Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sustaining Improvements of Surgical Site Infections by Six Sigma DMAIC Approach

Background: SSIs (surgical site infections) are associated with increased rates of morbidity and mortality. The traditional quality improvement strategies focusing on individual performance did not achieve sustainable improvement. This study aimed to implement the Six Sigma DMAIC method to reduce SSIs and to sustain improvements in surgical quality. The surgical procedures, clinical data, and surgical site infections were collected among 42,233 hospitalized surgical patients from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020. Following strengthening leadership and empowering a multidisciplinary SSI prevention team, DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) was used as the performance improvement model. An evidence-based prevention bundle for reduction of SSI was adopted as performance measures. Environmental monitoring and antimicrobial stewardship programs were strengthened to prevent the transmission of multi-drug resistant microorganisms. Process change was integrated into a clinical pathway information system. Improvement cycles by corrective actions for the risk events of SSIs were implemented to ensure sustaining improvements. We have reached the targets of the prevention bundle elements in the post-intervention period in 2020. The carbapenem resistance rates of Enterobacteriaceae and P. aeruginosa were lower than 10%. A significant 22.2% decline in SSI rates has been achieved, from 0.9% for the pre-intervention period in 2019 to 0.7% for the post-intervention period in 2020 (p = 0.004). Application of the Six Sigma DMAIC approach could significantly reduce the SSI rates. It also could help hospital administrators and quality management personnel to create a culture of patient safety.
Estimation of temperature rise from trapped field gradient on superconducting bulk magnetized by multi-pulse technique

Trapped field profiles of the GdBaCuO superconducting bulk of 65 mm in diameter have been measured as magnetized using a successive pulsed-field application (SPA) and a subsequent iterative pulsed-field magnetization with reducing amplitude (IMRA). The trapped field gradient dBT/dx on the bulk periphery increases concomitantly with increasing pulse number in the IMRA part. The dBT/dx value on the bulk magnetized by field-cooled magnetization (FCM) was also measured at each temperature TF. The maximum temperature Tmax for each pulse was estimated by comparing the dBT/dx value for the IMRA part with that for the FCM at each temperature. Furthermore, Tmax was measured directly for the SPA part in the drilled hole in the bulk. The estimated Tmax was nearly equal to the measured Tmax, which thereby confirmed that Tmax after applying the pulsed field can be estimated using the dBT/dx value in the bulk periphery. The enhancement of the total trapped flux ΦTP in the IMRA part with increasing pulse number results from enhancement of the critical current density Jc because of the reduction in Tmax.
Self-testing multipartite entangled states through projections onto two systems

Finding ways to test the behaviour of quantum devices is a timely enterprise, especially in light of the rapid development of quantum technologies. Device-independent self-testing is one desirable approach, as it makes minimal assumptions on the devices being tested. In this work, we address the question of which states can be self-tested. This has been answered recently in the bipartite case (Coladangelo et al 2017 Nat. Commun. 8 15485), while it is largely unexplored in the multipartite case, with only a few scattered results, using a variety of different methods: maximal violation of a Bell inequality, numerical SWAP method, stabiliser self-testing etc. In this work, we investigate a simple, and potentially unifying, approach: combining projections onto two-qubit spaces (projecting parties or degrees of freedom) and then using maximal violation of the tilted CHSH inequalities. This allows one to obtain self-testing of Dicke states and partially entangled GHZ states with two measurements per party, and also to recover self-testing of graph states (previously known only through stabiliser methods). Finally, we give the first self-test of a class of multipartite qudit states: we generalise the self-testing of partially entangled GHZ states by adapting techniques from (Coladangelo et al 2017 Nat. Commun. 8 15485), and show that all multipartite states which admit a Schmidt decomposition can be self-tested with few measurements.
Geometric and electronic properties of graphene-related systems: Chemical bondings

