Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiovascular Risk Scores: Great Tools... When Used by Good Physicians

Risk scores or risk scales are equations designed to determine the likelihood of an event occurring. In cardiology, cardiovascular risk scales are intended to calculate the probability of an individual’s experiencing a cardiovascular event over a period. Because of their widespread use, when we refer to risk scales, we are generally talking about scores that predict the occurrence of cardiovascular events related to atherosclerosis. But we must not forget that there are other scores dealing with other types of heart diseases. As the article in question states, (1) these scales are merely mathematical equations based on a series of variables that define risk much better than those same variables separately, as they consider the interactions that exist between their presence and intensity. The variables usually used should be accessible, pragmatic and, at the same time, valid for prediction. The accuracy of a risk equation in predicting the probability of an event occurring is usually calculated using a mathematical index called Harrell’s C-index. (2) Risk scores are very useful clinical tools, but we must be aware of their limitations before using them. Firstly, many important variables are not considered when designing a risk equation; therefore, they will have no effect in determining greater or lower risk. A clear example is seen in equations that include systolic blood pressure but not diastolic blood pressure for risk assessment. (3) What about a patient who has elevated diastolic pressure and controlled systolic pressure? Is his/her risk not increased? We believe this may be an example as easy to understand as the fact that body mass index is not yet included in many risk estimation scores. (3) Secondly, we must bear in mind that risk equations determine probability of experiencing a cardiovascular event in a population and not in a specific subject. Therefore, we can state that a certain probability will be fulfilled in a population of, for example, 1000 subjects, but we will most likely not be able to determine the exact probability of suffering a cardiovascular event in a specific subject. Further-
Impact of Variation Orders on Construction Project Cost and Time

Variation orders are unwanted but inevitable reality of any construction project and affect project performance as they adversely affect productivity and project cost. Moreover, projects with many variation orders cause the contractor to achieve lower productivity levels than planned. Therefore, the study is based on the impact of variation orders which adversely impact project performance in terms of cost, time, quality degradation, health and safety issues and professional relations. Quantitative approach was adopted for this study. 159 Questionnaires were analysed after the data was collected online via a structured questionnaire. Factor analysis was conducted, correlation matrix, coefficients has been conducted to ensure visibility of co-efficients greater than 0.3 and Kaiser-Meyer-Oklim (KMO) and Bartletts were conducted. From the findings it transpired that additional payment for contractors; delayed schedule completion; increases in project cost; time overruns, logistics delays also cause disputes among the professional team were some of the impacts caused by variation orders just to mentioned a few. The more the number of variation orders, the more they are likely to affect the overall construction delivery cost. In fact, variation orders have both a direct and indirect effect on cost.
The Long-Run Growth Trajectories of Third Italy's Cities: Empirical Evidence and Why Questions

The paper conducts an empirical exploration of the growth trajectories of the main cities of the Third Italy – a macro-region that has attracted much attention for its economic performances in the past decades. The findings of the extraordinary heterogeneity of city growth trajectories – a why-question still unobserved and unaddressed – will be discussed with regard to two methodological issues: firstly, the claim that macro-regional performances can be explained by macro-regional factors; secondly, the hypothesis, implicit in many studies, that the factors treated in the model as explanatory variables of macro-regional and urban economic performances remain constant over time. As the paper will show, the results of the empirical analysis question important parts of the received explanation of Third Italy’s economic success, and they also prompt more general reflection on the theoretical framework to be used to study the long-run growth performances of cities.
Folk Games Image Captioning using Object Attention

The result of deep-learning based image captioning system with encoder-decoder framework relies heavily on image feature extraction technique and caption-based model. The model accuracy is heavily influenced by the proposed attention mechanism. Unsuitability between the output of the attention model and the input expectation of the decoder can cause the decoder to give incorrect results. In this paper, we proposed an object attention mechanism using object detection. Object detection outputs a bounding box and object category label, which is then used as an image input into VGG16 for feature extraction and into a caption-based LSTM model. Experiment results showed that the system with object attention gave better performances than the system without object attention. BLEU-1, BLEU-2, BLEU-3, BLEU-4, and CIDER scores for image captioning system with object attention improved 12.48%, 17.39%, 24.06%, 36.37%, and 43.50% respectively compared to the system without object attention.
Techniques and Considerations for FIA forest fragmentation analysis

The Forest Inventory and Analysis unit of the Northeastern Research Station (NEFIA) is charged with inventorying and monitoring the Nation's forests. NEFIA has not gathered much information on forest fragmentation, but recent developments in computing and remote sensing technologies now make it possible to assess forest fragmentation on a regional basis. We describe several options for calculating landscape statistics and provide guidelines on their use.
A Novel Evaluation Method for SLAM-Based 3D Reconstruction of Lumen Panoramas

