Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Level of Preparedness of the School Security Personnel and Their Qualifications Towards Institutional Security

School security is one of the prime concerns. It involves students, staff, and every other individual who is present at the premises. Hence, the duty of a school security guard is full of tough challenges. The guard must always stay alert and on his toes. This study determined the level of preparedness of the school security personnel and their qualifications towards institutional security. The respondents of the study include all thirteen (13) security guards in Misamis University Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental, Philippines that serve as the respondents. The respondents are purposively chosen by the researchers because they are fit to answer the questionnaires provided by the researchers in determining the level of preparedness of the school security personnel and their qualifications towards institutional security. The security guard possessed very good qualifications in relation to their skills, knowledge, and work style, which resulted in a relatively high mean value. The security guard's level of preparedness in terms of operating school practices and programs garnered a moderate level of mean value, indicating that it still needs to be improved. It is evident that the relationship between the qualifications of school security personnel and their level of preparedness is statistically significant. Having a good qualification may positively contribute to a high-level preparedness among the school's security personnel. Most security guards were very efficient in fulfilling their duties due largely to their qualifications, which encompassed their skills, knowledge, and work style. They were able to maintain effective control over the conditions and individuals in their immediate vicinity. On the other hand, security guards thrived in the sector of level of preparedness. This is because they were highly prepared to respond with countermeasures and preventative actions in the case of a crime. It is essential that the performance of school security guards be constantly monitored and evaluated to determine the various strengths and weaknesses of everyone for future training and improvement. In dealing with the school's various problems, security guards are encouraged to maintain their high level of preparedness and qualification. It's also crucial to keep students from bringing weapons onto campus that may threaten other students or instructors, and to conduct random sweeps of students to look for contraband like as drugs and firearms.
Maternal Factors in Pregnancy and Ethnicity Influence Childhood Adiposity, Cardiac Structure, and Function

Importance The links between maternal and offspring adiposity and metabolic status are well established. There is much less evidence for the impact of these relationships combined with ethnic background on cardiac structure and function in childhood. Objective To test the hypothesis that ethnicity, maternal adiposity and glycemic status, and child adiposity affect cardiac structure and function. Design A prospective cohort study. Setting A single-center mother-child cohort study. The cohort is a subset of the international multi-center Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes (HAPO) study. Participants This study included 101 healthy pre-pubertal British-born children [56 White Europeans (WEs) and 45 South Asians (SAs)] with a median age of 9.1 years, range 6.0–12.2 years, at the time of the investigation. Main Outcomes and Measures Anthropometric and echocardiographic measurements were made on the cohort. Maternal pregnancy and birth data were available. Relationships between maternal parameters (BMI and glucose status), child adiposity, and echo measures were assessed. Results Despite no ethnic difference in BMI SDS at a median age of 9.1 years, SA children exhibited higher levels of body fat than WE children (whole body, right arm, and truncal fat all p < 0.001). SA children also exhibited greater changes in weight and height SDS but not BMI SDS from birth than WE children. As expected, maternal BMI correlated with child BMI (r = 0.28; p = 0.006), and body fat measures (e.g., whole body fat r = 0.25; p = 0.03). Maternal fasting glucose levels were associated with child body fat measures (r = 0.22–0.28; p = 0.02–0.05). Left ventricular (LV) indices were not different between SA and WE children, but E/A and E′/A′ (measures of diastolic function) were lower in SA when compared with WE children. LV indices correlated positively to BMI SDS and body fat markers only in SA children. Maternal fasting and 2-h glucose were negatively correlated with E′/A′ in SA children (r = −0.53, p = 0.015, and r = −0.49, p = 0.023, respectively) but not in WE children. Conclusion and Relevance SA and WE children exhibit differences in adiposity and diastolic function at a median age of 9.1 years. Novel relationships between maternal glycemia, child adiposity, and cardiac structure and function, present only in SA children, were identified.
One core dedicated to MPI nonblocking communication progression? A model to assess whether it is worth it

