Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Improved LSTM-based Method Capturing Temporal Correlations and Using Attention Mechanism for Radar Echo Extrapolation

Precipitation nowcasting has always been a hot topic in the field of meteorology, its main task is to forecast the possible future precipitation events of a certain region in the short term, which plays a key role in people's daily lives, such as work arrangements, travel planning. At present, precipitation nowcasting is mainly based on radar echo extrapolation. So, the accuracy of extrapolated radar echo maps is related to whether the weather forecaster can successfully predict the possible severe weather events. Recently, deep neural networks have been widely used in radar echo extrapolation tasks as an attempt to improve the accuracy of extrapolated echo maps. Compared with traditional radar echo extrapolation methods, which are data-driven and have less limitations compared with centroid tracking-based methods and other traditional radar echo extrapolation methods. However, these existing methods only use convolution or gated structure in LSTM to capture and store features, thus failing to fully utilize the information in the maps, which may lead to the underestimation of the echo intensity. To address the problem, this paper proposes a new designed recurrent unit called TA-ConvLSTM, which improves the model's ability to capture the variation features of radar echoes by adding a temporal correlation extraction module and using an attention mechanism. The comparative experiment results show the extrapolation performance of the proposed method, outperforming some representative models in previous work.
RUNNING AWAY FROM CHILDREN’S RESIDENTIAL CARE: THE FINNISH CASE

This article discusses the phenomenon of running away from children’s residential care in the Finnish context. In the Finnish welfare system, residential care is understood as a last-resort form of alternative care. Its aim is to secure children’s well-being, development, and safety. Our article is based on the findings of a small-scale study launched and administrated by the Central Union for Child Welfare. These findings illustrate the multidimensional nature of the topic. First, the reasons for and the consequences of running away are diverse. Second, we need implementation of more inclusive and consistent practices as well as more explicit cooperation between authorities. Finally, the importance of children’s peer relations should be taken more seriously within residential care services. In this article, these findings are discussed bearing in mind the following critical question: What is the point of child welfare if it fails to serve children and safeguard their well-being and health during the out-of-home placement?
Serum Calcium, Magnesium and Parathyroid Hormone in Normal Pregnant and Pre-eclamptic Women in Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare serum calcium, magnesium and Parathyroid hormone in preeclamptic women and normal pregnant females. Materials and Methods: 32 pregnant women, preeclamptic n=16 and healthy pregnant control group n=16 with same ages and period of gestation included in present study. Serum calcium, Magnesium and Parathyroid Hormone were done by standard methods. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. P value < 0.01 was considered statistically significant. Results: Serum calcium (7.02 ± 0.99 vs. 9.34 ± 0.57) and serum magnesium (1.3 ± 0.34 vs1.88 ± 0.16) was significantly lower in preeclamptic women than normal healthy controls. PTH (Intact) concentration was not changed as compare to normal control (24.07 ± 4.98 vs. 23.86 ± 3.30). Conclusion: Decreased levels of serum Calcium and serum Magnesium found in our study confirms there strong relation with preeclampsia. Calcium and magnesium supplement can be used in pregnant women for the prevention of preeclampsia.
Mealtime experiences of hospitalized older patients requiring a puree consistency diet

The Health Promoting Hospital (HPH) concept has gained much momentum since its development in Europe in the late nineteen eighties. The Montreal network of HPH was created in 2005, within the context of the last reform. The McGill University Health Center (MUHC) is a part of this network since 2007. This study focuses on the creation of a health promoting hospital setting for patients and addresses the mealtime experience of older hospitalized patients requiring a puree diet. A qualitative case study design was used to explore patients’ perceptions of aspects of their puree meal tray, assistance provided by staff and the social context in which the meal was taken. Health professionals’ view of the patients’ experience were also obtained. Results indicate that the difficult identification of food items, flavour, appearance and variety were all important factors negatively affecting the mealtime experience. Feelings of loss of control were also reported by patients and staff. The social context in which the meal was taken was highlighted as an area which could be targeted to improve mealtimes. A program using formed puree food items could help lessen the negative impact of the prescription of a puree diet. Changes in nursing practices regarding the creation of a pleasant social atmosphere were identified as an inexpensive option to improve the mealtime experience for patients and decrease feelings of lack of control for staff in this aspect of care.
Emerging amyloid beta (Ab) peptide modulators for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD)

