Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GeoLake: Bringing Geospatial Support to Lakehouses

Over the past decade, geospatial data has witnessed significant expansion, coupled with swift technological advancements. However, its adoption in various industries has been partially constrained by the absence of an efficient data system that can keep pace with these advancements. Among potential solutions, the Lakehouse approach emerges as the most promising. However, existing Lakehouse systems lack integrated support for geospatial data. To address this gap, we present GeoLake, the industry’s first universal solution for geospatial data tailored to Lakehouse systems. GeoLake introduces a range of pivotal features, including native support for storing geometry values in Lakehouse tables, and enables seamless querying and processing of geospatial tables using Spatial SQL. Furthermore, GeoLake incorporates advanced techniques such as spatial partitioning and spatial predicate pushdown within the Lakehouse architecture. These techniques expedite geospatial queries through efficient data skipping and optimized data layout. Additionally, GeoLake incorporates a thoughtfully designed Parquet file format that is tailored for the rapid scanning of encoded geometry values. Our experiments with real-world, large-scale geospatial datasets demonstrate the significant performance improvements achieved by GeoLake. Moreover, several industries, including automotive manufacturing, automobile insurance, and smart city initiatives, some of which are Fortune 500 enterprises, are actively adopting or considering the implementation of GeoLake to address the complexities associated with managing and analyzing geospatial data at scale.
Herbal food supplements usage awareness of university students: Example of Echinacea and St. John's Wort

In recent years, usage of food supplements (Fs) has increased in order to maintain healthy living, have well-being, and be protected from the diseases. There are many medicinal plants used as herbal food supplements (HFs). Within the scope of this study, Echinacea and St. John’s Wort were selected among the plants that are frequently encountered. This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted through completing a self-administered online questionnaire by health students. The questionnaire was filled out by 211 students studying at the faculties of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Istanbul Medipol University. The greatest participation was achieved with Pharmacy students (47.4%), whereas the lowest participation was reached with Dentistry students (5.7%). The most commonly used products as Fs were vitamin D (21.3%) and multivitamins (16.1%), while the use of HFs was 8.5%. St. John’s Wort is commonly preferred for wound and burn treatment and Echinacea is used to boost immunity. In parallel with this use, St. John’s Wort is preferred as olive oil maceration and Echinacea as herbal infusion. While the use of HFs was 58.3%, that of the Fs were 44.5%. Echinacea use was found to be 14.4% and St. John’s Wort was 31.3%. The relationship between the presence of chronic disease and the use of Fs or HFs was not statistically significant. This study is significant to detect the opinions and knowledge levels of health students about Fs, especially HFs, St. John’s Wort and Echinacea, which are available in the market.
Development and Validation of an Artificial Intelligence-Based Motion Analysis System for Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Exercises in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury: A Randomized Controlled Trial

In this study, we developed an AI-based real-time motion feedback system for patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) during rehabilitation, aiming to enhance their interest and motivation. The effectiveness of the system in improving upper-limb muscle strength during the Thera band exercises was evaluated. The motion analysis program, including exercise repetition counts and calorie consumption, was developed using MediaPipe, focusing on three key motions (chest press, shoulder press, and arm curl) for upper extremity exercises. The participants with SCI were randomly assigned to the experimental group (EG = 4) or control group (CG = 5), engaging in 1 h sessions three times a week for 8 weeks. Muscle strength tests (chest press, shoulder press, lat pull-down, and arm curl) were performed before and after exercises. Although both groups did not show significant differences, the EG group exhibited increased strength in all measured variables, whereas the CG group showed constant or reduced results. Consequently, the computer program-based system developed in this study could be effective in muscle strengthening. Furthermore, these findings may serve as a valuable foundation for future AI-driven rehabilitation exercise systems.
A Retrospective Cohort Study on One-Year Mortality Following Emergency Laparotomy: A Tertiary Centre Experience From Western Australia

Background Emergency laparotomy is a common general surgical procedure associated with a high mortality and morbidity profile. While short-term outcomes following emergency laparotomy have been increasingly described, there remains a paucity of literature on long-term outcomes in Australia. We report our one-year mortality following emergency laparotomy at Royal Perth Hospital, Australia. Methodology A retrospective observational series of emergency laparotomies performed during 2019 and 2020 at Royal Perth Hospital was collected. The primary endpoint is the one-year mortality, and the secondary endpoints are patient demography, COVID-19 status, ASA classification, surgical category, operative indication, primary surgical pathology, procedure and surgical duration, ICU stay, post-operative destination, length of stay, 30-day mortality, and 90-day mortality. Subgroup analysis was performed for years 2019 and 2020. Results A total of 272 emergency laparotomies were performed during the two-year study period. The average age was 61 years (range 18- 98, SD ± 18.32). The majority of patients were in the ASA classification III (n= 134, 49.26%). The average length of patients’ stay was 14.17 days (median 10, IQR 11). Moreover, 31.98% of patients were admitted directly to the ICU following emergency laparotomy. One year mortality was 16.6%. However, a significant difference in the long-term mortality rates was observed between the two calendar years, 24.6% in 2019 and 8.66% in 2020. The one-month mortality rate was 7.33%, and the three-month mortality rate was 10.85%. Conclusion The one-year mortality rate observed is high and considerable and similar to experiences published elsewhere. The significant reduction in mortality during the study period warrants further investigation and may reflect improved planning and attitudes around these high-risk surgeries.
Scientometrics and academia

