Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experiences of support garments following bowel stoma formation: analysis of free-text responses in a cross-sectional survey

Aim To explore the experiences of support garments when adjusting to bodily change following bowel stoma formation. Design Thematic analyses of free-text responses in a cross-sectional survey of the stoma population in 2018. Methods Free-text responses were invited so that respondents could describe their experiences in more detail. A process of induction was chosen to allow for themes to emerge directly from the data. The concept ‘embodiment’ was used as a theoretical framework during interpretation. Results 1425 people with a bowel stoma responded to the survey, of whom 598 provided free-text responses. Four themes about experiences of support garments in the context of changed bodily experiences following stoma formation were identified: body complications, which is about experiences of using support garments to prevent or self-manage parastomal hernia; body appearance, which is about hiding the stoma and stoma appliance; body function, which is about managing stoma appliance complications; and body sensation, which is mainly about negative experiences of ill-fitting garments. Conclusion Support garments can be understood as items that are used by people during an ongoing process of adjusting to bodily changes following stoma formation and as part of an ongoing process of reconstructing new embodied selves. Impact This is the first study to explore people’s experiences of support garments following bowel stoma formation. Support garments are used in the self-management of body complications, appearance, function and sensations. Stoma nurses may draw on the findings of this study to advise patients about the benefits of garments for adjusting to bodily change, and garment suppliers should address people’s negative experiences by improving garments.
Balance sheet strength and the bank-lending channel: evidence from an emerging market

The bank lending channel view of monetary policy argues that bank loan supply should fall during periods of tight monetary policy. Employing a sample of over 122 Indian commercial banks for the period between 2005-17, we investigate the role of cross-sectional heterogeneity in bank balance sheet strength in the effectiveness of bank lending channel. We show that both small and large banks with liquid balance sheets are able to maintain their supply of loans during periods of tight monetary policy. Furthermore, we find that higher capital ratios can also enable banks to maintain their loan supply, in particular among smaller financial institutions. The mechanism at play is a time deposits insulation channel, whereby banks with strong balance sheets can raise time deposits during periods of contractionary monetary policy.
Cultural tourism: cultural presentation at the Basotho cultural village, Free State, South Africa

ABSTRACT South Africa is a unique country with a melting pot of miscellaneous cultures. Many of these cultures have been preserved and displayed in the form of cultural villages. To sustain these cultural villages, it is important to invest in a market-based and product-based empirical research. This study therefore, investigates the visitor’s responses to the experience and the cultural presentation at Basotho Cultural Village, Free State, South Africa. The population of the study was domestic and international tourists visiting the village. Data was gathered from 305 tourists by means of a self-administered questionnaire. The results gathered provide the visitor’s demographic profile, the visitor’s experience and the overall satisfaction with the cultural presentation. The village is a drawcard for both local (n = 251) and international tourists (n = 54) who sees the cultural experience at the village as extremely important. The results indicate the high level of satisfaction with the overall experience as (90.2%) of the visitors were satisfied. However, the research also indicates that there are concerns over the service, facilities and staff portrayal of genuine Basotho culture at the village. The study highlights critical aspects of visitor experience at a heritage site for the village management and destination marketing organisations (DMO’s).
A short and long-term evaluation of a substance abuse program for incarcerated men

Abstract The substance abuse program (SAP) is a multifaceted, cognitive-behavioral program that targets attitudes and behaviors related to drug taking and criminal behavior. The short-term impact of the SAP was assessed using five standardized measures administered pre- and post-program. Its long-term impact was assessed by comparing recidivism rates for SAP participants to a matched control group. Results revealed large, desirable short-term changes but no differences in recidivism. For both groups, the strongest predictor of reoffending was whether individuals used crack cocaine, suggesting that the SAP and other programs should be tailored to meet the needs of specific subgroups of substance users.
Authentic leadership and work engagement: The indirect effects of psychological safety and trust in supervisors

Orientation: The orientation of this study was towards authentic leadership and its influence on psychological safety, trust in supervisors and work engagement.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of authentic leadership on trust in supervisors, psychological safety and work engagement. Another aim was to determine whether trust in supervisors and psychological safety had an indirect effect on the relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement. An additional objective was to determine if authentic leadership indirectly influenced psychological safety through trust in supervisors.Motivation for the study: Globally, businesses are faced with many challenges which may be resolved if leaders are encouraged to be more authentic and employees more engaged. In this study, investigating the role of trust in supervisors and psychological safety on the relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement is emphasised.Research design, approach and method: This study was quantitative in nature and used a cross-sectional survey design. A sample of 244 employees within the South African mining industry completed the Authentic Leadership Inventory, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Workplace Trust Survey and Psychological Safety Questionnaire.Main findings: The results indicated that authentic leadership is a significant predictor of both trust in supervisors and psychological safety. This study further found that authentic leadership had a statistically significant indirect effect on work engagement through trust in supervisors.Practical or managerial implications: The main findings suggest that having more authentic leaders in the mining sector could enhance trust in these leaders. Authentic leadership thus plays an important role in creating a positive work environment. This work environment of authenticity and trust could lead to a more engaged workforce.Contribution or value-add: Limited empirical evidence exists with regard to the relationship between authentic leadership, work engagement, psychological safety and trust in supervisors. This is particularly true in the mining sector. This study aimed to contribute to the limited number of studies conducted.
Energy Efficient Traffic Offloading in Multi-Tier Heterogeneous 5G Networks Using Intuitive Online Reinforcement Learning

