Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Online Idea Management for Civic Engagement

Idea Management (IM) has increasingly been adopted in the civic domain as a tool to engage the citizenry in processes oriented toward innovating plans, policies, and services. While Idea Management Systems (IMSs), the software systems that instrument IM, definitely help manage this practice, they require citizens to be committed to a separate virtual space for which they need to register, they must learn how to operate it, and they must return to it frequently. This article presents an approach that integrates IMS with today’s most popular digital spaces of participation, the social networking sites, thus enabling citizens to engage in IM processes using ordinary tools and without having to step outside their daily habits. Our goal is to reach out and pull into IM those large and demographically diverse sectors of the society that are already present and participating in social networking sites. Through a real case study of IM in the public sector that mixed both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, our proposal demonstrates a promising approach to reduce the barriers of participation. We conclude with an analysis of the strengths and limitations of our proposal.
Chatbot as an Intelligent Personal Assistant for Mobile Language Learning

The application of automatic conversational system (chatbot) in learning foreign language is still limited. In this study, we built a chatbot dedicated to English learners. The system is named English Practice is installed on the mobile devices to interact with users through a window chat. Chatbot is able to automatically remind learners to study and suggest some answers to multiple choice questions. It also has the ability to help users in learning vocabulary and new lessons. The result shows that most of the basic functions of the system are used by the users and this this promises to be applied widely in the future.
Three levels of perceiving affordance: possibility, specificity, and signification levels

In this paper, a new framework of perceiving affordance, based on the ecological approach and neuroscientific findings, is proposed. Although affordance has been one of the most famous concepts in the human-computer interaction (HCI) field, it has been somewhat inconsistent. In addition, the perceiving process of affordance has not been fully explained, while affordance itself has often been studied. Therefore, first, we review the original concept of affordance in the ecological approach. Second, neuroscientific findings on affordance are reviewed and associated with ecological psychology. As a result, affordance is related to three visual systems in the brain: dorso-dorsal, ventro-dorsal, and ventral systems. Based on the results, we propose three levels of perceiving affordance: possibility, specificity, and signification levels. We expect that the explanatory framework, called 'three levels of perceiving affordance,' contributes to clarifying both affordance and perceiving process. Additionally, it offers possibilities to be applied in the analysis and design of technologies in the context of HCI.
The Driving Factors for Fans' Buying Behaviors and Perceived Values in Brand Community: A Case Study of Cosmetic Brand Community, S3

The purpose of brand community is not only to cultivate the consumers' loyalty but also to increase the influence of buying behaviors as well. Nevertheless, in terms of method how the brand community assists to increase the influence to consumers still remains a missing puzzle and thus requires further study to complete. The objective of this paper is S3 fan page which has the maximum fan numbers of brand community on Taiwan Facebook page. Through in-depth interviews via 10 consumers who are influenced and thus attracted to shop online, this paper is to discuss in which method the corporate influenced fans' buying behaviors and perceived values in the relationship management of brand community. The study indicates: (1) The primary consideration that consumers participate to brand community is the functional requirements and then comes the social and psychological requirements respectively. (2) Amongst of all (the most influential factors to fans' buying behaviors in brand community), the relationship between marketer and consumers draws the most important attention, in particular the persuasive ability against purchasing actions from product-information-providing and the affinity of marketer. (3) The research indicates that from the interview the respondents get functional value and social value in brand community.
Personalized Emotion Recognition by Personality-Aware High-Order Learning of Physiological Signals