Overlapping communications with computation is an efficient way to amortize the cost of communications of an HPC application. To do so, it is possible to utilize MPI nonblocking primitives so that communications run in back-ground alongside computation. However, these mechanisms rely on communications actually making progress in the background, which may not be true for all MPI libraries. Some MPI libraries leverage a core dedicated to communications to ensure communication progression. However, taking a core away from the application for such purpose may have a negative impact on the overall execution time. It may be difficult to know when such dedicated core is actually helpful. In this paper, we propose a model for the performance of applications using MPI nonblocking primitives running on top of an MPI library with a dedicated core for communications. This model is used to understand the compromise between computation slowdown due to the communication core not being available for computation, and the communication speed-up thanks to the dedicated core; evaluate whether nonblocking communication is actually obtaining the expected performance in the context of the given application; predict the performance of a given application if ran with a dedicated core. We describe the performance model and evaluate it on different applications. We compare the predictions of the model with actual executions.
Automatic Lyrics Transcription of Polyphonic Music With Lyrics-Chord Multi-Task Learning

Lyrics are the words that make up a song, while chords are harmonic sets of multiple notes in music. Lyrics and chords are generally essential information in music, i.e. unaccompanied singing vocals mixed with instrumental music, representing important components in polyphonic music. In a traditional lyrics transcription task, we first extract the singing vocals from the polyphonic music and then transcribe the resulting singing vocals, where the two steps are optimized independently. In this paper, we propose novel end-to-end network architectures that are designed to disentangle lyrics from chords in polyphonic music for effective lyrics transcription in a single step, where we consider chords as musical words, analogously to lexical words as lyrics intuitively. We start by studying a single-task lyrics transcriber as the reference baseline and the initial model to develop the multi-task lyrics transcription solutions. The main idea is to take advantage of chord transcription available in the training data through multi-task training to improve lyrics transcription. The experiments show that the proposed multitask lyrics transcriber significantly outperforms other competing solutions, with a word error rate (WER) of 31.82% on a standard test dataset.
Contribution of building energy simulations to the assessment of overheating health risks in urban dwellings

This paper introduces a methodology aiming to characterize individual indoor exposure for health risk assessment related to overheating, using building energy simulation (BES). Heat stress in BES is currently assessed by stationary indicators, whereas nonstationary thermoregulation models are more appropriate for prolonged exposure. On this basis, this contribution suggests a new set of indicators suited for heat stress analysis on two timescales. To test the methodology, current BES is carried out for different types of urban dwellings and cooling strategies. Results highlight effects of dwelling type and urban climate on the strategy’s efficiency regarding health indicators and limits of current models.
CubeNet: Array-Based Seismic Phase Picking with Deep Learning

In recent years, a variety of deep learning (DL) models for seismic phase picking have attracted considerable attention and are widely adopted in many earthquake monitoring projects. However, most current DL models pick P and S arrivals trace by trace without simultaneously considering the spatial coherence of seismic phases among different stations in a seismic array. In this study, we develop a generalized neural network named CubeNet based on 3D U-Net to properly consider the spatial correlation of individual picks at different stations and thus improve the picking accuracy. To deal with data acquired by irregularly distributed stations, seismic data are first regularized into data cubes, which are then fed into CubeNet to calculate probability distributions of P arrivals, S arrivals, and noise. In addition, a variable trace resampling method for optimizing the differential sampling points between P and S arrivals in a trace for varying array apertures is also proposed to further improve the picking accuracy. CubeNet is trained by 47,000 microseismic data cubes and then tested by three data sets from different arrays with varying apertures and station intervals. It is found that CubeNet is rather resilient to impulsive noise and can avoid misidentifying most of the abnormal picks, which are challenging for the signal-trace based phase picking methods such as PhaseNet. We believe the newly proposed CubeNet is especially suitable for processing seismic data collected by large-N arrays.
Nanoparticle Effects on Stress Response Pathways and Nanoparticle–Protein Interactions

