Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation study design – a pluralist approach to evidence

ABSTRACT There is significant controversy over what counts as evidence in the evaluation of social interventions. It is increasingly common to use methodological criteria to rank evidence types in a hierarchy, with Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) at or near the highest level. Because of numerous challenges to a hierarchical approach, this article offers a Matrix (or typology) of evaluation evidence, which is justified by the following two lines of argument. First, a pluralist approach to evidence is defended. Starting from the principle of methodological aptness, it is argued that different types of research question are best answered by different types of study. This article will address some of the key issues in the debate on RCTs (the ethical principles of duty of care and social utility, the role of random allocation, and threats to internal validity) in respect of which two opposing paradigms provide irreconcilable arguments, namely the position that RCTs are the ‘gold standard’ and the opposing position that RCTs are often if not always inappropriate in social settings. The second line of argument is that evaluations often require both experimental and non-experimental research in tandem. In a pluralist approach, non-causal evidence is seen as a vital component in order to evaluate interventions in mixed methods studies (as part of evidence-based practice [EBP]) and also is important for good practice itself (as part of practice-based evidence [PBE]). The article concludes by providing a detailed description of what an Evaluation Evidence Matrix can and cannot do.
Mechanical Properties of Fabrics Made from Cotton and Biodegradable Yarns Bamboo, SPF, PLA in Weft

Life standard is nowadays getting higher. The demands of people in all areas are increasing, as well as the requirements regarding new textile materials with new or improved properties which are important for the required higher comfort or industrial use. The environmental requirements when developing new fibres are nowadays higher than before and the classical petroleum-based synthetic fibres do not meet the criteria, since they are ecologically unfriendly. Even petroleum as the primary resource material is not in abundance. The classical artificial fibres, e.g. polypropylene, polyacrylic, polyester etc, are hazardous to the environment. The main problems with synthetic polymers are that they are non-degradable and non-renewable. Since their invention, the use of these synthetic fibres has increased oil consumption significantly, and continues even today. It is evidenced that polyester is nowadays most frequently used among all fibres, taking over from cotton. Oil and petroleum are non-renewable (non-sustainable) resources and at the current rate of consumption, these fossil fuels are only expected to last for another 50–60 years; the current petroleum consumption rate is estimated to be 100,000 times the natural generation rate (Blackburn, 2005). Environmental trends are more inclined to the development of biodegradable fibres, which are environment-friendly. A material is defined as biodegradable if it can be broken into simpler substances (elements and compounds) by naturally occurring decomposers – essentially, anything that can be ingested by an organism without harming the organism. It is also necessary that it is non-toxic and decomposable in a relatively shot period on a human time scale (Blackburn, 2005). The biodegradability of fibres also depends on their chemical structure, molecular weight and super-molecular structure. Biodegradable polymers can be classified into three main groups, i.e.: • natural polysaccharides and biopolymers (cellulose, alginates, wool, silk, chitin, soya bean protein), • synthetic polymers, esp. aliphatic polyesters (poly (lactic acid), poly (e-caprolactone)), and • polyesters produced by microorganisms (poly (hydroxyalkanoate)s) (Blackburn, 2005). All known natural fibres are biodegradable; however, they have some disadvantages in the growing up and production processes. At growing cotton and other vegetable fibres, large amounts of pesticides are used which has a negative influence on the environment.
A REVIEW of the research

