Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can Weather Radars Be Used to Estimate Snow Accumulation on Alpine Glaciers? An Evaluation Based on Glaciological Surveys

The snow water equivalent (SWE) is a key component for understanding changes in the cryosphere in high mountain regions. Yet, a reliable quantification at a high spatiotemporal resolution remains challenging in such environments. In this study, we investigate the potential of an operational weather radar–rain gauge composite (CombiPrecip) to infer the daily evolution of SWE on seven Swiss glaciers. To this end, we validate cumulative CombiPrecip estimates with glacier-wide manual SWE observations (snow probing, snow pits) obtained around the time of the seasonal peak during four winter seasons (2015–19). CombiPrecip underestimates the end-of-season snow accumulation by factors of 2.2 up to 3.7, depending on the glacier site. These factors are consistent over the four winter seasons. The regional variability can be mainly attributed to the empirical visibility of the Swiss radar network within the Alps. To account for the underestimation, we investigate three approaches to adjust CombiPrecip for the applicability to glacier sites. Thereby, we combine the factor of underestimation with a precipitation-phase parameterization. For further comparison, we apply a rain gauge catch-efficiency function based on wind speed. We validate these approaches with 14 manual point observations of SWE obtained on two glaciers during three winter seasons. All approaches show a similar improvement of CombiPrecip estimates. We conclude that CombiPrecip has great potential to estimate SWE on glaciers at a high temporal resolution, but further investigations are necessary to understand the regional variability of the bias throughout the Swiss Alps.
The 3D effects of a vertical-axis wind turbine: rotor and wake induction

This paper deals with the 3D effects of a vertical-axis wind turbine caused by the tip vortices. In this study, the VAWT rotor is simplified by the infinitely bladed actuator cylinder concept. The loads are prescribed to be uniform and normal to the surface and are distributed between the upwind and downwind half. Depending on the load configuration, the tip vortices are shed at different locations. This causes the wake induction field and the induction at the rotor to be significantly different. The 3D effects cause a power loss that may go up to 15% depending on the load configuration and aspect ratio. Starting from an aspect ratio of 5, the rotor induction and power is approaching 2D results.
The Greek Version of the Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Parent Rating Scale for Follow-up Assessment in Prepubertal Children with ADHD

ABSTRACT Given the heterogeneity of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), there is a constant need for proper diagnosis, employing more accurate, efficient, patient-friendly, and clinician-friendly tools. We developed a Greek version of the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ) Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Parent Rating Scale (VADPRS) for follow-up assessment and examined its reliability and validity. A total of 100 schoolchildren (65 girls and 35 boys) between 7 and 12 years old with ADHD were included in the study. The internal consistency and test–retest reliability were examined via principal component analysis. Three-component structure in our study accounts for 74.63% of the tool’s variance. The questions’ loadings onto the factors and the internal reliability of the three factors were satisfactory. Finally, the reliability of all factors presented was found adequately high, confirming the high internal consistency of the items. Our results suggest that the Greek version of the VADPRS-follow-up may be used as an accurate psychometric instrument for the purposes of diagnosing ADHD. Furthermore, the combined use of the VADPRS-follow-up with other widely accepted tools, such as the ADHD Rating Scale-IV, may present clinical utility in collating parent information concerning the behavioural phenotype of their children.
The Effect of Sulfur- and Carbon-Codoped TiO 2 Nanocomposite on the Photocatalytic and Mechanical Properties of Cement Mortars

