Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How can surgeonfish help pediatric surgeons? A pilot study investigating the antinociceptive effect of fish aquariums in adult volunteers

Animal-assisted therapies are associated with cognitive, physical and psychosocial benefits. They have also been used in the context of pain management, although there has been little research investigating the effect of such therapies on pain perception. In this study, a group of volunteers was asked to observe fish in a large aquarium, and pain perception during a painful stimulus was compared between this group and a control group not exposed to the aquarium.
The Indonesian Economy: Trade and Industrial Policies

Against the backdrop of growing anti-globalisation sentiments and increasing fragmentation of the production process across countries, this book addresses how the Indonesian economy should respond and how Indonesia should shape its trade and industrial policies in this new world trade environment. The book introduces evaluation not on tariffs but on new trade instruments such as non-tariff measures (SPS, TBT, export measures and beyond border measures), and looks at industrial policies from a broader perspective such as investment, accessing inputs, labour, services, research and innovation policies.
Being a Foster-to-Adopt Parent: Experiences of (Un)certainty and Their Influence on the Sense of Being the Parent

Abstract The Mixed-Bank Program (Quebec, Canada) is based on concurrent planning principles. While the primary goal of this placement is reunification of the child with their birth parents, the low probability of this happening calls for simultaneously planning for an alternative solution, such as adoption. As a result, foster-to-adopt families have to deal with the uncertainty of the adoptability of the child and having no legal status nor control over the situation. In a qualitative study focusing on understanding how foster families from the Mixed-Bank Program develop the sense of being the parent of the child they care for, 25 semi-structured interviews with foster parents from 20 different families were conducted. As part of grounded theory methodology, a typology of profiles according to the level of uncertainty was constructed: (1) experience of certainty, (2) experience of momentary uncertainty, and (3) chronic uncertainty. This article presents these profiles and discusses the following challenges: the willingness to settle for permanence without adoption in all profiles, the link between the level of uncertainty and the assiduity of birth parents to supervised visits with the child, and the lack of power and control over the fulfillment of the goal of having or completing a family.
Performance evaluation for multichannel reception of coherent MPSK over frequency selective fading channels

This paper provides a framework for error rate performance analysis of maximal ratio combining multichannel reception of coherent M-ary phase-shift keying (MPSK) systems over slowly fading channels. Each channel is described by a two-sided discrete model with correlated complex Gaussian taps based on bandlimiting an underlying WSSUS physical channel. The resulting "resolved channel" performance evaluation incorporates the inherent multipath resolution taking into account the fact that phase recovery operates on the resolved main path. The received phase-density function is developed. Conditional bit and symbol error probabilities are determined and the cases for which closed-form or acceptable numerical solutions exist are delineated. A new efficient and accurate recursive solution for the Ricean-fading main resolved path case is presented, which is applicable to both the flat and frequency selective cases. A progressive intersymbol interference (ISI) bound is discussed for the frequency selective case to minimize computation. Examples using the maritime high-data rate line-of-sight (LOS) channel model demonstrate the framework versatility and the ability to simultaneously investigate the important parameters in the frequency selective environment.
Evaluation of antibacterial and anthelmintic activities with total phenolic contents of Piper betel leaves

Objective: The study was conducted to investigate the antibacterial and anthelmintic activities and to determine total phenolic contents of methanolic extract of Piper betel leaves. Materials and Methods: The extract was subjected to assay for antibacterial activity using both gram positive and gram negative bacterial strains through disc diffusion method; anthelmintic activity with the determination of paralysis and death time using earthworm (Pheritima posthuma) at five different concentrations and the determination of total phenolic contents using the Folin-ciocalteau method. Results: The extract showed significant (p<0.01) zone of inhibitions against gram positive Staphylococcus aureus [(6.77±0.25) mm] and Gram negative Escherichia coli [(8.53±0.25) mm], Salmonella typhi [(5.20±0.26) mm], Shigella dysenteriae [(11.20±0.26) mm] compared to positive control Azithromycin (ranging from 20.10±0.17 to 25.20±0.35 mm) while no zone inhibitory activity was found for both the extract and the standard drug against Gram positive Bacillus cereus. The extract also showed potent anthelmintic activity requiring less time for paralysis and death compared to the standard drug albendazole (10 mg/ml). At concentrations 10, 20, 40, 60 and 80 mg/ml, leaves extract showed paralysis at mean time of 9.83±0.60, 8.50±0.29, 6.60±0.17, 6.20±0.44 and 4.16±0.60; death at 11.33±0.88, 9.67±0.33, 7.83±0.17, 7.16±0.60 and 5.16±0.72 minutes, respectively. Whereas the standard drug showed paralysis and death at 19.33±0.71 and 51.00±0.23 minutes respectively. The extract confirmed the higher concentration of phenolic contents (124.42±0.14 mg of GAE /g of extract) when screened for total phenolic compounds. Conclusion: As results confirmed potential antibacterial and anthelmintic activities of Piper betel leaves extract, therefore it may be processed for further drug research.
Solution of the Simultaneous Pose and Correspondence Problem Using Gaussian Error Model

