Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Linking better shiftwork arrangements with safety and health management systems.

OBJECTIVE Various support measures useful for promoting joint change approaches to the improvement of both shiftworking arrangements and safety and health management systems were reviewed. A particular focus was placed on enterprise-level risk reduction measures linking working hours and management systems. METHODS Voluntary industry-based guidelines on night and shift work for department stores and the chemical, automobile and electrical equipment industries were examined. Survey results that had led to the compilation of practicable measures to be included in these guidelines were also examined. The common support measures were then compared with ergonomic checkpoints for plant maintenance work involving irregular nightshifts. On the basis of this analysis, a new night and shift work checklist was designed. RESULTS Both the guidelines and the plant maintenance work checkpoints were found to commonly cover multiple issues including work schedules and various job-related risks. This close link between shiftwork arrangements and risk management was important as shiftworkers in these industries considered teamwork and welfare services to be essential for managing risks associated with night and shift work. Four areas found suitable for participatory improvement by managers and workers were work schedules, ergonomic work tasks, work environment and training. The checklist designed to facilitate participatory change processes covered all these areas. CONCLUSIONS The checklist developed to describe feasible workplace actions was suitable for integration with comprehensive safety and health management systems and offered valuable opportunities for improving working time arrangements and job content together.
A Survey on LEACH-Based Energy Aware Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks

Due to the advances in wireless communications and electronics technology, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are used in many applications such as civil and military application. A WSN is composed on many nodes each of which is basically equipped with a sensing device to collect data from the environment, a processing unit to do some operations on data, a transceiver to send and receive collected, and an energy source to provide the required energy to operate (usually a battery). In most applications sensor nodes are randomly deployed in the field. Therefore, battery replacement or charging is considered not practical. As a result, routing protocols must be energy-efficient to prolong the network lifetime. Researchers have been working to develop routing techniques that enhances the WSN lifetime among which is the hierarchical routing. In this paper, we present a recent survey of hierarchical routing protocols which are based on LEACH protocol. Specifically, we will show the network life time and energy consumption for each protocol. Furthermore, a comparison of these protocols in terms of advantages (improvements over LEACH), disadvantages, assumptions, and the Cluster Head selection criteria are provided. 1
Men's body mass index and infertility.

BACKGROUND In men, excess weight may be linked with altered testosterone, estradiol levels, poor semen quality and infertility. We investigated whether higher BMI among men is associated with infertility and if so, to what extent that effect might be mediated by altered sexual function. METHODS A retrospective cohort study of pregnancies from 1999 through 2005 based within the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Questionnaires assessed mother's and father's height and weight and time to pregnancy. Our sample comprises 26 303 planned pregnancies. Couples were considered infertile if they took >or=12 months to achieve pregnancy or received infertility treatment. RESULTS After adjusting for the woman's BMI, coital frequency and the ages and smoking habits of both partners, the odds ratio for infertility was 1.20 for overweight men [BMI 25-29.9; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.04-1.38] and 1.36 for obese men (BMI 30-34.9; 95% CI = 1.13-1.63) relative to men with low-normal BMI (20.0-22.4). When BMI was divided into eight categories, there was a trend of increased infertility with increased male BMI. The effect of men's BMI was nearly identical when coital frequency was not included indicating that the effect is not mediated by sexual dysfunction in heavier men. CONCLUSIONS This study adds further support that men with excess body weight are at increased risk of infertility. Values may be underestimated because the most severe cases, couples who do not conceive, are not included in this birth cohort. Research is needed to see if weight loss improves fertility for these men.
PREDICTION SYSTEM FOR HEART DISEASE USING NAIVE BAYES

The main objective of this research is to develop a n Intelligent System using data mining modeling tec hnique, namely, Naive Bayes. It is implemented as web based application in this user answers the predefined questions. It retrieves hidden data from stored database and compares the user values with trained data set. It can answer com plex queries for diagnosing heart disease and thus assist healthcare practitioners to make intelligent clinical decisio ns which traditional decision support systems cannot. By providing effec tive treatments, it also helps to reduce treatment costs.
Unregulated Markets and Internet Financial Communication: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