As with the information technologies that have preceded it, Web technology is faced with many of the same issues of accessibility and usability. Paraphrasing the definition supplied by the ISO [1], Web usability is the efficient, effective and satisfying completion of a specified task by any given Web user. Support of essential user tasks made possible by Web technology serves is the benchmark of its usability. With this definition in mind, a brief review of available empirical research on Web usability was carried out to determine what is known about the factors that might affect Web usability. This review is not intended to be exhaustive nor is it intended as a review of the many design alternatives and suggestions that have been proposed for improving Web use. The primary purpose of this review is to identify Web-specific usability research and to provide some suggestions for future research. Tasks Any description of the usability of a system must begin with the essential tasks that the system is intended to support. Essential user tasks for Web technology include 1) finding desired information by direct search or discovering new information by browsing 2) comprehending the information presented, which includes subtasks such as reading and image processing and 3) a wide variety of specialized tasks specific to certain Web sites, such as the ordering and down-loading of products, or other tasks which may require users to execute specific procedures. System Variables System variables will affect the usability of any system design and the Web is no exception. System variables include factors such as Internet transmission speed, visual display device capabilities such as spatial resolution and color, and capabilities and limitations of user input devices. User Characteristics With Web technology now accessible to millions of users, the characteristics of Web user population runs the gamut of age, skills and knowledge, and physical and mental capabilities. The candidate user characteristics which might affect Web usability are likely to be 1) the extent of user computer and Web experience and knowledge, 2) age and disability-related limitations in memory and vision 3) reading ability level and 4) motivational factors. Searching the Web The most immediate task Web users frequently face is finding desired information in a veritable ocean of unwanted information. Indexing sites (e.g., Yahoo) and search engines remain the primary starting points for most information searches. While novices may favor indexed sites over search engines [2], search …
IMPACT OF CAPITAL STRUCTURE ON THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF NIGERIAN FIRMS

This paper examines the impact of capital structure on financial performance of Nigerian firms using a sample of thirty non-financial firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange during the seven year period, 2004 - 2010. Panel data for the selected firms were generated and analyzed using ordinary least squares (OLS) as a method of estimation. The result shows that a firm's capita structure surrogated by Debt Ratio, Dr has a significantly negative impact on the firm's financial measures (Return on Asset, ROA, and Return on Equity, ROE). The study of these findings, indicate consistency with prior empirical studies and provide evidence in support of Agency cost theory.
How Public Health Nurses Identify and Intervene in Child Maltreatment Based on the National Clinical Guideline

Objectives. To describe how Finnish public health nurses identify and intervene in child maltreatment and how they implement the National Clinical Guideline in their work. Design and Sample. Cross-sectional survey of 367 public health nurses in Finland. Measures. A web-based questionnaire developed based on the content areas of the guideline: identifying, intervening, and implementing. Results. The respondents reported they identify child maltreatment moderately (mean 3.38), intervene in it better (4.15), and implement the guideline moderately (3.43, scale between 1 and 6). Those with experience of working with maltreated children reported they identify them better (P < 0.001), intervene better (P < 0.001), and implement the guideline better (P < 0.001) than those with no experience. This difference was also found for those who were aware of the guideline, had read it, and participated in training on child maltreatment, as compared to those who were not aware of the guideline, had not read it, or had not participated in such training. Conclusions. The public health nurses worked quite well with children who had experienced maltreatment and families. However, the results point out several developmental targets for increasing training on child maltreatment, for devising recommendations for child maltreatment, and for applying these recommendations systematically in practice.
Number of Illnesses, Self-perceived Health, and Depressive Symptoms: The Moderating Role of Employment in Older Adulthood and Old Age

Objectives: This article explores the mediating role of self-perceived health in the relationship between objective health status (defined as the number of illnesses) and depressive symptoms. It also examines the moderating role of employment versus retirement in the relationship between health status and self-perceived health and between self-perceived health and depressive symptoms. Method: The moderated mediation model was tested using the Israeli SHARE database of employed and retired older adults ( N = 1,574). Regressions and bootstrapping analyses were used to test the moderated mediation model. Results: The relationship between the number of illnesses and depressive symptoms was mediated by self-perceived health and was moderated by employment. Employment moderated the relationship between the number of illnesses and self-perceived health, such that the relationship was stronger for employees. Employment also moderated the relationship between self-perceived health and depressive symptoms, such that the relationship was weaker for employees. Conclusion: The article portrays interesting patterns, adding to the ongoing debate regarding the relationship between older adults’ employment and health. While employment strengthens the association between objective health and self-perceived health, it weakens the association between self-perceived health and depression.
New pharmacokinetic in vitro model for studies of antibiotic activity against intracellular microorganisms

