Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of daily activities on dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry measurements of body composition in active people.

PURPOSE Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is becoming a popular tool to measure body composition in athletes, owing to its ease of operation and comprehensive analysis of body composition. This study represents the first systematic investigation of the reliability of DXA measurements of body composition in trained individuals and includes measurements of daily variability as well as the specific effect of the intake of a meal. METHODS Physically active young adults (15 females, 16 males) underwent five whole-body DXA scans during a 2-d period: in the morning after an overnight fast, ~5 min later after repositioning on the scanning bed, ~8 h later after usual daily activities, and the next morning before and ~30 min after consumption of a simple breakfast. Magnitudes of typical (standard) errors of measurement and changes in the mean of DXA measures were assessed by standardization. RESULTS Repositioning produced trivial typical errors for whole-body composition, whereas regional body composition showed substantial errors. Daily activities and consumption of breakfast generally produced a substantial increase in the typical error and mean of DXA estimates of total and regional lean mass and associated body mass. CONCLUSIONS Having a standardized scanning protocol and fasted subjects is the most practical way to minimize measurement errors. Future studies involving DXA in measuring body composition should report their scanning and analysis protocol with their associated typical errors of measurement so that the level of reliability can be assessed.
The student voice: Using student feedback to inform quality in higher education

This thesis provides a scholarly synthesis of a series of original published works which develop an understanding of the role of student evaluations of teaching in improving the quality of teaching and learning in higher education. Furthermore it makes a significant contribution to knowledge in the field of evaluation of teaching and learning by incorporating a focus on student learning outcomes into evaluation processes which have more traditionally focused on student perceptions of teaching. To date, there has been no student evaluation system focussing on student learning outcomes that has been successfully implemented and studied to determine the unique insight of students’ perceived achievements of learning outcomes. The research underpinning this thesis has, for the first time, provided evidence that student feedback is effective in improving the quality of teaching and learning in higher education. The data collected and analysed revealed that the key features for successful quality improvement are: 1) the collection of student feedback on learning using valid instruments; 2) a university culture of quality improvement; 3) a system that prompts students and teachers to reflect on the outcomes of teaching and learning experiences; 4) the transparent analysis and reporting of data; 5) professional development and support for teachers; and 6) closing the feedback loop for students. The main aim of the study was to improve the quality of teaching and learning in higher education using student feedback. To this end the study explored two main research questions: 1. What are the key factors underpinning the effective use of student feedback for quality improvement of teaching and learning in higher education? 2. What do student perceptions of their teaching and learning experience reveal about the quality of their learning in higher education? Two key aspects form the basis of this research: online student evaluation systems and the placement of the student at the centre of quality improvement of teaching and learning. The first evaluation system developed and implemented between 1999 and 2005 within a school at Curtin University, informed the practices and processes of the second university-wide system, implemented from 2005. Issues revealed by the students were investigated and used to inform teaching and learning practices and curriculum design within the school. The outcomes of the original study were taken up by the University and the focus of this study is the subsequent development and validation of university-wide evaluation surveys for units and teachers which gather students’ perceptions of the quality of the teaching and learning experiences and their achievement of learning outcomes. A key component of the investigation is how student feedback is used to improve the quality of teaching and the student learning experience. The significance of this research has resulted in the unit and
The Impact of Age Stereotypes on Older Adults’ Hazard Perception Performance and Driving Confidence

This study examined the effect of age-stereotype threat on older adults’ performance on a task measuring hazard perception performance in driving. The impact of age-stereotype threat in relation to the value participants placed on driving and pre- and post-task confidence in driving ability was also investigated. Eighty-six adults aged from 65 years of age completed a questionnaire measuring demographic information, driving experience, self-rated health, driving importance, and driving confidence. Prior to undertaking a timed hazard perception task, participants were exposed to either negative or positive age stereotypes. Results showed that age-stereotype threats, while not influencing hazard perception performance, significantly reduced post-driving confidence compared with pre-driving confidence for those in the negative prime condition. This finding builds on the literature that has found that stereotype-based influences cannot simply be understood in terms of performance outcomes alone and may be relevant to factors affected by confidence such as driving cessation decisions.
Adaptive Dead-Time Compensation Strategy for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drive

This paper presents an adaptive dead-time compensation strategy to obtain fundamental phase voltage for inverter-fed vector-controlled permanent magnet synchronous motor drives. A phase dead-time compensation voltage (DTCV) to compensate the disturbance voltage due to undesirable characteristics of inverter, such as dead time, turn on/off time of switching devices, and on-voltages of switching devices and diode, is transformed into q-axis DTCV in the rotor reference frame. The relationship between q-axis DTCV and a dead-time compensation time (DTCT) is investigated. DTCT is identified online by using q-axis disturbance voltage, which is estimated by a disturbance observer. The amplitude of phase DTCV is adaptively determined according to the identified DTCT. The accuracy of identified DTCT is experimentally confirmed by calculating the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) between calculated active power and measured one. MAPE for adaptive DTCT is within 5% at any operating point and is less than that for the fixed DTCT.
Motor Imagery as a Function of Disease Severity in Multiple Sclerosis: An fMRI Study

