Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Digital health support – a good thing, but not for me: experiences of family caregivers and healthcare staff

ABSTRACT There is an increased belief in the benefits of information and communication technologies (ICT) in healthcare, but the perceived benefits of ICT in family caregiver support need to be explored. This qualitative interview study aimed to describe how family caregivers and healthcare staff in COPD care experience ICT. The results showed that both family caregivers and staff had limited interest in ICT and stated that it might be better for a new generation but not for themselves. Both groups preferred face-to-face meetings instead of contact via ICT. Meeting the needs of an ageing population will require that health services adopt new technologies. Still, the importance of eye contact must not be underestimated, particularly when encountering fragile patients and their spouses.
Financialization of, not by the State. Exploring Changes in the Management of Public Debt and Assets across Europe

Abstract This paper tackles one of the most recent issues in international and comparative political economy: the process of state financialization. Although research on global financial markets has revealed that states play a crucial role in private sector financialization, until recently, much less attention has been paid to state financialization itself. This includes both the measurement of cross-country variation and the question of why this process unfolds unevenly across political economies. We propose a perspective that focuses on two areas, the management of public debt and assets, and the various ways in which states are active in financial markets. Bridging material and cultural concepts in political economy, we differentiate between the reliance on financial markets as governance mechanism and the adoption of a sense-making framework grounded in financial economics and the shareholder-value model. We distill four indicators, trace cross-national and inter-temporal developments in 36 European countries since 1990, and explore how far this variation is associated with domestic and international political economic factors. The paper concludes that state and private sector financialization are mutually reinforcing processes. In addition, future research must pay strong attention to the tensions between finance and democracy as well as the distributive consequences of state financialization.
Recognizing pulses of extinction from clusters of last occurrences

The distribution of last occurrences of fossil taxa in a stratigraphic column are used to infer the pattern, timing and tempo of extinction from the fossil record. Clusters of last occurrences are commonly interpreted as an abrupt pulse of extinction. However, stratigraphic architecture alone can produce clusters of last occurrences that can be misinterpreted as an extinction pulse. These clusters will typically occur in strata that immediately underlie facies changes and sequence‐stratigraphic surfaces. It has been proposed that a basin‐wide analysis of the fossil record within a sequence‐stratigraphic framework can be used to distinguish between clusters of last occurrences caused solely by extinction pulses from those generated by sequence‐stratigraphic architecture. A basin‐wide approach makes it possible to observe lateral facies shifts in response to sea‐level change, mitigating the effects of stratigraphic architecture. Using computer simulations of plausible Late Ordovician mass‐extinction scenarios tuned to an inferred Late Ordovician sea‐level curve, we show that stratigraphically‐generated clusters of last occurrences are observed even in basin‐wide analyses of the simulated fossil records due to the basin‐wide loss of preferred facies for many taxa. Nonetheless, we demonstrate that by coarsening the stratigraphic resolution to the systems‐tract level and identifying facies preferences of simulated taxa, we can filter out taxa whose last occurrences coincide with the basin‐wide loss of their preferred facies. This enables consistent identification of the underlying extinction pattern for a wide variety of extinction scenarios. Applying this approach to empirical field data can help to constrain underlying extinction patterns from the fossil record.
A Dutch perspective on sexual integrity in sport contexts: definition and meaning for practice

ABSTRACT Introduction: Positive ethics is a trending topic in sports. However, a gap exists when sexuality and gender issues are concerned. This study aimed to explore the concept of sexual integrity as an opportunity for the development of a positive ethics approach of sexuality and gender in sport contexts. Materials and methods: To obtain consensus on definition, operationalization, and competences, a Delphi study was conducted among 77 stakeholders divided into panels of youth coaches, physical education (PE) teachers, athletes, and PE students. Results: Consensus was reached on a definition and operationalization of sexual integrity in sport contexts, defining it as the conscious, respectful, and responsible handling of one’s own and other people's body, opinions, relationships, and behaviour with regard to sexuality and gender, with the aim of contributing to the pleasure, development, resilience, and safety of (young) people in sports. Core competences for sexual integrity were highlighted, not only for coaches and PE teachers, but also for youngsters to develop. Discussion: This study presents a definition, an operationalization, and a number of competences for sexual integrity. With these, an essential connection with a positive ethical climate is proposed for the benefit of coaches, PE teachers, and youngsters as actors. The operationalization and concrete list of competences will aid the development of future prevention policies regarding sexual and gender-based violence, with an important opportunity for programme designers and policy makers to optimize training programmes. Further research is required to include sport federations’ perspectives and to develop and implement programmes addressing sexual integrity for the benefit of coaches, PE teachers, and youngsters.
Unravelling the small‐island effect through phylogenetic community ecology

