Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
WST 48(3) 097-104

Through their many sorption sites, microbial biofilms can accumulate both organic and inorganic particulate and colloidal material from bulk water environments. An application of such first principles to the ecology of “biocolloidal” enteric virions would suggest that they too may be concentrated by biofilms in a similar way. Though previous studies have isolated human gastrointestinal (enteric) virions from microbial biofilms, the exact human health significance of this has been neither fully investigated nor completely understood. Through an assessment of the location, accumulation and persistence of model enteric virions (φX174, MS2 and B40-8 bacteriophages as well as 20 nm fluorescent latex microspheres) within biofilms, the aim of the current study was to investigate whether the interaction of enteric virions with distribution pipe biofilms could provide a secondary source of public health concern to consumers. Model enteric virions were found to be incorporated into biofilms at concentrations representing 1% of those present in the adjacent bulk water environment. A sub-population (0.01%) of these persisted throughout an experimental period of 30 days, inferring their potential to accumulate over time. Furthermore, model enteric virions were partitioned into bacterial microcolonies, environments where biofilm bacteria can persist and re-grow, even in the presence of “acceptable” levels of disinfection. A risk model for enteric virion accumulation and release from distribution pipe biofilms suggested that associated risks may exceed USEPA benchmark values. These findings could have wide-reaching implications in water treatment and distribution strategies, and necessitate a re-appraisal of current water guideline values.
On multiple zeta values of level two

We study a variant of multiple zeta values of level 2, which forms a subspace of the space of alternating multiple zeta values. This variant, which is regarded as the ‘shuffle counterpart’ of Hoffman’s ‘odd variant’, exhibits nice properties such as duality, shuffle product, parity results, etc., like ordinary multiple zeta values. We also give some conjectures on relations between our values, Hoffman’s values, and multiple zeta values.
MicroRNAs as Prognostic Markers in Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients—A Systematic Review

Background: The potential utility of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of multiple disease states has been an area of great interest since their discovery. In patients with cardiovascular disease, there is a large pool of literature amassed from the last decade assessing their diagnostic and prognostic potential. This systematic review sought to determine whether existing literature supports the use of miRNAs as prognostic markers after an Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) presentation. Methods: A systematic review of published articles from 2005–2019 using MEDLINE and EMBASE databases was undertaken independently by two reviewers. Studies addressing prognosis in an ACS population yielded 32 studies and 2 systematic reviews. Results/conclusion: 23 prospective studies reported significant differences in miRNA levels and 16 compared the predictive power of miRNAs. The most common miRNAs assessed included miR-133a, -208b, -21, -1, -34a, -150, and -423, shown to be involved in cell differentiation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis. Barriers to the use of miRNAs as prognostic markers include bias in miRNA selection, small sample size, variable normalization of data, and adjustment for confounders. Therefore, findings from this systematic review do not support the use of miRNAs for prognostication post-ACS beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors, existing risk scores, and stratifications tools.
Correlation-adjusted standard errors and confidence intervals for within-subject designs: A simple multiplicative approach

In within-subject designs, the multiple scores of a given participant are correlated. This correlation implies that the observed variance can be partitioned into between-subject variance and between-measure variance. The basic confidence interval about the mean does not separate these two sources and is therefore of little use in within-subject designs. Two solutions have been proposed, one (Loftus and Masson) requires the computation of the interaction terms including the subject and all within-subject factors, the other (Cousineau and Morey) requires a two-step transformation of the data. As shown, these two methods are nearly equivalent. Herein, I present a correlation-adjustedmethodwhich requires themean correlation across all pairs ofmeasurements. This solution is shown to be similar to the other two for data satisfying the compound symmetry assumption. It is found to be too liberal for data having homogeneous correlations and heterogeneous variances but a Welch correction for heterogeneous variances can be used. Finally, it is inadequate for data that do not satisfy the compound symmetry assumption but satisfy the sphericity assumption. A statistical test of compound symmetry is discussed.
Empirical Study of Learner Contentment Towards E-Learning: Influential Role of Key Factors

The expeditious headway in the information and communication technologies has given rise to a new dimension of education, that is, E-Learning. Survey was conducted to find out the impact of “Student”, “Instructor”, “Course”, “Design” and “Technical” factors on student satisfaction. The result of the survey showed that the learner’s and instructor’s attitude towards EL, their computer efficacy, interface of learning portal, quality of course content and administrative support were main aspects which affected student EL satisfaction. 1 Empirical Study of Learner Contentment Towards E-Learning: Influential Role of Key Factors Mahwish Waheed International Islamic University mah.wish9@yahoo.com M. Farooq Hussain International Islamic University farooqyhussain@gmail.com
CMTC-485175-MS Comparative Study for CO2-EOR and Natural Gases Injection-Techniques for Improving Oil Recovery in Unconventional Oil Reservoirs

