Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-Reported Quality of Life, Treatment Effectiveness, Attitudes and Perceptions of Fibromyalgia Patients

iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT . vii LIST OF TABLES . xii LIST OF FIGURES . xiv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . xv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION . 1 BACKGROUND . 2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM . 3 HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS’ PERCEPTIONS OF FMS . 7 PATIENT PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS . 9 NEED FOR RESEARCH AND SIGNIFICANCE . 11 GOALS . 14 OBJECTIVES . 14 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW . 18 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND NOMENCLATURE . 19 ETIOLOGY . 20 RISK FACTORS . 21 EPIDEMIOLOGY . 22 DIAGNOSIS & SYMPTOM HETEROGENEITY . 23 TREATMENT OPTIONS . 25 PHARMACOLOGIC THERAPIES . 25 NON-PHARMACOLOGIC THERAPIES . 28 HEALTH OUTCOMES IN FIBROMYALGIA . 29 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY . 32 STUDY DESIGN . 33 WEB-BASED SURVEYS: A BRIEF OVERVIEW . 33 INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT . 35 INSTRUMENT VALIDATION . 39 DATA COLLECTION . 40 STUDY SUBJECTS AND RECRUITMENT . 41 DATA ANALYSIS . 43
The Effect of Fair Value Adjustments on Dividend Policy Under Mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards Adoption: Australian Evidence

Using a sample of firms from the financial sector of the Australian Securities Exchange, we examine the effect of the fair value adjustments of financial instruments on firms' dividend distributions in the context of mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption. We find a positive relationship between the fair value adjustments of financial instruments and firms' dividend payouts, suggesting that the frequent use of fair value adjustments of financial instruments by financial firms following mandatory IFRS adoption has the potential to increase the proportion of transitory earnings in reported earnings and cause changes in dividend policies. Our results add to the ongoing debate on the unintended economic consequences of fair value accounting (FVA) and provide empirical support for regulators' concerns that unrealized FVA gains from asset revaluation during booms may encourage the distribution of those unrealized gains.
H∞ filtering of discrete‐time switched singular systems with time‐varying delays

In this article, the analysis and design problems of H∞ filtering for a class of discrete‐time switched singular systems with time‐varying delay under an arbitrary switching signal are investigated. The main attention is focused on the design of a linear mode‐dependent filter guaranteeing the regularity, causality, and asymptotic stability of the resulting filtering error system with a prescribed H∞ performance bound. By using a multiple Lyapunov‐Krasovskii functional, and utilizing the linearization technique, novel sufficient conditions for the solvability of H∞ problem are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Solving that, the desired filter gains can be determined. Any model transformation of system, which often leads the large computational burden is involved. The free weighting matrix technique is introduced to provide additional degree of freedom, which improves the conservativeness of the developed method. Finally, numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and the merit of the proposed approach and to compare the obtained results with some previous works in the literature.
In Situ Observation of the Degradation in Multi‐Crystalline Si Solar Cells by Electroluminescence

Carrier‐induced efficiency degradation of multi‐crystalline Si (mc‐Si) solar cells is studied in situ by detecting the electroluminescence (EL) from the cells. Series of spatially resolved EL images of the cells during constant forward current operation at low (24 °C) and at elevated (70 °C) temperatures are recorded. The degradation induced changes in the open circuit voltage correlate well with changes in the EL intensities. The similarity of light‐induced and carrier‐induced degradation processes for mc‐Si cells is confirmed. The correlation of the degradation with the material structure is analyzed. The degradation appears to correlate with the density of structural defects in the cells. The results verify that EL images present a powerful tool for in situ analyses of mc‐Si cell degradation processes in various cell structures with a broad variety of biasing and temperature conditions.
Estimation of the change in the gas flow rate from the surface of a tungsten plate under pulsed heat load

