Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Refractive and Visual Outcomes after Transepithelial Photorefractive Keratectomy (TransPRK) in Low versus Moderate Myopia

Is it possible to obtain good results in myopia of 2 or fewer diopters (D) with transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy (TransPRK) changing the optical zone and epithelium thickness? We retrospectively analyzed two groups of 296 eyes with a minimum follow-up of 4 months. Group A had 2 or less D, treated with an optical zone (OZ) 0.2 mm bigger than recommended, and a central epithelium thickness of 60 microns, and group B had 2 D to 5 D, with the recommended optical zone, and a 55-micron epithelium ablation at the center. The outcomes were not different between the two myopic ranges; the postop uncorrected distance visual acuity was 20/20 ± 4 in both groups (p = 0.2), which was −0.3 ± 0.8 lines worse than the preoperative corrected distance visual acuity in both groups (p = 0.5). The safety of the treatments resulted in a change of 0.0 ± 0.7 lines in the low myopia group, versus a gain of +0.1 ± 0.8 lines in the moderate myopia group (p = 0.1). The deviation from the intended target was −0.04 ± 0.33 D in the low myopia group and +0.07 ± 0.32 D in the moderate myopia group (p < 0.0001); the postoperative spherical equivalent was 0.00 ± 0.33 D in the low myopia group and +0.10 ± 0.31 D in the moderate myopia group (p < 0.0001). The postop refractive astigmatism was 0.32 ± 0.16 D in both groups (p = 0.5). In conclusion, the refractive and visual outcomes after TransPRK are comparable in low myopia changing the optical zone and epithelium thickness versus moderate myopia with standard optical zone and epithelium thickness.
Deep Eutectic Solvents for the Valorisation of Lignocellulosic Biomasses towards Fine Chemicals

The growing demand for energy and materials in modern society pushes scientific research to finding new alternative sources to traditional fossil feedstocks. The exploitation of biomass promises to be among the viable alternatives with a lower environmental impact. Making biomass exploitation technologies applicable at an industrial level represents one of the main goals for our society. In this work, the most recent scientific studies concerning the enhancement of lignocellulosic biomasses through the use of deep eutectic solvent (DES) systems have been examined and reported. DESs have an excellent potential for the fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass: the high H-bond capacity and polarity allow the lignin to be deconvolved, making it easier to break down the lignocellulosic complex, producing a free crystallite of cellulose capable of being exploited and valorised. DESs offer valid alternatives of using the potential of lignin (producing aromatics), hemicellulose (achieving furfural) and cellulose (delivering freely degradable substrates through enzymatic transformation into glucose). In this review, the mechanism of DES in the fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass and the main possible uses for the valorisation of lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose were reported, with a critical discussion of the perspectives and limits for industrial application.
A Prospective Study to Assess the Optimal Incubation Times for Culture and Aerobic Bacterial Profile in Prosthetic Joint Infections

Abstract Introduction With an increase in the number of total joint arthroplasties, the count of prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) is also increasing and has become a nightmare for an orthopaedic surgeon. Microbiological diagnosis is important for administering definitive antimicrobial treatment. Negative culture reports hamper patient management and prolonged incubation periods have increased the culture yield but at the risk of culture contamination in conventional microbiology settings. Thus, we aimed to optimize the best incubation time for culture and the aerobic bacterial profile of PJIs. Material and Methods Over a year, samples from clinically suspected PJI patients were collected and processed for culture using standard techniques. The samples were incubated for up to 10 days with daily subculturing on to solid media. The bacterial isolates were identified and antibiotic susceptibility was performed. Results Out of 200 patients, 105 were included in the study and samples were collected in triplicate. In 70 cases culture was positive and 35 were culture negative PJIs. Mean incubation days to culture positivity was 3.6 days with 97.14% culture positivity seen by the seventh day of incubation. Twenty-four percent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and more than 50% extended spectrum β lactamase producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli were isolated. Discussion Culture positivity in PJIs provides definitive evidence of infection and guides the treatment. Increasing the incubation times can help in maximizing the culture yield, and we found that 97.14% pathogens grew within 7 days of incubation. Prolonging it further would not provide an added advantage especially in a resource-constraint setting.
The effect of technological changes on energy consumption in Iran: a structural decomposition analysis

ABSTRACT This study proposed a simple method to evaluate the effect of technological changes in sectors on energy consumption changes. Technological changes decomposed into two factors. Input substitution in sectors represents the changes in the share of each sector in total intermediate inputs used in a specific sector and changes in direct backward linkages. From the viewpoint of input supply, the TC decomposed into two factors: Changes in the structure of intermediate input supply by sectors (selling structure changes) and direct forward linkages. The proposed model is used for the decomposition of energy consumption changes in Iran during 2011–2016. The results showed that the changes in direct backward linkages and direct forward linkages coefficients helped to decline in energy consumption.
Machine Learning Methods for Intrusive Detection of Wormhole Attack in Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET)

