Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prophylactic Treatment Of Migraine With Long Acting Propranolol - A Comparison With Placebo

P r o p r a n o l o l , a b e t a b l o c k i n g a g e n t , i s w e l l e s t a b l i s h e d i n t h e p r e v e n t i v e t r e a t m e n t of m i g r a i n e . I t i s u s u a l l y p r e s c r i b e d i n d i v i d e d d o s e s 3 4 t imes a d a y t h u s o f t e n c a u s i n g p a r t i a l c o m p l i a n c e . T h e use of a o n c e d a i l y l o n g a c t i n g p r o p r a n o l o l may i m p r o v e c o m p l i a n c e a n d d u e t o i t s f a i r l y c o n s t a n t b l o o d l e v e l s c o u l d r e s u l t i n a r e d u c t i o n i n t h e i n c i d e n c e a n d s e v e r i t y of s i d e e f f e c t s .
Agronomic performance and genetic variability of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) Accessions

Cowpea is a drought tolerant food legume but yields are generally low in South Africa due to non-availability of improved varieties. The current study was undertaken to evaluate agronomic performance of cowpea germplasm and select the candidate accessions for breeding population and cultivation by small-scale farmers in South Africa. A randomized complete block design with three replications was used for the experiment. Data were collected on the agronomic traits including days to 50% maturity, days to 95% maturity, hundred seed weight, leaf area index, number of branches, number of internodes, number of seeds per plant, plant height, number of pods per plant, pod length, dry biomass weight per plant, grain yield per plant and grain yield per hectare. Highly significant differences were observed among the accessions for all traits. The grain yield per hectare was correlated positively and significantly with number of pods per plant and grain yield per plant showing a scope for simultaneous improvement of yield and yield related traits. Principal Component biplot revealed that accessions Acc2024, Acc5352, Acc2355, Acc4565, Glenda and L-cwp3 were the most genetically distinct accessions and can serve as potential candidate parental lines for hybridization to achieving transgressive segregation population in breeding programmes.
Distributed Bipartite Consensus of Linear Multiagent Systems Based on Event-Triggered Output Feedback Control Scheme

This article investigates the bipartite consensus problem for linear multiagent systems by the event-triggered output feedback control scheme. Both cooperative interaction and antagonistic interaction between neighbor agents are considered. Assuming that the system states are not available for measurement, the state observer is thus proposed to settle this scenario. Then, a novel observer-based bipartite control scheme is developed on the basis of two event-triggering mechanisms. One is designed for the communication between neighbors and another is for controller updates. Different from the existing methods, the proposed control strategy does not need continuous updates, avoids continuous communication between neighbors, and is applicable for the signed communication topology. Moreover, we extend the results from the bipartite leaderless consensus to the bipartite leader-following consensus and the bipartite containment consensus. It is proven that the proposed controllers fulfill the exclusion of Zeno behavior in three consensus problems. Finally, three examples are provided to illustrate the feasibility of the theoretical results.
The long-term dynamics of Knossos in context

In this concluding paper of this series devoted to reporting on the Knossos Urban Landscape Project (KULP), we emphasise what we are learning from the project about specific transformations in the history of the site, and highlight various challenges to previous understandings that are emerging from our data, considered in conjunction with information from previous explorations at the site, which we are still exploring as study and analysis continues. Building on and complementing over a century of intensive excavation at the site, the Knossos Urban Landscape Project is enabling us to fill-in and refine our understanding of the developmental history of a major Aegean centre. Because the ceramics of Knossos across all periods of its occupation have been analysed and documented in detail, this provides an opportunity to develop a fine-grained analysis of longterm urban history, spanning nearly eight millennia and two cycles of urbanisation and state formation and collapse. We have linked the analysis of our new survey data with restudy of the retained material from the rescue excavations conducted by the British School in the valley, and the published results of major excavations, for an integrated synthesis of the history of the site. This project has produced surprising and indeed challenging information affecting every period of occupation of what has been considered to be a very well-understood site. These challenges are touched-on here, and are considered in more detail in the specialist papers presented in this conference session and also published in this volume.
Community volunteer assessment of recreational water quality in the Hutt River, Wellington

ABSTRACT Water is an important component of many recreational opportunities and New Zealand invests significant resources in recreational water quality (RWQ) monitoring to assess risks to public health. However, monitoring primarily focuses on microbiological hazards and RWQ is considerably broader than this. The goal of this study was to take a comprehensive approach to evaluating RWQ while exploring the potential for greater public involvement in monitoring. A popular river swimming site was co-monitored weekly by volunteers and a council field officer. The attributes monitored–water temperature, visual clarity, benthic cyanobacteria and filamentous periphyton cover, E. coli and rubbish–were identified from a volunteer workshop. There was good concordance between volunteer and council data suggesting that volunteer measurements can be considered reliable. This highlights the potential for volunteers, with professional support, including training and quality assurance, to extend council RWQ surveillance to additional monitoring sites while improving public engagement on water management.
The Effect of Saffron on Semen Analysis in Infertile Men with Clinical Varicocele After Varicocelectomy

