Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interfacing age: Diversity and (in)visibility in digital public service

This article revisits the concepts of ‘diversity’ and ‘visibility’, from the perspective of age relations to consider how these key metrics in the assessment of social inclusion through media representation can be usefully applied to the analysis of digital public service interfaces. Against the backdrop of changes in the age composition of populations, and an expanding role of digital media in ‘digital by default’ public service provision age remains a neglected dimension of social inequality in media and communications research. This article investigates questions of diversity and social inclusion in old age drawing on a study of visual imagery in public sector websites in the United Kingdom. The analysis integrates insights from media, technology studies, communications policy and critical social gerontology. We identify three patterns in visual imagery: (1) stereotypical representations of group membership as homogenous in terms of age groups, sex, health status and ethnicity, with older adults typically represented as white, (un)healthy men or women; (2) new visibilities, of older adults as socially and culturally diverse groups; and (3) new approaches to inclusive digital service design where age becomes an invisible social demographic. We discuss implications for policy and research into diversity, digitalization and digital public service interfaces.
An evidence-based case for quality online initial teacher education

The rapid expansion of fully online delivery of initial teacher education (ITE) seen in the past decade has generated some concerns about impact on teacher quality. This is set within broader, sustained concerns about ITE generally. Much of the criticism of online ITE has been made without sufficient evidence to support the claims, largely due to the still-nascent evidence base. The data presented here contributes to that evidence base by providing demographic and academic achievement insights for cohorts of graduate teachers (N = 2008) across the years 2012 to 2018 who have engaged in fully online ITE at an Australian university. The literature has recognised the traditional barriers to accessing higher education for many of these students, including women, the mature-aged, and those with family and work responsibilities. Performance data for online ITE students within their programs demonstrates that they are breaking through these barriers associated with the digital divide. Analysis of who these people are, where they come from, and how they are performing provides valuable insights into online ITE, at a time when the value of broadening access to education and digital equity are being widely acknowledged.
The Determinants of Participation in Aerobic Exercise Early After Stroke

Aerobic exercise is recognized as an important part of comprehensive stroke rehabilitation in best-practice and clinical guidelines. However, many individuals remain physically inactive during their hospitalization and do not engage in physiotherapy that is intense enough to provide an aerobic training benefit. Participation in aerobic exercise may be particularly important in the subacute period of recovery, i.e. within 3-months post-stroke, given that the rate of recovery is greatest in this stage and any gains may augment all aspects of rehabilitation. The main objectives of this work were to identify: 1) patient characteristics and 2) patients’ and physiotherapists’ perceptions that influence participation in aerobic exercise within in-patient stroke rehabilitation. Overall, people with stroke and physiotherapists valued the role of aerobic training early after stroke. Patient characteristics that limited enrollment in a structured aerobic exercise program included cardiovascular and musculoskeletal comorbidities. Although physical deficits did not limit participation in aerobic exercise (study 1), both patients and physiotherapists perceived that physical impairments limited participation (studies 2 and 3). In addition, patients perceived the fear of falling, inability to perform aerobic exercise, lack of support from a spouse and family, and lack of information on how to perform aerobic exercise as barriers. Furthermore, physiotherapist perceptions differed between rehabilitation centres with iii and without a structured aerobic training program. Specifically, physiotherapists reported the lack of resources and continuing education as key barriers at centres without a structured program. In contrast, physiotherapists identified concerns for patients’ cardiac and cognitive status as well as insufficient time as key barriers at centres with a structured program. Based on these perceptions there is a need to provide physiotherapists with appropriate equipment and ongoing training on assessment and aerobic exercise prescription using a standardized approach. Future work should examine ways to better educate and engage people with stroke and their caregivers in structured aerobic exercise programs.
Personality and Demographic Characteristics Influence on Consumers’ Social Commerce Preference

ABSTRACT With the rapid growth in the number of people using social networking sites, businesses are attempting to engage their customers by establishing social commerce websites, which provide customers with a new shopping experience. This new commerce channel allows customers to share their experience and attain information from other customers. Nevertheless, not all consumers are ready to engage in this type of shopping. Whether customers will adopt this new shopping avenue may depend on their personality types and demographic characteristics. Based on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), this study investigates whether consumers’ preferences on social commerce are influenced by their personalities and demographic characteristics. The findings reveal a significant difference between the personality types of judging and perceiving. Desirable features as well as factors that encourage and discourage customers from using social commerce websites are also identified. Implications for the social commerce research field and practical applications are also discussed.
The effects of intermittent training and age on blood lactate (La) Level and lactate dehydrogenase enzyme (LDH) activity in male wistar rats.

