Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integration of a Consistency Control Module within a Consensus Model

In group decision making (GDM) processes, prior to the selection of the best alternative(s), it would be desirable that experts achieve a high degree of consensus or agreement between them. Due to the complexity of most decision making problems, individuals' preferences may not satisfy formal properties. ‘Consistency’ is one of such properties, and it is associated with the transitivity property. Obviously, when carrying out a rational decision making, consistent information, i.e. information which does not imply any kind of contradiction, is more appropriate than information containing some contradictions. Therefore, in a GDM process, consistency should also be sought after. In this paper we present a consensus model for GDM problems that proceeds from consistency to consensus. This model integrates a novel consistency reaching module based on consistency measures. In particular, the model generates advice on how experts should change their preferences in order to increase their consistency. Also, the co.
Investigating drop out in ex-junior rugby union players

Traditionally, research in the area of drop out has used a qualitative focus, commonly studying aspects such as early specialisation, self-motivation and self-efficacy, and educational ages in relation to drop out. Research in the area of Rugby Union has generally adopted a quantitative stance, and has looked at injury, elite players, and season long studies with large samples. However as a consequence, in depth qualitative data on the actual experiences and personal feelings of young rugby players that contribute to drop out is limited. Ten male ex-Rugby Union participants, who were U19 colts players of the same high level English side, were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. An interpretive framework was adopted in order to analyse the data emerging from the interviews. By using a qualitative approach, the research uncovers more about the multitude of factors that can influence drop out in young individuals. The findings of this study related strongly to Bourdieu's Habitus (1978), and Situated Learning Theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991), and concluded that a number of key themes contributed to drop out. These included injury, disruption to the squad in terms of changes in team personnel, and declining enthusiasm for the sport. As a consequence of their drop out from Rugby Union, the participants stated that they missed the vibrant social atmosphere, often gained new activities, and commonly experienced feelings of anxiety when returning to the rugby club.
Behavioral and cognitive effects of microwave exposure

This paper presents an overview of the recent behavioral literature concerning microwave exposure and discusses behavioral effects that have supported past exposure standards. Other effects, which are based on lower levels of exposure, are discussed as well, relative to setting exposure standards. The paper begins with a brief discussion of the ways in which behavioral end points are investigated in the laboratory, together with some of the methodological considerations pertinent to such studies when radio frequency (RF) exposure is involved. It has been pointed out by several sources that exposure to RF radiation can lead to changes in the behavior of humans and laboratory animals that can range from the perceptions of warmth and sound to lethal body temperatures. Behavior of laboratory animals can be perturbed and, under certain other conditions, animals will escape and subsequently avoid RF fields; but they will also work to obtain a burst of RF energy when they are cold. Reports of change of cognitive function (memory and learning) in humans and laboratory animals are in the scientific literature. Mostly, these are thermally mediated effects, but other low level effects are not so easily explained by thermal mechanisms. The phenomenon of behavioral disruption by microwave exposure, an operationally defined rate decrease (or rate increase), has served as the basis for human exposure guidelines since the early 1980s and still appears to be a very sensitive RF bioeffect. Nearly all evidence relates this phenomenon to the generation of heat in the tissues and reinforces the conclusion that behavioral changes observed in RF exposed animals are thermally mediated. Such behavioral alteration has been demonstrated in a variety of animal species and under several different conditions of RF exposure. Thermally based effects can clearly be hazardous to the organism and continue to be the best predictor of hazard for homosapiens. Nevertheless, similar research with man has not been conducted. Although some studies on human perception of RF exist, these should be expanded to include a variety of RF parameters. Bioelectromagnetics Supplement 6:S39–S62, 2003. Published 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An Experimental Investigation of Free Cooling by Natural Convection of Vertical Surfaces for Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Applications

