Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simulation study on SOI based electron tracking Compton camera using deep learning method

Compton imaging is a promising method of sub MeV to a few MeV gamma-rays and expected to use in various application field, such as medical imaging, environmental monitoring and astrophysics. Several types of Compton camera has beed developed using different materials. One of the drawbacks in conventional Compton imaging is relatively low signal to background ratio caused by its projected Compton cones. Recoil electron tracking is one straight-forward way to improve the signal-to-background ratio, however, it is only realized in gaseous detectors. The realization of electron tracking in solid detectors is under investigation because of its short track in scatter materials. We demonstrated the capability of electron tracking in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) pixel detector with 30 μm pixels size. The extraction of ejected direction of recoil electrons in Compton scattering is an important problem. In this work, we investigated the use of deep learning for estimating the angle in plane and depth using Geant 4 Monte Carlo simulation. The effect of pixel size to the estimation accuracy and SPD is characterized for the application of actual silicon-on-insulator based SOI detectors. The imaging capability is also characterized using predicted recoil electron direction.
Enhanced interfacial and mechanical property of biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) film via introducing ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene shish-kebab fibers

Shear-induced ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibers (UFs) with highly oriented shish-kebab structure were achieved from dilute ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene solution. The ordered UFs were confirmed to have enough strength as reinforced filler to enhance biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) (PBS). PBS/UF composite film was prepared by solution casting and subsequent compression molding. The crystallization behavior, interface and mechanical property of the composite film were studied. Differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray diffraction measurements showed that adding UFs had little effect on the crystallinity and crystal form of PBS. But a remarkable interfacial crystallization behavior around UFs was observed in the composite film due to the unique shish-kebab structure and the relaxation of ‘kebab’. Such interfacial crystallization led to a strong interface adhesion between fibers and matrix, and finally enhanced the tensile strength and toughness of PBS. However, the Young’s modulus and yield strength of composite film decreased significantly compared to neat PBS, which was related to the break of UFs before yield point. The PBS/UF composite with such a characteristic tensile property has a huge potential for environment-friendly polymer film.
Best practice principles for the operation of community service schemes - A systematic review of the literature

This literature review was commissioned by Corrections Victoria (CV), Department of Justice (DoJ) in 2013 to examine national and international research outcomes regarding the operation of community service schemes in community corrections, to identify effective models and a set of best practice principles. As the aim of the research is exploratory, that is, to shed new light on the operation of community service schemes and also identify knowledge gaps, a literature review was considered the most appropriate methodology.
Analysis of Caesarean-Section rates according to Robson's ten group classification system and evaluating the indications within the groups

Background: With Caesarean sections on the rise WHO proposes that health care facilities use the Robson's 10 group classification system to audit their C-sections rates. This classification would help understand the internal structure of the CS rates at individual health facilities identify key population groups, indications in each group and formulate strategies to reduce these rates. Methods: This was a cross sectional study for a period of 24 months at a tertiary care hospital in a tribal area of Kerala South India. Women who delivered during this period were included and classified into 10 Robson's classes and percentages were calculated for the overall rate, the representation of groups, contribution of groups and Caesarean percentage in each group. Results: Highest contribution was by Group 5 and Group 2. Together these two groups contributed to 38% of the total Caesareans. Followed by Group 8 and 10. All four added contributed to 63% of the section rate The least contribution was by Group 3. Groups 6, 7 and 9 by themselves did not contribute much but within their groups had a 100% C-Section rate. Conclusions: The contribution of the various Robson's Group to the absolute C-Section rates needs to be looked into. Reducing primary section rates, adequate counselling and encouraging for VBAC, changing the norms for dystocia and non-reassuring fetal status, training and encouraging obstetricians to perform versions when not contraindicated could reduce the contribution of Robson's groups towards the absolute C-Section rates.
Competitor Orientation and Innovation Among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Yobe State, Nigeria