This work presents a systematic review of the feature-rich essential properties in graphene-related systems using the first-principles method. The geometric and electronic properties are greatly diversified by the number of layers, the stacking configurations, the sliding-created configuration transformation, the rippled structures, and the distinct adatom adsorptions. The top-site adsorptions can induce the significantly buckled structures, especially for hydrogen and fluorine adatoms. The electronic structures consist of the carbon-, adatom- and (carbon, adatom)-dominated energy bands. There exist the linear, parabolic, partially flat, sombrero-shaped and oscillatory band, accompanied with various kinds of critical points. The semi-metallic or semiconducting behaviors of graphene systems are dramatically changed by the multi- or single-orbital chemical bondings between carbons and adatoms. Graphene oxides and hydrogenated graphenes possess the tunable energy gaps. Fluorinated graphenes might be semiconductors or hole-doped metals, while other halogenated systems belong to the latter. Alkali- and Al-doped graphenes exhibit the high-density free electrons in the preserved Dirac cones. The ferromagnetic spin configuration is revealed in hydrogenated and halogenated graphenes under certain distributions. Specifically, Bi nano-structures are formed by the interactions between monolayer graphene and buffer layer. Structure and adatom-enriched essential properties are compared with the measured results, and potential applications are also discussed.
Formation of bright solitons and soliton trains in a fermion–fermion mixture by modulational instability

We employ a time-dependent mean-field-hydrodynamic model to study the generation of bright solitons in a degenerate fermion–fermion mixture in a cigar-shaped geometry using variational and numerical methods. Due to a strong Pauli-blocking repulsion among identical spin-polarized fermions at short distances there cannot be bright solitons for repulsive interspecies interactions. Employing a linear stability analysis we demonstrate the formation of stable solitons due to modulational instability of a constant-amplitude solution of the model equations for a sufficiently attractive interspecies interaction. We perform a numerical stability analysis of these solitons and also demonstrate the formation of soliton trains by jumping the effective interspecies interaction from repulsive to attractive. These fermionic solitons can be formed and studied in laboratory with present technology.
High Sensitivity Readout of 2D a-Si Image Sensors

A highly sensitive charge-sensitive amplifier IC was used to read out large-area two-dimensional arrays of amorphous silicon (a-Si) p-i-n photodiodes addressed by a-Si thin film transistors (TFTs). At the highest sensitivity mode, the random noise of the sensor was equivalent to an input charge of 1500 electrons rms. Feedthrough charge injection associated with TFT switching had to be avoided at the expense of the signal charge. Image lag caused by charge trapping in a-Si was suppressed by limiting the input light intensity. A simple model was developed for the noise contribution from a pixel and compared with measurements.
Occupational Silica Exposure and Dose–Response for Related Disorders—Silicosis, Pulmonary TB, AIDs and Renal Diseases: Results of a 15-Year Israeli Surveillance

Background: The exposure patterns of respirable crystalline silica based on environmental records, as well as the link to different diseases, are not well described. Aims and objectives: In this study, we evaluated the risk for various diseases in relation to occupational silica exposure, including Silicosis, pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), Autoimmune disorders (AIDs) and Renal diseases. Methods: We assessed the relationship between silica exposure and the rate of various diseases such as silicosis, pulmonary TB, AIDs and renal diseases in a cross-sectional study. We reviewed the medical records and exposure level of workers exposed to silica during the past two decades. Results: 261 workers were included in the study, total duration of exposure 15.6 years (±SD 8.74); 42.15% of them were employed in the artificial marble industry and 29.5% in manufacturing and construction industries. The average yearly silica exposure levels were 0.23 mg/m3 (±0.34). The average cumulative silica concentration was 3.59 mg/m3/y (±4.80). We found 25 (9.58%) incident cases of silicosis, 10 cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema (3.83%), six cases of several AIDs (2.30%), five cases of pulmonary TB (1.92%), three cases of renal diseases (1.15%), two cases of sarcoidosis (0.77%) and no lung cancer cases. When compared to studies with the same endpoint we found excess risk of silicosis (RR = 2.67/0.13 = 20.5, 95% CI 9.85 to 42.86)), pulmonary TB (RR = 30.70, CI 3.43–274.49, p = 0.002) and AIDs (RR = 2.87, 95% CI = 1.27 to 6.48 p = 0.01). Conclusions: Silica exposure was a significant risk factor for silicosis, pulmonary TB and AIDs. Our findings are important given persistent worldwide silica-related epidemics in low and high-income countries.
Black holes and gravitational waves: simultaneous discovery by initial laser interferometers