A wormhole attack is a type of attack on the network layer which reflects the issue of routing protocols. The classification is performed with several methods of machine learning consisting of K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree (DT), Linear Discrimination Analysis (LDA), Naive Bayes (NB), and Convolutional neural network (CNN). Moreover, for feature extraction, we used the properties of nodes, especially nodes speed in the MANET. We have collected 3997 distinct (normal 3781 and malicious 216) samples that comprise normal and malicious samples. Results of the classification show that the accuracy of KNN, SVM, DT, LDA, NB, and CNN methods are 97.1%, 98.2%, 98.9%, 95.2%, 94.7%, and 96.4%, respectively. Based on our findings, the DT method's accuracy is 98.9% and higher than other methods. In the next priority, SVM, KNN, CNN, LDA, and NB indicate high accuracy, respectively.
Natural Rubber and its Derivatives

This chapter summarizes various types of chemical modification of natural rubber (NR). These chemically modified NRs are known as NR derivatives. Chemical modification reviewed includes chemical modification without introducing new atom such as cyclized natural rubber and deproteinized natural rubber (DPNR), modification by introducing a chemical group such as hydrogenated natural rubber (HNR), chlorinated natural rubber (CNR) and epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) and lastly modification by grafting on NR. Grafting can be carried out using DPNR latex to yield styrene‐grafted‐NR, methyl meth‐ acrylate‐grafted‐NR and styrene and methyl methacrylate‐grafted‐NR. The NR deriva‐ tives are reviewed in terms of their preparation, mechanism, properties and applications.
Sticks and Stones? Connecting Insurgent Propaganda with Violent Outcomes

In this paper, we analyze the relationship between ISIS propaganda content and ISIS-inspired attacks by those outside of the group’s control. We examine the content of ISIS’ English language magazines, as well as speeches by two of its top leaders. We find that statements made about enemy countries in most contexts are not associated with a higher likelihood of violence in those countries. However, when a country is mentioned in ISIS propaganda in the context of its participation in the air campaign, this corresponds to an increased likelihood that the country will experience a violent attack. This suggests that propaganda highlighting key military adversaries may play a role in directing attackers that are outside the control of the organization’s hierarchy to the group’s preferred targets.
Prevalence estimates of depression and anxiety disorders among Icelandic University students when taking functional impairment into account

Abstract The aim of this study was to test whether adding assessment of functional impairment to symptoms of specific mental disorders would have any effect on estimated prevalence of mental disorders in a non-clinical sample of university students in Iceland. A self-report measure was designed to assess the subjective functional impairment of anxiety, depression and stress in students’ everyday life. Measures were administered on paper to 671 participants. We hypothesized that taking functional impairment into account would yield lower prevalence rates than using only specific symptoms measures. The results suggests that the addition of functional impairment measure lends a context to the results of the symptom-specific measures and can provide a more accurate estimation of mental health problems of university students than symptoms self-report measures alone.
Numerical Modelling on CO2 Storage Capacity in Depleted Gas Reservoirs

Making an accurate estimate of the CO2 storage capacity before the commencement of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project is crucial to the project design and feasibility investigation. We present herein a numerical modelling study on the CO2 storage capacity in depleted gas reservoirs. First, we show a simple volumetric equation that gives the CO2 storage capacity in a depleted gas reservoir, which considers the same volume of CH4 at reservoir pressure and temperature conditions produced from the reservoir. Next, the validity and the limitations of this equation are investigated using a numerical reservoir simulation with the various reservoir characteristics of reservoir heterogeneity, aquifer water encroachment, and rock compaction and its reversibility. Regardless of the reservoir heterogeneity, if a reservoir is subjected to a weak or moderate aquifer support, the volumetric equation provides an estimate of the CO2 storage capacity as structurally trapped gas within 1% of that estimated from numerical simulations. The most significant factor influencing the CO2 storage capacity is the reversibility of rock compaction, rather than the degree of rock compaction. If reservoir rocks have a strong hysteresis in their compaction and expansion behaviour, the material balance equation will overestimate the amount of structural CO2 trapping. All the simulation results show a fairly consistent amount of trapped CO2 as a dissolved component in water, which is 15%∼17% of the structurally trapped CO2. Overall, our study presents the validity and the limitation of the simple material balance equation for estimating the CO2 storage capacity, which helps with designing a CCS project at the early stage.
Correlation between haematological profile and body mass index in adults

