Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a microfluidic device based on Deterministic Lateral Displacement (DLD) for biological sample preparation, towards the extraction of extracellular vesicles

Over the past decades, Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) have demonstrated strong potential as new biomarkers for liquid biopsy. Indeed, since EVs are fingerprints of parent cells, they can be exploited as early diagnostic tools. However, owing to their small size and high heterogeneity, EVs are challenging to extract from biofluids. In particular, reproducible and standardized protocols are required to perform fast, efficient, and cost-effective preparation of undamaged EV subpopulations from limited sample volumes. Deterministic Lateral Displacement (DLD) appears to be a promising microfluidic technology for this preparation by means of passive and label-free separation. DLD performs size-based separation of particles around a critical diameter that can be fine-tuned according to design parameters in an array of micropillars. Across the numerous biotechnological applications of DLD, none has yet successfully performed the complete extraction of EVs from unprocessed biofluids. This is the underlying motivation of this thesis, which outlines technological enhancements that make DLD separation more predictable, efficient, and easy-to-integrate. Based on both numerical and experimental developments, predictive models are proposed in order to anticipate particle behavior and to help in the design of efficient DLD devices. In addition to the optimization of single DLD devices, this thesis also addresses the issue of system integration. An innovative approach of serial connection between DLD modules is proposed to address the sequential sorting of particles from a complex biofluid and ensure that there is no loss of function of individual DLD devices when operated alone or in series. Two biological applications illustrate the potential of DLD-based sample preparation systems: the isolation of E. coli bacteria from human blood samples for sepsis diagnostics and the extraction of EVs from cell culture media with the perspective of liquid biopsy applications. And as sample preparation cannot be dissociated from detection or characterization, this thesis moreover highlights the potential integration of DLD in an all-in-one microfluidic device for both sample preparation and analysis of extracted EVs. Such a portable and autonomous device could overcome some of the current limitations with regard to the clinical use of EVs.
Translation, Adaptation and Invariance Testing of the Teaching Perspectives Inventory: Comparing Faculty of Malaysia and the United States.

The major purposes of the study were to translate and adapt the Teaching Perspectives Inventory (Pratt, 1992, 1990) from English to Bahasa Malaysia and compare the psychometric properties of the two versions. The TPI is an instrument developed by Pratt (1992) to ascertain the different conceptions that teachers in higher education have about teaching. The TPI has 45 items, which are divided into five subscales or perspectives referred to as Transmission, Apprenticeship, Developmental, Nurturing, and Social Reform. The first phase of this study translated and adapted the TPI from English into the Malay language of Malaysia or Bahasa Malaysia (BM) using multiple approaches as recommended by the International Test Commission.
TURKISH TEACHERS’ OPINIONS ABOUT SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY-SOCIETY-ENVIRONMENT ACQUISITIONS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COURSE CURRICULUM

The purpose of this study is to examine teacher opinions about science-technology-society-environment (STSE) acquisitions in Turkish Science and Technology Course Curriculum (TSTC). For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were performed with teachers. The participants were addressed questions about their awareness of STSE acquisitions and their in-class activity about these acquisitions. Learning fields of the teachers, the contents of these fields and the opinions of the teachers about STSE pointed out that their awareness level about STSE acquisitions was low. On the other hand, most of the teachers stated that there was enough and comprehensible information about STSE acquisitions in TSTC. The results of this study revealed that most of the teachers were not able to realize these acquisitions in the courses because of a lack of time or equipment and overcrowded classes. Key words: science and technology course curriculum, science-technology-society-environment acquisitions, teacher opinions.
Experiential Learning to Enhance Work Skills, Empathy and Entrepreneurship in Business Schools

