Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Abortion Harm the Fetus?

Abstract A central claim in abortion ethics is what might be called the Harm Claim – the claim that abortion harms the fetus. In this article, we put forward a simple and straightforward reason to reject the Harm Claim. Rather than invoking controversial assumptions about personal identity, or some nonstandard account of harm, as many other critics of the Harm Claim have done, we suggest that the aborted fetus cannot be harmed for the simple reason that it does not occupy any well-being level.
Increasing Effectiveness of Public Private Partnerships in the Irish Construction Industry

By 2003 the first Irish Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects had reached the operational stage. Media reports were emerging of significant differences in the effectiveness of these projects. This research set out to find a means by which effectiveness of PPPs could be increased and to develop a model that would assist PPP practitioners with this task in the future. Through a literature review, the Irish PPP process was mapped, the changes encountered in the introduction of PPP were investigated and a conceptual model – based on a traditional process model - was proposed. The model was tested by examining the outcomes of two projects and assessing the effect of participant attitudes on these outcomes. The projects were analysed in terms of Risk, Value and Innovation, and three propositions were offered: • there were differences in project outcomes; • there were differences in the attitudes of the project participants; • the attitudes influenced the outcomes. Using a combination of research methods, the data were gathered and analysed. The first two propositions were proven for Risk and Value but not for Innovation. In addressing the third proposition, a pattern matching exercise was undertaken and a number of findings were reached. These findings were further tested to establish their validity, credibility and reliability. The results showed that specific elements of participant attitudes were found to affect some of the project outcomes and that these had a significant effect on the overall success of the project. The findings showed that PPP conducted as outlined by the conceptual model would not maximise effectiveness. The model was revised so that it commenced with analysis of the desired outcomes and proceeded by working back through the PPP process to define the inputs necessary for success. Using this information, the model was refined, making it ready for use by future PPP practitioners.
Past and Current Progress in the Development of Antiviral/Antimicrobial Polymer Coating towards COVID-19 Prevention: A Review

The astonishing outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, known as COVID-19, has attracted numerous research interests, particularly regarding fabricating antimicrobial surface coatings. This initiative is aimed at overcoming and minimizing viral and bacterial transmission to the human. When contaminated droplets from an infected individual land onto common surfaces, SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is able to survive on various surfaces for up to 9 days. Thus, the possibility of virus transmission increases after touching or being in contact with contaminated surfaces. Herein, we aim to provide overviews of various types of antiviral and antimicrobial coating agents, such as antimicrobial polymer-based coating, metal-based coating, functional nanomaterial, and nanocomposite-based coating. The action mode for each type of antimicrobial agent against pathogens is elaborated. In addition, surface properties of the designed antiviral and antimicrobial polymer coating with their influencing factors are discussed in this review. This paper also exhibits several techniques on surface modification to improve surface properties. Various developed research on the development of antiviral/antimicrobial polymer coating to curb the COVID-19 pandemic are also presented in this review.
Adherence to Treatment and Level of Satisfaction Among Saudi Hypertensive Patients: A Multi-City Study

Background and objective Hypertension (HTN) is a common disease among patients who visit primary healthcare clinics. Uncontrolled HTN is associated with increased morbidity and mortality; therefore, awareness of its risk factors and adherence to treatment can lead to better control of HTN. In this study, we aimed to determine the level of adherence to treatment and satisfaction among Saudi hypertensive patients. Methods In this cross-sectional study, we used an interviewer-administered questionnaire among hypertensive patients aged 40 years or older who attended primary healthcare centers in the five main regions within Saudi Arabia. We excluded patients with mental disorders, dementia, or those unable to provide consent to participate. The estimated sample size was 384 patients as calculated by Raosoft® based on the AlNozha study (prevalence of HTN in Saudi Arabia is 26.1%). The questionnaire included questions about demographic data, awareness about HTN risk factors and complications, adherence to treatment, and patient satisfaction along with the information related to management from their physicians. Microsoft Excel was used for data entry, and SPSS Statistics version 23 (IBM, Armonk, NY) was used for statistical analysis. Results Of the 384 hypertensive patients recruited, most were in the age group of 40-49 years (36.5%), and the majority of them were female (75%). Most patients (n=305, 79.4%) reported good adherence to the management plan. Also, most of the patients (73.4%) were satisfied in terms of receiving simplified information and justification of the management plan from their physicians. Conclusions A good level of satisfaction was observed among patients of HTN in Saudi Arabia with respect to information, simplification, and justification of treatment plans provided by health professionals. This high satisfaction level accounts for the high adherence to the treatment plan.
Evertor muscle fatigue decreases the passive inversion joint position sense in female volleyball players

