Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trade union community membership: exploring what people who are not in paid employment could contribute to union activism

The industrial relations literature tends to argue that workers join trade unions primarily for instrumental reasons, for example, to obtain assistance if there is a problem at work. But this clearly does not apply to people who are not in work. It is in many ways counterintuitive to join a trade union when one is not an employee or in paid employment, looking for a job, or retired. Generally, there is little material benefit in doing so. Others have noted, however, that personal values, particularly associated with the ideological left, can cultivate a predisposition toward joining a union that is not based on a purely material calculus. Nevertheless, this analysis is usually applied to workers. The research reflected in this article aims to understand the motivation of people who are not in paid employment, such as jobseekers/unemployed, students and retirees, to join labour unions and become active within them. It does so through a case study of the United Kingdom’s largest private sector union, Unite, and considers the contribution to, or rationale for, union activism within community membership and the possibilities for rethinking trade unionism beyond its traditional workplace base.
Can an authentic EPortfolio succeed in First Year Medicine?

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Introduction Despite evidence supporting ePortfolio use to promote reflective practice, most published studies focus on its use in senior years. This study explored how well the introduction of the Undergraduate Medical ePortfolio (UMeP) in Year 1 of an early clinical contact curriculum met its aims of supporting reflective practice and introducing portfolio learning. Effective mentoring, organisational support, authenticity and adequate time are key to success. Methods A constructivist study heard the voices of students n=14 (2 focus groups) and tutors n=6 (semi-structured interviews) who had used the UMeP in its first introductory year. Thus, triangulation was employed to gain a deeper appreciation. Results Analysis uncovered four major themes- Reflective Practice , Support/Training , ePortfolio functions,and Feedback/Assessment. The study revealed support for the introduction of portfolio learning in Year 1 Medicine, for its role in promoting reflective practice and for maintaining formative assessment. Discussion EPortfolio introduction in Year 1 provided a valuable early introduction to reflection and life-long-learning habits. Regular small group tutor support and feedback were positive factors. The study revealed a need for tutor training on reflection feedback. Introduced at a stage without the weight of clinical commitments, this ePortfolio’s limited demands allowed students time to learn and become accustomed to its requirements. Scaffold boxes in ePortfolio forms facilitated reflective writing. Use of an authentic portfolio linked to a professional version was a key engagement factor. Through sharing submissions students learned from each other about reflective writing and confidentiality. Better curriculum integration is needed to develop its potential.
Accuracy of Optic Nerve Sheath Diameter Measurement as a Predictor of Intracranial Pressure in Traumatic Brain Injury

Background: Ultrasound assessment of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) has been used as a promising tool to aid in the diagnosis of elevated intracranial pressure (ICP). Optic nerve sheath is contiguous with the dura matter surrounding the brain and contains cerebrospinal fluid, which allows transmission of pressure from the cranium. Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of measurement of ONSD by using ocular ultrasonography to detect elevated ICP in patients with TBI in Emergency Department. Patients and methods: This prospective cross-sectional observational study that was carried out on 99 patients presented and admitted to Mansoura University Emergency Hospital with traumatic brain injury (TBI) over a year from June 2020 to June 2021. Results: The clinical features of raised ICP had low specificity (38%), positive predictive value (PPV) (61.7%), and accuracy (69%) for diagnosis of raised ICP with high significant statistical difference (62% vs 100%) towards group 2. The ONSD were much higher (P <0.01) in group 2 (6.493 ± 0.586 mm) than group 1 (3.93 ± 0.976 mm). The cutoff value of binocular mean ONSD for diagnosing raised ICP was > 5 mm with sensitivity of 100 %, specificity of 96%, and accuracy of 99%. The optimal cutoff value to predict mortality rate was >6.8 mm with modest sensitivity and accuracy. While the optimal value to predict unfavorable Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) was >6.05 mm with high sensitivity and accuracy. Conclusion: ONSD measurement via bedside ocular ultrasound is a useful, non-invasive method for early diagnosis of elevated ICP in adult patients with TBI in the Emergency Department.
Statistical Assessment of Spatial Tornado Occurrences in Canada: Modelling and Estimation