This research examines voluntary financial communication on the Internet by companies quoted on Brusselsâ€™ unregulated markets. In the absence of obligation to communicate, we wish to know if companies quoted on these markets are proactive regarding financial disclosure on their website? We also identify determinants of the level of internet financial communication. Have the characteristics of the SME an impact on this level? What brought the managers of these SME to disclose or not financial information on the Internet? Do companies quoted in Paris disclose more financial information on their websites than those quoted in Brussels? The general methodology of this thesis follows Grounded Theory principles. This paper aims at showing the contribution of an inductive positioning and the complementary of quantitative and qualitative approaches.
Inference-Based Ambiguity Management in Decentralized Decision-Making: Decentralized Diagnosis of Discrete-Event Systems

The task of decentralized decision-making involves interaction of a set of local decision-makers, each of which operates under limited sensing capabilities and is thus subjected to ambiguity during the process of decision-making. In our prior work, we made a key observation that such ambiguities are of differing gradations and presented a framework for inferencing over varying ambiguity levels to arrive at local and global control decisions. We develop a similar framework for performing diagnosis in a decentralized setting. For each event-trace executed by a system being monitored, each local diagnoser issues its own diagnosis decision (failure or nonfailure or unsure), tagged with a certain ambiguity level (zero being the minimum). A global diagnosis decision is taken to be a ldquowinningrdquo local diagnosis decision, i.e., one with a minimum ambiguity level. The computation of an ambiguity level for a local decision requires an assessment of the self-ambiguity as well as the ambiguities of the others, and an inference based up on such knowledge. In order to characterize the class of systems for which any fault can be detected within a uniformly bounded number of steps (or ldquodelayrdquo), we introduce the notion of N -inference-diagnosability for Failures (also called N-inference F-diagnosability), where the index N represents the maximum ambiguity level of any winning local decision. We show that the codiagnosability introduced in is the same as 0-inference F-diagnosability; the conditional F-codiagnosability introduced in , is a type of 1-inference F-diagnosability; the class of higher-index inference F-diagnosable systems strictly subsumes the class of lower-index ones; and the class of inference F-diagnosable systems is strictly subsumed by the class of systems that are centrally F-diagnosable.
The Timeline of Presidential Elections: How Campaigns Do (and Do Not) Matter

With the 2012 presidential election upon us, will voters cast their ballots for the candidates whose platforms and positions best match their own? Or will the race for the next president of the United States come down largely to who runs the most effective campaigning? It's a question those who study elections have been considering for years with no clear resolution. In "The Timeline of Presidential Elections", Robert S. Erikson and Christopher Wlezien reveal for the first time how both factors come into play. Erikson and Wlezien have amassed data from close to two thousand national polls covering every presidential election from 1952 to 2008, allowing them to see how outcomes take shape over the course of an election year. Polls from the beginning of the year, they show, have virtually no predictive power. By mid-April, when the candidates have been identified and matched in pollsters' trial heats, preferences have come into focus - and predicted the winner in eleven of the fifteen elections. But a similar process of forming favorites takes place in the last six months, during which voters' intentions change only gradually, with particular events - including presidential debates - rarely resulting in dramatic change. Ultimately, Erikson and Wlezien show that it is through campaigns that voters are made aware of - or not made aware of - fundamental factors like candidates' policy positions that determine which ticket will get their votes. In other words, fundamentals matter, but only because of campaigns. Timely and compelling, this book will force us to rethink our assumptions about presidential elections.
Asymmetric stem-cell division ensures sustained keratinocyte hyperproliferation in psoriatic skin lesions