Study of gravitational-radiation induced merging rates of relativistic binary stars (double neutron stars; neutron star + black hole; double black holes) shows that the ﬁrst-generation gravitational wave interferometers with an rms-sensitivity of 10 − 21 at frequency 100 Hz can detect 10-700 black hole and only ∼ 1 neutron star coalescences in a 1-year integration time in a wide range of stellar evolution parameters. It is notable that modern concepts of stellar evolution predict that the ﬁrst detection of gravitational wave will independently discover black holes.
First-principles investigation of transition-metal-doped group-IV semiconductors : RxY1-x (R=Cr,Mn,Fe; Y=Si,Ge)

A number of transition-metal (TM) doped group-IV semiconductors, R$_{x}$Y$_{1-x}$ (R=Cr, Mn and Fe; Y=Si, Ge), have been studied by the first principles calculations. The obtained results show that antiferromagnetic (AFM) order is energetically more favored than ferromagnetic (FM) order in Cr-doped Ge and Si with $x$=0.03125 and 0.0625. In 6.25% Fe-doped Ge, FM interaction dominates in all range of the R-R distances while for Fe-doped Ge at 3.125% and Fe-doped Si at both concentrations of 3.125% and 6.25%, only in a short R-R range can the FM states exist. In the Mn-doped case, the RKKY-like mechanism seems to be suitable for the Ge host matrix, while for the Mn-doped Si, the short-range AFM interaction competes with the long-range FM interaction. The different origin of the magnetic orders in these diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) makes the microscopic mechanism of the ferromagnetism in the DMSs more complex and attractive.
A New Method of Fitting Implicit Conic to Plane Scattered Data Points

AbstractA new method of fitting implicit conic to plane scattered data points is presented in this paper, which is based on minimizing the sum of squared point-to-curve algebraic distance. At first, the specific ellipse, hyperbola and parabola are fitted to the data points respectively, then the final fitting conic is produced by combining the above three specific conics and adding certain weights to the coefficients of them. By this method, the fitting conic not only preserves the original curve shapes if the conic data comes from the basic quadratic curve, but also improves the fitting effects for the general data points.
Innovations and investments for transforming India’s rice economy: Submergence tolerant rice varieties in rainfed lowlands of North-Eastern Uttar Pradesh

The present study provides a brief overview of India’s R&D program and orientation of the public and private research portfolio and investments in reference to the rice research. The farm level and aggregate potential economic benefits from the adoption of improved submergence tolerant rice varieties (Swarna Sub 1, Samba Masuri Sub 1) in the rainfed lowland region of India were estimated based on a field survey conducted in rainfed lowlands of the northeastern region of Uttar Pradesh state. At farm-level, the submergence tolerant varieties had not only 39% higher yield advantage and 63% higher net returns as compared to other popularly grown varieties in the region, but also showed lower yield risk under the prevailing conditions. At the aggregate level, potential benefits from the adoption of these stress-tolerant varieties were also estimated. Farmers’ perception showed that Swarna Sub 1 and Samba Masuri Sub 1 rice varieties are preferred mainly because of their better tolerance to the submergence conditions prevailing in the area during the rainy season. Sarjoo-52 is an old variety but still preferred due to its taste, yield and resistance to pests and diseases. The results amply indicate that farmers’ perception of crop varietal attributes influences largely their choice of varieties at the farm level.
Some Properties of Ferromagnetoelectric Nickel Iodine Boracite