Introduction. The study aimed to investigate the effect of evertor muscle fatigue on passive inversion joint position sense in female volleyball players. Methods. A cross-sectional design was implemented in this study. The passive inversion joint position sense of 25 college-age female volleyball players was assessed in fatigue and non-fatigue conditions. A 10° subtalar inversion was used as a target angle for position sense evaluation. The assessment of position sense and the induction of fatigue were performed with a Biodex System isokinetic device. The average error of joint position sense was measured in both fatigue and non-fatigue conditions. Results. There was a significant reduction in passive inversion joint position sense when the evertor muscles were fatigued ( p < 0.001). Conclusions. Peroneal muscle fatigue declines the subtalar joint inversion position sense in female volleyball players.
Pair Research Tasks: Promoting Educational Research with Pre-Service Teachers

This paper presents a study that explores the role of pair-work tasks to promote educational research in 20 pre-service English language teachers (eleven males and nine females) of a Colombian public university. The project was carried out to enhance educational research skills and knowledge by developing theoretical-practical pair-work research tasks. Data was collected through observation field notes, semi-structured interviews, and field journals. The results suggest that pair-work research tasks increased learners' opportunities to acquire theoretical and practical educational research knowledge and skills. Due to this exercise, the participants learned to define, formulate research objectives-questions, review the literature, and state research methodologies to finally write their research proposals. Additionally, pair-work research assignments offered an effective way to work together, negotiate, reach agreements, and gain experience by conducting theoretical and practical research exercises.
Egyptian pregnant women's health information needs and behaviour: A qualitative study

The primary goal of this research is to examine Egyptian pregnant women's health information needs and behaviour in terms of their thoughts, perceptions, attitudes, motives, interests, techniques, preferences, tools, and other factors that influence their use of health information. Six focus groups with an effective size of 64 women were used in a qualitative approach. Approximately two-thirds of the Egyptian pregnant women sampled in this study were between the ages of 26 and 35, had a Bachelor's degree (BA), and were classified as upper-middle income. Approximately two-thirds of the pregnant Egyptian women sampled were able to precisely identify these needs and use appropriate means to meet them. Many of them preferred to communicate with their families, relatives, peers, and friends, particularly those who are currently pregnant or have recently delivered, via cell phones or inperson meetings. Verbal communication with mothers and relatives, friends, as well as gynaecologists and healthcare providers have been identified as the most commonly used communication channels. Pregnant Egyptian women surveyed used health information sources to assist with pregnancy-related tasks such as understanding the requirements for monitoring the foetus's health, nutrition, weight, growth, and movement, and finding suitable and affordable birthplaces. The majority of them have used a variety of technologies for day-to-day communication, particularly cell phones, the Internet, social media, and social networking sites such as WhatsApp and Facebook. Because of the difficulties associated with pregnancy, many pregnant women have stated that using any type of library to meet their health information needs plays no significant role. The most significant barriers encountered by Egyptian pregnant women in this study were a lack of time, a lack of money, and a lack of knowledge about appropriate sources of information.
Multiclass Image Classification Using GANs and CNN Based on Holes Drilled in Laminated Chipboard

The multiclass prediction approach to the problem of recognizing the state of the drill by classifying images of drilled holes into three classes is presented. Expert judgement was made on the basis of the quality of the hole, by dividing the collected photographs into the classes: “very fine,” “acceptable,” and “unacceptable. ” The aim of the research was to create a model capable of identifying different levels of quality of the holes, where the reduced quality would serve as a warning that the drill is about to wear down. This could reduce the damage caused by a blunt tool. To perform this task, real-world data were gathered, normalized, and scaled down, and additional instances were created with the use of data-augmentation techniques, a self-developed transformation, and with general adversarial networks. This approach also allowed us to achieve a slight rebalance of the dataset, by creating higher numbers of images belonging to the less-represented classes. The datasets generated were then fed into a series of convolutional neural networks, with different numbers of convolution layers used, modelled to carry out the multiclass prediction. The performance of the so-designed model was compared to predictions generated by Microsoft’s Custom Vision service, trained on the same data, which was treated as the benchmark. Several trained models obtained by adjusting the structure and hyperparameters of the model were able to provide better recognition of less-represented classes than the benchmark.
Narrative Performance and Sociopragmatic Abilities in Preschool Children are Linked to Multimodal Imitation Skills

