Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Malaysian learners and their perceptions towards online English language courses

With more emphasis given to the concept of lifelong learning, the number of learners who enroll for distance and online learning programmes in local tertiary institutions has increased. The flexibility of the online learning mode enables learners to prepare themselves to develop confidence and to learn with greater independence. This paper reports the findings of a study on the teaching and learning and technology factors of online English language courses at UNITAR (University Tun Abdul Razak), a virtual university in Malaysia. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed in eliciting data via a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews. Specifically, the paper reports on learners’ perceptions towards the teaching and learning as well as technology factors during the online English course they were engaged in. The findings with regard to the perceptions of the learners brought more new perspectives which could be incorporated or taken into consideration for an online language learning programme.
Establishment of the Normal Reference Range of Thrombelastogram among the Healthy Population and Pregnants in China

Background: We aimed to establish the reference range of thrombelastogram (TEG) for Chinese healthy volunteers and pregnant women and analyze the influence factors. Methods: Blood samples were collected from healthy volunteers and pregnant women at five tertiary hospitals (the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital, Hunan Cancer Hospital and Changsha Central Hospital) in 2016. The effects of age, gender, blood type, and full-term pregnancy on the reference range of normal TEG for healthy volunteers and pregnant women were studied. The specificity of TEG in detecting coagulation disorder. Results: For healthy volunteers, the normal ranges of TEG parameters were as follows: R, 4.3–9.3 min; K, 1.2–3.2 min; α, 50.2–71.2°; MA, 54.1–71.3 mm; LY30: 0%–2.2%; CI, −3.8–2.4. At least one parameter exceeded the normal range specified by the manufacturer in 20.3% of the healthy volunteers; about 7.6% healthy volunteers were diagnosed as coagulation disorder by the above standards; the specificity of detection was 79.7%. There were significant differences in R, K, α, MA and CI between males and females (P<0.01). For pregnant women, the normal ranges of TEG were as follows: R, 3.9–7.5 min; K, 1.0–2.4 min; α, 57.6–74.9°; MA, 55.7–75.7 mm; LY30, 0%–0.56%; CI, −0.97–3.6. Pregnant women having O blood group had a dramatically prolonged R. Full-term pregnancy had no significant impact on TEG results. Conclusion: Compared with pregnant women having non-O blood group, those having O blood group had a dramatically prolonged R and showed greater tendency to hemorrhage during and after parturition.
Training writing skills: A cognitive developmental perspective

Writing skills typically develop over a course of more than two decades as a child matures and learns the craft of composition through late adolescence and into early adulthood. The novice writer progresses from a stage of knowledge-telling to a stage of knowledgetransforming characteristic of adult writers. Professional writers advance further to an expert stage of knowledge-crafting in which representations of the author's planned content, the text itself, and the prospective reader's interpretation of the text are routinely manipulated in working memory. Knowledge-transforming, and especially knowledge-crafting, arguably occur only when sufficient executive attention is available to provide a high degree of cognitive control over the maintenance of multiple representations of the text as well as planning conceptual content, generating text, and reviewing content and text. Because executive attention is limited in capacity, such control depends on reducing the working memory demands of these writing processes through maturation and learning. It is suggested that students might best learn writing skills through cognitive apprenticeship training programs that emphasize deliberate practice.
Perceived Stress, Salivary Cortisol, and Depression in Adults Diagnosed with Postconcussion Syndrome; A Pilot Study