Laparoscopy is employed in conventional minimally invasive surgery to inspect internal cavities by viewing two-dimensional images on a monitor. This method has a limited field of view and provides insufficient information for surgeons, increasing surgical complexity. Utilizing simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology to reconstruct laparoscopic scenes can offer more comprehensive and intuitive visual feedback. Moreover, the precision of the reconstructed models is a crucial factor for further applications of surgical assistance systems. However, challenges such as data scarcity and scale uncertainty hinder effective assessment of the accuracy of endoscopic monocular SLAM reconstructions. Therefore, this paper proposes a technique that incorporates existing knowledge from calibration objects to supplement metric information and resolve scale ambiguity issues, and it quantifies the endoscopic reconstruction accuracy based on local alignment metrics. The experimental results demonstrate that the reconstructed models restore realistic scales and enable error analysis for laparoscopic SLAM reconstruction systems. This suggests that for the evaluation of monocular SLAM three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction accuracy in minimally invasive surgery scenarios, our proposed scheme for recovering scale factors is viable, and our evaluation outcomes can serve as criteria for measuring reconstruction precision.
Micromagnetic simulation of electrochemically deposited Co nanowire arrays for wideband microwave applications

We study the magnetic properties of arrays of Co nanowires which exhibit zero bias-field ferromagnetic resonance absorptions in a 0–30 GHz range. Columnar arrays of Co nanowires with lengths of 8–15 µm were electrochemically grown using ∼20 µm thick anodic alumina membranes with 50 nm pore diameters. Microstructural, static magnetic, and microwave properties of five different nanowire arrays were characterized. The studied Co nanowires present different crystal structure textures and magnetic properties. The static magnetic loop shapes and the ferromagnetic resonance frequencies of the nanowire arrays were correctly reproduced using the Mumax3 micromagnetic software. For each sample input parameters dependent on the x-ray diffraction and microstructural data, were fine-tuned to allow the best fit of the experimental hysteresis loops and the related microwave spectra. Using this method, it was possible to analyze the rather complex interplay between geometry and magneto-structural features of the different arrays, defining which parameters play a key role in the development of nano-systems with specific microwave properties.
A Single-Stage Switched-Boost Grid-Connected Five-Level Converter With Integrated Active Power Decoupling Under Polluted Grid Voltage Condition

Grid-connected inverters with a multilevel output voltage and an integrated dynamic voltage boosting feature are promising to achieve higher overall efficiency/power density, reduced output filter size, and better power quality. However, the input current of such a single-stage system might be pulsating with low- and high-frequency ripple contents in a single-phase grid-connected application. To tackle this challenge, active power decoupling (APD) can be used to keep the input current flat and reduce the current stress of the devices with an efficient performance. On the other hand, the grid voltage is usually nonideal in practice, polluted with the harmonics. This causes additional complexity in the closed-loop control system to maintain the injected power quality. The aim of this article is to apply a tailored closed-loop APD control on a recently proposed single-source single-stage switched-boost (SB) five-level converter leading to further enhancing its overall efficiency without adding any extra circuit components. A distinctive feature of the proposed solution is using a single proportional–resonant controller with a filtered feedforward term to achieve APD, even under a distorted grid voltage condition. This solution can also be applied to other single-stage SB-based converters as long as their input current before integration of the APD control contains a low-frequency ripple content. A 2-kW SiC-based prototype is built to validate the feasibility and accurate performance of the proposed method via experiments when connected to a grid with harmonic pollution.
Analytic Solutions of Equation for Random Evolution on a Complex Plane

We discuss a generalization of Goldstein-Kac model on a complex plane and apply probabilistic approach to construct solutions of the corresponding Cauchy problem for complex-analytic initial conditions. The method is based on reconstruction of complex-analytic functions by combination of power functions, for which corresponding solutions are the moments of evolution process.As soon as in the hydrodynamic limit the equation for our model approximates a Schrödinger-type equation, the solutions constructed for pre-limit Cauchy problem may approximate solutions for corresponding Cauchy problem for a Schrödinger-type equation.
The effect of bumble bee gynes’ reproductive status on the response to CO2 narcosis