Background: According to the ‘amyloid cascade hypothesis’ of Alzheimer's disease (AD), abnormal processing of beta-amyloid precursor protein (βAPP) into toxic amyloid beta (Aβ)-peptides is central to the etiopathology of this uniquely human brain disorder. Objective: To review current AD drugs, pharmacological approaches and strategies aimed at modulating Aβ-peptide generation and/or aggregation in the treatment of AD. Methods: Data searches at various websites: Alzheimer Research Forum; individual drug company databases; Medline; Pharmaprojects database; unpublished research; inter-University research communications. Results/conclusion: Considerable research effort has focused on secretase-mediated mechanisms of βAPP processing, and the latest pharmacological strategies have used selective Aβ-peptide-lowering agents (SALA) to provide therapeutic benefit against Aβ-initiated neurodegenerative pathology. Currently, dedicated anticholinesterase, glutamatergic agonist and Aβ-peptide immunization have had little impact in the clinical treatment of AD. One unexpected benefit of statins (HMG-CoA inhibitors), besides their cholesterol lowering abilities, has been their ancillary effects in potentiating the enzymatic mechanisms that generate Aβ-peptides. The long-term benefits or complications of statin-based therapies for use in the clinical management of AD are not known.
Barriers to HIV Care and Treatment by Doctors: A review of the literature

Abstract This paper provides a review of the reported barriers that prevent doctors from managing HIV infected patients. The four most commonly reported barriers were: fear of contagion, fear of losing patients, unwillingness to care, and inadequate knowledge/training about treating HIV patients. Barriers to treating HIV infected patients is frequently reported in many countries and it is important for developing countries such as South Africa to learn from these experiences by identifying local problems so that constructive interventions and strategies can be developed to address these barriers, thereby improving the quality of patient care. Further research in respect of the local situation is required. Introduction Over the last two decades acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has emerged as one of the most serious public health problems in the world, and by the end of 2003 it was estimated that 5.3 million South Africans were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive, which corresponds to 21.5% of the population.1 In the early phase of the HIV epidemic few doctors saw infected patients and treatment options were limited. As a result many doctors were reluctant to provide care to HIV infected patients and homophobia amongst doctors, fear of contact with patients and unwillingness to care were frequently reported.2 However, there has been an exponential increase in the number of HIV and AIDS related cases and more doctors are encountering infected individuals. This review summarizes our current knowledge of barriers to treatment of HIV infected patients by doctors. Method A comprehensive literature review was undertaken by searching the MEDLINE database, Psychlit, ISI Web, EBSCOHost, and Sabinet on line, for English language literature published between 1985 and 2004. The database search terms included keywords such as fear/s, barrier/s, concern, HIV, AIDS, attitudes, physician/s (doctor/s), practice, treatment, care and knowledge. A variety of combinations of these words were entered. All duplicate articles were removed and only studies that used doctors as the sample population were considered. Titles expressing comment, news items, opinion pieces or letters were rejected. Results Thirty two relevant studies were identified from the literature search. The four most commonly reported barriers were: fear of contagion, fear of losing patients, unwillingness to care, and inadequate knowledge/training about treating HIV patients.
Understanding employee cynicism toward change in healthcare contexts

As the healthcare sector continues to go through transformational change, it is important to identify organisational factors that impact on employee attitudes to change. There is limited empirical evidence about the determinants of cynicism toward change, particularly in the healthcare sector environment. In this paper, a model is proposed which identifies three key antecedents of cynicism toward change: change information, involvement with change and trust in senior management. Data were collected from two healthcare sector organisations to test the proposed model. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equations modelling (SEM) suggest that change information, involvement in change processes and trust in senior management influence cynicism toward change. More specifically, evidence is presented which suggests that involvement in change and trust in senior management directly influence cynicism toward change, and that information about change and involvement in change directly influence trust in senior management. Collectively, the antecedent variables accounted for just over 50% of the variance in cynicism toward change. In general terms, the findings will prove helpful to human resource practitioners interested in diagnosing and managing attitudes to change of healthcare employees.
Fibrinogen and histidine‐rich glycoprotein in early‐onset preeclampsia

Objective. To determine whether plasma levels of fibrinogen and the placental tissue distributions of fibrinogen and histidine‐rich glycoprotein (HRG) differ between early‐ and late‐onset preeclampsia. Design. The study comprised 18 women with early‐onset (gestational weeks 24–32) and 19 women with late‐onset (gestational weeks 35–42) preeclampsia. As controls concerning the plasma levels of fibrinogen, we used samples from non‐pregnant fertile women, healthy pregnant women at gestational weeks 24–32 and healthy pregnant women at gestational weeks 35–42. Placental samples from women with healthy pregnancies at gestational weeks 35–42 served as controls in the immunohistochemical staining. Setting. Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala. Methods. Plasma fibrinogen levels were analyzed and the placental tissue expression of fibrinogen and HRG determined by immunohistochemistry. Results. Plasma level of fibrinogen was increased in early‐onset, but not late‐onset, preeclampsia. Levels of fibrinogen were significantly lower, and that of HRG significantly higher, in placentas from women with early‐onset preeclampsia as compared with control placentas (p = 0.01 and 0.001). Conclusions. HRG and fibrinogen might be involved in the hypercoagulability and the angiogenic imbalance seen in early‐onset preeclampsia.
IS outsourcing practices of manufacturing sector in India