An experimental study is carried out to investigate the effect of the geometrical configuration on the thermal performance of a series of vertical heaters cooled by natural convection of air. The aim of the work is to investigate the physical mechanisms which influences the thermal behaviour of a double-skin photovoltaic (PV) facade. This results in a better understanding of the related phenomena and infers useful engineering information for controlling the energy transfers to the building where the PV system is applied. In real applications, the PV integrated double facade allows local production of electricity and heat to be employed for the building needs. Furthermore increasing the heat transfer rate from the PV surfaces increases the conversion efficiency of the PV modules since they operate better as the working temperature is lower. The test section consists in a double vertical wall, 2 m high, and each wall is constituted by 10 different heating modules 0.2 m high. The separating distance between the walls is varied from 0.03 to 0.16 m, and the convective heat flux at the wall ranges from 75 to 200 W/m. In this study, the heated section is 1.6 m in height. Different heating configurations are analysed, including the uniform heating mode and two different configurations of non uniform, alternate heating. The experimental procedure allows the wall temperature and local heat transfer coefficient to be inferred and shows that the proper selection of the separating distance and heating mode can noticeably decrease the surface temperatures and hence enhance the conversion efficiency of PV modules
Increased neck muscle activity and impaired balance among females with whiplash-related chronic neck pain: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE To investigate neck muscle activity and postural control in patients with whiplash-associated disorder compared with healthy controls. DESIGN Cross-sectional study with convenience sampling. SUBJECTS Ten females with whiplash-associated disorder (age 37.7 years (21-58), neck pain > 2 years and neck disability index (NDI) > 10) and 10 healthy female controls (age 35.9 years (21-53), NDI < 6). METHODS Surface electromyography measured muscle activity of the anterior scalene, sternocleidomastoid, neck extensors and upper trapezius muscles, expressed as mean relative activity related to maximum voluntary electromyography (%MVE). On a force plate, 3 balance tasks (Romberg stance with open and closed eyes, 1-legged stance) and a perturbation task with sudden unloading, were performed. The total area, areas from slow and fast components, and range of displacements were calculated from decomposed centre of pressure anterior-posterior and medial-lateral signals. RESULTS During balance tasks with closed eyes and one-legged stance, the relative mean activity of all 4 muscles was significantly increased in whiplash-associated disorder compared with healthy controls. Postural sway was also significantly increased. CONCLUSION Increased neck muscle activity and increased postural sway during simple balance tasks indicate disturbed sensory feedback patterns in people with whiplash-associated disorder, which may have negative consequences when performing daily activities.
Attitude and Knowledge of Primary Health Care Physicians and Local Inhabitants about Leishmaniasis and Sandfly in West Alexandria

Leishmaniasis is the collective name for a number of diseases caused by protozoan flagellates of the genus Leishmania, which is transmitted by Phlebotomine sandfly, the disease has diverse clinical manifestations and found in many areas of the world, particularly in Africa, Latin America, South and Central Asia, the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. This study was done to assess primary health care physicians’ knowledge (PHP) and attitude about leishmaniasis and to assess awareness of local inhabitants about the disease and its vector in four areas in west Alexandria, Egypt. It is a cross sectional survey that was conducted in four PHC units in west Alexandria. All physicians currently working in these units during the study period were invited to participate in the study; only 20 PHP completed the questionnaire. 60 local inhabitants were selected randomly from the four areas of the study, 15 from each area; Data was collected through two different specially designed questionnaires. Results showed that 11 (55%) percent of the physicians had satisfactory knowledge; they answered more than 9 (60%) questions out of a total 14 questions about leishmaniasis and sandfly. On the other hand when attitude of the primary health care physicians about leishmaniasis was measured, results showed that 17 (85%) had good attitude and 3 (15%) had poor attitude. The second questionnaire showed that the awareness of local inhabitants about leishmaniasis and sandfly as a vector of the disease is poor and needs to be corrected. (90%) of the interviewed inhabitants had not heard about leishmaniasis, Only 3 (5%) of them said they know sandfly and its role in transmission of leishmaniasis. Thus we conclude that knowledge and attitudes of physicians are acceptable. However, there is, room for improvement and could be done through formal training courses and distribution of guidelines. In addition to raising the awareness of primary health care physicians about the importance of early detection and notification of cases of leishmaniasis, health education for raising awareness of the public regarding the vector and the disease is necessary because related studies have demonstrated that for inhabitants to take enough protective measures against the vector, they should perceive that it is responsible for causing a disease. Keywords—Attitude, knowledge, PHP, leishmaniasis, sandfly, local inhabitants, inside and outside housing conditions.
Climbing the app wall: enabling mobile app discovery through context-aware recommendations

The explosive growth of the mobile application (app) market has made it difficult for users to find the most interesting and relevant apps from the hundreds of thousands that exist today. Context is key in the mobile space and so too are proactive services that ease user input and facilitate effective interaction. We believe that to enable truly novel mobile app recommendation and discovery, we need to support real context-aware recommendation that utilizes the diverse range of implicit mobile data available in a fast and scalable manner. In this paper we introduce the Djinn model, a novel context-aware collaborative filtering algorithm for implicit feedback data that is based on tensor factorization. We evaluate our approach using a dataset from an Android mobile app recommendation service called appazaar. Our results show that our approach compares favorably with state-of-the-art collaborative filtering methods.
Rotation periods of exoplanet host stars

The stellar rotation periods of 10 exoplanet host stars have been determined using newly analysed Ca II H&K flux records from the Mount Wilson Observatory and Str¨ omgren b, y photometric measurements from Tennessee State University’s automatic photometric telescopes at the Fairborn Observatory. Five of the rotation periods have not previously been reported, with that of HD 130322 very strongly detected at Prot = 26.1 ± 3.5 d. The rotation periods of five other stars have been updated using new data. We use the rotation periods to derive the line-of-sight inclinations of the stellar rotation axes, which may be used to probe theories of planet formation and evolution when combined with the planetary orbital inclination found from other methods. Finally, we estimate the masses of 14 exoplanets under the assumption that the stellar rotation axis is aligned with the orbital axis. We calculate the mass of HD 92788 b( 28MJ) to be within the low-mass brown dwarf regime and suggest that this object warrants further investigation to confirm its true nature.
The resistances of spores of the genus Bacillus to phenol, heat and radiation.