The energy efficiency in multi-tier heterogeneous 5G networks is a critical issue due to the fact that the macro base stations (BSs) power consumption is considerably high and proportional to their traffic load. Traffic offloading from macrocells to small cells is envisioned as a potential solution to improve energy efficiency in 5G heterogeneous networks. However, traffic offloading causes traffic congestion at small cells, interference as a result of small cells transmissions, and aggregate power consumption of small cells. These factors make the traffic offloading procedure more challenging. In this paper, we propose a conditional traffic offloading scheme, which relies on macrocells and small cells system load information to determine the most energy efficient traffic offloading strategy, select the proper operation mode of small cells, and fulfill macro users applications’ quality of service (QoS) requirements. The proposed scheme is developed using a novel intuitive online reinforcement learning methodology to perform the conditional traffic offloading in which each macro BS conjectures the offloading strategies of other macrocells. The convergence of the proposed scheme is proved and numerical results demonstrate its capability to achieve fast convergence with QoS guarantee and significant energy efficiency.
Identification of Novel Genetic Markers Associated with Clinical Phenotypes of Systemic Sclerosis through a Genome-Wide Association Strategy

The aim of this study was to determine, through a genome-wide association study (GWAS), the genetic components contributing to different clinical sub-phenotypes of systemic sclerosis (SSc). We considered limited (lcSSc) and diffuse (dcSSc) cutaneous involvement, and the relationships with presence of the SSc-specific auto-antibodies, anti-centromere (ACA), and anti-topoisomerase I (ATA). Four GWAS cohorts, comprising 2,296 SSc patients and 5,171 healthy controls, were meta-analyzed looking for associations in the selected subgroups. Eighteen polymorphisms were further tested in nine independent cohorts comprising an additional 3,175 SSc patients and 4,971 controls. Conditional analysis for associated SNPs in the HLA region was performed to explore their independent association in antibody subgroups. Overall analysis showed that non-HLA polymorphism rs11642873 in IRF8 gene to be associated at GWAS level with lcSSc (P = 2.32×10−12, OR = 0.75). Also, rs12540874 in GRB10 gene (P = 1.27 × 10−6, OR = 1.15) and rs11047102 in SOX5 gene (P = 1.39×10−7, OR = 1.36) showed a suggestive association with lcSSc and ACA subgroups respectively. In the HLA region, we observed highly associated allelic combinations in the HLA-DQB1 locus with ACA (P = 1.79×10−61, OR = 2.48), in the HLA-DPA1/B1 loci with ATA (P = 4.57×10−76, OR = 8.84), and in NOTCH4 with ACA P = 8.84×10−21, OR = 0.55) and ATA (P = 1.14×10−8, OR = 0.54). We have identified three new non-HLA genes (IRF8, GRB10, and SOX5) associated with SSc clinical and auto-antibody subgroups. Within the HLA region, HLA-DQB1, HLA-DPA1/B1, and NOTCH4 associations with SSc are likely confined to specific auto-antibodies. These data emphasize the differential genetic components of subphenotypes of SSc.
Parotid abscess: 15-year experience at a tertiary care referral center in Taiwan