Nanoparticles (NPs) are increasingly used in a wide variety of applications and products; however, NPs may affect stress response pathways and interact with proteins in biological systems. This review article will provide an overview of the beneficial and detrimental effects of NPs on stress response pathways with a focus on NP–protein interactions. Depending upon the particular NP, experimental model system, and dose and exposure conditions, the introduction of NPs may have either positive or negative effects. Cellular processes such as the development of oxidative stress, the initiation of the inflammatory response, mitochondrial function, detoxification, and alterations to signaling pathways are all affected by the introduction of NPs. In terms of tissue-specific effects, the local microenvironment can have a profound effect on whether an NP is beneficial or harmful to cells. Interactions of NPs with metal-binding proteins (zinc, copper, iron and calcium) affect both their structure and function. This review will provide insights into the current knowledge of protein-based nanotoxicology and closely examines the targets of specific NPs.
Ionospheric Effects on GPS

T HE ionosphere is an important source of range and range-rate errors for users of the global positioning system (GPS) satellites who require highaccuracy measurements. At times, the range errors of the troposphere and the ionosphere can be comparable, but the variability of the Earth's ionosphere is much larger than that of the troposphere, and it is more difficult to model. The ionospheric range error can vary from only a few meters, to many tens of meters at the zenith, whereas the tropospheric range error at the zenith is generally between two to three meters. Fortunately, the ionosphere is a dispersive medium; that is, the refractive index is a function of the operating frequency, and twofrequency GPS users can take advantage of this property of the ionosphere to measure and correct for the first-order ionospheric range and range-rate effects directly. Unlike the troposphere, the ionosphere can change rapidly in absolute value. Although the range error of the troposphere generally does not change by more than ±10%, even over long periods of time, the ionosphere frequently changes by at least one order of magnitude during the course of each day. The major effects the ionosphere can have on GPS are the following: 1) group delay of the signal modulation, or absolute range error; 2) carrier phase advance, or relative range error; 3) Doppler shift, or range-rate errors; 4) Faraday rotation of linearly polarized signals; 5) refraction or bending of the radio wave; 6) distortion of pulse waveforms; 7) signal amplitude fading or amplitude scintillation; and 8) phase scintillations. In order to understand the reasons for these potential effects on GPS performance, a brief description of the major characteristics of the ionosphere is necessary.
Conjunctival Intraepithelial Lymphocytes, Lacrimal Cytokines and Ocular Commensal Microbiota: Analysis of the Three Main Players in Allergic Conjunctivitis

Conjunctival intraepithelial lymphocytes, tear soluble molecules and commensal microbiota have important roles in the ocular mucosal immune response in healthy and diseased subjects. For the purpose of this study, the cellular and microbial populations of the conjunctiva and the lacrimal soluble molecules were analyzed to find the main biomarkers in allergic conjunctivitis. A total of 35 healthy subjects, 28 subjects with seasonal allergic conjunctivitis and 32 subjects with perennial allergic conjunctivitis were recruited to obtain peripheral blood, conjunctival brush cytology, tear fluid and microbiota samples. Flow cytometry for lymphocytes, multiplex bead assays for cytokines and high-throughput DNA sequencing for microbiome analysis were used. For perennial allergic conjunctivitis, an increased proportion of Th2 and NKT lymphocytes was found, while CD3+TCRγδ+ lymphocytes and double negative MAIT cells were decreased. In contrast, seasonal allergic conjunctivitis was distinguished by an increase in Th17 and Th22 cell proportions, while the Th1 cell proportion decreased. Among tear fluid, the vast majority of pro-inflammatory cytokines (especially Th2 and Th17 cytokines) in perennial allergies and MMP-9 together with IgA in seasonal allergies were increased. In contrast, TGF-β2 was decreased in both forms of conjunctivitis. Finally, fungal (Malassezia species) and bacterial (Kocuria and Propionobacterium acnes species) colonization were observed in the perennial allergic conjunctivitis group. These results provide the basis for the development of a disease profile for perennial allergic conjunctivitis and open the door to new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies.
Exploiting Read Current Noise of TiOx Resistive Memory by Controlling Forming Conditions for Probabilistic Neural Network Hardware