Synthetic and very pure single crystals of nickel iodine boracite (Ni3B7O13I, NIB), up to 10 mm in their largest dimension grown by a chemical transport process were investigated, using a self‐compensating recording balance under quasistatic conditions. Below 64°K ferromagnetic behavior in agreement with the results of Ascher, Rieder, Schmid, and Stossel was observed. Rotation diagrams showed a slight hexagonal component in the (111) plane of the crystal. In the (100) plane, however, large tetragonal torsion moments were recorded having frequent discontinuities and very large rotational hysteresis in fields of about 5 kOe. In a temporally and spatially constant magnetic field, a discontinuous but on the average linear decrease of the torsion moment was observed, taking about 30 min for it to vanish completely.The above behavior can be only partly explained on the basis of ferromagnetic‐domain wall motion. The influence of ferroelectric‐domain processes coupled through ferromagnetoelectric interaction seem.
Year two instrument status of the SPT-3G cosmic microwave background receiver

The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a millimeter-wavelength telescope designed for high-precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The SPT measures both the temperature and polarization of the CMB with a large aperture, resulting in high resolution maps sensitive to signals across a wide range of angular scales on the sky. With these data, the SPT has the potential to make a broad range of cosmological measurements. These include constraining the effect of massive neutrinos on large-scale structure formation as well as cleaning galactic and cosmological foregrounds from CMB polarization data in future searches for inflationary gravitational waves. The SPT began observing in January 2017 with a new receiver (SPT-3G) containing ~16,000 polarization-sensitive transition-edge sensor bolometers. Several key technology developments have enabled this large-format focal plane, including advances in detectors, readout electronics, and large millimeter-wavelength optics. We discuss the implementation of these technologies in the SPT-3G receiver as well as the challenges they presented. In late 2017 the implementations of all three of these technologies were modified to optimize total performance. Here, we present the current instrument status of the SPT-3G receiver.
Time-dependent population imaging for high-order-harmonic generation in solids

We propose an intuitive method, called time-dependent population imaging (TDPI), to map the dynamical processes of high harmonic generation (HHG) in solids by solving the time-dependent Schr\"{o}dinger equation (TDSE). It is shown that the real-time dynamical characteristics of HHG in solids, such as the instantaneous photon energies of emitted harmonics, can be read directly from the energy-resolved population oscillations of electrons in the TDPIs. Meanwhile, the short and long trajectories of solid HHG are illustrated clearly from TDPI. By using the TDPI, we also investigate the effects of carrier-envelope phase (CEP) in few-cycle pulses and intuitively demonstrate the HHG dynamics driven by two-color fields. Our results show that the TDPI provides a powerful tool to study the ultrafast dynamics in strong fields for various laser-solid configurations and gain an insight into HHG processes in solids.
Bioactive properties of honeys from stingless bees and Apis mellifera bees in the food industry

Abstract The "medicinal" benefits of honey have been known for thousands of years, being used as an antiseptic, fortifier, soother, healer, laxative, among others. But in addition to its use as a therapeutic, there is evidence that since ancient Rome honey has been used as a food preservative. Currently, the food industry faces several challenges, among which are maintaining the quality and safety characteristics of their products with the minimum addition of artificial ingredients and additives due to the worldwide increase in demand for natural products and functional properties, as well as helping to reduce food loss and thus its ecological footprint. Currently, honey produced by stingless bees has been the subject of research, due to its nutritional value and its bioactive properties of great utility, both in the pharmaceutical industry and in food production. Therefore, a review of published articles describing the potential uses of the bioactive properties of honey, mainly that produced by stingless bees, in the food industry was carried out.
Study of the temperature dependence of single-particle and pair coherent condensate densities for a Bose liquid with a "depleted" single-particle Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) at $T \neq 0$