The capacity for intracellular growth is an important survival strategy for a large group of common pathogens. Helicobacter pylori, the etiological agent for gastritis and duodenal ulcer, has been shown by both in vivo and in vitro studies to have the capacity to invade epithelial cells. In vitro models are used to study the effect of antibiotics on microoganisms. Most investigations are performed in broth culture or on agar plates, but kinetic models for bacteria in broth have been described. We present a new, kinetic model adapted for intracellular pathogens. A glass chamber, with a metal rack fitting Falcon cell culture inserts, was connected to a pump by rubber tubes. Different tube diameters and pump speeds were evaluated, and the assay was designed to mimic the half-lives of the antibiotics in vivo, i.e., 11.5 h for azithromycin, 5 h for clarithromycin, and 1 h for amoxicillin. Monolayers of HEp-2 cells were grown in the inserts for 2 days, after which H. pylori (clinical strain 88-23), was added to the system. Internalization was allowed for 12 h, and extracellular H. pylori cells were eradicated with gentamicin. The inserts were moved to the glass chamber, containing medium with 12.5 mg of either amoxicillin or azithromycin per liter or 2.4 mg of clarithromycin per liter. This represents 12.5, 50, and 80 times the extracellular minimum bactericidal concentration value, respectively. Samples were taken at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 24 h. The HEp-2 cells were lysed, and intracellular bacteria were counted by plating. Inserts with infected cells grown in drug-free medium were included as controls for each time interval. A 3-log10 reduction of H. pylori was achieved in the experiments with azithromycin, and a 4-log10 reduction was achieved in the clarithromycin experiments, while no intracellular effect was seen when amoxicillin was used. The antibiotic concentrations at the sampling intervals were 12.5, 3.1, 0.8, 0.2, 0.05, and 0 mg/liter for amoxicillin; 12.5, 11.5, 10, 9, 8, and 3 mg/liter for azithromycin; and 2.4, 1.8, 1.4, 1, 0.8, and 0 mg/liter for clarithromycin. This new model for pharmacokinetic studies provides a useful tool, with applications for a broad range of microorganisms.
Political Education: Relevance of the humanities

This paper gives an account of the 'political understanding' of education, that is, the relationship of power and authority between government, teacher, parent and pupil. This political context of education is usually neglected in accounts of political education, and yet the one affects the other, especially where political education, more broadly conceived, is concerned with controversial areas of social life, which is a central concern of the humanities.
IMPaKT: A Framework for Linking Knowledge Management to Business Performance

A number of organisations have recognised the importance of managing their organisation knowledge in a more structured manner. However, the question arises as to how to evaluate the benefits of a Knowledge Management (KM) strategy and its associated initiatives on the performance of the organisation. This paper presents a framework for the assessment of the likely impact of KM and discusses findings from an evaluation workshop held to critique the framework.
Prevalence and risk factors associated with chronic kidney disease in an adult population from southern China.

BACKGROUND Population-based studies evaluating the prevalence of kidney damage in different communities have been limited in developing countries. We conducted a population-based screening study in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou that aimed to identify the prevalence and associated risk factors of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in southern Chinese populations. METHODS We interviewed 6311 residents (>20 years) from six districts of Guangzhou from July 2006 to June 2007 and tested for haematuria, albuminuria and reduced renal function. Associations between age, gender, smoking, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperuricaemia and kidney damage were examined. RESULTS There were 6311 subjects enrolled in this study. After adjustment for age and gender, the prevalence of albuminuria, haematuria and reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 6.6% [95% confidence interval (CI): 5.5-7.6%], 3.8% (95% CI: 3.4%, 4.3%) and 3.2% (95% CI: 2.4%, 3.3%), respectively. Approximately 12.1% (95% CI: 11.3%, 12.9%) of the sample population had at least one indicator of kidney damage. Age, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, central obesity, hyperlipidaemia and use of nephrotoxic medications were independently associated with albuminuria; hyperuricaemia, age, gender, hypertension and use of nephrotoxic medications were independently associated with reduced eGFR, and female gender was independently associated with haematuria. CONCLUSIONS In the general adult population from southern China, 12.1% has either proteinuria, haematuria and/or reduced eGFR, indicating the presence of kidney damage, with an awareness of only 9.6%. The high prevalence and low awareness of CKD in this population suggest an urgent need for CKD prevention programmes in China.
Importance of Hypertension and Social Isolation in Causing Sleep Disruption in Dementia