The study investigated the effect of competitor orientation on innovation among SMEs in Yobe State, Nigeria. The study adopted cross-sectional survey design. The target population was 363 participants who were either SMEs owners or managers. The sample size was 190 respondents. The main research instrument was questionnaire. Data was analyzed using linear regression analysis.The study found that competitor orientation significantly explains 11.7% of the total variance in innovation (Adjusted R 2 =0.256, p=0.000). The study concluded that competitor orientation affects SMEs’ innovation. The study made the following recommendations: the need for SMEs managers and owners to employ better competitive methods that give them upper hand above their competitors, and the need for SMEs to maintain a constant relationship with their customers through business discussion forums, phone calls, email alerts of new products or services, after-service technical support, and timely discount offers for key and specific customers who buy in bulk, and maintaining an active presence on social media. Keywords: competitor orientation, innovation, SMEs, Yobe State, Nigeria. DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/12-3-10 Publication date: January 31 st 2020
GWAS in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in women, and the second cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. It is expected that more than 240,000 new cases and 40,450 deaths related to the disease will occur in 2016. It is well known that inherited genetic variants are drivers for breast cancer development. There are many mechanisms through which germline genetic variation affects prognosis, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which account for approximately 20% of the increased hereditary risks. Therefore, it is evident that the genetic pathways that underlie cancer development are complex in which networks of multiple alleles confer disease susceptibility and risks. Global analyses through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed several loci across the genome are associated with the breast cancer. This chapter compiles all breast GWAS released since 2007, year of the first article published in this area, and discuss the future directions of this field. Currently, hundreds of genetic markers are linked to breast can - cer, and understanding the underlying mechanisms of these variants might lead to the discover of biomarkers and targets for therapy in patients.
Comparison between the effects of aerobic and resistive training on immunoglobulins in obese women

Background and purpose Obesity has adverse consequences on the immune system, causing immunosuppression, and thus increasing the incidence of infections and certain types of cancer in obese individuals. The aim of this study was to compare changes in selected immune system responses after moderate aerobic and resistive training in obese women. Methods In total, 40 obese women (age: 35–45 years) were selected and divided into two equal groups: the aerobic training group (A), in which women received moderate-intensity aerobic training; and the resistive training group (B), in which women received moderate-intensity resistive training. Blood sampling was carried out for immunoglobulin (Ig) M and IgG in the pretest and after the 12th week of training. Results There was a significant increase in IgM and IgG in response to aerobic training, whereas no significant changes occurred in the resistive training group. There were significant differences in IgM and IgG between the two groups after training in favor of the aerobic training group (A). Conclusion Regular moderate aerobic training seems to improve immunity compared with resisted training in obese women.
Influence of race/ethnicity and alcohol use on high blood pressure and diabetes

Alcohol use disorders persist as a public health challenge. Few studies focus on the role that alcohol use consumption contributes to the development of medical and behavioral outcomes that may influence susceptibility to chronic diseases among minority populations, in particularly high blood pressure and diabetes. Due to the limited evidence regarding racial/ethnic differences in risk and protective factors as it relates to alcohol use disorders across the life span and chronic diseases, little is known to inform the development of effective prevention strategies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of race/ethnicity and alcohol use on high blood pressure and diabetes. A secondary data analysis from the 2008-2012 US National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) was conducted. Weighted multivariable logistic regression models tested the moderating effects of race/ethnicity on the relationship between alcohol use in the self-reported outcomes of high blood pressure and diabetes diagnoses, adjusting for known risk and protective factors. Participants’ alcohol use was categorized as nondrinkers, regular drinkers, and alcohol use disorder. After adjusting for risk and protective factors, the relationship between alcohol use and high blood pressure showed some differential protective effects for Non-Hispanic White and Non-Hispanic African American categories. For the outcome diabetes, adjusted models displayed protective effects of alcohol use that varied substantially across race/ethnicity categories. These findings support a significant interaction between race/ethnicity and alcohol use on high blood pressure and diabetes diagnoses. This study highlights the social ecological approach for understanding these complex determinants of alcohol use and cardiovascular outcomes across racial/ethnic populations. Study findings emphasize the importance of training public health professionals in prevention science on racial/ethnic variations of risk and protective factors and the association between alcohol use and chronic diseases. This study offers implications for public health professionals to provide preventive screening information to patients consuming alcohol and routinely assess psychosocial factors for determining and promoting healthy lifestyle behavior change.
Immanent Justice Reasoning by Spatial Proximity

Immanent justice reasoning involves causally attributing someone’s bad outcome to their prior immoral actions. Building on the idea that causality is mentally linked with spatial proximity, we investigated whether such reasoning might lead participants to spatially bind together immoral actions and bad outcomes. Across four experiments (N = 553, Mechanical Turk workers), participants positioned sentences describing other people’s bad (vs. good) outcomes closer in space to previous immoral behaviors. This effect was observed both when the position of the initial action remained in a fixed location and when it “chased” the outcome across the screen. Importantly, we also found that this spatial positioning of immoral actions and bad outcomes is mediated by perceived deservingness of the outcome and is not merely due to perceived similarity of events. These findings suggest that perceived deservingness biases the spatial proximity of representations of others’ random bad outcomes and their prior immoral actions.
Surgical-outcome and complication differences between frontal and posterior parietal ventriculo-peritoneal shunts in Iraqi.