Background: Infertility affects 15% of couples and varicocele is the most common cause of male infertility. Oxidative stress is recommended as a possible mechanism of infertility. Crocus sativus (saffron) has been recognized as having antioxidative properties and is presumed to improve sperm parameters. Objectives: The present study aims to evaluate the effect of saffron on semen analysis of infertile men with clinical varicocele after varicocelectomy. Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, 48 infertile men candidates for varicocelectomy were randomly assigned to receive 60 mg edible saffron capsules once every other day (n = 27) or a similar regimen of placebo (n = 21) for 6 months. The two groups were compared for changes in semen parameters. Results: There was no significant difference between groups in semen parameters before treatment as well as in semen volume, morphology, and sperm count post-treatment, but motility was significantly higher in the saffron group (30.00 ± 14.46 vs. 21.71 ± 11.45; P = 0.03). There was one (3.7%) complication in the saffron group. Conclusions: Our results showed that except improving sperm motility, saffron has no effect on other semen parameters in infertile men with clinical varicocele after varicocelectomy.
Is It All a Question of the Electoral System? The Effects of Electoral System Types on the Representation of Women in German Municipal Councils

Election reforms have taken place in many German municipalities since the 1980s, leading to the implementation of complex systems that allow voters to cast more than one vote for a candidate (‘cumulative voting’) or to select candidates from different party lists (‘vote splitting/panachage’). Although voting with open lists gives voters more influence on the composition of parliaments, it may also lead voters to discriminate against certain groups, such as women. Considering the persistently low proportion of women in German municipal councils, despite reforms to the electoral system, this study questions whether and how different mechanisms of the electoral system affect female representation at the municipal level. The data in this study allow us to investigate the outcomes of cumulative voting and vote splitting, both the prospects of success and sequential effects on the individual level of candidates (‘order effects’). Our results show that women have a lower chance of success in open-list systems than in closed systems. Furthermore, women are elected ‘downwards’ in electoral systems with cumulative voting and vote splitting. Nevertheless, election mechanisms can only explain gender-specific differences to a limited extent.
Experimental Study of the Statistical Properties of Directionally Spread Ocean Waves Measured by Buoys

Wave-following buoys are used to provide measurements of free surface elevation across the oceans. The measurements they produce are widely used to derive wave-averaged parameters such as significant wave height and peak period, alongside wave-by-wave statistics such as crest height distributions. Particularly concerning the measurement of extreme wave crests, these measurements are often perceived to be less accurate. We directly assess this through a side-by-side laboratory comparison of measurements made using Eulerian wave gauges and model wave-following buoys for randomly generated directionally spread irregular waves representative of extreme conditions on deep water. This study builds on the recent work of McAllister and van den Bremer (2019, https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0170.1), in which buoy measurements of steep directionally spread focused waves groups were considered. Our experiments confirm that the motion of a wave-following buoy should not significantly affect the measured wave crest statistics or spectral parameters and that the discrepancies observed for in situ buoy data are most likely a result of filtering. This filtering occurs when accelerations that are measured by the sensors within a buoy are converted to displacements. We present an approximate means of correcting the resulting measured crest height distributions, which is shown to be effective using our experimental data.
Acute remote ischemic preconditioning has no effect on quadriceps muscle endurance

We previously reported that the beneficial effects of ischemic preconditioning (IPC) on whole‐body and local exercise performances may be due to enhanced skeletal muscle function, such as improved O2 availability. We and others also demonstrated that remote IPC (RIPC) enhanced whole‐body exercise performance. Nevertheless, our previous study indicated that the beneficial effects of RIPC on whole‐body exercise performance may not involve enhanced skeletal muscle function. To clarify this issue, the present study examined the effects of RIPC on quadriceps muscle endurance and deoxygenation dynamics during local knee extensor exercise. Fourteen men performed a sustained isometric unilateral knee extensor exercise at 20% of maximal voluntary contraction until task failure. Prior to the exercise, the subjects underwent RIPC (3 × 5 minutes non‐exercising leg occlusion) or control (CON; no occlusion) treatment. During the exercise, near‐infrared spectroscopy‐derived deoxygenation dynamics in the quadriceps vastus lateralis muscle were continuously recorded. The endurance time to task failure did not differ significantly between RIPC and CON conditions. Furthermore, the quadriceps muscle deoxygenation dynamics during exercise did not differ significantly between the two conditions. These findings suggest that RIPC may not enhance muscle endurance, which corresponded with the ineffectiveness of RIPC on skeletal muscle function during local exercise.
Local-scale variability of snow density on Arctic sea ice