Abstract The characteristics of Y generation ​ students who pursue their Masters degree in business schools necessitates the implementation of teaching strategies that engage and foster experiential learning . This article describes a four day long experiential learning project that was employed among students who pursue their regular management program​me​ ​at PSG Institute of Management, a leading B School in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The primary purpose of the activity was to create social consciousness among students and to raise their level of understanding, about the world of an ordinary worker. The paper presents case studies that capture the experience, students had, and their response to this innovative teaching/learning endeavor. The results revealed that 88 percent of the students had positive attitude towards experiential learning project, and at the same time developed, work skills, empathy for workers, and knowledge towards entrepreneurial processes. Keywords: Experiential learning, Business Schools, Higher Education, Innovative Teaching, Social Consciousness, Management Education, Entrepreneurship Paper Type: Research Paper
An Appraisal of Indian Profile Attractiveness using Digital Image Morphing

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the perception of male and female Indian facial profile esthetics between dental specialists, dentists, dental students and laypersons. Need for study: It was necessary to assess the profile preferences of Indian adults, as similar study has not been done till date for the Indian population. Materials and methods: The facial profile photographs and lateral cephalometric radiographs of an Indian man and a woman were digitized. The digital images were modified using Viewbox 3.1 software to obtain seven facial profiles for each sex. An online and a paper questionnaire was created and a total of 343 subjects assessed the profile attractiveness. Results: Orthognathic profiles were considered highly attractive for Indian males and females by all the four groups. Bimaxillary protrusion for males and maxillary protrusion for females were found to be least attractive for the Indian population. All groups were highly correlated for the perception of male and female profile esthetics. Conclusion: Most preferred is orthognathic profile in both sexes. The least attractive profiles were bimaxillary protrusion for males and maxillary protrusion for females. It was found that female mild bimaxillary protrusion cases can be treated without extraction, whereas extraction treatment can be used in similar male cases. While mandible position was more critical for males, it was maxillary position in case
The role of language in therapy with the Spanish-English bilingual client.

The clinical and counseling psychology profession has witnessed a steady increase in research on the development and application of Hispanic/Latino-centered therapeutic approaches; however, little attention has been given to incorporating the dynamics of a client’s language background in treatment. The authors discuss the important role of language representation and emotions and the implications for conducting therapy with bilingual clients who speak Spanish and English. The contributions of psychoanalysis and psycholinguistics that have guided the research on language issues in counseling and therapy are presented, and future directions in research, training, and practice are outlined.
Risk factors for Leptospirosis and the impact of an intervention to reduce exposures

This study investigated existing leptospirosis risk factors for the purpose of developing of an intervention program in a leptospirosis-endemic area with a paucity of available leptospirosis risk factor data. The study undertook a variety of activities: a review of previous risk factor studies; a socio-behavioural study; field observations; a 'knowledge, attitude and practice' survey, and an intervention project. Local specific and non-specific leptospirosis risk factors were identified, and an intervention program was achieved. %%%%%%%%
La valutazione dell'appropriatezza di utilizzo dei servizi di urgenza/emergenza ospedaliera nella ASL della cittá di Como

Obiettivo : la ASL di Como, in collaborazione con i medici dei Pronto Soccorso (PS) del territorio, ha condotto uno studio per analizzare la tipologia degli accessi in PS valutandone l’appropriatezza. Materiale : e stata predisposta una scheda per la raccolta dei dati relativi agli accessi compresi tra il 14 e il 27 ottobre 2002. La prima parte della scheda ha permesso di raccogliere: anagrafica del paziente, provenienza e attribuzione del codice colore dopo il triage. Per i codici verdi e bianchi e stata compilata un ulteriore parte per indagare le prestazioni fornite ed eventuale coinvolgimento del medico di medicina generale. Risultati : dall’elaborazione di 4.605 accessi, e emerso che l’utenza in PS e rappresentata per il 55% da soggetti di sesso maschile (eta media 40,6 anni a fronte di un valore di 46 per il sesso femminile). Dalla suddivisione degli accessi per provenienza emerge che gli utenti arrivano direttamente al PS dal proprio domicilio (69%), gli accessi a seguito di infortuni sul lavoro e incidenti stradali rappresentano una percentuale variabile tra il 10 e il 20% a seconda della tipologia e dell’ubicazione della struttura. Oltre il 70% dei pazienti viene rinviato al proprio domicilio dopo una visita, ad eccezione dei codici rossi che nel 64% dei casi vengono ricoverati o trattenuti in osservazione. Il 61.3% degli accessi e costituito da codici verdi e gialli, i bianchi rappresentano il 33,8% di cui oltre un terzo non ha necessitato di prestazioni, mentre nel 50% dei casi ha usufruito di accertamenti ematochimici e/o diagnostica strumentale. Conclusioni : dall’indagine condotta si evidenzia come il ricorso al PS nei casi giudicati inappropriati (codici verdi e bianchi) avvenga per prestazioni che potevano essere eseguite in ambito di cure primarie, evitando il ricorso ad una risorsa come quella di PS, la cui missione e garantire trattamento idoneo e tempestivo ai casi urgenti/emergenti.
Etiological Theories and the Primary Prevention of Drug Use