Obesity is defined as excessive accumulation of fat in various tissues in the body which causes ill health in the body. The basic cause of obesity is imbalance between calories intake and calories expenditure There is increased intake of calorie rich foods and reduced physical activity due to urbanization all over the world.Body mass index is simple formula to classify obesity in adults. It is defined as person’s weight in kilograms divided by height in meter squares (m). Obesity and elevated BMI are the major causes for development of chronic diseases like stroke, hypertension, Type 2 diabetes and other cardiovascular disorders.BMI is the modifiable risk factors of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular diseases. This study was undertaken to assess the relationship between BMI and haematological profile among young Indian population. This study comprises 200 participants comprising 100 males and 100 females aged between 18 to 30 years. The design for this study was cross-sectional survey. Ethical approval was taken from ethical committee of BMCH, Chitradurga. Under aseptic precaution, 10 ml of venous blood sample collected from antecubital vein and then transfererd to EDTA tube. Then haematological parameters like PCV, Haemoglobin concetration, RBC, WBC count was estimated using sysmex haematology anlyser.Subjects were grouped into underweight, normal, overweight and obese subjects. Stastical significance was determined by ANOVA. Scheffe post-hoc test was used to determine significance while pearson correlation was used to determine relationship between the variables. Data was analysed using SPSS software and presented as mean± standard deviation. Values of P ≤ 0.05 were considered significant.In our study, PCV is statistically increased in overweight and obese individuals as compared to other BMI groups in both males and females. Total leucocyte count was significantly higher in overweight and obese subjects when compared to normal subjects. We found no change in Haemoglobin concentration and RBC count in all BMI groups.In our study we observed, leucocytosis and higher PCV in overweight and obese individual groups when compared to underweight and normal weight BMI groups. There is direct positive correlation between BMI and total leucocyte count. RBC count and haemoglobin concentration shows no statistical significance among all BMI groups.There is need for promotion of a healthy life style, regular exercise, healthy nutrition, stress free life in young population.
The impact of the integrated reporting framework on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures – the case of South African mining companies

Purpose Despite initially being lauded as a revolutionary approach for companies to account to all stakeholders, the shareholder orientation of the international integrated reporting () framework gave rise to questions about whether integrated reports would still sufficiently disclose pertinent corporate social responsibility (CSR) information. This paper aims to investigate the extent to which the framework has impacted the CSR disclosures contained in integrated reports of South African mining companies. Design/methodology/approach The study deployed a mixed methods research approach, involving thematic content analysis of the CSR disclosures contained in the integrated reports of mining companies with primary listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The resultant qualitative data were subsequently analysed using a T-test of difference. Findings The study observes that the release of the framework appears to have had a limited impact on the CSR disclosures in the integrated reports of most companies included in the study. However, where significant differences were identified, the CSR disclosures of some companies were positively impacted after the release of the framework, whilst others were negatively impacted. Research limitations/implications As South Africa is acknowledged as a leader in the global movement, the paper’s observations have global relevance and suggest that the fundamental principles of should be reconsidered to improve the alignment with stakeholders’ information needs, as originally conceived. Originality/value Despite the shareholder orientation of the framework, the global mining industry is acknowledged as being at the forefront of implementing CSR interventions to mitigate the adverse impacts of their operations on stakeholders, supporting a stakeholder orientation. As the adoption of continues to gain traction around the world, this paper’s contribution is that it represents one of the few papers to use the global reporting initiative G4 indicators to specifically examine the impact of framework on the CSR disclosures on the South African mining industry, where both and CSR reporting are quasi-mandatory disclosure requirements.
Pesticide residues in bee pollen - validation of the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry multiresidual method and a survey of bee pollens from Slovenia

A new analytical method for determining environmental pesticide residues in pollen was introduced and validated. The extraction was conducted using acetonitrile, the clean-up using Supelclean Ultra 2400 solid phase extraction cartridges, which contain Grapsphere, anion exchanger, C18 and zirconia-based sorbent, and the determination was conducted using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The method was applied in practice. A total of 49 active substances (pesticides) were sought in 30 bee pollen samples gathered from Slovenian beekeepers from all 12 statistical regions of Slovenia. The fungicide azoxystrobin was the only active substance found and was found only in one sample with a concentration of < 0.05 mg kg-1. The active substances sought were not detected in 96.7 % of the samples analysed. The risk assessment revealed that the analysed pollen samples do not represent an unacceptable risk for consumers. The results were compared with those from the literature and the outcome was that bee pollen from Slovenia contained a lower number of active substances at mainly lower contents as compared pollen from some other European countries.
The entrepreneurial imaginary: The hyper-real case of the Zombiepreneur