Shale formations in North America such as Bakken, Niobrara, and Eagle Ford have huge oil in place, 100-900 Billion barrels of oil in Bakken only. However, the predicted primary recovery is still below 10%. Therefore, seeking for techniques to enhance oil recovery in these complex plays is inevitable. Although most of the previous studies in this area recommended that CO2 would be the best EOR-technique to improve oil recovery in these formations, pilot tests showed that natural gases performance clearly exceeds CO2 performance in the field scale. In this paper, two different approaches have been integrated to investigate the feasibility of three different miscible-gases which are CO2, lean gases, and rich gases. Firstly, numerical simulation methods of compositional models have been incorporated with Local Grid Refinement (LGR) of hydraulic fractures to mimic the performance of these miscible gases in shale-reservoirs conditions. Implementation of a molecular diffusion model in the LS-LR-DK (logarithmically spaced, locally refined, and dual permeability) model has been also conducted. Secondly, different molar-diffusivity rates for miscible gases have been simulated to find the diffusivity level in the field scale by matching the performance for some EOR pilot-tests which were conducted in Bakken formation of North Dakota, Montana, and South Saskatchewan. The simulated shale-reservoirs scenarios confirmed that diffusion is the dominated flow among all flow regimes in these unconventional formations. Furthermore, the incremental oil recovery due to lean gases, rich gases, and CO2 gas injection confirms the predicted flow-regime. The effect of diffusion-implementation has been verified with both of single porosity and dual-permeability model cases. However, some of CO2 pilot-tests showed a good match with the simulated cases which have low molar-diffusivity between the injected CO2 and the formation-oil. Accordingly, the rich and lean gases have shown a better performance to enhance oil recovery in these tight formations. However, rich gases need long soaking periods, and lean gases need large volumes to be injected for more successful results. Furthermore, the number of huff-n-puff cycles has a little effect on the all injected-gases performance; however, the soaking period has a significant effect. This research project demonstrated
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team — A Leadership Fable

In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, renowned author Patrick Lencioni turns his keen intellect and storytelling power to the fascinating, complex world of teams. Using his familiar writing style of incorporating fables, Lencioni tells the story of Kathryn Petersen, DecisionTech’s CEO, who faces the ultimate leadership crisis: How to unite a team that is in such disarray that it threatens to bring down the entire company. Will she succeed? Will she be fired? Lencioni’s tale serves as a timeless reminder that leadership requires courage and insight. As difficult as it is to build a cohesive team, it is not complicated. In fact, keeping it simple is critical, whether you run the executive staff of a multinational company, a small department within a larger organization, or even if you are merely a member of a team that needs improvement. Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions that are at the very heart of why teams — even the best ones — often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team. Lencioni’s compelling fable offers a deceptively simple yet powerful message for all those who strive to be exceptional team leaders.
Suicide and suicide risk factors: A literature review

Abstract Suicide can be defined as intentional self-inflicted death. 1 It is a serious cause of mortality worldwide. Suicide is considered as a psychiatric emergency and the awareness of the seriousness of suicide in our society should not be overlooked. It is a significant cause of death worldwide.1 It accounts for about 30,000 deaths annually in the USA and more than 5,000 deaths annually in South Africa,2 and the prevalence of suicide in our society is on the increase. Etiological factors for suicide include social, psychological and physical factors. But suicide is multi-factorial in nature.1 This review focuses mainly on the associated risk factors for suicide: demographic factors, psychiatric disorders, terminal or chronic medical conditions, and recurrent unresolved psychological stressors.3 Search strategy The search strategy included research carried out internationally and in South Africa. Computerised database searches were utilised. These covered a wide range of health, educational, occupational and other areas of research. Recent major reviews on suicide and associated risk factors were located electronically and the references in such reviews scrutinised for the relevant articles. The sources of information included relevant textbooks of psychiatry, journals of psychiatry (both local and international), internet search engines like Medscape and Google, and abstracts from relevant articles. Definition of terms • Suicide: self-inflicted death with evidence that the person intended to die.1,2• Suicide attempt: a self-injurious behaviour with a non-fatal outcome.1,2• Suicide ideation: thoughts about killing himself or herself. Suicide ideation may vary in seriousness depending on the specificity of suicide plans and the degree of suicide intent.1,2• Lethality of suicide behaviour: objective danger to life associated with a suicide method.1,2• Deliberate self harm: injurious act without the intent to die.1,2
The Effect of Government Guarantees on Market Discipline in the Property-Casualty Insurance Industry Abstract We introduce a novel approach to identifying the effect of public guarantees on market discipline by exploiting variation in U.S. state guarantees of property-