Motor imagery (MI) is defined as mental execution without any actual movement. While healthy adults usually show temporal equivalence, i.e., isochrony, between the mental simulation of an action and its actual performance, neurological disorders are associated with anisochrony. Unlike in patients with stroke and Parkinson disease, only a few studies have investigated differences of MI ability in multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the relationship among disease severity, anisochrony and brain activation patterns during MI has not been investigated yet. Here, we propose to investigate MI in MS patients using fMRI during a behavioral task executed with dominant/non-dominant hand and to evaluate whether anisochrony is associated with disease severity. Thirty-seven right-handed MS patients, 17 with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) suggestive of MS and 20 with relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) and 20 right-handed healthy controls (HC) underwent fMRI during a motor task consisting in the actual or imaged movement of squeezing a foam ball with the dominant and non-dominant hand. The same tasks were performed outside the MRI room to record the number of actual and imagined ball squeezes, and calculate an Index of performance (IP) based on the ratio between actual and imagined movements. IP showed that a progressive loss of ability in simulating actions (i.e., anisochrony) more pronounced for non-dominant hand, was found as function of the disease course. Moreover, anisochrony was associated with activation of occipito-parieto-frontal areas that were more extensive at the early stages of the disease, probably in order to counteract the changes due to MS. However, the neural engagement of compensatory brain areas becomes more difficult with more challenging tasks, i.e., dominant vs. non-dominant hand, with a consequent deficit in behavioral performance. These results show a strict association between MI performance and disease severity, suggesting that, at early stages of the disease, anisochrony in MI could be considered as surrogate behavioral marker of MS severity.
ISO 9001 certification and failure risk: any relationship?

The goal of this paper is to investigate the existence of a possible connection between Quality Management System certifications according to the ISO 9001 standard and the failure risk of a company. A sample of Italian manufacturing companies is studied in the period 2008/2010, characterised by the beginning of a severe economic crisis. The risk of failure of the companies is estimated by synthetising a set of economic/financial indexes extracted from their balance sheet. The obtained index is assumed as the response variable subject to the effects of multiple factors: company size, regional development and certification. Preliminary results show the significance of the analysed factors.
Oral lichenoid lesions of the upper lip.

BACKGROUND Oral lichen planus is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology. It is characterized by notable heterogeneity in clinical presentation and behavior. MAIN OBSERVATIONS We describe 3 patients with lichenoid lesions of the upper lip and upper anterior gingiva. These cases probably represent a clinical subtype of lichenoid lesions associated with microbial antigenicity and are characterized by persistency. All three patients had a long history of previous ineffective treatments and all three showed an excellent response to a combination of clarithromycin (2 x 250 mg/day) and prednisolone (15 mg/day). CONCLUSION The combination of clarithromycin and prednisolone may be considered as an alternative intervention in patients with lichenoid lesions of the upper lip and upper anterior gingiva.
An Econometric Assessment of Electricity Demand in the United States Using Utility-specific Panel Data and the Impact of Retail Competition on Prices

This paper uses a panel data of 72 U.S. electricity distribution companies during the period 1972-2009 to estimate structural demand and reduced-form price models. I find the own-price and income elasticity of demand for residential, commercial, and industrial customers that are generally consistent with the published economics literature. While static models work well for residential demand, dynamic models are more appropriate for the larger customer classes who require more time to adjust. Conditioning on the regressors, I find that residential and commercial electricity demand has been increasing slowly while industrial electricity demand and deflated electricity prices have been decreasing. In all price models I find that total factor productivity is consistently the most significant explanatory factor with a 1% increase in total factor productivity resulting in a reduction in deflated electricity prices ranging between 0.05% and 0.30%, depending on the model. Lastly, I find that retail electricity competition is associated with lower deflated electricity prices with the mean total impact being -4.3%, -8.2% and -11.1% for residential, commercial and industrial customers, respectively and with the impact diminishing over the sample period for residential customers, remaining relatively constant for commercial customers and increasing for industrial customers.
Gastric B‐cell mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma in an animal model of ‘Helicobacter heilmannii’ infection

