Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Intensified Pharmaceutical Interventions in Medication Adherence in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Aim: The study aims to evaluate the medication adherence behavior of individuals by using validated questionnaire and to enhance the adherence by using various cost effective interventional methods which likely have a greater effect on the health of patients with chronic diseases than any Improvement in specific medical therapies. Method: The prospective interventional study was carried out for a period one year. The participants selected from the outpatients of nephrology department in a 750-bedded tertiary care hospital in the Malabar region of south India. Patients were provided with a standard validated modified Morisky eight item questionnaire and self-reporting questionnaire assessing medication adherence before and after intervention. The intervention mainly in the form of patient counseling and patient information leaflet was carried out using a proper management plan and with the help of physician and feedback information was collected. Results: Statistically significant association exist between medication adherence before and after intervention ( p Conclusion: The study suggests that the periodic counseling by clinical pharmacist at regular intervals can improve the medication adherence by improving awareness and removing the misconceptions about the disease and therapy. Key words: CKD, Medication adherence, Drug therapy, Patient counseling and Patient information leaflet.
Work strain predictors in construction work

The aim of this study was to predict the work strain indicators for construction workers and to work out measures for prevention of strain at work. Subjective and objective research methods were utilized in the research, including survey, work intensity measurements (Borg Scale), work strain index, fatigue index and work ability index determination, objective blood pressure and pulse measurements. Statistical analysis with significance calculations was carried out. The limitation of this study is the small number of subjects involved in the research. Subjective evaluation of fatigue index and strain index resulted in moderate and somewhat hard work heaviness categories accordingly to Borg Scale. Measurements of heart rate, blood pressure approved work strain of employees of both professions does not exceed the admissible heart rate limit during physical load. The research proved that the strongest work strain predictors were connected with psycho-social risks rather than with physical ones.
Ultrastructural Characterization of Cellular Interactions Within Resting, Developing and Tumorigenic Breast Epithelium

Author(s): Jorgens, Danielle Mary | Advisor(s): Gray, Joe; Liu, Fenyong | Abstract: Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and collective cell migration events are of interest for understanding cancer progression and metastasis. The use of in vitro cell lines to model these processes are widely used and help to shed light upon the mechanisms that lead to tumorigenesis. Here we use two such models: the human mammary epithelial cell line HMT-3522 and ex vivo mouse mammary primary culture epithelial organoids. The HMT-3522 cell line provides an encapsulated system to study cancer progression, however detailed ultrastructural analyses of this cell line are lacking. To study collective cell migration we used the murine ex vivo epithelial "organoid" system, which upon growth factor stimulation undergoes branching morphogenesis. Growth of these systems in 3D cell culture is an important component in understanding the highly dynamic and complex processes of EMT and collective cell migration. High resolution imaging via transmission electron microscopy and three dimensional scanning electron microscopy provide a way to discern ultrastructural features of both collective cell migration and EMT. Electron microscopy imaging of the HMT-3522 S1 cell line, grown in 3D to form acini, demonstrated an abundance of membrane protrusions at all interior lateral and apical surfaces. Furthermore, these acinar structures were determined to have a semi-polarized state as defined by the appearance of a basement membrane, but lack all hallmarks of apical polarization. Three dimensional imaging of the membrane protrusions revealed they have a variety of lengths and an interdigitated nature. Determining this semi-polarized state to be more representative of a transitive tissue state, we sought to image the transient terminal end bud (TEB) of organoids undergoing branching morphogenesis. Ultrastructural analysis of in vivo murine mammary gland and ex vivo un-stimulated organoids revealed nearly identical tissue organization, with typical apico-basal polarity and almost no intercellular membrane protrusions. However, data of the stimulated organoids and specifically the TEB revealed a semi-polarized state of the cells very similar to the HMT-3522 S1 acini, with prolific membrane protrusions. Hypothesizing these membrane protrusions were aiding in normal collective cell migration, we investigated whether disruption of actin polymerization via drug treatments within the TEB would recapitulate the ultrastructure of the tumorigenic cell line HMT-3522 T4-2. RhoA kinase inhibition lead to a remarkably similar tissue and cellular morphology between the two cell types.
Satellite-based emergency mapping using optical imagery: experience and reflections from the 2015 Nepal earthquakes