Abstract. Local-scale variations in snow density and layering on Arctic sea ice were characterized using a combination of traditional snow pit and SnowMicroPen (SMP) measurements. In total, 14 sites were evaluated within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Arctic Ocean on both first-year (FYI) and multi-year (MYI) sea ice. Sites contained multiple snow pits with coincident SMP profiles as well as unidirectional SMP transects. An existing SMP density model was recalibrated using manual density cutter measurements (n=186) to identify best-fit parameters for the observed conditions. Cross-validation of the revised SMP model showed errors comparable to the expected baseline for manual density measurements (RMSE = 34 kg m−3 or 10.9 %) and strong retrieval skill (R2=0.78). The density model was then applied to SMP transect measurements to characterize variations at spatial scales of up to 100 m. A supervised classification trained on snow pit stratigraphy allowed separation of the SMP density estimates by layer type. The resulting dataset contains 58 882 layer-classified estimates of snow density on sea ice representing 147 m of vertical variation and equivalent to more than 600 individual snow pits. An average bulk density of 310 kg m−3 was estimated with clear separation between FYI and MYI environments. Lower densities on MYI (277 kg m−3) corresponded with increased depth hoar composition (49.2 %), in strong contrast to composition of the thin FYI snowpack (19.8 %). Spatial auto-correlation analysis showed layered composition on FYI snowpack to persist over long distances while composition on MYI rapidly decorrelated at distances less than 16 m. Application of the SMP profiles to determine propagation bias in radar altimetry showed the potential errors of 0.5 cm when climatology is used over known snow density.
Role of tissue Transglutaminase in glial cell processes involved in multiple sclerosis

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METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES IN HEALTH ECONOMIC EVALUATION

ABSTRACT It is undeniable that there is an increasing trend in the healthcare expenditure worldwide due to various factors. Despite this fact, there is limited resource for healthcare and the sustainability is questionable. In line with this, a number of measures have been developed to ensure the health care resources are allocated and distributed efficiently. One of the measures to ensure the efficient resource allocation is by assisting policy makers in decision making through health economic evaluation. The health economic evaluation methods include cost minimisation analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis and cost-utility analysis. However, the decision to conduct these analyses depends on many factors and researchers should be well versed with the characteristics, strengths and limitations of each method. Hence, this article is aimed to analyse the characteristic of these health economic evaluation methodology in health care; namely the cost minimisation analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis and cost-utility analysis and to identify the strengths, weaknesses, issues and challenges related to them. A literature search on information related to health economic evaluation methods were conducted. Articles, journals and related publications from online databases including PubMed, CINAHL and Google Scholar as well as hardcopy publications were used for the materials search. This article used logic matrix framework to analyse the different methodological approaches in full health economic evaluation. The similarities, differences, strengths, limitations and public health perspective between different methods were analysed and discussed. Articles, journals and related publications from online databases and hardcopy publications were used in the analysis. Relevant issues and challenges of each method were discussed. Based on various methodological approaches in the health economic evaluations, there are a number of differences, such as the valuation outcomes, effectiveness measures, strengths and limitations related to each method. In conclusion, the suitability and appropriateness of each method in evaluating public health interventions is also very much dependent on various circumstances, such as the cost and consequences of the interventions. Keywords: Health economic evaluation, economic evaluation method, economic evaluation approach.
Illegal activities in Ago-Owu Forest Reserve in Osun Sate and its implication on sustainable forest management