Summary. The resistance of the spores of 6 species of Bacillus to 5% (w/v) of phenol at 37°, heat and gamma radiation has been determined. Two, and with heat treatment three, different shapes of log survivor time curves were observed with each lethal agent. In relation to the conditions employed in accepted sterilization procedures, all of the strains were highly resistant to phenol. Bacillus stearothermophilus, B. licheniformis and B. subtilis were resistant to gamma radiation, all three having a D value of 0.22 Mrad. Only B. stearothermophilus was heat resistant having a D value of 22.6 min at 115°. When the relative order of resistance to each agent was considered, with the exception of B. stearothermophilus, the spores showed little evidence of any relationship between their resistances to phenol, heat and gamma radiation.
The complexity of flat origami

We study a basic problem in mathematical origami: determine if a given crease pattern can be folded to a flat origami. We show that assigning mountain and valley folds is NPhard. We also show that determining a suitable overlap order for flaps is NP-hard, even assuming a valid mountain and valley assignment.
ANTIBODIES AGAINST PASTEURELLA MULTOCIDA IN SNOW GEESE IN THE WESTERN ARCTIC

To determine if lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens) are a potential reservoir for the Pasteurella multocida bacterium that causes avian cholera, serum samples and/or pharyngeal swabs were collected from >3,400 adult geese breeding on Wrangel Island (Russia) and Banks Island (Canada) during 1993–1996. Pharyngeal swab sampling rarely (>0.1%) detected birds that were exposed to P. multocida in these populations. Geese with serum antibody levels indicating recent infection with P. multocida were found at both breeding colonies. Prevalence of seropositive birds was 3.5% at Wrangel Island, an area that has no recorded history of avian cholera epizootics. Prevalence of seropositive birds was 2.8% at Banks Island in 1994, but increased to 8.2% during 1995 and 1996 when an estimated 40,000–60,000 snow geese were infected. Approximately 50% of the infected birds died during the epizootic and a portion of the surviving birds may have become carriers of the disease. This pattern of prevalence indicated that enzootic levels of infection with P. multocida occurred at both breeding colonies. When no avian cholera epizootics occurred (Wrangel Island, Banks Island in 1994), female snow geese (4.7%) had higher antibody prevalence than males (2.0%).
Differential effects of exercise on tibial shaft marrow density in young female athletes.

CONTEXT Increased mechanical loading can promote the preferential differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells to osteoblastogenesis, but it is not known whether long-term bone strength-enhancing exercise in humans can reduce marrow adiposity. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to examine whether bone marrow density (MaD), as an estimate of marrow adiposity 1) differs between young female athletes with contrasting loading histories and bone strengths and 2) is an independent predictor of bone strength at the weight-bearing tibia. DESIGN Mid-tibial MaD, cortical area (CoA), total area, medullary area, strength strain index (SSI), and cortical volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) (total, endocortical, midcortical, and pericortical) was assessed using peripheral quantitative computed tomography in 179 female athletes involved in both impact and nonimpact loading sports and 41 controls aged 17-40 years. RESULTS As we have previously reported CoA, total area, and SSI were 16% to 24% greater in the impact group compared with the controls (all P < .001) and 12% to 18% greater than in the nonimpact group (all P < .001). The impact group also had 0.5% higher MaD than the nonimpact and control groups (both P < .05). Regression analysis further showed that midtibial MaD was significantly associated with SSI, CoA, endocortical vBMD, and pericortical vBMD (P < .05) in all women combined, after adjusting for age, bone length, loading groups, medullary area, muscle cross-sectional area, and percent fat. CONCLUSION In young female athletes, tibial bone MaD was associated with loading history and was an independent predictor of tibial bone strength. These findings suggest that an exercise-induced increase in bone strength may be mediated via reduced bone marrow adiposity and consequently increased osteoblastogenesis.
Mortality and Comorbidity Profiles of Patients with Bullous Pemphigoid in Korea

