Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrical and electronic waste management in China: progress and the barriers to overcome

Serious adverse impacts on the environment and human health from e-waste recycling have occurred in the past and continue to occur in China today, due to a lack of national management strategies. China has made great efforts to face the challenges of the approaching peak increase in the domestic generation of e-waste and the illegal shipment of e-waste from other countries. This study examined recent progress and analysed the main problems associated with this issue in China. It was found that the material and the financial flows of e-waste in China had their own specific characteristics. Nearly 60% of the generated e-wastes were sold to private individual collectors and passed into informal recycling processes. More than 90% of Chinese citizens are reluctant to pay for the recycling of their e-waste. This is due to their traditional understanding that there remained value in these end-of-life products. Regulations concerning e-waste in China have been drafted but their deficiencies are obvious. The extended producer responsibilities (EPR) have been introduced but are not well defined. Eight formal facilities have been planned and are under construction or are in operation along the eastern coast of China but it will be difficult for them to compete with the informal processes for the reasons identified during the study.
Potent Inhibitors of Plasmodium Phospholipid Metabolism with a Broad Spectrum of In Vitro Antimalarial Activities

ABSTRACT We characterized the potent in vitro antimalarial activity and biologic assessment of 13 phospholipid polar head analogs on a comparative basis. There was a positive relationship between the abilities of the drugs to inhibit parasite growth in culture and their abilities to specifically inhibit phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes. Maximal activity of G25 was observed for the trophozoite stage of the 48-h erythrocytic cycle (50% inhibitory concentration, 0.75 nM), whereas the schizont and ring stages were 12- and 213-fold less susceptible. The compounds exerted a rapid nonreversible cytotoxic effect, with complete clearance of parasitemia after 5 h of contact with the mature stages. The compounds were highly specific against P. falciparum, with much lower toxicity against three other mammalian cell lines, and the in vitro therapeutic indices ranged from 300 to 2,500,000. Finally, the monoquaternary ammonium E10 and two bis-ammonium salts, G5 and G25, were similarly active against multiresistant strains and fresh isolates of P. falciparum. This impressive selective in vitro toxicity against P. falciparum strongly highlights the clinical potential of these quaternary ammonium salts for malarial chemotherapy.
Existence of an information unit as a postulate of quantum theory

Significance Despite the enormous success of quantum theory, its significance and meaning are still being debated. In particular, the standard postulates of quantum theory are abstract mathematical statements in terms of complex vectors, self-adjoint operators, etc., and as such they lack a clear physical interpretation. For this reason, it is difficult to assess what they say about the structure of the physical world. In this article, we prove that quantum theory can be formulated through four very simple postulates, each having a direct physical and intuitive meaning. Also, our postulates unveil some connections between physics and information that remain hidden in the standard postulates, thus supporting Wheeler’s hypothesis “it from bit. ” Does information play a significant role in the foundations of physics? Information is the abstraction that allows us to refer to the states of systems when we choose to ignore the systems themselves. This is only possible in very particular frameworks, like in classical or quantum theory, or more generally, whenever there exists an information unit such that the state of any system can be reversibly encoded in a sufficient number of such units. In this work, we show how the abstract formalism of quantum theory can be deduced solely from the existence of an information unit with suitable properties, together with two further natural assumptions: the continuity and reversibility of dynamics, and the possibility of characterizing the state of a composite system by local measurements. This constitutes a set of postulates for quantum theory with a simple and direct physical meaning, like the ones of special relativity or thermodynamics, and it articulates a strong connection between physics and information.
When the Care Ends: Emotional State of Spanish Bereaved Caregivers of Persons with Dementia

Abstract Several researchers have found that caring for relatives with dementia has negative consequences on the caregiver’s physical and emotional health during the caregiving period. However, less attention has been paid to caregiver´s emotional state after the patient´s death. The aims of this study are 1) to evaluate the emotional state of the Spanish former caregivers after the care recipient death, and 2) to analyze the patient’s death circumstances and their influence in the current emotional state of caregivers. The sample was composed of 50 former caregivers of relatives diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The dependent variables were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory and the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief. Most of the caregivers did not develop a complicated grief or depressive symptoms. However, caregivers are not uniform in their responses to bereavement. Specifically, grief was higher in spouses than in adult child, even after controlling the effect of gender and age. Furthermore, this study provides first evidence of the positive relationship between saying good-bye to the patient and caregivers’ emotional status.
An Investigation of the Predictors and Outcomes of Career Commitment in Three Career Stages

