Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of diaphragmatic thickness measurement in weaning prediction and its comparison with rapid shallow breathing index: a single-center experience

Background Acute respiratory failure (ARF) is commonly managed with invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). The majority of the time that a patient spends on IMV is in the process of weaning. Prediction of the weaning outcome is of paramount importance, as untimely/delayed extubation is associated with a high risk of mortality. Diaphragmatic ultrasonography is a promising tool in the intensive care unit, and its utility in predicting the success of weaning remains understudied. Methods In this prospective-observational study, we recruited 54 ARF patients on IMV, along with 50 healthy controls. During a spontaneous breathing trial, all subjects underwent diaphragmatic ultrasonography along with a rapid shallow breathing index (RSBI) assessment. Results The mean age was 41.8±17.0 and 37.6±10.5 years among the cases and control group, respectively. Demographic variables were broadly similar in the two groups. The most common cause of ARF was obstructive airway disease. The average duration of IMV was 5.41±2.81 days. Out of 54 subjects, 45 were successfully weaned, while nine patients failed weaning. Age, body mass index, and severity of disease were similar in the successful and failed weaning patients. The sensitivity in predicting successful weaning of percent change in diaphragmatic thickness (Δtdi%) >29.71% was high (93.33%), while specificity was 66.67%. The sensitivity and specificity of mean diaphragmatic thickness (tdi) end-expiratory >0.178 cm was 60.00% and 77.78%, respectively. RSBI at 1 minute of <93.75 had an equally high sensitivity (93.33%) but a lower specificity (22.22%). Similar results were also found for RSBI measured at 5 minutes. Conclusions During the weaning assessment, the purpose is to minimize both premature as well as delayed extubation. We found that diaphragmatic ultrasonography, in particular Δtdi%, is better than RSBI in predicting weaning outcomes.
How do risk management practices lead to project success in the construction industry? The mediated moderation of risk coping capacity and risk transparency

Abstract Project risks are widespread in the construction industry because of the uncertainty and complexity involved in construction activities. Many factors directly or indirectly affect a project’s successful completion. Therefore, a project’s success largely depends on how it manages risks. This study examines the effect of risk management practices on project success. In addition, it explores the mechanism that leads to project success. Understanding risk management practices and processes that influence project performance is vital for success. This study proposes that three risk management practices (e.g. risk identification, monitoring, and prevention) influence project success. Furthermore, this study maintains that the risk coping capacity mediates, and risk transparency moderates the relationship between risk management practices and project success. We tested the hypotheses using survey questionnaire data provided by 320 project managers. It reveals that risk management practices significantly influence project success. It also finds that risk coping capacity mediates the relationship between risk management practices and project success. Furthermore, risk transparency moderates the relationship between risk coping capacity and project success. This study contributes to the risk management literature by explaining the mechanism that leads to project success. It also discussed theoretical contributions and practical implementations.
Stochastic Finance: An Introduction in Discrete Time

This book is an introduction to financial mathematics. It is intended for graduate students in mathematics and for researchers working in academia and industry. The focus on stochastic models in discrete time has two immediate benefits. First, the probabilistic machinery is simpler, and one can discuss right away some of the key problems in the theory of pricing and hedging of financial derivatives. Second, the paradigm of a complete financial market, where all derivatives admit a perfect hedge, becomes the exception rather than the rule. Thus, the need to confront the intrinsic risks arising from market incomleteness appears at a very early stage. The first part of the book contains a study of a simple one-period model, which also serves as a building block for later developments. Topics include the characterization of arbitrage-free markets, preferences on asset profiles, an introduction to equilibrium analysis, and monetary measures of financial risk. In the second part, the idea of dynamic hedging of contingent claims is developed in a multiperiod framework. Topics include martingale measures, pricing formulas for derivatives, American options, superhedging, and hedging strategies with minimal shortfall risk. This third revised and extended edition now contains more than one hundred exercises. It also includes new material on risk measures and the related issue of model uncertainty, in particular a new chapter on dynamic risk measures and new sections on robust utility maximization and on efficient hedging with convex risk measures.
A novel ConvLSTM with multifeature fusion for financial intelligent trading