Canada experiences a relatively large number of tornadoes, which can cause a significant amount of damage and fatalities. In the present study, a preferred prediction model for the spatially varying tornado occurrence rate is developed for Canada. The development takes into account the most commonly used spatial stochastic models and the underreporting due to low population density. It incorporates the annual average cloud-to-ground lightning flash (ACGLF) density and annual average thunderstorm days (ATD) as covariates in the prediction model. The model parameters estimation is carried out by using both the maximum likelihood method and the Bayesian inference.The analysis results indicate that the negative binomial model is preferable to the zero-inflated Poisson model and the Poison model. The results show that the tornado occurrence in Canada is associated with large overdispersion. Also, the statistical analysis indicates that the prediction model for the tornado occurrence rate developed based on Bayesian inference is relatively insensitive to the assumed “non-informative” prior distributions. A prediction model is suggested for the spatially varying tornado occurrence rate based on the negative binomial model with the ACGLF density and ATD as covariates.
The impact of moral framing in the 2016 U.S. presidential debates on moral judgments and self-transcendent emotions in tweets

ABSTRACT Given the sizable viewership of the U.S. presidential debates and the importance of moral sentiments in human behavior, this present investigation examined the relationship between moral framing in the U.S. presidential debates and the changes of moral words and self-transcendent emotions in tweets. For each presidential debate in 2016, we collected tweets on the day of the debate and the day after the debate. A total of 991,835 tweets were coded using the “bag-of-words” approach and supervised machine learning. The results showed that Clinton’s moral framing during the 2016 presidential debates was generally associated with harm/care and fairness in the tweets, whereas Trump’s moral framing was associated with ingroup loyalty and authority in the tweets. Interrupted time series analyses indicated that the effects of the debates on the moral words and self-transcendent emotions in the tweets were limited. Political candidates should aim to induce and then sustain moral sentiments in voters.
Hearing and Balance Exceed Initial Bone Mineral Density in Predicting Incident Fractures: A 25‐Year Prospective Observational Study in Menopausal Women With Osteoporosis

Hearing and balance deteriorate, and fracture incidence increases with age, especially in women. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether impaired hearing and body balance are stronger predictors of fractures than bone mass. Between 1995 and 1997, 80 women, aged 50 to 70 years, with primary osteoporosis, taking menopausal hormone therapy, mainly for menopausal symptoms, participated in a double‐blind, randomized, placebo‐controlled study of treatment with growth hormone versus placebo. All women received calcium 750 mg and vitamin D 400 U daily. They were then examined yearly until 2007 and followed up by registers until 2020. Hearing was assessed by audiometry. Body balance and fine motor function were tested according to the Bruininks‐Oseretsky test. Bone properties were measured with DXA. Data on fractures were derived from the Gothenburg Hospital register. Over the 25‐year follow‐up, 50 women (63%) sustained 104 fractures, most often related to accidental falls. Thoracic and lumbar spine fractures were most common (36%). Other fractures occurred in the pelvis (14%), humerus (14%), hip (11%), and wrist (10%). Hearing impairment at baseline, measured as pure tone average‐high (p = 0.007), pure tone average‐mid (p = 0.003), and speech‐recognition score (p = 0.025), was associated with a subsequent first fracture, as were worse body balance (p = 0.004), upper limb coordination (p = 0.044), and higher running‐speed agility (p = 0.012). After adjustment for age and BMD, pure tone average‐high (p = 0.036), pure tone average‐mid (p = 0.028), and body balance (p = 0.039) were still significantly associated with incident fractures. Bone mineral content, BMD, and treatment at baseline were not associated with subsequent fracture. In conclusion, hearing and body balance at baseline exceeded initial BMD in predicting incident fractures in osteoporotic women regardless of treatment during 25‐year follow‐up. © 2021 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Do remittance and renewable energy affect CO2 emissions? An empirical evidence from selected G-20 countries