This study has established the impact of a nano-ТіО 2 P25 modifier and a nanocomposite based on titanium dioxide, doped with sulfur and carbon dioxide (ТіО 2 /S,C), on the photocatalytic, mechanical properties and the structural formation of cement mortars. The paper reports the results of the particle size distribution of the Portland composite cement and the ТіО 2 nano additives; a comprehensive assessment of the particle size distribution has been performed both in terms of volume and specific surface. It has been proven that the ТіО 2 /S,C nanocomposite is characterized by the extremely high surface activity, which determines the photocatalytic properties of the surface of cement mortars. The comparison of the mechanical properties of cement mortars modified by titanium dioxide nano additives has been carried out. An experimental study has confirmed the improved photocatalytic properties of the cement mortar surface in the visible spectrum through the doping of the nano-sized titanium dioxide with carbon and sulfur. A combination of the ТіО 2 nano additives and the superplasticizers of polycarboxylate type leads to the increased strength of the modified samples in proportion to a hardening age. Given the high surface activity of the ТіО 2 /S,C nanocomposite's particles, the cement paste hydration products deposit at their surface, thereby forming such conglomerates with them that seal the microstructure of the cement matrix. It has been shown that using a nanocomposite based on the modified titanium dioxide decreases the indicators of free energy while the surface of the cement mortar acquires hydrophobic properties, which contributes to the processes of self-cleaning. Thus, there is a reason to argue about the feasibility of using the ТіО 2 /S,C nanocomposite to improve the photocatalytic, self-cleaning, mechanical, and hydrophobic properties of cement mortars
Gender Inequality on the Uses of the Internet: A Study of Dhaka City of Bangladesh

Nowadays, the internet is considered a basic need, and for this, many researchers and academicians are engrossed by this subject. Very few literary works have been found to show gender inequality on the internet uses. For this reason, this study has been conducted. The main objective of this study is to assess the extent of gender inequalities on the uses of the internet in terms of time spends, money spends, data download, data upload, time spends on Social Networking Sites, time spends per access, and online earnings. For conducting this study, a survey questionnaire has been used for collecting primary data. Six hypotheses are developed and tested at a 5% level of significance. Results of the study indicate that there is significant inequality that exists between males and females in terms of time spends on the internet; money spends on the internet, the volume of data download and upload, time spends on social networking sites. Besides exists, an insignificant inequality between males and females in terms of time spends on the internet per access. The study recommends that female internet users need to be more thoughtful in case of information access, online earnings, and internet-based government and semi-government services. Based on the findings, the paper recommends that women need awareness on online earnings, online-based government services, and how effectively they can use information. This study suggests ensuring proper uses of the internet for both males and females equally to make Bangladesh competent.
Phytoextraction Potential of Rhizophora Apiculata: A Case Study in Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, Malaysia

Disposal of industrial wastewater has resulted in increased concentration of heavy metals (HMs) along the coastline of Malaysia. However, little is known about the accumulation capacity of HMs by Rhizophora apiculata in Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve (MMFR) Malaysia. The aim of this study is to measure the concentration of HMs in different ages of mangrove forests. In this study, 15 and 80-year old trees of Rhizophora apiculata were selected for experimentation. Thirty samples of leaves, roots and sediments were analyzed to measure the concentration of HMs in 15 and 80-year-old trees. The measured concentrations of copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) in leaves, roots and sediments were used to compare bio- concentration and translocation factor between the abovementioned two age groups. Concentration of Mn came out to be significantly higher in leaves than in sediment. This suggested that Rhizophora apiculata was an efficient Mn-extractor. On the other hand, it was found less efficient in extracting heavier metals (Fe, Cu and Zn) from the sediment, as their concentration was lower in leaves and roots as compared to sediments. The translocation factor was highest for Mn, indicating high mobility of Mn from roots towards the leaves. Bio-concentration factor was also found highest for Mn (3.52) followed by Zn (1.88), Cu (1.33) and Fe (0.26). Therefore, it can be concluded that Rhizophora apiculata is more efficient in extracting Mn as compared to Zn, Cu and Fe.
Dual‐pathway DenseNets with fully lateral connections for multimodal brain tumor segmentation

