Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) in Diagnostics of Influenza during COVID-19 Pandemic in elderly Hospitalized People (Short Communication)

Influenza is a viral disease of the respiratory tract, which affects a relatively large number of people in Slovakia and even around the world every year The most risk patient groups are the elderly and immunocompromised patients with serious outcomes and increased mortality Therefore early diagnosis of influenza and subsequent epidemiological management is very important For this purpose POCT („point-of-care tests“ or „bedside tests“) seems to be very useful for rapid molecular genetic detection of influenza A and B viruses in samples of the patients Today rapid diagnostic tests for influenza and coronavirus available at emergency departments in all Slovak hospitals are promising way how to be more effective in patient triage and they can minimise number of nosocomial infections due to respiratory virus infections © 2020 UKSS and NASS
Seasonal Assessment of Quality of Groundwater from Private Owned Wells in Unguja Island Zanzibar

The Assessment of seasonal changes in groundwater quality is an essential aspect for evaluating pollution level which can be a reflection of the source environment and the activities of man, including the use and management measures. This study examined the effect of seasonal variation on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of groundwater in the Bububu constituency which is located in the West district within the Urban –West region of Unguja Island. The study was conducted using cluster sampling. Four clusters with a large number of wells were selected for further analysis. The number of wells from each cluster was sampled for physicochemical and bacteriological contamination levels. Samples were collected in two different seasons (Wet and Dry) to allow comparison between the two seasons. Analysis of water samples (N= 52) indicated that the sources are very vulnerable to microbial contamination particularly during the wet season at which 78.85% of the analyzed samples were contaminated with fecal coliform and unfit for human Original Research Article Mwevura et al.; IJTDH, 42(4): 30-45, 2021; Article no.IJTDH. 67547 31 consumption. However, all measured physicochemical parameters were within the acceptable range except the levels of nitrate during the wet season in some samples taken at Kibweni and Sharifumsa which exceeded the recommended level by WHO. There is a need for adequate treatment of water particularly during the wet season as well as serious monitoring and proper regulation by the appropriate authorities to curb the menace and safe guard the lives of people to prevent a possible epidemic.
Activation of Peroxymonosulfate by Chrysotile to Degrade Dyes in Water: Performance Enhancement and Activation Mechanism

An environmentally friendly activation method of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) provides a promising advanced oxidation processes for the degradation of organic wastewater. In this article, chrysotile, extracted from asbestos tailings, was found to be a kind of one-off catalyst relying on hydroxyl groups to activate PMS. Furthermore, the activation performance of the chrysotile had been greatly improved by the mean of calcining at 850 °C (850CC). It is worth mentioning that 850CC could not only realize three effective cycles, but also the mineralization ratio of Rhodamine B (RhB) could be impressively higher than 60%. According to characterization results, it was discovered that the chrysotile had transformed into forsterite with a fibrous morphology after calcination at 850 °C due to the loss of hydroxyl groups and the recombination of silicon, oxygen and magnesium atoms. Besides, the main active species produced by 850CC activating PMS were singlet oxygen and sulfate radicals. Further studies uncovered that PMS was successfully activated by a large number of unsaturated coordination oxygen on 850CC surface, and the activation mechanism was further elucidated. This study provides a new route for the comprehensive utilization of chrysotile and a valuable strategy for the degradation of hazardous organic pollutants in wastewater by PMS activation.
Good Operative Effects of Patellofemoral Arthroplasty Combined With the Tibial Tubercle Transfer for Isolated Patellofemoral Arthritis Patients With an Increased Tibial Tuberosity-trochlear Groove Distance

Purpose: The objective of present study was to investigate the operative effect of patellofemoral arthroplasty combined with the tibial tubercle transfer for isolated patellofemoral arthritis patients with an increased tibial tuberosity-trochlear groove distance (>20mm). Methods: A prospective study was performed between November 2012 and December 2017. Finally, thirty-six cases, with a mean age of 61.1 ± 7.3 years, were admitted to our study. A total of 17 patients underwent patellofemoral arthroplasty combined with tibial tubercle transfer, and 19 patients underwent patellofemoral arthroplasty only. All eligible patients had CT scans preoperatively and at 12 months follow-up, to assess the stability of the patellofemoral joint on axial slices. In addition, the demographic and clinical features of all the patients were asked. Knee balance was assessed with the single leg stance test and timed get up and go, and functionality was evaluated with stair climbing test and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index score. (P>0.05)Results: Preoperatively, the data regarding the knee balance and functionality were not significantly different between the two Groups (P>0.05). Many measurements showed significant differences between the two groups at the last follow-up. Significant differences were seen in well-known measurements such as the SLST (Group I, 28.9 s (SD 7.5); Group II, 20.3 s (SD 5.9); p < 0.001), TGUG (Group I, 13.4 s (SD 3.2); Group II, 16.8 s (SD 3.1); p < 0.001), and SCT (Group I, 18.6 s (SD 6.8); Group II, 24.5 s (SD 8.7); p < 0.001). Additionally, the median WOMAC score was improved from 62.7 (SD 11.2) preoperatively to 25.7 (SD 8.2) one year postoperatively in Group I and from 64.1 (SD 10.7) to 36.2 (SD 9.7) in Group II, which were also significantly different between the groups.Conclusion: For such special IPA patients with an increased TT-TG (>20mm), the combined operation of PFA combined with TTT can better restore the involutional relationship of patellofemoral joint and further improve the balance and function of knee joint.
Development of new biodegradable composites materials from polycaprolactone and wood flour

