Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validation of the English Severe Respiratory Insufficiency Questionnaire

Assessment of health-related quality of life in patients with respiratory failure on home ventilation requires appropriate and highly specific measurement tools. We attempt to validate the English version of the Severe Respiratory Insufficiency Questionnaire (SRI). Psychometric properties of the SRI in 152 patients established on home ventilation were assessed. Cronbach’s alpha ranged between 0.77 and 0.89 for the seven subscales and and was 0.93 for the summary scale. Principal components analysis revealed a one-factor solution for four and two factors for three subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a two-factor solution for six subscales, but these factors were dependent on each other. One factor was extracted out of the subscales confirming one summary scale accounting for 70% of the total variance. Correlation analysis between scales of the SRI and the Medical Outcome Study 36-item short-form health survey demonstrated highest correlations between comparable subscales. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients had lower summary scale scores than patients with restrictive chest wall diseases, neuromuscular disorders and obesity hypoventilation syndrome. The English SRI has high internal consistency reliability, clearly established construct and concurrent validity, and is capable of differentiating between different diseases. It is now validated for use in research involving patients receiving home ventilation.
The Gradual Cyprusization of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Structural, Institutional and Process Assumptions

ABSTRACT This article compares structures, institutional design challenges and political processes between Cyprus and the Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first part shows how the international community played a crucial role in order to implement consociational constitutions. However, as it was the case with Cyprus, in the Federation the most numerous ethnic segment does not accept consociational arrangements simply to gain more power over the smaller ethnic community. The second part discusses the post-war institutional design in the Federation. Since 2000, the international community has opted for centripetal arrangements. Finally, the article examines the gradual suspension of consociational arrangements causes the Cyprusization of the Federation which increases political tensions and divisions between the two communities.
Uses of Social Media in Journalism by the Journalists of Bangladesh

Technological advancement has been contributed significantly to the development of journalism all over the world. Sourcing and disseminating of information have been made easier by the delicate touch of social media. Social media is being considered as one of the divine blessings to the journalists to disseminate and share news events, as well as to get immediate feedback from the audiences. The study considered Facebook as the unit of the research, as it is the most popular social media among the journalists of Bangladesh. The main objective of the study is to dig out how journalists of Bangladesh use Facebook in their regular journalism practices. The study is a qualitative study supplemented by quantitative data. On the basis of survey data, the study examines different uses of Facebook by the journalists of Bangladesh in their regular journalism practices. The study revealed that journalists are mainly using Facebook to disseminate their reports published or broadcasted in different newspapers and television channels to their audiences. The result also indicates that reports which are not published or broadcasted in media due to various reasons, are getting space in social media shared or uploaded by the journalists. It is also found that the journalists of Bangladesh consider Facebook as one of the most powerful tools to get immediate feedback from the audience. Furthermore, the findings of the study pointed out that Facebook helps journalists to develop sources and getting clues for news occasionally. Moreover, the findings revealed that ethical practice is in danger while practicing journalism on Facebook. On the basis of the results, the study concludes with the remarks that social media is going to be an alternative effective medium for the journalists of Bangladesh to share news and getting immediate feedback from the audience.
Galaxy cluster mergers

We present the results of an Eulerian adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) hydrodynamical and N-body simulation in a A cold dark matter (ACDM) cosmology. The simulation incorporates common cooling and heating processes for a primordial gas. A specific halo finder has been designed and applied in order to extract a sample of galaxy clusters directly obtained from the simulation without considering any resimulating scheme. We have studied the evolutionary history of the cluster haloes, and classified them into three categories depending on the merger events they have undergone: major mergers, minor mergers and relaxed clusters. The main properties of each one of these classes and the differences among them are discussed. The collisions among galaxy clusters are produced naturally by the non-linear evolution in the simulated cosmological volume; no controlled collisions have been considered. We pay special attention to discuss the role of merger events as a source of feedback and reheating, and their effects on the existence of cool cores in galaxy clusters, as well as in the scaling relations.
X-ray Categorization and Retrieval on the Organ and Pathology Level, Using Patch-Based Visual Words

In this study we present an efficient image categorization and retrieval system applied to medical image databases, in particular large radiograph archives. The methodology is based on local patch representation of the image content, using a “bag of visual words” approach. We explore the effects of various parameters on system performance, and show best results using dense sampling of simple features with spatial content, and a nonlinear kernel-based support vector machine (SVM) classifier. In a recent international competition the system was ranked first in discriminating orientation and body regions in X-ray images. In addition to organ-level discrimination, we show an application to pathology-level categorization of chest X-ray data, the most popular examination in radiology. The system discriminates between healthy and pathological cases, and is also shown to successfully identify specific pathologies in a set of chest radiographs taken from a routine hospital examination. This is a first step towards similarity-based categorization, which has a major clinical implications for computer-assisted diagnostics.
Triple Duel: The Impact of Coalition Fragmentation and Three-Corner Fights on the 2018 Malaysian Election

