Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lower limb joint sense, muscle strength and postural stability in adolescent Taekwondo practitioners

Background : Taekwondo (TKD) is a popular combat sport renowned for its kicking techniques. With repeated practice, it may enhance the sensorimotor performance and balance of its practitioners. Research question : This study aimed (1) to compare the effects of short-term and long-term TKD training on the lower limb joint proprioception, muscle strength and balance performance of adolescents, and (2) to explore the relationships among these three outcome measures. Type of study : Observational study. Methods : Thirty-one adolescents including long-term (n=11), short-term (n=10), and non-practitioners (n=10) of TKD participated in the study. The knee joint position sense, isokinetic strength of the quadriceps and hamstrings, and sway in prolonged single-leg standing were measured. Results : Long-term TKD practitioners made significantly smaller errors in the knee joint repositioning test than the control group (p 0.01) or hamstrings (p>0.01) among the three groups. Both short- and long-term TKD practitioners swayed significantly slower than control participants while standing on one leg (p<0.01). The accuracy of knee joint angle repositioning was significantly correlated with sway velocity (r = 0.499, p<0.01). Conclusions : More than one year of TKD training can improve single-leg standing balance. The better postural stability demonstrated by long-term TKD practitioners may be associated with better knee joint position sense rather than knee muscle strength. Physiotherapists may therefore suggest long-term TKD exercise for adolescents to improve balance.
Intersectional Microaggressions and Social Support for LGBTQ Persons of Color: A Systematic Review of the Canadian-Based Empirical Literature

Abstract Researchers have documented that LGBTQ persons of Color in the United States of America experience intersectional microaggressions and social support from their family and community members. Given the manifestation of heteronormativity (i.e., normalizing heterosexuality and gender binary system) and homonormativity (i.e., constructing LGBTQ identities as “White”) in North America, researchers have not systematically reviewed the empirical literature on intersectional microaggressions, specifically within familial and community contexts in Canadian society. The current paper addresses this omission by elucidating the significance of intersectionality as a theoretical framework in LGBTQ scholarship. Findings indicated that LGBTQ persons of Color experienced microaggressions in their families and racial and ethnic communities due to their sexuality and gender identities, and in mainstream LGBTQ spaces due to their racial and ethnic identities. They also struggled to navigate their intersecting identities, and encountered negative health outcomes, which they coped with through resistance and social support. The strengths and limitations of this paper, and recommendations for future inquiry are outlined.
Application and Mechanism of Sludge-Based Activated Carbon for Phenol and Cyanide Removal from Bio-Treated Effluent of Coking Wastewater

The toxic pollutants phenol and cyanide in the bio-treated effluent of coking wastewater still need advanced treatment to meet environmental requirements. In this study, activated carbon prepared from municipal sludge and bamboo waste (SBAC) was used for simultaneous adsorption of phenol and cyanide from bio-treated effluent of coking wastewater. The results showed that the optimum removal efficiencies of volatile phenol (69.7%) and total cyanide (80.1%) were observed at a SBAC dosage of 8 g/L, a pH value of 8.0, and a contact time of 80 min. The physical and chemical properties of SBAC were analyzed using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area (SBET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. SBAC had high SBET (289.58 m2/g) and rich mesoporous structure (average pore diameter of 3.688 nm), and carboxylic groups on SBAC surfaces were enhanced due to the addition of bamboo waste. In addition, a kinetic model of pseudo-first-order fitted well with the experimental data of volatile phenol, while the adsorption of total cyanide onto the SBAC was better described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model.
Slope Stability of Embankments on Soft Soil Improved with Vertical Drains

The overloads of structures or embankments built on clayey soft ground are generally applied gradually, respecting a specific phasing. This phasing on construction allows the undrained shear strength of clay increasing over consolidation in order to avoid the risk of collapse during loading. In this work, the undrained shear strength of clay over the consolidation was estimated following SHANSEP method of which parameters proposed by eight researchers have been employed, as well as the slope stability analysis of embankments on soft soils during staged construction. Assessment of factor of safety for slope stability was conducted basing on the Bishop method. Additionally, the variations of undrained shear strength and factor of safety were presented. In order to validate the methods discussed in this study, slope stability analysis of five embankments constructed on clayey soft soils improved by the vertical drain technique in a high-speed railway construction project in Morocco was performed. For these embankments, field measurements about lateral displacement are presented. It was found that some of the adopted methods is in a good agreement with field measurements. Hence, generalization of these methods to many soft ground cases can be proposed.
Estimating the Potential for Conservation and Farming in the Amazon and Cerrado under Four Policy Scenarios

