Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spinal cord stimulation in painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy: cinical- and cost-effectiveness

Background Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (PDPN) is associated with high pain scores and is difficult to treat. Therefore, spinal cord stimulation has been suggested as second-line treatment. In this study the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of spinal cord stimulation in PDPN were investigated, as well as the predictive value of clinical sensory testing for treatment outcome. Methods Fifteen patients with intractable PDPN in the lower limbs were recruited. During lead implantation the feasibility of achieving adequate paraesthesia coverage using one stimulation lead was investigated. If trial stimulation was successful, a definitive neurostimulator was implanted. Pain intensity was scored using the 11 points numeric rating scale and patients’ global impression of change scale. Additionally, neuropathic pain characteristics, quality of life, sleep quality and mood were assessed. Predictive value of clinical sensory testing for treatment outcome was analyzed. Results Adequate paraesthesia coverage was achieved in 14 out of 15 patients. Clinically relevant pain relief was present in 11 patients after trial stimulation and 10 patients at 12 months. Quality of life was significantly increased at 2 weeks and a trend remained visible at 12 months. Several neuropathic pain characteristics and quality of sleep were improved at 2 weeks and 12 months. Preoperative clinical sensory testing did not differentiate between treatment responders from non-responders. Conclusions Spinal cord stimulation seems to be an efficacious and feasible treatment for intractable PDPN. Treatment outcome cannot be predicted by clinical sensory testing. These results justify performing a randomized clinical trial. Pain relief and QoL improvement of SCS in PDPN: pilot study | 61 3
Risk of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Results of a Case-Control Study

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy in children. Different environmental factors might be effective in the occurrence of this malignancy during childhood. The aim of this study was to find environmental risk factors in childhood ALL in Hamadan, Iran. Methods: This case-control study was done in 2015-2018 on 125 children younger than 15 years of age suffering from ALL. Patients were matched with 130 controls with respect to age, gender, and residence location. The identification of risk factors for ALL was sought based on the comparison of studied variables between case and control individuals. Results: A statistically significant increased risk for ALL was found with regard to type of delivery (OR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.20 - 0.92, p˂0.02), childcare (OR: 4.58, 95% CI: 0.95 - 22.20, p˂0.04), birth weight (OR: 1.44, 95% CI: 1.53 - 2.21, p˂0.006), father’s education level (OR: 2.67, 95% CI: 1.10 - 6.45, p˂0.02), and father’s job (OR: 0.2 95% CI: 0.08 - 0.51, p˂0.001). Also observed were increased odds for ALL regarding male gender, mother’s high education level, mother’s freelance job, and medium or high family income. No association with ALL incidence was observed for age, gender, breastfeeding, mother’s age at pregnancy, malignancy in first- or second-degree relatives, or mother’s use of hair dye during pregnancy (p> 0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that father’s education level, father’s job, delivery type, birth weight, and childcare can play a role in the incidence of childhood ALL.
Three Markers in Cancerous and Healthy Cells of Patients with Non-Small-Cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC)

Introduction: Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death among males and females. The diagnosis of lung cancer is of great importance for clinical considerations and follow-up treatment. This study aimed to examine the expression of CEA, LUNX, and CK19 biomarkers in the cancerous and healthy tissues of patients suffering from NSCLC. Methods: In this study, 30 patients with NSCLCs referring to Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran were voluntarily selected prior to taking any treatment. A tissue sample from the center and a sample of healthy tissues close to the cancerous masses were prepared by a specialist in the bronchoscopy sector and tested using real-time RT-PCR. Results: Positive CEA mRNA was observed in cancerous tissues in the center of tumors of 25 out of 30 cases. In the healthy tissue group, the same was found in 10 out of 30 cases (P<0.001). The markers CK19 and LUNX mRNAs showed to be positive in cancerous samples in the center of tumors of 15 and 22 out of 30 cases, and in the healthy tissue group, the expression was observed in 5 and 4 out of 30 cases, respectively(P<0.001). Conclusion: This study confirms that the aformentioed markers are the ones with a relatively appropriate sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of lung cancer.
Genome Wide Association Studies for Fatty acids , Mineral and Proximate Compositions in Groundnut ( Arachis hypogaea L . ) Seeds