The study aims to compare CO2 emissions, renewable energy, trade openness, gross domestic product (GDP), financial development (FD), and remittance in selected G-20 countries. The study carried out fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) models for estimation covering annual data from the year 1990–2019. LM tests detected the cross-section dependency while stationarity of the variables was checked through Levin-Lin-Chu and Im-Pesaran-Shin tests along with Hansen's Covariate-Augmented Dickey Fuller (CADF) test in the presence of cross-section dependency. The panel unit root tests reported that all variables became stationary after converting them into the first difference. The Panel Cointegration and Wester-Lund test examined the existence of long-run equilibrium nexus among selected variables in the context of G-20 countries. The study's findings show that there is a significant and negative relationship between renewable energy and CO2 emissions. It was proven in two models that the economic growth of selected G-20 countries has a positive relationship with CO2 emissions. Furthermore, findings indicate that the coefficient of financial development is positive and significantly impacts CO2 emissions. The remittances have a significant positive effect on CO2 emissions, while trade openness has an insignificant impact on CO2 emissions in both models. This research will enlighten policymakers, researchers, governments, and environmentalists toward attaining a sustainable environment by wisely consuming remittances and renewable energy resources.
Birds and Mammals of the Wakha Valley in Northern India

Ladakh in northern India harbours a diverse assemblage of birds and mammals. The species in the region show close affinity with the Palaearctic bio-geographic realm. We conducted a survey on mammals and birds in the Wakha Valley of Kargil district in Ladakh in 2013. This area remains virtually unknown in terms of its biodiversity. During the survey, we recorded mammalian herbivores like the Asiatic ibex Capra ibex siberica, Ladakh urial Ovis vignei vignei and long-tailed marmot Marmota caudata. Mammalian carnivores included the charismatic snow leopard Panthera uncia, Tibetan wolf Canis lupus chanko, Himalayan brown bear Ursus arctos isabellinus and red fox Vulpes v. montana. Avifauna comprised 45 species belonging to 19 families and five orders. Most of the bird species were of the order Passeriformes (36 species). Forty nine percent of the species were resident, while the rest were migratory that visit the area in summer as well as in winter. Bird species were mostly observed in riverine habitats. This is the first documentation of the diversity of birds and mammals in the Wakha valley of Ladakh.
Characterization of technological properties of matá-matá wood (Eschweilera coriacea [DC.] S.A. Mori, E. odora Poepp. [Miers] and E. truncata A.C. Sm.) by Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Cristiano Souza do Nascimento , Claudete Catanhede do Nascimento , Roberto Daniel de Araújo , Jose Carlos Rodrigues Soares , Niro Higuchi (4) The aim of this study was to determine the technological properties (chemical, mechanical and physical) of Eschweilera sp. woods using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). NIR spectroscopy proved to be efficient for chemical analysis (extractives, lignin and carbohydrates) and physical-mechanical testing (moisture content, basic density BD, modulus of elasticity MOE and modulus of rupture MOR) of wood, providing a powerful tool for use in sustainable forest management activities in the Amazon. Wood samples from three trees of each Eschweilera species were collected from the Experimental Station of Tropical Forestry/INPA/Brazil. Specimens were extracted from the cross-sectional area (20 × 20 × 30 mm) in the direction sapwood-heartwood. NIR spectra (4,00010,000 cm) were then obtained from the samples (moisture 12%) using Fourier-transform spectrometry. The Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression prediction models for the chemical, mechanical and physical properties of Amazonian woods were used for quantification. The results for total extractives (both in toluene and ethanol) and hot water solubility showed a maximum extractive concentration of 7.66% and 3.13% for E. odora (yellow matámatá), including several compounds with low molecular weight, such as resins, gums, terpenes, alkaloids, flavonoids, and tannins. The highest concentration of phenolic substances (tannins) was found in E. Truncata (black matá-matá, 10.00%). The macrocomponents (primary metabolism) of Eschweilera species were in the range of 44.20-46.33% for cellulose and 28.89-31.21% for lignin. Mineral compounds (ash) were quantified in concentrations < 0.70%. The predictive results for the physical and mechanical properties of matá-matá wood are in the standard range for tropical woods. The higher calorific value (HCV) varied from 4.993-5.033 cal g and the BD from 0.78-0.88 g m. Regarding moisture, the highest content was observed in E. truncata (13.46%). Values for mechanical resistance were in the range of 14,253-17,447 MPa for MOE and 146.04-175.73 MPa for MOR, with the greatest strength attributed to E. truncata wood. The values obtained for the wood technological properties of E. coriacea (white matá-matá), E. odora (yellow matá-matá) and E. truncata (black matá-matá) were compatible with those obtained by destructive determination of tropical species and also for other species of the genus Eschweilera.
Abduction Orthosis in Treatment of Primary Acetabular Dysplasia: Results of Three Years Follow-up