Since 2013, clearing rates have rapidly increased in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes. This acceleration has raised questions about the efficacy of current regional public and private conservation policies that seek to promote agricultural production while conserving remnants of natural vegetation. In this study, we assessed conservation and agricultural outcomes of four potential policy scenarios that represent perfect adherence to private sector, zero-deforestation commitments (i.e., the Amazon soy moratorium—ASM and the Amazon cattle agreements—CA) and to varying levels of implementation of the Brazilian Forest Code (FC). Under a zero-clearing scenario, we find that the extent of croplands as of 2017 within the two biomes (31 MHa) could double without further clearing if agriculture were to expand on all previously cleared land that is suitable for crops. Moreover, at least 47 MHa of land that is already cleared but unsuitable for crops would remain available for pasture. Under scenarios in which only legal clearing under the FC could occur, 51 MHa of additional natural vegetation could be cleared. This includes as many as 1 MHa of nonforest vegetation that could be cleared in the Amazon biome without triggering the ASM and CA monitoring systems. Two-thirds of the total vegetation vulnerable to legal clearing is located within the Cerrado biome, and 19 MHa of this land is suitable for cropland expansion. Legal clearing of all of these areas could reduce biodiversity persistence by 4% within the two biomes, when compared with the zero-clearing scenario, and release up to 9 PgCO2e, with the majority (75%) coming from the Cerrado biome. However, when we considered the potential outcomes of full implementation of the FC, we found that 22% (11 MHa) of the 51 MHa of vegetation subject to legal clearing could be protected through the environmental quotas market, while an additional 1 MHa should be replanted across the two biomes, predominantly in the Amazon biome (73% of the area subject to replanting). Together, quotas and replanting could prevent the release of 2 PgCO2e that would otherwise be emitted if all legal clearing occurred. Based on our results, we conclude that ongoing legal clearing could create additional space for cropland and cattle production beyond the substantial existing stocks of cleared areas but would significantly impair local carbon and biodiversity stocks.
PS 12-04 THE PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION IN PATIENTS WITH ACS / AMI (ACCORDING TO THE REGISTER OF ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME / ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION IN UZBEKISTAN “RACSMI-UZ”)

Objective: to study the prevalence and gender characteristics of arterial hypertension (AH) in patients with ACS / AMI in the experimental district of Tashkent city. Design and Method: The study included 250 patients hospitalized in the appropriate health care facilities of pilot district of Tashkent city diagnosed with ACS / AMI. The study was conducted retrospectively according to archived data records of patients. Patients were divided into 3 groups: 1gr. −30 patients diagnosed with AMI, 2gr. − 41 with ACS, 3gr. − 161 with UA (unstable angina). Within each group was determined the presence of varying degrees of AH according to gender. Results: Of the 250 patients included in the Register for the period 01.01. 2015 − 01.10. 2015 it was 138 (55.2%) men and 112 (44.8%) women. The average age of hospitalized respondents was 58,6 ± 7,6 (34 to 70) years. The analysis of risk factors showed that in anamnesis AH was found − in 206 (82.6%) respondents (45.6% -men and 36.8% - women). The most frequently encountered in hypertensive patients diagnosed with UA (64%). In the group of MI and ACS incidence of AH was 40% and 43.9%, respectively. The analysis by gender revealed the following: 1) the most frequently AH occurred in males (in the 1st gr. − 23.3%, in the 2nd − 29.3%, in the 3rd − 32.3%); 2) the I degree of AH occurred in the 1st gr. - in 66.7%, in the 2nd gr. − 50%, in the 3rd − 45.6% of cases. The II degree of AH occurred in the 1st gr. – in 10%, in the 2nd - in 9.7%, in the 3rd – in 23.6% of cases. The III degree of AH occurred in the 1st gr. – in 3%, in the 2nd gr. – in 12.2%, in the 3rd – in 11.2% of cases. Thus, in all three groups most often found I degree of AH. Conclusions: The prevalence of hypertension among all the patients included in the Register on the stationary phase was 82.6%. The most frequently hypertension occurs in males diagnosed with unstable angina. According to the level of blood pressure prevailed the first degree of AH.
Flow Compensated Gas Sensing Array for Improved Performances in Breath-Analysis Applications

Metal-oxide gas sensors have great potential for emerging applications, including breath analysis due to their small form factor, low cost, and low power, which enables integration in consumer electronics, such as smartphone accessories, wearables, and, in the future, smartwatches and phones. Acetone concentration in breath is an important biomarker for well-being and biomedical applications, such as weight loss and ketoacidosis monitoring. In this article, we present a monolithically integrated array of gas sensors combined with a flow sensor in order to provide better quantification of acetone. In particular, this work demonstrates improvement in the acetone selectivity thanks to the combination of three different metal oxides and the ability to compensate with the flow variation.
Keeping Latina/o Students in School: Factors Related to Academic Intentions of Students at Risk for School Dropout

