Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing the effect of sexual counseling based on BETTER and PLISSIT models on sexual assertiveness in women with breast cancer after mastectomy

BACKGROUND: Sexual changes in breast cancer occur after diagnosis and treatment, including a mastectomy. Sexual assertiveness is an effective factor in sexual satisfaction, which means the ability to convey sexual feelings, beliefs, and thoughts. Given the limited studies on sexual assertiveness in breast cancer and different client participation, this study was conducted to compare the effect of sexual counseling based on two models of PLISSIT (Permission, Limited Information, Specific Suggestion, Intensive Therapy) and BETTER (Bring Up, Explain, Tell, Time, Education, Record) on sexual assertiveness in women after mastectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This quasi-experimental intervention was conducted in 2021 in Mashhad, Iran. Seventy-eight mastectomized women with breast cancer were assigned to the BETTER (n = 39) and PLISSIT (n = 39) groups using permuted block randomization with a block size of 4 and an allocation ratio of 1:1. Both groups received four individual counseling sessions, one week apart. The research tools included a demographic information form and the Hulbert index of sexual assertiveness. Changes in the mean scores of sexual assertiveness between the two groups were evaluated before and four weeks after the intervention, and the mean changes were compared between the groups. Data analysis was conducted using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, independent t-test, paired t-test, and Chi-square tests using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 (P < 0.05). RESULTS: The results of the study showed that before the intervention, there was no significant difference in the score of sexual assertiveness in both groups (P = 0.253). The mean score of sexual assertiveness changes before and after the intervention in the BETTER group (8.07 ± 4.9) was significantly higher than in the PLISSIT group (5.58 ± 4.7) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The results indicated that BETTER sexual counseling was more effective in increasing the sexual assertiveness of mastectomized women than PLISSIT counseling. Due to its simplicity and client-centeredness, this model can be used in breast cancer care programs.
Surface Salinity Balance in the Tropical Pacific Off Mexico

A simplified analytical model was used to solve the salinity balance equation and study the relative contributions of freshwater flux and salt advection to the salinity tendency between the Gulf of Tehuantepec and Cabo Corrientes (14–22°N). The model used climatological mixed-layer salinity, satellite-derived geostrophic velocity and evaporation minus precipitation data in a four-domain scheme. The mean circulation derived from the model largely coincides with previous reports and suggests that, in the steady state, the Mexican Coastal Current is decoupled from the Tehuantepec region. The analysis of the time-dependent variability showed that the salt advection can be largely explained by the annual variations of the alongshore velocity (corresponding with the Mexican Coastal Current) and an average salinity. At the seasonal scale, the salt advection and the freshwater flux have similar contributions to the resulting salinity tendency. Near Tehuantepec, due to a local salinity regime, the analytical model does not represent well the observations, while in Manzanillo and Zihuatanejo the agreement between the model and the observations is good in both amplitude and phase. The accuracy of the model in representing the observations is improved in the first third of the year by inclusion of the semiannual scale and the nonlinear processes in the equation of salt advection.
Study on variability of sea salt aerosol in the North Indian ocean

Aerosols are the severe threats to human life as well as ecosystem. Highest amount of natural and anthropogenic aerosols are observed over the South Asian region. Among the natural aerosols, sea salt aerosols (SSAs) have significant concentrations which are analyzed using the Monitoring Atmospheric Composition & Climate (MACC) reanalysis data for 10 years from 2003 to 2012. Average SSA is found to be about 17% of the total aerosols over the North Indian Ocean (NIO). On the other hand, Bangladesh receives 9% SSAs which are mostly advected by the southerly wind from the Ocean. The annual variations of SSA are found to be significantly positive with an approximate value of 19% in the NIO and 28% in Bangladesh. Seasonal distributions of SSA provide a highest concentration of 0.13 during the monsoon season (June-September) and lowest value of 0.03 in winter (January-February). The average wind velocity over the NIO has displayed strong positive correlation with SSA (r = ~0.93), which plays the major role for the seasonal variability of SSA distribution. The monthly average precipitation and relative humidity at surface are positively correlated with SSA by the values of 0.83 and 0.70, respectively for the NIO.
Does ice slurry ingestion influence performance and mucosal immunity following intermittent exercise in a hot environment