The work is devoted to the numerical implementation of the tungsten evaporation process model. The tungsten evaporation model is based on solving the two-phase Stefan problem for temperature in the sample area and gas dynamics equations over the sample. The calculation results for parameters corresponding to those used on the BETA facility at BINP SB RAS show that it is possible to use the boundary homogeneous conditions of the Neumann for the velocity when setting the gas density on the plate surface.
Clinical and Epidemiological profile of Anemia in central India

Background: The present, hospital based prevalence study has been conducted to assess the clinical and epidemiological profile of anemia in central India. Methods: In this study 200 patients of anemia from medical out patients department and indoor wards, age between 15-70 years, randomly selected without any bias for sex, occupation, socio-economic status and duration of disease. Results: This study shows that maximum number of patients (40%) were from age group 21-30 years. Between 15-30 years age group, prevalence of anemia was more in females than males. 57% study population have moderate anemia and 41% patients have severe anemia. Weakness & easy fatigability were most common (100%) presenting symptoms and pallor was most common (98% patients) clinical sign. Microcytic and hypochromic type peripheral smear was most common laboratory findings (59% cases). Nutritional anemia was the most common type of anemia (84%). Conclusions: Nutritional deficiency anemia is the most common cause of anemia among population, and iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in population.
Challenges and Drawbacks in the Marketisation of Higher Education Within Neoliberalism

This paper addresses some of the challenges and drawbacks associated to the ongoing worldwide process of marketization (neoliberalization) in higher education. Neoliberalism—the prevailing model of capitalist thinking based on the Washington Consensus—has conveyed the idea that a new educational and university model must emerge in order to meet the demands of a global productive system that is radically different from that of just a few decades ago. The overall argument put forward is that the requirements, particularly the managerial and labor force needs of a new economy—already developing within the parameters of globalization and the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs)—cannot be adequately satisfied under the approaches and methods used by a traditional university. Neoliberalism affects the telos of higher education by redefining the very meaning of higher education. It dislocates education by commodifying its intrinsic value and emphasizing directly transferable skills and competencies. Nonmonetary values are marginalized and, with them, the nonmonetary ethos that is essential in sustaining a healthy democratic society. In this paper I will address (1) some of the problems and shortcomings in the triple-helix model of university-industry-government collaborations, (2) the transformation of students into customers and faculty into entrepreneurial workers, highlighting the many drawbacks of such strategies, (3) the hegemony of rankings as procedures of surveillance and control, (4) the many criticisms posed against neoliberalization in higher education and the possible alternatives looking to the future.
Firefly Algorithm with non-homogeneous population: A case study in economic load dispatch problem

Abstract The economic load dispatch problem is a very important practical problem in electric power systems operation, where an efficient solution can lead to cost and emissions reductions. The use of metaheuristics, as the Firefly Algorithm, for the solution of economic load dispatch problems has been shown to be a more appropriate alternative than classical optimisation methods. In this work, we have proposed a new variant for the Firefly Algorithm, considering a non-homogeneous population. This new variant was validated using ten benchmark functions, and then applied to solve a 15-units economic load dispatch problem, considering transmission line losses, power limits, ramp limits and prohibited zones for each generator, and a 13-units non-convex system with valve-point loading effect in the cost function and power generation limits. The results show that the proposed non-homogeneous variant is able to reach better solutions than the original Firefly Algorithm, using both penalty and non-penalty power balance constraint handling methods. In general, the non-penalty approach reached better results than the penalty method. Moreover, the new variant presented relatively competitive results for the economic load dispatch problems considered, when compared to the best results found in the literature.
On the Content Delivery Efficiency of NOMA Assisted Vehicular Communication Networks With Delay Constraints

In this letter, we focus on the content delivery efficiency in vehicular communication networks (VCNs), where the content delivery can share the same channel resource with the safety message transmission by adopting non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technology. On the premise of guaranteeing the quality-of-service (QoS) requirement of safety messages, the stochastic delay performance of the content delivery with NOMA transmission is analyzed over Rician fading channels. Then, a lower bound of the maximum supportable content chunk size with delay constraints is derived to measure the content delivery efficiency. Simulation results are provided to validate the tightness of the lower bound, as well as the superiority of NOMA in improving the content delivery efficiency compared with the conventional orthogonal multiple access (OMA).
Redefining clinical outcomes and endpoints in glaucoma