We study the temperature dependence of single-particle and pair coherent condensate densities for a Bose liquid with a "depleted" single-particle Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) at $T \neq 0$. Our investigations were based on the field-theoretical Green's functions. On the basis of the use of empirical data about the speeds of the first and second sounds is described superfluid state at $T \neq 0$. It is studied the structure of superfluid state taking into account appearance with the different from zero temperatures of normal component and taking into account the branch of the second sound, whose speed approaches zero at $T \to T_\lambda$. The bare interaction between bosons was chosen in the form of a repulsive Azis potential, the Fourier component of which was an oscillatory and sign-varying function of the momentum. The obtained temperature dependence of single-particle and pair coherent condensate and total densities has a good agreement with experiment data.
Measurements with an emissive probe in the CASTOR tokamak

An emissive probe has been used in the edge region of the CASTOR tokamak in order to test the possibility of direct measurements of the plasma potential. The difference between the floating potential of a cold probe and that of an emissive probe has been found to be approximately 1.3 times the electron temperature, which is less than predicted by the probe theory. Several possible reasons to explain this discrepancy are offered, such as secondary electron emission, uncertainties in the ion temperature, different collecting areas for electrons and ions, etc. The possible impact of a space charge formed by the emitted electrons is also discussed.
The Impact of Obesity on C1q/TNF-Related Protein-9 Expression and Endothelial Function following Acute High-Intensity Interval Exercise vs. Continuous Moderate-Intensity Exercise

Simple Summary Lifestyle modifications such as diet and exercise are a first-line defense to promote health in individuals with obesity. High-intensity interval exercise has recently gained popularity as a time-effective exercise modality. As such, this work compared the acute exercise induced benefits on vascular health between high-intensity interval exercise and traditional continuous moderate-intensity exercise. We found that both exercise modalities lead to improvements in indicators of vascular health, with some enhancements lasting up to 2 h following exercise. Therefore, high-intensity interval exercise is a time-effective strategy to improve vascular health similarly to traditional continuous moderate-intensity exercise in individuals with obesity. Abstract C1q-TNF-related protein-9 (CTRP9) increases endothelial nitric oxide synthase and reduces vasoconstrictors. There is limited information regarding exercise-mediated CTRP9 in obesity. The purpose of this study was to compare high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) and continuous moderate-intensity exercise (CME) on the CTRP9 response and an indicator of endothelial function (FMD) in obese participants. Sixteen young male participants (9 obese and 7 normal-weight) participated in a counterbalanced and caloric equated experiment: HIIE (30 min, 4 intervals of 4 min at 80–90% of VO2 max with 3 min rest between intervals) and CME (38 min at 50–60% VO2 max). Serum CTRP9 and FMD were measured prior to, immediately following exercise, and 1 h and 2 h into recovery. CTRP9 was significantly increased immediately following acute HIIE and CME in both groups (p = 0.003). There was a greater CME-induced FMD response at 2 h into recovery in obese participants (p = 0.009). A positive correlation between CTRP9 and FMD percent change was observed in response to acute CME when combined with both obese and normal-weight participants (r = 0.589, p = 0.016). The novel results from this study provide a foundation for additional examination of the mechanisms of exercise-mediated CTRP9 on endothelial function in individuals with obesity.
Orbital periods of 22 subdwarf B stars

Subdwarf B (sdB) stars are thought to be core helium burning stars with low mass hydrogen envelopes. In recent years it has become clear that many sdB stars lose their hydrogen through interaction with a binary companion and continue to reside in binary systems today. In this paper we present the results of a programme to measure orbital parameters of binary sdB stars. We determine the orbits of 22 binary sdB stars from 424 radial velocity measurements, raising the sample of sdBs with known orbital parameters to 38. We calculate lower limits for the masses of the companions of the sdB stars which, when combined with the orbital periods of the systems, allow us to discuss approximate evolutionary constraints. We find that a formation path for sdB stars consisting of mass transfer at the tip of the red giant branch (RGB) followed by a common envelope phase explains most, but not all of the observed systems. It is particularly difficult to explain both long period systems and short period, massive systems. We present new measurements of the effective temperature, surface density and surface helium abundance for some of the sdB stars by fitting their blue spectra. We find that two of them (PG 0839 + 399 and KPD 1946 + 4340) do not lie in the extreme horizontal branch (EHB) band, indicating that they are post-EHB stars.