Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accelerating sparse inverse problems using structured approximations

En raison de la vertigineuse croissance des donnees disponibles, la complexite computationnelle des algorithmes traitant les problemes inverses parcimonieux peut vite devenir un goulot d'etranglement. Dans cette these, nous explorons deux strategies pour accelerer de tels algorithmes. D'abord, nous etudions l'utilisation de dictionnaires structures rapides a manipuler. Une famille de dictionnaires ecrits comme une somme de produits Kronecker est proposee. Ensuite, nous developpons des tests d'elagage surs, capables d'identifier et eliminer des atomes inutiles (colonnes de la matrice dictionnaire ne correspondant pas au support de la solution), malgre l'utilisation de dictionnaires approches.
Care Provision Challenges and Capacity Enhancement of Family Caregivers of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Thika District.

People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) often require specialized care especially from those closely related to them. The task of caregiving to PLWHA can be a daunting undertaking in view of the fact that there is no validated cure yet to HIVIAIDS. Most of this care for the PLWHA takes place in the home and is likely to be done by afamily member. However, very little is understood about the challenges these caregivers encounter and their proposed strategies to enh ance their care provision capacity. The study therefore, sought to investigate the challenges of care provision and capacity enhancement strategies of family caregivers (FCGs) of PLWHA in Thika District. Data collection was done using interview schedules for a sample of 177 FCGs and Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) with 40 Community Health Workers (CHWs). Data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results showed that over four fifths (93%) of the FCGs experienced care provision challenges. Th ese challenges included inadequate finances (83%), food provision (56%), stress (52%), stigma and isolation (32%), inadequate medicine and supplies (24%), difficult care recipient (19%) and strain on children education (13%). The FCGs proposed strategies which they felt could enhance their capacity namely; economic empowerment (69%), regular training (58%), psychological support (42%), stigma reduction (30%) and sustained provision of medicine and supplies (17%). In order to enhance the FCGs capacity as well as improve the quality of care provided to PLWHA the FCGs would need an effective and sustained implementation of these strategies.
Explaining Tax Non-Compliance from a Neo-Institutionalist Perspective: Some Lessons from a Public Opinion Survey in Turkey

Conventionally, those engaging in tax non-compliance are explained as rational economic actors doing so when the benefits outweigh the costs. However, many individuals are still compliant to their tax regimes even when the pay-off from tax evasion is greater than the costs. The result is the emergence of a social actor perspective that gives primacy to tax morale when explaining tax non-compliance. Through the lens of neo-institutionalist theory, this approach argues that citizens behave in ways that reflect the normative, cultural-cognitive and regulatory rules of their institutional environments. To test this theory, we have analyzed a representative micro survey of 2,528 citizens in Turkey. The finding we have obtained in this paper using an econometric analysis is that high tax morale is significantly more likely when there is trust in government (the normative dimension), feeling of belonging to the nation (the cultural-cognitive dimension) and perceptions of the risk and severity of punishment (regulatory-instrumental dimension). It displays the importance of the tax morale approach when explaining and tackling tax non-compliance in Turkey.
Stress and Empathy in Teachers at General and Special Education Schools

ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to examine the differences in the intensity of the sources of teacher stress and in the degree of empathy among teachers in elementary education with regard to the educational setting in which they work. Data were collected from 101 elementary school teachers using the Teacher Stress Inventory and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Differences in the intensity of overall stress were not statistically significant. With both groups of teachers the greatest intensity of stress is connected with problematic classes and insufficient salary. Statistically significant differences were not detected between GES and SES either on the subscales or the aggregate scores of the IRI.GES teachers demonstrated a statistically significant relation between the scores on the scale of stress sources and those on the scale of overall empathy. There is a significant correlation between scores on the scale of Sources of stress and the subscale of Personal distress in both groups. By summing up the results, we identified various types of connectivity between particular stressors and the level of empathy of GES and SES teachers, both in the relationship to the overall score on the IRI and to the results on the subscales.
Unified deep neural network for segmentation and labeling of multipanel biomedical figures

Recent efforts in biomedical visual question answering (VQA) research rely on combined information gathered from the image content and surrounding text supporting the figure. Biomedical journals are a rich source of information for such multimodal content indexing. For multipanel figures in these journals, it is critical to develop automatic figure panel splitting and label recognition algorithms to associate individual panels with text metadata in the figure caption and the body of the article. Challenges in this task include large variations in figure panel layout, label location, size, contrast to background, and so on. In this work, we propose a deep convolutional neural network, which splits the panels and recognizes the panel labels in a single step. Visual features are extracted from several layers at various depths of the backbone neural network and organized to form a feature pyramid. These features are fed into classification and regression networks to generate candidates of panels and their labels. These candidates are merged to create the final panel segmentation result through a beam search algorithm. We evaluated the proposed algorithm on the ImageCLEF data set and achieved better performance than the results reported in the literature. In order to thoroughly investigate the proposed algorithm, we also collected and annotated our own data set of 10,642 figures. The experiments, trained on 9,642 figures and evaluated on the remaining 1,000 figures, show that combining panel splitting and panel label recognition mutually benefit each other.
Associations Between Off-line Social Functioning and Online Social Network Interactions Among Emerging Adults