Introduction: Physical activity and age are among the factors affecting lactate levels and lactate dehydrogenase activity. Physical activity appears to be able to counterbalance the morphological and metabolic changes associated with aging that decrease physical ability and performance. Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of interval training on blood lactate levels and lactate dehydrogenase activity in young and old rats. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 male rats were selected and then divided into two age groups -the old group (20 rats aged 27 months and weighing 389±31 g) and the young group (20 rats aged 3 months and weighing 224±13 g). Each group was itself randomly divided into an experimental group (n=10) and a control group (n=10). The training protocol involved 4 minutes of running on the treadmill with intervals of 2 minutes active resting in 10 training bouts of 60 minutes, for 6 sessions per week and for 8 weeks and gradually increasing in intensity. Twenty-four hours after the last training session, the rats were anesthetized with a mixture of ketamine and xylazine in order for their blood sample to be collected from their cardiac puncture. Their lactate levels and LDH activity were then measured by an enzymatic method. Data were analyzed using the one-way ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc test. Results: The results showed no significant differences in blood lactate levels between the four groups; however, LDH activity was significantly higher in the young experimental group than in the young control group (p<0/05). Conclusion: The results indicate that lactate is increasingly cleared by interval training. It also appears that the effect of training on lactate clearance is similar in both young age and old age. Monitoring blood lactate levels benefits muscle glycogen replenishment and intracellular pH (pHi) regulation.
Assessing spread risk of Wuhan novel coronavirus within and beyond China, January-April 2020: a travel network-based modelling study

Background: A novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) emerged in Wuhan City, China, at the end of 2019 and has caused an outbreak of human-to-human transmission with a Public Health Emergency of International Concern declared by the World Health Organization on January 30, 2020. Aim: We aimed to estimate the potential risk and geographic range of Wuhan novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) spread within and beyond China from January through to April, 2020. Methods: A series of domestic and international travel network-based connectivity and risk analyses were performed, by using de-identified and aggregated mobile phone data, air passenger itinerary data, and case reports. Results: The cordon sanitaire of Wuhan is likely to have occurred during the latter stages of peak population numbers leaving the city before Lunar New Year (LNY), with travellers departing into neighbouring cities and other megacities in China. We estimated that 59,912 air passengers, of which 834 (95% UI: 478 - 1349) had 2019-nCoV infection, travelled from Wuhan to 382 cities outside of mainland China during the two weeks prior to the lockdown of Wuhan. The majority of these cities were in Asia, but major hubs in Europe, the US and Australia were also prominent, with strong correlation seen between predicted importation risks and reported cases. Because significant spread has already occurred, a large number of airline travellers (3.3 million under the scenario of 75% travel reduction from normal volumes) may be required to be screened at origin high-risk cities in China and destinations across the globe for the following three months of February to April, 2020 to effectively limit spread beyond its current extent. Conclusion: Further spread of 2019-nCoV within China and international exportation is likely to occur. All countries, especially vulnerable regions, should be prepared for efforts to contain the 2019-nCoV infection.
PHEREXA: A phase III study of trastuzumab (H) + capecitabine (X) ± pertuzumab (P) for patients (pts) who progressed during/after one line of H-based therapy in the HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) setting.

504Background: P provides a progression-free and overall survival (PFS, OS) benefit in HER2-positive MBC, and is standard of care in the 1st line. Continuing H post-progression on 1st-line H improves response and time to progression. H + X is well tolerated and more effective than X in these pts, and dual P + H anti-HER2 therapy has activity in this population. However, efficacy and safety of P + H + X is unknown. We report the primary analysis of a multicenter, open-label randomized study of H + X vs P + H + X (NCT01026142). Methods: Pts who received a prior taxane and progressed during/after 1st-line H-based therapy for HER2-positive MBC were randomized to intravenous (IV) H 8 mg/kg then 6 mg/kg q3w + oral X 1250 mg/m2 twice daily (2 weeks on, 1 week off q3w; Arm A) or IV P 840 mg then 420 mg q3w + IV H per Arm A + oral X per Arm A but at 1000 mg/m2 (Arm B). The primary endpoint was independent review facility-assessed PFS (IRF PFS). The secondary endpoints of OS and safety are also reported. Hierarchic.
Overweight, obesity, weight‐related concerns and behaviours in Hong Kong Chinese children and adolescents