PERCEIVED STRESS, SALIVARY CORTISOL, AND DEPRESSION IN ADULTS DIAGNOSED WITH POSTCONCUSSION SYNDROME: A PILOT STUDY By Christine D. Fish-Huson, MSN, RN A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the School of Nursing at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2019. Director: Suzanne Ameringer, PhD, RN Professor, Department of Family and Community Health Nursing Introduction: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) affects approximately 1.7 million persons in the United States each year, of which an estimated 75% are categorized as mild TBI (mTBI). Most persons who experience an mTBI will recover completely, however an estimated 10% will develop Postconcussion Syndrome (PCS). PCS is chronic condition consisting of the presence of several coexisting symptoms that interfere with comfort and quality of life. Little is known regarding the development of PCS or the presence of PCS symptoms. Evidence supports a relationship between perceived stress, salivary cortisol levels, and depressive symptoms in persons after TBI; however, there are no known studies exploring these relationships in persons diagnosed with PCS. We sought to examine the relationships between perceived stress, salivary cortisol levels, and depressive symptoms in adult persons diagnosed with PCS; and to explore the potential mediating effect of cortisol between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. Method: A sample of 17 men and women diagnosed with PCS were recruited through general advertisement from Southwest Virginia and the Richmond area. Descriptive data collection included a Demographic Information form and the Rivermead Postconcussion Questionnaire. Variables of stress and depression were measured with the Perceived Stress Scale-10, Center for
Study of risk factors for conversion during laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has become the standard treatment for symptomatic gall bladder disease. However, there still a substantial proportion of patients in whom Laparoscopic cholecystectomy cannot be successfully performed, and for whom conversion to open surgery is required. This was a longitudinal study conducted in surgical unit of Sri Siddhartha Medical College. All the patients who had right hypochondriac pain and diagnosed with cholelithiasis on USG were included in the study. From the data collected, only factors available to surgeon preoperatively were considered for analysis. These factors included: age, gender, history of acute Cholecystitis, obesity and concomitant disease, In our study 90 patients were underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy Out of 90 total patients included in the study 81 patients had underwent successful Laparoscopic cholecystectomy and 9 patients needed conversion to open cholecystectomy. The conversion rate is 10% which is consistent with the other studies. The most common reason for conversion was difficult to define anatomy in patients with inflamed, contracted gall bladder. Significant predictor factors for conversion were male gender, acute Cholecystitis, and obesity. In our study it is concluded that Male sex, Age >50yrs, obesity (BMI>35 kg/m2), and cholecystitis are considered risk factors for conversion of Laparoscopic cholecystectomy to Open cholecystectomy. These factors can predict difficulty to be encountered during surgery and help in making a decision for conversion thus shortening the duration of surgery and preventing unnecessary complications.
Flavonoid intake and breast cancer incidence and survival

126 Introduction.127 Materials and Methods.128 Overview.128 Study Subjects.128 Exposure Assessment.128 Baseline, Case-Control Interview . 129 Dietary Flavonoid Intake Assessment at Baseline.129 Treatment Data.130 Case-control Interview.130 Follow-up Interview.130 Study Outcome.131 Statistical Analysis.131 Results.133 Discussion . 135 Tables.139 Chapter V: DISCUSSION . 145 Summary . 145 Study Strengths . 145 Biologic Plausibility of the Hypothesis . 145 Novelty of the Hypothesis . 147
Design, analysis and simulations of medium access control protocols for high and low data rate applications

The past two decades have witnessed an unprecedented proliferation of mobile devices equipped with extremely innovative wireless technologies. Short range networks, such as wireless personal area networks (WPANs), wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and wireless body area networks (WBANs) have been defined and researched to deliver high speed home connectivity, environment and health monitoring. This thesis tackles design, analysis and simulation of medium access control (MAC) protocols tailored for short range networks. These have in common the use of battery operated devices but also certain design challenges connected with MAC protocols are common upon selecting the physical layer technology. Ultra wideband (UWB) technology and 60 GHz technology (which is referred to also as millimeter wave communications) are two valid examples of the wireless revolution of the past decade. Several existing standards, such as IEEE 802.15. 3, ECMA-368, IEEE 802.15. 4 and its amendment IEEE 802.15. 4a, are considered in this thesis for MAC analysis in conjunction with UWB technology. With regard to millimeter wave communications the characteristics of the IEEE 802.15. 3c standard are taken into account. Apart for the IEEE 802.15. 3c all the MAC protocols have been modeled in the network simulator Opnet. One contribution of this thesis is to produce an innovative and in-depth analysis of the management aspects (e.g. ECMA-368 distributed beaconing) stemming from the above mentioned standards by means of analytical and simulation models. This study approach allows selecting the MAC features suitable for the applications and the technologies of interest. The key performance metric used to analyze all the protocols is energy efficiency, but also throughput is investigated. Another contribution brought by this thesis consists in the innovative way of studying slotted-based MAC protocols as an integrated concept connected with the type of network, the type of application and the selected physical technologies. This thesis also shows MAC performance in conjunction with UWB when false alarm, missdetection and receiver capture (capture is modeled by means of an existing interference model) are taken into consideration. Most of the unrealistic, though common, assumptions in MAC analysis are removed and the performance of selected medical applications is evaluated through Opnet simulations. The well known binary exponential backoff is analyzed with an innovative though simplified one-dimensional Markov chain approach in the context of directional MAC for 60 GHz communications. As shown in the remainder of this thesis, the simplification introduced does not hinder the accuracy of the results, but rather allows accounting even for a finite number of retransmissions with a simple chain extension.
Concept Maps as an Assessment Tool in Psychology Courses

A concept map is a graphic, hierarchically arranged knowledge representation that reflects the content of an individual's semantic long-term memory. In this article we describe the basic mapping technique, a number of variations on the technique, how faculty members can use concept maps as an adjunct to traditional assessment techniques in psychology courses, and as a means of evaluating students' maps both quantitatively and qualitatively. Based on the results of a comparison between students' concepts maps completed at the beginning and the end of semester, we conclude that the technique is effective at evaluating students' knowledge.
Alteration of Cell Mediated Immunity in Vitiligo Patients Using Narrow Band UVB as a Treatment.