Background: Parotid abscess is an uncommon condition, but it can cause potentially lethal systemic infections. The aim of this study was to analyze cases with parotid abscess during 15-year period and further determine the optimal diagnostic and therapeutic modalities at a tertiary medical center in Taiwan. Patients and Methods: Nineteen patients diagnosed with parotid abscess were retrospectively analyzed from November 2002 to October 2017. Patients' clinical symptoms, etiology, diagnostic methods, bacteriology, and antibiotic and surgical treatment were evaluated. Results: Among 19 patients diagnosed with parotid abscess, 12 were male and 7 were female. Their diagnostic ages ranged from 25 to 88 years (mean 55.5 years). The most common symptoms at initial presentation were painful swelling of the intra-auricular region and fever. Typical etiologies were odontogenic infections or poor oral hygiene. Thirteen out of 18 patients with drainage of abscess showed positive finding of bacterial cultures, and the most common pathogen was Klebsiella pneumoniae in six patients. One patient received intravenous antibiotics alone but eventually died of sepsis. In addition to antibiotic treatment, the other 18 patients underwent a combination of antibiotic treatment and drainage of abscess. Among them, 14 patients received surgical drainage and 4 patients received ultrasound-guided needle aspiration of abscess. After drainage, all had complete resolution of disease without recurrence or sequelae during at least 1 year of follow-up.Conclusions: This study highlights that K. pneumonia is an important pathogen of parotid abscess in consideration of the rapidly increasing cases of diabetes mellitus in Taiwan. In addition to early diagnosis, parotid abscess should be managed with broad-spectrum antibiotics, adequate hydration, and appropriate drainage to prevent unwanted morbidity and mortality.
Analysis of Price Efficiency of Smallholder Farmers in Maize Production in Gudeya Bila District, Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia: Stochastic, Dual Cost approach

Even if Ethiopia had adopted different strategy and policies the productivity of agricultural production is not as meet the demand of the peoples. The aim of this study was to analyze productivity and price efficiency of smallholder farmers in maize production in the study area. To meet the stated objectives primary data were collected using structured questionnaires from 154 randomly selected sample households during the 2017/18 production year. Copdoglous production function was applied to analysis productivity where as dual cost is used to estimate price efficiency. Tobit model was used to identify factors affecting price efficiency level. Price efficiency were 70.06%. Thus the results reveal exists considerable levels of price inefficiencies in maize production in study area. The Tobit model results revealed that livestock holding and participation in off/non-farm activities had positive effect and distance of maize plot from home were found to had negative effect on price efficiency The result indicated that there exists a room to increase the price efficiency of maize producers in the study area. For realizing significant price efficiency gains policies and strategies of the government should be directed towards increasing farmer’s livestock holding and promoting off/non-farm activities.
Toxicity and Transcriptome Sequencing (RNA-seq) Analyses of Adult Zebrafish in Response to Exposure to Stabilized FeS and Fe3O4 Nanoparticles

ii Acknowledgments. v Chapter 1. General Introduction . 1 1.1 Engineered Nanoparticles. 1 1.2 Mechanisms of Nanoparticles Toxicity . 2 1.3 Effect of Coatings on NPs-induced Toxicity . 7 1.4 Approaches for Evaluating Toxicity of Nanomaterials . 9 1.5 Iron Based Engineered Nanoparticles . 21 1.6 RNA-seq Technology and Zebrafish . 23 1.7 Objectives of This Research . 24 1.8 Organization of This Dissertation . 25 Chapter 2 Toxicity and Transcriptome Sequencing (RNA-seq) Analyses of Adult Zebrafish in Response to Exposure Carboxymethyl Cellulose Stabilized Iron Sulfide Nanoparticles. 26 2.
The School-To-Prison Pipeline: An Examination of the Association Between Suspension and Justice System Involvement

The purpose of this study is to contribute to understanding the school-to-prison pipeline by examining the extent to which low school commitment and deviant peer association mediate the relationship between suspension by age 12 and justice system involvement by age 18. The analysis was performed in two steps using structural equation modeling and data from the LONGSCAN study (N = 837). Results of the full model indicate that suspension by the age of 12 is associated with justice system involvement directly and indirectly. Directly, youth who are suspended by age 12 are more likely to report justice system involvement at age 18; indirectly, these youth are more likely to associate with deviant peers in adolescence, increasing their odds of justice system involvement.
Methods in the study of marine mammal stress: Measuring binding affinity of corticosteroid binding globulin

BRENDAN DELEHANTY, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario M1C 1A5, Canada; GREGORY D. BOSSART, Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta, Georgia 30313, U.S.A. ; CORY CHAMPAGNE, National Marine Mammal Foundation, 2240 Shelter Island Drive, Suite 200, San Diego, California 92106, U.S.A. and Old Dominion University, Department of Biological Sciences, Norfolk, Virginia 23529, U.S.A. ; DANIEL E. CROCKER, Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati Avenue, Rohnert Park, California 94928, U.S.A. ; PATRICIA A. FAIR, Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, U.S.A. ; MARTIN HAULENA, Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre, PO Box 3232, Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 3X8, Canada; DORIAN HOUSER, National Marine Mammal Foundation, 2240 Shelter Island
KEMAMPUAN KOMUNIKASI DAN BERPIKIR LOGIS MATEMATIKSERTA KEMANDIRIAN BELAJAR