Background: Acetabular dysplasia (AD) may appear after six-months-old despite normal previous physical and ultrasonographic examination, and management remains unclear. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the success of abduction orthosis in the treatment of primary AD patients. Methods: Patients presented with AD between 2010-2017 were retrospectively reviewed. The study included AD patients who had stable hip joints on previous physical examination and Graf type1 on ultrasonography when younger than six months. AD was diagnosed according to the age-related acetabular index (AI) values. Abduction orthoses were applied full-time for five months plus part-time for three months. AI was re-measured at the sixth month, at the end of the first and third year. AI change was compared between dysplastic and nondysplastic hips. Results: It was evaluated 60 hips of 39 patients with AD treated with abduction orthosis at the median age of 6 months. The mean AI was 31.4 (range: 29-35)°±2.1° in dysplastic hips. AI decreased to 26.5°±2.2°, 24.5°±2°, 21°±2.1° at sixth months, first and third years after treatment; respectively. The mean AI of non-dysplastic hips was 25.3°(range: 22-28)±2.1°; and decreased to 22.6°±2.4°, 21.1°±2°, 17.9°±1.8° at sixth months, first and third years follow-ups, respectively. At the end of the first six months, dysplastic hips had significantly better improvement in AI (4.9±2.1°) compared to non-dysplastic hips (2.7°±0.8°) (p<0.001). There was no significant difference in AI improvement after six months. Conclusion: Primary acetabular dysplasia should not be ignored despite normal previous physical and ultrasonographic examination. Abduction orthosis may be used in the treatment of children with primary AD older than six months.
Biochar and Bacillus sp. MN54 Assisted Phytoremediation of Diesel and Plant Growth Promotion of Maize in Hydrocarbons Contaminated Soil

Contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons (PHs) is a great threat to environment due to the higher persistence and bio-toxicity of PHs. Therefore, removal of PHs from contaminated environment and strategies to reduce their toxic effects on living organisms are crucial for environmental safety and human health. The toxic effects of PHs from the polluted soil can be reduced by the addition of microbes and biochar. In this study, a pot trial was carried out to evaluate the effects of sugarcane bagasse (SB) biochar and Bacillus sp. MN54 addition on phytoremediation of PHs and growth of maize (Zea mays L.) in soil artificially contaminated with diesel. Maize seeds were sown in uncontaminated or contaminated (with PHs) soil, treated with biochar and Bacillus sp. MN54. The results revealed that PHs showed significant phytotoxicity to maize plants and the application of strain MN54 and biochar greatly reduced the toxic effects of PHs on plants growth and physiology by increasing the nutrients uptake in PHs contaminated soil. Interestingly, the phytotoxicity of PHs on maize plants was further reduced in the co-supplementation of strain MN54 and biochar. Plants physiological (25–48%) and agronomic (38–47%) attributes were significantly higher as compared to only PHs contaminated soil in the co-supplementation of strain MN54 and biochar. Similarly, nitrogen (41%), phosphorus (43%) and potassium (37%) concentrations were also increased in the co-supplementation of strain MN54 and biochar. Furthermore, maize plants successfully phytoremediate a considerable amount of PHs from soil particularly in the presence of strain MN54 and biochar, and this PHs removal was further enhanced in the co-supplementation of strain MN54 and biochar (i.e., 46% and 77% of initial PHs were removed in unplanted and planted treatments, respectively). The present results indicate that co-supplementation of biochar and Bacillus sp. MN54 could be effective in enhancing the degradation of PHs and improving plant growth in the hydrocarbons contaminated soil.
PPR-Net++: Accurate 6-D Pose Estimation in Stacked Scenarios