The social significance and quality of every human activity are proportional to its usefulness to the social community. Science belongs to the very top of the processes and events in the history of humankind that strongly influenced the development of society, which over time transformed it and contributed to the common good. Science produced new knowledge that made it possible for billions of people to rise out of poverty, develop industrialization and mass communication, eradicate many dangerous diseases for humankind, and enable humans to leave their footprints on the moon. Science is a human activity that produces new knowledge presented through innovations, patents, and publications, aimed at solving the problems facing humanity. Read more in the PDF.
Improvement of Depth Resolution by Dual-band integration for 3D MIMO Radar for Security Inspections

The authors are studying a MilliMeter-Wave (MMW) radar with Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) for security inspections. The paper describes the architecture of the MMW MIMO radar imager with dual-band operations. The depth resolution is improved by the integration of two different data obtained in two frequency bands. The depth resolution is also discussed using reference sphere measurement.
CFD-Based Multiobjective Optimization of Waterjet Propelled High Speed Ships

The present paper is complementary to a separately presented paper by Kandasamy et al. (2011), with more focus on activities of development and validation of a CFDbased multiobjective optimization method. The numerical optimization method is applied for the initial design of two waterjet propelled high-speed ships, namely, the Joint HighSpeed Sealift Ship (JHSS) and the Delft Catamaran (DC). The scheme investigated in the present study is based on Evolutionary Algorithm (EA), a more suitable scheme for multiobjective optimization than other alternatives. Another important feature of EA is upward scalability in parallel computing by introducing the recent advancement of Information Technology (IT), which actually realizes a high-performance optimization framework in the present study. In addition, the concepts of Variable Fidelity/Physics (VF) and hierarchical optimization approach are adopted, so as to increase the efficiency of the whole optimization problem by using two different levels of accuracy. That is, both Unsteady RANS and Potential Flow based CFD methods together with Asynchronous Evaluator (AE) model for interface with optimization module are used in the present study. A practical geometry modelling method to yield new designs is used as successfully demonstrated in the previous work. In the following, an overview of the present method is given, and results are presented and discussed for JHSS and DC test cases. Both results appear very promising, which support overall validity and effectiveness of the optimization framework developed in the present study.
Comparison of Brain Activation According to fMRI Data in Patient with Depression (After Acute Coronary Syndrome and Somatically Healthy) and Healthy Volunteers

Objective: The present study is devoted to the study of brain activation using fMRI in patients with depression (after acute coronary syndrome and somatically healthy) and in healthy volunteers. Method : The study enrolled a total of 51 patients: 11 with depression after acute coronary syndrome, 16 with primary depressive episode and recurrent depression without prior coronary event, and 24 with ACS without depression. The groups were matched by sex and age. The emotional information processing was evaluated with the Pennsylvania Test of Emotion Recognition. All patients underwent fMRI at the time of this test. The data processing was performed with SPM12 and xjView applications. Results: During the processing of emotional information in the depressed patients after ACS, specific activation zones in the frontal cortex (P < 0.001), right fusiform gyrus (P < 0.001), and right insular lobe were identified (P = 0.017). In the patients with primary depressive episode and recurrent depression without ACS, certain zones of activation were identified in frontal cortex (P < 0.001; 0.001), left fusiform gyrus (P < 0.001), occipital cortex (P < 0.001). In the patients who had ACS, without depression, some zones of activation were specified in the right middle occipital gyrus (P < 0.001), the right superior frontal gyrus (P = 0.088), and the putamen projection on the right (P < 0.001) and on the left (P = 0.009), as well as the left insular lobe (P = 0.015). Conclusion: The pathogenesis of depression is significantly associated with the peculiarities of processing emotionally significant information, regardless of the conditions under which it develops.
Site selection for Haloxylon ammodendron plantation based on soil factors