This study aimed at assessing illegal activities with a view to enhancing sustainable forest management (SFM) in Ago-Owu reserve. Purposive sampling was used to select four communities from eight communities around the reserves. The major targets were the households. Based on this, 162 respondents (48, 27, 45, and 42) were selected from 480, 266, 447 and 420 households in Mokore, Ejemu, Abaoba and Famuyiwu respectively using 10% sampling intensity. Primary data were collected using questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square and logistic regression. Majority of the respondents were male (62.9%), 51-60years (33.3%), married (50.6%), had secondary education (48.1%), had 16-30 years of residency (67.9%), with household size of 4 (32.7%), farmers (58.6%) and indigenes (77.2%). Majority (18.5%) generated income/annum of ₦310000 - ₦400000. Major illegal activities were; collection of fuelwood (96.3%), trespass (96.3%) and illegal felling of trees (89.5%). Illegal activities were dependent on communities (χ 2 =19.30); sex (χ 2 = 6.33); education (χ 2 = 11.59), nativity (χ 2 = 12.30), years of residency (χ 2 = 45.13) and occupation (χ 2 =13.09). Major socio-economic impacts include; damaging of NTFPs (90.1%), loss of revenue (90.1%) and climate change (84.5%). High population was the most significant factor contributing to illegal activities with odds-ratio of 1249218286570. Methods mostly used in monitoring illegal activities include; Use of law enforcement agency (100%), Forest guards (88.3%) and Community vigilante (75.3%). Illegal activities in forest reserves are a major threat to forest conservation. Therefore, strategies aimed at reducing dependence on forest should be established thereby enhancing SFM. Keywords: Illegal activities, Forest reserve, Households, Conservation, Sustainable forest management
PENGARUH EARLY WARNING SYSTEM DAN RISK BASED CAPITAL TERHADAP KINERJA KEUANGAN PERUSAHAAN ASURANSI

This research conducted to analyze the influence of Early Warning System (EWS) variables proxied through Claim Load Ratio, Asset Liquidity Ratio, Own Retention Ratio and Risk Based Capital (RBC), on the financial performance of general insurance companies. The population used in this study are all general insurance companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange period 2014-2018 as many as 13 companies. Sampling method in this study using purposive sampling as many as 10 companies. Data analysis techniques used are descriptive analysis method and multiple linear regression. The result of the research shows that the variable of Early Warning System (EWS) is proxied through Claim Load Ratio, Asset Liquidity Ratio, Own Retention Ratio have the influence to financial performance, and Risk Based Capital (RBC) does not have an effect to financial performance. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis pengaruh variabel Early Warning System (EWS) yang diproksikan melalui Rasio Beban Klaim, Rasio Likuiditas Aset, Rasio Retensi Sendiri dan Risk Based capital (RBC), terhadap Kinerja Keuangan perusahaan asuransi umun yang diproksikan melalui ROA. Populasi yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah seluruh perusahaan asuransi umum yang terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI) periode 2014-2018 sebanyak 13 perusahaan.Metode Penarikan sampel dalam penelitian ini menggunakan purposive sampling sebanyak 10 perusahaan.Teknik analisis data yang digunakan adalah metode analisis deskriptif dan regresi linier berganda. Hasil penelitian membuktikan bahwa variabel Early Warning System (EWS) diproksikan melalui Rasio Beban Klaim, Rasio Likuiditas Aset, Rasio Retensi Sendiri mempunyai pengaruh terhadap Kinerja Keuangan, dan Risk Based Capital (RBC) tidak berpengaruh terhadap Kinerja Keuangan.
Follow-up Question Generation

In this thesis, we address the challenge of automatically generating follow-up questions from the users' input for an open-domain dialogue agent. Specifically, we consider that follow-up questions associated with those that follow up on the topic mentioned in the previous turn. Questions are generated by utilizing the named entity, part of speech information, and the predicate-argument structures of the sentences. The generated questions were evaluated twice, and after that, a user study using an interactive one-turn dialogue was conducted. In the user study, the questions were ranked based on the average score from the question evaluation results. The user study results revealed that the follow-up questions were felt convincing and natural, especially when they were short and straightforward. However, there are still many rooms for improvements. The generated questions are very dependent to the correctness of the sentence structure and difficult to expand the conversation topics since the conversations are very related to the input from users.
Additional use of autogenous periosteal barrier membrane combined with regenerative therapy in the interproximal intrabony defects: case series

Regenerative therapy in an interproximal intrabony defect is a challenge due to unaesthetic appearance after surgery. In this article, we introduce a case series of additional use of autogenous periosteal barrier membrane combined with bovine bone mineral and enamel matrix derivative (EMD) in interproximal periodontal intrabony defects to overcome an aforementioned shortcoming. Dur-ing the periodontal regenerative surgery, autogenous periosteal membrane was additionally adopted besides xenograft material and EMD. Clinical and radiographic examinations were performed before surgery and 6 months after surgical treatment. All clinical parameters were improved and the intrabony defects were resolved on the radiography 6 months after surgery. Moreover, soft tissue esthetics such as the contour of interdental papilla was better than that of conventional regenerative therapy. Periodontal regenerative therapy using several graft materials and bioactive materials was effective in the treatment of periodontal intrabony defect. Moreover, using of autogenous periosteal barrier membrane combined with xenograft and EMD has additional effect for the treatment of an interproximal intrabony defect in terms of augmentation of interdental soft tissue volume. (J Dent Rehabil Appl Sci 2017;33(3):230-7)