Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Near binocular visual function after SMILE surgery for myopia

Purpose: To analyze the changes of near binocular vision function after small incision lenticule extraction and association with asthenopia. Methods: This was a retrospective study．Twenty-five myopic patients who underwent small incision lenticular extraction (SMILE) surgery from Tianjin Eye Hospital were included in this study．The values of parameters of near binocular vision function were measured at preoperative, 1 week, 1 month and 3 months postoperatively including near heterophoria, near point convergence (NPC), horizontal base-in fusional reserves (BIFR) and base-out fusional reserves (BOFR). The patients were grouped by the preoperative symptoms scores. The comparisons among different follow-up periods were conducted by the repeated measures analysis of variance. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was used to evaluate the linear fit of the relationship between variables. Multiple linear regressions were used to analyze the relationship between asthenopia and parameters of binocular and accommodative function. Results: The NPC significantly increased at 1 week and 1 month after SMILE and then get back to the level of preoperatively in 3 months postoperatively. Near heterophoria significantly decreased at 1 week after SMILE and then remained stable in 3 months postoperatively. In the regression analysis, there was no significant association between the values of the fatigue questionnaire at different stages after SMILE operation and the parameters of near binocular visual function (P>0.05). However, there was significant positive correlation among each visit with the preoperative visual fatigue questionnaire（P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the parameters of binocular visual function between the normal group and the fatigue group. For the visual fatigue group, there was positive correlation between the score of visual fatigue questionnaire 1 week after SMILE surgery and the difference in near horizontal phoria between 1w postoperative and that preoperative (r=0.523, P=0.046), and significant negative correlation with the recovery point of BOFR at 1 week (r=-0.581, P=0.023). Conclusion: SMILE surgery wouldn’t influence the binocular vision in the short term. Since there was no significant association between binocular vision function and visual fatigue, factors of asthenopia in the early period of SMILE surgery should be further studied.
Impact of Endovascular Treatment on Leg Muscle Mass in Peripheral Artery Disease: a Preliminary Report

Background: Peripheral artery disease (PAD), intermittent claudication, and impaired mobility lower patients’ quality of life, contributing to the loss of skeletal muscle. This study sought to investigate the impact of endovascular treatment (EVT) by measuring the mid-thigh level of muscle volume in above the knee PAD patients before and after EVT.Methods: In this prospective, observational study, symptomatic PAD patients with above the knee lesions who had intermittent claudication and were undergoing optimal medical treatment were enrolled. The mid-thigh level of muscle area was measured by computed tomography initially, and then 3 and 6 months after EVT. Patients were categorized into ipsilateral or bilateral based on clinical symptoms and initial ABI value. The muscle area in ischemic and non-ischemic legs were compared in ipsilateral PAD patients. The correlations between alterations in the total thigh muscle area and clinical characteristics were analyzed in univariable and multivariable analysis to investigate the factor contributing skeletal muscle loss.Results: A total of 22 patients were analyzed. The muscle area of the thighs increased after EVT. Fourteen patients had ipsilateral lesions and 8 had bilateral stenosis. In patients with ipsilateral lesions, the mid-thigh muscle area of ischemic lower limbs was significantly lesser than that of non-ischemic lower limbs (118.2±16.5 cm2 vs 124.0±17.3 cm2, p=0.0002). The thigh muscle area of ischemic lower limbs increased after EVT (before: 118.2±16.5 cm2 vs 3 months: 124.0±18.7 cm2, p=0.0166; before vs 6 months: 123.0±17.7 cm2, p= 0.0566), but this was not the case for non-ischemic lower limbs. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that baseline glycated hemoglobin was the only factor that negatively correlated with the change in the muscle area after 3 (β= -3.74, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -7.3 to -0.2, p=0.0417) and 6 months (β= -5.24, 95%CI = -10.1 to -0.4, p=0.03567). Muscle area significantly increased in normoglycemic HbA1c < 6.5 patients (before: 246.1±33.5 cm2, before vs 3 months: 249.6±34.6 cm2, p = 0.032, before vs 6 months: 250.6±35.7 cm2, p = 0.0455) while there was no significant alternation in hyperglycemic (HbA1c ≥ 6.5) patients (before: 225.2±43.4 cm2, 3 months: 224.6±44.8 cm2, 6 months: 222.2±45.5 cm2). Conclusions: Ischemia induces muscle atrophy in PAD patients. However, ischemic muscle atrophy was ameliorated after EVT in normoglycemic patients. There is a need for large scale trial to investigate the impact of EVT if it would protect or even delay skeletal muscle loss in all-comer population.
Relationship of Red Cell Index with the Severity of COPD