Excessive expansion of the transit-amplifying (TA) cell compartment is a distinct morphological characteristic of psoriatic epidermal hyperplasia. In order to examine the activation of basal stem cells and how they replenish such an enlarged compartment of TA cells in psoriatic epidermis, we utilized a BrdU labeling method to monitor mitotic stem cells in a mouse model of psoriasiform dermatitis, which was induced by imiquimod. Our results showed that perpendicular and parallel cell division characteristics of dividing stem cells existed in the inflamed epidermis. When we analyzed template-DNA strand segregation in trypsin-dissociated human psoriatic keratinocytes using BrdU pulse-chase labeling, we found that the percentage of asymmetric segregation of BrdU was significantly increased in the cell pairs of psoriatic epidermal cells compared with normal epidermal cells. Furthermore, we also examined the effects of both interleukin (IL)-17A and IL-22 cytokines on the differentiation status of cultured human keratinocytes. The results indicated that both cytokines had synergistic effects on passage-one epidermal cell sheets derived from skin explants and also on cultured keratinocytes, were involved in the maintenance of the undifferentiated stem cell phenotype, and these results suggest an efficient mechanism for preventing the premature loss of basal stem-cell pools in the pro-inflammatory cytokine-enriched milieu of the psoriatic epidermis. Our findings suggest that inhibition of hyperactive stem cells represents a potential therapeutic target to combat recalcitrant epidermal hyperplasia in psoriasis.
Using grounded theory approach in management research

: In the field of management research, the grounded theory approach (GTA) pioneered by Glaser and Strauss (1967) is frequently cited to assert methodological validity in qualitative theory-building studies, in contrast with quantitative research that uses majority hypothesis validation. Glaser and Strauss eventually came to disagree with each other, and GTA branched into three perspectives. Of these, Strauss and Corbin (1990), which defines coding and other analytical processes in detail, is cited most frequently although the studies that cite it do not necessarily reflect its characteristics. It is, therefore, clear that the differences in these three perspectives are not connected with differences in research methodologies.
The Effects of Aging and Brain Damage on Time Perception

The effects of aging and brain damage on time perception are not well understood. In this study, we test the hypothesis that aging affects timing variability and that parietal damage affects timing magnitude. Young and healthy college-age students, older subjects, and a patient with bilateral parietal damage were assessed on their ability to estimate and produce time intervals ranging from four to fifteen seconds. Subjects completed two tasks: production of the duration of a stimulus in seconds and estimation of when the number of seconds presented as a stimulus had elapsed. Data was analyzed via power functions: ψ = Kφβ. Aging and brain damage should theoretically result in either reduced exponents or increased variability in performance. Information processing models separate deficits in perception, decision-making, and memory, allowing more specific analysis of the locus of cognitive deficits. The results of this study show no effects of aging on time perception whereas parietal damage affects temporal processing in significant ways.
Enzymatic Synthesis of Glucose-Based Fatty Acid Esters in Bisolvent Systems Containing Ionic Liquids or Deep Eutectic Solvents

Sugar fatty acid esters (SFAEs) are biocompatible nonionic surfactants with broad applications in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. They can be synthesized enzymatically with many advantages over their chemical synthesis. In this study, SFAE synthesis was investigated by using two reactions: (1) transesterification of glucose with fatty acid vinyl esters and (2) esterification of methyl glucoside with fatty acids, catalyzed by Lipozyme TLIM and Novozym 435 respectively. Fourteen ionic liquids (ILs) and 14 deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were screened as solvents, and the bisolvent system composed of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethylsulfonate ([HMIm][TfO]) and 2-methyl-2-butanol (2M2B) was the best for both reactions, yielding optimal productivities (769.6 and 397.5 µmol/h/g, respectively) which are superior to those reported in the literature. Impacts of different reaction conditions were studied for both reactions. Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the transesterification reaction. Results also demonstrated that as co-substrate, methyl glucoside yielded higher conversions than glucose, and that conversions increased with an increase in the chain length of the fatty acid moieties. DESs were poor solvents for the above reactions presumably due to their high viscosity and high polarity.
Non-expert views of compassion: consensual qualitative research using focus groups

