Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BEYOND VECTOR CONTROL: CONGENITAL AND IMPORTED CHAGAS DISEASE

Background: Although clinical reports suggest the public health importance of Chagas disease in the Washington Metropolitan Area (WMA), there have not been studies conducted to determine the burden of the infection. Methods: A cross-sectional study of the seroprevalence and risk factors for infection was conducted in 1571 Latin American immigrants enrolled via community centers. Immigrants from Mexico, Central America and northern South America were designated as being from as TcI areas (n=1014), and participants from southern South America as from TcII/TcV/TcVI areas (n=557). T. cruzi infection was diagnosed using the Hemagen Chagas EIA (Hemagen Diagnostics, U.S) and the Chagatest recombinant v.3. 0 (Wiener Laboratories, Argentina). The Western Blot assay with the Trypomastigote Excretory-Secretory Antigen (TESA-blot) was used for confirmation of results. Cardiac conduction system abnormalities in infected (n=89) and non-infected (n=184) participants were evaluated using the electrocardiogram. The prevalence of the infection was adjusted by the percentages of Latin Americans from each specific country among the total number of immigrants from endemic countries living in the WMA based on the reports of the American Community Survey. Findings: A weighted prevalence adjusted by the reported distribution of Latin American immigrants in the American Community Survey was calculated as 4.3% (95% CI: 3.3%-5.6%). Having seen the vector in an endemic area was the only risk factor associated with the infection in the two geographic groups (TcI: adjusted OR: 3.6, p=0.004, TcII/TcV/TcVI: adOR: 1.9, p=0.041). Conduction system abnormalities were higher in infected versus noninfected individuals from the two areas but was not statistically significant for participants from TcII/TcV/TcVI areas. Infected participants from TcI areas had higher percentages of at least one cardiac abnormality associated with Chagas disease (TcI: 5/11, 45.5%; TcII/TcV/TcVI: 14/78, 17.9%, p=0.0371) than participants from TcII/TcV/TcVI areas. Interpretation: The prevalence of T. cruzi infection found in this study was higher than our estimate using national prevalence in endemic countries and the number of individuals from each country in the WMA, suggesting a greater number of immigrants from areas where Chagas disease is endemic. Higher prevalence of cardiac abnormalities in participants from TcI areas could be the result of more severe cardiac disease associated with T. cruzi Discrete Typing Unit I.
Cross Disciplinary Rhetorical-Linguistic Variations in Physical Education Research Article Abstracts in English as a Lingua Franca for Academia Context

Abstract Publication in the Anglophone-dominant journals in the Education Internationalization Age is highly challenging for non-native writers, making it for instructors of the English for Academic Purposes and English for Research Publication Purposes inevitable to enhance the authors’ ability by informing them of the latest variations in research articles and their highly important part (abstract), caused by English as a Lingua Franca for Academia. To identify the rhetorical-linguistic variations in abstracts of two Physical Education sub-disciplines in the English as a Lingua Franca for Academia contexts, 120 Research Article Abstracts (60 in Sports Medicine and 60 in Sports Management) were randomly selected from six distinguished journals in Iran, India and America, that fall within Kachru’s (1985) Three-Circle (Expanding, Outer and Inner) World Englishes Model. The abstracts underwent analyses of move structure, using Hyland’s (2000) I-P-M-R-C model, and lexico-grammatical features. Results showed Move 3, I-P-M-R-C and `study’ were the most dominant move, move pattern and lexis, respectively, also highlighting move hybrids, repetitions, omissions and dispositions. The Expanding and Inner circle writers were highly homogeneous and closer than the Outer circle ones. This study has pedagogical implications for the Academic Writing and Research Publishing instructors, helping them design courses and tasks more insightfully. Keywords: Abstract, ELFA, Moves, Sports, Publication
Small-scale water deficits after wildfires create long-lasting ecological impacts