This paper investigated the predictors and outcomes of career commitment in three career stages among a sample of managerial and professional employees (N = 396) in Singapore. The findings revealed some support for the model. As predicted, expected utility of present job and job characteristics was significant across career stages. The analyses that examined the moderating effect of career stage on the predictors of career commitment revealed career satisfaction to be significant in the stabilization stage and organizational commitment in the maintenance stage. However, supervisor support was only marginally significant in the trial stage. Career commitment showed a significant positive relation with skill development and a significant negative relation with career withdrawal intentions across career stages. Limitations of the study, implications of the findings, and directions for future studies are discussed.
Spanish primary school students' knowledge of invasion games

Background: Games represent a very important part of the physical education curriculum and the process by which they are learnt is very complex. Constructive teaching theories highlight the existence of knowledge prior to instruction that the pupil actively transforms through verbalisation and interaction with classmates. The results of research studies conducted from the learning perspective reveal wide variations in the knowledge possessed by students, their understanding of the game and motor skills, and the broad range of tactical solutions in a single game situation in accordance with their knowledge of the specific domain. In general terms, most participants in research studies on prior knowledge and the specific domain knowledge have basic knowledge, the level of which is closer to beginners, as well as difficulty in making decisions based on a prior assessment of the game context. Purpose: The aim of this research study is to gauge the declarative and procedural knowledge of the students as well as their performance in a modified invasion game. Participants and setting: A total of 27 fourth-year primary-school students (19 boys and eight girls aged 9–10 years) from an intact group at one public school took part in the study. Research design: A descriptive design was used to measure tactical knowledge and performance in an invasion game. Data collection: Students performed an invasion games knowledge test and were then divided into teams with a similar level of invasion game knowledge for 3 on 3 play in a modified invasion game which was videotaped. Six of the students (three boys and three girls) were then interviewed in order to gauge their invasion games knowledge. As soccer is the most widely played invasion game in Spain, it was used in video sequences as the invasion games content to analyse student's knowledge. Data analysis: Repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to analyse differences in variables. Results obtained from the interview were descriptively analysed. Findings: At initial stages of games learning, students had difficulties in using their tactical knowledge in game play. Game performance was higher when students advance on goal than when students kept possession of the ball. No correlation was observed between the knowledge possessed by students and the correct decisions made in relation to the technical/tactical aspects of the game. Conclusions and implications: The results reveal that fourth-year primary-school students attending PE classes have a prior knowledge of invasion games. Determining tactical knowledge and performance by means of a modified invasion game is important in implementing quality games-teaching programmes for schoolchildren. Linking tactical knowledge and performance to the game contexts that students have to resolve is thus an efficient way of investigating and identifying knowledge of the specific domain and students' previous sporting experiences.
Racializing the Nonnative English Speaker

This article identifies some discursive processes by which White, middle-class, native-English-speaking, U.S.-born college students draw on a monolingualist ideology and position themselves and others within a language–race–nationality matrix. These processes construct the speakers' Whiteness and nativeness in English as unmarked and normal; mark nonnative speakers of English as non-White and foreign; and naturalize connections between language, national origin, and race. I argue that dominant ways of talking about race in the United States persist as templates for creating arguments about language. Ideological models are projected onto each other, recursively reproducing a hierarchical social order in which U.S.-born citizens, native English speakers, and Caucasians retain a privilege widely perceived to be a natural outcome of certain characteristics thought to be intrinsic to American-ness, nativeness (in English), or Whiteness.
A Developmental Model for Determining Whether the Treatment is Actually Implemented

Determining whether or not the treatment or innovation under study is actually in use, and if so, how it is being used, is essential to the interpretation of any study. The concept of Levels of Use of the Innovation (LoU) permits an operational, cost-feasible description and documentation of whether or not an innovation or treatment is being implemented. Data from change research and evaluation studies indicate that there are eight different LoU’s that can be reliably measured. Knowing the LoU of individuals within a research or evaluation sample can avoid holding false assumptions and making misleading interpretations about the user/nonuser and the effects of the treatment or innovation under study.
Real-Time Humans Detection in Urban Scenes