Abstract Although the research on compassion is growing, there is a lack of knowledge about how non-expert people perceive compassion. Therefore, the aim of the study was to explore compassion from the perspective of non-experts. Our sample consisted of 56 non-expert participants (Slovaks and Czechs) in 10 focus groups and we conducted a Consensual Qualitative Research analysis with two members of a core team and one auditor. In general, compassion was described as a mixture of non-specified positive emotions and specified negative emotions (mainly fear, remorse, and sadness). Compassion was related to empathy. In terms of behaviours, compassion was revealed to help, support, favour, mental closeness, and interest. Compassion is displayed mainly to people close to us in situations of suffering. However, people tend to evaluate beforehand whether the situation and person deserve compassion. Moreover, people are cautious about being exploited through compassion. To sum up, our findings support a multidimensional definition of compassion.
Attachment and Invasion of Neisseria meningitidis to Host Cells Is Related to Surface Hydrophobicity, Bacterial Cell Size and Capsule

We compared exemplar strains from two hypervirulent clonal complexes, strain NMB-CDC from ST-8/11 cc and strain MC58 from ST-32/269 cc, in host cell attachment and invasion. Strain NMB-CDC attached to and invaded host cells at a significantly greater frequency than strain MC58. Type IV pili retained the primary role for initial attachment to host cells for both isolates regardless of pilin class and glycosylation pattern. In strain MC58, the serogroup B capsule was the major inhibitory determinant affecting both bacterial attachment to and invasion of host cells. Removal of terminal sialylation of lipooligosaccharide (LOS) in the presence of capsule did not influence rates of attachment or invasion for strain MC58. However, removal of either serogroup B capsule or LOS sialylation in strain NMB-CDC increased bacterial attachment to host cells to the same extent. Although the level of inhibition of attachment by capsule was different between these strains, the regulation of the capsule synthesis locus by the two-component response regulator MisR, and the level of surface capsule determined by flow cytometry were not significantly different. However, the diplococci of strain NMB-CDC were shown to have a 1.89-fold greater surface area than strain MC58 by flow cytometry. It was proposed that the increase in surface area without changing the amount of anchored glycolipid capsule in the outer membrane would result in a sparser capsule and increase surface hydrophobicity. Strain NMB-CDC was shown to be more hydrophobic than strain MC58 using hydrophobicity interaction chromatography and microbial adhesion-to-solvents assays. In conclusion, improved levels of adherence of strain NMB-CDC to cell lines was associated with increased bacterial cell surface and surface hydrophobicity. This study shows that there is diversity in bacterial cell surface area and surface hydrophobicity within N. meningitidis which influence steps in meningococcal pathogenesis.
Nystagmus and Related Ocular Motility Disorders