Since the early 1980s, the social influence model has dominated the field of primary prevention research. Social influence programs generally take the form of standardized curricula, aimed at all members of broadly defined target populations. Evaluative research has employed a fundamentally inductive methodology, the goal of which is to generate successive “confirming instances” of program effectiveness among these broad populations. As a result, prevention research has largely stagnated, and has not availed itself of recent findings from basic research such as those reported in this issue. This research tells us that the relationship between peer group affiliation and drug use is reciprocal and not unidirectional as assumed in most social influence programs, that the scope of intervention efforts must be broadened because the processes involved in the initiation of drug use are far more complex than suggested by the theories on which current prevention efforts are based, and that programs should be targeted rather than universal as some individuals are at greater risk of developing a problem with drugs than others.
Role of temporal overlap of visual and auditory material in forming dual media associations.

Abstract : This paper contains some results about forming associations between the visuals and spoken material in a dual media presentation such as film or television. In particular, it reports the role played by the overlap in time of visual and auditory linguistic material. Fourteen groups of college students were shown a 30 min film which introduces an assembly kit, its pieces, their names, and some of their uses. The film's visuals and narration could be presented in synchrony or one could be shifted relative to the other up to 21 sec. Subjects saw the film in one of seven versions: visuals moved relative to narration by -21, -14, -7, 0 (synchrony), 7, 14, or 21 sec. They were tested immediately or after a week for recall of the names, given the pieces. Scores were highest at zero- and 7-day delay for two groups: synchrony, and visuals 7 sec before narration. At 0-delay, each of the other five groups scored about 80% of the highest groups. At 7-day delay, the other five groups scored differently: the 3 narration first groups were about 30% less than the two visuals first groups. The temporal order in which visual and auditory elements are presented differentially influences the formation of dual media associations. When auditory precedes visuals, much of the auditory component is lost. Two possible theoretical interpretations are given, and practical applications are discussed. (Author)
WELD PENETRATION IDENTIFICATION BASED ON CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORK

OF DISSERTATION WELD PENETRATION IDENTIFICATION BASED ON CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORK Weld joint penetration determination is the key factor in welding process control area. Not only has it directly affected the weld joint mechanical properties, like fatigue for example. It also requires much of human intelligence, which either complex modeling or rich of welding experience. Therefore, weld penetration status identification has become the obstacle for intelligent welding system. In this dissertation, an innovative method has been proposed to detect the weld joint penetration status using machine-learning algorithms. A GTAW welding system is firstly built. Project a dot-structured laser pattern onto the weld pool surface during welding process, the reflected laser pattern is captured which contains all the information about the penetration status. An experienced welder is able to determine weld penetration status just based on the reflected laser pattern. However, it is difficult to characterize the images to extract key information that used to determine penetration status. To overcome the challenges in finding right features and accurately processing images to extract key features using conventional machine vision algorithms, we propose using convolutional neural network (CNN) to automatically extract key features and determine penetration status. Data-label pairs are needed to train a CNN. Therefore, an image acquiring system is designed to collect reflected laser pattern and the image of work-piece backside. Data augmentation is performed to enlarge the training data size, which resulting in 270,000 training data, 45,000 validation data and 45,000 test data. A six-layer convolutional neural network (CNN) has been designed and trained using a revised mini-batch gradient descent optimizer. Final test accuracy is 90.7% and using a voting mechanism based on three consequent images further improve the prediction accuracy.
Artroplastia total de tornozelo: experiência brasileira com a prótese HINTEGRA