This study examined the relationships between academic self-efficacy, academic motivation, social support, school belonging, home-school dissonance, and academic intentions in a sample of 762 Mexican American 9th graders attending a Midwestern public school. Using Structural Equation Modeling, we examined a model where academic self-efficacy and motivation mediated relations between family, peer, and school support, school belonging, and home-school dissonance to the outcome of academic intentions. We also explored whether relations would differ by gender. Academic motivation functioned as a significant mediator of the effect of family support on academic intentions, and school belonging on academic intentions The relationship between friend support and motivation to achieve varied by gender where the relationship was positive for boys but not for girls. We discuss practical implications for school-based preventive interventions to promote school persistence in Latina/o adolescents. Este estudio examinó las relaciones entre la autoeficacia académica, la motivación académica, el apoyo social, la afiliación escolar, la disonancia hogar-escuela y las intenciones académicas en una muestra de 762 estudiantes Mexicanos Americanos de noveno grado quienes asisten a una escuela pública del medio oeste. Usando Structural Equation Modeling, examinémos un modelo donde autoeficacia académica y motivación funcionaron como mediadores de la relación entre el apoyo familiar, el apoyo social, el apoyo escolar, la afiliación escolar, la disonancia hogar-escuela y el resultado intenciones académicas. También, explorémos si habrian differencias entre hombres y mujeres en éste modélo de relaciónes. La motivación académica funciono como mediador significativo de la relación entre el resultado de las intenciones académicas y el apoyo familiar y la afiliación escolar. La relación entre el apoyo de una amistad y la motivación para alcanzar logros variaron según el género, las relaciónes eran positivas para los hombres pero no eran significada para las mujeres. Discutimos sobre las implicaciones prácticas para las intervenciones preventivas en las escuelas destinadas a promover la persistencia escolar en las/os adolescentes Latinas/os.
Exposure Effects of 50 Hz, 1 Gauss Magnetic Field on the Histoarchitecture changes of Liver, Testis and Kidney of Mature Male Albino Rats

The present investigation was carried out on twenty eight mature male albino rats from laboratory animal unite in the faculty of veterinary medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt. The rats were divided into four equally groups; I, II, III and IV of seven rats for each. Group I and II are control groups but the group I was kept in normal day condition and group II was kept in 12 hours Light / 12 hours dark cycle during the period of experiment without exposure to electromagnetic field (EMF), at constant temperature about 25°C. Group III was exposed to 50 Hz, 1 Gauss electromagnetic field (EMF) consciously for 21 days. Group IV was kept for 48 days post the end of the exposure period; 21 days and then complete to 48 days without exposure to MF for studying the delayed effects of MF exposure (reversibility or irreversibility). At the end of experiment, all groups were scarified by cervical dislocation and the liver, testis and kidneys were separated immediately and small pieces from them were taken, fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin, processed till paraffin sections and stained histologically with Hematoxylin and Eosin (HandE) and Green Masson’s Trichrome. Groups I, II showed normal histological structure of liver, testis and kidney without any abnormalities. Group III showed severe pathological lesions in the liver, testis and kidney. Regarding group IV, the histological examination of all organs showed the same normal histological structure as that in the control groups (I, II).
Chinese Consumers’ Perceptions of Functional Foods Designed to Help the Immune System Recover from the Impact of Air Pollution

ii Acknowledgements . iv Publications and conference presentations . v Table of contents . vi List of figures . x List of tables. xi List of abbreviations . xiii List of key definitions. xiv Chapter
The Role of Spatial Separation on Selective and Distributed Attention to Speech

Processing speech in multi-speaker environments poses substantial challenges to the human perceptual and attention system. Moreover, different contexts may require employing different listening strategies. For instance, in some cases individuals pay attention Selectively to one speaker and attempt to ignore all other task-irrelevant sounds, whereas other contexts may require listeners to Distribute their attention among several speakers. Spatial and spectral acoustic cues both play an important role in assisting listeners to segregate concurrent speakers. However, how these cues interact with varying demands for allocating top-down attention is less clear. In the current study, we test and compare how spatial cues are utilized to benefit performance on these different types of attentional tasks. To this end, participants listened to a concoction of two or four speakers, presented either as emanating from different locations in space or with no spatial separation. In separate trials, participants were required to employ different listening strategies, and detect a target-word spoken either by one pre-defined speaker (Selective Attention) or spoken by any of the speakers (Distributed Attention). Results indicate that the presence of spatial cues improved performance, particularly in the two-speaker condition, which is in line with the important role of spatial cues in stream segregation. However, spatial cues provided similar benefits to performance under Selective and Distributed attention. This pattern suggests that despite the advantage of spatial cues for stream segregation, they were nonetheless insufficient for directing a more focused ‘attentional spotlight’ towards the location of a designated speaker in the Selective attention condition.
Lateralised cerebral processing of abstract linguistic structure in clear and degraded speech