ABSTRACT The use of polymeric materials for the sustainable packaging sector is constantly improving due to meet the required properties for the application. However, most polymers come from non-renewable sources and can harm the environment, if inappropriately disposed. Therefore, this study aims to develop environmentally friendly composites based on polycaprolactone (PCL), a biodegradable polymer, reinforced with different contents (0, 5, and 15 wt%) of wood flour (WF), a residue of the timber industry. The samples were processed using a co-rotational twin screw extruder, followed by hot pressing. Water absorption test, contact angle, thermal aging test, Izod impact resistance, tensile tests, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were performed. By the results, it was possible to verify that the presence of WF contributed to the degradation by hydrolysis due to its hydrophilic character. As the WF content increased, mainly for the PCL/15 wt% WF composite, the material became rigid due to a 61% increase in the Young’s modulus in relation to the neat PCL. The composite’s morphology characteristics showed good interfacial adhesion of the WF with the PCL matrix. The PCL/5 wt% WF composite showed very satisfactory results in terms of mechanical and thermal properties, in addition to a good interaction with the PCL matrix.
Survey of birds in the Russian section of the Barents Sea

ABSTRACT A survey of birds was performed during a cruise around the Russian section of the Barents Sea from 15 May to 11 June 2019. Thirty-two bird species were recorded. In spite of climatic warming, the local avifauna appears similar to that found in surveys carried out 20 years ago.
Expander Graphs – A Study

Expander graphs are highly connected graphs that have numerous applications in statistical physics, pure mathematics and in computer science. The increased connectivity in expanders are useful to model connections between interconnecting systems which can be considered as a graph composed of particles as vertices and edges represent interactions. This paper focuses on the fascinating and highly active area of research on expander graphs. In this article, different classes of expander graphs such as Schreier graphs, Ramanujan graphs and Lp-expanders are categorized and various constructions of an explicit family of expanders are explored. Based on their construction the chromatic number of these are graphs are obtained.
Financial performance analysis of Regional Government

This study uses secondary figures, i.e. reports from the Directorate General of Fiscal balance and the Supreme Audit Agency on the implementation of the District Government and the Government of the Majene Regency in 2018 and 2019. The results of this study show that (1) the financial performance of the Regional Government of Majene Regency, as shown in the Regional Budget for 2019 by the analysis of variances, is well established. (2) the 2019 ABPD level of efficiency and efficiency is less efficient in the Majene Regency. It can be said that Majene Regency's level of financial achievement is less efficient. On efficiency, the level of achievement of Majene Regency's regional financial performance is beneficial. (3) the independence story remains shallow in 2018 and 2019.This study uses secondary figures, i.e. reports from the Directorate General of Fiscal balance and the Supreme Audit Agency on the implementation of the District Government and the Government of the Majene Regency in 2018 and 2019. The results of this study show that (1) the financial performance of the Regional Government of Majene Regency, as shown in the Regional Budget for 2019 by the analysis of variances, is well established. (2) the 2019 ABPD level of efficiency and efficiency is less efficient in the Majene Regency. It can be said that Majene Regency's level of financial achievement is less efficient. On efficiency, the level of achievement of Majene Regency's regional financial performance is beneficial. (3) the independence story remains shallow in 2018 and 2019.
Free-space optical link optimization in visible light communication system

