Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Psychosocial Conditions and Access to an Occupational Health Service among Farmers

Abstract To determine whether membership in an occupational health service program varies with correlation with psychosocial risk factors, this Study was carried out among farmers in connection with a larger investigation of salutogenic factors. The study was based on information collected via questionnaires (answered on location) and standardized interviews. The material consists of 364 farmers or persons engaged in agriculture who had occupational health care and 548 without it. There were clear differences in psychosocial patterns between the groups. Those with occupational health care were less often single and had more education and more social contacts than did those without such care. Eating times were more regular and meals were better in those with occupational health care. Karasek-Theorell's indices for psychological demands and decision latitude at work were also higher in this group. Better-educated farmers and those with larger farms were more often members of an occupational health care program. In addition, this group had fewer psychosocial risk factors.
Entanglement-Assisted Quantum Turbo Codes

An unexpected breakdown in the existing theory of quantum serial turbo coding is that a quantum convolutional encoder cannot simultaneously be recursive and non-catastrophic. These properties are essential for quantum turbo code families to have a minimum distance growing with blocklength and for their iterative decoding algorithm to converge, respectively. Here, we show that the entanglement-assisted paradigm simplifies the theory of quantum turbo codes, in the sense that an entanglement-assisted quantum (EAQ) convolutional encoder can possess both of the aforementioned desirable properties. We give several examples of EAQ convolutional encoders that are both recursive and non-catastrophic and detail their relevant parameters. We then modify the quantum turbo decoding algorithm of Poulin , in order to have the constituent decoders pass along only extrinsic information to each other rather than a posteriori probabilities as in the decoder of Poulin , and this leads to a significant improvement in the performance of unassisted quantum turbo codes. Other simulation results indicate that entanglement-assisted turbo codes can operate reliably in a noise regime 4.73 dB beyond that of standard quantum turbo codes, when used on a memoryless depolarizing channel. Furthermore, several of our quantum turbo codes are within 1 dB or less of their hashing limits, so that the performance of quantum turbo codes is now on par with that of classical turbo codes. Finally, we prove that entanglement is the resource that enables a convolutional encoder to be both non-catastrophic and recursive because an encoder acting on only information qubits, classical bits, gauge qubits, and ancilla qubits cannot simultaneously satisfy them.
The effectiveness of a peer-helping programme that increases subjective well-being

ABSTRACT The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a peer-helping programme in increasing the subjective well-being of a group of university students compared with a control group with the same characteristics who did not receive the intervention. The intervention recipients consisted of 13 male and 17 female participants. The peer helpers were 22 female and 8 male participants. The peer-helping programme consisted of three stages: training in helping skills, implementation and facilitating supervision sessions. The short-term effects of the programme were investigated using the Positive and Negative Affect Scale. The programme's long-term effects were evaluated using the Life Satisfaction Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. The results indicated that the short-term subjective well-being effects of the intervention activities were statistically significant. Additionally, the results revealed statistically significant increases in positive affect and life satisfaction and significant decreases in negative affect in the intervention group compared with that in the control group. Peer-helping programme may be used to increase individuals’ subjective well-being.
Sample Survey on Sensitive Topics: Investigating Respondents' Understanding and Trust in Alternative Versions of the Randomized Response Technique

In social science research, survey respondents hesitate to answer sensitive questions. This explains why traditional self-report surveys often suffer from high levels of non-response and dishonest answers. To overcome these problems, an adjusted questioning technique is necessary. This article examines one such adjusted questioning technique: the randomized response technique. However, in order to obtain reliable and valid data, respondents need to understand and trust this technique. Respondents' understanding and trust are assessed in two online variants of the randomized response technique: (a) forced response and (b) unrelated question. Results show that understanding was significantly higher in the forced-response condition. Respondents' trust, however, was low in both conditions.
Swab2know: An HIV-Testing Strategy Using Oral Fluid Samples and Online Communication of Test Results for Men Who Have Sex With Men in Belgium