Aim: To study the prevalence of overweight and obesity, and weight‐related concerns and behaviours among overweight, obese and non‐overweight children and adolescents. Methods: We carried out a cross‐sectional survey of all Chinese students in primary schools in the Central and Western District of Hong Kong in March 2002. Thirty‐one of 32 schools participated, and 5402 boys and 5371 girls aged 8 to 15 y who completed a standardized questionnaire were included. We used the International Obesity Task Force definition (IOTF reference) to define overweight and obesity. Results: The prevalence (95% CI) of overweight was 16.4% (15.7–17.1%) (19.9% in boys, 12.9% in girls), and that of obesity was 7.7% (7.2–8.2%) (10.3% in boys and 5.1% in girls). The combined prevalence of overweight and obesity was similar to that based on the local reference. Overweight children had more concerns about their weight than obese children. They were more likely than obese children to feel fat, wish to be lighter, diet and exercise to lose weight. Although obese children were heavier, they did not make more effort to lose weight than overweight children.
Evaluation of Risk Factors of Cardiovascular Disease on Hypertensive PostMenopausalWomen and Aged-matched Hypertensive Males

This study compared plasma lipids and glucose levels in hypertensive post-menopausal women with age-matched hypertensive men. Methods: This is a cross sectional study that involves 100 subjects attending out-patient department of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching hospital hypertensive clinics and control subjects. 25 hypertensive post-menopausal women and 25 hypertensive male subjects both within the same age range of 50-60 years. Also 25 hypertensive pre-menopausal women and 25 nonhypertensive controls both within the age range of 30-40 years. The lipid profile parameters (Total Cholesterol (TC), Triglyceride (TG), Low density Lipoprotein (LDL-C), and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL-C)) and fasting plasma glucose were determined using standard methods. The study also assessed the anthropometric indices such as BMI, SBP and DBP in each group. Results: The mean levels of TC and TG were significantly lower in post-menopausal hypertensive females when compared with the hypertensive males (p<0.05). However, the mean plasma HDL-C and LDL-C did not show any significant difference between the two groups. The comparison of the mean levels of all the parameters in hypertensive males with the non-hypertensive controls showed a significant difference (P < 0.05). The mean levels of TC and LDL-C were significantly higher in hypertensive post-menopausal women when compared with hypertensive pre-menopausal females (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that menopause had altered the plasma lipids of the hypertensive post-menopausal women, but not to the extent of putting them at the same atherosclerosis scale as their male counterpart.
Ultrasound tongue contour extraction using BowNet network: A deep learning approach

Ultrasound imaging is safe, relatively affordable, and capable of real-time performance. This technology has been used for real-time visualization and analyzing the functionality of human organs such as human tongue shape and motion during a real-time speech to study healthy or impaired speech production. Due to the noisy nature of ultrasound images with low-contrast characteristic, it might require expertise for non-expert users to recognize tongue shapes. To alleviate this difficulty and for quantitative analysis of tongue shape and motion, tongue surface can be extracted, tracked, and visualized instead of the whole tongue region. The progress of deep convolutional neural networks has been successfully exploited in various computer vision tasks. This paper presents two novel deep neural network models named BowNet and wBowNet benefits from the ability of global prediction of decoding-encoding models from integrated multi -scale-contextual information and the capability of full-resolution (local) extraction of dilated convolutions. Experimental results using ultrasound tongue image datasets from different ultrasound devices revealed that the combination of both localization and globalization searching could improve prediction result significantly. Assessment of BowNet models in real-time using both qualitatively and quantitatively studies showed their outstanding achievements in terms of accuracy and robustness in comparison with similar techniques.Ultrasound imaging is safe, relatively affordable, and capable of real-time performance. This technology has been used for real-time visualization and analyzing the functionality of human organs such as human tongue shape and motion during a real-time speech to study healthy or impaired speech production. Due to the noisy nature of ultrasound images with low-contrast characteristic, it might require expertise for non-expert users to recognize tongue shapes. To alleviate this difficulty and for quantitative analysis of tongue shape and motion, tongue surface can be extracted, tracked, and visualized instead of the whole tongue region. The progress of deep convolutional neural networks has been successfully exploited in various computer vision tasks. This paper presents two novel deep neural network models named BowNet and wBowNet benefits from the ability of global prediction of decoding-encoding models from integrated multi -scale-contextual information and the capability of full-resolution (local) extrac.
Estimating the Effects of HIV/AIDS on Orphanhood and School Enrolment in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study examined the impact of AIDS on the prevalence of orphanhood, and its implications for human capital development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) between 2000 and 2004, using data from various demographic and health surveys. It was found that there was a significant negative relationship between school enrolment and being an AIDS orphan, irrespective of gender consideration. In addition, empirical evidence suggests that paternal AIDS orphans suffer more deprivation than other groups of orphans.
Comments on “Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy control for a wide class of fractional-order chaotic systems with uncertain parameters via linear matrix inequality”