Ecological droughts are deficits in soil–water availability that induce threshold-like ecosystem responses, such as causing altered or degraded plant-community conditions, which can be exceedingly difficult to reverse. However, ‘ecological drought’ can be difficult to define, let alone to quantify, especially at spatial and temporal scales relevant to land managers. This is despite a growing need to integrate drought-related factors into management decisions as climate changes result in precipitation instability in many semi-arid ecosystems. We asked whether success in restoration seedings of the foundational species big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) was related to estimated water deficit, using the SoilWat2 model and data from >600 plots located in previously burned areas in the western United States. Water deficit was characterized by: (1) the standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI), a coarse-scale drought index, and (2) the number of days with wet and warm conditions in the near-surface soil, where seeds and seedlings germinate and emerge (i.e. days with 0–5 cm deep soil water potential >−2.5 MPa and temperature above 0 °C). SPEI, a widely used drought index, was not predictive of whether sagebrush had reestablished. In contrast, wet-warm days elicited a critical drought threshold response, with successfully reestablished sites having experienced seven more wet-warm days than unsuccessful sites during the first March following summer wildfire and restoration. Thus, seemingly small-scale and short-term changes in water availability and temperature can contribute to major ecosystem shifts, as many of these sites remained shrubless two decades later. These findings help clarify the definition of ecological drought for a foundational species and its imperiled semi-arid ecosystem. Drought is well known to affect the occurrence of wildfires, but drought in the year(s) after fire can determine whether fire causes long-lasting, negative impacts on ecosystems.
Exploring the Significance of Context in Meaning: Speech Act Features of Performative Political-Speeches of President Umaru Musa Yar᾽Adua

Political speeches, no doubt, have been object and subject of diverse linguistic and non-linguistic analyses for decades. Apparently, communication is the most vital tool in politicking within and outside Nigeria as politicians vehemently trade in various discourses and arguments through fliers, pamphlets, manifestoes, public statements and speeches. In fact, political speeches are occasioned by different contexts or situations. Hence, the research portrays context as an integral part in speaker᾽s intention and hearer᾽s interpretation. Specifically, performative political-speeches are selected to explore the significance of the context in negotiating pragmatic meaning through the frame work of Speech Act Theory. The data are drawn from two speeches of Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar᾽Adua based on periodisation (2008-2009). The Speech Act analysis of these action political discourses provides the understanding that political leaders employ unique speech act types which are mainly assertive when delivering performative political speeches. The reason for this is premised on the fact that the speeches are performative and delivered by a President in a democratic government. The study, therefore, recommends a contrastive analysis of performative and ceremonial political speeches of the President or other political leaders to further demonstrate the influence of context on speech act patterns.
One Week of Naltrexone Treatment Does Not Reduce Impulsivity During Inpatient Treatment of Alcohol-dependent Patients: An Open-label Study

Objectives:The opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone (NTX) is widely used in alcohol dependence. The mechanism underlying NTX’s efficacy in reducing alcohol intake has yet to be determined. NTX may reduce impulsivity in alcohol-dependent patients. The current study was designed to examine the effect of NTX (50 mg/d) 7 d/wk treatment on impulsivity in NTX-treated alcoholics (NTA) compared with NTX-naive alcoholics (NNA) and healthy controls. Materials and Methods:The study included 17 NTA, 17 NNA, and 17 healthy control subjects. Impulsivity was assessed using Immediate Memory Task (IMT), The Single-Key Impulsivity Paradigm (SKIP), and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11). Results:NNA and NTA groups did not differ on IMT performance, SKIP performance, and BIS scores. As expected, alcohol-dependent subjects showed higher scores on the BIS and higher IMT ratios on the IMT compared with controls. SKIP performance did not differ between alcohol-dependent subjects and healthy controls. There were also significant correlations between the IMT performance and BIS scores. Conclusion:These results indicate that alcohol-dependent subjects were more impulsive, however, NTX does not seem to reduce alcohol intake by modulating impulsivity.
A meta-analysis of the impact of family planning programs on fertility preferences contraceptive method choice and fertility.