The small‐island effect (SIE) describes a different relationship between island area and species richness on smaller compared to larger islands. The pattern has recently gained widespread support. However, few studies have attempted to identify the actual mechanisms driving the SIE. Here, we use a phylogenetic community framework to study the SIE, based on the assumption that if the dominant assembly processes differ between small and large islands, patterns of phylogenetic community structure should shift across the area and habitat diversity gradient.
Molecular Detection of the Virulence Genes in Escherichia coli Isolated from Healthy and Diarrheic Calves in Southern Iraq

Aim: To investigate the stx1, stx2, hly, cnf2, sfa/foc, afaI, papC, and afaC virulence-associated genes of pathogenic Escherichia coli, isolated from diarrheic and non-diarrheic calves. Materials and Methods: The genes to be investigated were first isolated from the stool samples obtained from 150 diarrheic and non-diarrheic calves, between the ages of one day and six months, during the period 2016 to 2017. Rectal swabs were aseptically and randomly collected from several herds, from different regions in the province of Basra. Results of Research: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results showed that pathogenic E. coli were detected in a total of 34 out of 41 (82.9%) distributed as 23 out of 26 (88.5%) and 11 out of 15 (73.3%) of the diarrheagenic and non-diarrheagenic calves, respectively. The results also showed that stx1, hlyA, and stx2 genes showed a higher incidence of distribution in both diarrheagenic and non-diarrheagenic calves, in a percentage rate of 69.6%, 65.2%, 56.5% and 63.6%, 63.6%, 45.5%, respectively. Moreover, eight different virulence gene profiles were established in the present study. Most of the isolates analyzed had at least two or three gene arrangements and only four isolates were seen in a combination of four genes stx1, stx2, hlyA, and afaI. Conclusion: It is concluded that E. coli isolates from healthy and diarrheic calves that carried various virulence genes, of which the most frequent were stx1, stx2, and hlyA. A high percentage of these isolates are found in both diarrheic and non-diarrheic calves. Original Research Article Othman; ARRB, 26(6): 1-10, 2018; Article no.ARRB. 40765 2
Mechanisms of buffering of phenotypic variation in A. thaliana: Features of HSP90 and characterization of AGO1 as a new regulator of robustness

Biological systems have molecular mechanisms that allow them to maintain a constant phenotype despite environmental and genetic perturbations. These mechanisms can take the form of master regulator of robustness, gene products that are epistatic to environmental and genetic perturbations. When these regulators are perturbed, the phenotypic variation of the biological systems increases. The best example of a master regulator of robustness is HSP90. HSP90 interacts with proteins involved in different biological pathways, and thus is a central node of many genetic networks. HSP90 provides robustness to environmental and genetic perturbations, and it has been hypothesized that influences the evolution of its clients. Here, I provide evidence that HSP90 impacts the evolutionary trajectories of clients belonging to pairs of duplicate genes or gene families. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to provide robustness to environmental and genetic perturbations of specific phenotypic traits. The central node of the miRNA pathway in A. thaliana is AGO1. In my thesis, I show that AGO1 is another master regulator of robustness, since AGO1 can buffer both environmental and genetic perturbations for a variety of traits. I also show that AGO1-dependent variation is background specific. Two of the AGO1-revealed phenotypes, lesions in cotyledons and lack of correlation between days to flowering and leaf number were analyzed to further detail.
Moving horizon estimation with multirate measurements and correlated noises

This article is concerned with the moving horizon estimation (MHE) problem for a class of linear discrete‐time systems subject to multirate measurements and correlated noises. The sensors of the plant are grouped into two nodes with different sampling periods, which give rise to the multirate measurements. Under the effects of multirate measurements, the underlying system is then described by a periodic system with correlated noises. A MHE strategy is formulated and the corresponding analytical solution of the state estimation is derived by using the “completing the square” technique. Based on the lifting approach, the dynamics of the estimation error covariance is analyzed and the desired estimator parameters are obtained by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities. An illustrative example is given to show the effectiveness of our proposed MHE method.
The Philosophy of Security in the Globalizing Culture System

The article presents an attempt to analyze modern theories of security within Western philosophical concepts. The authors’ goal is to conceptualize modern philosophical notions of security. To reach it, the authors use the following methodology: phenomenological and hermeneutical analysis of texts, as well as historical, cultural, and comparative analysis. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the modern trends of development of the philosophy of safety here are connected with the drive to conceptualize the essence of security as a sophisticated and complex system, with its structure including several subsystems, such as the human being, the society, the authorities, and the international community. The authors' reason that the synthesis of these concepts and their ideas gives ground for an integral concept of security. It could take into account the points of concepts that indicate the material, ontological content of threats from the outer, globalizing world, and the mental content of threats constructed by consciousness, responding to the increasing influence of modern informatization and virtualization processes. According to the authors, within the integral security concept, and based on the complementarity principle, it is necessary to synthesize the ideas of the national-state concept of security, the “international community” concept, the “soft power” concept, and the postmodern concepts. Such concepts, dedicated to the modern threats, regard the possibility of protection from them only within the framework of the collective security system that takes into account the defense from external and mental threats to the individual, society, and the state.
MISALLOCATION OF RESOURCES, TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY, AND THE CLEANSING HYPOTHESIS