Communication through social networking platforms is central to the social experience of today’s emerging adults. In this study, we examined associations between emerging adults’ off-line social functioning (i.e., social skills and social anxiety) and online interactions on the social networking platform Facebook. A novel Facebook application was developed to systematically capture Facebook interactions of 92 students (59% female; Mage = 18.57 years). Trained coders rated online language for content related to social interactivity and emotional valence. Self-report questionnaires measured social skills and social anxiety. Endorsement of higher social skills was associated with posts more frequently referencing existing off-line relationships, initiating interactions specific to an online context, and referencing both oneself and others positively. Ratings of higher social anxiety were associated with posts more frequently initiating interactions online and posts praising/supporting other users. Study methodology highlights the feasibility of capitalizing on novel technology to better understand links between off-line and online interactions.
The Irish Government Bond Market and Quantitative Easing

Between September 2014 and the end of 2018, under the ECB’s Asset Purchase Programme (APP), the Eurosystem purchased over €2.5 trillion worth of securities. By the end of December 2018, over €30bn of Irish government bonds, a significant portion of the Irish government bond market, had been purchased under the programme. As might be expected after such an event, the bond market has undergone a number of changes. We examine these changes under three key themes. Firstly, we look at the impact on yields. Secondly, we look at the market structure in terms of the duration, the cost of Irish government debt and the change in the structure of the investor base. Finally, we examine the impact on the liquidity of Irish government bonds over the period. We present strong evidence that announcement effect of the APP caused a compression of Irish bond yields. This has contributed to financing conditions that indirectly support increased issuance of Irish sovereign debt at lower interest rates, which in turn has reduced Ireland’s debt servicing costs. The maturity profile of Irish government debt has also been extended. Finally, we find little evidence that liquidity conditions deteriorated over the period, contrary to expectations when the programme was announced.
Leverage and firm performance: Empirical evidence from Indian food processing industry

The current study examines the association between financial performance and leverage for 56 food processing firms listed in BSE over the period 2000-2018 using pooled OLS, fixed effects, and random effects models. The results indicate that leverage was significantly and positively associated with the firm performance. The results obtained are thus robust across the estimation methods. The pecking order theory and the static tradeoff theory, both seem to explain Indian food processing firms’ decisions among the alternative theories of capital structure.
Washback of a high-stakes English test in China: Student and teacher perceptions

This report describes part of an ongoing study on one aspect of washback from the Beijing Matriculation English Test (BMET), a high-stakes test for prospective university applicants in Beijing. Washback is here defined as the influence of testing on teaching and learning. The aspect under investigation is students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the role of final-year secondary school English classes in (a) preparing for the BMET and (b) improving English skills. Results from questionnaire data from two groups of final-year secondary school students (n = 70) and interview data from three of the students and their teacher show that both the students and teacher perceive that a major role of the finalyear English class is to prepare students for the BMET; students’ improvement of English skills is of lesser importance. Implications for the successful implementation of pedagogical change through washback are discussed.
A Credit-Based Theory of the Currency Risk Premium

This paper extends Kremens and Martin (2019) and uncovers a novel component for exchange rate predictability based on the price difference between sovereign credit default swaps denominated in different currencies. This new forecasting variable – the credit-implied risk premium – captures the expected currency depreciation conditional on a severe but rare credit event. Using data for 16 Eurozone countries, we find that the credit-implied risk premium positively forecasts the dollar-euro exchange rate return at various horizons, both in-sample and out-of-sample. A currency strategy that exploits the informative content of our predictor, moreover, generates substantial out-of-sample economic value.
Quinagolide compared with cabergoline in the prevention of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome: a randomized trial