Mucosal immunity provides initial defence against upper respiratory tract infections (URTI). Recent literature suggests that salivary secretory immunoglobulin–A (S-IgA) could be used to help indicate an athlete’s risk of URTI. Football, a physically demanding intermittent sport often played in hot environments, has shown to place strain on the salivary immune system during heavy competition periods. Performing exercise in hot conditions can result in reductions in salivary S-IgA concentrations and provides a further stress on immune response. Pre-cooling an athlete prior to exercise reduces the level of stress, and helps delay fatigue. The effect precooling prior to exercise in heat has on mucosal immunity is currently unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect pre-cooling ice slurry ingestion had on mucosal immunity and intermittent exercise performance in hot environments. In a randomised crossover design, 8 semi-professional football players completed two trials of the intermittent soccer performance test (ISPT) in a heat chamber, set to 30°C and 50% relative humidity. Participants consumed, at a standardised rate, 7.5g·kg -1 of ice slurry beverage or control fluid, with a further 2g·kg -1 provided at half-time. Unstimulated whole saliva samples were collected at baseline, pre-exercise, half-time, post-exercise, and 1 h post-exercise. Ice slurry ingestion significantly lowered core temperature prior to exercise and showed a possibly beneficial effect in end of exercise core temperature, perceived comfort and exertion scores, mean sprint speed, and distance covered in the last 15 min of exercise. Ice slurry ingestion showed possibly harmful effects on salivary S-IgA concentration and secretion rate prior to exercise. The salivary S-IgA concentration and secretion rate decreases were short lived as post-exercise values returned to baseline levels. Ice slurry ingestion may cause a transient drop in salivary immune response after consumption which as sport scientists is important to note, however, it doesn’t appear to influence S-IgA following exercise when the open window period is most apparent. In conclusion, the findings of this thesis show that ingestion of ice slurry may be beneficial for intermittent performance, and aid an athlete’s perceived difficultly and thermal comfort. Ice slurry ingestion does not influence post-exercise salivary immune response, however, provides an effective method of pre-cooling an athlete prior to exercise without impairing performance or inducing gastric discomfort.
The Clinicopathological Correlation and Outcome of Glomerulonephritis With Crescent: A Single-Center Study

Background: There is a lack of standardized treatments for patients with less than 50% crescents observed in their renal biopsies. This study aimed to analyze the crescent percentage, clinicopathological characteristics, and renal prognosis of glomerulonephritis (GN) cases with at least one crescentic lesion. Materials and methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, from January 2016 to December 2020. Consecutive patients (aged between 18 and 65 years) with renal biopsy findings suggestive of GN and at least one crescent were included in the study. Demographic details and clinical presentation were collected from the medical records. Results: A total of 145 patients were included. The mean (standard deviation (SD)) age was 33.06 (11.739) years. Hemoptysis was significantly higher in the ≥50% crescent group (P=0.011). Rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) was significantly higher in the ≥50% crescent group (P<0.001). There was a significant difference observed in mean creatinine (P=0.001), mean crescents (P<0.001), and mean urine polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (P=0.031). Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis was significantly higher in the ≥50% crescent group (P<0.001). Complete remission decreased as crescents increased. In GN with crescent, the presence of fibrous crescents (≥50%) is associated with a higher rate of treatment resistance (100%) compared to fibrocellular (58.33%) and cellular crescents (6.25%). In the ≥50% crescent group, death was significantly higher in patients with fibrous crescent age (57.14%). Conclusion: Crescent percentage and crescent age were found to be significantly related to greater risk of renal failure and resistance to treatment.
What factors affect the quality of life of employed physically disabled people? A qualitative exploration of their experiences