High fluctuation and self‐similarity are typical characteristics of financial time series. Furthermore, affected by market environment, such as regular announcement of important economic data, time/date‐sensitive fluctuations commonly exist in financial time series. However, the existing learning models were usually lack the consideration of essential characteristics of financial data, where both the fusion learning of multiple temporal features and the necessary attention to time‐sensitive fluctuations were ignored. Inspired by this, to represent the temporal characteristics of self‐similarity and reveal intrinsic feature details, in this article, time series and its features are converted into visibility graphs using the technique of Gramian Angular Fields, based on which convolutional long short‐term memory (ConvLSTM) is applied to implement multifeature fusion learning. Moreover, to capture the time/date‐sensitive fluctuation existing in financial time series, a subspace decomposition composed of the fuzzy control mechanism is first introduced into the ConvLSTM model, which considerably improves the prediction performance. On the basis of the proposed learning model, a concise intelligent trading strategy is designed. By using real foreign exchange data, various experiments are implemented to show the effectiveness of the proposed model.
Employability Analysis of Students in Yogyakarta: Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The employability of students is an essential factor that every school must consider. This study aims to test the validity and reliability of the employability scale construct, determine the contribution of each aspect and indicator in reflecting employability variables, and test whether the theoretical model of employability fits with empirical data. Employability is measured by four aspects, namely skills, knowledge, understanding, and personality attributes. The subjects in this study were 372 students of State Vocational High School 1 Kalasan Yogyakarta. The sample in this study amounted to 225 students. The sampling technique used probability sampling with simple random sampling. The data collection method used a job satisfaction scale and data analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with 2nd Order CFA through Lisrel 8. 71 programs. The analysis results show that students at the State Vocational High School 1 Kalasan have employability in the reasonably high category. The aspects and indicators that make up the employability variables are declared valid and reliable based on the analysis results. The most dominant aspect that reflects employability is the scientific aspect, namely studying the material presented in school. The lowest aspect that reflects employability is the personality aspect, namely the perception of online to take risks for what is done. The employability variable measurement model fits the empirical data. The main fit model criteria used in testing the suitability of this model are Chi-Square p, RMSEA, NFI, NNFI, CFI, IFI, GFI, AGFI.
Regulation of Adipose Thermogenesis and its Critical Role in Glucose and Lipid Metabolism

The function of the adipose tissue is influenced by complex interactions between genetics, epigenetics, and the environment, and its dysfunction can cause a variety of metabolic diseases, such as obesity or type 2 diabetes (T2D). The beige/brown adipose tissue plays a crucial role in regulating glucose and lipid metabolism by increasing energy metabolism to generate heat. The adipose tissue thermogenic program is a complex network that involves many signaling pathways regulated by coding RNAs (cRNAs) that encode transcription factor, and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) including microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). This article discusses factors that regulate adipose tissue thermogenesis, including cRNAs and ncRNAs, and the important role of thermogenic adipose tissue in obesity-related metabolic syndrome. Several studies have shown that some cRNAs and ncRNAs can modulate the thermogenic function of adipose tissue in different ways. This article reviews the roles of cRNAs and ncRNAs in regulating thermogenesis in the beige/brown adipose tissue and the important role of the beige/brown adipose tissue in maintaining the balance of glucose and lipid metabolism in the body.
Defluoridation of water by the Homa* method, a co-precipitation technique using wood ash leachate and alum

High fluoride level in drinking water is an endemic public health concern in East Africa. Unlike in Kenya where it is absent, the Nalgonda technique, a defluoridation method that uses two chemicals, alum, and CaO, has seen mixed results in its application and adoption in Ethiopia and Tanzania. This has been due to the low capacity of communities to manage the process and the breakdown in the supply chain of chemicals used in the technique. In the present study, we attempted to bridge the gap in the chemical deficit by investigating the possible substitution of CaO with leachate from wood ash, a by-product of wood combustion commonly found in Kenya. The leachate was prepared from one part of wood ash mixed with two parts of distilled water and stirred for 24 hours followed by decantation. The new technique, the Homa method, using alum and wood ash leachate was then tested on H2O samples from three areas in Kenya with high F- concentrations ranging from 5.1 mg L-1, 9.1 mg L-1 to 91.0 mg L-1. The determination of F- concentration by SPADNS Spectrophotometry was applied throughout the experiment. Four levels of alum i.e. 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4% were dosed on five volumes of water i.e. 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 ml raw water at 5.1 and 9.1 mg L-1 F-. For water samples at 91.0 mg L-1 F-, the same volumes were treated with 5 higher alum levels i.e. 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, and 9%. The final pH was then adjusted to 7 with ash leachate for defluoridation. The set-up was a factorial design experiment where the final F- concentration was the dependent variable and the volume of raw water, the percentages, and volume of alum and wood ash leachate constituted the different factors. A fitted multivariate regression model of the general form; where Y = Residual fluoride, X = wood Leachate volume, W = alum Concentration, X*W = Interaction α, β, γ were regression coefficients, ε = error term, showed that only in the Baringo area did we have an interaction between wood ash leachate and alum concentration significant (p < 0.05). Defluoridation occurred (p < 0.05) at as low as 10% and as high as 99%, depending on the initial F- content. Total coliform decreased from 310, 290 and 270 count/l respectively to zero. Unfortunately, high chemical and TDS (from 558 mg L-1 to more than 9,000 mg L-1) enrichment were recorded in addition to the mixed data on turbidity. The overall results show that wood ash can substitute CaO in the Nalgonda process. Further investigation is however required to make it applicable for potable water production.
Fuel trait effects on flammability of native and invasive alien shrubs in coastal fynbos and thicket (Cape Floristic Region)