Abstract Over recent decades much research has analyzed the relevance of 9- to 20- month-old infants’ early imitation skills (object- and language-based imitation) for language development. Yet there have been few systematic comparisons of the joint relevance of these imitative behaviors later on in development. This correlational study investigated whether multimodal imitation (gestural, prosodic, and lexical components) and object-based imitation are related to narratives and sociopragmatics in preschoolers. Thirty-one typically developing 3- to 4-year-old children performed four tasks to assess multimodal imitation, object-based imitation, narrative abilities, and sociopragmatic abilities. Results revealed that both narrative and sociopragmatic skills were significantly related to multimodal imitation, but not to object-based imitation, indicating that preschoolers’ ability to imitate socially relevant multimodal cues is strongly related to language and sociocommunicative skills. Therefore, this evidence supports a broader conceptualization of imitation behaviors in the field of language development that systematically integrates prosodic, gestural, and verbal linguistic patterns.
Gender Socialization, Family Leadership, and the Invisible Father in Children’s Literature

Objective: This study examines the portrayals of mothers and fathers in children’s picture books read by millions of parents and children in their formative years. We investigate the extent to which these books present rigid parental stereotypes that misrepresent the potential of family leaders. Method: We performed a content analysis of 203 prominent children’s picture books from recent years to assess the appearances, activities, and emotions of mothers and fathers. Results: Rather than transcending narrow gender stereotypes, fathers in the most-read books continue to be underrepresented, relatively hands-off parents. Mothers are generally portrayed as emotional parents who complete traditional chores and nurture children. Conclusion: The gender socialization of children and parents via children’s books contributes to the notion that mothers and fathers cannot perform as equals in homes or workplaces. Representations of mothers and fathers differ substantially, with fathers playing a secondary role in parenting if they appear at all.
Network analysis of COVID-19-related PTSD symptoms in China: the similarities and differences between the general population and PTSD sub-population

ABSTRACT Background and Objectives: Prevalent Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) negatively affected individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using network analyses, this study explored the construct of PTSD symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in China to identify similarities and differences in PTSD symptom network connectivity between the general Chinese population and individuals reporting PTSD. Methods: We conducted an online survey recruiting 2858 Chinese adults. PTSD symptoms were measured using the PCL-5 and PTSD was determined according to the DSM-5 criteria. Results: In the general population, self-destructive/reckless behaviours were on average the most strongly connected to other PTSD symptoms in the network. The five strongest positive connections were found between 1) avoidance of thoughts and avoidance of reminders, 2) concentration difficulties and sleep disturbance, 3) negative beliefs and negative trauma-related emotions, 4) irritability/anger and self-destructive/reckless behaviours, and 5) hypervigilance and exaggerated startle responses. Besides, negative connections were found between intrusive thoughts and trauma-related amnesia and between intrusive thoughts and self-destructive/reckless behaviours. Among individuals reporting PTSD, symptoms such as flashbacks and self-destructive/reckless behaviours were on average most strongly connected to other PTSD symptoms in the network. The five strongest positive connections were found between 1) concentration difficulty and sleep disturbance, 2) intrusive thoughts and emotional cue reactivity, 3) negative beliefs and negative trauma-related emotions, 4) irritability/anger and self-destructive/reckless behaviour, and 5) detachment and restricted affect. In addition, a negative connection was found between intrusive thoughts and self-destructive/reckless behaviours. Conclusion: Our results indicate similarly positive connections between concentration difficulty and sleep disturbance, negative beliefs and negative trauma-related emotions, and irritability/anger and self-destructive/reckless behaviours in the general and PTSD-reported populations. We argue that self-destructive/reckless behaviours are a core symptom of COVID-19 related PTSD, worthy of more attention in future psychiatric programmers. HIGHLIGHTS The most central symptom for the general group was self-destructive/reckless behaviours and for the PTSD subgroup was flashbacks. Results matched the hybrid model of PTSD and were important for prevention and intervention for PTSD related to COVID-19.
Prediction of Hydraulic Jumps on a Triangular Bed Roughness Using Numerical Modeling and Soft Computing Methods

This study investigates the characteristics of free and submerged hydraulic jumps on the triangular bed roughness in various T/I ratios (i.e., height and distance of roughness) using CFD modeling techniques. The accuracy of numerical modeling outcomes was checked and compared using artificial intelligence methods, namely Support Vector Machines (SVM), Gene Expression Programming (GEP), and Random Forest (RF). The results of the FLOW-3D® model and experimental data showed that the overall mean value of relative error is 4.1%, which confirms the numerical model’s ability to predict the characteristics of the free and submerged jumps. The SVM model with a minimum of Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and a maximum of correlation coefficient (R2), compared with GEP and RF models in the training and testing phases for predicting the sequent depth ratio (y2/y1), submerged depth ratio (y3/y1), tailwater depth ratio (y4/y1), length ratio of jumps (Lj/y2*) and energy dissipation (ΔE/E1), was recognized as the best model. Moreover, the best result for predicting the length ratio of free jumps (Ljf/y2*) in the optimal gamma is γ = 10 and the length ratio of submerged jumps (Ljs/y2*) is γ = 0.60. Based on sensitivity analysis, the Froude number has the greatest effect on predicting the (y3/y1) compared with submergence factors (SF) and T/I. By omitting this parameter, the prediction accuracy is significantly reduced. Finally, the relationships with good correlation coefficients for the mentioned parameters in free and submerged jumps were presented based on numerical results.
Stress Misassignment in the Pronunciation of English by Arabic-speaking Learners: Erratic Practice or Crosslinguistic Influence?