ABSTRACT Introduction: Increasing life expectancy and ageing populations across the world are causing the number of glaucoma patients to rise dramatically. With longer lifespans also comes the need to improve the timeframe and accuracy with which we can diagnose, monitor and treat patients, ensuring longevity of vision contributes to a meaningful quality of life. Current markers used in glaucoma practice are in many cases suboptimal in their ability to accurately identify glaucomatous damage in time to prevent irreversible optic neuropathy. Areas covered: This review summarises the important properties of successful biomarkers and surrogates, and relates this to how intraocular pressure, visual field testing, and imaging have been refined to improve early diagnosis and progression analysis of glaucoma patients. Secondly, we discuss newer concepts in imaging, genetics, and quality of life measures which may provide biomarkers and surrogate endpoints with which to develop novel treatments in the future. Expert commentary: We summarise the key relevant points in glaucoma research, and the current techniques being trialled that are most likely to lead to valuable biomarkers for the future.
Etude de déterminants de la dysfonction vasculaire pulmonaire au cours du syndrome de détresse respiratoire aigue

Etude de determinants de la dysfonction vasculaire pulmonaire au cours du syndrome de detresse respiratoire aigue. La physiopathologie du syndrome de detresse respiratoire aigue (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, ARDS) inclut une dysfonction vasculaire pulmonaire, resultant de phenomenes de thrombose, hyperpermeabilite endotheliale, dysregulation de la vasomotricite et remodelage. La ventilation en pression positive est un facteur aggravant. Il en resulte une augmentation des resistances vasculaires pulmonaires, a l'origine d'une hypertension pulmonaire et a risque de cœur pulmonaire aigu, associes a un pronostic pejoratif au cours de l'ARDS. Mais les determinants de cette dysfonction vasculaire pulmonaire demeurent largement meconnus. Un modele murin d'agression pulmonaire aigue two hit a ete developpe, associant une instillation orotracheale de lipopolysaccharide bacterien a une ventilation mecanique protectrice, avec explorations physiologiques respiratoires et hemodynamiques invasives. Trois determinants potentiels de la dysfonction vasculaire pulmonaire ont ete etudies. Dans le premier travail, nous avons etabli que l'utilisation de manœuvres de recrutement alveolaire, consistant en l'application transitoire et repetee de hauts niveaux de pression positive, limitait la degradation de la mecanique ventilatoire mais induisait une hypertension pulmonaire. Une analyse transcriptomique pulmonaire a montre une dysregulation d'un grand nombre de genes impliques dans les principales fonctions endotheliales. Dans le deuxieme travail, une deficience en interleukine-6 a ete montree associee a une inflammation et un œdeme pulmonaires majores. Une elevation des resistances pulmonaires totales etait aussi observee, prevenue par l'injection d'interleukine-6 recombinante et au moins partiellement attribuable a une dysregulation de la vasomotricite pulmonaire impliquant la voie des nitric oxide synthases. Dans le troisieme travail, nous avons compare des souris adultes jeunes et d'âge mature et illustre une gravite âge-dependante, caracterisee par une inflammation systemique et pulmonaire et une fuite alveolocapillaire accrues, ainsi qu'un dosage bronchoalveolaire d'angiopoietine 2 eleve, suggerant une atteinte endotheliale severe. Nos resultats pourraient contribuer a l'identification de nouvelles voies therapeutiques ciblant la microvascularisation pulmonaire au cours de l'ARDS. Mots cles: syndrome de detresse respiratoire aigue, ventilation mecanique, hypertension pulmonaire, dysfonction vasculaire pulmonaire, vieillissement, interleukine-6, manœuvre de recrutement.
Opportunistic screening of at risk asymptomatic adolescent children for prediabetes