This paper presents a meta-analysis of the results of Angeles et. al. (1996). The purpose of the original paper was to examine the evidence of the impact of family planning programs on three key sets of outcome variables: fertility preferences contraceptive method choice and fertility. The results from multivariate models for these outcome variables using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data or comparable cross-sectional data sets with family planning program variables included in the set of explanatory variables are summarized below with detailed results available in Angeles et. al. (1996). The countries included in this paper constitute a broad geographical representation and cover countries with large population size. The specific countries are Kenya Morocco Tanzania Tunisia Zimbabwe Bolivia Peru Indonesia the Philippines China and India. (authors)
Energy-Effcient Massive MIMO Systems for 5G Wireless Communication

Massive multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) is one of the key enabling techniques for the 5-th generation of cellular mobile communications (5G). Owing to a large number of antennas at the BS, massive MIMO systems can provide substantial improvements in spectrum efficiency (SE). However, the increased number of antennas significantly increases the RF circuit power consumption. It is critical to investigate also the energy efficiency (EE) performance. The EE of massive MIMO systems strongly depends on the receiver design and the RF hardware design. By providing more sophisticated interference cancellation, nonlinear receivers, e.g., successive interference cancellation (SIC)-based receivers, may remarkably improve the SE. This improvement may greatly reduce the number of antennas required at BSs to maintain a given quality of service (QoS), and therefore alleviate the RF circuit power consumption. On the other hand, it is known that analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) contribute significantly to the RF circuit power consumption and the use of low-resolution ADCs can reduce RF circuit power consumption. However, the EE performance of massive MIMO systems with nonlinear receivers and low-resolution ADCs is still limitedly examined. The aim of this thesis is to provide insights on how receiver design and imperfect hardware affect the EE of massive MIMO systems. In the first contribution, the uplink EE performance of a MIMO system with
Supervisory Working Alliance as a Predictor for Counselor Burnout: The Potential Mediating Role of Supervisee Nondisclosure

Clinical supervision sometimes lacks the elements necessary for a rigorous, helpful, and meaningful experience for the supervisee. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the supervisory working alliance, supervisee nondisclosure (i.e., when a supervisee does not communicate information that would otherwise be shared with the supervisor), and counselor burnout, specifically in a sample of counselors, social workers, and psychologists pursuing their original state licenses. Nondisclosure was examined to determine if it was a mediator of the relationship between the supervisory working alliance and burnout. Participants (n = 288) completed a demographic questionnaire, the supervisee form of the Working Alliance Inventory (Bahrick, 1989), the Disclosure in Supervision Scale (Gunn & Pistole, 2012), and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1997). Final analyses showed that supervisee nondisclosure did not mediate the relationship between the supervisory working alliance and burnout. However, the supervisory working alliance predicted nondisclosure (b = -.73, p < .001) and burnout (b = -.41, p < .001). Other major findings involving the various subscales of working alliance and burnout are reported and discussed; these have implications for future research, clinical supervision, and training. Limitations are also discussed. The supervisory working alliance seemed to be of utmost importance to developing counselors’ experiences as they pursued their state licenses. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION.1 Supervisory Working Alliance.2 Supervisee Nondisclosure.6 Counselor Burnout.11 Nondisclosure as a Potential Mediator.16 Purpose of the Study.20 Research Questions and Hypotheses.24 CHAPTER TWO: METHODS.27 Participants.27 Measures.29 Procedure.35 Design and Statistical Analysis.35 CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS.37 Preliminary Analyses.37 Hypothesis Testing.39 CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION.48 Main Findings.48 Demographics.57 Limitations.61 Implications.64 Conclusion.67 REFERENCES.69 TABLES.79 Table 1.79 Table 2.80 Table 3.81 Table 4.82 Table 5.83 Table 6.84 FIGURES.85 Figure 1.85 Figure 2.86 Figure 3.87 Figure 4.88 APPENDIX: MEASURES.89 WAI/S.89 DSS.91 MBI-HSS.92 Demographic Questionnaire.93
Referral agreement of optometry service in general outpatient clinic