Malaysia's previously hegemonic Barisan Nasional (BN) government was unexpectedly defeated in the 2018 general election despite a fragmented opposition and widespread three-corner fights that theory states should inhibit turnover. Why? We argue that the opposition-split hypothesis rests on three core assumptions: third parties split only the anti-incumbent vote; coalition/party support is relatively uniform across the country; and opposition parties are not “elite splits” in disguise. The Malaysian context challenges all three of these assumptions. Counterfactual election simulations ultimately suggest that the opposition split neither dramatically helped nor hurt the BN. While this does not upend conventional wisdom on opposition coordination, it does demonstrate that the theory manifests only when its assumptions accord with local realities. More substantively, our analysis also provides insights into why the new opposition will likely seek to increase the salience of ethno-religious issues in a bid to recapture electoral ground.
The efficacy of group acceptance and commitment therapy on reducingacademic procrastination and improving difficulty in emotion regulation: Arandomized clinical trial

Background and Aim: Procrastination, as a pervasive phenomenon in students is interwoven with emotional problems and failure in emotion regulation. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of group acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on reduction of academic procrastination and improvement of difficulty in emotion regulation in the students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences. Material and Method: This was a randomized controlled clinical trial. Statistical population included all of the students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2017-2018. After screening, among 500 people, 150 students were selected on the basis of evaluation scales, in the first step. Then, we selected 40 students based on the severity of procrastination and our inclusion and exclusion criteria and divided them into two intervention groups (each group included 10 students) and a control group (n=20) using random number generator 3.1. v software. During the treatment sessions, 7 students were excluded from the two intervention groups. We used Procrastination Assessment Scale for Students (PASS) and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) for evaluation of the results. The intervention groups received eight sessions of acceptance and commitment group therapy. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The results of repeated measure analysis of variance showed that acceptance and commitment therapy in the intervention group resulted in a significant reduction in: academic procrastination (42.1%), the total score of difficulty in emotion regulation (36.2%), difficulty in engaging in a goal-directed behavior (30.6%), impulse control difficulties (47.5%) and lack of emotional awareness (23.2%)(P<0.05). Also, the results of covariance analysis indicated that with pre-test control, acceptance and commitment therapy, explains 16.1% of the academic procrastination changes and 45.9% of the changes in emotional regulation total score in the intervention group in comparison to the changes in the control group in the long run (P <0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study have implicit and practical implications for the specialists in order to use long-term acceptance and commitment therapy for reduction of procrastination and emotion regulation difficulties.
Sustained activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase contributes to the vascular response to injury.

The vascular response to mechanical injury involves inflammatory and fibroproliferative processes that result in the formation of neointima and vascular remodeling. The complex cellular interactions initiated by vascular injury are coordinated and modulated by the elaboration of cytokines and growth factors. The production and transduction of many of these mediators require phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). In the present investigation, we examined the pattern and localization of p38 MAPK activation following balloon vascular injury. The effects of long-term and selective inhibition of p38 MAPK with SB 239063 (trans-1-(4-hydroxycyclohexyl)-4-(4-fluorophenyl)-5-[2-methoxy)pyrimidin-4-yl]imidazole) were also investigated in a model of vascular injury. Western blotting and immunohistochemical staining demonstrated that phospho-p38 MAPK was increased following balloon injury of the rabbit iliofemoral artery. The p38 MAPK activation was noted as early as 15 min after balloon injury and remained elevated for at least 28 days. Phospho-p38 MAPK immunoreactivity (IR) was localized primarily in regions of dedifferentiated, smooth muscle alpha-actin-positive cells in all lamina of the vessel wall. Phospho-p38 MAPK IR was not correlated with the localization of macrophage or proliferating cells (proliferating cell nuclear antigen; PCNA +). Long-term treatment (4 weeks) with SB 239063 (50 mg/kg/day, p.o.) reduced the vascular response to injury in the hypercholesterolemic rabbit. SB 239063 had no effect on platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-stimulated migration or proliferation of rabbit vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in culture. However, SB 239063 produced a concentration-dependent inhibition of transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta-stimulated fibronectin production in VSMCs. In conclusion, sustained activation of p38 MAPK plays an important role in the vascular response to injury and inhibition of p38 MAPK may represent a novel therapeutic approach to limit this response.
Multiobjective Monte Carlo Tree Search for Real-Time Games