The role of L1 interference in English stress assignment produced by Arabic-speaking EFL learners has received little research attention. This study aims to investigate whether faulty stress assignment by Arab learners is arbitrary or systematic. It also attempts to discover a linkage, if any, between Arabic phonotactic rules of stress placement and stress misplacement in English by Saudi learners. 120 learners from Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University were randomly chosen from 3 different levels of English proficiency (lower-intermediate, upper-intermediate, advanced); they were asked to pronounce 72 stimulus words that covered all morpho-syllabic word structures that the learners often mispronounced. The recordings were analysed using WASP spectrogram software and also by two independent raters. Results strongly indicated that crosslinguistic influence may have caused the learners to consistently a) place the stress on a specific syllable in a word even when this word has multiple stress assignments with a difference in meaning, b) stress the second item in a compound noun instead of the first, c) place the stress on the penultimate syllable of most polysyllabic words, d) place the stress on the second syllable of contracted negative auxiliary verbs , and e) misplace stress irrespective of their level of English proficiency.
Nurses' work environment, job satisfaction, and intention to leave - a cross-sectional study in Czech hospitals

Aim: The study aimed to determine how Czech nurses perceive individual aspects of their work environment, and examined the differences in perceptions of their work environment related to type of hospital, hospital departments, and individual demographic characteristics. The study included analysis of the relationships between nurses’ work environment and: intention to leave, satisfaction with current work position, the role of nurse, and work intensity. Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study. Methods: The sample involved 371 nurses working in the internal medicine and surgical departments of four hospitals in the Olomouc region. The Czech version of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the Pearson chi-squared test, the MannWhitney test, and Spearman’s correlations. Results: Nurses from university hospitals evaluated their work environment significantly more highly than nurses in regional non-university hospitals. No significant difference between internal medicine and surgical hospital wards was confirmed. Weak to moderate positive correlations were revealed between nurses’ work environment and: satisfaction with the role of nurse, satisfaction with current work position, and satisfaction with team collaboration. Nurses who considered leaving their current job or work position evaluated their work environment significantly more negatively than nurses who did not intend to leave their job. Conclusion: The attributes of nurses’ work environment are related to nurses’ satisfaction at work and their intention of staying in their workplace. Variables of hospitals greatly improved overall assessment of the work environment.
Impact of Trade Openness on Food Security: Evidence from Panel Data for Central Asian Countries

The problem of food insecurity has become increasingly critical across the world since 2015, which threatens the lives and livelihoods of people around the world and has historically been a challenge confined primarily to developing countries, to which the countries of Central Asia, as typical transition countries, cannot be immune either. Under this context, many countries including Central Asian countries have recognized the importance of trade openness to ensure adequate levels of food security and are increasingly reliant on international trade for food security. Using the 2001–2018 panel data of Central Asian countries, based on food security’s four pillars (including availability, access, stability, and utilization), this study empirically estimates the impact of trade openness and other factors on food security and traces a U-shaped (or inverted U-shaped) relationship between trade openness and food security by adopting a panel data fixed effect model as the baseline model, and then conducts the robustness test by using the least-squares (LS) procedure for the pooled data and a dynamic panel data (DPD) analysis with the generalized method of moments (GMM) approach, simultaneously. The results show that: (1) a U-shaped relationship between trade openness and the four pillars of food security was found, which means that beyond a certain threshold of trade openness, food security status tends to improve in Central Asian countries; (2) gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, GDP growth, and agricultural productivity have contributed to the improvement of food security. Employment in agriculture, arable land, freshwater withdrawals in agriculture, population growth, natural disasters, and inflation rate have negative impacts on food security; and (3) this study confirms that trade policy reforms can finally be conducive to improving food security in Central Asian countries. However, considering the effects of other factors, potential negative effects of trade openness, and vulnerability of global food trade network, ensuring reasonable levels of food self-sufficiency is still very important for Central Asian countries to achieve food security. Our research findings can provide scientific support for sustainable food system strategies in Central Asian countries.