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has always attracted attention due to its high prevalence and high mortality. How to predict and diagnose COPD and assess the severity of the disease is our top priority. We aimed to evaluate the association between red cell index (RCI) and the severity of COPD, and compare predictive value among RCI, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) of indicating the severity of COPD.Methods: A total of 207 participants were recruited (100 COPD patients and 107 healthy controls). COPD patients were divided into two groups according to receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves cut-off value of RCI (RCI < 1.75, n = 54; RCI > 1.75, n = 46). Pearson’s correlation test, logistic regression analysis and other tests were performed.Results: Compared with low RCI group, the forced expiration volume in 1 second (FEV1) and FEV1 in percent of the predicted value (FEV1%) of high RCI group decreased (p = 0.016, p = 0.001). There is a negative correlation between RCI and FEV1% (r = -0.302, p = 0.004), while no correlation between FEV1% and NLR and PLR. RCI’s ability to predict Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease classification, is better than NLR and PLR, with a cut of 1.75, specificity of 85.2%, sensitivity of 57.6% and area under the curve (AUC) of 0.729 (p = 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis proved RCI was an independent factor affecting lung function in COPD patients (odds ratio [OR] = 4.27, 95%CI: 1.57 - 11.63, p = 0.004). Conclusion: RCI is a novel biomarker that can better assess respiratory function and severity of COPD than NLR and PLR. Higher RCI is independently related to deterioration of respiratory function.
Solid State Radiation Detectors

For many applications including medical imaging, homeland security, nondestructive testing and scientific research, solid-state radiation detectors provide the best combination of sensitivity per unit volume, flexibility in packaging, cost, and efficient conversion of ionizing radiation into electrical signals suitable for measurement with modern instrumentation. Solid-state detectors are used for sensing all of the main forms of ionizing radiation including X-rays, gamma rays, charged particles, and neutrons. Charged particles include electrons, beta particles, positrons, protons, alpha particles, fission fragments, and other ions. Solid-state detectors include semiconductors, such as silicon and cadmium telluride, and scintillators coupled to solid state photodetectors such as NaI(Tl) coupled to silicon photodiodes. After more than 50 years of development, this remains an exciting area of research with regular reports of significant advances. The factors which make this such a thriving and growing area in radiation detection technology are the inherent advantages in size, weight, power, the need for high resolution digital imaging, low cost, as well as the availability of high performance computers capable of handling large amounts of data generated by large number of solid-state detector elements. This article reviews the primary mechanisms by which ionizing radiation interacts with matter, how these interactions create electronic signals within the various types of solid-state sensors, the properties of many of the more common solid-state nuclear detectors, and a comparison of their properties as they relate to choosing among them for a particular application. Keywords: ionizing radiation; nuclear radiation; photodiode; scintillator; semiconductor
Marriage and life satisfactions with sexual dysfunction in patients with multiple sclerosis

In the literature, there is a positive correlation between sexual and marital satisfactions. When the current literature is examined, there is no study examining the marriage satisfaction in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS). This study was conducted with 100 married PwMS. The majority of participants (n=71) are females. Demographic Information Form, Marital Life Scale (MLS), Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS), and Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale (ASEX) were used to collect data. Compared to other demographic variables, the median score of the marital life scale differs according to the type of marriage with the spouse (p = 0.008). The difference arises from the fact that the median score of the group getting married by introducing friends is low compared to the ones who get married by means of meeting and agreement. Marital life scale score did not differ according to other demographic characteristics (p> 0.05). Life satisfaction scale scores did not differ according to demographic characteristics (p> 0.05). The mean score of the ASEX differed by gender (p = 0.015). The mean value was found to be 13.8 for women and 17 for men. The mean score of the Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale differs according to age (p = 0.019). The mean score in the 25-34 age range was 14.2, in the 35-44 age range 16.2, in the 45-54 age range 16.1 and in the 55-64 age range 22.3. There was a significant positive relationship between marital life scale and life satisfaction (p <0.001). A significant negative correlation was found between marital satisfaction and sexual experiences (p <0.009). A negative correlation was found between life satisfaction and sexual experiences scale (p <0.001). Sexual dysfunction affects marriage and life satisfactions negatively in PwMS and they need to have new therapeutic approaches.
Overshoot Damping and Dynamics Improvement in Wireless Power Transfer Systems Via Receiver-Side Controller Design