Groundnut is basically grown for its oil in most countries and the quality of the oil depends on the total oil, protein and fatty acid compositions in the seeds. The objective of this study was to identify markers that were associated with fatty acids, minerals and proximate composition in groundnut seeds. One hundred and seventy groundnut collections were evaluated in the dry season of 2017 at the research field of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Bayero University Kano. Marker trait association was calculated using the GAPIT package via the KDCompute interface. Significant differences were observed between the genotypes for all the trait measured except for moisture content, crude fiber, crude fat, crude protein, dry matter and nonadenic acid. The heritability values of traits ranged from 0.04 to 0.48. A total of 144 highly significant (P<0.001) MTAs with 46 markers for fatty acids (118), minerals (4) and proximate (22) compositions were identified. Most of the markers identified possible MTA in both the A and B genomes. Validation studies are needed to find if these markers are identifying one locus or perhaps a locus duplicated in the two genomes.
Sensor Analytics in Basketball

A new approach in team sports analysis consists in studying positioning and movements of players during the game in relation to team performance. State of the art tracking systems produce spatio-temporal traces of players that have facilitated a variety of research aimed to extract insights from trajectories. Several methods borrowed from machine learning, network and complex systems, geographic information system, computer vision and statistics have been proposed. After having reviewed the state of the art in those niches of literature aiming to extract useful information to analysts and experts in terms of relation between players' trajectories and team performance, this paper presents preliminary results from analysing trajectories data and sheds light on potential future research in this field of study. In particular, using convex hulls, we find interesting regularities in players' movement patterns.
Linking behaviour and climate change in intertidal ectotherms : insights from 1 littorinid snails 2 3

22 A key element missing from many predictive models of the impacts of climate change 23 on intertidal ectotherms is the role of individual behaviour. In this synthesis, using 24 littorinid snails as a case study, we show how thermoregulatory behaviours may 25 buffer changes in environmental temperatures. These behaviours include either a 26 flight response, to escape the most extreme conditions and utilize warmer or cooler 27 environments; or a fight response, where individuals modify their own environments 28 to minimize thermal extremes. A conceptual model, generated from studies of 29 littorinid snails, shows that various flight and fight thermoregulatory behaviours may 30 allow an individual to widen its thermal safety margin (TSM) under warming or 31 cooling environmental conditions and hence increase species’ resilience to climate 32 change. Thermoregulatory behaviours may also buffer sublethal fitness impacts 33 associated with thermal stresses. Through this synthesis, we emphasise that future 34 studies need to consider not only animals' physiological limits but also their capacities 35 to buffer the impact of climate change through behavioural responses. Current 36 generalizations, made largely on physiological limits of species, often neglect the 37 buffering effects of behaviour and may, therefore, provide an over-estimation of 38 vulnerability, and consequently poor prediction of the potential impacts of climate 39 change on intertidal ectotherms. 40 41
STATED SKEIN ALGEBRAS OF SURFACES

We study the algebraic and geometric properties of stated skein algebras of surfaces with punctured boundary. We prove that the skein algebra of the bigon is isomorphic to the quantum group Oq2(SL(2)) that provides a topological interpretation for its structure morphisms. We also show that its stated skein algebra lifts in a suitable sense the Reshetikhin-Turaev functor and in particular we recover the dual R-matrix for Oq2(SL(2)) in a topological way. We deduce that the skein algebra of a surface with n boundary components is a comodule-algebra over Oq2(SL(2)) and prove that cutting along an ideal arc corresponds to Hochshild cohomology of bicomodules. We give a topological interpretation of braided tensor product of stated skein algebras of surfaces as glueing on a triangle ; then we recover topologically some bialgebras in the category of Oq2(SL(2))-comodules, among which the transmutation of Oq2(SL(2)). We also provide an operadic interpretation of stated skein algebras as an example of a geometric non symmetric modular operad . In the last part of the paper we de ne a reduced version of stated skein algebras and prove that it allows to recover Bonahon-Wong's quantum trace map and interpret skein algebras in the classical limit when q → 1 as regular functions over a suitable version of moduli spaces of twisted bundles.
EVALUATING PRINCIPALS Balancing accountability with professional growth