This study aimed to determine the effects of diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HT), heart disease, social isolation, and sociodemographic factors on sleep in the elderly patients with dementia. Samples included 1210 noninstitutionalized, Malaysian elderly patients with dementia. The multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to estimate the risk of sleep disturbances among respondents. Approximately 41% of the patients experienced sleep problems. The results showed that age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.02), social isolation (OR = 1.33), and HT (OR = 1.53) significantly increased sleep disruption in respondents (P <.05). Furthermore, education (OR =.63) and non-Malay ethnicity (OR = 0.63) significantly decreased sleep problems (P <.05). It was found that DM, heart disease, sex differences, and marital status were not significant predictors of sleep disturbances (P >.05). It was concluded that age, social isolation, and HT increased sleep disruption but education and ethnic non-Malay reduced the risk of sleep problems. Moreover, HT was the most important variable to increase sleep disturbances in the elderly patients with dementia.
COMPARISON OF ADJUVANT THERAPIES BY AN H2‐RECEPTOR ANTAGONIST AND A PROTON PUMP INHIBITOR AFTER ENDOSCOPIC TREATMENT IN HEMOSTATIC MANAGEMENT OF BLEEDING GASTRODUODENAL ULCERS

Aim: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is often associated with a higher risk of serious blood loss. Both H2‐receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors are commonly given intravenously for endoscopic hemostatic therapies. We compared the effects of a H2‐receptor antagonist (famotidine) and a proton pump inhibitor (omeprazole) injected during the early phase (the first 3 days) on cessation of bleeding and prevention of its recurrence in patients who underwent endoscopic therapy for gastroduodenal ulcer bleeding.
Deliberation 2.0: Comparing the Deliberative Quality of Online News User Comments Across Platforms

As news organizations look toward social networking sites as a way to expand their audience, the present article explores how this trend might impact discussion among users of political news content. A content analysis of user comments left by readers of the Washington Post suggests that when it comes to discussing political news, there are significant differences in the deliberative quality of those who access the news directly through the news organization's Web site and those who access the same news via Facebook. In short, comments left by Web site users exhibited greater deliberative quality than those left by Facebook users.
Building real-time groupware with GroupKit, a groupware toolkit

This article presents an overview of GroupKit, a groupware toolkit that lets developers build applications for synchronous and distributed computer-based conferencing. GroupKit was constructed from our belief that programming groupware should be only slightly harder than building functionally similar single-user systems. We have been able to significantly reduce the implementation complexity of groupware through the key features that comprise GroupKit. A runtime infrastructure automatically manages the creation, interconnection, and communications of the distributed processes that comprise conference sessions. A set of groupware programming abstractions allows developers to control the behavior of distributed processes, to take action on state changes, and to share relevant data. Groupware widgets let interface features of value to conference participants to be easily added to groupware applications. Session managers—interfaces that let people create and manage their meetings—are decoupled from groupware applications and are built by developers to accommodate the group's working style. Example GroupKit applications in a variety of domains have been implemented with only modest effort.
Down-regulation of Porins by a Small RNA Bypasses the Essentiality of the Regulated Intramembrane Proteolysis Protease RseP in Escherichia coli*