Contemporary representations of entrepreneurship only reflect the past and present, not the utopian or dystopian futures that entrepreneurial behaviours may create. Given calls for alternative narratives of entrepreneurship that challenge the orthodoxy, there is a need to critique the multiple simultaneous representations of entrepreneurship and their potential impact on our future. Using Baudrillard’s concept of simulacra, this paper proposes a new epistemological way to interrogate future entrepreneurial reality through a radical hyper-real frame and an empirical deviation from the norm. The paper introduces and critiques representations that contribute an entrepreneurial imaginary based on contemporary discourse. Through viewing and coding for entrepreneurial behaviours observed in the top-30 Zombie movies, a deviant simulacrum that is far from our field is constructed. This is used to generate a new empirically derived taxonomy that challenges existing entrepreneurial representations and suggests the impossibility of a single entrepreneurial reality. Through this deconstruction, we highlight how entrepreneurial behaviours take on alternative meaning when explored through other realities. By comparing the Zombie genre as simulacra with extant entrepreneurial simulacra, we critically challenge our entrepreneurial system of meaning, providing a perspective where entrepreneurial behaviour may lead to different outcomes depending on the reality pursued.
Transient hillslope erosion in slow evolution landscapes

Transient evolution and adjustment to changing tectonic and climatic boundary conditions is an essential attribute of landscapes, and characterizing transient behavior is a key to understanding their dynamics and history. Developing new approaches to detect such transience has been explored by various methods, in particular to identify landscape response to Late Cenozoic and Quaternary climatic changes. Such studies have often focused on regions of high relief and/or active tectonic activity where interferences between tectonic and climatic signals might complicate the interpretation of the observations. We investigated the case of the hillslopes of the Serra do Cipó quartzitic range in SE Brazil in order to detect and quantify transience in a tectonically quiescent landscape over 100‐ka timescales. We determined hilltop curvature from a high‐resolution digital surface model derived from Pléiades imagery and measured cosmogenic nuclide (10Be and 26Al) concentrations at these hilltop sites. We compare both observations with predictions of hillslope diffusion theory, observing a distinctive signature of an acceleration of denudation. We performed a joint inversion of topographic and isotopic data to retrieve an evolution of the hillslope sediment transport coefficient through time. The timing of the increase in denudation cannot be unequivocally associated with a single climatic event but is consistent with important, climatically modulated fluctuations in precipitation and erosion in this area during the Middle and Late Pleistocene.
Safe Local Aerial Manipulation for the Installation of Devices on Power Lines: AERIAL-CORE First Year Results and Designs

The power grid is an essential infrastructure in any country, comprising thousands of kilometers of power lines that require periodic inspection and maintenance, carried out nowadays by human operators in risky conditions. To increase safety and reduce time and cost with respect to conventional solutions involving manned helicopters and heavy vehicles, the AERIAL-CORE project proposes the development of aerial robots capable of performing aerial manipulation operations to assist human operators in power lines inspection and maintenance, allowing the installation of devices, such as bird flight diverters or electrical spacers, and the fast delivery and retrieval of tools. This manuscript describes the goals and functionalities to be developed for safe local aerial manipulation, presenting the preliminary designs and experimental results obtained in the first year of the project.
Intramedullary Nailing Combined With Adjunct Plate or Blocking Screw for Proximal Tibial Fractures

Objective: To compare the traditional approach of intramedullary nail with an extra plate versus the nail combined with blocking screws for proximal tibia fractures without the knee involved.Methods: From January 2013 to January 2017, a total of 36 patients who suffered from proximal tibial fractures unaffecting the knee were enrolled into this prospective study, and divided into two groups by random number table method. Of them, 19 patients received an interlocking intramedullary nail combined with an extra plate for internal fixation of the fractures (the plate group), while the remaining 17 patients had fractures fixed with the nail combined with blocking screws (the screw group). The perioperative, follow-up and radiographic data were compared between the two groups.Results: All the 36 patients underwent operation smoothly without iatrogenic neurovascular injuries. The plate group proved superior the screw group regarding to operation time and intraoperative X-ray exposure (P＜0.05) , nevertheless the former was inferior to the latter in implant cost and hospital stay (P＜0.05) . The follow-up period lasted for 12～24 months with a mean of (15.62±4.71) months. There were no statistically significant differences in the time to return ambulation and the time to full weight-bearing activity between the two groups (P＞0.05) . At the latest follow up, no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups regarding knee range of motion and Johner-Wruhs grades for clinical consequences (P＞0.05) . In terms of anterior knee pain, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (P＞0.05) . In respect of radiographic assessment, the plate group had significantly less residual malalignment than the screw group, including anteroposterior and lateral displacements, as well as angulations in coronal and sagittal planes (P＜0.05) . To the latest follow up, all patients in both group got bony healing of the fractures without a statistical difference in fracture healing time between them (P＞0.05) , and no loosening or breaking of the implants were showed on images in anyone of them.Conclusion: Both the nail plus plate and nail plus blocking screw do achieve satisfactory clinical outcomes for proximal tibial fractures unaffecting the knee. By comparison, the nail combined with plate facilitates to regain and maintain better alignment of the leg regardless of higher implant cost.