Due to the subjective responses of different subjects to physical stimuli, emotion recognition methodologies from physiological signals are increasingly becoming personalized. Existing works mainly focused on modeling the involved physiological corpus of each subject, without considering the psychological factors, such as interest and personality. The latent correlation among different subjects has also been rarely examined. In this article, we propose to investigate the influence of personality on emotional behavior in a hypergraph learning framework. Assuming that each vertex is a compound tuple (subject, stimuli), multi-modal hypergraphs can be constructed based on the personality correlation among different subjects and on the physiological correlation among corresponding stimuli. To reveal the different importance of vertices, hyperedges, and modalities, we learn the weights for each of them. As the hypergraphs connect different subjects on the compound vertices, the emotions of multiple subjects can be simultaneously recognized. In this way, the constructed hypergraphs are vertex-weighted multi-modal multi-task ones. The estimated factors, referred to as emotion relevance, are employed for emotion recognition. We carry out extensive experiments on the ASCERTAIN dataset and the results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method, as compared to the state-of-the-art emotion recognition approaches.
Pointing to targets with difference between motor and visual widths

In GUIs, there are clickable objects that have a difference between the motor and visual widths. For example, when looking at an item on a navigation bar, users think that the text length (the visual width) means the motor width. However, when a cursor hovers over the item, the cursor shape changes or the item is highlighted, and then users understand that the actual motor width differs from the visual width. In this study, we focus on the difference between the motor and visual widths and investigate how the difference affects user performance. Experimental results showed that 1) users aim at the motor width, 2) the reaction time is a U-shaped function whose optimal point is located where the motor and visual widths are the same, and 3) the movement time depends on the motor width. We also analyze existing GUIs and discuss the implications.
Tameness does not correlate with the learning of an appetitive association in a wild canid

Abstract Individual differences in cognition have been shown to be common in some animal taxa, and recent evidence suggests that an individual’s personality can be associated with an individual’s cognitive strategy. We tested whether wild bat-eared foxes Otocyon megalotis differ in a risk-taking behavior (tameness) and whether this trait correlated with appetitive association learning performance. While our result shows that individuals differed in their tameness, we found no association between this personality trait and learning the appetitive association. This result does not support the framework that differences in cognition are associated with differences in personality; however, our small sample size does not allow us to assert that personality cannot be associated with cognition in this system. This study highlights that measuring cognition and personality in wild systems presents added difficulty and that correlations found in captive animals may not be evident in their wild counterparts.
The Pituitary Is a Candidate Organ That Modulates Circulating Klotho Levels

Abstract Context The antiaging protein Klotho is shed and released into the blood stream (soluble Klotho). Growth hormone (GH) is considered an active Klotho regulator, because growth retardation is described in Klotho-deficient mice. The origin of circulating Klotho is, however, not fully understood. Objectives Our objective was to analyze a possible role of the pituitary in regulating soluble Klotho in patients with pituitary adenomas. Patients, Design, and Setting We analyzed serum levels of soluble Klotho, GH, and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) from 21 consecutive patients in our center with pituitary tumor, 7 with GH-producing adenomas (GHomas), and 14 with non–GH-producing pituitary adenomas (non-GHomas), before and after endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery (eTSS). Main Outcome Measure Soluble Klotho levels were determined by ELISA with antihuman Klotho antibodies. Results Baseline soluble Klotho levels in all patients, those with GHoma and those with non-GHoma, were 542 (median) (interquartile range: 403, 652), 1083 (425, 1213), and 525 (399, 590), respectively. A drastic reduction in Klotho levels was identified in those with GHoma, accompanied by decreases in GH and IGF-1 levels, after eTSS. Interestingly, patients with non-GHoma had significant declines in soluble Klotho without any significant changes in GH levels. Moreover, an oral glucose tolerance test revealed that soluble Klotho levels decreased, whereas a paradoxical GH peak was observed after glucose intake in a patient with GHoma. Conclusions Our data suggest that the pituitary may be a key organ that regulates circulating Klotho concentrations, implying that the pituitary possibly controls circulating Klotho through GH-dependent and/or GH-independent mechanisms.
Exploratory metabolomics of metabolic syndrome: A status report