Landslides triggered by large earthquakes in mountainous regions contribute significantly to overall earthquake losses and pose a major secondary hazard that can persist for months or years. While scientific investigations of coseismic landsliding are increasingly common, there is no protocol for rapid (hours-to-days) humanitarian-facing landslide assessment and no published recognition of what is possible and what is useful to compile immediately after the event. Drawing on the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal, we consider how quickly a landslide assessment based upon manual satellite-based emergency mapping (SEM) can be realistically achieved and review the decisions taken by analysts to ascertain the timeliness and type of useful information that can be generated. We find that, at present, many forms of landslide assessment are too slow to generate relative to the speed of a humanitarian response, despite increasingly rapid access to high-quality imagery. Importantly, the value of information on landslides evolves rapidly as a disaster response develops, so identifying the purpose, timescales, and end users of a post-earthquake landslide assessment is essential to inform the approach taken. It is clear that discussions are needed on the form and timing of landslide assessments, and how best to present and share this information, before rather than after an earthquake strikes. In this paper, we share the lessons learned from the Gorkha earthquake, with the aim of informing the approach taken by scientists to understand the evolving landslide hazard in future events and the expectations of the humanitarian community involved in disaster response.
Effect of Stress Level of Surrounding Soil on Bored Pile Capacity in Sand

This study deals with assessing the effect of stress level on bearing capacity factor , distri bution of shear stresses at soil -pile interface along pile shaft, and presence of critical depth concept for bored piles axially loaded in compression and embedded in dense sand. These investigations are made using finite element method with the employment of a wide range of stresses by using piles with dimensions starting from laboratory dimensions and goes towards field dimensions with embedment ratio range from (15-40). The soil and the interface behavior is modeled using Duncan-Chang hyperbolic soil model with empirical equations account for reduction of angle of internal friction o with increasing in stress level. Bored pile is modeled as a linear elastic material. The results showed a dramatic decrease in bearing capacity factor as length of pile increase. It was also found that the embedment ratio has a significant effect in increasing bearing capacity factor , and the distribution of shear stresses at soil-pile interface is not linear and does not tend to take a constant value beyond a certain depth of pile nor decreases after a certain depth along pile shaft. The fallacy of critical depth also noticed and discussed in this paper.
Grayscale and colour image Codec based on matching pursuit in the spatio-frequency domain

This report presents and evaluates a novel idea for scalable lossy colour image coding with Matching Pursuit (MP) performed in a transform domain. The benefits of the idea of MP performed in the transform domain are analysed in detail. The main contribution of this work is extending MP with wavelets to colour coding and proposing a coding method. We exploit correlations between image subbands after wavelet transformation in RGB colour space. Then, a new and simple quantisation and coding scheme of colour MP decomposition based on Run Length Encoding (RLE), inspired by the idea of coding indexes in relational databases, is applied. As a final coding step arithmetic coding is used assuming uniform distributions of MP atom parameters. The target application is compression at low and medium bit-rates. Coding performance is compared to JPEG 2000 showing the potential to outperform the latter with more sophisticated than uniform data models for arithmetic coder. The results are presented for grayscale and colour coding of 12 standard test images.
An Investigation of the Concerns of Fifth Graders Transitioning to Middle School

Abstract Entering middle school can cause apprehension for young adolescents who face many cognitive, physical, social, and emotional changes. A quantitative, descriptive study was designed to identify and explain the concerns of rising sixth graders (n = 225) regarding their transition to the middle grades. Survey data were analyzed with regard to gender, race, and school type (i.e., inner city, urban, suburban, and rural). Undressing in front of others for P.E. was the most frequently rated area of high concern. There was a significant effect of gender on the level of concern for getting lost, changing clothes for P.E. , peer pressure, being bullied, and academic performance. There was a significant effect of race on the level of concern for using a locker, having enough time to eat lunch, and going to the restroom. There was a significant effect of school type on the level of concern for making friends, belonging to the right clubs and groups, getting lost, having enough time to eat lunch, going to the restroom, and new school rules. Findings suggest at least a moderate level of concern by most fifth graders regarding various issues associated with middle school transitions, thus confirming the need for special programs to assist new students in acclimating to these changes and further research to determine their impacts.
Dynamics In The Trend Of Foreign Bodies In ENT Practice In Nigeria: Any Change?