Effective principals are those who boost academic achievement for all students, increase the effectiveness of their teaching staffs, and consistently take leadership actions shown to improve outcomes for students. Therefore principal evaluation systems1 should place 70% of their weight on the ability of principals to increase student achievement and teacher effectiveness outcomes, with the remaining 30% focused on their demonstration of effective practices and leadership actions. Local school systems should then use these assessments to drive not only key accountability decisions, but also to support professional learning and growth.
Metric Learning Energy Confused Adversarial Metric Learning A A C D C ? D ?

Deep metric learning has been widely applied in many computer vision tasks, and recently, it is more attractive in zero-shot image retrieval and clustering(ZSRC) where a good embedding is requested such that the unseen classes can be distinguished well. Most existing works deem this ’good’ embedding just to be the discriminative one and thus race to devise powerful metric objectives or hard-sample mining strategies for leaning discriminative embedding. However, in this paper, we first emphasize that the generalization ability is a core ingredient of this ’good’ embedding as well and largely affects the metric performance in zero-shot settings as a matter of fact. Then, we propose the Energy Confused Adversarial Metric Learning(ECAML) framework to explicitly optimize a robust metric. It is mainly achieved by introducing an interesting Energy Confusion regularization term, which daringly breaks away from the traditional metric learning idea of discriminative objective devising, and seeks to ’confuse’ the learned model so as to encourage its generalization ability by reducing overfitting on the seen classes. We train this confusion term together with the conventional metric objective in an adversarial manner. Although it seems weird to ’confuse’ the network, we show that our ECAML indeed serves as an efficient regularization technique for metric learning and is applicable to various conventional metric methods. This paper empirically and experimentally demonstrates the importance of learning embedding with good generalization, achieving state-of-theart performances on the popular CUB, CARS, Stanford Online Products and In-Shop datasets for ZSRC tasks. Code available at http://www.bhchen. cn/.
New Media in Social Contexts : Toward a Research Model on User Beliefs and Intentions to Use

This paper proposes a research model, incorporating cognitive absorption, a state of deep involvement, for studying the formation of user beliefs and intention to use new media. Adjusting the work of Agarwal and Karahanna (2000) from organizational to social contexts, the proposed model (1) emphasizes enjoyment over usefulness, (2) stresses the importance of user's perception of media-specific factors, and (3) incorporates a link between buying related aspects preceding the intention to use. The paper contributes to theory development on the formation of user beliefs and intentions to use new media in social contexts.
Impact from U Omoko

Employing static/dynamic models that capture herding under different market regimes, we provide novel evidence on the herding behaviour of UK-listed Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Our sample is extensive and covers the period from 30/6/2004 to 5/4/2016. Estimates of herding behaviour are derived using a Markov regimeswitching model. The analysis suggests the existence of three market regimes (low, high and extreme or crash volatility) with transition ordered as ‘low, high and crash volatility’. Although static herding model rejects the existence of herding in REITs markets, estimates of the regimes switching model reveal substantial evidence of herding behaviours under the low volatility regime. Most interestingly we observe a shift from anti-herding behaviour during high volatility regimes to herding behaviour under low volatility regime, with this caused by the UK VIX. JEL Classification Code: C32, G11, G15
Pre-service Teachers’ Academic Motivation and Coping Strategies as the Predictors of their Academic Procrastination1