Adaptation to extracytoplasmic stress in Escherichia coli depends on the activation of σE, normally sequestered by the membrane protein RseA. σE is released in response to stress through the successive RseA cleavage by DegS and the RIP protease RseP. σE and proteases that free it from RseA are essential. We isolated a multicopy suppressor that alleviated RseP and DegS requirement. The suppressor encodes a novel small RNA, RseX. Its activity required the RNA-binding protein Hfq. We used the property that small RNAs are often involved in RNA-RNA interactions to capture RseX putative partners; ompA and ompC mRNA, which encode two major outer membrane proteins, were identified. RseX activity was shown to confer an Hfq-dependent coordinate OmpA and OmpC down-regulation. Because RseP is shown to be no longer essential in a strain lacking OmpA and OmpC, we conclude that RseP, which is required for normal σE activation, prevents toxicity due to the presence of two specific outer membrane proteins that are down-regulated by RseX.
Regional Myocyte Size in Normotensive and Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

SUMMARY Regional differences in cell size in the hearts of rats with and without cardiac hypertrophy were studied using isolated muscle cells. Isolated cardiac myocytes were prepared from left ventricular free wall inner and outer halves and the right ventricle of six male 12-week-old spontaneously hypertensive (SHR), Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and Fischer-344 rats. In SHR, blood pressure was increased to 188 ± 4 (SEM) mm Hg versus 143 ± 2 and 133 ± 10 for WKY and Fischer rats, respectively (p < 0.001). Total heart weight was increased to 1103 ± 29 mg in SHR compared to 824 ± 21 in WKY and 951 ± 23 in Fischer rats (p < 0.001). Isolated cardiac myocytes were prepared by perfusion of isolated hearts with Ca++ free Hanks' solution containing EGTA followed by collagenase-containing media. Mean length, width and volume of 150 cells stained with hematoxylin and eosin from each site were measured with a sonic digitizer. Two nuclei were present in 85 to 87% of isolated cells from all strains and regions. There was no difference among strains in right ventricular cell length, width, or volume, nor between left ventricular inner and outer halves within each strain. Left ventricular cells were larger than right ventricular cells (p < 0.05) in all strains. Left ventricular cells of SHR were larger than left ventricular cells of WKY or Fischer rats in proportion to the increase in total heart weight, indicating that cardiac enlargement in SHR is due to increased cell size rather than increased cell number.
Didymin Alleviates Hepatic Fibrosis Through Inhibiting ERK and PI3K/Akt Pathways via Regulation of Raf Kinase Inhibitor Protein

Background: Didymin has been reported to have anti-cancer potential. However, the effect of didymin on liver fibrosis remains illdefined. Methods: Hepatic fibrosis was induced by CCl4 in rats. The effects of didymin on liver pathology and collagen accumulation were observed by hematoxylin-eosin and Masson's trichrome staining, respectively. Serum transaminases activities and collagen-related indicators levels were determined by commercially available kits. Moreover, the effects of didymin on hepatic stellate cell apoptosis and cell cycle were analyzed by flow cytometry. Mitochondrial membrane potential was detected by using rhodamine-123 dye. The expression of Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) and the phosphorylation of the ERK/MAPK and PI3K/Akt pathways were assessed by Western blot. Results: Didymin significantly ameliorated chronic liver injury and collagen deposition. It strongly inhibited hepatic stellate cells proliferation, induced apoptosis and caused cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase. Moreover, didymin notably attenuated mitochondrial membrane potential, accompanied by release of cytochrome C. Didymin significantly inhibited the ERK/MAPK and PI3K/Akt pathways. The effects of didymin on the collagen accumulation in rats and on the biological behaviors of hepatic stellate cells were largely abolished by the specific RKIP inhibitor locostatin. Conclusion: Didymin alleviates hepatic fibrosis by inhibiting ERK/MAPK and PI3K/Akt pathways via regulation of RKIP expression.