Multiobjective optimization has been traditionally a matter of study in domains like engineering or finance, with little impact on games research. However, action-decision based on multiobjective evaluation may be beneficial in order to obtain a high quality level of play. This paper presents a multiobjective Monte Carlo tree search algorithm for planning and control in real-time game domains, those where the time budget to decide the next move to make is close to 40 ms. A comparison is made between the proposed algorithm, a single-objective version of Monte Carlo tree search and a rolling horizon implementation of nondominated sorting evolutionary algorithm II (NSGA-II). Two different benchmarks are employed, deep sea treasure (DST) and the multiobjective physical traveling salesman problem (MO-PTSP). Using the same heuristics on each game, the analysis is focused on how well the algorithms explore the search space. Results show that the algorithm proposed outperforms NSGA-II. Additionally, it is also shown that the algorithm is able to converge to different optimal solutions or the optimal Pareto front (if achieved during search).
Exploring the linkages between the building, home garden and human system resilience in Lefke Region of North Cyprus

ABSTRACT Resilience has been a challenging approach to analyse the built environment–society linkages and to design more sustainable built environments for enhancing society’s quality of life. This paper explores the linkages between the building, home garden and human system resilience in the Lefke region of North Cyprus. To this end, 50 buildings with a vernacular value, their home gardens and householders were evaluated. The method consisted of developing a conceptual framework for better understanding the linkages among the three systems, exploring the appropriate resilience assessment indicators for the systems, data collection with a questionnaire and data evaluation (based on a 1–5 Likert scale). The results revealed that the average relative values of the building, home garden and human system resilience are, respectively, 2.22 (low), 2.49 (low), and 3.63 (medium). Diversity, traditional knowledge and connectivity were found to be the key indicators for evaluating the linkages amongst the systems.
A survey of model-based clustering algorithms for sequential data

Clustering is a fundamental and widely applied method in understanding and exploring a data set. Interest in clustering has increased recently due to the emergence of several new areas of applications including data mining, bioinformatics, web use data analysis, image analysis and so on. Model-based clustering is one of the most important and widely used clustering methods. This paper presents some existing learning algorithms for model-based clustering. Firstly, different kinds of stochastic models are introduced, followed by finite mixture models for sequential data. Then, we review learning algorithms for finite mixture models, where expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm is described in detail. The component number estimation and model initialization issues for finite mixture models will then be presented respectively. Finally, we will discuss some possible future research issues.
Corneal Wound Healing Promoted by 3 Blood Derivatives: An In Vitro and In Vivo Comparative Study

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the effect on corneal wound healing of 3 differently manufactured blood derivatives [autologous serum (AS), platelet-rich plasma, and serum derived from plasma rich in growth factors (s-PRGF)]. Methods: Scratch wound-healing assays were performed on rabbit primary corneal epithelial cultures and human corneal epithelial cells. Additionally, mechanical debridement of rabbit corneal epithelium was performed. Wound-healing progression was assessed by measuring the denuded areas remaining over time after treatment with each of the 3 blood derivatives or a control treatment. Results: In vitro data show statistically significant differences in the healing process with all the derivatives compared with the control, but 2 of them (AS and s-PRGF) induced markedly faster wound healing. In contrast, although the mean time required to complete in vivo reepithelization was similar to that of AS and s-PRGF treatment, only wounds treated with s-PRGF were significantly smaller in size from 2.5 days onward with respect to the control treatment. Conclusions: All 3 blood derivatives studied are promoters of corneal reepithelization. However, the corneal wound-healing progresses differently with each derivative, being faster in vitro under AS and s-PRGF treatment and producing in vivo the greatest decrease in wound size under s-PRGF treatment. These findings highlight that the manufacturing process of the blood derivatives may modulate the efficacy of the final product.
SEGMENTAL RESPONSE OF THE MACROPHAGE PLASMA MEMBRANE TO A PHAGOCYTIC STIMULUS