1 This research was presented as an oral presentation at ISNITE 2014 International Symposium, New Issues on Teacher Education, held at the University of Macerata in Italy. 2 Expert, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Faculty of Education, sinemisacar@gmail.com 3 Research Assistant, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Faculty of Education, caglarkaya@mu.edu. tr Abstract The purpose of this study is to determine how variables like coping strategies and academic motivation predict teacher candidates’ academic procrastination. Based on the prior studies and researches, it is expected that academic procrastination should show negative relations with academic motivation and positive relations with coping strategies. Participants of the research were 280 students (164/58.6% female, 116/41.4% male) from different departments of the Faculty of Education in Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University. Age of the participants ranged between 18 and 27, arithmetic age average being X ̅=20.13 (SD=1.57). The obtained data was analyzed through stepwise regression analysis. The results of the research reveal that the best predictors of academic procrastination among all the independent variables are respectively, avoidance, self-transcendence and discovery. According to the results of stepwise regression analysis, the implied variables explain 29% of the total variance. As opposed to the problem statement of this study, other independent variables like using knowledge, problem solving and seeking social support are not predictors of academic procrastination.
Durability Properties of Concrete with Recycled Waste Tyres

Concrete industry is one of the major consumers of natural resources. The main aim of sustainable development is to find alternative resources, which could decrease negative effect of concrete industr y on environment and contribute to preservation of na tural resources. Huge amounts of waste tyres accumulated all over the world are recognized as go od supplement for natural resources in concrete. In this paper is given an overview on possible use of waste tyres in concrete as replacement of part o f the aggregate. Research encompassed comparison betw een mixtures with different chemical and mineral admixtures with the main aim of achieving e conomically eligible, ecologically acceptable and more efficient concrete mixture. The investigation ncluded examination of mechanical and durability properties such as: compressive strength, gas and w ter permeability, capillary absorption, chloride diffusion and resistance on spalling due to freezin g a d thawing of CRT (Concrete with Recycled waste Tyres). Results presented in the paper show t at in specific applications CRT is interesting alternative to normal concrete.
Probabilistic seismic hazard maps in terms of intensities for Romania and Bulgaria

Since 2007 Romania and Bulgaria are members of the European Union. All member states have to introduce the European earthquake building code EUROCODE 8 (EC 8) in the coming years. Therefore new seismic hazard maps have to be calculated according to the recommendations in EC 8. Here the authors present a novel approach to compute such hazard maps. We prefer to use the macroseismic intensity as hazard parameter because of two reasons: First, the intensity is directly related to the degree of damage. Second, a great advantage of using intensities here is that the irregular spatial attenuation field of the Vrancea intermediate depth earthquakes can be estimated by detailed macroseismic maps. The main base of our probabilistic analysis is the earthquake catalogue for SEEurope (Shebalin et al. 1998) in combination with some local catalogues. Foreand aftershocks were removed. Seismic source zones inside an area of about 200 km around Romania and Bulgaria were defined based on seismicity, neotectonics and geological development. For each seismic source the intensity-frequency relation was calculated and a maximum possible earthquake as well as a seismogenic depth was estimated. An appropriate attenuation law was assumed. To cope with the irregular isoseismals of the Vrancea intermediate depth earthquakes a correction factor was included in the attenuation law using detailed macroseismic maps of three intermediate depth earthquakes The contributions of all seismic sources, the crustal normal depth source zones and the Vrancea intermediate depth zone, are summed up to the annual probability of exceedance. Hazard maps were calculated for recurrence periods of 475 years (probability of exceedance of 10% in 50 years), 95 years (probability of exceedance of 10% in 10 years), in agreement with the recommendations of the European building code EC 8, as well as 2475 and 5000 years. Detailed information can be found in Ardeleanu et al. (2005) and in Simeonova et al. (2006).
Effects of neurobic exercise on cognitive function and serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the normal to mild cognitive impaired older people : A randomized control trial