Background: Foreign bodies in the ear, nose and throat still remains one of the commonest Otorhinolaryngological emergencies especially in children in our environment. The management calls for prompt and precise technique which has improved over time following the advances in technology. Methods: This is a cross sectional carried out from April 2009-March 2010 with the objective of evaluating the nature,and mode of presentations of patients with various types of foreign bodies seen at the Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) practice in Benin City, Nigeria.Results: A total of 132 cases of fb were recorded during the period under review. Comprising 70(53%) females and 62(47%) males with a female: male ratio of 1.1:1 with ages ranging from 3 months to 80years. Sixty-six( 50%)patients presented with foreign bodies in the ears, 40(30.3%) in the nasal cavities , 11(8.3%),10(7.6%) and 4(3.0%)in the oesophagus, pharynx and larynx respectively. The commonest aural foreign body was bead in 25 (18.9%) patients , cotton bud in 22 (16.7%) and seeds in 15 (11.4%)patients.Sixty-six(50%) of the cases presented within 24 hours of insertion, while 54(40.9%)within 2-5 days and10(7.6%) within the first 10 daysThe complications encountered included epistaxis 6 (4.5%) , ear bleed 5 (3.8%), tympanic membrane perforation 2 (1.5%) patients and death in 2 (1.5%) patients.CONCLUSION: Foreign bodies in the orifices remain a major concern in otolaryngological practice. Early detection and presentation to the specialist will reduce complications which are encountered commonly due to delay.
VLSI Design flow for Secure Integrated Circuits based on DES, TDES, AES and Blowfish Algorithms and their performance

Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Information Security (IS) are playing vital role in the present day communications. Information is prone to side channel attacks at software level where as it is very difficult to hack the information at hardware level. Security is the major concern in the paperless communication and cashless online transactions. This paper aims to implement the most secured Improved Modified Blowfish Algorithm (IMBFA) by incorporating cell substitution using Wave Dynamic Differential Logic (WDDL) and interconnect decomposition in the VLSI Design flow to not to allow the hacker to estimate or predict the key. Proposed IMBFA which can result in high speed, high throughput and effective memory utilization compared to Data Encryption Standard (DES), Triple Data Encryption Standard (TDES), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Blowfish (BF). In this research paper, IMBFA yielded minimum delay as 71.067 ns, frequency of the design as 14.07 MHz, memory utilization as 62.481MB and throughput is 900Mbps compared to AES, TDES and DES algorithms. It is simulated using ModelSim, Synthesized using Leonardo Spectrum and implemented using Verilog HDL.
A Potent Biosurfactant Producing Bacterial Strain for Application in Enhanced Oil Recovery Applications

The capability of hydrocarbon utilizing bacteria to produce biosurfantants was investigated. Out of 38 spore forming alkane utilizing bacteria isolated from Jeddah Refinery facilities, a potent surfactin producing bacterium was isolated, by enrichment technique. The isolate was purified and partially characterized as members of the genus Bacillus and was designated as BDCC-TUSA-3. It was able to biodegrade 11.0 g of n-hexadecane and consume more than 82% in 55 h, but surfactin was not detected. When grown on Maldex-15, a cheap by-product recovered during manufacturing of high fructose syrup from corn starch, up to 4650 mg.l -1 of surfactin was produced in 40 h. The kinetic characterization, for cell growth and surfactin production from Maldex-15 was determined. A maximum specific growth rate of 0.462 h -1 , conversion efficiency of 98.8% and volumetric reactor productivity of 155 g surfactin . l -1 . h -1 were achieved. The obtained results suggest that BDCC-TUSA-3 strain can be of great importance as a feasible MEOR agent particularly in nearly exhausted oil fields.
Insights into intermetallic phases on pulse welded dissimilar metal joints

The Magnetic Pulse Welding (MPW) process has been developed to an industrially used joining method which is considered to be a fast, noncontact, clean and “cold” solid state welding process. Unlike fusion welding, the absence of direct heat during the welding cycle makes it possible to join dissimilar metals, for instance aluminium to copper or copper to steel, without noticeable detrimental metallurgical defects. This is very desirable, as today’s industry lacks technologies to join often not fusion-weldable dissimilar materials effectively. However, current metallographic studies show that for many material combinations the formation of intermetallic seams in the joint region of magnetic pulse welds can not be completely avoided. Modern technical equipment for MPW is used to join aluminium with copper in order to study the microstructure and the intermetallic phases formed in the weld region in dependence of the processing parameters. The welds are analysed by means of metallographic and electron microscopic (SEM) methods. Relations between the parameters and the microstructures formed within the weld joints are shown. Based on the obtained results conclusions will be drawn with respect to the intermetallic phase formation process and the optimization of the weld microstructure and properties.
The Influence of Business Social Responsibility (BSR) on the Competitiveness of Small Businesses: The Case of South African Small Businesses

The aim of this study is to gain meaningful insight into how the practice of business social responsibility (BSR) influences the competitiveness of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs). Research evidence suggests that BSR is a sound business philosophy and the practice of the concept comes with benefits. However, in spite of the significant role played by SMMEs in socio-economic development in economies, research on their BSR engagement is limited. A structured, self-administered questionnaire and validated for reliability, was used to identify and empirically test the BSR factors that influence the competitiveness of SMMEs in the Botshabelo industrial area of South Africa. The questionnaires were distributed to 173 SMME owners/managers. The results revealed BSR as a sound business philosophy, which has a positive influence on the competitiveness of SMMEs. The empirical results of this exploratory study is important because it will motivate SMMEs to effectively engage in BSR, enjoy the benefits associated with the concept thereby increasing their competitiveness.
Ekpyrotic Non-Gaussianity -- A Review