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) once considered an adult disease is now being reported in children and adolescents all over the world due to a parallel increase in obesity. Prediabetes is an intermediate stage between no diabetes and diagnosis of DM. Objective: To screen at risk asymptomatic adolescent children for prediabetes state. Methods: A prospective descriptive study was conducted in the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in South India. All adolescent children between the age group of 10 and 18 years with evidence of overweight as per the World Health Organization age and sex specific centile charts for body mass index (BMI) were enrolled. The study period was 18-month. Anthropometric and demographic data were collected among these subjects and investigated for oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), fasting blood glucose (FBG), and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) as per the designed protocol. Results: Prediabetes was diagnosed in 13% of the study population with a combination of OGTT, FBG, and HbA1c tests. Prediction of prediabetes by OGTT was 10%, HbA1c 5% and by FBS was 3%. Combination of impaired glucose tolerance test with HbA1c had high sensitivity (92%) and specificity (100%). Conclusions: Our study had 13% population with increasing risk of developing T2DM. Further longitudinal studies are required to screen at risk asymptomatic adolescent children for prediabetes.
EA solutions and EA solvability to general interval linear systems

ABSTRACT S. Shary introduced the notion of quantifier solutions to interval systems, in which the uncertainty on the coefficients of a system is modelled by a selecting predicate, allowing an alternation in an arbitrary order of the logical quantifiers (∀ and ∃). AE solutions, a particular type of quantifier solutions, in which all the occurrences of the universal quantifier ∀ precede the occurrences of the existential quantifier ∃, have been studied by many authors. In this work we deal with EA solutions, another type of quantifier solutions to general interval linear systems, such that, in the selecting predicate, all the occurrences of the existential quantifier ∃ precede the occurrences of the universal quantifier ∀. The EA solutions can be considered as a dual form of AE solutions. We provide a full characterization of EA solutions. Moreover, we develop a necessary condition for EA solvability of the general interval linear systems, as well as a necessary and sufficient condition for a certain subcase.
Changes in phenolic profile, soluble sugar, proline, and antioxidant enzyme activities of Polygonumequisetiforme in response to salinity

This study intended to focus on the effect of different levels of NaCl (0–400 mM, at regular intervals every 100 mM) on the growth, secondary metabolites, and antioxidant enzyme activities of Polygonum equisetiforme, a wild plant with medicinal and industrial uses, which often grows in harsh environmental conditions. Our results showed that biomass production significantly decreased with salinity, while the leaf relative water content declined only at high levels of NaCl concentration (300–400 mM). In contrast, these higher doses of salt resulted in a significant increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) content. Both proline and soluble sugar (e.g., fructose, glucose, and sucrose) contents were enhanced under saline conditions. The methanolic extracts of the shoots included 10 flavonoids and 9 phenolic acids. The total phenolic acids (TPA), total flavonoid compounds (TFC), and total phenolic compounds (TPC) increased with salinity, particularly at 300 mM NaCl. An increase in TPA resulted especially from an increase in quinic, gallic, and protocatechuic acids (phenolic compounds), followed by quercetin-3-O-galactoside, catechin, and epicatechin (flavonoid compounds). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity increased only at high salinity levels (>200 mM), while glutathione reductase (GR), guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity increased with salinity level. A positive significant correlation between antioxidant DPPH and TPA, TFC, TPC, CAT, and APX suggests a vital protective role in controlling oxidative stress through the scavenging process. Consequently, our results indicated that P. equisetiforme shoots are rich in secondary metabolites, especially phenolic compounds with high potential antioxidant activities. It can be considered a salt-tolerant species able to survive at salinity levels up to 300 mM NaCl.
Physiology, Renal Blood Flow and Filtration