Abstract Free space optical communication is a potential technology that exploits the visible light frequency band for communication. In this paper, a free-space optical link (FSOL) optimization in visible light communication (VLC) is used to improve the channel performance for signal strength and analyze the effect of signal failures in a communication system. The data transmission and reception phenomenon are established using a light-emitting diode (LED) as a carrier at transmitter and photodiode as a detector at the receiver, respectively. The OptiSystem tool uses to optimize the component parameters of this proposed communication system. The bit error rate (BER) analyzer displays the signals as an eye diagram with the challenges of components uncertainty for better signal performance. The optimized components solve the problem encountered transmitting improve and enhance the signals strength. The acceptable eye diagram displayed from the BER analyzer has been resolved as a result of component optimizations by adding and removing noise to ascertain the behavior of the channel. A better signal retrieve by the display of the acceptable eye diagram from the OptiSystem software used. The FSOL components optimization improve the loss of data, weak signal, loss of power, signal failure, and signal errors which guarantee multi-mobile users with the shared signal. OptiSystem software package used to fully characterize the FSOL system.
Sleep Disturbances and Their Impact on Cognition in Individuals With Pure Cerebellar Disease

BackgroundIndividuals with cerebellar ataxia commonly report poor sleep. Our objective was to characterize sleep dysfunction in cerebellar ataxia and study its potential impact on non-motor function.MethodsSleep physiology and behavior were measured in 16 individuals with pure cerebellar ataxia and 16 matched controls. Cognitive function was assessed using the Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome/Schmahmann Scale (CCAS), and a word-pair learning task. We studied performance on the word-pair task before and after a period of overnight sleep to explore whether sleep-dependent memory consolidation is negatively impacted by cerebellar degeneration. ResultsCompared to matched controls, individuals with ataxia experienced greater limb movements during sleep (p=0.048), and increased sleep fragmentation (p=0.009) as measured through polysomnography. Cognitive assessment using the CCAS revealed deficits in executive function in the domains of verbal fluency (p=0.011) and cognitive flexibility (p=0.048). Individuals with ataxia were also impaired in declarative learning, with poor performance on the word-pair association task during Immediate (p=0.021) and Delayed Recall (p=0.011) compared to control participants. Poor sleep impacted cognition: increased sleep fragmentation was correlated with lower scores on the CCAS (p=0.008) and with immediate recall of the word-pair learning task (p=0.001). We found no differences between individuals with ataxia and controls with respect to overnight changes in performance on the word-pair task.ConclusionsSleep integrity is disrupted in individuals with neurodegeneration confined to the cerebellum. Fragmentation of sleep in particular appears to have negative effects on executive function and has practical implications for symptom management.
Reweighting neural network examples for robust object detection at sea

Deep neural networks have had profound signiﬁcance in addressing visual object detection and classiﬁcation tasks. However, though with the caveat of needing large amounts of annotated training data. Furthermore, the possibility of neural networks overﬁtting to the biases and faults included in their respective datasets. In this work, methods for achievingrobustneuralnetworks,abletotolerateuntrustedandpossibly erroneoustrainingdata,areexplored.Theproposedmethodisshowntoimproveperformanceandhelpneuralnetworkslearnfromuntrusted data,providedathoroughlyannotatedsubset.
Two different regenerative injections in patients diagnosed with secondary hip osteoarthritis: A report of two cases

Non-surgical treatment options are limited in hip osteoarthritis secondary to developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). Treatment of Autologous Conditioned Serum (ACS) is based on the high level of anti-inflammatory cytokine production of leukocytes in peripheral blood. It is an effective treatment option which contains the cytokines and the growth factors. Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is a form of treatment that stimulates natural healing steps through growth factors in platelets. In this case report we aimed to present the results of ACS and PRP injection in two patients who developed secondary coxarthrosis after DDH surgery. At the 1-year follow-up examination, patient’s functional scores improved and requirement for non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs had significantly reduced. Regenerative injections either autologous conditioned serum or platelet rich plasma treatments are safe and effective treatments and can be recommended particularly for cases of secondary hip osteoarthritis associated with DDH.
DBA_SSD ： A Novel End-to-End Object Detection Using Deep Attention Module for Helping Smart Device with Vegetable and Fruit Leaf Plant Disease Detection

In response to the difficulty of detecting and classifying pests and vegetable and fruit leaves with pests and diseases, this study proposes a novel vegetable and fruit leaf pest detection method called deep block attention SSD (DBA_SSD) for the identification of pests and diseases and classification of the degree of pests and diseases of vegetable and fruit leaves. We propose three vegetable and fruit leaf pest detection methods, namely, squeeze-and excitation SSD (Se_SSD), DB_SSD, and DBA_SSD. Se_SSD fuses SSD feature extraction network and attention mechanism channel, DB_SSD improves VGG feature extraction network, and DBA_SSD fuses the improved VGG network and channel attention mechanism. To reduce the training time and accelerate the training process, the convolutional layers trained in the Image Net image dataset by the VGG model are migrated to this model, whereas the collected vegetable and fruit disease image dataset is randomly divided into training set, validation set, and test set in the ratio of 8:1:1. In addition, data enhancement methods, such as histogram equalization and horizontal flip were used to expand the image data. The performance of the three improved algorithms is compared and analyzed in the same environment and with the classical target detection algorithms YOLOv4, YOLOv3, Faster RCNN, and YOLOv4 tiny. Experiments show that DBA_SSD outperforms the two other improved algorithms, and its performance in comparative analysis is superior to other target detection algorithms.
In retrospect: The influence of chief executive officers’ historical relative pay on overconfidence