Objective The aim of the present study was to compare quinagolide with cabergoline in the prevention of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) in at-risk patients undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments and to compare the pregnancy rate, the tolerability and the complication rate of the two drugs. Study design A randomized controlled trial. Patients and methods A total of 112 patients undergoing IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection long luteal GnRH agonist procedure considered at risk of OHSS were randomized into two groups. Group I patients received quinagolide 75 µg and group II patients received cabergoline 0.5 mg for 8 days starting from the day of human chorionic gonadotrophin injection. Results The total number of patients who developed OHSS in our study was similar in the two groups, with nine (16.1%) patients in the quinagolide group compared with 11 (19.6%) in the cabergoline group (P=0.81). However, the majority of these patients developed only mild OHSS comprising 55.6% in the quinagolide group and 63.6% in the cabergoline group. There was no statistical difference between the two groups regarding the incidence of early OHSS (P=0.77) or late OHSS (P=1.0). Severe/critical grades of OHSS occurred in only 3.6% of the cases in the quinagolide group and 1.8% of the cases in the cabergoline group, whereas the incidence of moderate OHSS was 3.6 and 5.4% in the quinagolide and the cabergoline groups, respectively. Quinagolide was responsible for significantly more nausea (P=0.03) and vomiting (P=0.009) than cabergoline, but there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding other side effects. Conclusion Quinagolide seems to be just as effective as cabergoline in the prevention of OHSS in at-risk patients undergoing IVF treatments.
Dynamics as a cause for the nanoscale organization of the genome

Chromatin ‘blobs’ were recently identified by live super-resolution imaging as pervasive, but transient and dynamic structural entities consisting of a few associating nucleosomes. The origin and functional implications of these blobs are, however, unknown. Following these findings, we explore whether causal relationships exist between parameters characterizing the chromatin blob dynamics and structure, by adapting a framework for spatio-temporal Granger-causality inference. Our analysis reveals that chromatin dynamics is a key determinant of both blob area and local density. However, such causality can only be demonstrated in small areas (10 – 20%) of the nucleus, highlighting that chromatin dynamics and structure at the nanoscale is dominated by stochasticity. Pixels for which the inter-blob distance can be effectively demonstrated to depend on chromatin dynamics appears as clump in the nucleus, and display both a higher blob density and higher local dynamics as compared with the rest of the nucleus. Furthermore, we show that the theory of active semiflexible polymers can be invoked to provide potential mechanisms leading to the organization of chromatin into blobs. Based on active motion-inducing effectors, this framework qualitatively recapitulates experimental observations and predicts that chromatin blobs might be formed stochastically by a collapse of local polymer segments consisting of a few nucleosomes. Our results represent a first step towards elucidating the mechanisms that govern the dynamic and stochastic organization of chromatin in a cell nucleus.
Forced marriage as a lived experience: Victims’ voices

The official response to forced marriage in the majority of European countries has been to criminalise the practice. Based on racial stereotypes and outdated Orientalist perspectives, this overlooks the prior need for appropriate empirical analysis in order to better understand the reality of the practice being regulated, and fails to provide victims with the means of protection they need beyond the framework of criminal law. Devising a suitable and effective strategy to address this form of victimisation instead requires an in-depth understanding of the effects that victims of these practices endure, and of what the victims themselves would consider best practice in terms of assistance and protection. In view of these primary objectives, after the existence of forced marriages in Spain had been demonstrated by the corresponding quantitative research, a qualitative research study followed, which was conducted through interviews with victims of forced marriage. The results are presented here. The secondary aim of the study was to draw up the basic guidelines for an integrated programme of action to address this process of victimisation.
Meteorological and climatic impacts on the phytoplankton community of a small meso-eutrophic lake

Climate change is having long term impacts on the physical structure of lakes including potential shallower surface mixing, increases in stratification strength and increases in surface water temperature. It is therefore vital that lake thermal dynamic properties, like the depth of surface mixing, are quantified in a robust way. Comparing methods of mixed depth estimation in this thesis, however, found that values were highly inconsistent leading to disparate interpretations of ecological and chemical water quality parameters. Future limnological studies using the mixed depth should be vigilant to this issue and test multiple methods to ensure that findings are not dependant on the choice of method. Long term changes in lake water temperature and surface mixing as a result of climate change occur concurrently, but they have separate consequences for phytoplankton growth. Using a phytoplankton model, water temperature and mixed depth were changed independently. Increases in water temperature led to an increase in phytoplankton growth at most mixed depths. Contrary to previous research, mixed depth shallowing did not always lead to increases in cyanobacteria biomass, with shallowing from deep to intermediate depths resulting in a reduction in cyanobacteria. The magnitude and frequency of episodic weather events such as storms are also expected to increase as a result of climate change. It is therefore becoming increasingly likely that extreme events will occur at a time of heightened stratification strength, but the interaction of these two extremes have not yet been explored in detail. Despite concerns that episodic weather events will push lakes into more extreme states, evidence here suggests that in some cases storms can return the thermal stability and seasonal phytoplankton community succession to conditions more typical for the time of year. This highlights the importance of setting the responses of episodic weather events in the context of long term averages.
Evaluating the accuracy of different respiratory specimens in the laboratory diagnosis and monitoring the viral shedding of 2019-nCoV infections