This article shows that sufficient conditions of Theorems 1–3 and the conclusions of Lemmas 1–2 for Takasi–Sugeno fuzzy model–based fractional order systems in the study “Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy control for a wide class of fractional order chaotic systems with uncertain parameters via linear matrix inequality” do not hold as asserted by the authors. The reason analysis is discussed in detail. Counterexamples are given to validate the conclusion.
Acceptability, Feasibility, and Effectiveness of Interdisciplinary Group Education Sessions for Women Veterans with a History of Sexual Trauma

Abstract Women with a history of sexual violence may face obstacles to obtaining preventive health services. Group education models have been used in other settings to improve knowledge and uptake of care. Focus groups were conducted to solicit the concerns and input of the subject population. Interdisciplinary group education sessions (GESs) were designed specifically to address concerns voiced in focus groups. GESs were conducted, addressing mammograms, pelvic examinations, and menopause, and emphasized preventive health education, as well as shared decision-making. GESs were audio recorded and qualitative feedback was collected immediately after each GES. Surveys were administered before and after each GES to evaluate attitude and knowledge change. A total of 18 women attended the focus groups, and 27 women attended at least one GES, with 12 women attending both. GESs were well received, and participants cited the education, group support, and healing dynamic as benefits of participation. Content knowl.
A review of polyurethane as a ground improvement method

Ground improvement based on lightweight materials is commonly applied as a method to overcome the problem related to excessive and differential settlement. The application of polyurethane (PU) as a ground improvement work currently increases in demand due to its well performance in many ground improvement projects. The properties and strength of different types of PU available in the market, together with the safety issues and precautions are highlighted in this paper. Due to its lightweight properties, buoyancy behavior of the lightweight foam often causes uplift which jeopardize the stability of the existing structure. Since it is applied in the ground, awareness on PU degradation needs to be emphasized. The suitability and applications of PU as one of alternative method for ground improvement works are also highlighted in this paper.
On the delayed kinematic correspondence with variable time delays for the control of the bilateral teleoperation of robots

Bilateral teleoperators allow to perform tasks in remote environments. Telepresence and transparency are affected when delays are present. A proposal is made on the most important cases to deal with for the delayed kinematic correspondence in bilateral teleoperation with variable time delays and a control–observer scheme is proposed. Any of the two manipulators can be moved causing a trajectory tracking in the remote robot. Should the latter get in touch with the environment, the operator gets some degree of delayed kinematic correspondence. Only the mild assumptions are made that human/environment forces and their derivatives are bounded. Experiments are provided.
Comparison of repeated transcranial stimulation and transcranial direct-current stimulation on primary motor cortex excitability and inhibition: A pilot study

Repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a well-known clinical neuromodulation technique, but transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) is rapidly growing interest for neurorehabilitation applications. Both methods (contralesional hemisphere inhibitory low-frequency: LF-rTMS or lesional hemisphere excitatory anodal: a-tDCS) have been employed to modify the interhemispheric imbalance following stroke. The aim of this pilot study was to compare aHD-tDCS (anodal high-definition tDCS) of the left M1 (2 mA, 20 min) and LF-rTMS of the right M1 (1 Hz, 20 min) to enhance excitability and reduce inhibition of the left primary motor cortex (M1) in five healthy subjects. Single-pulse TMS was used to elicit resting and active (low level muscle contraction, 5% of maximal electromyographic signal) motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) and cortical silent periods (CSPs) from the right and left extensor carpi radialis muscles at Baseline, immediately and 20 min (Post-Stim-20) after the end of each stimulation protocol. LF-rTMS or aHD-tDCS significantly increased right M1 resting and active MEP amplitude at Post-Stim-20 without any CSP modulation and with no difference between methods. In conclusion, this pilot study reported unexpected M1 excitability changes, which most likely stems from variability, which is a major concern in the field to consider.
EC-GAN: Inferring Brain Effective Connectivity via Generative Adversarial Networks

Inferring effective connectivity between different brain regions from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data is an important advanced study in neuroinformatics in recent years. However, current methods have limited usage in effective connectivity studies due to the high noise and small sample size of fMRI data. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for inferring effective connectivity based on generative adversarial networks (GAN), named as EC-GAN. The proposed framework EC-GAN infers effective connectivity via an adversarial process, in which we simultaneously train two models: a generator and a discriminator. The generator consists of a set of effective connectivity generators based on structural equation models which can generate the fMRI time series of each brain region via effective connectivity. Meanwhile, the discriminator is employed to distinguish between the joint distributions of the real and generated fMRI time series. Experimental results on simulated data show that EC-GAN can better infer effective connectivity compared to other state-of-the-art methods. The real-world experiments indicate that EC-GAN can provide a new and reliable perspective analyzing the effective connectivity of fMRI data.