BACKGROUND: According to the literature, the majority of People With Physical Disabilities (PWPDs) have a low Quality of Life (QOL). The goal of this study was to look at the experiences of a group of employed PWPDs in Iran in terms of the factors influencing their QOL. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A conventional qualitative content study was carried out in Qazvin City, Iran, from February to August 2020. Twenty-eight semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 20 employed PWPDs (6 men and 14 women), 5 five family members, and 3 of the participants’ employers (n = 3) were conducted. Participants were asked about their experiences with factors that impacted the QOL of employed PWPDs. RESULTS: Continuous analysis of data began and continued up to data saturation. The participants’ experiences on influencing variables QOL were merged into four major categories: psychological state, socioeconomic problems, structural obstructions, and physical constraints. CONCLUSION: Conducting psychological therapy to reduce stress and using adaptive coping strategies, changing perceptions of the community about PWPDs via the media, and also improving environmental infrastructure may help to increase QOL in PWPDs.
Incidence, Healthcare Resource Use and Costs Associated With Incisional Hernia Repair

Background: Incisional hernia (IH) is a common complication of abdominal surgery affecting between 12.8% and 30% of patients. In spite of this, rates of IH repair remain low, at around 5% in the literature. We aimed to assess the rate of IH repair in the UK across surgical specialties and the cost burden associated with IH repair. Methods: This is a retrospective observational study of patients undergoing abdominal surgery in England between 2012 and 2022 using the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database. Index abdominal surgery was identified between March 2014 and March 2017. Diagnostic and surgical procedure codes were used to identify pre-operative risk factors, index surgeries, IH repair and healthcare contact. Healthcare resource use (HCRU) costs were derived for index surgery and all post-index, non-elective inpatient admissions and outpatient visits using Healthcare Resource Group (HRG) codes within HES. Results: Of 297,134 patients undergoing abdominal surgery, 5.1% (n = 15,138) subsequently underwent incisional hernia repair. By specialty, rates were higher in Colorectal (10.0%), followed by Hepatobiliary (8.2%), Transplant (6.8%), Urological (4.0%), Bariatric (3.5%), Vascular (3.2%) and Gynaecological (2.6%) surgery. Patients undergoing IH repair had more healthcare contacts, longer length of inpatient stays and more A+E visits vs. those with no IH repair post index surgery (83% ≥ 1 A+E visit vs. 69%), as well as higher rates of referral to mental health services (19.8% vs. 11.5%). IH repair was associated with an average HCRU cost of £23,148 compared to £12,321 in patients with no IH repair. Conclusion: Patients undergoing IH repair have a greater morbidity than those not undergoing repair, shown by higher HCRU and more healthcare contacts. Despite this, rates of surgery for IH are low, suggesting that most patients with hernias are not undergoing repair. Emphasis must be placed squarely on primary prevention, rather than cure.
Hydrological and Biogeochemical Processes in Forested Headwater Catchments of the Southern Appalachians.