In June 2017, extreme fires along the southern Cape coast of South Africa burnt native fynbos and thicket vegetation and caused extensive damage to plantations and residential properties. Invasive alien plants (IAPs) occur commonly in the area and were thought to have changed the behaviour of these fires through their modification of fuel properties relative to that of native vegetation. This study experimentally compared various measures of flammability across groups of native and alien invasive shrub species in relation to their fuel traits. Live plant shoots of 30 species (10 species each of native fynbos, native thicket, and IAPs) were sampled to measure live fuel moisture, dry biomass, fuel bed porosity and the proportions of fine-, coarse- and dead fuels. These shoots were burnt experimentally, and flammability measured in terms of maximum temperature (combustibility), completeness of burn (consumability), and time-to-ignition (ignitability). Multiple regression models were used to assess the relationships between flammability responses and fuel traits, while the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to establish if differences existed in flammability measures and fuel traits among the vegetation groups. Dry biomass significantly enhanced, while live fuel moisture significantly reduced, maximum temperature, whereas the proportion of fine fuels significantly increased completeness of burn. Unlike other similar studies, the proportion of dead fuels and fuel bed porosity were not retained by any of the models to account for variation in flammability. Species of fynbos and IAPs generally exhibited greater flammability in the form of higher completeness of burn and more rapid ignition than species of thicket. Little distinction in flammability and fuel traits could be made between species of fynbos and IAPs, except that fynbos species had a greater proportion of fine fuels. Thicket species had higher proportions of coarse fuels and greater dry biomass (~fuel loading) than species of fynbos and IAPs. Live fuel moisture did not differ among the vegetation groups, contrary to the literature often ascribing variation in flammability to fuel moisture differences. The fuel traits investigated only explained 21–53% of the variation in flammability and large variation was evident among species within vegetation groups suggesting that species-specific and in situ community-level investigations are warranted, particularly in regard fuel moisture and chemical contents.
Critical Review of Children Consumer Protection National Policies

The paper aims to investigate in detail the strategies and efforts of children consumer protection national policies in order to conduct a comprehensive review of ongoing practices. Through content analysis, the paper investigates four dimensions of national policies: general elements of children consumer protection policies, marketing communication restrictions, harmful product-specific restrictions, and empowerment and education in five different countries of diverse cultural dimensions: Germany, the USA, the UK, Spain, and Croatia. The paper fills an existing research gap by emphasizing practices of children consumer protection strategies that should be encouraged and those that should be avoided, thereby formulating the recommendations needed to prevent the negative consequences of marketing communication. The findings confirm that successful strategies have strong national legislations, market self-regulation, and education on media literacy. Advertisement for all potentially harmful product categories should be strictly regulated in order for children to be fully protected. According to the results, Germany and the UK are the most efficient in children consumer protection policies, followed by Spain, Croatia, and the USA.
Effect of Ear Infections on Hearing Ability: A Narrative Review on the Complications of Otitis Media

Otitis media (OM) is an infection that occurs in the middle ear and can affect the structures around the ear, as well as the auditory system. It is one of the most frequent diseases affecting young children each year, especially those aged around six years, due to the anatomical structure and developing immune system. Although some cases of OM resolve spontaneously, children often need medical care since difficulties persist with such infections. The incidence of OM is higher among children than adults, and therefore, their speaking, hearing, and learning capabilities and general development are impaired by recurring middle ear infections. The literature over the last 40 years has documented the impact of early auditory deprivation produced by early OM with effusion (OME) on central auditory processing (CAP). This study aimed to review the impact of acute ear infections on hearing capacity, assess the complications of OM, and document the scientific evidence around the implications of early OME-induced hearing loss in children. Studies have reported the association between hearing loss owing to early OME and alterations in CAP in both children and adolescents. The auditory foundation enables hearing capacity, but this is continually depleted. Therefore, the use of strong antibiotics, sound amplification, hearing rehabilitation, and ear surgery in children must be improved.
Risk Factors of Colorectal Cancer in Hospitalized Patients in Regional Hospital Durrës