Multimodal medical image data provide different structured and functional information, which helps segment brain tumor and gets a reliable and accurate diagnosis. Segmenting brain tumors in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a challenging task because brain tumors can be at any location with changeable shape and size. Existing deep neural networks for brain tumor segmentation use few connections to fuse multilevel information. To make use of multilevel information from multimodal MRIs, we propose dual‐pathway DenseNets with fully lateral connections (DP‐DenseNets), a three‐dimensional (3D) fully convolutional neural network that uses dense connectivity to construct dual‐pathway architecture to multimodal brain tumor segmentation problem. Each two similar imaging modalities have a pathway, for one thing, the bottom‐up pathway with dense connectivity is developed for extracting features; another, the top‐down pathway concatenates the features of the bottom‐up pathway in all layers. Dual pathways with different loss functions and fully lateral connectivity from the bottom‐up pathway to the top‐down pathway provide an abundant combination of different levels of features. Comparing to these fusion schemes such as input‐level fusion and later‐level fusion, this architecture leverages semantics from low to high levels, which is provided by fully lateral connectivity. Our model is evaluated on the dataset from Brain Tumor Segmentation Challenge 2017 (BRATS 2017), and the experiments show that our method achieves better performance than other 3D networks.
Idiotypic Analysis of Anti-GAT Antibodies

The synthetic terpolymer of L-glutamic acid60-L-alanine30-L-tyrosine10 (GAT) induced anti-GAT antibodies in D1.LP mice. Some of these antibodies shared common idiotypic specificities. The interaction between idiotypic antibody and anti-idiotypic antiserum was specifically inhibited by GAT and the closely related polymer of L-glutamic acid and L-tyrosine (GT) but not by the copolymer of L-glutamic acid and L-alanine (GA). The binding of labeled GAT by the anti-GAT antibodies was also specifically inhibited by the anti-idiotypic antiserum. These results indicated a close association of idiotypic determinants with the antibody-combining sites. Furthermore, such active site-related common idiotypic specificities were found in individual sera of both responder mice (D1.LP) and nonresponder mice (DBA/1) immunized with GAT and GAt-MBSA, respectively, indicating that both responder and nonresponder mice carry B cells with common clonotypes.
Extraction, purification et localisation sub-cellulaire des Arabidopsides chez Arabidopsis Thaliana L.

In a time when people care more and more about environmental and health impacts of chemicals used in large quantities by conventional agriculture, many projects are implemented in order to develop healthier alternatives. Indeed, programs such as the FIELD project allow to enhance research on the mechanisms set up by plants when they are under stress or attacked by pests. A better understanding of these reactions of defence and of the molecules involved would open up new possibilities to protect crops. Studies show that some molecules are produced under stress conditions and allow the plant to resist the stress more efficiently and even to destroy the pest. These molecules include the oxylipines, which thanks to their possible inductivity appear to be promising for a greener agriculture. This master thesis focuses on esterified oxylipines, which in the case of Arabidopsis thaliana l. , are known as arabidopsides. These molecules, hardly studied so far, seem to play an important role in plant defence mechanisms. Therefore, it is interesting to determine their location in the plant cell. However, in order to do that, efficient methods of extraction, purification and quantification are necessary. Within the context of this master thesis, a method of purification by preparative HPLC has been developed, allowing us to obtain purer fractions of the molecules of interest. From these solutions containing arabidopsides, an optimization of their detection by HPLC-MS has been carried out. The use of HPLC-MS allows the analysis of complex samples while identifying precisely the masses of present compounds. In order to allow a more comprehensive study of the presence of these molecules, a dosage by HPLC-UV was performed. This allows to determine the concentration of arabidopside A in a sample. The study of several parameters such as the repeatability and reproducibility ensures the validity of this method. In order to determine the location of these molecules in the plant cell, different types of cell membranes were isolated and analyzed by HPLCMS and HPLC-UV. These analyses show the presence of arabidopsides in fractions with thylakoides as well as in fractions with chloroplast membranes, even if their concentrations are the lowest. The analysis of plasmic membrane was not relevant for the presence or absence of arabidopsides because of the small amount of membrane tested. The quantity of purified arabidopside A during this work allows further studies on the interactions between these molecules and vegetal membranes. In the long term, this could lead to a better comprehension of the defense mecanisms developed by plants.
Less arterial stiffness in kidney transplant recipients than chronic kidney disease patients matched for renal function