Abstract Many organisms undergo extreme physiological and behavioral changes that dictate their responses to different stimuli during their life cycle. Bumble bees (Bombus sp.) display an annual life cycle, in which the virgin gynes emerge, disperse, mate, and undergo several months of winter diapause before establishing new colonies in the spring. CO2 narcosis induces a direct transition from mating to reproduction, thus diapause can be bypassed. The mechanism underlying the response to CO2 narcosis remains unclear. Here, we used Bombus terrestris gynes in different reproductive statuses (virgin, mated, and post-diapause) to examine the effect of CO2 narcosis on ovarian development, body mass, protein uptake, and metabolic rate. We found that the impact of CO2 narcosis on gynes was inhibited by mating, with virgin gynes showing the strongest effect of CO2 narcosis on ovary activation and protein turnover. We show that mating inhibits the effect of CO2 narcosis prior to the diapause period, suggesting that this effect is upstream to that of CO2 narcosis.
Natural superhydrophobic surfaces and recent advances in synthetic superhydrophobic surfaces: A review

This review uses modern technologies to discuss the hydrophobicity mechanism of various natural surfaces found and studied in recent decades and their chemical components and delicate surface structure. It also contains many invent inspired by lifelike superhydrophobic characters, and tons of human living has been solved with the help of these applications. Also, the theories of how low hysteresis is induced by high contact angle devoted to the ability of water-repellent, drag reduction, and self-cleaning of a bunch of natural creatures are presented along with their characteristics. Besides, some of the recent fast, eco-friendly fabrication methods of superhydrophobic are discussed with the application of superhydrophobic surfaces in industry. Furthermore, the problems and challenges currently facing how to make the fabrication methods of the superhydrophobic characters better fit the industrial manufacture.
Isolation and Identification of Phytocompounds from Maytenus dhofarensis and Their Biological Potentials

Maytenus dhofarensis Sebsebe (Celestraceae) is a naturally growing shrub in Oman. It is not a reputed medicinal plant in Oman, but it is regionally endemic and causes shivering attacks on goats that graze on it. The chemical investigation of the hexane and chloroform extracts of the fruits and stems of M. dhofarensis afforded dihydro-β-agarofuran-type sesquiterpene pyridine alkaloid (1), lupanyl myristoate (2) and lignanolactone (3). Compounds (1–3) are new isolates from M. dhofarensis. The structures of these compounds were assigned through comprehensive IR, NMR, and ESI-MS analyses, and the relative configurations of compounds 1 and 3 were deduced from density function theory (DFT) calculations and NMR experiments. Compound 1 was assayed against the kinase enzyme and showed no inhibition activity for p38 alpha and delta at a 10 µM test concentration. Compound 3 inhibited the 2,2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) by 69.5%, compared to 70.9% and 78.0% for gallic acid and butylated hydroxyanisole, respectively, which were used as positive controls.
Broadband and high gain stacked microstrip antenna array

In this article, broadband and high gain antennas are designed for bandwidth from 1.7 to 2.5 GHz which covers GSM 1800, 3G, 4G, and Wi‐Fi applications. The antennas are designed using 1 bottom and 2 top patches (1B2T) stacked microstrip antenna configuration and its array. The antenna structures consist of copper metallic plate as the bottom patch and low‐cost FR4 substrate for the top patches in air suspended mode. The antennas are enclosed in a metallic cavity which supports top substrate and increases gain and front‐to‐back ratio. The bandwidth for |S11| ≤ −10 dB and peak gain for this configuration are 41.5% and 11.9 dBi, respectively. A broadband 2 × 2 array of 1B2T configuration is designed using tapered feed network to provide impedance matching for broad bandwidth. The structures are designed, fabricated, and tested. A bandwidth of 44% and peak gain of 16.6 dBi has been achieved using 2 × 2 array. The simulated and measured results are in good agreement. The proposed antennas are good candidates for wireless communication systems.
Majority Voting Ransomware Detection System

Crypto-ransomware remains a significant threat to governments and companies alike, with high-profile cyber security incidents regularly making head-lines. Many different detection systems have been proposed as solutions to the ever-changing dynamic landscape of ransomware detection. In the majority of cases, these described systems propose a method based on the result of a single test performed on either the executable code, the process under investigation, its behaviour, or its output. In a small subset of ransomware detection systems, the concept of a scorecard is employed where multiple tests are performed on various aspects of a process under investigation and their re-sults are then analysed using machine learning. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new majority voting approach to ransomware detection by developing a method that uses a cumulative score derived from discrete tests based on calculations using algorithmic rather than heuristic techniques. The paper describes 23 candidate tests, as well as 9 Windows API tests which are validated to determine both their accuracy and viability for use within a ran-somware detection system. Using a cumulative score calculation approach to ransomware detection has several benefits, such as the immunity to the occasional inaccuracy of individual tests when making its final classification. The system can also leverage multiple tests that can be both comprehensive and complimentary in an attempt to achieve a broader, deeper, and more robust analysis of the program under investigation. Additionally, the use of multiple collaborative tests also significantly hinders ransomware from masking or modifying its behaviour in an attempt to bypass detection. The results achieved by this research demonstrate that many of the proposed tests achieved a high degree of accuracy in differentiating between benign and malicious targets and suggestions are offered as to how these tests, and combinations of tests, could be adapted to further improve the detection accuracy.
100 Myths about the Middle East