The kidneys function in a wide variety of ways necessary for health. They excrete metabolic waste, regulate fluid and electrolyte balance, promote bone integrity, and more. These two bean-shaped organs interact with the cardiovascular system to maintain hemodynamic stability. Renal blood flow (RBF) and glomerular filtration are important aspects of sustaining proper organ functions. A delicate balance exists between renal blood flow and the glomerular filtration rate as changes in one may affect the other.
Individual- and Family-Level Correlates of Socio-Emotional Functioning among African American Youth from Single-Mother Homes: A Compensatory Resilience Model

The majority of research on African American adolescents raised in single-mother homes has focused on externalizing problems, with less attention to other facets of socio-emotional functioning. Using a compensatory resilience approach, the current study examined risk and protective factors at the family (maternal warmth, monitoring, psychological control) and youth (ethnic identity and religiosity) levels as predictors of depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and self-esteem among African American adolescents from single-mother homes (n = 193). Lower levels of psychological control, higher levels of monitoring, and higher levels of youth ethnic identity were associated with at least one of the outcomes, depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and self-esteem. In addition, self-esteem, but not hopelessness, mediated the associations between the family- and youth-level factors and youth depressive symptoms. The importance of targeting maternal psychological control and youth ethnic identity, as well as self-esteem, in intervention programs for African American youth from single-mother families is discussed.
Multi-Scale Electrolyte Transport Simulations for Lithium Ion Batteries

1Dassault Systèmes, CB4 0WN Cambridge, United Kingdom 2Dassault Systèmes, IDEON Gateway, 22363 Lund, Sweden 3Mathematical Sciences, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom 4The Faraday Institution, Harwell Campus, Didcot, OX11 0RA, United Kingdom 5Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, CB2 1EW, United Kingdom 6Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, CB2 1PZ,United Kingdom
Machine learning approaches for prediction of service times in health information systems

This chapter introduces a special artificial neural network (ANN) model, which is designed and implemented in order to predict service duration of specific processes in a hospital. Service times between different phases in health information systems and medical services is one of the important measurements that affects quality of services, satisfaction of patients, change management, costs, organizational and strategic business decisions. Accurate and coherent prediction of service times or turnaround times as well as elicitation of the hidden reasons that have impact on service durations is a difficult problem. The ANN model proposed in this study has a unique multilayer perceptron architecture with four hidden layers and some hyper-parameters and methodologies, which are commonly used in deep learning, are also used in the proposed ANN model. The prediction performances of this unique ANN model is comparatively analyzed with some other ANN’s and some linear or nonlinear regression algorithms by the aid of some basic performance evaluation methods that are used for numerical prediction. The results show that the proposed model provides significantly more successful results than the other models and algorithms and it can be used by the decision makers as an accurate and reliable model to predict service times.
Perceptions of Dogs in the Workplace: The Pros and the Cons

ABSTRACT With growing interest in the value of animal companionship to human health, and increasing business awareness of promoting work-based health innovations and improving employees’ feelings of support, there has been a rise in interest about allowing dogs in the workplace (e.g., “Take your dog to work day” initiative; Pet Sitters International, 2015). However, there is little scientific literature about the advantages or disadvantages of such practice to support decision makers. We report the results of an internationally promoted survey to assess perceptions of dogs in the workplace, promoted through a “Take your dog to work” initiative. Responses to four open-ended questions were analyzed for themes across 776 participants. Common barriers to allowing dogs at work included the suitability of the working environment (44%) and health and safety concerns (31.3%). Where dogs were permitted in the workplace, there appeared to be little regulation of this, with few formal policies in place (63.8% had no guidelines/policies). The majority of those surveyed believed their colleagues had no concerns about having dogs at work (63.3%); the main potential problems that were recognized included a dislike of dogs (16.7%) and cleanliness issues (6.7%). Respondents made generally positive comments about having dogs at work (43.1%), referring to specific benefits including increased social interactions and reduced stress and improved atmosphere of the office. The implications of these findings are discussed for businesses and the development of “dog in the workplace” policies.