the IC50 values of nanoemulsion gel of Rambutan fruit peel extracts in the amount of 9.32 ± 0.06 mg/mL, which was higher than X Sunscreen Gel and vitamin E with IC50 value of 40.41 ± 0.98 mg/mL and 10.41 ± 0.05 mg/mL, respectively. The results with the FTC method obtained the percent value of inhibition of 51.09 ± 0.99%, which was lower than X Sunscreen Gel and vitamin E with percent value of inhibition of 60.07% ± 13.23% and 79.07 ± 7.62%, respectively. These results indicated that Rambutan fruit peel extracts had quite high antioxidant activity that after they were formulated into a nanoemulsion gel.
How Does Packaging Influence Consumer Behavior? A Multidisciplinary Bibliometric Study

The objective of this research was to analyze the academic literature focusing on how product packaging influences consumer behavior through the use of a bibliometric study. To accomplish this, we analyzed 111 articles, published from 1982 to 2014, indexed in the Web of Science database maintained by Thomson Reuters (formerly the ISI Web of Knowledge). For the analysis, we used descriptive statistics, bibliometric analyses, and networks to explore characteristics of the articles that related to their authors, journals, evolution, keywords, and research topics. Published manuscripts had a network of dispersed ownership without a central author; most works were published in the United States. Although most of the articles were from the categories of Business & Economics and Food Science & Technology, there is a growing trend in the amount of research and its expansion into subject areas such as chemistry, nutrition, engineering, and more recently, environmental studies, behavioral science, and public policy. An article by Wansink (1996) was the most-cited out of the survey of 111 articles, as well as the most-cited reference for these items. We conclude that the study of packaging and its influence on consumer behavior is a multidisciplinary subject that is highly relevant to purchase decisions, conscious consumption, food preservation, health problems, contamination, storage and transport, obesity and smoking, and sustainability issues.
The Determinants of Inequality and Income Gap between Urban and Rural Areas in Cameroon: Evidence from the ECAM3 Household Survey

This paper analyzes the determinants of income and the urban-rural income gap to highlight the urban-rural inequality problem in Cameroon. It concurrently uses the OLS regression, the conditional quantile regression as well as the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition techniques to achieve this objective. The findings of OLS estimations show that human resources and social as well as physical capital play a major role in the improvement of welfare. Household size reduces the consumption expenditures both in rural and urban areas. The regions where the households reside also affect consumption expenditures. Household heads who work in the services sector and trade are better-off than those working in the other sectors of the economy. However, quantile regressions results show that households headed by the old people enjoy a higher level of welfare in the upper quintiles of the distribution of consumption. Household heads who work in the industrial sector have a negative relationship with consumption at the 10th quintile of the distribution of household expenditures in the urban area. In the rural area, household heads working in the services sector have a positive relationship with consumption only at the 50th and 90th percentiles of the distribution of expenditures, whereas those belonging to the 10th quintile have a negative relationship with consumption. In the rural area, the average time span spent to reach an asphalted road has a stronger positive impact on the consumption of households belonging to the 90th percentile of the distribution of expenditures. Being a member of an association has a significant positive effect only on the consumption of households belonging to the 10th quintile of the expenditures distribution. The study results derived with the help of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method show that 59 percent of the welfare gap between urban and rural areas may be explained by differences in the characteristics, and most particularly in physical assets and education. The remaining 41 percent of the welfare gap is explained by discrimination.
Bone Metabolism and Osteoporosis in Adult Celiac Disease

Celiac disease (CD) affects around 1-2% of the world population. Many current CD patients live with their symptoms for years before diagnosis, and are therefore exposed to the consequences of the disease, including an impaired bone mineralization. In this chapter we provide an updated discussion on the relationship between low bone mineral density (BMD), osteopenia and osteoporosis, and celiac disease. Review of the literature shows, low BMD affects up to 75% of patients with celiac disease and 40% of those diagnosed during adulthood. It can be found at any age, independently of positive serological markers and presence of digestive symptoms, contributing to deterioration in the quality of life. The prevalence of CD among osteoporotic patients is also significantly increased. Two theories try to explain the origin of low BMD: Micronutrients malabsorption (including calcium and vitamin D) determined by villous atrophy has been related to secondary hyperparathyroidism and incapacity to achieve the potential bone mass peak; chronic inflammation was also related with RANKL secretion, osteoclasts activation and increased bone reabsorption. As a consequence, CD patients have a risk for bone fractures that exceeds 40% that of matched non-affected population. Treatment of low BMD in CD comprises gluten-free diet, calcium and vitamin D supplementation, and biphosphonates, although its effects on CD have not been specifically assessed. It can be concluded that a relevant proportion of CD patients present a low BMD and a variable increase in the risk of bone fractures. Epidemiological changes in CD make bone density scans more relevant for adult celiacs.
Performance Analysis and Comparison of Different Routing Protocols in MANET

Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of wireless mobile hosts forming a temporary network without the aid of any stand-alone infrastructure or centralized administration. Most of the proposed MANET protocols do not address security issues. In MANETs routing algorithm is necessary to find specific routes between source and destination. The primary goal of any ad-hoc network routing protocol is to meet the challenges of the dynamically changing topology and establish an efficient route between any two nodes with minimum routing overhead and bandwidth consumption. The existing routing security is not enough for routing protocols. An ad-hoc network environment introduces new challenges that are not present in fixed networks. A several protocols are introduced for improving the routing mechanism to find route between any source and destination host across the network. In this paper present a logical survey on routing protocols and compare the performance of the following protocols such as AODV, DSR, DSDV and OLSR.
Contrast Enhancement Techniques using Histogram Equalization: A Survey

Contrast enhancement techniques are used for improving visual quality of low contrast images. Histogram Equalization (HE) method is one such technique used for contrast enhancement. In this paper, various techniques of image enhancement through histogram equalization are overviewed. On comparing them we see that Background Brightness preserving Histogram Equalization (BBPHE) technique provides better and scalable brightness preservation for images with poor contrast.
Effectiveness of cross taping as a therapy for delayed muscle soreness

Abstrcat: Background & purpose, Decrease muscle soreness by medical tape is supported by the literature. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of the cross tapes in muscle soreness. Twenty normal subjects ranging in age from 18 to 55 with no history of previous skin allergy from any tape and do not have any upper body injuries participated. Subjects will perform the lowering phase of a bicep curl exercise using a dumbbell consisting of 3 sets 25 repetition, followed 90 seconds rest between each set. A grid shaped adhesive, a little larger than a stamp, called a cross tapes will be applied in the bicep of the dominant hand and the other hand as control for one week. The range of motion and pain for both arms will be measured before and after applied the tape. The study findings show that there were statically significant difference between the range of motion and the pain (pre, post) when the procedure is carried out over a period of two consecutive weeks (1 day per week) with large effect size (0.2) and strong power (0.96). However; there were no significant differences between the two groups (right, left arms) with medium effect size (0.1) and weak power (0.33). Therefore, this study suggest that cross tapes may reduce delayed onset of muscle soreness, however more research is needed. Future studies should include a larger number of subjects, more diverse cohort, an exercise that applies a greater intensity, and expands the time of research. Cross tape is an advisable method to decrease delayed onset of muscle soreness and improved functional performance.
A Systematic Literature Review on Strategic Information Systems Planning: Insights from the Past Decade

Strategic information system planning (SISP) has been an important concern for top business and information systems (IS) managers. This paper employs a systematic literature review approach for 12 top ranking IS journals in the past 10 years in order to classify them based on their focus levels, research topics, and research methods. Our search resulted in 45 papers which are categorized into four focus groups, three context groups and six topic groups. The results indicate that most of the research focus to date has been on the alignment and development of plans. Researchers have paid more attention to the context as the focus of research, the firm as research context and the quantitative approach as research method. The results may be beneficial to show new researchers the current status and research gaps and for practitioners who want to ascertain valuable topics in the literature that help them with their business problems.
The Impact of Sound on Player Experience - A literature study on how players experience the encounter with sound in horror-games

​—​Player decision modeling can provide useful guidance to understand player performance in games. This information is used to increase consideration of player characteristics from the user’s perspective and develop more user-centered video games. This paper presents an initial proposal of a factor such as sound that may be considered when developing games, to see if horror games are facing challenges related to sound aspects of the game. Through related work, experiments, interviews and observations this paper aims to answer how sound in horror-games changes our gameplay experience as well as what impact the absence of sound has on a horror-game. We also present the results of this field study and present some suggestions for future research. Keywords​—Artificial Intelligence, Player experience, State of emotion, Sound impact, Horror-game sound, Heart rate. —————————— ​◆​ ——————————
The Effect of Post-resistance Exercise Alcohol Ingestion on LPS-stimulated Cytokines

