Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can health indicators and psychosocial characteristics predict attrition in youths with overweight and obesity seeking ambulatory treatment? Data from a retrospective longitudinal study in a paediatric clinic in Luxembourg

Objectives The current study aimed to identify factors that could predict attrition in youths starting ambulatory treatment to control or lose weight. Design Retrospective longitudinal study. Setting Paediatric clinic: ambulatory treatment programme. Patients and measures A youth sample (n=191; 89 boys; aged 7–17 years) completed measures of demographic characteristics, and health and psychosocial traits before starting an ambulatory weight management programme. Anthropometric and biological markers related to obesity were also obtained. Tests of mean differences and regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship between these variables and attrition after 1 year. Results The χ2and t test results showed both psychosocial and health indicators differentiated between participants who continued attending the treatment programme and those who dropped out. More specifically, youths that dropped out of treatment were significantly older, had higher body mass index z scores, higher levels of insulin, triglycerides and HOMA-IR, reported poorer health, had more conduct problems and were more dissatisfied with themselves and their bodies before starting treatment. Results of regression analyses revealed that weight status (anthropometric and biological markers), age and body dissatisfaction predicted attrition (overall prediction success 73%; prediction success for continued attendance 90/91%; prediction success for dropouts 42/44%). Conclusion Attrition, but especially the continued attendance in treatment, can be successfully predicted by age, weight status and body dissatisfaction. For patients who present with one or more risk factors, careful consideration is needed to decide which (combination of) inpatient or outpatient programme may facilitate prolonged engagement of the patient and hence may be most effective in establishing weight loss.
The influence of off-farm work on farm income among smallholder farm households in northern Ghana

Abstract Income diversification is an essential livelihood strategy among small-scale farmers in low-income countries. Through income diversification, farmers can potentially invest off-farm earnings into their farm business to enhance productivity and income from farming. Conversely, working off-farm can lead to a labour-loss effect which can reduce farm performance. This study therefore assesses the effect of off-farm work (OFW) on farm income using data from 486 smallholder farmers in northern Ghana. An endogenous treatment regression model was used to assess the effect of diversifying income sources on farm income. The results showed that involvement in OFW enhanced farm income per acre by GH¢ 386. Other factors that enhanced farm income included years of formal education and access to extension services and input subsidy. Farmer group membership and household size however reduced farm income. The farm sector can therefore take advantage of the positive linkage with the non-farm sector to improve farm income levels of farmers. In this light, government’s rural industrialization policy should seek to provide more job opportunities outside the farm sector to enable smallholder farmers to take advantage of such opportunities to improve income from on-farm activities.
Minimal contrast and the phonology-phonetics interaction

This dissertation investigates the role of minimal contrast in phonetic patterns and phonological phenomena. Two sounds are minimally contrastive when they differ in just one property. The main findings are that (i) minimal contrast can influence the outcome of phonetic effects and that (ii) phonological processes may single out minimally contrastive elements. A contrast-coindexing function is developed in order to mark elements that are minimally contrastive for some property. An experimental study is conducted to test the influence of minimal length contrast on the phonetic voicing effect, a pattern by which vowels are longer before voiced than before voiceless obstruents, in Lithuanian. In Lithuanian, only high and low vowels are minimally contrastive for length. Mid vowels are always long. The experimental results indicate that contextual modification of vowel duration is more limited for those vowels that are minimally contrastive for length than for those that are not. These results are argued to stem from the functional requirement to maintain distinct contrasts. The experimental results show that phonetic patterns can be sensitive to minimal contrast. Therefore, I argue that the phonological representation must include information about minimal contrast, which the phonetic component can access. I formalize this contrast with a contrast-coindexing function. Framed within Optimality Theory, contrast-coindexing applies to minimally contrastive segments capable of distinguishing pairs of words, adopting a systemic approach to contrast. Under the contrast-coindexing analysis, length contrasts are represented using the xii same mechanisms as for other contrasts. This approach has implications for the moraic representation of length contrasts, which fails to capture minimal length contrast. The proposal to incorporate minimal contrast into the phonological representation predicts that this kind of contrast might also be active in phonological phenomena. Evidence for this prediction is presented from vowel height harmony in Lena Asturian. In Lena, only vowels that are minimally contrastive for height can trigger harmony. The typology of vowel harmony illustrated by several varieties related to Lena lends further support to the claim that minimal contrast is active in the phonology. The contrast-coindexing proposal is extended to other phonological patterns, in which minimally contrastive elements are singled out.
Digitalization challenges in education during COVID-19: A systematic review