Ankle arthritis is becoming more and more common. The search for solutions that preserve joint function has led to a new generation of prosthesis with three components and more degrees of freedom. This paper presents the results achieved in ten patients treated with the HINTEGRA Prosthesis (Integra, New Deal), a joint action of the Foot and Ankle Teams of DOT of Unifesp - Escola Paulista de Medicina and the School of Medicine of USP - Universidade de Sao Paulo. The ten patients (six women and four men), aged between 29 and 66 years, underwent a surgical procedure according to Hinterman's technique, from January to June 2005. They were evaluated at pre-arranged intervals, and the data were submitted to statistical analysis. The surgery led to a significant improvement in ankle mobility. Radiological studies showed no signs of loosening or failure in the prosthetic components in any of the patients studied. Although the rate of complications in our sample was high, it was equivalent to those of other authors, and directly represents the long, steep learning curve associate with this kind of procedure. At the end of four years, there was a significant reduction in the pain, and an improvement in functional pattern of the patients, with AOFAS and Hinterman scores indicating 20% excellent, 70% good, and 10% poor results. Despite the drawbacks, treatment of ankle arthritis through total arthroplasty with the HINTEGRA prosthesis proved to be capable of giving good results over an average observation period of four years.
The Effect of Teaching Islamic Education Courses by Using multimedia Strategy in Achievement and Creative Thinking Skills for Basic Stage

هدفت الدراسة الحالية إلى معرفة أثر التدريس باستخدام استراتيجية الوسائط المتعددة في التحصيل وتنمية مهارات التفكير الناقد لدى طلبة الصف العاشر الأساسي في مبحث التربية الإسلامية بعمان الثانية بالمملكة الأردنية الهاشمية، ولتحقيق أهداف الدراسة تم بناء برنامج تدريسي باستخدام استراتيجية الوسائط المتعددة، كما تم استخدام اختبار تحصيلي بمادة التربية الإسلامية واختبار تورانس للتفكير الإبداعي، وتكونت عينة الدراسة من (62) طالبا تم اختيارهم بطريقة قصدية توزعوا على شعبتين دراسيتين، وقد تم عشوائيا تحديد إحداهما كمجموعة ضابطة بلغ عددها (34) طالبا تم تدريسها بالطريقة الاعتيادية، والأخرى تجريبية بلغت (28) طالبا درست باستخدام استراتيجية الوسائط المتعددة. وأظهرت نتائج الدراسة تفوق المجموعة التجريبيةالتي درست استراتيجية الوسائط المتعددة بالتحصيل والتفكير الناقد على المجموعة الضابطة. وفي ضوء تلك النتائج أوصت الدراسة بضرورة تدريب المعلمين على استخدام استراتيجية الوسائط المتعددة في تدريس التربية الاسلامية.
Inclusion and Mainstreaming Revisited---Again Teaching Experience and Specialist Support: A Survey of Preschool Teachers Employed in Programs Accredited by NAEYC

A national mail survey of preschool teachers (N = 500, return rate of 55.2%) employed in programs accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children was conducted to gain descriptive information about (a) the teachers' preparation and program organization and (b) their experience with children with disabilities, the IEP process, special educators, and other specialists. Results indicated that more than half of the respondents currently had a child with disabilities in their classroom and had participated in an IEP meeting. The majority of teachers were not certified in early childhood or early childhood special education, and only 25% of them currently worked with a special educator concerning one or more children in their classroom. Implications for practice, personnel preparation, and research are included.
A pattern analysis of students' achievement goals.