SINGH, NITIN KUMAR. Hydrological and Biogeochemical Processes in Forested Headwater Catchments of the Southern Appalachians. (Under the direction of Dr. Ryan E. Emanuel) This dissertation provides a holistic understanding of how climate, topography and vegetation mediate hydrologic processes that influence runoff generation and biogeochemical processes in the Southern Appalachians. These mountains are characterized by a temperate and humid climate, and their headwater basins generally contain steep slopes and deep soils. The topics we investigate are: i) the spatiotemporal patterns of baseflow and its relationship to catchment structure, ii) hillslope-scale controls on soil moisture and shallow groundwater responses to storms, and iii) controls on long-term patterns of dissolved organic carbon in runoff. To addresses these objectives the dissertation makes use of a wealth of datasets that includes hydrometric, isotopic, and water quality data, collected by others and me at Coweeta over time span of past few years to more than two decades. This dissertation builds on findings of prior studies at Coweeta, and it contributes to the legacy of catchment hydrology research at Coweeta. We characterize the influence of internal watershed structure on spatial patterns of baseflow in two headwater streams of Coweeta, and we demonstrate that the strength of these relationships vary with hydrologic conditions. We detect large spatiotemporal variability in soil moisture and groundwater responses to storms across study hillslopes. The spatiotemporal patterns of soil moisture and groundwater responses (timing) to storms are largely correlated with storm properties and topography. However, the magnitude of responses for both soil moisture and groundwater are weakly correlated or uncorrelated with topography for most of the storms. Together, topography and storm depth mediate the strength of groundwater-runoff relationships, including the patterns of source area that contributes to peak runoff at catchment outlet during storms. We analyze the temporal patterns of stream DOC concentration and flux over 25-years for a Coweeta stream. We also investigated the potential drivers of these patterns including, rising air temperatures, hydrological changes, recovery from acidification and nitrogen enrichment in atmospheric deposition. The temporal patterns of stream DOC show bi-directional trends (a decline followed by an increase), which could be attributed to hydroclimatological changes. This work highlights the critical role of long-term data in understanding the impact of climate change on water quality and water quantity of these forested catchments. Overall, this dissertation advances our understanding of water and carbon cycles in these steep catchments of the Southern Appalachians and similar landscapes elsewhere. © Copyright 2016 by Nitin Kumar Singh
Viscoelastic Tides of Mercury and the Determination of its Inner Core Size

We computed interior structure models of Mercury and analyzed their viscoelastic tidal response. The models are consistent with MErcury Surface, Space Environment, GEochemistry, and Ranging mission inferences of mean density, mean moment of inertia, moment of inertia of mantle and crust, and tidal Love number k2. Based on these constraints we predict the tidal Love number h2 to be in the range from 0.77 to 0.93. Using an Andrade rheology for the mantle the tidal phase‐lag is predicted to be 4° at maximum. The corresponding tidal dissipation in Mercury's silicate mantle induces a surface heat flux smaller than 0.16 mW/m2. We show that, independent of the adopted mantle rheological model, the ratio of the tidal Love numbers h2 and k2 provides a better constraint on the maximum inner core size with respect to other geodetic parameters (e.g., libration amplitude or a single Love number), provided it responds elastically to the solar tide. For inner cores larger than 700 km, and with the expected determination of h2 from the upcoming BepiColombo mission, it may be possible to constrain the size of the inner core. The measurement of the tidal phase‐lag with an accuracy better than ≈0.5° would further allow constraining the temperature at the core‐mantle boundary for a given grain size and therefore improve our understanding of the physical structure of Mercury's core.
Protozous en sistemes avamçats de tractament d'aigües residuals: caracterització de les poblacions i cerca de les espècies bioindicadores