This study proposes that chief executive officers who have received over their tenure a greater sum of total compensation relative to the market’s going rate become overconfident. We posit that this happens because historically overpaid chief executive officers perceive greater self-worth to the firm whereby such self-serving attribution inflates their level of self-confidence. We also identify chief executive officer- and firm-level cues that can influence the relationship between chief executive officers’ historical relative pay and their overconfidence, suggesting that chief executive officers’ perceived self-worth is more pronounced when chief executive officers possess less power and when their firm’s performance has improved upon their historical aspirations. Using a sample of 1185 firms and their chief executive officers during the years 2000–2016, we find empirical support for our predictions. Findings from this study contribute to strategic leadership research by highlighting the important role of executives’ compensation in creating overconfidence.
The Productivity of Low‐Elevation Juniper Forests in Central Asia Increased Under Moderate Warming Scenarios

Clear trends of warming and wetting have occurred in Central Asia during the last 30 years, but how tree growth in low‐elevation mountainous areas has responded to climate warming remains unclear. In this paper, we investigated the relationships between Zeravschan juniper (Juniperus seravschanica) growth and climate factors based on 16 tree‐ring chronologies from low‐elevation mountainous areas across Central Asia and then used the resulting model to predict changes in Zeravschan juniper growth during the 21st century. Zeravschan juniper growth in our study region is mainly controlled by precipitation, which is predominantly influenced by tropical sea surface temperatures. The combination of increased precipitation and warm temperatures promoted the growth of Zeravschan juniper during the recent warm period. Our simulations suggest that Zeravschan juniper growth will still increase slightly under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios in the next 30 years, possibly due to increased precipitation caused by climate warming; however, climate warming will initially show negative effects and is expected to have greater effects after the 2050s. Better knowledge regarding regional climate mechanisms and their likely influences on tree growth is useful for improving forest planning and management in Central Asia.
Unsupervised learning for target tracking and background subtraction in satellite imagery

This paper describes an unsupervised machine learning methodology capable of target tracking and background suppression via a novel dual-model approach. “Jekyll” produces a video bit-mask describing an estimate of the locations of moving objects, and “Hyde” outputs a pseudo-background frame to subtract from the original input image sequence. These models were trained with a custom-modified version of Cross Entropy Loss. Simulated data were used to compare the performance of Jekyll and Hyde against a more traditional supervised Machine Learning approach. The results from these comparisons show that the unsupervised methods developed are competitive in output quality with supervised techniques, without the associated cost of acquiring labeled training data.
Modelling of the packet delivery rate in an actual LoRaWAN network

The Internet of things (IoT) paradigm is paving the way to ensure connectivity and monitoring within different market ﬁelds. Thus, it is critical to understand the packet transmission performance in Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN), especially LoRaWAN. Packet delivery rate (PDR) is considered as a dominant factor of the network performance and its dependency on the signal power. However, previous works do not model the PDR as a function of the received signal power. An in-depth investigation of the PDR is done by performing an outdoor measurement campaign in the area of the Campus Beaulieu in Rennes. For each received LoRa packet, the effective signal power (ESP) values are obtained as well as their high inﬂuence on PDR is proven. With the given results, modelling the PDR using an ESP-parameterized beta distribution function is proposed. Feasibility of the proposed model is assured by simulating PDR against ESP, hence, the simulated PDR values follow the distribution of the measured ones well. This PDR model gives important guidelines for future LoRaWAN network regulation and optimization.
Negative Health Review of Cell Phones and Social Media

Cell phone and social media usage have become intriguing topics to explore and discuss over recent years. This research aims to review correlations of negative effects in mental and physical health caused by cell phone and social media use in the past two decades. The history of cell phones and their capabilities will be introduced. The need for human connection will be emphasized. Exploration of the connection between unbalanced use and different aspects of health will be evaluated such as addiction, social influences, brain changes, and multitasking. Lastly, resources and recommendations to find balance and support for anyone being adversely affected by cell phones and social media will be provided. Current literature reveals that there is a negative correlation between increased cell phone and social media use with human connection, mental health, and physical health.