Abstract Background Chronic kidney disease is associated with a high cardiovascular risk. Compared with glomerular filtration rate–matched CKD patients (CKDps), we previously reported a 2.7-fold greater risk of global mortality among kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). We then examined aortic stiffness [evaluated by carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (CF-PWV)] and cardiovascular risk in KTRs compared with CKDps with comparable measured glomerular filtration rate (mGFR). Methods We analysed CF-PWV in two cohorts: TransplanTest (KTRs) and NephroTest (CKDps). Propensity scores were calculated including six variables: mGFR, age, sex, mean blood pressure (MBP), body mass index (BMI) and heart rate. After propensity score matching, we included 137 KTRs and 226 CKDps. Descriptive data were completed by logistic regression for CF-PWV values higher than the median (>10.6 m/s). Results At 12 months post-transplant, KTRs had significantly lower CF-PWV than CKDps (10.1 versus 11.0 m/s, P = 0.008) despite no difference at 3 months post-transplant (10.5 versus 11.0 m/s, P = 0.242). A lower occurrence of high arterial stiffness was noted among KTRs compared with CKDps (38.0% versus 57.1%, P < 0.001). It was especially associated with lower mGFR, older age, higher BMI, higher MBP, diabetes and higher serum parathyroid hormone levels. After adjustment, the odds ratio for the risk of high arterial stiffness in KTRs was 0.40 (95% confidence interval 0.23–0.68, P < 0.001). Conclusions Aortic stiffness was significantly less marked in KTRs 1 year post-transplant than in CKDps matched for GFR and other variables. This observation is compatible with the view that the pathogenesis of post-transplant cardiovascular disease differs, at least in part, from that of CKD per se.
AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF OPD MANAGEMENT VERSUS HOME MANAGEMENT IN LOW BACK ACHE PATIENTS

Objective : To study the effectiveness of OPD management versus home management in low back ache patients. Material and Method: Participants aged between 27 to 55 years suffering from low back pain for more than 3 months were inducted in the study. They were divided into two groups, one which was provided intervention at home and the other which was given physiotherapy in OPD setting. Interventions: A pre and post assessment was done at 4 months based on Oswestry low back pain disability questionnaire. Analysis was done by application of Independent sample t test. P value less than 0.04 was taken as significant. Results: A total of 10 participants were equally divided for OPD and home management. Oswestry low back pain disability questionnaire was administered pre and post intervention and Independent T test was applied to find the difference between the mean pre test and post test scores for OPD and home managed patients which were taken 4 months apart. A significant difference was observed as p value was < 0.00. Conclusions: The study concluded that OPD management for chronic low back ache not only reduce the pain but also reduces chance of disability. But patient satisfaction was higher in home manage group in comparison to OPD in personal care. activities. The sample of 10 participants was divided into two groups, one coming to OPD continuously for physiotherapy treatment while other group was given home programme only (but they came at regular interval for follow ups). Than after four months patients were re-examined at Kanpur Physiotherapy Centre and were asked to fill the same questionnaire. Mean and standard deviation was taken out for the numerical variables whereas frequencies and percentages were taken out for categorical variables. Pooled and Paired t test was applied for finding the difference in the mean scores of pre and post test of home versus OPD management groups. P value less than 0.04 was taken as significant.
Job Involvement Reality in Physical Education Supervisors in General Educational Bureaus Directorate in Iraq

The research aimed at identifying job involvement in physical education supervisors in the Iraqi general educational directorate. The researchers used the descriptive method on (492) physical education supervisors from (20) directorates. A scale was designed of four fields distributed on (3) items arranged in the form of a questionnaire. The data was collected and treated using SPSS. The results showed that designing a measurement is of great importance to detect the level of job involvement in physical education supervisors and their daily administration of work to improve and evaluate physical education class as well as programs designed for students. The researchers finally recommended adapting measurement as a means for discovering the degree of job involvement for producing new, distinguished products. In addition to that, they recommended listening to supervisors’ suggestions and giving them the freedom of speech a matter that motivates them for better job involvement and developing for the better.
Canine angiostrongylosis: an increasing concern