VITILIGO is considered an autoimmune depigmenting disease. There were many evidences suggested the role of T cell mediated immunity and cytokines in the pathogenesis of the disease. The study included 20 active vitiligo patients (group 1), 20 treated patients using narrow band ultraviolet radiation B (NBUVB) (group 2), and 20 healthy control of matching age and sex (group 3). IL- 17, IL-10, TGF- Bi levels in skin tissue were measured in the three groups using ELISA technique. The results showed a significant increase in IL- 17 and TGF-Bi while there was a significant decrease in IL-10 in active vitiligo patients compared to the control (P= 0.000). Following treatment using NB-UVB, the results showed a significant decrease in the level of both IL- 17 and TGF-Bi while there was a significant increase in IL-10 (P= 0.000) compared to active vitiligo group. These statistically significant results suggest the cell mediated immune role in the disease and successful treatment by the narrow band UVB that altered the cytokines toxic effect.
A study of role of interleukin-8 in differentiating transudative and exudative pleural effusion

Background: Differentiation between transudative and exudative effusion is considered the initial step in the etiological diagnosis of any pleural effusion. The differentiation is essential, since the treatment of underlying systemic cause is enough in transudative pleural effusion, whereas extensive investigations and treatment is required in exudative effusion. Recent studies have demonstrated the existence of a novel neutrophil activating peptide first named NAP-l, but subsequently renamed IL-8. Interleukin-8 being the mediator of local inflammation may help in the differentiation of transudates and exudates. Methodology: This is a hospital based cross sectional study which included 70 patients with pleural effusion. After diagnosing pleural effusion, they were further divided into two categories, namely transudate and exudate based on Light’s criteria. The concentration of pleural fluid interleukin-8 was determined by an Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method by using commercially available assay kits. Statistical Analysis: All results are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD) for continuous variables and as frequencies for categorical variables. The difference in the age and gender between groups is disproved using independent student t-test and chi-square test, Mean pleural fluid Interleukin-8 level between the groups is analyzed using independent student t-test. Results: The parameters in Light’s criteria (pleural fluid protein and LDH) and Interleukin 8 were able to differentiate transudate from exudate and were found to be statistically significant with p value of Conclusions: It is clear from our study that IL-8 can be used to diagnose and differentiate exudates from transudative pleural effusions with a good sensitivity and specificity. Keywords: Pleural effusion, Interleukin 8, Exudative effusion, Transudative effusion, Empyema.
Increased uplink capacity for TDMA systems through joint detection with diversity arrays

Joint detection of Rayleigh faded cochannel signals has previously been shown to produce a new mode of reception behaviour, in which each additional signal costs only a small dB penalty with no loss of diversity order at the base station. Many simultaneous users can be supported in the same time-frequency slot, which results in a large increase in capacity. In this paper, we quantify the capacity increase on a system-wide basis while accounting for the increase in interference from cochannel cells due to the increased number of users. We demonstrate a soft capacity limit, similar to CDMA, and show that with several users per cell, the relative capacity improvement over a single-user TDMA system approaches M (the number of users) as the number of antennas is increased. We also analyze a system that uses conventional MMSE combining of base station antennas, and show that system capacity increases by only a small factor and actually declines as more users are added.
Execution characteristics of C++ and C programs on embedded processor ARM7TDMI

This paper presents detailed behavioral measurements of several C++ and C programs on embedded processor ARM7TDMI. By comparing the instruction set usage of C++ and C benchmark programs, we can specify what is needed in an embedded object-oriented processor in order to provide a fully object-oriented system in both hardware and software. Various architectural data related to execution behavior and instruction set usage is collected using ADS 1.2 and profiling software. In addition, the benchmarks explored in this paper have both C++ and C versions. All the programs are computing intensive and used with high frequency in embedded software. Results show that the static size of C++ program is larger than C programs. Although, C++ programs have more call instructions and more memory operations, C++ programs possess smaller function size than C programs. Various suggestions on optimization to be applicable in both hardware and software are appended in our research paper.
THE STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF ANTIPLATELET DRUGS ON HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS: PRESCRIPTION ANALYSIS STUDY