Buck converters have been extensively used for output regulation in the receiver of series–series compensated wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. Nonetheless, there are two major challenges in the controller design of this class of WPT systems. First, due to the current-source nature and finite dc-link capacitance, a right-half-plane (RHP) zero exists in the WPT receiver, reducing its stability margin and causing limited system dynamics. Second, this RHP zero can cause an overshoot issue in the WPT system. Without proper treatment, this overshoot may largely increase the voltage/current stress of the system and even cause catastrophic failure. However, existing solutions to the above two issues suffer from long communication delays or significantly compromised output regulation, degrading system performance. In this article, the slow dynamics and the overshoot issue of the WPT system are elaborated in theory and a solution is proposed by adding a feedforward path of the dc-link voltage in the receiver's controller. No communication is involved in the proposed control method, and only trivial computation is added to the controller. The proposed method is examined on a WPT prototype. The experimental results show that the two issues of the WPT system can be simultaneously solved by the proposed method while the output regulation of the system is not compromised.
Radially Pleated Disk Resonator for Gyroscopic Application

In this paper, we propose a radially pleated disk resonator for gyroscopic application. The structure is made up of concentrically nested radially pleated rings that are interconnected by straight spokes, which has the potential to provide higher thermo-elastic quality factor and larger vibration amplitude. Decaying time constant of 31 s is experimentally obtained at resonant frequency of 3 kHz. A frequency-tuning model is proposed and verified, based on which, the frequency-tuning characters of the radially pleated disk resonator are thoroughly investigated. The Coriolis coupling factor <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\kappa $ </tex-math></inline-formula> of the radially pleated disk resonator is precisely measured by constructing a concise quadrature frequency-modulation operation, which gives the values of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\kappa $ </tex-math></inline-formula> = 0.7687 and agrees well with the calculated value of 0.7768. This work provides a new strategy for designing high performance MEMS gyroscope structure, and gives a good template for gyroscopic resonator characterization. [2021-0096]
Long-lasting Insecticide-Treated Mosquito Nets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices among households in Bonzola Health Zone in Mbuji-Mayi.

Malaria is the most widespread parasitic disease in the world. It is a major risk of morbidity and mortality for more than two billion human beings worldwide. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), it is one of the three leading causes of death among the most vulnerable groups - children under five and pregnant women. The impregnated mosquito net is currently one of the best ways to prevent malaria.The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of households related to the use of long-lasting insecticide-treated net in Bonzola Health Zone in the City of Mbuji-Mayi . This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted with 360 households. Our statistical unit was the household. The interview technique was used to collect data that were encoded, processed and analyzed using Excel 2007 software. In our statistical analyses, we used the calculation of frequencies, mean, standard deviation and proportions. The Chi-square test was used for association research.Overall, 93.83% of respondents have a good knowledge of the long-lasting insecticide-treated net (LLITN) and its benefits, 96.94% have a positive attitude towards its use and only 61.39% have good practices. The LLITN use rate the night before the survey is 90.28% and the availability rate of LLITNs in households is estimated at 94.44%. Certain factors limit the effective use of LLINs by households. Although population knowledge and attitude are good enough, the utilization of LLITNs did not much progress comparing to the proportion of pregnant women sleeping under an ITN (60%) revealed in the 2013 MICS-DRC Report.These results reflect what the last free distribution of LLITNs carried out in August 2015 by the Government (through the National Malaria Control Programme, in partnership with ASF/PSI) has largely produced as impact to the beneficiary population.
Exploiting Zero Knowledge Proof and Blockchains Towards the Enforcement of Anonymity, Data Integrity and Privacy (ADIP) in the IoT

In recent years, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been contemplated as the next technological advancement in the era of data communication and networking. However, although hundreds of new IoT platforms are introduced to the market every few months, the security of IoT ecosystems is still not fully understood. This paper discloses the architecture of a multilayer, multimode security system for the IoT. The proposed system is capable of providing multiple security solutions that support anonymous authentication, device privacy, data integrity, device sybil attack detection and IoT server spoofing attack detection. For IoT access control and authentication, our system can support two modes of operations, with one mode endorsing device privacy protection over the network and the second mode relinquishing device identity to establish data tracing during safety-critical IoT events. The new security system includes two innovative crypto approaches, zero knowledge proof (ZKP) and blockchains. IoT device anonymity was achieved via the multimode ZKP protocol, while data integrity and protection against sybil and IoT spoofing attacks were maintained via blockchains. Our threat analysis models showed that data modification and data injection attacks are not feasible. Probabilistic modeling of an IoT spoofing attack was performed in this paper, and the results show that our security system provides high resiliency against such attacks, with a probability approaching 1.
Sexual Expression and Self-Confidence in Long-Distance Relationships

OF THESIS SEXUAL EXPRESSION AND SELF-CONFIDENCE IN LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS Little is known about the impact of distance on sexual expression and selfconfidence in long-distance relationships, especially as mediated by technology. The purpose of the present study is to investigate how sexual expression and selfconfidence vary in romantic relationships between those in longversus shortdistance relationships. Data from 327 participants—156 in long-distance relationships and 171 in short-distance relationships— were collected via Amazon MTurk. Results indicate that forms of technology-mediated sexual expression are widely used in long-distance relationships. Technology-mediated sexual expression is positively associated with sexual satisfaction in both longand shortdistance relationships; however, technology-mediated sexual expression was not statistically associated with self-confidence, and self-confidence was negatively predictive of self-uncertainty and partner uncertainty, and selfuncertainty and partner uncertainty was positively predictive of relational uncertainty. These results indicate that technology is an important tool that can be utilized for sexual expression in long-distance relationships, but the negative association of its use with self-confidence needs to be better understood.
From Electronic Government to Digital Governance: Transformation Governance Models and Strategies

This article analyses Transformation Governance (t-Gov) models and strategies, seeking to contribute to the clarification of this concept. Using a literature review on the topic, the text discusses what is understood by Digital Transformation of the government in the context of the conceptual enlargement of the e-government for digital governance. The results show t-Gov as an adaptive model consisting of strategies that seek to create institutional conditions to enable a Digital Transformation process focused on users. The article concludes that citizen involvement and co-creation are the main elements of such strategies, and the aim of the t-Gov is to create contextualized mechanisms of digital governance to enable such elements
The duration of a supercritical SIR epidemic on a configuration model

We consider the spread of a supercritical stochastic SIR (Susceptible, Infectious, Recovered) epidemic on a configuration model random graph. We mainly focus on the final stages of a large outbreak and provide limit results for the duration of the entire epidemic, while we allow for non-exponential distributions of the infectious period and for both finite and infinite variance of the asymptotic degree distribution in the graph. Our analysis relies on the analysis of some subcritical continuous time branching processes and on ideas from first passage percolation. As an application we investigate the effect of vaccination with an all-or-nothing vaccine on the duration of the epidemic. We show that if vaccination fails to prevent the epidemic, it often – but not always – increases the duration of the epidemic.
Influence of Autochthonous and Commercial Yeast Strains on Fermentation and Quality of Wines Produced from Vranec and Cabernet Sauvignon Grape Varieties from Tikveš Wine-Growing Region, Republic of North Macedonia

Two autochthonous yeast strains called F-8 and F-78 (isolated and selected from the Tikveš wine-producing region) were inoculated in wine musts from Vranec and Cabernet Sauvignon grape varieties. The fermentation process and quality of the produced wines were compared to the wines produced from the same grape varieties, but with a commercial yeast strain (D-80). The fermentation process was undertaken at 23–25 °C for 16 days. The highest alcohol content was detected in Vranec and Cabernet Sauvignon wines fermented with autochthonous F-8 yeast strain. Conversely, Vranec wine fermented by the F-78 yeast strain contained the lowest alcohol content (14.11%). The low sugar amount (2–3 g/L) in both grape varieties is indicated the production of dry wines. The total amount of phenolic compounds was significantly higher in Vranec wines. Unlike the alcohol content, Vranec wine produced by commercial yeast strain D-80 indicated the highest concentration of total phenolic compounds (1450 mg/L) and total anthocyanins (572 mg/L), while the lowest concentrations were observed in wine fermented by autochthonous yeast strain F-78 (1612 mg/L and 470 mg/L, respectively). The maximum color intensity was measured in the Vranec wine fermented by autochthonous yeast strain F-8, while wines from Cabernet Sauvignon grape variety fermented with the same yeast strain F-8 and commercial yeast strain D-80 had comparable values in terms of color intensity.
An Analog Filter Bank-based Circuit for Performing the Adaptive Impedance Matching in PLC Systems

—Aiming to bring attention to the necessity of dealing with the dynamics of access impedance in electric power systems, this paper introduces an adaptive impedance matching circuit that is based on an analog ﬁlter bank approach. In this sense, it describes a prototype that validates the proposed ﬁlter bank approach for improving impedance matching. Numerical results obtained with the detailed prototype operating in the frequency band between 2 and 500 MHz show that the proposed analog ﬁlter bank approach helps to improve impedance matching in power line communication (PLC) systems. Also, the numerical results show that the dynamics of impedance matching between two or more PLC transceivers is a difﬁcult task to be accomplished because real-time coordination among them is necessary. Overall, it is shown that the proposed analog ﬁlter bank approach constitutes an interesting research direction for improving impedance matching between PLC transceivers and electric power systems.
Theories that Inform the Use of Variation in Mathematics Pedagogy

A large portion of mathematics education research focuses on elementary and middle year’s content with professional development about how to teach mathematics often focused using specific tasks to teach certain topics. This kind of professional development makes it difficult for teachers to develop research based pedagogy that can be applied to the entire mathematics curriculum. The purpose of this paper is to explore the theories that influence the use of variation pedagogy in the teaching of mathematics. Through the use of intentional and structured variation, teachers can design lessons to enhance their students’ mathematical understanding while also developing their own mathematical content knowledge.