The use of hypothesis verification is recurrent in the model-based recognition literature. Verification consists in measuring how many model features transformed by a pose coincide with some image features. When data involved in the computation of the pose are noisy, the pose is inaccurate and difficult to verify, especially when the objects are partially occluded. To address this problem, the noise in image features is modeled by a Gaussian distribution. A probabilistic framework allows the evaluation of the probability of a matching, knowing that the pose belongs to a rectangular volume of the pose space. It involves quadratic programming, if the transformation is affine. This matching probability is used in an algorithm computing the best pose. It consists in a recursive multiresolution exploration of the pose space, discarding outliers in the match data while the search is progressing. Numerous experimental results are described. They consist of 2D and 3D recognition experiments using the proposed algorithm.
Improving Women's Health in Pakistan

This report provides information on the health problems of Pakistani women, whose health and general welfare are among the lowest in the world, and identifies steps to address these problems. With increased and sustained effort, Pakistan has the potential to reduce its high maternal and child mortality levels and improve women's status. However, effective changes will require: a) strong government commitment and decentralized management; b) a shift from a top-down, physician-dominated system to a client-centered model; c) adoption of a reproductive health approach; d) clear goals and indicators, with monitoring and evaluation systems; e) participation of nongovernmental organizations, local communities, and women in planning and implementation; and f) emphasis on multisectoral linkages. The report discusses the recommended actions in the areas of family planning, maternal health, and reducing morbidity throughout the life cycle. As a basis of program planning, more information, in particular from qualitative research, is urgently needed.
An Econometric Analysis of the Aggregate Outbound Tourism Demand of Turkey

This study empirically examines aggregate tourism outflows in the case of Turkey using the time-series data for 1970–2005. As far as this article is concerned, there is no previous empirical work dealing with tourist outflows from Turkey. The previous tourism studies of Turkey have focused, by and large, on inbound tourism demand analyses. However, as a developing country and an important tourism destination, Turkey has also been a significant source for generating a substantial number of tourists in recent years. Therefore, the tourist outflows also merit empirical analysis. Total tourist outflows from Turkey are related to real income and relative prices. The bounds testing to cointegration procedure proposed by Pesaran et al (2001) is employed to compute the short- and long-run elasticities of income and relative prices. An augmented form of Granger causality analysis is conducted among the variables of outbound tourist flows, income and relative prices to determine the direction of causality. In the long run, causality runs interactively through the error correction term from income and relative prices to outbound tourist flows. However, in the short run, causality runs only from income to outbound tourism flows. The aggregate tourism outflows equation is also checked for the parameter stability via the tests of cumulative sum (CUSUM) and cumulative sum of the squares (CUSUMSQ). The results suggest that income is the most significant variable in explaining total tourist outflows from Turkey and there is a stable outbound tourism demand function. The results also lead to important policy recommendations.
Learning word embeddings from dependency relations

Continuous-space word representation has demonstrated its effectiveness in many natural language pro-cessing(NLP) tasks. The basic idea for embedding training is to update embedding matrix based on its context. However, such context has been constrained on fixed surrounding words, which we believe are not sufficient to represent the actual relations for given center word. In this work we extend previous approach by learning distributed representations from dependency structure of a sentence which can capture long distance relations. Such context can learn better semantics for words, which is proved on Semantic-Syntactic Word Relationship task. Besides, competitive result is also achieved for dependency embeddings on WordSim-353 task.
EYcacy of the Theory of Planned Behaviour: A meta-analytic review