While Helicobacter pylori is accepted as the dominant human gastric bacterial pathogen, a small percentage of human infections have been associated with another organism, commonly referred to as ‘Helicobacter heilmannii’, which is more prevalent in a range of animal species. This latter bacterium has been seen in association with the full spectrum of human gastric diseases including gastritis, peptic ulceration, and gastric carcinomas, including gastric B‐cell mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. This study describes an analysis of the pathogenic potential of a number of ‘H heilmannii’ isolates in an animal model of gastric MALT lymphoma. BALB/c mice were infected with ten different ‘H heilmannii’ isolates originating from both human and animal hosts. The animals were examined at various time points for up to 28 months after infection. The infected animals initially developed a chronic inflammatory response within 6 months. This histological response increased in severity with the length of infection, with the development of overt lymphoma in some animals 18 months after infection. MALT lymphomas were detected in up to 25% of the infected animals. The prevalence of lymphoma was dependent on the length of infection and the origin of the infecting isolates. A range of other histological features accompanied the lymphocytic infiltration, including invaginations of the gastric epithelium and associated hyperplastic tissue, mucus metaplasia, and a small number of diffuse large B‐cell lymphomas. The ability to manipulate experientially the presence of the bacterium in the animal model will allow further studies examining the role of antigen drive in the development of Helicobacter‐associated MALT lymphoma. Copyright © 2004 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The role of gender in the extractives industries

In recognizing that women’s participation and gender equity is a precondition for the achievement of acceptable development outcomes, extractives industry companies are increasingly making public commitments to integrating gender equality, inclusion, and women’s economic empowerment into aspects of their operations. This paper reviews recent literature on gender and the extractives industries and then considers the following questions that emerged from the scholarship. How is gender understood in the extractives sector and has this changed over time? What are the gendered impacts of the extractives industries? Are women passive victims of the sector rather than active participants or even resisters to industrial expansion? What is the nature of extractives-associated sex-work and gender-based violence in various settings? In addition, the paper presents available information on women’s participation in the extractives industry, both formal and informal, and how these differ, and evaluates industry efforts towards achieving improved gender balance and equity in the sector.
Glucose and urea kinetics in cows in early lactation

1. Four mature Friesian cows were used. For 2 weeks after calving they were fed 3 kg hay (147 g crude protein (nitrogen × 6·25; CP)/kg dry matter (DM)) plus 9 kg concentrates (177 g CP/kg DM) per d and thereafter 4 kg hay plus 12 kg concentrates/d. 2. At approximately the 2nd, 4th and 9th weeks post-partum each cow was given a single intravenous dose of [14C]urea (1 mCi) and [6-3H]glucose (1·5 mCi). Following this, jugular venous blood samples were withdrawn up to 26 h post-injection. 3. The log (specific activity) v time curves were not linear for either metabolite. Glucose irreversible loss rates (IRL) were calculated by a stochastic procedure. The linear part of the urea log (specific activity) v. time curve gave the same estimate for urea IRL rate as a stochastic method of calculation, but urea pool sizes were overestimated so that stochastic analysis of results was preferred. 4. Mean milk yields at the time of the three measurements were 27·1, 30·8 and 27·9 kg milk/d. 5. Urea IRL was significantly lower (P < 0·05) in the first 4 weeks of lactation than in the 9th, and blood urea concentration was lower (P < 0·05) in the 4th than in the 2nd and 9th week, but there was no close correlation between urea IRL and concentration. 6. Glucose IRL rose (P < 0·05) between the 2nd and 9th weeks post-partum, perhaps due to the increase in feed intake. The results were generally consistent with the relationship between milk yield and glucose IRL established by Paterson & Linzell (1974). 7. Urea IRL (y) and milk protein-N (x) production values were used to calculate the efficiency of protein utilization (EPU) as x ÷ (x + 0·35 y). This assumes that 0·35 of urea IRL was due to protein catabolism. EPU was found to be 0·59–0·80 (mean 0·69). 8. The possible contribution of catabolized amino acids to glucose IRL was calculated by assuming that 0·35 of urea IRL was due to protein catabolism and 0·2 of catabolized protein-C passed through the glucose pool. On this basis the contribution of protein-C to glucose-C was < 25 g/kg glucose IRL.
HubAlign: an accurate and efficient method for global alignment of protein–protein interaction networks

