Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of 222Rn and meteorological parameters in Uro houses at South Kordofan state

This study was carried out to assess and map indoor radon concentration and to estimate radiation dose in Uro town in Sudan's South Kordofan state. A portable radon meter (RRA-01M-03), equipped with simple sensors of meteorological parameters has been used for carrying out radon measurement. The annual absorbed dose from the corresponding measured radon concentration was calculated using dose rate conversion factors of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). The corresponding annual effective dose and equivalent dose to the lungs were estimated. Measured activity concentrations of 222Rn, annual absorbed dose, annual effective dose and equivalent dose to the lungs were found in the range 20–4482 Bq/m3, 0.32–70.67 mSv/y, 0.76–169.61 mSv−y and 0.16 × 10−7 to 35,856 × 3.5856 × 10−11 mSv−y, with geometric mean 109.43 Bq/m3, 1.73, 4.16 and 1.1 × 10−7 mSv−y, respectively. Upon comparing the results with global data, it was found with the exception of six samples, the obtained values fall far below the action level of 200–600 Bq/m3 recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. However, the geometric mean is higher than the reported average global indoor radon concentration. Meteorological parameters were measured and no correlation was noted between radon concentration and these parameters. The overall annual effective dose was higher than the UNSCEAR recommended reference dose level of 1.0 mSv−y.
Calibration and operation of a fibre Bragg grating temperature sensing system in a grid-connected hydrogenerator

There have been many applications of fibre Bragg grating (FBG) in temperature measurements; however, there are no studies concerned with their application, uncertainty and repeatability as temperature sensor in the electric power industry. This study describes the research, construction, calibration and operation of an FBG-based temperature system performing a continuous monitoring of temperature inside a fully operational and connected-to-the-grid hydroelectric generator. The FBGs were calibrated for quantification of parameters such as uncertainty, sensitivity, linearity and error. The plot of calibrating temperature against measured temperature presented a one-to-one fitting accuracy to the third decimal place, uncertainty errors smaller than 1°C and a correlation coefficient R 2 = 0.99996, demonstrating good linearity and accuracy of FBG sensors for temperature measurements. After being deployed for 2.5 years, the system has proved itself to be capable of reliably and accurately measuring and monitoring temperatures inside the generator, even taking into consideration the harsh environment. Results showed that the optical system provides a better electromagnetic interference immunity when compared with conventional temperature sensors. With this system in operation, a huge amount of installation and maintenance costs could be avoided with the replacement of many kilometres of electric wires by a few optical cables.
The Impact of Life Trajectories on Retirement: Socioeconomic Differences in Social Support Networks

In general, the literature about social support networks (SSNs) has been divided into two different statements: On the one hand, social support is a safety net that helps the ego confront disadvantages in life. On the other hand, studies have shown how SSNs could act as sources of constraints for ego, especially in poverty. In this study, we looked into the SSNs of older people over time and found how those two paths co‐exist and depend on the socioeconomic status of ego. Then, this article aims to discover how cumulative social inequalities intersect with social networks in facilitating or hampering social support over time, impacting retirement experience. Specifically, we want to observe if and how the life trajectories of older people from different socioeconomic statuses affect how people build their SSNs in terms of structure and composition. This article presents a mixed‐method project that collected qualitative life history interviews from 30 older women and men in Santiago, Chile. The results show that socioeconomic status plays a role in shaping individual experiences of retirement but that these experiences are shaped through SSNs structural and compositional characteristics. People identify salient life events and the relevant networks and conjointly discuss supportive and/or exploitative aspects of their networks. The amount of support they give to others or that they receive from their alters accumulates over time, resulting in a progressive social inclusion or exclusion mechanism. This article concludes that SSNs during retirement are shaped by the ego’s socioeconomic status and life history.
The Impact of Founders on Information Asymmetry Vis-À-Vis outside Investors: Evidence from Caribbean Offshore Tax Havens

Ceding ownership to outside investors provides a control dilemma for founders. In less developed capital markets with weaker formal institutions, we argue that retained founder director ownership can lower the transaction costs of external capital. Our argument rests on incomplete contracting and institutional theory, particularly highlighting the elevated status of the founding entrepreneur. Based on a longitudinal study of 179 listed Caribbean firms, we find that retained founder ownership reduces information asymmetry vis-à-vis outside minority investors. The reduced information asymmetry is even stronger for firms with a related party/subsidiary within a tax haven, and for firms with strong shareholder rights
A model of radiation induced leakage current (RILC) in ultra-thin gate oxides