Background Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is a common autoimmune-mediated blistering skin disease that is significantly associated with mortality and morbidity. However, few studies regarding the mortality and comorbidity profiles of BP have been reported in Korea. Objective To evaluate and compare the mortality, comorbidity profiles, and risk factors between patients with BP who visited our clinic and an age-matched general population of Korea. Methods We retrospectively evaluated 103 patients diagnosed with BP between 2006 and 2013 at Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju, Korea. Results The 1-year, 2-year, and 5-year mortality rates of the patients were 18.44%, 28.16%, and 42.00%, respectively. The median age was 76 years (range, 41~96 years). The standardized mortality ratio of patients with BP was 1.83 times that of the age- and sex-matched general population of Korea. Old age at the time of diagnosis, cardiac disease and renal disease were associated with increased 5-year mortality. In addition, the prevalence of diabetes, stroke, dementia, and Parkinson's disease was higher among BP patients than in the general population. Conclusion The mortality rate of patients with BP is higher than that of the general Korean population. Korean patients with BP are more likely to have dementia, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and stroke. Risk factors for increased 5-year mortality include old age at the time of diagnosis and medical comorbidities, especially cardiac disease and renal disease.
Analysis of CARD15/NOD2 haplotypes fails to identify common variants associated with rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility

Objectives: The CARD15/NOD2 gene product plays an important role in host response to bacterial lipopolysaccharides and bacterial muramyl dipeptide via activation of NF‐kappaB in monocytes. Mutations in CARD15 are associated with Crohn's disease (CD), a chronic inflammatory bowel disease. In this study we sought to determine whether CD‐associated mutations or any common variants of this gene might contribute to susceptibility to another chronic inflammatory disease, rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: We genotyped 376 Caucasian RA cases and 376 ethnically matched healthy controls for three CD‐associated CARD15 mutations. We also genotyped these 752 individuals for 12 common CARD15 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), determined the linkage disequilibrium structure of the gene, and compared the frequencies of the common CARD15 haplotypes in the RA cases and controls. Results: None of the CD‐associated mutations or the CARD15 SNPs was associated with susceptibility to RA. We also found no significant difference in the frequencies of any of the common haplotypes of the CARD15 gene in RA patients and controls. Our haplotype analysis was consistent with earlier observations that all three CD‐associated variants independently arose on the same ancestral haplotype. Conclusions: These data suggest that CARD15 variants are not associated with RA susceptibility.
Family-based association analyses of alcohol dependence phenotypes across DRD2 and neighboring gene ANKK1.

BACKGROUND There is an extensive and inconsistent literature on the association of the dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2) with alcohol dependence. Conflicting results have been attributed to differences in the severity of the alcohol dependence phenotype across studies, failure to exclude related disorders from comparison groups, and artifacts of population-stratification. Recently the genetic polymorphism most widely analyzed in DRD2, Taq1A, has been discovered to reside in a neighboring gene, ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing 1 (ANKK1), located 10 kb downstream from DRD2. METHODS To more carefully characterize evidence for association across this region, we genotyped 26 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning DRD2 and ANKK1 in a sample of 219 Caucasian families (n = 1,923) from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA), making this the most extensive analysis to date of association between this region and alcohol dependence. We used family-based analyses robust to population-stratification, and we made use of rich phenotypic data to analyze alcohol dependence and subtypes hypothesized in the literature to be more directly influenced by DRD2. RESULTS We found that the evidence for association is strongest in the 5' linkage disequilibrium block of ANKK1 (that does not contain Taq1A), with weak evidence of association with a small number of SNPs in DRD2. The association in ANKK1 is strongest among the subsets of alcoholics with medical complications and with antisocial personality disorder. CONCLUSIONS More extensive genotyping across DRD2 and ANKK1 suggests that the association with alcohol dependence observed in this region may be due to genetic variants in the ANKK1 gene. ANKK1 is involved in signal transduction pathways and is a plausible biological candidate for involvement in addictive disorders.
The Dynamic, Emergent, and Multi-Phasic Nature of On-Site Wilderness Experiences

Feelings and cognitions of leisure may not only be dynamic during the course of the total outdoor recreation engagement, they may be dynamic, emergent, and multi-phasic during the on-site phase. Experience Sampling Method data were collected from a sample of wilderness visitors multiple times during a visit to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Four modes of environmental experience (focus on self, others, task, and environment) and four aspects of wilderness experience (a combined oneness/primitiveness/humility variable, timelessness, solitude, and care) were measured. Univariate and multivariate repeated measures analyses demonstrated significant change from the entry, through immersion, to the exit phases of the wilderness experience. This experiential change included greater focus on the environment and on self/in-trospection at the exit compared to the entry phase, and less focus on others/social acceptance during the immersion phase. Scores on humility/primitiveness/oneness were higher at both the immersion and exit phases than during entry, and care for the wilderness was higher during the exit phase than during entry. Implications of findings for understanding the complex nature of leisure experiences are provided.