We introduce a novel approach to identifying the effect of public guarantees on market discipline by exploiting variation in U.S. state guarantees of propertycasualty insurer obligations. We find that premium growth in the uncovered business (i.e., contracts that are not covered by a state guaranty fund) of a downgraded insurer falls in relation to growth in its covered business, with the estimate of the difference being as high as 17% in some cases. Insurance prices, however, are not affected by insurer downgrades, suggesting policyholders react to downgrades by purchasing less insurance or switching insurers. We also find that market discipline increases after the financial crisis. JEL classification: G22; G28; E53
A prospective investigation of biomechanical risk factors for anterior knee pain

Background: Anterior knee pain is one of the most common chronic knee injuries in the United States; however, little research has been done to determine the risk factors for this injury. Hypothesis: Lower extremity kinematics, kinetics, strength, and postural measurements will be risk factors for the development of anterior knee pain. Study Design: Prospective cohort. Methods: 1597 participants were enrolled in this investigation. Each participant underwent baseline data collection during their first summer of enrollment at the United States Naval Academy. Baseline data collection included three-dimensional motion analysis during a jump-landing task, six lower extremity isometric strength tests, and measurement of navicular drop and Q-angle. Following baseline data collection participants were followed from their date of enrollment to January 15, 2008. Results: Risk factors for the development of anterior knee pain included decreased knee flexion angle and vertical ground reaction force and increased hip internal rotation angle during the jump-landing task. Additionally, decreased knee flexion and extension strength, increased hip external rotation strength, and increased navicular drop were risk factors for the development of anterior knee pain.
PR ] 4 N ov 2 01 9 LOCALLY INTERACTING DIFFUSIONS AS SPACE-TIME MARKOV RANDOM FIELDS

We consider a countable system of interacting (possibly non-Markovian) stochastic differential equations driven by independent Brownian motions and indexed by the vertices of a locally finite graph G = (V,E). The drift of the process at each vertex is influenced by the states of that vertex and its neighbors, and the diffusion coefficient depends on the state of only that vertex. Such processes arise in a variety of applications including statistical physics, neuroscience, engineering and math finance. Under general conditions on the coefficients, we show that if the initial conditions form a second-order Markov random field on d-dimensional Euclidean space, then at any positive time, the collection of histories of the processes at different vertices forms a second-order Markov random field on path space. We also establish a bijection between (second-order) Gibbs measures on (R) (with finite second moments) and a set of space-time (second-order) Gibbs measures on path space, corresponding respectively to the initial law and the law of the solution to the stochastic differential equation. As a corollary, we establish a Gibbs uniqueness property that shows that for infinite graphs the joint distribution of the paths is completely determined by the initial condition and the specifications, namely the family of conditional distributions on finite vertex sets given the configuration on the complement. Along the way, we establish various approximation and projection results for Markov random fields on locally finite graphs that may be of independent interest.
On the possibility of scotopic color vision An interdisciplinary approach

This interdisciplinary thesis is a collaboration between psychology and physics. Since there is no consensus in the literature about scotopic color vision, the aim of this study was to determine the threshold for color vision and investigate whether this threshold lies in the range of scotopic or mesopic vision, i.e. whether only the rod system is active or that both rods and cones mediate color vision at the threshold level. In this thesis, an introduction into color research is given and an experiment is reported with 15 Hz stimuli of different colors and scotopic light intensities. Subjects were asked to indicate the color of the stimulus. We found that the threshold for color vision seems to vary for different colors and is −2.12 ± 0.04 log phot. Td for blue, −0.69 ± 0.07 log phot. Td. for green, −1.35± 0.05 log phot. Td. for orange and −1.59± 0.06 log phot. Td. for red. Although these values are below the cone threshold according to previous studies, our results indicate that color perception at these intensities is primarily mediated by cones, rather than rods. This implies that the threshold for color vision is within the range of mesopic vision.
On the dependence structure and quality of scrambled (t, m, s)-nets