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of post-resistance exercise alcohol ingestion on LPS-stimulated production of IFNγ, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10. Recreationally resistance-trained men (n = 10, 25 ± 3 yr, 177 ± 7 cm, 83.8 ± 15.7 kg, 14.8 ± 8.5% body fat) and women (n = 8, 23 ± 2 yr, 161 ± 3 cm, 59.5 ± 6.0 kg, 26.5 ± 3.0% body fat) completed the study. Participants visited the laboratory for an initial visit at which time they were screened, familiarized with procedures, and had their 1-repetition maximum (1RM) back squat tested. Subsequently, participants visited the laboratory 2 more times and completed 2 identical heavy resistance exercise bouts (6 sets of 10 repetitions of 80% 1RM back squat) after which a beverage, either containing alcohol (alcohol condition, ALC; 1.09 g EtOH per kg fat free mass) or water (placebo condition, PLA), was administered. Blood samples were collected before exercise (PRE), and at 3 hours (3h) and 5 hours (5h) after exercise. Samples were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and cultured overnight. Supernatant was collected and analyzed for IFNγ, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10. A significant (p < 0.05) main effect for time was found for IFNγ, TNF-α, and IL-1β (5h greater than PRE) and for IL-10 (5h less than PRE and 3h, 3h less than PRE). An interaction effect was found for IL-8 (ALC less than PLA at 5h) and for IL-6 (ALC greater than PLA at PRE and ALC less than PLA at 3h). For IL-6, ALC was less at 3h than at PRE, and PLA was greater at 3h than at PRE. Overall, the LPS-stimulated cytokine response was pro-inflammatory by 5h. Alcohol consumed after heavy resistance exercise reduced LPS-stimulated production of IL-6 and IL-8 but not of IFNγ, TNF-α, IL-1β, or IL-10. These data indicate that alcohol affected inflammatory capacity but that the potential effect of alcohol on the production of cytokines in response to LPS was largely overwhelmed by the resistance exercise bout.
Broadband and Gain Enhanced Bowtie Antenna with AMC Ground

A low-profile wideband bowtie antenna backed by artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) ground is presented for gain enhancement. The proposed bowtie antenna, loaded with an open stub in the upper layer, has broadband property. By using an AMC reflector, consisting of 6×9 metallic patches, the bidirectional radiation of the bowtie antenna is changed to unidirectional radiation. The distance between the bowtie antenna and the AMC surface is only λ/10 at 3.75 GHz. Both the bowtie antenna and the AMC surface are fabricated and measured. The measured results demonstrate good and stable performances, including maximum gain of 8.27 dBi, and flat gain response with variation of 0.6 dB in the wide impedance matching (S11 < −10 dB) band from 3.05 GHz to 4.35 GHz (35.1%). Furthermore, the maximum cross-polarization level is −17 dB for both E and H planes, and the measured front-to-back ratios are more than 18 dB. Good agreement between the simulated and measured results validates the proposed design approach.
The Development of Chinese Students' Understanding of the Concept of Fractions from Fifth to Eighth Grade

The purpose of the present study was to investigate fifth to eighth grade Chinese students’ understanding of the concept of fractions. One hundred and ninety nine students were tested using a questionnaire that required them to make judgments about fraction size and to order a set of given fractions. The participants were also asked to justify their responses. Primary findings revealed that students progressed along three conceptual levels in grasping the concept of fraction: at level 1, fraction is viewed as consisting of two independent numbers; at level 2, fraction is viewed as indicating part-whole relations; and at level 3, fraction is viewed as indicating the ratios between the numerator and the denominator. Results also indicated that, from fifth to eighth grade, Chinese students made significant progress in understanding the concept of fractions.
The Extent of Competition and Its Impact on Bank Efficiency: Case of the Tunisian Commercial Banks

The increasing of banking competition has pushed worldwide banks to improve their resource allocations in order to become more competitive and efficient. The purpose of this article is to measure the level of banking competition and its impact on Tunisian banks. Our empirical investigation is based on a sample of ten Tunisian banks during the period from 1998 to 2013. Its purpose is to measure their competition by using the Herfindahl index and the concentration ratio as structural approach and the model Panzar and Rosse as non-structural approach. We found that Tunisian banks are in intense competitive situation. Similarly, we found that more concentration decreases, more the competition between banks increases.