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of neurobic exercise on cognitive function and serum brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the normal to mild cognitive impaired elderly. Fifty-one participants were simple randomized into two groups. The intervention group received one hour neurobic exercise training per session for two sessions a week for 24 weeks and the control group engaged in their routine activities twice a week at a senior club. All subjects were assessed using a battery of neuropsychological tests and serum BDNF. The results showed that the experimental group had significantly improved cognitive scores compared to the control group (P<0.05). Only in the experimental group was there a significant increase in serum BDNF after completing the neurobic exercise session. The study indicated that neurobic exercise has an effect on cognitive function in aging. Moreover, the increased serum level of BDNF might be an indicator for the enhancement of brain function.
Generalization of ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k ) -fuzzy soft near-rings and ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k ) -fuzzy soft ideals over near-rings

In this paper, we introduce the notions of ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k δ ) -fuzzy soft near-ring and ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k δ ) - fuzzy soft ideal over a near-ring which are generalizations of ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k ) -fuzzy soft near-ring and ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k ) -fuzzy soft ideal respectively. We show that the restricted intersection (resp. extendedintersection,union,“AND”operationand“OR”operation)of ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k δ ) -fuzzysoft near-rings (resp. ideals) is an ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k δ ) -fuzzy soft near-ring (resp. ideal) over a near-ring. Further, we introduce the concepts of ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k δ ) -fuzzy soft subnear-ring and ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k δ ) - fuzzy soft ideal of an ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k δ ) -fuzzy soft near-ring and provide some related results. Finally, we study the image and pre-image of an ( ∈ , ∈ ∨ q k δ ) -fuzzy soft near-ring (resp. ideal) over a near-ring using fuzzy soft homomorphism.
The Impact of Machine Learning on Economics

This paper provides an assessment of the early contributions of machine learning to economics, as well as predictions about its future contributions. It begins by brieﬂy overviewing some themes from the literature on machine learning, and then draws some contrasts with traditional approaches to estimating the impact of counterfactual policies in economics. Next, we review some of the initial “oﬀ-the-shelf” applications of machine learning to economics, including applications in analyzing text and images. We then describe new types of questions that have been posed surrounding the application of machine learning to policy problems, including “prediction policy problems,” as well as considerations of fairness and manipulability. Next, we brieﬂy review of some of the emerging econometric literature combining machine learning and causal inference. Finally, we overview a set of predictions about the future impact of machine learning on economics.
Characterization of muscle belly elastic properties during passive stretching using transient elastography

Passive muscle stretching can be used in vivo to assess the viscoelastic properties of the entire musculo-articular complex, but does not allow the specific determination of the muscle or tendon viscoelasticity. In this respect, the local muscle hardness (LMH) of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) belly was measured during a passive ankle stretching of 10 subjects using transient elastography. A Biodex isokinetic dynamometer was used to stretch ankle plantar flexors, to measure ankle angle, and the passive torque developed by the ankle joint in resistance to the stretch. Results show that the LMH increased during the stretching protocol, with an averaged ratio between maximal LMH and minimal LMH of 2.6270. 46. Furthermore, LMH–passive torque relationships were nicely fitted using a linear model with mean correlation coefficients (R) of 0.82870. 099. A good reproducibility was found for the maximal passive torque (ICC 1⁄4 0.976, SEM 1⁄4 2.9Nm, CV 1⁄4 5.5%) and the y-intercept of the LMH–passive torque relationship (ICC 1⁄4 0.893, SEM 1⁄4 105 Pa, CV 1⁄4 7.8%). However, the reproducibility was low for the slope of this relationship (ICC 1⁄4 0.631, SEM 1⁄4 10.35m , CV 1⁄4 60.4%). The y-intercept of the LMH–passive torque relationship was not significantly changed after 10min of static stretching. This result confirms the finding of a previous study indicating that changes in passive torque following static stretching could be explained by an acute increase in muscle length without any changes in musculo-articular intrinsic mechanical properties. r 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.