Cluster analysis procedures were used to classify 257 5th- and 6th-grade students on the basis of their mastery, ego, and work-avoidant goal orientations. The results identified 3 clusters of students with different achievement profiles in science. Students who exhibited a pattern in which mastery goals were stronger than the other 2 goals, showed the most positive achievement profile. In contrast students who were high on both mastery and ego goals did not perform as well academically; students low on both mastery and ego goals showed the most negative achievement profile. Additional analyses revealed that the cluster analysis provided a more distinctive and internally consistent set of findings than did pattern analyses that were based on median split procedures
Relations of Moral Reasoning and Vicarious Emotion to Young Children's Prosocial Behavior Toward Peers and Adults

Four- and 5-year-old (primarily) Euro-American children (40 girls, 34 boys) participated in a study of moral reasoning, vicarious emotional responding, and prosocial behavior. Children's prosocial behavior and self-reported and facial reactions of vicarious emotion were obtained in response to 2 peer distress films and 2 adult distress simulations. Moral reasoning was assessed with prosocial moral dilemmas. Children's emotional responses were found to be related to analogous types of moral reasoning and were associated in expected ways with helping of peers and adults. Higher levels of moral reasoning were positively related to prosocial behavior. Children high in both other-oriented moral cognitions and sympathy were most helpful toward peers. The pattern of findings suggested that linkages are being formed in the preschool years not only between other-oriented affect and cognitions but also between those that are self-focused in nature. Affective empathy and higher level moral reasoning frequently have been theoretically and empirically linked with children's and adults' prosocial behavior (Batson, 1991; Eisenberg, 1986; Eisenberg & Miller, 1987). However, despite associations of both to prosocial behavior, neither the relation between empathy and moral reasoning nor their potential role in jointly predicting prosocial action has received much empirical attention. In research on the association of empathy to prosocial behavior, it is essential to distinguish between other-oriented and selforiented vicarious emotional responding. In current developmental and social-psychological work (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1990; Hoffman, 1982a), empathy has been defined as an affecrive response resulting from another's state or condition that is the same or very similar to the other's emotional state (e.g., selfreported or facial indexes of sadness, happiness, or concern). Moreover, empathy frequently may elicit other vicariously induced reactions. When accompanied by a cognitive sense of the other as distinct from the self, empathic arousal may lead to a feeling of compassion or sympathy for the other (e.g., otheroriented self-reports or facial indexes of concern for the other). Conversely, when empathic arousal becomes too intense, it may
Relationship between Boredom Proneness and Aggressive Behavior:Multiple Mediating Effects of Trait Anger and Impulsivity

Objective: To explore the relationships among boredom proneness, trait anger, impulsivity, and aggressive behavior. Methods: 648 college students were surveyed with Boredom Proneness Scale, the Trait Anger Scale, the Barrat Impulsiveness Scale, and Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire. Results: 1Correlation analysis showed that boredom proneness, trait anger, impulsivity, and aggressive behavior were significantly and positively correlated with each other. 2Multiple mediation modeling showed that boredom proneness could exert effects on aggressive behavior indirectly not only through trait anger and impulsivity solely, but also through the chain mediating effect of trait anger and impulsivity. Conclusion: Trait anger and impulsivity exert a mediating effect on the relationship between boredom proneness and aggressive behavior.
Personnel motivation : strategies to stimulate employees to increase performance

Personnel motivation is a key factor in getting employees to increase performance. The question, however, is what managers can do to motivate employees to such a level that performance will indeed increase. An attempt is made in this article to identify strategies that management can pursue to motivate employees to improve their performance. Although the list of strategies proposed is far from exhaustive, it is nonetheless representative of the various methods managers can use to enhance employee motivation. It is hoped that these strategies will stimulate the reader’s thinking about additional ways to heighten employee motivation.