An analytical model of Radiation Induced Leakage Current (RILC) has been developed for ultra-thin gate oxides submitted to high dose ionizing radiation. The model is based on the solution of the Schrodinger equation for a simplified oxide band structure, where RILC occurs through electron trap-assisted tunneling. The values of the model parameters have been calibrated by comparing the transmission probabilities obtained in this model with those obtained through the WKB method in the actual oxide band structure. No free fitting parameter has been introduced, and all physical constant values have been selected within the values found in literature. Different trap distributions have been considered as candidates, but the comparison between simulated and experimental curves have indicated that a double gaussian distribution in space and in energy grants the best fit of the experimental results for different ionizing particles, oxide fields during irradiation, radiation doses, and oxide thickness. Excellent matching has been found for both positive and negative RILC by using a single trap distribution. The trap density linearly increases with the radiation dose and decreases with the oxide field during irradiation. The trap distribution is spatially symmetrical in the oxide, centered in the middle of the oxide thickness, and is not modified as the cumulative dose increases.
Representations and Uses of the Intranet: A Comparative Case Study

The article focuses on Intranet technology as the result of overlapping negotiations among social actors inside organizations. Such negotiations are aimed at establishing and embedding specific relations and representations of work, communication, and learning into the technological artifact. Two case studies are presented to analyze practices and processes of implementation and use of the Intranet. The fieldwork, carried out in two companies in Italy and the United Kingdom, shows how specific contexts and organizational histories can affect such processes. Despite the “optimistic” imagery associated with Intranet technology and the high expectations about its communicative and economic efficiency, the article points out many constraints in the process of implementation and use. Company history and culture, skills and work groups, and use of other technologies and media are relevant factors to account for the current use of the two systems and their low degree of integration into everyday working and communicative practices.
Are inflammatory and malnutrition markers associated with metabolic syndrome in patients with sarcoidosis?

OBJECTIVE The study aimed to investigate the use of Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, C-reactive protein/albumin ratio, controlling nutritional status, and prognostic nutritional index immune, inflammatory, and malnutrition markers Metabolic syndrome+ in sarcoidosis patients, as an early-stage marker. METHOD This is a single-center and cross-sectional study that determines the association of Metabolic syndrome in patients with sarcoidosis. Patients were evaluated based on the National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, C-reactive protein/albumin ratio, controlling nutritional status, and prognostic nutritional index values were simultaneously determined through blood test. RESULTS A total of 253 patients diagnosed with sarcoidosis were included in this study. Metabolic syndrome- was detected in 37.2% of patients. The prevalence was significantly higher in females (p<0.001). Any degree of malnutrition assessed by controlling nutritional status had higher Metabolic syndrome (p=0.035). The Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio cutoff value was 2.24, sensitivity was 70.53, specificity was 60.13, and Area Under the Curve value was 0.663 for predicting Metabolic syndrome in sarcoidosis patients. CONCLUSION Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and controlling nutritional status are associated with the Metabolic syndrome+ in sarcoidosis patients. Thus, close monitoring of Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and controlling nutritional status increase in terms of Metabolic syndrome and immune malnutrition may be important in sarcoidosis patients.
Oxide-field dependence of electron injection from silicon into silicon dioxide

The problem of electron injection from silicon into silicon dioxide is considered by means of a physical approach based on a simple model that provides good agreement with experimental data for MOS structures. The model implements the calculation of the electron energy distribution at the Si-SiO/sub 2/ interface by means of an efficient nonlocal algorithm, thus making possible a consistent treatment of the tunneling of hot electrons across the oxide. The oxide-field dependence of electron injection is addressed and the relationship between barrier lowering and electron energy distributions is discussed. >
Fabrication and operation of a 1024-stage voltage multiplier for ac voltage standard applications

We present fabrication and operation of a 1024-stage voltage multiplier (VM) that is the key subsystem of a rapid single flux quantum digital-to-analog converter for ac voltage standard applications. Our fabrication process has been improved to reduce inter- and intralayer short probabilities, which was a key to developing large-scale circuits. A 1024-stage VM including over 5000 junctions was fabricated using the improved process. Correct operation was confirmed at the input frequencies up to 34 GHz which corresponded to the maximum output voltage of 72 mV.
Non-Invasive Approaches to Estimate Liver Steatosis and Stiffness in Children With Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