The present paper aims to explore IS outsourcing practices being followed by Indian manufacturing sector and the attributes affecting choice of IS at the time of purchase. Survey method has been used to attain the objectives of research by including 70 large and medium scale organisations, from state of Punjab in India, in the sample. It was found that Indian manufacturing firms were using IS for operational benefits rather for strategic benefits. Extent of outsourcing IS functions was limited. Organisations were found lacking in planning for IS outsourcing activities. Top management was playing an active role in the purchase of IS-based applications with the major inputs coming from IT department in the organisation. The present study provides useful insights regarding the state of IS outsourcing in the Indian manufacturing sector. Findings of the study indicate that IS outsourcing practices are in nascent stage as IS usage history of Indian manufacturing sector is quite short.
Knowledge, attitudes and practice relating to hazardous alcohol use across the continuum of care in a community healthcare centre

Alcohol screening and intervention in community health settings places a great time demand on practitioners. Thus, implementation of practitioner-delivered intervention is challenging. Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of incorporating a brief alcohol intervention into daily practices of a community health care centre by utilizing assistance from non-practitioners and administrative staff. Methods: In regard to alcohol use, the knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) of the staff of a health care centre were assessed using a self-administered survey. The 57-item survey consisted of alcohol-relevant questions in four domains: clinical practice, knowledge and self-assessment of skills and available resources. Findings: The sample consisted of 70 individuals—23 practitioners, 21 medical assistants and 26 administrative staff from two New Orleans’ clinics. Practitioners were observed to be most confident in assessing alcoholism as well as in implementing interventions for alcohol abuse. Medical assistants exhibited high self-rated scores, second to practitioners, in survey items regarding attitudes towards patients, alcohol knowledge and alcohol-related clinical skills. Conclusions: Based on KAP, it appears that healthcare workers other than practitioners, particularly medical assistants, may serve as a useful resource to practitioners in providing alcohol screening and prevention services. Education and empowerment of medical assistants will however be needed to achieve this goal.
The influence of stent material and diabetes on macrophages trans-differentiation pathways in the progression of in-stent restenosis

The outcome of the deployment of cardiovascular stents in coronary arteries compromised by atherosclerosis may be affected by the deposition of a myofibroblast-driven neointimal tissue and consequent re-blockage of the vessel lumen known as in-stent restenosis (ISR). Its incidence is particularly high in people with diabetes unless drug-eluting stents (DES) are implanted as alternatives to the traditional bare metal stents (BMS) made of stainless steel (ST). However, the long-term outcome of the use of DES is under debate due to evidence of late thrombosis. Monocytes/macrophages (MM) play a key role in ISR participating in the different phases of the host response to the implant. This in-vitro study investigates differences in the distribution and response of MM that may be significant for a better understanding of the causes of the increased ISR occurrence among diabetic patients, particularly focusing on the trans-differentiation potential of MM into myofibroblast-like cells when in contact with ST.
Critical factors for achieving supply chain agility: towards a comprehensive taxonomy

Supply chain agility is now widely recognised as a key determinant of competitiveness and survival in today's dynamic and turbulent business environment. However, the problem of achieving agility in supply chain is still largely unresolved. This paper aims to contribute towards the development of a comprehensive taxonomy of the factors that are critical to have a truly agile supply chain. A substantial body of research literature is analysed using a systematic, inductive approach based on grounded theory (GT) to identify the critical factors. Overall, 12 categories of critical factors for achieving supply chain agility are developed and validated through a quantitative survey of supply chain experts from the automotive industry. A ranking of the factors is also established based on their relative criticality. From the findings, an integrative framework is proposed as a reference for the development of supply chain agility.
Gender perspective on quality of life, comparisons between groups 4–5.5 years after unsuccessful or successful IVF treatment

Objective. To describe and compare quality of life in men and women who had in vitro fertilization (IVF) within the Swedish public health system 4–5.5 years previously, either unsuccessfully and were subsequently living without children, or successfully, having children aged 4–5.5 years. These groups were compared to a control group of men and women with children born at the same time as in the successful group. Design. Cross‐sectional study. Setting. Reproductive Unit, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. Sample. Twenty‐six men and 37 women in the unsuccessful group, 135 men and 154 women in the successful group and 93 men and 118 women in the control group. Methods. Questionnaire study. The respective gender differences were studied in the control and study groups. Main outcome measures. Psychological general well‐being (PGWB), sense of coherence (SOC), experience of infertility, demographic‐socio‐economic, and health characteristics. Results. Men in the unsuccessful IVF group scored lower in total PGWB and SOC indices than the successful group men. They reported more depression, lower PGWB and lower SOC than the control group men. Women in the unsuccessful IVF group reported more anxiety, depression, and lower SOC than the successful group women and more depression and lower SOC indices than control group women. Men and women in the unsuccessful IVF group did not differ in any of the parameters. Men in the successful IVF group had higher PGWB, less signs of depression and more self‐confidence than women in that group. Conclusion. Quality of life in men seems more negatively affected by involuntary infertility than reported in earlier studies.
Screening for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: The Role of Alpha-fetoprotein and Ultrasound with and without Ultrasound Contrast Agents