Providing a plausible neural substrate of speech processing and language comprehension, cortical activity has been shown to track different levels of linguistic structure in connected speech (syllables, phrases and sentences), independent of the physical regularities of the acoustic stimulus. In the current study, we investigated the effect of speech intelligibility on this brain activity as well as the underlying neural sources. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), brain responses to natural speech and noise-vocoded (spectrally-degraded) speech in nineteen normal hearing participants were measured. Results showed that cortical MEG coherence to linguistic structure changed parametrically with the intelligibility of the speech signal. Cortical responses coherent with phrase and sentence structures were lefthemisphere lateralized, whereas responses coherent to syllable/word structure were bilateral. The enhancement of coherence to intelligible compared to unintelligible speech was also left lateralized and localized to the parasylvian cortex. These results demonstrate that cortical responses to higher level linguistics structures (phrase and sentence level) are sensitive to speech intelligibility. Since the noise-vocoded sentences simulate the auditory input provided by a cochlear implant, such objective neurophysiological measures have potential clinical utility for assessment of cochlear implant performance.
Urgency of Islamic Religious Education Teachers in Character Building for Students in Junior High Schools

Dalam sistem pendidikan di negara kita, pendidikan agama merupakan salah satu mata pelajaran yang diajarkan. Penitik-beratan pendidikan pada kecerdasan intelektual akan membuat ketidakseimbangan dalam menanamkan nilai karakter pada peserta didik. Pembangunan yang paling substansial adalah pembangunan akhlak, karakter, dan moral. Pendidikan agama dalam implementasinya belum maksimal, masih ada beberapa permasalahan seperti kurangnya tenaga guru agama. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan keadaan akhlak siswa Sekolah Menengah Pertama (SMP), peran guru Agama Islam di SMP dan faktor pendukung serta penghambat guru PAI di SMP dalam membina karakter siswa. Penelitian ini menggunakan paradigma interpretif melalui pendekatan kualitatif, jenis studi kasus. Hasil penelitian (1) keadaan karakter siswa di SMPN 3 Slahung, Ponorogo, Jawa Timur, Indonesia secara umum baik, (2) Peran guru PAI dalam membina karakter siswa dengan memberi keteladanan, habituasi (pembiasaan), nasihat, hukuman, penghargaan atau ganjaran, dan (3) faktor pendukung guru PAI dalam membina karakter siswa SMPN 3 Slahung adalah keluarga, sekolah dan lingkungan masyarakat, sedangkan faktor yang menghambat terbatasnya pengawasan pihak sekolah, kesadaran dari para siswa sendiri, latar belakang keluarga siswa, pengaruh tayangan televisi dan handphone.
Awareness about RTI and facts of HIV/AIDS among rural college going girls in Varanasi district

Background: Knowledge among youth specially girls before they become sexually active can lay the foundation for a responsible lifestyle, including healthy relationships and safe sex habits. Objective: To know the awareness of HIV/AIDS among college going girls residing in rural area of Varanasi district. Material and Methods: Present study is a crosssectional study. Data collection was done from the period August 2013February 2015. Respondents: 360 college going girls residing in rural area, from two randomly selected colleges of Varanasi district. Results: In the present study mostly girls (61.7%) belonged to age group of 19 years and above. 73.3% reported that they had no knowledge about Reproductive Tract Infections but 97.5% had heard of HIV/AIDS. Majority 73.6% named all four modes of transmission of HIV/AIDS i.e. through unprotected sex, transfusion of infected blood, from infected mother to her child and by sharing of syringe. Recommendation: HIV/AIDS messages should be available to all, especially to youth who are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
Laboratory Tests on the Reflection Coefficient of a Perforated Caisson

This paper presents new tests on a perforated vertical wall caisson. The tests aim at evaluating the reduction of the reflection coefficient caused by different perforations. The reflection coefficient is estimated using the novel nonlinear methods proposed by Lykke Andersen et al. (2017) and Eldrup and Lykke Andersen (2019). The structure under investigation is, at prototype scale, 21.50 m high, 35.55 m long and 13.90 m wide, divided into 3 rows of 8 cells. The caisson has a recurved ‘nose’ and air vents on the parapet wall. An identical plain wall caisson without absorbing chambers is also tested for comparison. Two-dimensional laboratory tests have been carried out at Department of Engineering of Roma Tre University with both irregular and regular waves, reproducing mild wave conditions and design wave conditions. Two water levels have been used, reproducing the mean water level and a set-up condition of +0.5 m. Four structural layouts are tested in order to study various perforation types. Furthermore, the effect of the wave obliquity and of the short crestedness on the reflection coefficient is discussed using some 3D laboratory data obtained back in the 1995 but not published before.