The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) has received considerable attention in the literature. The present study is a quantitative integration and review of that research. From a database of 185 independent studies published up to the end of 1997, the TPB accounted for 27% and 39% of the variance in behaviour and intention, respectively. The perceived behavioural control (PBC) construct accounted for signi cant amounts of variance in intention and behaviour, independent of theory of reasoned action variables. When behaviour measures were self-reports, the TPB accounted for 11% more of the variance in behaviour than when behaviour measures were objective or observed (Rs = .31 and .21, respectively). Attitude, subjective norm and PBC account for signi cantly more of the variance in individuals’ desires than intentions or self-predictions, but intentions and self-predictions were better predictors of behaviour. The subjective norm construct is generally found to be a weak predictor of intentions. This is partly attributable to a combination of poor measurement and the need for expansion of the normative component. The discussion focuses on ways in which current TPB research can be taken forward in the light of the present review.
A Corpus Based Analysis of Noun Modification in Empirical Research Articles in Applied Linguistics

Previous research has established the importance of the nouns and noun modification in academic writing because of their commonness and complexity. However, little is known about how noun modification varies across the rhetorical sections of research articles. Such a perspective is important because it reflects the interplay between communicative function and linguistic form. This study used a corpus of empirical research articles from the fields of applied linguistics and language teaching to explore the connection between article sections (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion; IMRD) and six types of noun modification: relative clauses, ing-clause postmodifiers, ed-clause postmodifiers, prepositional postmodifiers, premodifying nouns, and attributive adjectives. First, the frequency of these six types of noun modification was compared across IMRD sections. Second, the study also used a hand coded analysis of the structure and structural patterns of a sample of noun phrases through IMRD sections. The results of the analyses showed that noun modification is not uniform across IMRD sections. Significant differences were found in the rates of use for attributive adjectives, premodifying nouns, and prepositional phrase postmodifiers. There were no significant differences between sections for relative clauses, ing-clause postmodifiers, or edclause postmodifiers. The differences between sections for attributive adjectives, premodifying nouns, and prepositional phrases illustrate the way the functions of these structures intersects with the functions of IMRD sections. For example, Methods sections describe research methods, which often have premodifying nouns (corpus analysis, conversation
Chapter 2 Targeted Marketing and Customer Search

This dissertation consists of two essays on tactical issues in retailing. The first essay compares the price sensitivity of private label and national brand products. A large-scale field experiment shows that private label demand is less price sensitive than national brand demand. The estimates from the experimental study are then compared with estimates using the same retailer's transaction history. This allows the evaluation of several methods for controlling for the endogeneity of prices in non-experimental studies. Measuring price sensitivity in the historical data without accounting for endogeneity performs poorly. Instrumental variables estimates with commodity prices as instruments and regression discontinuity estimates also differ from the experimental benchmark. However, estimates using wholesale prices as an instrument closely replicate the experimental estimates. These findings indicate that the wholesale price is an effective instrument for retail price. The second essay shows how targeted offers can affect customer search activity. It has become common practice for retailers to personalize direct marketing offers based on customer transaction histories. Targeted email offers featuring products similar to a customer's previous purchases generate higher response rates, but also have the potential to affect customer search behavior. A closely matched offer may encourage a customer to start the search process, leading to increased search activity. Alternatively, providing customers with closely matched offers may weaken their incentives to search beyond the targeted items. In a field experiment using email offers sent by an online wine retailer, targeted offers result in less search activity on the retailer's website. In a second study, transaction data from an online ticket exchange shows that, after receiving targeted offers, customers are less likely to broaden their purchasing to new genres. These findings indicate that targeted offers carry a hidden cost: a decrease in customer exploration and discovery. Thesis Supervisor: Duncan I. Simester Title: NTU Professor of Management Science
Social and Psychological Risk and Protective Factors for Veteran Well-Being: The Role of Veteran Identity and Its Implications for Intervention