GENERAL CONCEPTS AND CLINICAL APPROACH Congenital Nystagmus Normal Mechanisms for Gaze Stability Latent (Occlusion) Nystagmus Types of Abnormal Eye Movements that Disrupt Steady Spasmus Nutans Fixation: Nystagmus and Saccadic Intrusions EYE MOVEMENTS DURING EPILEPTIC SEIZURES Differences Between Physiologic and Pathologic Nystagmus EYELID NYSTAGMUS Methods of Observing, Eliciting, and Recording Nystagmus SACCADIC INTRUSIONS Classification of Nystagmus Based on Pathogenesis Common Features of Saccadic Intrusions NYSTAGMUS ASSOCIATED WITH DISEASE OF THE Square-Wave Jerks VISUAL SYSTEM AND ITS PROJECTIONS TO Macrosquare-Wave Jerks (Square-Wave Pulses) BRAINSTEM AND CEREBELLUM Macrosaccadic Oscillations Origin and Nature of Nystagmus Associated with Disease of Saccadic Pulses, Ocular Flutter, and Opsoclonus the Visual Pathways Voluntary Saccadic Oscillations or Voluntary Nystagmus Clinical Features of Nystagmus with Lesions Affecting the Pathogenesis of Saccadic Intrusions Visual Pathways OSCILLATIONS WITH DISEASE AFFECTING OCULAR Acquired Pendular Nystagmus and Its Relationship to Disease MOTONEURONS AND EXTRAOCULAR MUSCLE of the Visual Pathways Superior Oblique Myokymia (Superior Oblique Microtremor) NYSTAGMUS CAUSED BY VESTIBULAR IMBALANCE Ocular Neuromyotonia Nystagmus Caused by Peripheral Vestibular Imbalance SPONTANEOUS EYE MOVEMENTS IN UNCONSCIOUS Nystagmus Caused by Central Vestibular Imbalance PATIENTS Periodic Alternating Nystagmus TREATMENTS FOR NYSTAGMUS AND SACCADIC Seesaw and Hemi-Seesaw Nystagmus INTRUSIONS NYSTAGMUS DUE TO ABNORMALITIES OF THE Rational Basis for Treatment MECHANISM FOR HOLDING ECCENTRIC GAZE Pharmacologic Treatments Gaze-Evoked Nystagmus Optical Treatments Convergence-Retraction Nystagmus Botulinum Toxin Treatment of Nystagmus Centripetal and Rebound Nystagmus Surgical Procedures for Nystagmus CONGENITAL FORMS OF NYSTAGMUS Other Forms of Treatment Nature and Forms of Congenital Ocular Oscillations
High DEPTOR expression correlates with poor prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Objective The disheveled, Egl-10, and pleckstrin (DEP) domain containing mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)-interacting protein (DEPTOR) is a binding protein containing mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1), mTOR complex 2 (mTORC2), and an endogenous mTOR inhibitor. DEPTOR shows abnormal expressions in numerous types of solid tumors. However, how DEP-TOR is expressed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains elusive. Methods The expression of DEPTOR in 220 cases of ESCC and non-cancerous adjacent tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. DEPTOR levels in ESCC and paired normal tissue were quantified using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis to verify the immunohistochemical results. The relationship between DEPTOR expression and the clinicopathological features of ESCC was analyzed based on the results of immunohistochemistry. Finally, we analyzed the relationship between DEPTOR expression and the prognosis of patients with ESCC. Results Immunohistochemical staining showed that the expression rate of DEPTOR in ESCC tissues was significantly increased. DEPTOR mRNA and protein expression was significantly higher in ESCC tissues than in normal adjacent esophageal squamous tissues. High DEPTOR expression was significantly correlated with regional lymph node status in the TNM stage of patients with ESCC. Kaplan–Meier survival curves showed that the rate of overall survival was significantly lower in patients with high DEPTOR expression than in those with low DEPTOR expression. Additionally, high DEPTOR expression was an independent prognostic predictor for ESCC patients. Conclusion High DEPTOR expression is an independent prognostic biomarker indicating a worse prognosis for patients with ESCC.
Sp1 and COX2 expression is positively correlated with a poor prognosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Previous studies showed that celecoxib, a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) inhibitor, can inhibit angiogenesis and metastasis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) via the suppression of specificity protein 1 (Sp1). In this study, we investigated the prognostic value of Sp1 and COX2 in 88 PDAC patients. Our study showed there was a positive correlation between Sp1 and COX2 expression (P=0.001) by using the Spearman's rank test. Pearson Chi-square test revealed that Sp1 and COX2 expression were positively associated with lymph node metastasis (P<0.05, both). In addition, the Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that patients with Sp1- or COX2-positive expression exhibited poorer overall survival (OS) than those with Sp1- or COX2-negative expression (P<0.05, all). Most importantly, Sp1- and COX2-negative patients had the best OS (P=0.01). In multivariate analysis, Sp1 expression (P=0.03), COX2 expression (P=0.04), and nuclear grade (P=0.009) were found to be independent predictors for OS. Moreover, we confirmed that Sp1 could upregulate the expression of COX2 in PDAC cell lines by western blot analysis, and both are of important prognostic value in PDAC.
Student experiences with executable acceptance testing

This report describes experiences of introducing executable acceptance testing in senior software engineering courses. Students in an agile environment completed a five iteration project with significant portion of requirements specified as executable acceptance tests. Furthermore, students were required to write their test suites for an additional component. Ability to learn and utilize the FIT acceptance testing framework is evaluated to find out if FIT tests can be used to replace requirement documents. The results of a survey of students' perceptions and experiences were encouraging.