Abstract The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has led to the disruption of the learning activities of many educational institutions across the world. The transition from conventional education learning to digital learning has left both educators and students in the face of challenges. The impact of education loss was found to be more critical for students from poor and rural backgrounds. The shift of education activities to online teaching and learning has aroused growing interest in studies examining the impact of the global outbreak on the education sector. Although there had been studies in the past that have provided a literature review on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning, however, systematic review using the PRISMA approach on this particular study of interest has remained relatively less. Hence, this study aimed at conducting a systematic review by adopting the PRISMA strategy to focus on the challenges faced by the education sector during the crisis period. The results from this review found 82 articles by keywords search. Through a systematic review, the literature is extensively scanned to answer the well-defined research questions and four (4) main themes have been developed with 19 articles included in the finding synthesizing. The review conducted in this paper will contribute by providing comprehensive reviews of the past literature done specifically in examining the challenges to digitalization in learning during the pandemic crisis.
Probability of Concurrent Deficiency of Vitamin D and Iron in Hypothyroidism: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Hypothyroidism is the most common pathophysiological condition that affects mostly females in both developed and developing countries. Data on hypothyroidism among adult females are essential to understand the underactive status of the thyroid gland among the female population and its correlated effects on a deficiency of vitamin D and iron, as effective prevention of osteoporotic changes and iron deficiency anemia is possible. Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate the probability of concurrent iron and vitamin D deficiency among the adult hypothyroid female population of Abu Dhabi, UAE. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from September 2019 to July 2021 among 500 adult females aged 18 to 45 years old in Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC) and Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), Abu Dhabi, UAE. After obtaining written informed consent, subjects' demographic characteristics (sun exposure, dressing code, food consumption), anthropometry (height, weight, BMI), and biochemical parameters (thyroid profile, vitamin D profile, iron profile, and blood indices) were measured. Results: In this study, serum vitamin D and iron levels were significantly (p<0.01) decreased in the hypothyroid female group (study group). The serum vitamin D and iron levels showed a significant negative (p<0.01) correlation with thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). Out of 250 study group participants, 61 had a concurrent deficiency of serum vitamin D and iron, yielding a probability (P of low vitamin D and iron and hypothyroidism) of 0.244, which indicates that if 1000 hypothyroid patients are tested for serum vitamin D and iron levels, 24 patients are probable to have low vitamin D and iron. Conclusion: The study concluded that vitamin D and iron bi-deficiency were observed in adult hypothyroid females in Abu Dhabi, UAE. So, the routine check-up of thyroid function and vitamin D and iron profiles should be done early. Therefore, early vitamin D and iron deficiencies can be detected, and supplements can be given to prevent further health complications like osteoporosis and iron deficiency anemia.
Cost-Effectiveness of Humidified High-Flow Therapy (HHFT) for COPD Patients on Long-Term Oxygen Therapy

Purpose Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of mortality, and is associated with significant respiratory impairment, decreased quality of life, and high health care costs. Recent evidence indicates significant clinical benefit results from adding humidified high-flow therapy (HHFT) to standard long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) as a home-based therapy in persons with severe COPD. The objective was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of adding HHFT to standard treatment of COPD patients using LTOT with US healthcare cost estimates. Patients and Methods A Markov state-transition model was developed using data from a prospective clinical trial of adding HHFT to standard therapy for persons with severe COPD using LTOT. The analysis was conducted from the US health care system perspective using a 5-year time horizon and 3% discount rate. QALYs and downstream healthcare costs were modeled. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were used to examine the impact of input parameters on the incremental net monetary benefit (NMB). Results Incremental QALYs accrued were 0.058 (2.047 vs 1.989 QALYs for HHFT and standard therapy groups respectively). Incremental total costs were -$3939 ($47,516 vs $51,455 for HHFT and standard therapy groups respectively). Thus, HHFT was the dominant treatment in the analysis, resulting on both better health and lower total costs. Varying utility and cost inputs individually never resulted in NMB approaching 0. Probabilistic analyses indicate that HHFT is cost-effective in 84% of simulations. Conclusion Our results indicate that the reductions in acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPDs) that result from adding HHFT for persons with COPD on LTOT will produce both health benefit (QALYs) and cost savings. Cost savings occur because the HHFT device costs are more than offset by reductions in costly COPD exacerbations. Health care systems and payors can benefit from wider implementation of HHFT with existing treatments.
Different Alterations of Hippocampal and Reticulo-Thalamic GABAergic Parvalbumin-Expressing Interneurons Underlie Different States of Unconsciousness