Ekpyrotic models and their cyclic extensions solve the standard cosmological flatness, horizon and homogeneity puzzles by postulating a slowly contracting phase of the universe prior to the big bang. This ekpyrotic phase also manages to produce a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of scalar density fluctuations, but, crucially, with significant non-gaussian corrections. In fact, some versions of ekpyrosis are on the borderline of being ruled out by observations, while, interestingly, the best-motivated models predict levels of non-gaussianity that will be measurable by near-future experiments. Here, we review these predictions in detail, and comment on their implications.
Protein-energy malnutrition in the rehabilitation setting : evidence to improve 1 identification 2

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Can Transient Institutions Correctly Interpret Small Negative Earnings Surprises in the Absence of Access to Management’s Private Information?

Using a proprietary database of institutional investors’ daily stock trading records in the post–Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) period, this study examines whether transient institutions have the independent ability to correctly process small negative earnings surprise announcements, which management claims transient institutions have difficulty in interpreting. We find economically significant abnormal selling by transient institutions in response to small negative earnings surprises. Transient institutions’ selling in response to small negative earnings surprises is also associated with significant contemporaneous stock price declines. However, we find no evidence that transient institutions’ trading in response to small negative earnings surprises is an overreaction as there is no reversal of stock prices subsequent to transient institutions’ trading. More importantly, we show that transient institutions’ trading in response to small negative earnings surprises helps improve the informational efficiency of share prices.
SECOND LANGUAGE VOCABULARY ACQUISITION UNDER TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF INSTRUCTION: THE EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATED AND DISTRIBUTED INTRODUCTION IN IMMEDIATE AND DELAYED RETENTION

This paper analyses the performance of university students enrolled in two different types of EFL programs, and with different time distribution. The first program (program A) offered six hours per week over two months, and it was classified as intensive or massed. The second program (program B) offered two hours per week during a period of six months, and it was classified as extensive or distributed. Acquisition was tested at two moments: just after instruction had finished and three months later. It was observed that massed introduction of vocabulary had better results than distributed introduction immediately after instruction. However, students enrolled in the extensive program could retain more vocabulary three months later.
SHORT-RUN AND LONG-RUN RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CAPITAL FORMATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN INDIA

Capital Formation also termed as ‘investment’ is an important macroeconomic variable in any economy. In this paper, capital formation and economic growth variables are considered for analysis wherein the short-run and long-run relationship between these variables in India is empirically tested with the help of co integration technique and vector error correction technique. The study reveals a long-run relationship between capital formation and economic growth. From policy point of view it is suggested that more thrust may be given for boosting the capital formation in the economy in order to achieve high economic growth in Indian economy
Effect of Different Level of Monensin Supplemented with Cold Process Urea Molasses Mineral Block on In vitro Rumen Fermentation at Different Days of Adaptation with Monensin

Effect of period of adaptation and levels of monensin were studied for microbial fermentation/ digestibility to find out the optimum period of adaptation of monensin in rumen and suitable level of monensin in wheat straw+concentrate and wheat straw+ UMMB diet. The mean digestibility of dry matter was decreased upto T-3 treatment (49.17%), however, digestibility of DM was affected upto period (P-2). NDF digestibility was affected due to treatment under P1 and P2 (p<0.05). Average digestibility of ADF was increased to 53.33% at T-3 level of monensin and P4 days of adaptation. TVFA (mmole/100 ml) were decreased from 9.49 in T-1 to 7.70 in T-7. Periods were not effectives except P2 (14 days of adaptation). Similarly, total gas was decrease with the increase of monensin levels in diet. Although acetate percentage in TVFA was not affected either due to level of monensin or period of adaptation but propionate was increased due to increase in monensin at 21 days of adaptation (P-3). Butyrate (%) was decreased significantly in T-2 to T-6 as compared to T-1 group. Total gas was significantly (p<0.01) higher in group T-1 (control) and it reduced significantly in T-5, however, differences in gas production between group T-3, T-5 and T-7 at P-1 was not significant. Methane production was reduced on P-3 and P-4 level of adaptation due to treatment. The overall result indicated that 21 days of adaptation with monensin was sufficient to mask the inhibiting effect of monensin to cell wall digestibility and 35 ppm monensin is optimum to reduce methane production and increase propionate productions. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2005. Vol 18, No. 3 : 320-325)