Much ink has been spilled in recent years about the Middle East. At the same time, no other region has been as misunderstood, nor framed in so many cliches and mistakenly held beliefs. In this much-needed and enlightening book, Fred Halliday debunks one hundred of the most commonly misconstrued 'facts' concerning the Middle East - in the political, cultural, social, and historical spheres. In a straightforward and simple way that illuminates the issues without compromising their underlying complexities he gets to the core of each matter. The Israel-Palestine crisis, the Iran-Iraq war, the U.S.-led Gulf invasions, the Afghan-Soviet conflict, and other significant milestones in modern Middle East history come under scrutiny here, with conclusions that will surprise and enlighten many for going so persuasively against the grain of commonly held (mis)perceptions.
Diamonds in the Rough: Event Extraction from Imperfect Microblog Data

We introduce a distantly supervised event extraction approach that extracts complex event templates from microblogs. We show that this near real-time data source is more challenging than news because it contains information that is both approximate (e.g., with values that are close but different from the gold truth) and ambiguous (due to the brevity of the texts), impacting both the evaluation and extraction methods. For the former, we propose a novel, “soft”, F1 metric that incorporates similarity between extracted fillers and the gold truth, giving partial credit to different but similar values. With respect to extraction methodology, we propose two extensions to the distant supervision paradigm: to address approximate information, we allow positive training examples to be generated from information that is similar but not identical to gold values; to address ambiguity, we aggregate contexts across tweets discussing the same event. We evaluate our contributions on the complex domain of earthquakes, with events with up to 20 arguments. Our results indicate that, despite their simplicity, our contributions yield a statistically-significant improvement of 33% (relative) over a strong distantly-supervised system. The dataset containing the knowledge base, relevant tweets and manual annotations is publicly available.
Association of TGFB1 Gene Polymorphism with Congenital Heart Disease

Background : One of the most prevalent congenital deformities in infants is congenital heart disease (CHD) that has high rates of morbidity and mortality. To enhance patient clinical outcomes, it is vital to investigate CHD pathophysiology. Cardiovascular illness has been linked to TGF-1 signaling disruptions. Aim of the Study : The forecasting of CHD susceptibility in the Egyptian population is our aim. Patients and methods: This case-control study was conducted at the Pediatric Cardiology Unit at the Zagazig Children Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, with 60 CHD patients and 60 healthy controls of similar age and sex. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are genotyped include: The TGFB1 rs1800471 and rs1982073 analysis were carried out using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP PCR). Results: The CT and TT genotypes of rs1982073 were significantly more prevalent in the CHD group compared to controls. The C allele was only identified in 65 (54%) of the CHD cases and the T allele in 55 (46%) of them, whereas the C allele was present in 94 (78%) of the control participants and the T allele in 26 (22%) of them. There was a significant difference between CHD cases and controls in terms of the T allele of rs1982073, which was higher in CHD cases compared to controls. Conclusion: The current study shows a link between the TGFB1 gene variant rs1982073 and the incidence of congenital cardiac disease in Egyptian communities.
EFFECT OF VESI CULAR - ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI ON GROWTH AND NUTRITION OF CHICKPEA

Chickpea was inoculated with Glomus fasciculatum, Glomus constrictum and Gigaspora calospora in sterilized soil in pots. Plants inoculated with all the three mycorrhizal fungi showed an increased plant dry weight and total phosphorus uptake over uninoculated sterilized soil. Increase of growth was correlated with intensity of infection.
Improving urban viability through smart parking

In Smart Cities, vehicles can share intentions and retrieve information through IoT (Internet-of-Things) devices. This work proposes a reservation system that exploits communication between vehicles and city infrastructure to reduce the time a road user needs to find parking. The system is designed to manage the coexistence of next-generation vehicles, that communicate with city infrastructure and traditional vehicles that don't. We reconstructed an IoT-instrumented urban area using the MATSim simulator to evaluate the system. The proposed system reduces the parking search time of next-generation vehicles without disadvantaging traditional vehicles, making it a candidate for scenarios where both vehicle types coexist. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT