Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hepatocellular carcinoma: An overview of disease epidemiology and risk factors

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer. Consequently, the epidemiology of this fatal disease is well considered and studied. Although hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are amongst the most prominent risk factors for this cancer, there are some other factors participating in the high incidence of HCC such as cirrhosis, cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, obesity and metabolic disorders.
Understanding Farmers' Aesthetic Preference for Tidy Agricultural Landscapes: A Bourdieusian Perspective

Abstract Studies of landscape aesthetics based on photographic assessment indicate that farmers have a unique perspective—seeing beauty in the same ordered and controlled arable agricultural landscapes that almost all other publics find monotonous and boring. This paper uses Bourdieu's theory of capital to explore why farmers hold this perspective. Interpretations farmers place on ‘tidy’ features such as straight lines and evenly coloured fields were explored through a cross-cultural study between Germany and Scotland. Results show how farmers ‘read’ agricultural landscapes for signs of skilled farming, and how their interpretation is dependent on knowledge of the connection between efficient farming practices and the appearance of forms and colours in the fields. The implications of agricultural landscape aesthetics for the development of cultural and social capital are discussed.
Sinanodonta woodiana (Lea, 1834) (Bivalvia: Unionidae): a new non-indigenous species in Lake Garda (Italy)

The first record of Sinanodonta woodiana (Lea, 1834) (Bivalvia: Unionidae) in Lake Garda, the largest Italian lake located in the Southern Alps is reported. Empty shells of this alien bivalve, also known as the Chinese pond mussel, were observed in February 2009 along the southeastern shore.
Evaluating Polarimetric X-Band Radar Rainfall Estimators during HMT

Abstract Different relations between rainfall rate R and polarimetric X-band radar measurables were evaluated using the radar, disdrometer, and rain gauge measurements conducted during the 4-month-long field experiment. The specific differential phase shift KDP–based estimators generally show less scatter resulting from variability in raindrop size distributions than with the power-based relations. These estimators depend on model assumptions about the drop aspect ratios and are not applicable for lighter rainfalls. The polynomial approximation for the mean drop aspect ratio provides R–KDP relations that result overall in good agreement between the radar retrievals of rainfall accumulations and estimates from surface rain gauges. The accumulation data obtained from power estimators that use reflectivity Zeh and differential reflectivity ZDR measurements generally exhibit greater standard deviations with respect to the gauge measurements. Unlike the phase-based estimators, the power-based estimators have a.
Widening the View on Teacher–Child Relationships: Teachers' Narratives Concerning Disruptive Versus Nondisruptive Children

Abstract. The goal of the present study was to obtain evidence for the validity of the Teacher Relationship Interview by exploring associations with a well-validated measure of teacher–child relationship quality, the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale (Closeness, Conflict, and Dependency), and examining differences between teachers' narratives about the relationship with a disruptive and a nondisruptive child in their class. Six constructs were derived from teachers' narratives (N = 90) that were elicited with the Teacher Relationship Interview: sensitive practices, positive affect, helplessness, anger, neutralizing negative affect, and coherence. Multilevel analyses showed moderate convergence between the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale and the Teacher Relationship Interview. Expressed anger was related to relational conflict, whereas positive affect and low levels of helplessness appeared associated with close relationships. The coherence of the narrative and the tendency to neutralize negative emotions were positively associated with conflict. No unique associations were found with teachers' narrated sensitive practices. Furthermore, anger and helplessness appeared more prominent in narratives about relationships with disruptive children.
How to find what's in a name: Scrutinizing the optimality of five scoring algorithms for the name‐letter task

Although the name‐letter task (NLT) has become an increasingly popular technique to measure implicit self‐esteem (ISE), researchers have relied on different algorithms to compute NLT scores and the psychometric properties of these differently computed scores have never been thoroughly investigated. Based on 18 independent samples, including 2690 participants, the current research examined the optimality of five scoring algorithms based on the following criteria: reliability; variability in reliability estimates across samples; types of systematic error variance controlled for; systematic production of outliers and shape of the distribution of scores. Overall, an ipsatized version of the original algorithm exhibited the most optimal psychometric properties, which is recommended for future research using the NLT. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Dietary Arginine Requirement for Blunt Snout Bream ( Megalobrama amblycephala ) with Two Fish Sizes Associated with Growth Performance and Plasma Parameters

This trial was conducted to investigate the dietary arginine requirement in two sizes of blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala). Six isonitrogenous and isoenergetic (34% crude protein) diets containing graded levels of arginine from 8.3 to 33.6 g kg. Triplicates of 30 fishes (body weight 52.50±0.18g) of size I or 20 fishes (body weight 101.85±1.85g) of size II were fed with one of six experimental diets. Specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and weight gain (WG) significantly increased with the increase of arginine levels from 8.3 to 23.5 g kg (size I) or from 8.3 to 18.1 g kg (size II), and thereafter, kept decrease. The alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was significantly decreased with increase in dietary arginine levels from 8.3 to 23.5 g kg in size I or 8.3 to 18.1 g kg of the size II (P<0.05). Urea content first significantly increased (P<0.05), and showed the same trend in two sizes. Meanwhile, plasma arginine concentration of two sizes significantly increased with increasing dietary arginine from 8.3 to 23.5 g kg (P<0.05), and significantly lower lysine content in plasma was observed in fish fed diets with arginine levels from 8.3 to 23.5 g kg (P<0.05). Broken-line regression model analysis relation on the basis of SGR, the optimal dietary arginine requirement could be 20.3 g kg in size I, and 17.9 g kg in size II of dry matter, respectively. The results may explain the adverse effects of a deficient or an excess dietary arginine level on growth and health of fish in future. Furthermore, the present study also suggests that an optimum dietary arginine could play an important role in improving growth, and maintaining health for different size of fish, which would be useful in developing amino acid balanced commercial feeds for blunt snout bream.
Objective Tropical Cyclone Center Tracking Using Single-Doppler Radar

AbstractThis study presents an extension of the ground-based velocity track display (GBVTD)-simplex tropical cyclone (TC) circulation center–finding algorithm to further improve the accuracy and consistency of TC center estimates from single-Doppler radar data. The improved center-finding method determines a TC track that ensures spatial and temporal continuities of four primary characteristics: the radius of maximum wind, the maximum axisymmetric tangential wind, and the latitude and longitude of the TC circulation center. A statistical analysis improves the consistency of the TC centers over time and makes it possible to automate the GBVTD-simplex algorithm for tracking of landfalling TCs. The characteristics and performance of this objective statistical center-finding method are evaluated using datasets from Hurricane Danny (1997) and Bret (1999) over 5-h periods during which both storms were simultaneously observed by two coastal Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) units. Independent sin.
Extensive and Intensive Globalizations: Explicating the Low Connectivity Puzzle of U.S. Cities Using a City-Dyad Analysis

ABSTRACT: This article reports an experiment in world city network analysis focusing on city-dyads. Results are derived from an unusual principal components analysis of 27,966 city-dyads across 5 advanced producer service sectors. A 2-component solution is found that identifies different forms of globalization: extensive and intensive. The latter is characterized by very high component scores and describes the more important city-dyads focused upon London-New York (NYLON). The extensive globalization component heavily features London and New York but with each linked to less important cities. U.S. cities score relatively high on the intensive globalization component and we use this finding to explain the low connectivities of U.S. cities in previous studies of the world city network. The two components are tentatively interpreted in world-systems terms: intensive globalization is the process of core-making through city-dyads; extensive globalization is the process of linking core with non-core through city-dyads.
BORON AND PHOSPHORUS DIFFUSION IN SILICON : INTERSTITIAL , VACANCY AND COMBINATION MECHANISMS

The diffusion of boron B and phosphorus P in silicon has been investigated by using the statistical moment method (SMM). Temperature dependence of activation energy, Q, and diffusion coefficient, D, of B and P in silicon obey interstitial, vacancy and combination mechanisms has been studied. The effects of anharmonicity and the different mechanisms on diffusion of B and P in silicon are calculated. Experimental results for B and P diffusion in silicon and SMM calculations of the activation energy for B and P diffusion by interstitial mechanism are in quantitave agreement.
A Retrospective Study of the Variability in Etiological Agents of Urinary Tract Infections among Patients in Windhoek-Namibia

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common infections that affect patients of both genders of all age groups. The common bacteria causing UTIs have not yet been identified in Namibia. Due to empirical treatment in the country, antibiotic resistance might be on the rise. The objective of the study was to identify the organisms that frequently caused UTIs, and the antibiotic sensitivity patterns of the bacteria isolated. A retrospective analysis was performed on 20,438 urine results submitted to the Namibia Institute of pathology (NIP), the public health laboratory in the country from January 2012 to December 2012. The raw data from NIP was compiled using Microsoft Excel. It was then imported to the IBM SPSS 22 statistical program for further analysis. The results showed that there were 3865 (18.9%) UTI cases due to Escherichia coli making it the most prevalent organism isolated, followed by Proteus mirabilis 758 (3.7%), Enterococcus faecalis 706 (3.5%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae 640 (3.1%). Female patients were more affected by UTIs than males. The eleven most common causes of UTIs in this study were mostly isolated from females. The most common cause of urinary tract infections in males was Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase (ESBL) Klebsiella pneumoniae. The drugs to which these common organisms were resistant to were amoxicillin and cotrimoxazole (SXT). Cefapime, ofloxacin and piptaze were the most effective antibiotics in this study. There were 6 cases of UTIs due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and 10 cases due to Schistosoma haematobium. The most common UTI etiology in Windhoek was Escherichia coli. Most of the isolates were resistant to at least one antibiotic, with ESBL organisms having resistance to more than ten antibiotics.
Stability after Mandibular Setback with Bilateral Saggital Split Osteotomy

Introduction: bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (bsso) is the most commonly performed jaw surgery. Bsso of mandible is a surgical method used to correct the sagittal, transverse and vertical position of the lower jaw. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the stability of bsso for setback of mandible and its relationship to intra-operative positioning of the proximal segment during fixation. Methodology of the 25 bsso patients whose records were originally identified, 5 subjects were dropped because of loss of follow up. Lateral cephalograms were taken at time points t1, t2, t3, and t4. These cephalograms were traced and superimposed using burr stones analysis for the assessment of amount of setback needed. Results: our study shows that it’s a general tendency for the recovery in the position of the posterior border of the ascending ramus in the postsurgical phase to be greater in cases in which its posterior displacement during surgery was greater. Conclusion: mandibular retropositioning for correction of mandibular prognathism results in significant soft and hard tissue changes in the lower face. If the position of the proximal segment of the mandible is changed during the fixation procedure during mandibular setback surgery, the proximal segment has a tendency to move back toward its presurgical position in the period following surgery.
Exploring Speech Technologies for Language Learning

The teaching of the pronunciation of any foreign language must encompass both segmental and suprasegmental aspects of speech. In computational terms, the two levels of language learning activities can be decomposed at least into phonemic aspects, which include the correct pronunciation of single phonemes and the co-articulation of phonemes into higher phonological units; as well as prosodic aspects which include • the correct position of stress at word level; • the alternation of stress and unstressed syllables in terms of compensation and vowel reduction; • the correct position of sentence accent; • the generation of the adequate rhymth from the interleaving of stress, accent, and phonological rules; • the generation of adequate intonational pattern for each utterance related to communicative functions; As appears from above, for a student to communicate intelligibly and as close as possible to native-speaker's pronunciation, prosody is very important [2. ]. We also assume that an incorrect prosody may hamper communication from taking place and this may be regarded a strong motivation for having the teaching of Prosody as an integral part of any language course.From our point of view it is much more important to stress the achievement of successful communication as the main objective of a second language learner rather than the overcoming of what has been termed “foreign accent”, which can be deemed as a secondary goal. In any case, the two goals are certainly not coincident even though they may be overlapping in some cases. We will discuss about these matter in the following sections. All prosodic questions related to “rhythm” will be discussed in the first section of this chapter. In [62. ] the author argues in favour of prosodic aids, in particular because a strong placement of word stress may impair understanding from the listener’s point of view of the word being pronounced. He also argues in favour of acquiring correct timing of phonological units to overcome the impression of “foreign accent” which may ensue from an incorrect distribution of stressed vs. unstressed stretches of linguistic units such as syllables or metric feet. Timing is not to be confused with speaking rate which need not be increased forcefully to give the impression of a good fluency: trying to increase speaking
Calcareous nannofossil age constraints on Miocene flysch sedimentation in the Outer Dinarides (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro)

Abstract Flysch deposits are associated with the Outer Dinaride nappe front. They overlie Eocene platform carbonate to bathyal marl successions that subsequently cover Cretaceous platform carbonates of Apulia and the Dinaride nappes. Planktonic foraminifer biostratigraphy indicates Eocene age of flysch sedimentation. New calcareous nannofossil data reveal that several assemblages are present; besides the dominant Mid-Eocene species, Cretaceous, Paleocene, Oligocene and Miocene taxa were also identified throughout the entire flysch belt. Widespread occurrence of nannofossil species of zone NN4-6 indicates that flysch deposition lasted up to at least the Mid-Miocene. Ubiquitous occurrence of various pre-Miocene taxa demonstrates that extensive, possibly submarine, sediment recycling has occurred in the Cenozoic. As flysch remnants are typically sandwiched between thrust sheets, these new stratigraphic ages give a lower bracket on deformation age of the coastal range. The data provide a link between Cretaceous compression in the Bosnian Flysch and recent deformation in the Adriatic offshore area.
Time damping of non-adiabatic magnetohydrodynamic waves in a partially ionised prominence medium: Effect of a background flow