We address the issue of real-time pedestrians detection in a urban environment. This is a challenging task owing to the high variability of appearances and poses that humans can have and to the complexity of backgrounds. We propose a solution made of gradient-based local descriptors combined to form strong classifiers and organized in a cascaded detector. We developed for this an extension of the Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOGs) and added a new component to the histogram which represents the strength of edges or the amount of information in the histogram support. We also implemented a learning algorithm based on Real Adaboost where two phases – selection first, then refinement of weights – provide more robustness to the detector. We evaluated our system by comparing it to the cascaded detector of Haar features of Viola & Jones [7] and to the SVM of HOGs features of Dalal & Triggs [1]. To ensure an equitable and valid comparison, we used the database proposed in [1]. Our system outperforms them in detection results and in time needs.
Civil War in Syria: the psychological effects on journalists

Purpose – More journalists died in Syria during 2013 than in any other country experiencing conflict. This statistic raises concerns about the psychological wellbeing of journalists covering the internecine violence. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – The study sample was made up of 59 western journalists currently covering the Syrian conflict. To place these results in the broader context of war journalism previously collected data from a group of 84 journalists who had reported the war in Iraq were used as a control sample. Outcome measures included indices of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Impact of Event Scale-revised) and psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire-28 item version (GHQ-28)). Findings – Compared to journalists who covered the Iraq war, the journalists working in Syria were more likely to be female (p=0.007), single (p=0.018), freelance (p=0.0001) and had worked fewer years as a journalist (p=0.012). They were more depressed according to.
[A sixteen-year epidemiological profile of a pediatric intensive care unit, Brazil].

OBJECTIVE To review epidemiological data from patients admitted to a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Brazil, and to compare them to medical aspects associated to disease severity and mortality. Also, to profile these patients, including demographic data, disease prevalence, mortality rates and associated factors. METHODS Retrospective data were collected from all patients admitted in a PICU of a university hospital between 1978 and 1994. Data were presented as percentages and compared using Chi-square, and calculating the relative risk (RR) with a 95% confidence interval, p<0.05. RESULTS Of 13, 101 patients selected, most of them were boys (58.4%), younger than 12 months of age (40.4%), well-nourished (69.5%), and with clinical disease (73.1%). The general mortality rate was 7.4%. Patients aged less than 12 months showed a RR of 1.86 (CI 1.65 - 2.10; p<0.0001), while the RR of malnutrition was 2.98 (CI 2.64 - 3.36; p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS The epidemiological survey showed that the mortality is higher in malnourished children younger than 12 months of age. Sepsis was the most main cause of death.
A Neoclassical Model of Financially Constrained Stock Returns

We augment the q-theoretical model of optimal investment with financial constraints to analyze their effects on risk and expected returns. We find that financial constraints reduce firm value and investment rate, and that the adverse effects are more important for small firms and firms in relative distress. Strikingly, we also find that constrained firms are less risky and earn lower expected returns than unconstrained firms, and that financial constraints are more binding in good times. Our model can potentially resolve the anomalies regarding the empirical relations among financial constraints, business cycles, and expected returns. Department of Economics at the University of Rochester, email: hsap@troi.cc. rochester.edu. Corresponding author, William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester, tel: (585)275-3491, fax: (585)273-1140, email: zhanglu@simon.rochester.edu. We gratefully acknowledge helpful comments from Jackson Dang and Joao Gomes. All remaining errors are our own.
Polynomials non-negative on a strip

We prove that if f (x, y) is a polynomial with real coefficients which is non-negative on the strip [0, 1] x ℝ, then f(x,y) has a presentation of the form k f(x,y) = Σg i (x,y) 2 + Σh j (x,y) 2 x (1 ― x), i=1 j=1 where the g i (x,y) and h j (x, y) are polynomials with real coefficients.
Herd-level animal management factors associated with the occurrence of bovine neonatal pancytopenia in calves in a multi-country study

Since 2007, mortality associated with a previously unreported haemorrhagic disease has been observed in young calves in several European countries. The syndrome, which has been named ‘bovine neonatal pancytopenia’ (BNP), is characterised by thrombocytopenia, leukocytopenia and a panmyelophthisis. A herd-level case-control study was conducted in four BNP affected countries (Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands) to identify herd management risk factors for BNP occurrence. Data were collected using structured face-to-face and telephone interviews of farm managers and their local veterinarians. In total, 363 case farms and 887 control farms were included in a matched multivariable conditional logistic regression analysis. Case-control status was strongly associated with the odds of herd level use of the vaccine PregSure® BVD (PregSure, Pfizer Animal Health) (matched adjusted odds ratio (OR) 107.2; 95% CI: 41.0–280.1). This was also the case for the practices of feeding calves colostrum from the calf’s own dam (OR 2.0; 95% CI: 1.1–3.4) or feeding pooled colostrum (OR 4.1; 95% CI: 1.9–8.8). Given that the study had relatively high statistical power and represented a variety of cattle production and husbandry systems, it can be concluded with some confidence that no other herd level management factors are competent causes for a sufficient cause of BNP occurrence on herd level. It is suggested that genetic characteristics of the dams and BNP calves should be the focus of further investigations aimed at identifying the currently missing component causes that together with PregSure vaccination and colostrum feeding represent a sufficient cause for occurrence of BNP in calves.
Offering Preservice Teachers Field Experiences in K-12 Online Learning

Enrollment in K-12 online learning is growing at an exponential rate throughout the United States. Currently, all 50 states offer K-12 online learning opportunities. Some states such as Michigan, Alabama, New Mexico, and Idaho have passed legislative measures requiring K-12 students to complete at least one online learning experience by the time they graduate high school. Because of this growth, 21st century educators need to be prepared to teach online. This study shares the results of a national survey targeting teacher education programs’ efforts to help prepare preservice teachers for K-12 online learning. Data show that only 1.3% of responding teacher education programs are addressing this need via field experiences in virtual schools. Implications for policy and practice in the field of teacher education are examined.
Relationship between emergent literacy and early social–emotional development in preschool children from low-income backgrounds

Sixty-one preschool children and their parents and teachers participated in a cross-sectional study of the social–emotional correlates of emergent literacy skills. The children's emergent literacy skills were assessed with the standard language and literacy tests: Expressive Vocabulary Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (third edition), and Test of Early Reading Ability (third edition). These tests measure oral language (expressive language and receptive language) and print awareness. The children's positive and negative behaviours were measured by the standard behaviour rating scales: the Behavior Assessment System for Children (second edition) and the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment. These behaviours are grouped into four subcategories, namely, externalising behaviour, internalising behaviour, approaches to learning, and interpersonal skills. Results showed a wide range of significant associations between the components of emergent literacy and social–emotional development. Age and sex were found to moderate these significant correlations in different ways. Implications for educational practitioners and suggestions for future research are discussed.
The rate commitment to ISO 214 standard among the persian abstracts of approved research projects at school of health management and medical informatics, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Introduction: Commitment to abstracting standards has a very significant role in information retrieval. The present research aimed to evaluate the rate of Commitment to ISO 214 Standard among the Persian abstracts of approved research projects at School of Health Management and Medical Informatics, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study used a researcher-made checklist to collect data, which was then analyzed through content analysis. The studied population consisted of 227 approved research projects in the School of Health Management and Medical Informatics, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences during 2001-2010. The validity of the checklist was measured by face and content validity. Data was collected through direct observations. Statistical analyzes including descriptive (frequency distribution and percent) and inferential statistics (Chi-square test) were performed in SPSS-16. Results: The highest and lowest commitment rates to ISO 214 standard were in using third person pronouns (100%) and using active verbs (34/4%), respectively. In addition, the highest commitment rates to ISO 214 standard (100%) related to mentioning third person pronouns, starting the abstract with a sentence to explain the subject of the research, abstract placement, and including keyword in 2009. On the other hand, during 2001-2003, the lowest commitment rate was observed in reporting research findings (16/7%). Moreover, various educational groups differed significantly only in commitment to study goals, providing research findings, and abstaining from using abbreviations, signs, and acronyms. Furthermore, educational level of the corresponding author was significantly related with extracting the keywords from the text. Other factors of ISO 214 standard did not have significant relations with the educational level of the corresponding author. Conclusions: In general, a desirable rate of commitment to ISO 214 standard was observed among the Persian abstracts of approved research projects at the School of Health Management and Medical Informatics of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. However, commitment rates differed between years. In addition, commitment to ISO 214 standard was not significantly related with educational group and level.
Economic Nonlinear Model Predictive Control

In recent years, Economic Model Predictive Control (empc) has received considerable attention of many research groups. The present tutorial survey summarizes state-of-the-art approaches in empc. In this context empc is to be understood as receding-horizon optimal control with a stage cost that does not simply penalize the distance to a desired equilibrium but encodes more sophisticated economic objectives. This survey provides a comprehensive overview of empc stability results: with and without terminal constraints, with and without dissipativtiy assumptions, with averaged constraints, formulations with multiple objectives and generalized terminal constraints as well as Lyapunov-based approaches. Moreover, we compare different performance criteria for some of the considered approaches and comment on the connections to recent research on dissipativity of optimal control problems. We consider a discrete-time setting and point towards continuous-time variants. We illustrate the different empc schemes with several examples.