Abstract Social psychological theory hypothesizes that one’s identity, self-definitions, and meanings used for a particular social role fosters individual purpose in life and affects behavior in specific social situations. As such, it can be protective against the onset of psychological disorders. We examined this hypothesis with data collected from 1,730 military veterans recruited to study the health effects of warzone deployments. The sample was primarily male, older, and White. Our key independent variable was a Likert scale rating the prominence of a respondent’s veteran identity: how important it is to the person. Outcome variables included posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicide ideation, depression, alcohol misuse, and use of VA services. Bivariate analysis suggested that veterans with a prominent veteran identity are older, noncollege graduates, have less income, and had their first deployment to Vietnam. In multivariate analyses, study participants with a prominent veteran identity were less likely to exhibit suicide ideation, but more likely to misuse alcohol and use VA services. We found no differences for PTSD, self-rated health, or depression by veteran identity. Veterans who scored higher on the veteran identity scale appeared to be protected from suicidal thoughts, although they had an elevated risk for alcohol misuse.
Willingness to pay for water in rural Punjab, Pakistan

The World Bank has been placing increasing emphasis on rural areas in its lending in the water sector. Considering all World Bank expenditures on water supply, the proportion of funds allocated to rural projects has increased from an average of 8 percent between 1974 and 1980 to an average of 14 percent from 1981 to 1985. However, a Bank review of projects in this sector concluded that overall performance was disappointing. The review suggested that technology per se did not appear to be a major problem. It was concluded that the design of rural water supply projects had been overly supply oriented and that crucial demand aspects had been neglected. In particular, it recommended an emphasis on understanding: (a) what people want; and (b) what they are willing to pay for. A research study was approved to find ways to improve the financial and economic performance of water sector projects by developing improved information on households' willingness to pay for upgraded services in rural areas. This document reports on the results obtained from this field study. The objectives of the study were to determine the following: (1) the willingness of households to pay for improved service levels; (2) the determinants of the willingness to pay for improved service levels; (3) the preferences of households regarding the management of water delivery systems; and (4) the appropriateness of the existing government policy on the provision of water in rural areas.
Physical and Motor Fitness, Sport Skills and Executive Function in Adolescents: A Moderated Prediction Model

Recent evidence suggests that fitness and sport expertise jointly benefit cognition and that expertise in cognitively demanding strategic sports enhances both domain-specific cognition and domain-general cognitive function, the executive. However, research focusing on whether physical and motor fitness and sport skill are independent determinants of executive function efficiency, or interact with each other is still lacking. The present study investigated this issue in adolescents. Four hundred and eleven boys and girls aged 12 to 15 years were recruited from Italian schools. They were tested for 1) physical fitness (cardiovascular fitness and muscle power); 2) motor control and perceptual-motor adaptation ability (kinaesthetic discrimination and response orientation ability); 3) core executive functions (inhibition and working memory updating); 4) game skills in team sport (decision making and support). While working memory updating was predicted only by physical fitness, inhibition was predicted by game skill, physical fitness and response orientation ability, and by the interaction of these latter ones. Fitness level significantly moderated the prediction accrued by response orientation ability, with inhibition predicted only in the presence of higher physical fitness. The present findings support the view that there are other pathways through which sport practice influences executive function beside the well-known physical fitness/executive function relationship. Alternatives include those linking executive function to the ability to perform coordinated movements in response to environmental cues and to the ability to perform cognitively challenging, strategic actions as needed in sport game situations. Also, the findings highlight that different executive functions are differently linked to physical fitness, motor fitness and sport proficiency.
Secondary contact and changes in coastal habitat availability influence the nonequilibrium population structure of a salmonid (Oncorhynchus keta)

Numerous empirical studies have reported lack of migration–drift equilibrium in wild populations. Determining the causes of nonequilibrium population structure is challenging because different evolutionary processes acting at a variety of spatiotemporal scales can produce similar patterns. Studies of contemporary populations in northern latitudes suggest that nonequilibrium population structure is probably caused by recent colonization of the region after the last Pleistocene ice age ended ~13 000 years ago. The chum salmon's (Oncorhynchus keta) range was fragmented by dramatic environmental changes during the Pleistocene. We investigated the population structure of chum salmon on the North Alaska Peninsula (NAP) and, using both empirical data and simulations, evaluated the effects of colonization timing and founder population heterogeneity on patterns of genetic differentiation. We screened 161 single nucleotide polymorphisms and found evidence of nonequilibrium population structure when the slope of the isolation‐by‐distance relationship was examined at incremental spatial scales. In addition, simulations suggested that this pattern closely matched models of recent colonization of the NAP by secondary contact. Our results agree with geological and archaeological data indicating that the NAP was a dynamic landscape that may have been more recently colonized than during the last deglaciation because of dramatic changes in coastal hydrology over the last several thousand years.