Imperfections in the credit market can hamper the flow of factors from less productive to more productive firms and result in a lower aggregate total factor productivity (TFP). Depth of such misallocation will depend on per capita income, the level of imperfections in the credit market, and the distribution of entrepreneurial productivity. Under some parameter configurations, we find that per capita income and TFP may affect each other so that an economic boom may cause higher resource misallocation, lower TFP, and economic recession. At the same time, an economic recession may have a “cleansing effect” on TFP leading to a lower resource misallocation, higher TFP, and economic boom. In other words, economic success may breed the failure and the failure can become a precondition for success so that the boom-bust cycles in resource misallocation, TFP, and per capita income may become endogenous.
Factors That Affect Liquefaction-Induced Lateral Spreading in Large Subduction Earthquakes

Liquefaction-induced lateral spreading can induce significant deformations and damage in existing structures, such as ports, bridges, and pipes. Past earthquakes have caused this phenomenon in coastal areas and rivers in many parts of the world. Current lateral spreading prediction models tend to either overestimate or underestimate the actual displacements by a factor of two or more when applied to large subduction earthquake events. The purpose of this study was to identify ground motion intensity measures and soil parameters that better correlate with observed lateral spreading under large-magnitude (Mw ≥ 7.5) subduction earthquakes that have occurred in countries like Chile, Japan, and Peru. A numerical approach was first validated against centrifuge and historical cases and then used to generate parametric models on which statistical analysis was applied. Our results show that cumulative absolute velocity (CAV), Housner intensity (HI), and sustained maximum velocity (SMV) have a reasonably good correlation with lateral spreading for the analyzed cases.
Feature location enhancement based on source code augmentation with synonyms of terms

In software maintenance the developers may add new feature to program, improve existing function, and remove bugs. In this case the developer should identify the location in the source code that corresponds to a specific functionality; this is known as feature location. This presents a new approach for enhancing the process of feature location using Information Retrieval (IR) and Natural Language Processing. The approach presented augments the source code with additional semantic information that was extracted and derived from the synonyms of source code terms. This approach works in a pipeline structure, starting by augmenting the source code corpus with synonyms of the original terms and ending by inferring the source code with a particular user query. More specifically, the WordNet platform is used for extracting the synonyms of terms. Moreover, the approach uses an advanced IR technique, namely the Latent Semantic Indexing, for searching and inferring the source code. The used approach was tested and evaluated on two open source systems, namely the Qt and Hippodraw. Four experiments were conducted on each system using 21 features and the results showed that enriching the source code with synonyms of terms clearly and significantly improved the process of feature location efficiently. The experimental results showed that the approach presented obtained higher levels of Recall and Precision. For that reason, it has been shown to improve the state‐of‐the‐art techniques for feature location process.
Adoption of electric vehicles: Which factors are really important?

Abstract Electric vehicles stand out for their ability to reduce pollution. However, electric vehicle sales have not been brisk despite their positive effects. The objective of this study is twofold: first, to determine the variables that predict the purchase of an electric vehicle from the implementation of an algorithm based on computational intelligence; second, to contrast these results with two panels of experts in consumer behavior and the automobile sector. An empirical study was carried out with 404 potential consumers in Spain with regard to their beliefs, attitudes and purchase intention. The results show that range, incentives and reliability are the most reliable predictors of purchase intention. Likewise, the experts posit that the selection of these three variables would be sufficient to know the purchase intention of potential buyers of electric vehicles. In addition, it provides useful information for policy makers and private companies for decision making in the electric vehicle marketing process.
HIV-1 Viral Infectivity Factor Recruitment of Cellular Protein Complexes to Counter Host Antiviral Response