Motivation: High-throughput experimental techniques have produced a large amount of protein–protein interaction (PPI) data. The study of PPI networks, such as comparative analysis, shall benefit the understanding of life process and diseases at the molecular level. One way of comparative analysis is to align PPI networks to identify conserved or species-specific subnetwork motifs. A few methods have been developed for global PPI network alignment, but it still remains challenging in terms of both accuracy and efficiency. Results: This paper presents a novel global network alignment algorithm, denoted as HubAlign, that makes use of both network topology and sequence homology information, based upon the observation that topologically important proteins in a PPI network usually are much more conserved and thus, more likely to be aligned. HubAlign uses a minimum-degree heuristic algorithm to estimate the topological and functional importance of a protein from the global network topology information. Then HubAlign aligns topologically important proteins first and gradually extends the alignment to the whole network. Extensive tests indicate that HubAlign greatly outperforms several popular methods in terms of both accuracy and efficiency, especially in detecting functionally similar proteins. Availability: HubAlign is available freely for non-commercial purposes at http://ttic.uchicago. edu/∼hashemifar/software/HubAlign.zip Contact: jinboxu@gmail.com Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Adolescent Initiation of Cannabis Use and Early-Onset Psychosis

Background It is important to evaluate the impact of cannabis use on onset and course of psychotic illness, as the increasing number of novice cannabis users may translate into a greater public health burden. This study aims to examine the relationship between adolescent onset of regular marijuana use and age of onset of prodromal symptoms, or first episode psychosis, and the manifestation of psychotic symptoms in those adolescents who use cannabis regularly. Methods A review was conducted of the current literature for youth who initiated cannabis use prior to the age of 18 and experienced psychotic symptoms at, or prior to, the age of 25. Seventeen studies met eligibility criteria and were included in this review. Results The current weight of evidence supports the hypothesis that early initiation of cannabis use increases the risk of early onset psychotic disorder, especially for those with a preexisting vulnerability and who have greater severity of use. There is also a dose-response association between cannabis use and symptoms, such that those who use more tend to experience greater number and severity of prodromal and diagnostic psychotic symptoms. Those with early-onset psychotic disorder and comorbid cannabis use show a poorer course of illness in regards to psychotic symptoms, treatment, and functional outcomes. However, those with early initiation of cannabis use appear to show a higher level of social functioning than non-cannabis users. Conclusions Adolescent initiation of cannabis use is associated, in a dose-dependent fashion, with emergence and severity of psychotic symptoms and functional impairment such that those who initiate use earlier and use at higher frequencies demonstrate poorer illness and treatment outcomes. These associations appear more robust for adolescents at high risk for developing a psychotic disorder.
A comparison of albuterol administered by metered-dose inhaler and spacer with albuterol by nebulizer in adults presenting to an urban emergency department with acute asthma.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine the efficacy of albuterol by metered-dose inhaler (MDI) and spacer compared to a nebulizer. DESIGN A prospective, open-label study. SETTING Large urban emergency department (ED). PATIENTS All consecutive adult asthma patients over a 2.5-year period. INTERVENTIONS ED personnel used a standardized treatment algorithm, which included albuterol administered by nebulization, for patients presenting to the ED during the first 12 months of the study. The treatment algorithm then was switched to one that utilized albuterol administered by MDI/spacer as the primary mode of delivery for the following 18 months. As part of the conversion to MDI/spacer, ED staff counseled patients on self-management and supplied patients with a peak flowmeter, an MDI/spacer, and an inhaled steroid for home use. MEASUREMENTS Pulmonary function, clinical outcome, laboratory data, and financial data were assembled and analyzed from 2,342 ED visits and 1,420 patients. RESULTS While there was no significant difference in hospital admission rates between patients in the MDI/spacer group and the nebulizer group (13.2% and 14.6%, respectively), there was a statistically greater improvement in peak flow rates in the MDI/spacer group (126.8 vs 111.9 L/min, respectively; p = 0.002). The MDI/spacer group also spent significantly less time in the ED (163.6 and 175 min, respectively; p = 0.007), had a lower total albuterol dose (1,125 microg and 6,700 microg, respectively; p < 0.001), and showed a greater improvement in arterial oxygen saturation (p = 0.043). Relapse rates at 14 and 21 days were significantly lower (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively) among patients treated with the MDI/spacer and were associated with asthma education and the provision of a peak flowmeter, a spacer, and an inhaled corticosteroid for patients' home use. CONCLUSIONS Albuterol administered by MDI/spacer is an efficacious and cost-effective alternative to nebulization in adults with acute asthma who present at a large urban ED.
Indigenous health: chronically inadequate responses to damning statistics

In the 10 years 1990-2000, despite improvements in some conditions, there has been little or no overall progress in the health of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations of Australia. This is in stark contrast to the gains made in Indigenous health in other countries. The issue is one of lack of commitment to and implementation of already existing policies. We need to (i) fully and adequately fund the Primary Health Care Access Program to provide the out-of-hospital services for prevention and early treatment required to break the cycle of ill-health; (ii) implement a National Training Plan to train the necessary health workforce; and (iii) introduce a National Infrastructure Plan to rectify the continuing deficiencies in water supply, sanitation, education and other basic services.