A method of attaching mouse RBCs to mouse macrophages is described. Both cell types were coated with rabbit anti-mouse macrophage F(ab')2, and cross-linkage of cells was effected with sheep F(ab')2 directed against rabbit F(ab')2. 98% of macrophages attached an average of 11 RBCs each. Attachment occurred at 37°C and was stable for at least 4 h. Less than 0.1% of macrophages ingested RBCs under these conditions. Latex particles and opsonized pneumococci were ingested as avidly by RBC-coated macrophages as by native macrophages. Ingestion of these particles did not prompt ingestion of attached RBCs. When anti-RBC IgG was added, however, over 90% of macrophages ingested an average of six RBCs each. Thus, ingestion of one particle does not trigger generalized phagocytosis of all particles attached to the cell's plasma membrane, and the phagocytic stimulus is confined to the segment of the cell's plasma membrane immediately adjacent to the particle being ingested.
Nanoscale analysis of ultrasonic wedge bond interface by using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy

In this paper, the bond interface of Al-1 wt. %Si wire bonded on Au/Ni/Cu pad at atmosphere temperature was analyzed by using high resolution transmission electron microscopy. Nano-scale characteristics at bond interface indicated that elemental aluminum diffusing into gold layer was with the feature of step-level periodicity. Due to exceeding solid solubility limit, intermediate Au8Al3 phase penetrated among the Al-Au solid solutions. The diffusion distance was not more than 100 nm analyzed by energy X-ray dispersive spectrum. This process controlled by solid diffusion reaction was realized by the rapid and periodic ultrasonic vibration according to the theoretical calculation based on the Fickpsilas Law and the observation of the deformation twins among the bond wire and within the interfacial diffusion layer.
Utilization of Biodiesel By-Products for Biogas Production

This contribution reviews the possibility of using the by-products from biodiesel production as substrates for anaerobic digestion and production of biogas. The process of biodiesel production is predominantly carried out by catalyzed transesterification. Besides desired methylesters, this reaction provides also few other products, including crude glycerol, oil-pressed cakes, and washing water. Crude glycerol or g-phase is heavier separate liquid phase, composed mainly by glycerol. A couple of studies have demonstrated the possibility of biogas production, using g-phase as a single substrate, and it has also shown a great potential as a cosubstrate by anaerobic treatment of different types of organic waste or energy crops. Oil cakes or oil meals are solid residues obtained after oil extraction from the seeds. Another possible by-product is the washing water from raw biodiesel purification, which is an oily and soapy liquid. All of these materials have been suggested as feasible substrates for anaerobic degradation, although some issues and inhibitory factors have to be considered.
Crack wave resonances within the basal water layer

ABSTRACT Hydraulic processes within and beneath glacial bodies exert a far-reaching control on ice flow through their influence on basal sliding. Within the subglacial system, rapid changes in these processes may excite resonances whose interpretation requires an understanding of the underlying wave mechanics. Here, we explore these mechanics using observations from a kHz-sampled pressure sensor installed in a borehole directly above the hard granite bedrock of a temperate mountain glacier in Switzerland. We apply a previously established theory of wave propagation along thin, water-filled structures such as water-filled voids, basal water layers, or hydraulic fractures. Within such structures, short-wavelength waves experience restoring forces due to compressibility and are composed of sound waves. Long-wavelength resonances, in contrast, experience restoring forces due to elasticity and are composed of anomalously dispersed crack waves or Krauklis waves. Our borehole observations confirm the occurrence of both sound and crack waves within the basal water layer. Using both the resonance frequencies and attenuation of recorded crack waves we estimate thickness, aperture and length of the resonating basal water layer patch into which we drilled. We demonstrate that high-frequency observations of subglacial hydraulic processes provide new insights into this evolving dynamic system.
Image enhancement by region detection on CFA data images

The paper proposes a new method devoted to identify specific semantic regions on CFA (Color Filtering Array) data images representing natural scenes. Making use of collected statistics over a large dataset of high quality natural images, the method uses spatial features and the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in the HSL and normalized-RG color spaces. The classes considered, taking into account “visual significance”, are skin, vegetation, blue sky and sea. Semantic information are obtained on pixel basis leading to meaningful regions although not spatially coherent. Such information is used for automatic color rendition of natural digital images based on adaptive color correction. The overall method outperforms previous results providing reliable information validated by measured and subjective experiments.
Student Coaching: How Far Can Technology Go?

One-on-one coaching programs tend to have large effects on student outcomes, but they are costly to scale. In contrast, interventions that rely on technology to maintain contact with students can be scaled at low cost but may be less effective than one-on-one assistance. We randomly assign more than 4,000 students from a large Canadian university into control, online exercise, text messaging, and one-on-one coaching groups and find large effects on academic outcomes from the coaching program but no effects from either technology-based intervention. A comparison of key design features suggests that future technology-based interventions should aim to provide proactive, personalized, and regular support.