Background As HIV remains a public health concern, increased testing among those at risk for HIV acquisition is important. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are the most important group for targeted HIV testing in Europe. Several new strategies have been developed and implemented to increase HIV-testing uptake in this group, among them the Swab2know project. Objective In this project, we aim to assess the acceptability and feasibility of outreach and online HIV testing using oral fluid samples as well as Web-based delivery of test results. Methods Sample collection happened between December 2012 and April 2014 via outreach and online sampling among MSM. Test results were communicated through a secured website. HIV tests were executed in the laboratory. Each reactive sample needed to be confirmed using state-of-the-art confirmation procedures on a blood sample. Close follow-up of participants who did not pick up their results, and those with reactive results, was included in the protocol. Participants were asked to provide feedback on the methodology using a short survey. Results During 17 months, 1071 tests were conducted on samples collected from 898 men. Over half of the samples (553/1071, 51.63%) were collected during 23 outreach sessions. During an 8-month period, 430 samples out of 1071 (40.15%) were collected from online sampling. Additionally, 88 samples out of 1071 (8.22%) were collected by two partner organizations during face-to-face consultations with MSM and male sex workers. Results of 983 out of 1071 tests (91.78%) had been collected from the website. The pickup rate was higher among participants who ordered their kit online (421/430, 97.9%) compared to those participating during outreach activities (559/641, 87.2%; P<.001). MSM participating during outreach activities versus online participants were more likely to have never been tested before (17.3% vs 10.0%; P=.001) and reported more sexual partners in the 6 months prior to participation in the project (mean 7.18 vs 3.23; P<.001). A total of 20 participants out of 898 (2.2%) were confirmed HIV positive and were linked to care. Out of 1071 tests, 28 (2.61%) with a weak reactive result could not be confirmed, and were thereby classified as false reactive results. Most of the 388 participants who completed posttest surveys (388/983, 39.5%) were very positive about their experience. The vast majority (371/388, 95.6%) were very satisfied, while 17 out of 388 (4.4%) reported mixed feelings. Conclusions Despite a high yield and a considerable number of false reactive results, satisfaction was high among participants. The project helped us to reach the target population, both in numbers of tests executed and in newly diagnosed HIV infections. Further optimization should be considered in the accuracy of the test, the functionalities of the website (including an online counseling tool), and in studying the cost effectiveness of the methodology.
Long-Term Prognosis of Major Depression in Old Age: A Comparison With Prognosis of Dysthymic Disorder

The 5-year prognosis of 42 elderly patients with major depression (mean age 73.2 ± 6.3 years for men and 73.0 ± 7.3 years for women) is described. Furthermore, the clinical outcome of elderly patients with major depression is compared to that of 199 elderly patients with dysthymic disorder (mean age 69.6 ± 7.2 years for men and 71.3 ± 7.7 years for women) described in a previous article. Twelve percent of patients with major depression recovered, 26% still had depression after 5 years, 12% had possible dementia, 45% had died, and 5% could not be contacted. The outcome did not significantly differ between the sexes or the two age groups (65–74 and 75+). A poor clinical outcome of patients with major depression was related to a greater number of diagnosed diseases, strong feelings of restlessness, and higher sexual interest at the beginning of the follow-up. A poor prognosis was also found for the patients whose functional abilities and hobby activities declined during the follow-up. A poor prognosis tended to be related to absence of hypertension, frequent trembling of hands, low activity in listening to music, and high activity in watching TV at the onset, and to absence of malignant disease and occurrence of a high number of negative and positive life events during the follow-up period. Thirty-six percent of dysthymic patients recovered, 26% still had depression after 5 years, 9% had possible dementia, 25% had died and 4% could not be contacted. The outcome of dysthymic patients did not significantly differ between the sexes or the two age groups (65–74 and 75+). The clinical outcome of dysthymic patients tended to be more favorable than that of patients with major depression. The factors related to a poor outcome differed between patients with major depression and dysthymic patients.
The Effect of Personality Style and Team Organization on Team Performance

Abstract : The continual advancement of technology and the increasing complexity of the operational environments for the military have necessitated the proliferation of team-based operations. The use of personality styles is one possible way to go beyond normal demographics when attempting to predict team performance. This study provides an analysis of two personality styles and their potential for predicting team performance. The tenets of Human Systems Integration (HSI) state that it is critical to view the human as a component of any system. This study examined the effect of team personality style on team performance. Additionally, the effect of team command and control organization was examined by building upon the Office of Naval Research's Adaptive Architecture for Command and Control (A2C2) project. The results of the study were inconclusive. There was no significant difference between the performance of teams high in conscientiousness and high in agreeableness (A+C+) and the performance of teams low in conscientiousness and low in agreeableness (A-C-). Furthermore, there was no difference between teams utilizing different command and control organizations. The results of the study reveal that, currently, A+C+ and A-C- personality styles are not viable as selection tools many possible personality styles is required.
Does urbanization influence coloration of Northern cardinals ( Cardinalis cardinalis ) ?