ABSTRACT The success of plantation, establishment, and growth of trees and shrubs is an important concern in afforestation efforts. There have been extensive efforts to use Haloxylon ammodendron in many desert areas throughout the world in desert combating projects, but these efforts have not always been successful, despite high costs. In this study, we propose a new application of fuzzy decision-making method for selecting suitable sites for the growth of this species. We determine, based on available autecological studies, the most effective factors in desert habitats, and a fuzzy membership function is designed for each of the factors. A suitability index is constructed by unifying the fuzzified factors. This model is then applied to an actual plantation area to evaluate the suitability of different parts of this trial area. Finally, the predicted results are compared to the actual rate of success, based on the canopy cover percentage. The coefficient of determination for the observed canopy cover percentage plotted against the predicted suitability values is higher than 98%, which demonstrates that the presented fuzzy decision-making approach is potentially a powerful tool in site selection for this and, probably, other species.
Patient Perspectives on Online Medication Information Seeking in Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Exploration

This study explores pharmacists' experiences and attitudes towards online medical information shared with them by their patients. A self-administered online survey questionnaire was designed and administered to 113 pharmacists within Kampala metropolitan, Uganda. The survey results highlight growth in patients' inquiries about online acquired medication-related information from their pharmacists (n=105, 93%). Pharmacists highlighted that this online information-seeking behaviour enhances patients' understanding of treatment. While generally, pharmacists in Uganda hold a positive attitude towards this trend, they, however, raised some concerns over the inaccuracy of online medication-related information presented to them by their patients 66 (58%), the internet promotion of unnecessary fear and worry about medication n=96 (92 %), and the tendency for patients to take up more of the pharmacists' time during their visits (n=68, 60%). Finally, this study revealed that pharmacist gender (r=0.722, t=9.078, p=O.OOO) and pharmacy ownership status (r=0.504, t=4.107, p=O.OOO) had a statistically significant relationship with pharmacists' attitude towards patients' acquisition of online medication-related information. Conclusively, this study shows that pharmacists in Kampala (Uganda) have a generally positive view of the online medication-related information-seeking by patients. This result suggests that technology use, specifically the Internet, in addressing healthcare needs is embraced in Sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, this research contributes to the literature exploring online perceptions and attitudes towards medication-related information-seeking among pharmacists.
B-hop: Time-Domain Adjustment of BLE Frequency Hopping Against Wi-Fi Beacon Interference

As Wi-Fi access points (APs) are deployed more densely, the cross-technology interference (CTI) from Wi-Fi is becoming a real threat to co-existing low-power Internet of Things protocols such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE). In this work, we pay attention to Wi-Fi beacons that take a substantial amount of airtime in the 2.4-GHz Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) band. We develop B-hop, a standard-compliant framework that adjusts BLE frequency hopping to avoid expected Wi-Fi beacons in the time domain. B-hop operates on BLE central devices where Wi-Fi and BLE protocols are co-located, and it requires no modifications to Wi-Fi devices or BLE peripheral devices. B-hop predicts future beacon transmissions and reschedules the time domain of frequency hopping to avoid collisions. We implement a B-hop prototype using Zephyr, an open-source embedded operating system that allows us to modify necessary BLE link-layer operations. We evaluate the performance of B-hop through simulations and test-bed experiments and demonstrate that B-hop significantly outperforms legacy BLE frequency hopping schemes that only use frequency-domain adjustment.
Inter‐Basin Water Transfer Effectively Compensates for Regional Unsustainable Water Use

Globally, a persistent decline of freshwater availability has been identified over a number of intensively irrigated agricultural regions. Large‐scale inter‐basin water transfer (IBWT) has been suggested as a key tool for stabilizing regional terrestrial water storage (TWS). However, IBWT projects are prohibitively expensive, and their large‐scale cost effectiveness remains unclear. Here we quantify the IBWT impacts on TWS trends in the North China Plain (NCP), a global hotspot for TWS depletion and IBWT. Based on in‐situ observations, remote sensing, and water balance principles, we provide a framework to disentangle complex climate and anthropogenic impacts on NCP TWS. Results show that the NCP TWS depletion rate was significantly attenuated in 2015–2021, which is primarily attributable to recently enhanced IBWT. Otherwise, the average NCP TWS would currently be 94.9 ± 4.9 mm (or 12.2 ± 0.6 km3) lower. However, the positive effect of IBWT is partly offset by increased crop water consumption (−24.1 ± 5.2 mm or −3.1 ± 0.7 km3). IBWT and agricultural management (i.e., reducing crop density) are both necessary for stabilizing future NCP TWS. Otherwise, a TWS declining trend exceeding 100 mm/year may occur under elevated CO2 conditions. As such, this study verifies the feasibility and effectiveness of IBWT for mitigating regional water shortages, as well as the crucial role of agricultural management in stabilizing regional TWS.
Research Trends on How to Detect and Remove the Raindrops in the Video