We traced the changes in GABAergic parvalbumin (PV)-expressing interneurons of the hippocampus and reticulo-thalamic nucleus (RT) as possible underlying mechanisms of the different local cortical and hippocampal electroencephalographic (EEG) microstructures during the non-rapid-eye movement (NREM) sleep compared with anesthesia-induced unconsciousness by two anesthetics with different main mechanisms of action (ketamine/diazepam versus propofol). After 3 h of recording their sleep, the rats were divided into two experimental groups: one half received ketamine/diazepam anesthesia and the other half received propofol anesthesia. We simultaneously recorded the EEG of the motor cortex and hippocampus during sleep and during 1 h of surgical anesthesia. We performed immunohistochemistry and analyzed the PV and postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95) expression. PV suppression in the hippocampus and at RT underlies the global theta amplitude attenuation and hippocampal gamma augmentation that is a unique feature of ketamine-induced versus propofol-induced unconsciousness and NREM sleep. While PV suppression resulted in an increase in hippocampal PSD-95 expression, there was no imbalance between inhibition and excitation during ketamine/diazepam anesthesia compared with propofol anesthesia in RT. This increased excitation could be a consequence of a lower GABA interneuronal activity and an additional mechanism underlying the unique local EEG microstructure in the hippocampus during ketamine/diazepam anesthesia.
Indicator Spectral Bands and Logistic Models for Detecting Diesel and Gasoline Polluted Soils Based on Close-Range Hyperspectral Image Data

In this article, we derived indicator spectral bands and classification models for detecting diesel or gasoline pollution in soil using a near- and short-wave-infrared (NIR–SWIR) hyperspectral camera under a close range and laboratory conditions. The soil samples were collected from temperate climate soil with spectral characteristics manifested by secondary minerals. The hyperspectral images show that the diesel and gasoline-polluted soil samples have distinctive spectral differences from clean soil. Different from moisture soil, the spectral absorption features of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) are preserved with an increase in gravimetric content. The more PHCs contents, the stronger the depths at the spectral absorption features. In diesel-polluted soils, the absorption features were observed at various content levels. However, we found a detection limit for gasoline content in the soil, because the absorption features by PHCs disappeared at 8 wt%. To derive the indicator bands, the images were classified by the random forest (RF) algorithm with an accuracy and kappa coefficient of 94.3% and 0.92% using three groups of bands corresponding to ferric ions, C–H stretch/bending, and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) C–H absorptions. The detection models derived from a logistic regression achieved an overall accuracy of 91.82%. The field test of the models on unprocessed soils achieved an accuracy of 83.36%. Because of their simple forms, the logistic detection models can be transferred to remote sensing applications of soil PHC pollution under close-range conditions such as drone-based projects.
Object Detection in Images: A Survey

: Object detection in a static or dynamic scene, such as a video, is a well-known problem in the computer or machine vision community. Some techniques have already been developed so far. Such detected objects have applications in many different areas. The literature in this domain is vast; as a result it is really very difficult for a beginner to work in this domain. A guideline, therefore, is very helpful, particularly to the young researchers working in the area of computer vision. We have therefore felt the need of a review in this domain. With this objective in mind, we have written this article. We have studied some major existing state-of-the-art object detection methods and chronologically summarize each of them. Each summarization narrates a detailed description on motivation, work description, merits and demerits, followed by some discussion.
On the Use of Native Resolution Backscatter Intensity Data for Optimal Soil Moisture Retrieval

The accuracy of soil moisture estimated from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter data at high resolutions is limited by speckle. A common practice to mitigate speckle is to multilook the data prior to retrieving soil moisture. While multilooking indeed reduces speckle, it also decreases the spatial resolution and removes possibly useful high resolution information from the data. We, therefore, hypothesized that using higher resolution backscatter data for soil moisture retrieval would lead to higher retrieval accuracies. A high resolution field study combined with a synthetic experiment showed that calculating soil moisture prior to multilooking to the final target resolution calculate-then-average (CtA) has substantial advantages over the average-then-calculate (AtC) approach. Currently, the AtC strategy is most often applied in soil moisture studies, mainly due to its computational advantage compared to the CtA approach. We show that by making use of a higher source resolution backscatter data than the target resolution, we could improve soil moisture retrieval over an agricultural field.
Systemic barriers to effective teaching/learning of French in Ghana: Policy and curriculum perspectives