Introduction With the aims to enhance primary eye care, a collaborative optometrist-primary care doctor assessment service was set up in Sai Ying Pun and Aberdeen Jockey Club General Outpatient Clinics, Hong Kong West Cluster in September 2010. Aside from those requiring urgent ophthalmologist interventions, any patients presenting with eye symptoms could be referred for optometrist assessment. Preliminary data from our team suggested that number of eye specialist referral was reduced after implementation of the optometry service.
Predicting treatment outcomes of pain patients attending tertiary multidisciplinary pain treatment centers: A pain trajectory approach

ABSTRACT Background: Though multidisciplinary pain treatment (MPT) is considered the gold standard for managing chronic pain, it is unclear which patients benefit most from this high-cost treatment approach. Aims: The goals were to identify subgroups of patients sharing similar pain severity trajectories over time and predictors of MPT responsiveness. Methods: Participants were 1894 patients (mean age = 53.18 years [SD = 14.0]; female = 60.3%) enrolled in the Quebec Pain Registry with moderate to severe baseline pain severity. Patients completed validated questionnaires on pain and related constructs before initiating treatment and 6, 12, and 24 months later. Results: Trajectory analyses of pain severity (intensity and interference) showed that a three-class model best fit the data. Two of the trajectories, which included 24.5% of patients, showed significant improvement in pain severity levels over time (improvers). Compared to patients in the nonimproving trajectory (non-improvers), improvers were younger and more likely to suffer from neuropathic pain and had pain of shorter duration, lower worst pain intensity, lower sleep disturbances and depression scores at baseline, a lower tendency to catastrophize, and better physical health–related quality of life (QOL). This predictive model had a specificity of 96.2% and a sensitivity of 23.6%. Conclusions: Only a minority of patients exhibited an improvement in their pain severity with MPT. Several patients’ characteristics were significantly associated with pain trajectory membership. Early identification of nonimprovers, through examination of baseline characteristics and rates of change in pain scores, can provide valuable information about prognosis and open the doors for evaluation of different cost-effective treatment approaches. Abbreviations: CP = chronic pain; MPT = multidisciplinary pain treatment; QPR = Quebec Pain Registry; QOL = quality of life.
The Effects of Job Crafting on Career Success of Multinational Corporations’ Employees

As the recent tendency of career management has changed, companies have supported progressive career management and development of their employees internally. And strengthening job crafting is an effective activity not only to improve the work efficiency of the organizations but also to improve the job satisfaction and wellbeing of their employees. In these backgrounds, this paper aims to explore the components of job crafting for the multinational employees in order to emphasize the importance of job crafting and empirically analyze the influential relationship in terms of career success through career commitment and career attitude. Based on literature review the job crafting was defined with three components; task crafting, relation crafting, and cognitive crafting. A total of 336 survey data were analyzed for a total of 27 multinational corporations. As the analysis result the task crafting and cognitive crafting of multinational employees were shown to have an influence on career attitude, but relation crafting did not have any impact on career. It can be interpreted that the employees have self-directed career attitude through a method of showing visible performance based on their given jobs rather than having individual career management attitude through relationships between departments, organizational members, and supervisors.
PENGARUH ECONOMIC VALUE ADDED DAN INVESMENT OPPORTUNITY SET TERHADAP KEBIJAKAN DIVIDEN (Studi Kasus pada Sektor Jasa yang Terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia Periode 2013-2017)