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is as a cluster of cardio-metabolic factors that greatly increase the risk of chronic diseases such as type II diabetes mellitus and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. In the United States, obesity, physical inactivity, aging, and genetics (to a minor extent) have arisen as risk factors for developing MetS. Although 35% of American adults suffer from MetS, its pathogenesis largely remains unknown. Worse, there is a lack of screening and optimum therapy for this disease. Researchers have consequently turned towards metabolomics to identify biomarkers to better understand MetS. The purpose of this review is to characterize various metabolites and their potential connections to MetS. Numerous studies have also characterized MetS as a disease of increased inflammation, and therefore this review also explores how metabolites play a role in various inflammatory pathways. Our review explores a broad range of metabolites including biogenic amines, branched chain amino acids, aromatic amines, phosphatidylcholines, as well as a variety of other molecules. We will explore their biochemical pathways and their potential role in serving as biomarkers.
An evaluation of the usefulness of extracorporeal liver support techniques in patients with severe liver dysfunction

Introduction The mortality rate in patients with severe liver dysfunction with no option of transplantation is unacceptably high. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of applying extracorporeal liver support (ECLS) techniques in this group of patients. Material and methods Data from hospital admissions of 101 patients with severe liver dysfunction who were admitted to the department of Anaesthesiology and intensive therapy between 2006 and 2015 were retrospectively analysed. The study group was divided into two subgroups. Standard Medical therapy (SMT) was a subgroup of patients receiving standard Medical therapy, and SMT + ECLS was a subgroup containing patients receiving standard medical therapy complemented by at least one extracorporeal liver support procedure. Results Significantly lower intensive care unit (ICU) mortality and 30-day mortality rates were found in the SMT + ECLS subgroup (p = 0.0138 and p = 0.0238 respectively). No difference in 3-month mortality was identified between the two groups. In a multivariate model, independent risk factors for ICU mortality proved to be the SOFA score and prothrombin time. The highest discriminatory power for ICU mortality was demonstrated for the SOFA score, followed by APACHE II, SAPS II, MELD UNOS and GCS scores. For 30-day mortality, however, the best discriminatory power was shown for the SAPS II score, followed by SOFA, APACHE II, MELD UNOS and GCS scores. Conclusions Further studies are needed to assess the contribution of non-biological extracorporeal liver support procedures to a decrease in mortality rates in the population of patients with severe liver dysfunction.
Effect of CD44st and HER2 expression on the postoperative prognosis of breast cancer patients

Objective CD44st is a member of the CD44 family; abnormal expression of some CD44 isoforms are closely associated with axillary lymph node metastasis, cancer progression, and patients’ prognosis. The objective of this study is to investigate the correlation between the expression of CD44st and HER2 in breast cancer and the effect on patients’ prognosis. Methods Primers were designed to target the CD44st mRNA (Gene Bank No FJ216964) which has been newly identified in a drug-resistant breast cancer cell line. The expression of CD44st and HER2 mRNA and proteins in cancerous and paracancerous tissue of postoperative breast cancer patients was detected and compared. Tissue samples were obtained from 102 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma, 19 cases of intraductal carcinoma, and 11 cases of medullary carcinoma. The correlation between CD44st and HER2 expression and clinical pathological features was examined. Results The expression rate of CD44st mRNA and protein in breast cancer tissue was 64.4% (85/132), while HER2 mRNA and protein was expressed in 22.0% (29/106) of the samples. The expression of CD44st and HER2 were low in paracancerous tissue. In breast cancer tissue, the expression rate of HER2 mRNA and protein in the CD44st-positive group was 28.2% (24/85), and 10.6% (5/47) in the CD44st-negative group. This difference was statistically significant (P=0.015). Sequencing analysis showed that the amplified CD44st gene in this study was the same as that which was previously discovered in the drug-resistant breast cancer cell line. A linear correlation was found between the expression of CD44st and HER2 (r=0.972, r2=0.945, F=2,213.51, P<0.001). The expression of CD44st and HER2 was also closely associated with luminal cancer subtypes, lymph node metastasis, and TNM stage (P<0.05), but not associated with age, pathological type, or tumor size (P>0.05). The median overall survival in the CD44st high-expression group was 51.85 months (95% CI: 48.48–55.22), which was significantly shorter than that in the CD44st low-expression group (57.61 months; 95% CI: 55.54–59.68, P=0.032). Conclusion CD44st is closely related to the expression of HER2. The expression of CD44st affects patient prognosis and is associated with lymph node metastasis, TNM staging, and molecular subtyping.
Transcultural adaptation and validation of the Spanish language version of the questionnaire OQLQ for the assessment of quality of life in orthognathic patients