Context. The simultaneous occurrence of flows and time damped small-amplitude oscillations in solar prominences is a common phenomenon. These oscillations are mostly interpreted in terms of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves. Aims. We study the time damping of linear non-adiabatic MHD waves in a flowing partially ionised plasma with prominence-like physical conditions. Methods. Considering non-adiabatic single fluid equations for a partially ionised hydrogen plasma, we have solved our dispersion relations for the complex frequency, ω, and we have analysed the behavior of the period, damping time and the ratio of the damping time to the period, versus the real wavenumber k, for Alfven, fast, slow, and thermal waves. Results. While in the case without flow there is a critical wavenumber at which the period of Alfven and fast waves goes to infinite, when a flow is present two different critical wavenumbers appear. The smaller wavenumber depends on the flow speed and causes the period of the high-period branch to go to infinite. When the second critical wavenumber is attained the period of both branches become equal. In general, the time damping of Alfven and fast waves is dominated by resistive effects, and its damping ratio is very inefficient when compared to observations. The damping of slow and thermal waves is basically dominated by non-adiabatic effects, and for slow waves it is possible to obtain a damping ratio close to observations, although it would correspond to long period oscillations with large damping times not often observed. The consideration of a structured medium produces new features such as the apparition of four critical wavenumbers for Alfven waves, and one critical wavenumber for slow waves. For fast waves, constrained propagation substantially improves, within the range of observed wavelengths, the ratio of the damping time to period. Conclusions. The presence of a background flow in a partially ionised plasma gives place to new interesting features when the time damping of MHD waves is studied. In general, the results point out that ion-neutral collisions are an inefficient mechanism to explain the observed time damping of prominence oscillations if they are produced by Alfven and fast waves. If the oscillations are produced by slow waves, only long period oscillations with large damping times produce damping ratios in agreement with observations.
Effects of Legal Designation and Management of a Multiple-Use Protected Area on Local Sustainability

The designation of protected areas (PAs) entails environmental, social, and economic effects to local stakeholders through access restriction to natural resources. We used a mixed methods research framework that combines time series analysis and stakeholder surveys to elicit objective and subjective effects of legal and managerial designation of Sierra Cabrera-Bedar Natura 2000 site on local sustainability in south-eastern Spain. Firstly, 47 environmental, social, and economic variables for which official time series data were available were assessed using a multiple-paired-Before-After-Control-Impact research design, where “Impacts” were: (1) legal designation of Sierra Cabrera-Bedar as a Site of Community Importance (SCI); and (2) management implementation of the site as an Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The two municipalities having most of their territories in Sierra Cabrera-Bedar SCI/SAC were selected as ‘Cases’, whereas two similar municipalities outside the PA were chosen as ‘Controls’. Additionally, 13 local organisations pertaining to 11 socioeconomic guilds from case municipalities were surveyed on their perceived effects of the designation Sierra Cabrera-Bedar as an SAC on 28 social and economic variables. The effects of legal and managerial protection of the site on local sustainability were unclear although greater SAC sustainability is suggested, even though limited time series availability for the SAC period increases uncertainty. Local organisations perceived mostly limited and negative socioeconomic effects from SAC designation. Disagreement between statistical and perceptual results suggests use of time series analyses for accurate assessment of socioeconomic effects of PAs in Spain.
Constraints on Non-Adjacent Dependency-Learning : Distance Matters An Artificial Grammar Learning Study with Adults

In the examples above, the morphemes in bold (pronouns, auxiliaries, determiners, inflections) predict each other with a high degree of probability: for instance, in (1a) the form of the pronoun determines the exact form of the inflection on the verb stem. When either one of them is changed, the sentence becomes ungrammatical: *Nous partez demain, *Vous partons demain. This one-to-one correspondence is indicative of a more abstract relationship between any verb and its subject, whether or not it is overtly marked: agreement. Agreement not only functions at sentence level (1a), but also within smaller phrases, like nominal phrases (1b). Other formal relationships besides agreement can be overtly marked, for instance the one between the functional domain of auxiliaries and the lexical domain of verbal predicates, as in (1c). In short, languages possess means to overtly mark important formal syntactic relationships 1 : this marking presupposes a correspondence between two (non-adjacent) functional morphemes, so that a specific morphological form of one morpheme will predict the specific form of the other morpheme. If a child were in possession of a cognitive mechanism that allowed it to detect and retain patterns of co-occurrence between functional markers, this mechanism could mediate (at least in part) the inference of syntactic rules or patterns from surface (distributional) properties of the input. The existence of such a mechanism has been extensively investigated in the literature to date: artificial grammar studies have confirmed that both infants and adults are capable of extracting non-