Introduction Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common gastrointestinal cancer with an important global health problem. The study aims were to evaluate the risk factors of colorectal cancer in chirurgical ward in Regional Durres Hospital in Albania during two years. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study to explore risk factors of Colorectal Cancer at the Surgical ward of the Regional Hospital Durres is the second largest and a referral hospital center in Albania. In this paper we have collected medical records of 79 adults 18 years of age and older with primary diagnosis of CRC admitted to this hospital during the periods January 2009 until to December 2010. Data were analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 23.0. A p < 0.05 was accepted as statistically significant. Results Overall, 79 patients with CRC enrolled in our study, the male (58.2%) was the most predominant gender compared to female (41.8%) with a strong significance between them χ2 =79.0 and p value <0.0001. The average age was 69.43 ±10.6 where the minimum age resulted 42 years old and the maximum 85 years old. Patients between the age group 61-70 years old were 29.1% of CRC cases, them with age group 71-80 years old presented the higher number of CRC 34.2% of cases. A strong significance association has been seen between the age groups and presence of CRC. In multivariate logistic regression we also found a significance association for some of the other risk factor for CRC like gender, aging, marital status, education level BMI and physical activity. The p value in all these risk factor resulted <0.05. Conclusion The prevalence of this malignancy in our study increases after the age of 60 years. Our study findings show that the presence of CRC was in strength association with some of risk factors. But the number of our patients were low, so based on our observations, we suggest future studies should involve a large number of patients and focus on better understanding mechanisms for some of these associations and presence of CRC risk.
A new computation of the infrared absorption by H2 pairs in the fundamental band at temperatures from 600 to 5000 K

A new computation of the absorption spectrum of H2 pairs in the fundamental band is given for temperatures from 600 to 5000 K. It is based on advanced interaction potentials and recent induced dipole components which were shown to be consistent with the existing laboratory measurements of low-temperature absorption spectra. The absorption is greater by factors of 2-3 than previous estimates and show a different band profile at the higher temperatures. 11 refs.
Proteomic and Transcriptomic Analyses in the Slipper Snail Crepidulafornicata Uncover Shell Matrix Genes Expressed During Adult and Larval Biomineralization

Synopsis The gastropod shell is a composite composed of minerals and shell matrix proteins (SMPs). SMPs have been identified by proteomics in many molluscs, but few have been studied in detail. Open questions include (1) what gene regulatory networks regulate SMP expression, (2) what roles individual SMPs play in biomineralization, and (3) how the complement of SMPs changes over development. These questions are best addressed in a species in which gene perturbation studies are available; one such species is the slipper snail, Crepidula fornicata. Here, SEM and pXRD analysis demonstrated that the adult shell of C. fornicata exhibits crossed lamellar microstructure and is composed of aragonite. Using high-throughput proteomics we identified 185 SMPs occluded within the adult shell. Over half of the proteins in the shell proteome have known biomineralization domains, while at least 10% have no homologs in public databases. Differential gene expression analysis identified 20 SMP genes that are up-regulated in the shell-producing mantle tissue. Over half of these 20 SMPs are expressed during development with two, CfSMP1 and CfSMP2, expressed exclusively in the shell gland. Together, the description of the shell microstructure and a list of SMPs now sets the stage for studying the consequences of SMP gene knockdowns in molluscs.
An analytic determination of beta poloidal and internal inductance in an elongated tokamak from magnetic probe measurements

Analytic calculations of the magnetic fields available to magnetic diagnostics are performed for tokamaks with circular and elliptical cross sections. The explicit dependence of the magnetic fields on the poloidal beta and internal inductances is sought. For tokamaks with circular cross sections, Shafranov`s results are reproduced and extended. To first order in the inverse aspect ratio expansion of the magnetic fields, only a specific combination of beta poloidal and internal inductance is found to be measurable. To second order in the expansion, the measurements of beta poloidal and the internal inductance are demonstrated to be separable but excessively sensitive to experimental error. For tokamaks with elliptical cross sections, magnetic measurements are found to determine beta poloidal and the internal inductance separately. A second harmonic component of the zeroth order field in combination with the dc harmonic of the zeroth order field specifies the internal inductance. The internal inductance in hand, measurement of the first order, first harmonic component of the magnetic field then determined beta poloidal. The degeneracy implicit in Shafranov`s result (i.e. that only a combination of beta poloidal and internal inductance is measurable for a circular plasma cross section) reasserts itself as the elliptic results are collapsed tomore » their circular limits. « less