Background Orthognathic surgery is the cornerstone of the treatment of dentofacial deformities, which have a great psychological and social impact on the life of the patient. Patient satisfaction and the impact on quality of life have recently become clinical parameters of growing importance. The aim of this study was to undertake a transcultural adaptation, translation to Spanish and validation of this version of the questionnaire OQLQ, used to measure quality of life in the context of Spanish culture. Material and Methods Validation of the OQLQ questionnaire to the Spanish language was carried out through the methodology of translation and back translation, conceptual equivalence and piloting. The Spanish version was applied through a cross-sectional study to a total of 50 patients undergoing orthognathic surgery. Results The adapted and validated version showed adequate metric properties of reliability, change sensitivity and validity. In this study, a positive impact of orthognathic surgery on the specific quality of life was evident in 96% of patients, with an average improvement of 58% with respect to the initial score. Conclusions Dentofacial deformities have a marked negative impact on the lives of patients, with orthognathic surgery being a therapeutic tool of great value in improving the quality of life in social, functional and aesthetic terms. The pilot test of this Spanish language version of the OQLQ proved valid for the assessment of quality of life in Spanish-speaking orthognathic patients or those with a Spanish culture. Key words:Orthognathic surgery, quality of life, validation studies, dentofacial deformities, patient satisfaction, treatment outcome.
Consistency of child self-reports with parent proxy reports on the quality of life of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Riyadh, 2016

BACKGROUND: The quality of life (QoL) of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has not been addressed in Saudi Arabia despite the considerable attention it has on account of its prevalence, duration of illness, and sociopsychological effects. The aim of this study was to report on the QoL of children with ADHD and test the concord between children's and parents' reports. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using the generic PedsQL™ (version 4.0) from both children's and parents' perspectives, a cross-sectional study of 112 children was conducted on children aged 5–18 years with an established diagnosis of ADHD attending child psychiatry clinics of three referral hospitals in Riyadh between December 2015 and May 2016. RESULTS: A total of 112 children with an established diagnosis of ADHD were recruited from the Child Psychiatry Clinic of Al Amal Mental Health Complex (41.1%), Prince Sultan Military Medical City (PSMMC), (33%), and King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH), (25.9%). The majority were boys (74.1%) and Saudi nationals (93.8%). The mean age of children with ADHD was 10.45 ± 3.06 years (Range 5 - 18 years). One-fourth of the mothers of children with ADHD had completed high school and 41.1% had a diploma, university, or postgraduate degree. One-third of the fathers of these children had completed high school (34%) and 38.4% had a diploma, university, or postgraduate degree. The intra-class correlation coefficients between the scores of children and parents were good for physical functioning, fair for social functioning, but moderate for school, emotional, and psychosocial functioning. Children rated themselves significantly better than their parents for emotional, social, school, and psychosocial functioning. The standardized response means indicated a small difference for social functioning and medium differences for the other three domains. The only significant discrepancy was observed in social functioning in relation to the child's age. CONCLUSION: Parents mirrored adequately the observable physical component of the QoL of their children. The QoL report of children with ADHD with respect to communications and intellectual abilities should be taken into account whenever possible and their parents' report also should be sought to provide a more comprehensive view of the child's status.
Factors associated with dental fluorosis in three zones of Ecuador