Anthropogenic effects can alter the natural life history strategies of individuals to determine mates based on honest ornamental signals making evolved behavior maladaptive. For example, in comparison with natural habitats, some urban areas might be more abundant in carotenoid-rich vegetation that determines the coloration of birds during a major life history event: molt. The individuals that molt the earliest following breeding in a natural population claim the best territories (i.e. rich carotenoid vegetation, ideal nest material, etc.) and therefore are most successful at reproduction the following year. Urbanization, however, can delay the timing of molt due to the possible abundance of carotenoids in the environment as well as have a major influence on the feather coloration of all individuals within the population. In this study, we examined whether urbanization affected plumage coloration and molt timing in the highly chromatic Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), which is commonly found in both urban and rural environments. Molt timing and intensity varied between the two populations, where the rural population molted earlier and more intensely. However, standard deviation of coloration was more variable in rural than in urban individuals possibly due to limited carotenoid-rich resources, even though mean traits were not affected. Redder individuals in the rural population occupy the highest quality territories and are more “fit” than others within this same population. Females choose these redder individuals as an indicator of quality. The reduced variation on urban individuals provide evidence that changing environments result in altered strategies for urban populations and may suggest that urban males are cheating selection by advertising false color to females.
Reliability of direct and indirect clinical attachment level measurements.

AIMS To investigate the influence of subject-, tooth- and site-level characteristics on intra-examiner reproducibility of direct and indirect clinical attachment level (CALDIR and CALIND ) recordings, and to quantify the impact of less-than-perfect reliability on our ability to assess periodontitis progression. MATERIALS AND METHODS Within a 1-week interval, a single examiner performed duplicate probing depth (PD), CALDIR and gingival recession (GR) recordings in six sites of all teeth present in 148 periodontitis patients. CALIND was calculated on the basis of the PD and GR. RESULTS Agreement was observed in 65%, 62%, 69% and 84% of the duplicate CALDIR , CALIND , PD and GR recordings, respectively, and >95% of the differences were within ±1 mm. This study identified multiple predictors for CAL measurement errors ≥1 mm, including tooth and site location, presence of supra- and subgingival calculus, bleeding on probing and suppuration. Measurement errors were more likely in patients diagnosed with "extensive" rather than "less extensive" periodontitis. In over half of the patients, measurement error frequencies were too high to allow for detection of possible CAL changes ≥2 mm with a false-positive rate ≤5%. Detection of CAL changes with low false-positives was more likely using recordings obtained by the direct method. CONCLUSIONS From a measurement error point of view, CALDIR recordings are preferable over CALIND .
The relationship between classroom interactions and exclusionary discipline as a social practice: A critical microethnograhy

Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.fiu. edu/etd Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Linguistic Anthropology Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons
Outcome of erosive reflux esophagitis after Nissen fundoplication

OBJECTIVES:The aim of this study was to compare the utilization of health care resources and long term outcome of erosive esophagitis in patients treated with and without open Nissen fundoplication.METHODS:A population of 35,725 patients with erosive esophagitis was extracted from the computerized database of the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Subjects were stratified by severity of disease into erosive esophagitis alone versus erosive esophagitis complicated by esophageal ulcers or peptic strictures. During a mean follow-up period of 4.2 yr (range 1–12 yr), the consumption of health care resources, except for medications, was compared between case and control subjects treated with and without fundoplication, respectively.RESULTS:Among patients with complicated erosive esophagitis, 5,064 control subjects were treated without, and 542 case subjects were treated with, fundoplication. Cases incurred less recurrence of esophageal erosions (controls: 56%vs cases: 46%), esophageal ulcers (38%vs 33%), and peptic strictures (43%vs 32%) during follow-up. Among patients with erosive esophagitis but no complications, 29,514 control subjects were treated without, and 605 case subjects were treated with, fundoplication. Cases did not experience any change in the recurrence of esophageal erosions (controls: 25%vs cases: 24%). Irrespective of treatment type, none of the case or control subjects with erosive esophagitis alone developed esophageal ulcers or peptic strictures during follow-up. Compared with controls, however, after fundoplication in erosive esophagitis alone, cases incurred more dysphagia (2.6%vs 4.6%), postsurgical syndromes (0.8%vs 1.7%), as well as more outpatient visits (34 vs 40 visits/patient) and outpatient procedures (2.7 vs 4.3 procedures/patient). CONCLUSIONS:Fundoplication improves the clinical outcome of erosive esophagitis in patients with concomitant esophageal ulcers and strictures, but not in patients without such complications. Fundoplication does not reduce the consumption of health care resources.
Research on Teaching College Economics: A Survey