La present tesi te com a objectiu l’estudi de la comunitat microeucariota que es desenvolupa en dos sistemes avancats de tractament d’aigues residuals amb alta carrega amoniacal. La comunitat microeucariota, especialment els ciliats, son una part essencial per al correcte funcionament dels sistemes biologics de tractament d’aigues residuals, on serveixen, a mes a mes, com a organismes indicadors del funcionament d’aquests processos. Concretament, el principal objectiu de la tesi doctoral es la caracteritzacio de les comunitats que es desenvolupa en aquests sistemes i la determinacio d’aquelles especies amb potencial com a bioindicadores dels processos, per tal de donar eines de gestio complementaries als parametres fisicoquimics. Els sistemes estudiats han estat el proces Shortcut Biological Nitrogen Removal (SBNR) i la fase de nitritacio parcial (Partial Nitritation; PN) del proces combinat PN-Anammox (Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidation). Ambdos processos, en comparacio amb el proces convencional d’eliminacio de nitrogen, son capacos d’eliminar del medi grans concentracions de nitrogen (en forma amoniacal) amb un estalvi de fins el 25 i el 40% d’oxigen dissolt i del 40 i el 100% de materia organica. Aquest fet els fa especialment adequats per al tractament d’aigues residuals amb ratios de carboni/nitrogen molt baixes, com la que presenta l’efluent dels processos de digestio anaerobia de fangs. Ambdos sistemes han operat amb tecnologia de biofilm, concretament la tecnologia Moving-Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR), basada en la presencia de suports plastics en suspensio (carriers) on s’hi desenvolupa, adherida, la biomassa. Per l’estudi d’aquests sistemes, doncs, s’ha implementat un protocol efectiu que permet determinar, de forma independent, la comunitat microeucariota que es desenvolupa al biofilm i la que es mante en suspensio al liquid mescla. El protocol permet, a mes a mes, la comparacio en termes d’abundancia entre ambdues comunitats, al utilitzar la mateixa unitat de mesura (ind/ml) en els dos habitats (biofilm i licor mescla). En la memoria es caracteritzen les comunitats microeucariotes associades al sistema SBNR i al reactor PN, i es descriuen aquelles especies de ciliats amb potencial com a bioindicadores del seu funcionament. Entre aquestes especies destaca Epistylis camprubii, una nova especie de ciliat sessilid descrita arrel de la seva abundant presencia al biofilm dels carriers dels processos estudiats. A nivell ecologic, s’han aportat noves dades sobre l’ecologia de les especies que han colonitzat els dos sistemes, establint (o eixamplant) els rangs de tolerancia d’aquests organismes al nitrogen amoniacal, nitrit, nitrat, amoniac lliure i acid nitros, entre altres parametres abiotics. Per ultim, en un context actual de clara expansio de les tecniques moleculars com a eina d’estudi de la biodiversitat, s’ha comparat el potencial de deteccio de la tecnica de Next Generation Sequencing Ilumina amb els resultats obtinguts mitjancant microscopia optica
The Effect of CSR, Brand Attitude, and Perceived Value on Purchase Intention at Uniqlo

The number of fast fashion companies in Indonesia makes competition very tight in a business, this emphasizes the role of corporate social responsibility carried out by company owners with the aim of sustainable promotion to obtain brand attitude, perceived value, and purchase intention. Corporate social responsibility that is well received is a contributing factor in creating a brand attitude which also influences the perceived value and purchase intention. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of corporate social responsibility, brand attitude, and perceived value on purchase intention. This research was conducted in Jakarta with a descriptive causality research design with a quantitative method approach and using purposive sampling techniques. Data was collected from 231 respondents who had visited the Uniqlo store. The conceptual model was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The research findings reveal that corporate social responsibility can improve brand attitude. Then, brand attitude can increase perceived value and purchase intention. Furthermore, perceived value can increase purchase intention. The contribution of this research can provide insight to fast fashion company owners to develop businesses and can plan and implement marketing strategies so that brand attitudes and good judgment are formed by consumers to create purchase intentions on Uniqlo products.
Optimal Sensor Placement for Vibration-Based Damage Localization Using the Transmittance Function

A methodology for optimal sensor placement is presented in the current work. This methodology incorporates a damage detection framework with simulated damage scenarios and can efficiently provide the optimal combination of sensor locations for vibration-based damage localization purposes. A classic approach in vibration-based methods is to decide the sensor locations based, either directly or indirectly, on the modal information of the structure. While these methodologies perform very well, they are designed to predict the optimal locations of single sensors. The presented methodology relies on the Transmittance Function. This metric requires only output information from the testing procedure and is calculated between two acceleration signals from the structure. As such, the outcome of the presented method is a list of optimal combinations of sensor locations. This is achieved by incorporating a damage detection framework that has been developed and tested in the past. On top of this framework, a new layer is added that evaluates the sensitivity and effectiveness of all possible sensor location combinations with simulated damage scenarios. The effectiveness of each sensor combination is evaluated by calling the damage detection framework and feeding as inputs only a specific combination of acceleration signals each time. The final output is a list of sensor combinations sorted by their sensitivity.