Background To determine the prevalence of dental fluorosis in 10-12 year-old school children, in three provinces of the inter-andean Region of Ecuador: Imbabura, Pichincha and Chimborazo, as well as the relationship between certain factors, considering that the latest studies go back to the year 2009. Material and Methods A cross-sectional and observational study was proposed. A sample of 599 was calculated at 95% of confidence considering population projections for children between 10 and 12 old of three zones of Ecuador. However, 608 school children, who had the acceptance and informed consent of their parents to participate, completed a survey about factors associated with dental fluorosis. Once the survey was completed, the vestibular surfaces of the upper and lower anterior teeth of the infant were photographed, following standardized distance and light procedures. Three evaluators, trained in the detection of fluorosis using the Thylstrup and Fejerskov index, analyzed the photographs. The Stata 13.0 software was used for the statistical analysis, with a level of significance of 5% and with a confidence interval of 95%. To relate the risk factor of fluorosis, a multinomial logistic model was used. Results The prevalence of dental fluorosis was of 89.96%, with a greater presence of grade 2 TF. A positive statistical relationship and statistical significance was detected between dental fluorosis and consumption of bottled beverages. Also the amount of toothpaste used and its ingestion during brushing (p = 0.000) were analyzed. Conclusions The populations evaluated, that are related to the consumption of bottled beverages and involuntary toothpaste ingestion, and have a high prevalence of a mild level of fluorosis. Key words:Fluorosis, dental, risk factors, epidemiology.
Shear bond strength of ceramic bracket bonded to different surface-treated ceramic materials

Background This study evaluated the effect of ceramic surface treatments on bond strength of ceramic brackets to machine-able ceramics and ceramic veneering metal. Material and Methods Machined ceramic specimens (10x10x1.5 mm) were prepared from Empress® CAD (EP), and e.max® CAD (EM). Ceramic veneering metal specimens (PF) were fabricated from sintered d.Sign® porcelain (1.27 mm thickness) over d.Sign®10 metal (0.23 mm thickness). Each ceramic was divided into 3-groups and treated surface by Er-YAG laser (LE) or etching with 9.6% HF acid for 5 seconds (A5) or 15 seconds (A15). Resin adhesive (Transbond™-XT) was used for attaching ceramic brackets for each group (n=15) and cured with LED (Bluephase®) for 50 seconds. Specimens were immersed in distilled water for 24 hours before testing for shear bond at crosshead speed of 1.0 mm/min. The data were analyzed for the differences in bond strength with ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparisons (α = 0.05). De-bond surfaces were microscopically examined. Results Bond strength (MPa) were 12.65±1.14 for EMA5, 14.50±2.21 for EMA15, 13.97±1.17 for EMLE, 12.40±1.95 for PFA5, 15.85±3.13 for PFA15, 14.06±2.17 for PFLE, 12.12±1.54 for EPA5, 15.65±1.57 for EPA15, 12.89±1.17 for EPLE. Significant differences in bond strength among groups were found related to surface treatment (p<0.05), but not significant difference upon type of ceramics (p>0.05). A15 provided higher bond strength than LE and A5 (P<0.05). No damage of ceramic surface upon de-bonding was indicated except for A15 tends to exhibit ditching. LE showed more uniform treated surface for bonding and no surface destruction upon de-bond compared to others. Conclusions Bond strength was affected by surface treatment. Both LE and A15 treated surface provided higher bond strength than A5. Considering possibly inducing defect on ceramic surface, LE seems to provide better favorable surface preparation than others. Treated ceramic surface with Er-YAG prior to bracket bonding is recommended. Key words:Ceramic, ceramic bracket, Er-YAG, laser, shear bond strength, surface treatment.
Vascular response and intrastent thrombus in the early phase after drug‐eluting versus bare‐metal stent implantation in patients with ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction: An observational, single‐center study

Second‐generation drug‐eluting stents (G2‐DES) are associated with a lower rate of acute and subacute stent thrombosis compared with bare‐metal stent (BMS) in the setting of ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). In this study, our aim was to compare the vascular response and thrombus burden between G2‐DES and BMS in early‐phase STEMI.