Background: Hydrocephalus, an abnormal expansion of cerebral ventricles caused by the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), is estimated to occur in about 3 of 1,000 live births. With a peak age of less than 10 years, hydrocephalus is more common in males than in females and is caused by brain tumours, central nervous system (CNS) infections and many other congenital malformations. Ventriculo-peritoneal (VP) shunts are basic diversionary CSF flow-channel neurosurgical procedures that are associated with a significant failure rate and a number of complications. The use of either frontal or posterior parietal VP shunts is selected based on the determined sites of insertion. The of this study was to assess the differences in the complications and number of tappings between frontal and posterior parietal VP shunts. Patients Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 113 patients with hydrocephalus of various aetiologies who were a surgical specialties 2013. The purpose of the study, which followed each patient for 6 months after surgery, to determine the differences between 43 patients treated with frontal VP shunts and 70 patients treated with posterior parietal VP shunts with respect to the following factors: number of tappings to access the ventricle, steps of subcutaneous tunnelling, duration of procedure , complication rates and incidents of revision. obstruction, infection and seizures were more common in patients with frontal VP shunts. However, these differences were not statistically significant.
Distribution of non-native Pacific oyster Magallana gigas(Thunberg, 1793) along the eastern Adriatic coast

Non-native Pacific oyster Magallana gigas (Thunberg, 1793) was introduced to the Mediterranean Sea for aquaculture purposes in the 1960s. Although this species was not introduced for aquaculture to the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea, in the 1970s, it was reported in the Lim Bay, in the North-eastern Adriatic. Until recently, there has been no research on the species in the Croatian part of the Adriatic. The aim of this research was to summarize existing and novel data on the distribution of M. gigas in coastal areas of the Eastern Adriatic and to provide a baseline for the future monitoring and assessment programmes of the species. Distribution of M. gigas was determined by three different methods: (i) a visual census of the presence of M. gigas specimens in the medio-littoral zone ; (ii) DNA identification of M. gigas larvae in the water column ; and (iii) the presence of M. gigas in the subtidal zone at depth between 25 and 40 m. Magallana gigas has a well- established population in the medio-littoral zone of natural and anthropogenic habitats along the coast of the North-eastern Adriatic Sea (west coast of Istria peninsula), but it is not present in the deeper layers . In the Central-eastern and South-eastern Adriatic Sea, the species was either absent or sporadically recorded with no evidence of fully established populations. Considering the great invasion success of M. gigas worldwide and effects that this species could have on the invaded ecosystem (e.g. competition for food and space with native species), detailed future monitoring is needed for the Eastern Adriatic Sea.
Whole exome sequencing in a large pedigree with DCM identifies a novel mutation in RBM20

Abstract Background: Familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is genetically heterogeneous and is associated with mutations in at least 40 different genes. Apart from TTN encoding the giant protein Titin, none of these genes have an expected diagnostic yield of more than 5% complicating genetic diagnosis. Whole exome sequencing (WES) is a powerful alternative for the identification of the causal gene, however variant interpretation remains challenging. We report on WES in a large family with autosomal dominant DCM complicated by end stage heart failure and non-sustained ventricular arrhythmias in whom no causative mutation was identified using a targeted gene panel including 28 genes. Methods and results: WES was applied on 2 affected cousins. Stringent filtering of the identified genetic variants was performed including population variant frequencies, in silico analysis, orthologous and paralogous conservation. Subsequently Sanger sequencing was performed for 10 potential disease causing variants in order to confirm the presence of the variant and to evaluate co-segregation. Only one variant in exon 9 of the RBM20 gene (c.2714T > A, p.Met950Lys, NM_001334363) showed full co-segregation in the 7 affected family members resulting in a maximum 2-point LOD score of 2.1 and suggesting this as the pathogenic mutation responsible for the phenotype. Recently mutations in RBM20 have been linked to arrhythmogenic dilated cardiomyopathy caused by defective splicing of the giant sarcomere protein titin and abnormal calcium handling. Conclusions: We report the identification of a novel mutation in RBM20 by WES in a large pedigree with DCM.
Conceptual model for improving quality of teacher in Indonesian vocational school