Conductance variations of resistive random-access memory (RRAM) are significant challenges that hinder the accurate inference of neural network (NN) hardware. In this study, we exploit the read noise of the RRAM as an active computational enabler for implementing probabilistic NN. As electrical characteristics of RRAM are directly related to the properties of conductive filament (CF), we statistically explore read current of TiOx-based RRAM with different forming conditions and explain the results by linking the CF model. In addition, an array mapping scheme to transfer weights to one transistor-one RRAM (1T1R) array is experimentally demonstrated. Through NN simulations, we verify that the probabilistic NN shows promising results on nonlinear classification problem avoiding overconfidence compared with deterministic NN.
A Wideband High-Gain LHCP/RHCP Patch Antenna Based on Mirror Feed Method

This letter proposes a wideband high-gain left-/right-handed circularly polarized (L/RHCP) patch antenna using a mirror flip approach. The antenna consists of a ring-shaped metal square patch with truncated corners and a two-port feed network in a simple construction. The dual-port feed and truncated corners realize a wide axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW). Moreover, the L/RHCP is easily changed by mirroring the flipped feed network without redesigning the overall topology. The impedance bandwidth (IBW) (S11 < −10 dB) of 58.6% (2.97–5.43 GHz)/47.6% (2.8–4.55 GHz) and 3 dB ARBW of 44.3% (3.09–4.85 GHz)/34.6% (2.96–4.2 GHz) are achieved for L/RHCP antenna. Finally, two prototypes were fabricated and measured for validation. The proposed L/RHCP patch antenna was found to be insensitive to feed position. The IBWs of the proposed LHCP and RHCP antennas showed a wide degree of overlap. The low profile, high gain, small size, and higher robustness of our antenna than traditional patch antennas demonstrate the advantageous of our design for communication, power transmission, and medical fields.
Antibacterial activity of medicinal plants against Streptococcus agalactiae

Streptococcus agalactiae, group B Streptococcus (GBS), infects and causes severe diseases in humans and numerous animal species, including fish, given its ability to cross the host-specific barrier. The emergence of antibiotic resistant GBS strains makes it necessary to look for alternatives to treat and prevent infections that it produces. The aim of the present study was to determine the antibacterial activity of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of medicinal plants from Misiones province, northeast Argentina, against GBS from humans and fish. We used human Streptococcus agalactiae ATCC® BAA-611™ and tilapia Streptococcus agalactiae ATCC® 51487™ strains. Minimum Inhibitory Dose (MID) was determined by the disc diffusion method. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC), MBC/MIC ratio, drug synergism with commercial antibiotics, and resistance assays were determined with extracts that showed antibacterial activity. Medium Lethal Dose 50 (LD50) was determined by the Artemia salina assay. For ethanolic and aqueous Eugenia uniflora L. extracts, we obtained a MID = 0.5 mg.disc-1. For both extracts of Eugenia uniflora L. , the MIC and MBC values were 1 mg.mL-1 and 5 mg.mL-1, respectively. The MICI (MBC/MIC ratio) = 5 qualified the action of these extracts as bacteriostatic. The drug synergism assay with ampicillin, erythromycin, and clindamycin combination and extracts showed indifference. The LD50 of the aqueous extract was 0.82 mg.mL-1 indicating moderate toxicity. This work is a first step to identify chemical compounds in native medicinal plants of Misiones, Argentina, that could mean an alternative for the treatment of Streptococcus agalactiae infections.
The Pose Estimation of the Aircraft on the Airport Surface Based on the Contour Features