ABSTRACT Objectives: To develop pediatric-specific models that predict liver stiffness and hepatic steatosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), based on clinical and laboratory data. Methods: Children with NAFLD, who had undergone magnetic resonance imaging with proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) for steatosis quantification and/or magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) for liver stiffness assessment were included. We used data from patients imaged between April 2009 to July 2018 to develop a predictive model for fat fraction and stiffness. We validated the performance of the models using data from a second cohort, imaged between 2018 and 2019. Results: The first cohort (n = 344) consisted of predominantly non-Hispanic (80%), male (67%) adolescents. MRE data were available for 343 children, while PDFF data were available for 130. In multivariable regression, ethnicity, insulin levels, platelet count, and aspartate aminotransferase independently predicted liver stiffness and these variables were used to develop the predictive model. Similarly, sex, ethnicity, alanine aminotransferase, and triglycerides levels independently predicted liver PDFF and were used in the PDFF model. The AUC of the optimal cutoff for the model that predicted a stiffness of >2.71 kPa was 0.70 and for the model that predicted PDFF >5% was 0.78. The validation group (n = 110) had similar characteristics. The correlation coefficient of the model with the measured liver stiffness was 0.30 and with the measured liver PDFF was 0.26. Conclusions: Pediatric-specific models perform poorly at predicting exact liver stiffness and steatosis; however, in the absence of magnetic resonance imaging can be used to predict the presence of significant steatosis (>5%) and/or significant stiffness (>2.71). Thus, imaging remains an invaluable adjunct to laboratory investigations in determining disease severity.
Augmented reality telemanipulation system for nuclear reactor inspection

There has been an increasing need for faster and more reliable inspection of nuclear reactor vessels during scheduled inspection/refueling/repair outages. The inspection of such a complicated environment presents many challenges. During scheduled outages, the inspection platform (in our system a remotely operated miniature submarine) must be piloted efficiently to remote inspection locations, images and measurements of inspection locations presented to the human inspector, past information about this location recalled and viewed, and decisions made regarding repair activity scheduling. We are developing a new integrated system that employs augmented reality techniques to allow the inspection system operator to efficiently and reliably carry out these tasks. We describe a system that creates a realtime animated synthetic image of the underwater environment being inspected (drawn from CAD models of reactor components) in which a synthesized image of the inspection platform moves. The image is created with respect to an operator selected viewing point. A sensor measures the position and orientation of the actual mini-submarine, and these data are used by the graphics computer to continuously update the animated image. The images to be viewed can be either two or three dimensional. This information is used to assist in guiding the vehicle through the environment. The system display also integrates current inspection data (such as live video images) with past video frames or with past inspection reports and past data to allow fast and reliable inspection decisions to be made. Examples of typical operator display screens are included.
Toxoplasma gondii infection in patients with malignant and benign bone tumours

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an intracellular parasite that infects humans and seroprevalence of its infection varies from about 10 to 80 percent in different countries with a higher prevalence in warmer and humid regions. In this study, the rate of acute and chronic toxoplasmosis in patients with benign or malignant bone tumours was investigated. Fifty-three patients who suffered from various bone tumours, as well as sixty-five healthy controls with an unknown serological profile for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies, were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Anti-toxoplasma antibodies were detected in serum samples using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and blood samples of them were used for real-time PCR. Thirty-two (60.32%) and twenty-one (39.63%) of patients had malignant tumours and benign tumours, respectively. The results showed a higher and significant seropositivity rate of IgM antibodies in primary bone tumour patients compared to the control group and Toxoplasma DNA became positive in 18.86% of patients with primary bone tumours and 6.15% of controls. Surprisingly, the high presence of parasite DNA was detected in patients with malignant tumours. The seroprevalence of T. gondii IgM antibody and DNA positivity among the cancer patients were significantly higher than healthy individuals. Also, chronic toxoplasmosis (it was shown with IgG positive) appears to be more common in people with benign cancers than malignancies. The study showed a relatively high seroprevalence of anti-T. gondii antibodies in patients with primary bone cancer. However, the considerable rate of positive blood samples for the presence of parasite’s DNA should not be ignored. A key to the effective management of diseases in immunosuppressed individuals is prompt and accurate diagnosis of toxoplasmosis. Moreover, it seems that PCR tests may be more reliable than serological methods and it could be considered as a precise method for diagnosis of acute toxoplasmosis.
Construction and Piloting of Attitude Towards Research Participation Scale for University Students