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . iv TABLE OF CONTENTS . vi LIST OF TABLES . xiii LIST OF FIGURES . xiv COMMON ABBREVIATIONS . xvi CHAPTER 1 . 1 INTRODUCTION TO RETROVIRAL RESTRICTION FACTORS AND HIV COUNTER MEASURES CHAPTER 2 . 50 GENERAL MATERIALS AND METHODS CHAPTER 3 . 62 IDENTIFICATION OF NOVEL VIF BINDING PARTNER AND REGULATOR, CORE BINDING FACTOR BETA AND IN VITRO CHARACTERIZATION OF VIF:CBF-­‐β:E3 LIGASE COMPLEXES CHAPTER 4 . 101 VIF N-­‐TERMINAL MOTIF IS REQUIRED FOR CUL5 BINDING CHAPTER 5 . 138
Simulations of Aerodynamic Separated Flows Using the Lattice Boltzmann Solver XFlow

We present simulations of turbulent detached flows using the commercial lattice Boltzmann solver XFlow (by Dassault Systemes). XFlow’s lattice Boltzmann formulation together with an efficient octree mesh generator reduce substantially the cost of generating complex meshes for industrial flows. In this work, we challenge these meshes and quantify the accuracy of the solver for detached turbulent flows. The good performance of XFlow when combined with a Large-Eddy Simulation turbulence model is demonstrated for different industrial benchmarks and validated using experimental data or fine numerical simulations. We select five test cases: the Backward-facing step the Goldschmied Body the HLPW-2 (2nd High-Lift Prediction Workshop) full aircraft geometry, a NACA0012 under dynamic stall conditions and a parametric study of leading edge tubercles to improve stall behavior on a 3D wing.
2.3 µm nanosecond passive Q-switching of an LD-pumped Tm:YLF laser using gold nanorods as a saturable absorber

Developing new saturable absorbers for use in the mid-infrared region has practical significance for short-pulsed lasers and related scientific and industrial applications. The performance of gold nanorods (GNRs) as saturable absorbers at novel mid-infrared wavelengths needs to be evaluated even though these benefit from ultrafast nonlinear responses and broadband saturable absorption. Passive Q-switching of an LD-pumped 2.3 µm Tm:YLF laser using GNRs was successfully realized in this study. Pulses with an 843 ns pulse width and a 6.67 kHz repetition rate were achieved using this Q-switched laser. Results showed that GNRs provide promising passive Q-switches for 2.3 µm Tm-doped lasers.
The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) Performance among Technical Students

Past research has proven that emotional intelligence, the ability to justify one’s emotion is integral in higher education, especially in teaching and learning of English Language. The main objectives of this study are to examine i) the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and MUET performance among undergraduate students in the technical university, ii) the correlation between emotional intelligence and MUET performance among 250 respondents from engineering and information and communication technology (ICT) courses and iii) can the level of emotional intelligence (EI) among undergraduate students in a technical university predict the students’ performance in MUET? The cross-sectional survey design was used to collect the data from 250 respondents. The respondents were given the EQI questionnaire which had been constructed to collect the respondents’ EI, which covers these aspects; self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, self-motivation and social skills subskills. The results have highlighted that EI has a significant correlation with the students’ MUET performance and can predict the students’ MUET performance. Also, besides that, the findings show that there is a significant difference between the students’ course and their EI level, thus implicating its dominant on education. Thus, from this study, as emotional intelligence plays important roles in determining the students’ English language performance, emotional intelligence skills should be embedded in designing the English course. For future research, it is also recommended to discover the relationship of emotional intelligence traits and other language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19. 7.16
Shock compaction heating and collisional processes in the production of type 3 ordinary chondrites: Lessons from the (nearly) unique L3 chondrite melt breccia Northwest Africa 8709

Northwest Africa (NWA) 8709 is a rare example of a type 3 ordinary chondrite melt breccia and provides critical information for the shock compaction histories of chondrites. An L3 protolith for NWA 8709 is inferred on the basis of oxygen isotope composition, elemental composition, diverse mineral chemistry, and overall texture. NWA 8709 is among the most strongly shocked type 3 chondrites known, and experienced complete melting of the matrix and partial melting of chondrules. Unmelted phases underwent FeO reduction and partial homogenization, with reduction possibly occurring by reaction of olivine and low‐Ca pyroxene with an S‐bearing gas that was produced by vaporization. Chondrules and metal grains became foliated by uniaxial compaction, and during compression, chondrules and fragments became attached to form larger clumps. This process, and possibly also melt incorporation into chondrules to cause “inflation,” may have contributed to anomalously large chondrule sizes in NWA 8709. The melt breccia character is attributed to strong shock affecting a porous precursor. Data‐model comparisons suggest that a precursor with 23% porosity that was impacted by a 3 km/s projectile could have produced the meteorite. The rarity of other type 3 ordinary chondrite melt breccias implies that the immediate precursors to such chondrites were lower in porosity than the NWA 8709 precursor, or experienced weaker shocks. Altogether, the data imply a predominantly “quiet” dynamical environment to form most type 3 ordinary chondrites, with compaction occurring in a series of relatively weak shock events.