The pose estimation of the aircraft in the taxiing or parking state on the airport surface has been proved helpful for the level of control and command, operation efficiency, capacity of handling special situations of the airports. However, current methods cannot provide satisfied estimate results of the pose of aircrafts because they regard the aircraft as a point. To solve the pose estimation problem of the aircrafts, especially for the small-sized ones, this article proposes an aircraft pose estimation method based on the contour features. First, the contour features of the aircraft are utilized to design a 2-D pose skeleton to show the pose information of the aircraft on the ground. Second, the flux is adopted to represent the two-dimensional aircraft pose skeleton. Finally, a two-branch convolutional neural network is designed to estimate aircraft pose including the aircraft skeleton detection and the aircraft orientation estimation. To overcome the lack of a benchmark dataset, an aircraft dataset was built, and the evaluation of the proposed method's performance on this dataset was also carried out. The experimental results show that our proposed method has satisfied performance compared with other state-of-art approaches on the airport surface aircraft dataset.
Semen qualitative parameters and spermatozoon ultrastructure of Phasianus colchicus mongolicus

Abstract In many European countries, the common pheasant is one of the most popular game bird species. Despite its popularity, little information has been published related to its sperm profile, including the common semen parameters used to characterise the quality of this material. Additionally, the spermatozoon’s ultrastructure has never been characterised, and very few data on reproductive performance in the male bird are available. The aim of the present study was to provide these data and fill these gaps in the literature. Semen was collected by the dorso-abdominal massage technique for pheasants and evaluated during the late spring period (May to mid-June). For the ultrastructure and morphometric descriptions, scanning electron and transmission electron images were obtained. The data show that pheasants produce ejaculates of a smaller volume (average volume = 131 µL) but with a higher sperm concentration compared with roosters. Semen pH values tended towards alkaline values (average pH = 8.3). The general shape of the pheasant spermatozoon resembles that of roosters and turkeys, although a bigger sub-acrosomal space was observed compared with these species. As a consequence, its perforatorium occupies two-thirds of the acrosome. A lower number of mitochondria (20–24) was also detected compared with roosters and turkeys. The pheasant spermatozoon’s dimensions are most similar to those observed in turkeys and guineafowl. The present study provides basic information useful for assisted reproductive techniques and conservation programmes. HIGHLIGHTS Basic information on the common pheasant semen is given. A morphometric description of the common pheasant sperm cell is reported. The characterisation of the sperm ultrastructure by scanning and transmission electron microscopy is shown.
Expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1 in oral squamous cell carcinoma and its correlation with clinicopathological parameters

Background: Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1 (ALDH1A1) is a key aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) isozyme, related to the cancer stem cells which are responsible for initiating tumor growth, progression, and recurrence. High expression of ALDH1A1 has been reported in several tumor types in humans and its expression is associated with poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to assess the expression of the ALDH1A1 in oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and its correlation with various clinicopathological parameters. Materials and Methods: ALDH1A1 expression was analyzed by using immunohistochemistry on paraffin blocks of 112 cases of primary oral SCC and their corresponding 68 lymph nodes with metastatic deposits. ALDH1A1 expression was also correlated with various clinicopathological parameters. Statistical analysis was done with statistical analysis software, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21.0. Results: High ALDH1A1 expression was observed in 31.2% of cases of primary oral SCC as compared to 73.5% in lymph node metastasis. A statistically significant difference (P = 0.04) was observed in high TNM stages (68.6%) of the tumor as compared to low TNM stages (31.4%). However, histopathological grades of tumor showed nonsignificant correlation with ALDH1A1 expression (P = 0.093). 40.2% of patients were expired at the end of the study, and the rate of mortality was significantly higher (P = 0.01) in patients with high ALDH1A1 expression as compared to low expression (60.0% vs. 31.2%). Conclusion: High ALDH1A1 expression was associated with higher TNM tumor stage and high nodal stage. It was also associated with high mortality rate which validates it as a marker of invasiveness and poor prognosis in oral SCC.