Abstract:Teaching/learning is effective when the set objectives are achieved. The effectiveness of teaching could however be impacted by barriers to teaching/learning. This article therefore examines systemic barriers to the effective teaching/learning of French in the Ghanaian educational system taking into account policy and curriculum arrangements. Data was collected through interviews and documentary evidence from stakeholders including career-oriented students, Ghanaian professionals and heads of department of French. From the qualitative perspective, the data was analysed using a thematic approach and content analysis. Findings revealed that there are systemic barriers to the effective teaching/learning of French at the secondary and tertiary levels in Ghana. These include absence of policy for teaching/learning French in Technical and Vocational Education Training institutions (TVET institutions), inaccessibility of the French language to students in career-oriented programmes and inappropriate alternation of French with other subjects. In view of these findings, the study recommends a review of policies and subject combinations regarding the teaching/learning of French at the secondary and tertiary levels of the Ghanaian educational system, in order to ensure a seamless progression in the study of the language and its positive impact on the socio-economic development of the country. Résumé:L'enseignement/apprentissage est efficace lorsque les objectifs fixés sont atteints. L'efficacité de l'enseignement pourrait toutefois être affectée par des obstacles à l'enseignement ou à l'apprentissage. Cet article examine donc les obstacles systémiques à l'enseignement ou à l'apprentissage efficace du français dans le système éducatif ghanéen en tenant compte des dispositions politiques et curriculaires. Les données ont été recueillies au moyen d'entretiens et de preuves documentaires auprès des parties prenantes, notamment des étudiants orientés vers une carrière, des professionnels ghanéens et des chefs de département de français. Du point de vue qualitatif, les données ont été analysées à l'aide d'une approche thématique et d'une analyse de contenu. Les résultats ont révélé qu'il existe des obstacles systémiques à l'enseignement ou à l'apprentissage efficace du français aux niveaux secondaire et supérieur au Ghana. Il s'agit notamment de l'absence de politique d'enseignement/apprentissage du français dans les établissements de formation technique et professionnelle (EFTP), de l'inaccessibilité de la langue française aux étudiants des programmes orientés vers la carrière et de l'alternance inappropriée du français avec d'autres matières. Au vu de ces constats, cette étude recommande une révision des politiques et des combinaisons de matières concernant l'enseignement/apprentissage du français aux niveaux secondaire et supérieur du système éducatif ghanéen, afin d'assurer une progression sans heurt dans l'étude de la langue et de son impact positif sur le développement socio-économique du pays.
Analysis of Aerosol Optical Properties in Seoul Using Skyradiometer Observation

Optical characteristics of aerosols in Seoul are investigated from the measurements of sky radiance by Skyradiometer at Yonsei University from December 2005 to November 2006. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) shows a maximum in June due to weak ventilation and particle growth by aging process and hygroscopic effect. Single scattering albedo (SSA) and Angstrom Exponent (AE) show the lowest value in spring due to the Asian dust. It is clear that coarse mode is dominant in spring and fine mode is dominant in summer from the volume size distribution measured in this study. The explanations on the changes of aerosol loadings are provided through the correlation between AOD and AE, while the pattern of wavelength dependency related to particle size is shown through the correlation between SSA and AE. Backward trajectory analysis by HYSPLIT provides information about origin of aerosol, which allows us to classify the case according to the source region and the path distance. Although the direction of backward trajectory traces back mostly to west, coarse mode particle is dominant in the case of long pathway and fine mode particle is dominant in the case of short pathway. This discrepancy is caused by the regional difference of emitted particles.
From Deficit to Strength-Based Aboriginal Health Research—Moving toward Flourishing

Aboriginal Australians have a fundamental human right to opportunities that lead to healthy and flourishing lives. While the impact of trauma on Aboriginal Australians is well-documented, a pervasive deficit narrative that focuses on problems and pathology persists in research and policy discourse. This narrative risks further exacerbating Aboriginal disadvantage through a focus on ‘fixing what is wrong’ with Aboriginal Australians and the internalising of these narratives by Aboriginal Australians. While a growing body of research adopts strength-based models, limited research has sought to explore Aboriginal flourishing. This conceptual paper seeks to contribute to a burgeoning paradigm shift in Aboriginal research, seeking to understand what can be learned from Aboriginal people who flourish, how we best determine this, and in what contexts this can be impactful. Within, we argue the case for a new approach to exploring Aboriginal wellbeing that integrates salutogenic, positive psychology concepts with complex systems theory to understand and promote Aboriginal wellbeing and flourishing. While deeper work may be required to establish the parameters of a strength-based, culturally aligned Aboriginal conceptualisation of positive psychology, we suggest the integration of Aboriginal and Western methodologies offers a unique and potent means of shifting the dial on seemingly intractable problems.