This paper reports the findings from a postest experimental control group design conducted in 2011 to investigate students’ mathematical communication and logical thinking abilities and self regulated learning. The study involves 76 students of grade-11 from a senior high school in Cimahi. The study employs three kinds of instrument namely mathematical communication and mathematical logical thinking test and self regulated learning scale. The study found that there was no difference grades of mathematical communication and mathematical logical thinking abilities and self regulated learningbetween students taught by problem based learning and think-talk-write strategy (PBL-TTW) and students taught by conventional teaching. Students’ mathematical communication and mathematical logical thinking abilies were classified as medium, and self regulated learning of student were classified as fairly good. The other findings were there were not association among mathematical abilities and self regulated learning.
A Brief Bystander Training Program: Promoting a Positive School Climate

Ensuring that our most vulnerable, marginalized students are surrounded by a positive school climate is a vital task for our future educators. In line with the American School Counseling Association Standards, school counselors should identify ways to engage in leadership roles and promote a positive school climate for all students. While much research has identified the relationship between school culture and positive student outcomes, recommendations for school counselors remain vague and fail to promote leadership in these school improvement efforts. In review of the literature, the author argues that the use of a bystander intervention group is a proactive way a school counselor can engage in a leadership role for improving school climate. A comprehensive group manual is presented in the proposal.
Establishing the Contributing Factors to the Resurrection of PIIGS Banks Following the Crisis: A Panel Data Analysis

In this article, we analyse empirically the factors that allowed for the improvement and strengthening of the banking systems in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain (known as the PIIGS) during the post-financial crisis period 2011-2016. We use panel data on 200 banks and measure their financial soundness using the z-score. Our results show that the improvement is mainly due to managerial factors. To ensure stability, banks must monitor their loans and avoid non-performing loans. The public authorities should try to control banks’ size, encouraging medium-sized banks since these tend to perform better on average while limiting the existence of banks, whose size and importance (despite economies of scale) can destabilize the entire system in case of bankruptcy. Finally, different from previous studies, we include herein the refinancing programmes into the analysis of financial soundness and show that the financial assistance programs have been necessary to ensure the recovery of the banking systems.
A Cloudlet Platform With Virtual Sensors for Smart Edge Computing

This paper studies some challenges in Internet of Things-based remote healthcare and smart environment sensing domains. A cloudlet architecture with virtual sensors is proposed and its advantages are discussed in the context of resolving certain issues. The issues are handled by applying sensor virtualization techniques in cloudlet and developing a PaaS platform to support relatively expensive computation at the edge. The utility of our design has been summarized with a number of use case implementations, test results, and performance metrics, based on the challenges we initially faced.
The Nonlinear Effects of Fiscal Policy

We argue that the fiscal multiplier of government purchases is increasing in the shock, in contrast to what is assumed in most of the literature: the fiscal multiplier is largest for large positive government spending shocks and smallest for large contractions in government spending. We empirically document this fact by analyzing two independent datasets and using two different empirical approaches. We find that a neoclassical, life-cycle, incomplete markets model calibrated to match key features of the US economy, including the distribution of wealth, can well explain this empirical finding. The mechanism works through the relationship between fiscal shocks, the distribution of wealth and the aggregate labor supply elasticity: liquidity constrained agents have less elastic labor supply responses to changes in future income. An increase (decrease) in government spending today acts as a negative (positive) shock to future income, as future wages will be lower (higher). A large increase (decrease) in government spending today will induce saving (borrowing) and move a larger fraction of the agents in the economy away from (towards) the borrowing limit. Analysis of micro-data confirms the mechanism.
The devitrification kinetics of transparent silica glass prepared by gel-casting method

The kinetics of the crystallization of cristobalite in the amorphous silica glass were studied for samples prepared by gel-casting and sintering in air. Avrami and rate equations were used to calculate the rate constants and the activation energy. The results showed that the crystallization obeys the first order and occurs mainly on the surface with activation energy of 543-546kJ/mol. The fewer amounts of OH-groups and the high amount of oxygen vacancies are expected to stand behind the increase in the activation energy as compared with that reported in literatures. Keywords: Devitrification, Gel-Casting, Silica Glass, Cristobalite, Crystallization.
Retourner à la terre. L'utopie néo-rurale en Ardèche depuis les années 1960 by Catherine ROUVIÈRE (review)

qui fut l’un des berceaux de « l’insubordination ouvrière » (Xavier Vigna), et qui se caractérise pendant plus d’une décennie par des luttes longues, souvent ponctuées de violences et devenues pour nombre d’entre elles emblématiques, demeure jusqu’au tournant de 1981 marquée par un vote conservateur, ou du moins de centre droit, supérieur à la moyenne nationale. Un beau livre qui vient nous remettre en mémoire quelques idées dont il serait important de ne point se départir en cette année de commémoration.