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui: 1) Pengaruh dari Economic Value Added terhadap Kebijakan Dividen pada Sektor Jasa yang Terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia Periode 2013-2017. 2) Pengaruh Invesment Opportunity Set terhadap Kebijakan Dividen pada Sektor Jasa yang Terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia Periode 2013-2017. Model yang digunakan dalam analisis data adalah regresi linear berganda data panel. Alat analisis yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah EViews 9. Data yang digunakan yaitu data sekunder dengan pengambilan sampel secara purposive sampling. Hasil Penelitian menunjukkan bahwa 1) Economic Value Added (EVA) berpengaruh positif dan signifikan yang ditunjukkan dengan nilai probabilitas untuk variabel EVA ialah sebesar 0.004 dimana nilai ini ˂ 0.05. 2) Invesment Opportunity Set (IOS) berpengaruh positif signifikan yang ditunjukkan dengan nilai probabilitas untuk variabel IOS ialah 0.010 ˂ alpha 0.05. Secara simultan EVA dan IOS mempengaruhi DPR sebesar 69.4%. Kata kunci: Economic Value Added, Invesment Opportunity Set dan Kebijakan Dividen, Sektor Jasa.
The Dynamics of Suspended Sediment in a Typical Alpine Alluvial River Reach: Insight From a Seasonal Survey

The transport of suspended sediment is associated with important social, economic, and environmental issues. It is still unclear, however, how suspended sediments eroded on hillslopes are transferred downstream through the river system. In this study, we aimed to investigate this process by applying a sediment budget approach to a typical 3.5‐km‐long Alpine braided reach. Using high‐frequency suspended load measurements combined with Monte Carlo simulations for uncertainty propagation, we observed a significant buffering behavior of the reach studied. Thirty‐two of the 48 events observed during the 2‐month campaign showed significant differences between upstream and downstream mass transported as suspension, despite the reach studied was short compared to the upstream drainage area (130 km2). These differences at the event scale varied widely within an envelope comprised between a net erosion equivalent to 74% of upstream suspended mass and a net deposition equivalent to 71%. Budgets were found to be controlled at a nearly instantaneous time scale by the liquid discharges and the suspended sediment concentrations in an opposite way: for low upstream concentrations, net erosion increased when the discharges increased, while above a certain concentration, net deposition increased when the concentrations increased. Moreover, coarse particles mobility in the reach (characterized via bedload transport measurements) appeared to have a strong influence on the availability of suspended particles as both quantities evolved concomitantly through time. These observations have important implications for our understanding and modeling of the transfer of suspended particles in gravel bedded streams.
Does public debt stifle economic growth and increase income inequality in Belt & Road countries? The Role of Corruption

This study seeks to investigate the role of corruption in the relationship between public debt and economic growth in Belt & Road countries during 1996-2017 by applying the generalized method of moment (GMM). Using grouped and ungrouped samples; the results reveal that public debt plays a significant and negative role in economic growth. Corruption also plays a significant and negative role in economic growth. The interaction terms of public debt and corruption play a significant and negative role in economic growth. Moreover; several robustness checks like fixed and random effect models also confirm the results of the GMM approach. The inclusion of more control variables also confirms the baseline estimation. The impact of Belt & Road initiative on economic growth is significantly positive. Several policy recommendations can be drawn from this study. The reduction of the adverse effect of public debt and improvement in economic growth can be brought by applying measures that curb corruption and enhance economic collaboration with other economies. Keywords : Public debt, BRI, growth JEL Classification: C33; H63; O43 DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-33-15 Publication date: November 30 th 2019
Assessment of maternal and perinatal outcome in postdated pregnancy

Objective: To study maternal and neonatal outcome in postdated pregnancies. Study Design: Prospective observational study. Results: Of 100 cases 79(79%) cases were under 20 to 25 years, majority cases were primigravida (62%), overall caesarean rate was 34%, Meconium stained liquor with fetal distress was the most common indication for LSCS 8(23.5 %) , fetal distress was the most common fetal complications, rate of NICU admission was 33.33% at 41 weeks 1 day to 42 weeks, rate of induced labour is 71.43% at 41 weeks 1 day to 42 weeks. Conclusion: In our study we concluded that prolonged pregnancy was associated with significant risk of perinatal complications like fetal distress, meconium aspiration syndrome and IUGR. There was significantly increased risk of obstetric complications like oligohydramnios, perineal tear, atonic pph and shoulder dystocia.