The aim of the present study is to assess the prescribing errors inhypertensive outpatients taking Antiplatelet drugswith other drugs and consequently the frequency and pattern of potential drug-drug interactions. A retrospective study was conductedfrom December 2017- May 2018.The data analysis was carried out by SPSS. Potential drug-drug interactions were determined by Micromedex 2. Severity of errors was evaluated according to NCCMERP (National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention). In current study 1142 medication errors (MEs) were trailed in 300 prescriptions. The utmost ubiquitous ME was the patient’s weight not mentioned in (95.3%) prescriptions continued by drug-drug interactions (95%). Diagnosis was missing in (73.3%) prescriptions. The average number of drugs per encounter was 5.64. According to NCCMERP highest number of the prescriptions (n=193, 64.33%) were fall in category D, followed by category C and I. Out of 300 prescriptions, majority of thedrug-druginteractions (88.33%) were moderate, (56%) minor andmajor drug-drug interactions were present in (11%) prescriptions. The most common drugs responsible for DDIs were Acetyl salicylic acid followed by Atenolol. The most commonly interacting pairs were Acetyl salicylic acid-Clopidogrel168(56%) followed by Acetyl salicylic acidCaptopril68(22.66%) and Acetyl salicylic acid-Nitroglycerine38(12.66). The study indicates the serious deficient of prescription writing skills among the doctors and their outcomes are responsible to promote the irrational use of drugs, high chances of drug-drug interactions and low patient compliance. Keywords: Prescribing errors, Drug-drug interaction, Micromedex, NCCMERP, Hypertensive, Antiplatelet
The Decay of Stem Cell Nourishment at the Niche

One of the main features of human aging is the loss of adult stem cell homeostasis. Organs that are very dependent on adult stem cells show increased susceptibility to aging, particularly organs that present a vascular stem cell niche. Reduced regenerative capacity in tissues correlates with reduced stem cell function, which parallels a loss of microvascular density (rarefraction) and plasticity. Moreover, the age-related loss of microvascular plasticity and rarefaction has significance beyond metabolic support for tissues because stem cell niches are regulated co-ordinately with the vascular cells. In addition, microvascular rarefaction is related to increased inflammatory signals that may negatively regulate the stem cell population. Thus, the processes of microvascular rarefaction, adult stem cell dysfunction, and inflammation underlie the cycle of physiological decline that we call aging. Observations from new mouse models and humans are discussed here to support the vascular aging theory. We develop a novel theory to explain the complexity of aging in mammals and perhaps in other organisms. The connection between vascular endothelial tissue and organismal aging provides a potential evolutionary conserved mechanism that is an ideal target for the development of therapies to prevent or delay age-related processes in humans.
Trends in Diagnosed Chronic Hepatitis B in a US Health System Population, 2006–2015

Abstract Background Trends in the epidemiology of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) among routine clinical care patients in the United States are not well documented. We used data from the Chronic Hepatitis Cohort Study to investigate changes in prevalence and newly recorded cases of CHB from 2006 to 2015. Methods Annual percentage changes (APCs) were estimated using join point Poisson regression. Analyses were adjusted by study site; when an interaction with the trend was observed, APCs were estimated by subgroups. Differences in rates based on race, age, and sex were calculated with rate ratios. Results We identified 5492 patients with CHB within select health systems with total populations that ranged from 1.9 to 2.4 million persons. From 2006 to 2014, the prevalence of diagnosed CHB increased from 181.3 to 253.0 per 100 000 persons in the health system population; from 2014 to 2015, it declined to 237.0 per 100 000 persons. APC was +3.7%/y through 131 December 2014 (P < .001) and −15.0%/y (P < .001) thereafter. The rate of newly reported cases of CHB did not change significantly across the study period (APC, −1.1%/y; P = .07). The rates of newly reported cases were 20.5 times higher among patients in the Asian American/American Indian/Pacific Islander (ASINPI) category, compared with white patients, and 2.8 times higher among African American patients. The ratio of male to female patients was roughly 3:2. Conclusions The prevalence of diagnosed CHB in this US patient population increased from 2006 to 2014, after which it decreased significantly. Rates declined most rapidly among patients ≤40 or 61–70 years old, as well as among ASINPI patients. The rate of newly reported cases remained steady over the study period.
Analgesia and sedation post-coronary artery bypass graft surgery: a review of the literature

Abstract This review aimed to study the role of analgesia and sedation after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, regarding pain management, assisted respiration, overall postoperative health care, and hospitalization. Data were collected from Pubmed, Scopus, and Cochrane databases. The following terms were used for the search: “analgesia”, “sedation”, “coronary artery bypass grafting”, CABG”, and “opioids”. Articles between the years 1988 and 2018 were evaluated. Several opioid and non-opioid analgesics used to relieve surgical pain are regarded as critical risk factors for developing pulmonary and cardiovascular complications in all kinds of thoracic surgery, especially CABG procedures. Effective pain management in post-CABG patients is largely dependent on effective pain assessment, type of sedatives and analgesics administered, and evaluation of their effects on pain relief. A significant challenge is to determine adequate amounts of administered analgesics and sedatives for postoperative CABG patients, because patients often order more sedatives and analgesics than needed. The pain management process is deemed successful when patients feel comfortable after surgery, with no negative side effects. However, postoperative pain management patterns have not included many modern methods such as patient-controlled analgesia, and postoperative pain management drugs are still limited to a restricted range of opioid and non-opioid analgesics.