Introduction Attitude toward participation in the research plays an important role in the quality of any research. Therefore, researchers aimed at construction and piloting of scale to measure attitude toward research participation for university students. Method and Results In Study I, an initial pool of items was generated on the basis of literature review, semi-structured interviews and expert opinions. After ensuring content validity and finalizing items with the help of experts, the scale was applied on a sample of 426 university students including both men (n = 114) and women (n = 312) with age range of 17–30. Exploratory factor analysis revealed the two factor structure was with 60.33% cumulative variance. The factors revealed were positive attitude and negative attitude toward research with alpha reliability of 0.84 for positive attitude while 0.76 for negative attitude. In Study II, confirmatory factor analysis revealed excellent model fit indices with two factor structure. Study III was meant to provide evidence of construct validity. Positive correlation showed exploration and curiosity with positive attitude toward research and negative correlation of exploration and curiosity with negative attitude toward research participation provided strong evidence for convergent validity. While non-significant correlation of attitude toward research with religiosity confirmed the divergent validity of the scale. Conclusion Findings of the study revealed that Attitude Toward Research Participation Scale is a valid and reliable measure. It can be used for university students to measure their attitude toward research.
Civil infrastructure systems research: hazard mitigation and intelligent material systems

In 1993, NSF initiated a program development effort that might have major research implications to civil engineering as well as other science and engineering disciplines. That was a continuous, multidisciplinary, broad-based research program focused on civil infrastructure systems (CIS). The concept, framework, and extent of the proposed CIS research program are presented. The importance of system and intellectual integration are emphasized. Following this effort, major steps have been taken in both domestic and international fronts to define specific research agendas in key areas of CIS such as hazard mitigation and smart material systems and structures. Research needs and opportunities in several cross-cutting areas such as hazard mitigation, smart and advanced materials, and adaptive structures are presented. The relationship of CIS and other strategic initiatives is also explained.
A CHARGING STATION PLANNING MODEL CONSIDERING THE CHARGING BEHAVIOR OF PRIVATE CAR USERS

In order to solve the planning problem of newly-built electric vehicle charging stations (EVCSs) reasonably on the basis of existing charging stations, this paper proposes a charging station planning model considering the charging habits of electric vehicle private users. Firstly, according to the users' charging data, the probability density distribution function of the user's charging start time, charging duration and the user's charging station selection behavior matrix are obtained. Then, the queuing simulation model and charging station selection model of EVCS are established. Then, “V” diagram used to divide charging station service area and using Monte Carlo simulation method to get charging demand point spatial distribution, comprehensive consideration to EVCS in construction operation cost and by charging demand point location charging station on the way to New Year takes the target of minimizing the sum of the cost function, to solve the optimal location of the new charging stations. Finally, taking a charging station planning for electric private cars in a city of North China as an example, the simulation results show that the proposed model and method are feasible and effective.
Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS): Doing It Right

Abstract : In the twenty-first century, the United States will likely encounter a wide-range of threats, such as those posed by terrorists, rogue states and other non-state actors all of whom are taking full advantage of globally available, high-tech commercial systems (e.g., from night vision devices, through secure cell phones, to satellite photos). At the same time, technology is changing more rapidly than ever before, and the DoD must learn to embrace the fact that it no longer holds a monopoly on all military-relevant technology (many of the information-intensive innovations result from commercial activities). Furthermore, the rising costs of domestic commitments, such as Social Security and Medicare, coupled with the growing budget deficits, will create an inevitable downward pressure on the DoD budget. These changes have created an urgency for transformation within the defense establishment. We believe this necessary defense transformation will be heavily dependent upon the development of net-centric systems-of-systems; the determination to achieve lower costs, faster fielding and better performance; and a realization of the potential benefits of globalization and use of commercial technology. Greater use of Commercial-Off-The- Shelf (COTS) systems and components is one strategy that can enable achieving the required DoD transformation, and help to ensure American military success in the twenty-first century. Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) is a term for software or hardware that is commercially made and available for sale, lease, or license to the general public and that requires little or no unique government modifications to meet the needs of the procuring agency. Because of their rapid availability, lower costs, and low risk, COTS products must be considered as alternatives to in-house, government-funded developments.