Canine angiostrongylosis is a snail-borne parasitic infection caused by the nematode Angiostrongylus vasorum. This metastrongyloid nematode poses a significant threat to canine populations. It is capable of infecting wild and domestic canines as their definitive host, using gastropods as intermediate hosts. Recent data strongly suggest an increased geographic expansion of this parasite in wildlife animals that can serve as a reservoir. Once localised to the southern UK, A. vasorum now represents a tangible threat to dogs throughout the country, presenting asymptomatically or causing a wide range of clinical signs including dyspnoea and haemorrhage. Veterinary professionals have a range of efficacious anthelmintics that, when used correctly, can significantly reduce mortality, clinical illness and associated health complications. Effective control of this disease, however, entails more understanding of the role of wildlife in spreading A. vasorum. Combined with this is the need for an appropriate framework.
Influence of Nanocermic on Some Properties of Polyetheretherketone Based Biocomposites

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) materials belong to a group of high-performance thermoplastic polymers thermoplastic that has been proposed as a substitute for metals in biomaterials. In this research, in order to improve the performances of PEEK, nano titanium dioxide (n-TiO2) and nano-hydroxyapatite (n-HAp) were incorporated into PEEK loading up to (1.5 wt%) to fabricate PEEK composites by using a method of melt-blending and hot compressing. Properties, such as compression, density, the morphology of fracture, and element analysis were examined for preparing samples. The results showed that the compression and density properties improved with increased weight fraction for two types of reinforcement, but the higher values obtained at (1.5 wt%) for two types of powders. It was found the higher compression strength and compression modulus obtained when reinforced with (1.5% n-HAp) which equal to (107.632 MPa and 3.991 GPa) respectively, than for samples reinforced with (1.5% n-TiO2) which equal to (91.579 MPa and 3.123GPa) respectively, while the density results have opposite behavior, it was found the higher values obtained when reinforced with (n-TiO2) than for samples reinforced with (n-HAp) and at (1.5% n-TiO2) the higher density, which equal to (1.3656) while at (1.5% n-HAp) which equal to (1.3425). Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) manifested, that the fracture morphology transferred from brittle to ductile when reinforced with nano particles. Also, EDS analysis elucidated an identically uniform distribution of n-TiO2 and n-HAp.
Régulation des émotions chez l’animal d’élevage : focus sur les acteurs neurobiologiques

La question des émotions des animaux d’élevage s’inscrit dans la volonté d’améliorer les conditions d’élevage en prenant en compte leur bien-être. La genèse des émotions repose sur la capacité cognitive des individus à percevoir, évaluer et réagir à leur environnement. La capacité de perception met en jeu différentes sensorialités et participe à la reconnaissance des éléments de l’environnement de l’animal sans nécessairement déclencher d’émotions. Les situations déclenchantes d’émotion les plus étudiées chez les animaux d’élevage sont la nouveauté, la séparation sociale ou la présence d’un être humain. De plus, les réactions émotionnelles, évaluées par les réponses comportementales, endocriniennes et neurovégétatives sont modulées par le genre, l’état physiologique ou certaines hormones comme la mélatonine. Les structures cérébrales du réseau neuronal des émotions sont impliquées dans la perception et le traitement des informations de l’environnement, et/ou dans l’expression des réponses émotionnelles. Chez les animaux d’élevage, les structures cérébrales les plus étudiées sont le système olfactif pour la perception, le cortex frontal et l’amygdale pour le traitement des informations, le noyau paraventriculaire de l’hypothalamus pour les réponses endocriniennes. D’autres travaux suggèrent le rôle potentiel de structures du tronc cérébral dans les réponses neurovégétatives et de la substance grise périaqueducale dans les réponses comportementales et plus largement dans les stratégies d’adaptation. En perspective, il est maintenant nécessaire d’étudier l’impact de l’expérience précoce sur le développement du réseau neuronal des émotions et de mieux comprendre la part de l’évaluation cognitive dans la genèse des émotions.