Most supervised learning-based pose estimation methods for stacked scenes are trained on massive synthetic datasets. In most cases, the challenge is that the learned network on the training dataset is no longer optimal on the testing dataset. To address this problem, we propose a pose regression network PPR-Net++. It transforms each scene point into a point in the centroid space, followed by a clustering process and a voting process. In the training phase, a mapping function between the network’s critical parameter (i.e., the bandwidth of the clustering algorithm) and the compactness of the centroid distributions is obtained. This function is used to adapt the bandwidth between centroid distributions of two different domains. In addition, to further improve the pose estimation accuracy, the network also predicts the confidence of each point, based on its visibility and pose error. Only the points with high confidence have the right to vote for the final object pose. In experiments, our method is trained on the IPA synthetic dataset and compared with the state-of-the-art algorithm. When tested with the public synthetic Siléane dataset, our method is better in all eight objects, where five of them are improved by more than 5% in average precision (AP). On IPA real dataset, our method outperforms a large margin by 20%. This lays a solid foundation for robot grasping in industrial scenarios. Note to Practitioners—Our work is motivated by industrial product assembly based on robot grasping. The industrial parts are usually manufactured by numerical machines and piled in bins. Our method can estimate the poses of visible parts accurately. A pose of a part includes its centroid and spatial orientations. Combined with a depth camera, this algorithm allows an industrial robot to understand complex stacked scenes. We improve the pose estimation accuracy in order to assemble parts with robot grasping, without an additional pose adjuster. Our network can learn from a synthetic dataset and apply it to real-world data, without a significant accuracy drop. The synthetic dataset can be obtained easily by computer simulation programs, so the training data are sufficient. Experiments demonstrate that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art pose estimation approaches.
State of the Art: An Update on Adult Burn Resuscitation

Treatment of patients with severe burn injuries is complex, relying on attentive fluid resuscitation, successful management of concomitant injuries, prompt wound assessment and closure, early rehabilitation, and compassionate psychosocial care. The goal of fluid resuscitation is to maintain organ perfusion at the lowest possible physiologic cost. This requires careful, hourly titration of the infusion rate to meet individual patient needs, and no more; the risks of over-resuscitation, such as compartment syndromes, are numerous and life-threatening. Recognizing runaway resuscitations and understanding how to employ adjuncts to crystalloid resuscitation are paramount to preventing morbidity and mortality. This article provides an update on fluid resuscitation techniques in burn patients, to include choosing the initial fluid infusion rate, using alternate endpoints of resuscitation, and responding to the difficult resuscitation.
Modified, Reliability-Based Robust Geotechnical Design Method, in Accordance with Eurocode 7

In this paper a modification of the reliability-based robust geotechnical design (RGD) method is proposed. The intention of the proposed modifications is to simplify the method, make it less computationally expensive, and harmonise of the results with Eurocode 7. The complexity of the RGD method mainly stems from the calculation of the design’s robustness measure, which is the feasibility robustness index (ββ). Due to this fact, the replacing of the existing robustness measure with a generalised reliability index (β) is considered. It was demonstrated that β fits into the robustness concept, and is traditionally used as a construction reliability measure, making it intuitive and “user friendly”. It is proposed to conduct a sensitivity analysis using Soboli indices, with the aim of freezing the variables whose contribution to the system response variance is negligible, which will further simplify the method. By changing the robustness measure, the number of the required reliability analyses is significantly decreased. Further reduction is achieved by conducting analyses only for the designs chosen in the scope of the genetic algorithm. The original RGD method is used as an extension of traditional reliability-based design. By applying the proposed modifications, the RGD method can be used as an alternative to the classic and reliability-based design method.