This paper shows the research trends on how to detect and remove the raindrops in the video. Raindrop moves from top to bottom as the time passes. Also raindrop has the property of scattering light(1). Raindrops in the video may appear scattered all over and move quickly. In order to detect raindrops, the physical properties of raindrops and photometry of the environment which is the important information for image processing must be used. Using these properties make the model to detect raindrops. Then in order to remove raindrops, pixel which is affected by raindrop is replaced by the pixel of previous image. These studies are use in the field of video surveillance. When using a camera to monitor a particular zone or to get the specific information, raindrops disturb getting information. Therefore, removing raindrops in the video helps to get informations. In this paper we introduce the studies to detect and remove the raindrops in the video.
The emerging roles of extracellular vesicles as intercellular messengers in liver physiology and pathology

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-enclosed particles released from almost all cell types. EVs mediate intercellular communication by delivering their surface and luminal cargoes, including nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids, which reflect the pathophysiological conditions of their cellular origins. Hepatocytes and hepatic non-parenchymal cells utilize EVs to regulate a wide spectrum of biological events inside the liver and transfer them to distant organs through systemic circulation. The liver also receives EVs from multiple organs and integrates these extrahepatic signals that participate in pathophysiological processes. EVs have recently attracted growing attention for their crucial roles in maintaining and regulating hepatic homeostasis. This review summarizes the roles of EVs in intrahepatic and interorgan communications under different pathophysiological conditions of the liver, with a focus on chronic liver diseases including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, alcoholic hepatitis, viral hepatitis, liver fibrosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. This review also discusses recent progress for potential therapeutic applications of EVs by targeting or enhancing EV-mediated cellular communication for the treatment of liver diseases.
Enhancing weak transient signals in SEVIRI false color imagery: Application to dust source detection in southern Africa

A method is described to significantly enhance the signature of dust events using observations from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI). The approach involves the derivation of a composite clear‐sky signal for selected channels on an individual time step and pixel basis. These composite signals are subtracted from each observation in the relevant channels to enhance weak transient signals associated with either (a) low levels of dust emission or (b) dust emissions with high salt or low quartz content. Different channel combinations, of the differenced data from the steps above, are then rendered in false color imagery for the purpose of improved identification of dust source locations and activity. We have applied this clear‐sky difference (CSD) algorithm over three (globally significant) source regions in southern Africa: the Makgadikgadi Basin, Etosha Pan, and the Namibian and western South African coast. Case study analyses indicate three notable advantages associated with the CSD approach over established image rendering methods: (i) an improved ability to detect dust plumes, (ii) the observation of source activation earlier in the diurnal cycle, and (iii) an improved ability to resolve and pinpoint dust plume source locations.
Self-Adaptation of Multi-Recombinant Evolution Strategies on the Highly Multimodal Rastrigin Function

The self-adaptive, multi-recombinative ( μ/μ I , λ )-ES (Evolution Strategy) is investigated on the highly-multimodal Rastrigin test function by theoretical and experimental means. To this end, the self-adaptation response function is derived in the limit of large populations, which are necessary to achieve high success rates. The established dynamical systems approach is introduced and steady state conditions on Rastrigin are discussed and compared to the sphere function. Then, a characteristic τ is derived to tune the sampling process of the self-adaptive ES. The obtained result is compared to default τ-values. Furthermore, expected runtime experiments are conducted varying τ and population parameters of the ES. Theoretical and experimental results regarding τ are compared in terms of eﬃciency and robustness showing good agreement.
Patterns and Models of Debitage Dispersal in Percussion Flaking

Chipped stone debitage has been studied in detail for some time, but principally in terms of attributes of shape and form, and of modes of production and technology (Bordes 1969; Crabtree 1972). A great deal of this research has utilized experimental stone working, which has played a central role in the understanding of lithic tech nologies worldwide (Johnson 1978). In recent years attention has shifted from the study of individual flakes and their attributes to the exami
Melatonin as an Antioxidant Supplement in Athletes: A Literature Review of Current Evidence

PURPOSE: Melatonin (MT; N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is synthesized and released during the night in specialized pineal gland cells. Among its variety of physiological properties, recent research indicates that MT has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions. The aim of this literature review was to summarize recent evidence that describes the effects of MT on the muscle function and preventive role of MT on exercise-induced muscle damage.METHODS: This review included previous research using the PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases.RESULTS: We discussed the molecular structure and biological function of MT and the potential role of this hormone in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory processes. These activities have been studied in relation to the protection of muscle function against oxidative damage. In addition, MT is reported to have positive effects on muscle damage, lipid metabolism, and inflammatory responses in well-trained athletes following exercise training. Moreover, the potential beneficial effects of melatonin and mechanisms related to performance were revealed through improved sleep quality, muscle damage, and antioxidant levels in trained athletes.CONCLUSIONS: Finally, this review suggested that possibilities of MT as a supplementation for athletes; however, further research is required to investigate the specific mechanisms involved, the dose and duration of use, and the beneficial and detrimental effects of MT on athletic performance.