We are indebted to Elisabeth Allison, G. L. Bach, William Becker, Frank Bonello, Kenneth Boulding, Stephen Buckles, J R. Clark, George Dawson, Daniel Fusfeld, Malcolm Getz, W Lee Hansen, RobertHeilbroner, RobertHighsmith, CliffHuang, ThomasJohnson, Allen Kelley, Darrell Lewis, Michael MacDowell, Campbell McConnell, Richard McKenzie, David Morawetz, Donald Paden, Phillip Saunders, Alex Scott, Howard Tuckman, John Vahaly, Henry Villard, Burton Weisbrod, Arthur Welsh, and Thomas Zak for comments on an earlier draft; to Thomas Overstreet and James Lewek for research assistance; to the members of Economics 380, Kaye James, Noel Lim, Katherine Maddox, Hal McClure, Mary Ann Meiners, and George Nomikos, for papers and discussions on economics education; to Violet Sikes for typing; and to Marjorie Churchill for editorial assistance.
Annexin A1 promotes timely resolution of inflammation in murine gout

Gout is a self‐limited inflammatory disease caused by deposition of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals in the joints. Resolution of inflammation is an active process leading to restoration of tissue homeostasis. Here, we studied the role of Annexin A1 (AnxA1), a glucocorticoid‐regulated protein that has anti‐inflammatory and proresolving actions, in resolution of acute gouty inflammation. Injection of MSU crystals in the knee joint of mice induced inflammation that was associated with expression of AnxA1 during the resolving phase of inflammation. Neutralization of AnxA1 with antiserum or blockade of its receptor with BOC‐1 (nonselective) or WRW4 (selective) prevented the spontaneous resolution of gout. There was greater neutrophil infiltration after challenge with MSU crystals in AnxA1 knockout mice (AnxA1−/−) and delayed resolution associated to decreased neutrophil apoptosis and efferocytosis. Pretreatment of mice with AnxA1‐active N‐terminal peptide (Ac2–26) decreased neutrophil influx, IL‐1β, and CXCL1 production in periarticular joint. Posttreatment with Ac2–26 decreased neutrophil accumulation, IL‐1β, and hypernociception, and improved the articular histopathological score. Importantly, the therapeutic effects of Ac2–26 were associated with increased neutrophils apoptosis and shortened resolution intervals. In conclusion, AnxA1 plays a crucial role in the context of acute gouty inflammation by promoting timely resolution of inflammation.
Seasonal shifts along the oviparity–viviparity continuum in a cold‐climate lizard population

Squamate embryos require weeks of high temperature to complete development, with the result that cool climatic areas are dominated by viviparous taxa (in which gravid females can sun‐bask to keep embryos warm) rather than oviparous taxa (which rely on warm soil to incubate their eggs). How, then, can some oviparous taxa reproduce successfully in cool climates – especially late in summer, when soil temperatures are falling? Near the northern limit of their distribution (in Sweden), sand lizards (Lacerta agilis) shift tactics seasonally, such that the eggs in late clutches complete development more quickly (when incubated at a standard temperature) than do those of early clutches. That acceleration is achieved by a reduction in egg size and by an increase in the duration of uterine retention of eggs (especially, after cool weather). Our results clarify the ability of oviparous reptiles to reproduce successfully in cool climates and suggest a novel advantage to reptilian viviparity in such conditions: by maintaining high body temperatures, viviparous females may escape the need to reduce offspring size in late‐season litters.
The Effect of Treadmill Training Pre-Exercise on Glutamate Receptor Expression in Rats after Cerebral Ischemia

Physical exercise has been demonstrated to be neuroprotective in both clinical and laboratory settings. However, the exact mechanism underlying this effect is unclear. Our study aimed to investigate whether pre-ischemic treadmill training could serve as a form of ischemic preconditioning in a rat model undergoing middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Thirty-six rats were divided into three groups: a sham control group, a non-exercise with operation group and an exercise with operation group. After treadmill training, ischemia was induced by occluding the MCA for 2 h, followed by reperfusion. Half of the rats in each group were sacrificed for mRNA detection of mGluR5 and NR2B 80 min after occlusion. The remaining animals were evaluated for neurological deficits by behavioral scoring and then decapitated to assess the infarct volume. The mRNA expression of mGluR5 and NR2B was detected by real-time PCR. The results suggest that pre-ischemic treadmill training may induce brain ischemic tolerance by reducing the mRNA levels of mGluR5 and NR2B, and thus, the results indicate that physical exercise might be an effective method to establish ischemic preconditioning.