Indonesia faces vocational teachers’ shortage both in the quantity and quality. One of Indonesian goverments’ efforts to overcome that problem is hold ing a Dual Expertise Program (DEP) to produce dual expertise teachers for vocational schools. However, the quality of dual expertise vocational teacher is still questionable. The purpose of this article is to give an idea related to the conceptual model framework for improving the quality of vocational teachers demonstrated by the teachers ’ achievements. The authors of this article discuss factors that have an impact on the quality of vocational teachers and describe a framework based on a literature review that might contribute to improving the quality of vocational teachers , especially dual expertise vocational teachers . Based on the results of the article found that to improve the quality of vocational teacher can be improved through increasing self-efficacy and transferable skills, in addition to pay attention to teacher’s initial expertise and teaching experience.
Instrumental vaginal deliveries at tertiary centre

Background: Operative vaginal delivery has been maligned since the days of W. J. Little with the word “Forceps” becoming synonymous with the “Birth Injury” and “Cerebral palsy”. Instrumental vaginal deliveries in that era were the end result of a long, obstructed labour performed for maternal benefits and to avoid destructive procedures to the fetus. The aims and objectives of the study were to find out the incidence of instrumental vaginal delivery at our tertiary institute and to know the indications of the procedure and to study the impacts of the same on maternal and fetal outcomes. Methods: This was as observational prospective cohort study on Instrumental Vaginal Deliveries (IVD) carried out between Jan 2015 to Dec 2015 at a tertiary hospital in Sion, Mumbai. All the patients who had an instrumental vaginal delivery were studied in terms of maternal age, parity, indications for the same, maternal and fetal outcomes, APGAR scoring, NICU admissions and complications in both. Results: The incidence of Instrumental vaginal delivery was 2.8% of all deliveries, most of the patients between 20- 30yrs (88%) and maximum primigravida (57.19%). In 70.56 % patients it was indicated because of prolonged second stage of labour. 2 patients required blood transfusion, other complications being cervical tear (36 cases) and extension of episiotomy (27 cases). 82 newborn babies had birth asphyxia for which NICU admission was required. Conclusions: It is evident from our study that Instrumental Vaginal Delivery is an important emergency obstetrics procedure in our obstetrics day to day care. It is very important to make Instrumental Vaginal Delivery procedure available and accessible everywhere especially in low resource country like India where the need is high and caesarean section as alternative is not always available. It should be made available for such patient with abnormal prolonged labour and complication should be identified and managed at the earliest.
Performance evaluation of Pakistan’s mutual fund industry

In order to evaluate the performance of mutual fund industry in various financial markets a wide variety of researches have been conducted, which lead to different results. As Pakistani mutual fund industry is much younger as compared to the US and UK fund industries and thus limited work has been done to evaluate Pakistani mutual fund industry. Over the past few years the industry had showed a phenomenal growth and it makes it worthwhile to study the performance of mutual funds. The aim of this research study is to validate the Fama French 3-Factor Model and Carhart 4Factor Model. Also this research attempts to test that which one of the included model performs better than the other so as to check there preferred suitability in measuring and evaluating the mutual fund performance in Pakistan. The monthly data of 323 open ended mutual funds for the period of 2008 to 2018 is analyzed. The GRS model validation test was applied, the results of the test found that the Carhart 4-Factor Model performed much better than the Fama French 3-Factor Model and from the CAPM as well. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by providing academicians and practitioners more knowledge regarding multifactor asset pricing model so as to make better investment decisions.
Correlation between aggressive behavior and sociodemographic characteristics in patients with schizophrenia at a psychiatry outpatient clinic

Background Schizophrenia is associated with an increased risk for violence in the community, which persists with increasing age, and is found in both the male and the female population. Objectives The present study aimed to assess the correlation between aggressive behavior and sociodemographic characteristics in a sample of patients with schizophrenia at a psychiatry outpatients’ clinic and compare the results with those of normal controls. Patients and methods The Arabic version of the Modified Overt Aggressive Scale was used to assess aggression in 30 patients with schizophrenia who attended the psychiatric outpatient clinic in Suez Canal University Hospital and in 30 patients who served as a control group. Results All patients showed variable degrees of aggression, and there was a negative correlation between age and aggression. Women were more aggressive than men. Aggression is more common in unmarried patients and directly correlated to educational level and adherence to treatment. Conclusion All patients showed variable degrees of aggression. There were many factors related to this aggression, including the patient age, sex, marital status, educational level, and adherence to treatment.
Aligning student and supervisor perspectives of research challenges

CITATION: Albertyn, R. , Von Coller-Peter, S. & Morrison, J. 2016. Aligning Student and Supervisor Perspectives of Research Challenges, in M. Fourie-Malherbe, R. Albertyn, C. Aitchison & E. Bitzer. (eds.). Postgraduate Supervision: Future Foci for the Knowledge Society. Stellenbosch: SUN PRESS. 171-187. doi:10.18820/9781928357223/10.