Background: The outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) caused by 2019-nCoV spread rapidly, and elucidation the diagnostic accuracy of different respiratory specimens is crucial for the control and treatment of this diseases. Methods: Respiratory samples including nasal swabs, throat swabs, sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were collected from Guangdong CDC confirmed NCP patients, and viral RNAs were detected using a CFDA approved detection kit. Results were analyzed in combination with sample collection date and clinical information. Finding: Except for BALF, the sputum possessed the highest positive rate (74.4%~88.9%), followed by nasal swabs (53.6%~73.3%) for both severe and mild cases during the first 14 days after illness onset (d.a.o). For samples collected ≥ 15 d.a. o, sputum and nasal swabs still possessed a high positive rate ranging from 42.9%~61.1%. The positive rate of throat swabs collected ≥ 8 d.a. o was low, especially in samples from mild cases. Viral RNAs could be detected in all the lower respiratory tract of severe cases, but not the mild cases. CT scan of cases 02, 07 and 13 showed typical viral pneumonia with ground glass opacity, while no viral RNAs were detected in first three or all the upper respiratory samples. Interpretation: Sputum is most accurate for laboratory diagnosis of NCP, followed by nasal swabs. Detection of viral RNAs in BLAF is necessary for diagnosis and monitoring of viruses in severe cases. CT scan could serve as an important make up for the diagnosis of NCP. Funding National Science and Technology Major Project, Sanming Project of Medicine and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation.
Hospital Services for Ill Patients in the Middle-Belt Geopolitical Zone, Nigeria: Patient’s Waiting Time and Level of Satisfaction

An important parameter in the assessment of quality health care lies on patient satisfaction. Despite concerted efforts to improve health-care services, patient satisfaction coupled with the quality of hospital care at disposal remain a significant challenge in Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to determine the perception on factors associated with prolonged waiting time and patient satisfaction at the outpatient department of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Specialist Hospital in Nigeria. A mixed-method research was utilized. Questionnaire was administered on 95 outpatients, and a focus group discussion (FGD) was held with eight participants. Statistical analysis was utilized to determine the association between dependent and independent variables. Data from FGD were analyzed with NVivo 10. The overall hospital satisfaction was found to be 75.8% among the study population. There was a significant inverse relationship between the level of satisfaction with the doctor and employment status and educational level and a significant direct relationship between the level of satisfaction with the doctor and appointment status and type of visits. The results of FGD show that patients were satisfied with the neatness of the hospital, doctor’s professionalism, and patient–doctor relationship. Dissatisfaction was with extended patient waiting time and the small size infrastructure of the hospital, inefficient handling of patient files by nurse aids, and thoroughness of the physicians. The results showed that majority of the patients were dissatisfied with the waiting time for consultation in the hospital. In other words, consultation time positively correlated with the level of patient satisfaction. To improve the overall patient satisfaction, the waiting time for consultation should be reduced significantly.
Path Integration Changes as a Cognitive Marker for Vascular Cognitive Impairment?—A Pilot Study

Path integration spatial navigation processes are emerging as promising cognitive markers for prodromal and clinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, such path integration changes have been little explored in Vascular Cognitive Impairment (VCI), despite neurovascular change being a major contributing factor to dementia and potentially AD. In particular, the sensitivity and specificity of path integration impairments in VCI compared to AD is unclear. In the current pilot study, we explore path integration performance in AD and VCI patient groups and hypothesise that i) medial parietal mediated egocentric processes will be more affected in VCI and ii) medial temporal mediated allocentric processes will be more affected in AD. This retrospective cross-sectional study included early stage VCI patients (n=9), AD patients (n=10) and healthy age-matched controls (n=20). All participants underwent extensive neuropsychological testing, as well as spatial navigation testing. The spatial navigation tests included the virtual reality ‘Supermarket’ task assessing egocentric (body-based) and allocentric (map-based) navigation as well as the ‘Clock Orientation’ test assessing egocentric and path integration processes. Results showed that egocentric path integration processes are only impaired in VCI, potentially distinguishing it from AD. However, in contrast to our prediction, allocentric path integration was similarly impaired for VCI and AD. These preliminary findings suggest limited specificity of allocentric path integration deficits between VCI and AD. By contrast, egocentric path integration deficits emerge as more specific to VCI, potentially allowing for more specific diagnostic and treatment outcome measures for vascular impairment in dementia.