The increasing incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is becoming a considerable problem in the UK and worldwide. Although there is no national surveillance programme, increasing evidence shows that surveillance programmes may be beneficial and potentially cost-effective. Small, non-symptomatic HCCs that could be detected on regular ultrasound screening are amenable to treatment, including liver transplantation, surgical resection and radio frequency ablation with good 5-year survival rates. However, large tumours, greater than 5 cm, have a poor prognosis and treatment is only palliative. Therefore, the identification of small lesions through a formalized liver ultrasound surveillance programme together with serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) may be useful.
An improved trust model in agent-mediated e-commerce

Trust is a fundamental issue in multiagent systems, especially in agent-mediated e-commence. The trust model plays an important role in determining who and how to interact in open and dynamic environments. To this end, many trust models have been developed. Based on the confidence reputation model proposed by other researchers, an improved trust model is discussed. The original model was enhanced in two aspects: (1) when evaluating the trustworthiness of target agents, the reliability of the witness itself is taken into account and further aggregated by Dempster-Shafer evidence theory and (2) the ontological property of trust is considered, which implies that trust can be calculated more precisely. A case study is provided to show the effectiveness of the improved model.
Calibration and registration for precise surface reconstruction with Time-Of-Flight cameras

This paper presents a method for precise surface reconstruction with Time-Of-Flight (TOF) cameras. A novel calibration approach, which simplifies the calibration task and doubles the camera's precision is developed and compared to current calibration methods. Remaining errors are tackled by applying filter and error distributing methods. Thus, a reference object is circumferentially reconstructed with an overall mean precision of approximately 3 mm in translation and 3° in rotation. The presented way of quantification for an achievable reconstruction precision with TOF cameras discloses the potential of localising and grasping objects with robot manipulators. This is a major criteria for the potential analysis of this sensor technology in robotics, which is first demonstrated within this work.
Clinical and microbiological investigation of women with acute salpingitis and their consorts

Summary. To determine the microbiological causes of pelvic inflammatory disease, 43 women with acute salpingitis (AS) and 160 controls were studied. Amongst AS women there were significantly higher endocervical isolation rates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (54%vs 6%), Chlamydia trachomatis (40%vs 13%), Mycoplasma hominis (60%vs 19%), enterobacteria (26%vs 11%) and anaerobic bacteria (58%vs 29%). A polymicrobial pathogenic endocervical flora was present in both gonococcal and non‐gonococcal AS. Laparoscopic sampling of the fallopian tubes rarely provided useful microbiological data but did reveal the inaccuracy of clinical diagnosis of AS. Thirty‐four male consorts of AS women were investigated; 20 had gonorrhoea and 27 had non‐gonococcal urethritis (NGU). A high proportion of infected men had asymptomatic gonorrhoea (35%) and/or asymptomatic NGU (56%). These findings had implications for the management of AS.
Protective effect of melatonin on β-cell damage in streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats

The aim of the present study was the evaluation of possible protective effects of melatonin against beta-cell damage in streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats. Malondialdehyde levels and glutathione peroxidase activity were measured in pancreatic homogenates. Pancreatic beta-cells were examined by immunohistochemical methods. Streptozotocin was injected intraperitoneally at a single dose of 60 mg/kg for induction of diabetes. Melatonin (200 microg/kg/day, ip) was injected for 3 days prior to administration of streptozotocin; these injections were continued until the end of the study (4 weeks). Streptozotocin induced a significant increase in malondialdehyde levels (p < 0.01) and a significant decrease in glutathione peroxidase activity (p < 0.05) in pancreatic tissue. Degeneration of islet cells and weak immunohistochemical staining of insulin was observed in diabetic rats. Treatment of diabetic rats with melatonin markedly reduced malondialdehyde production (p < 0.05) and increased glutathione peroxidase activity (p < 0.01) without affecting hyperglycemia. Increased staining of insulin and preservation of islet cells were apparent in the melatonin-treated diabetic rats. These data suggest that melatonin treatment has a therapeutic effect in diabetes by reduction of oxidative stress and preservation of pancreatic beta-cell integrity.