Abstract In this paper we develop a framework to study the dependence structure of scrambled (t,m,s){(t,m,s)}-nets. It relies on values denoted by Cb⁢(𝒌;Pn){C_{b}({\boldsymbol{k}};P_{n})}, which are related to how many distinct pairs of points from Pn{P_{n}} lie in the same elementary 𝒌{{\boldsymbol{k}}}-interval in base b. These values quantify the equidistribution properties of Pn{P_{n}} in a more informative way than the parameter t. They also play a key role in determining if a scrambled set P~n{\widetilde{P}_{n}} is negative lower orthant dependent (NLOD). Indeed, this property holds if and only if Cb⁢(𝒌;Pn)≤1{C_{b}({\boldsymbol{k}};P_{n})\leq 1} for all 𝒌∈ℕs{{\boldsymbol{k}}\in\mathbb{N}^{s}}, which in turn implies that a scrambled digital (t,m,s){(t,m,s)}-net in base b is NLOD if and only if t=0{t=0}. Through numerical examples we demonstrate that these Cb⁢(𝒌;Pn){C_{b}({\boldsymbol{k}};P_{n})} values are a powerful tool to compare the quality of different (t,m,s){(t,m,s)}-nets, and to enhance our understanding of how scrambling can improve the quality of deterministic point sets.
Analysis of radiation dose in varicocele embolization using a last generation C-arm: which risk for hereditary line?

Poster: "ECR 2014 / C-2178 / Analysis of radiation dose in varicocele embolization using a last generation C-arm: which risk for hereditary line? " by: "A. Gioppo1, F. Melchiorre1, R. Azzeroni1, A. Primolevo1, N. Cionfoli2, A. Spinazzola2, G. Cornalba1; 1Milan/IT, 2Crema (Cremona)/IT"
Mannose-Modified PLGA Nanoparticles for Sustained and Targeted Delivery in Hepatitis B Virus Immunoprophylaxis

The launched hepatitis B vaccine could induce powerful antibodies, whereas it failed to improve potent cellular immune responses due to that the Th2-type response-induced aluminum adjuvant was adopted. Here, to target antigen-presenting cells under the epidermis and induce potent cellular and humoral immune responses, mannose-modified poly d,l-lactide-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) was synthesized and nanoparticle (MNP)-loaded hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) protein was prepared. HBsAg could be slowly released and highly presented to lymphocytes which facilitated to produce long-lasting immunity based on characters of PLGA. In vitro uptake test results showed that MNPs could enhance internalization in bone marrow–derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) and RAW 264.7 cells. Subcutaneous delivery of MNPs into mice kept humoral immune and strengthened cellular immune responses. Experimental results indicated that MNPs showed significantly modified properties compared with parental PLGA nanoparticles. Thus, the obtained MNPs could be a promising vehicle for hepatitis B vaccine delivery.
EVALUATING THE QUALITY OF LESSON PLANS BY NURSING AND MIDWIFERY FACULTY MEMBERS OF SELECTED NURSING SCHOOLS IN IRAN

Lesson plan is one of most important factors in the education process which can improve the students' views on quality of education and may led faculty members' and students' activities. The present study aimed to determine the quality of lesson plans developed by nursing and midwifery faculty members of selected Iran’s nursing schools. In this cross – sectional study, 100 lesson plans developed by faculty members of 24 nursing and midwifery faculty members were analyzed. The data was collected through checklist made by a researcher. Data was analyzed through descriptive analysis using SPSS software, version 11.5. In total, 4% of the lesson plans were in poor condition, 83% in moderate, and 13% in good condition. Educational content, objectives, and references were included in the most of the lesson plans respectively. Whereas, class management policies, the students required preparation for each session, and educational aids needed for each session and the manner of using them were among the most shortcomings in the lesson plans. Because of the importance of the lesson plan, holding special workshops may provide information for developing better course plans.
Treating eating disorders : the feasibility, acceptability, and clinical outcomes of a computer-assisted intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy

UNIVERSITY OF JYVASKYLA Department of psychology KOSKINEN, MARJA: Treating eating disorders – The feasibility, acceptability, and clinical outcomes of a computer-assisted intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Master’s Thesis, 55 p., 13 appendix p. Supervisor: Raimo Lappalainen Psychology August 2010 The present study investigated the feasibility, acceptability, and clinical outcomes of a computerassisted intervention for eating disorders based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). The six-week intervention program was delivered through Internet, and it consisted of a webpage including information and exercises, and a personal e-mail contact. The aim was to study whether this kind of treatment method could be applicable in treatment of eating disorders and whether it would yield clinically significant outcomes in participants’ psychopathology and quality of life. Another matter of interest was how the participants would accept a computer-assisted intervention, what kind of experiences they would have after the treatment, and how the program could be developed in the future. According to this study computer-assisted intervention can be an effective form of treatment for patients, whose motivational level and stage of the disorder are suitable for self-reliant working. Some personal support is however needed, and the participants of this study shared the opinion that the e-mail contact was a very essential part of the treatment. The best results were attained together with a contact ACT-therapy. The results showed that the participants, who had the most active contact with the therapist and who spent the most time doing the exercises, benefited the most from the program. Altogether the program was found to be feasible and easy to deliver for patients across the country.