Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation on Work Engagement: A Cross-Sectional Study of Nurses Working in Long-Term Care Facilities

Nurses’ work motivation impacts their job satisfaction and work engagement, affecting their quality of care. Work motivation, a personal resource, can be categorized into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, each of which may function differently in the job demands–resources (JD–R) model. To study the effect of nurses’ intrinsic and extrinsic work motivation on work engagement in long-term care (LTC) facilities, we randomly selected 1200 facilities from 6055 LTC facilities in eastern Japan. Two nurses from each facility completed a self-report questionnaire—newly developed for this study for evaluating intrinsic and extrinsic work motivation—to assess their work engagement, job satisfaction, and work motivation. Multiple regression analysis of 561 valid questionnaires investigated the relationship between work motivation and work engagement, indicating that intrinsic work motivation, job satisfaction, and age had a significant positive effect on work engagement, while extrinsic work motivation had no significant effect. However, half the nurses chose to work because of extrinsic work motivation, explaining the high turnover rate of nursing staff in LTC facilities. Findings indicate the importance of measures to foster nurses’ intrinsic motivation to improve work engagement. Further research should investigate how to improve the intrinsic motivation of nurses working in LTC facilities.
Cynanchi atrati and Its Phenolic Constituent Sinapic Acid Target Regulator of Calcineurin 1 (RCAN1) to Control Skin Inflammation

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disorder, and numerous pharmacological approaches are employed to reduce symptoms. Natural products of plant-derived materials have been accepted as complementary therapy for the treatment of a wide range of inflammatory diseases. Cynanchi atrati (CA) is an oriental medicinal herb used in the treatment of acute urinary infection, febrile diseases, and laryngopharyngitis. However, the role of CA root extract in skin inflammation such as AD has not been explored yet. In this study, we examined the possible effect of CA root extract on skin inflammation and evaluated the underlying signaling mechanism using in vitro and in vivo modeling systems. Raw264.7 macrophages were used for in vitro experiments, and an oxazolone-induced AD mouse model was used to evaluate in vivo effects. CA extract significantly inhibited the expression levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in RAW264.7 macrophages. The CA root extract mediated suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokine expression and was associated with the decreased nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) gene transcriptional activation. Moreover, CA root extract attenuated the in vivo expression of IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and ear swelling in the AD mouse models. We also observed that the inhibitory effect of CA root extract on skin inflammation was accompanied by the upregulation of calcineurin 1 (RCAN1) expression, which functions in the inflammatory pathways by suppressing NF-κB signaling. We consistently observed that the immunosuppressive effect of CA root extract in AD was significantly perturbed in the RCAN1 knockout mice. In addition, we isolated a phenolic acid compound, sinapic acid (SA), from the CA root extract and found that SA consistently exerted an immunosuppressive effect in RAW264.7 macrophages by inducing RCAN1 expression. Our results provide the first evidence that CA root extract and its phenolic acid constituent, SA, modulate NF-κB signaling pathways by inducing RCAN1 expression in the skin inflammation process. Thus, we suggest that CA root extract has a therapeutic value for the treatment of AD by targeting endogenous immune regulators.
β-Glucans from Trametes versicolor (L.) Lloyd Is Effective for Prevention of Influenza Virus Infection

Coriolus versicolor (C. versicolor) is a higher fungi or mushroom which is now known by its accepted scientific names as Trametes versicolor (L.) Lloyd. Many studies have shown that β-glucans from C. versicolor have various physiological activities, including activating macrophages to protect against Salmonella infection. However, whether β-glucans have antiviral effects has not been reported. Hence, the objective of this study was to confirm whether β-glucans could boost the immune response to combat influenza virus in mouse and chick models. The results show that β-glucans induced the expression of Dectin-1, costimulatory molecules (CD80/86) and cytokines IL-6, IL-1β, IFN-β and IL-10 in murine bone marrow dendritic cells (BMDCs). In addition, orally administered β-glucans reduced weight loss, mortality and viral titers in the lungs of mice infected with influenza virus and attenuated pathological lung damage caused by the virus in the mice. Orally administered β-glucans improved survival and reduced lung viral titers in chickens infected with H9N2 avian influenza virus. These results suggest that β-glucans have a significant antiviral effect. Therefore, β-glucans could become a potential immunomodulator against influenza virus.
In Vitro Investigation of Renal Cell Carcinoma Response to Combination Sorafenib and Cryoablation Treatment

The 5-year survival rate for localized kidney cancer is 93%, but only 13% for those presenting with metastatic disease (2019 SEER data). Cryosurgery is an established treatment modality for renal cell cancer (RCC), with outcomes showing equipoise to radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and partial nephrectomy. Sorafenib is a targeted therapy for RCC utilized in more advanced stage diseases. Given the success of both cryoablation and sorafenib as monotherapies for RCC, in this study, we investigated the cellular response of RCC to combinatorial sorafenib pre-treatment and cryoablation in vitro using cell culture and tissue-engineered tumor models. In vitro samples were exposed to a single or repeat (double) 5-minute freeze at -10°C, -15°C, or -20°C representing temperatures within the periphery of a cryolesion. A repeat freeze to -20°C was necessary to fully ablate samples yielding day 1 viability of 2.9% (±0.2) with no recovery observed over the 7 days post-treatment culture. These findings were consistent with published data on the lethal temperature in RCC, suggesting that -25°C is necessary to destroy RCC following a single freeze event. Pre-treatment of samples with sorafenib at concentrations of 10.61 and 21.21 µM (½ clinical and clinical dose, respectively) was combined with a single or repeat 5-minute freeze to -10°C, -15°C, or -20°C. At the time of drug removal (day 0/pre-freeze), 10.61 µM sorafenib treated samples yielded 25.3% (±0.4) viability, yet samples regrew to control levels by day 7. Following combination freeze and sorafenib exposure, sample viability was found to be 27.5% (±0.7), 2.9% (±0.4), and 0.2% (±0.02) following a single freeze and 15.6% (±0.5), 0.7% (±0.1), and 0.1% (±0.01) following a repeat (double freeze), respectively. Regrowth was observed over the 7-day assessment period in samples exposed to a -10°C single or double freeze and a -15°C single freeze, but not in the -20°C single freeze or -15°C double freeze conditions. Thus, pre-treatment with 10.61 µM sorafenib was found to increase the minimum lethal temperature from the reported -25°C to -20°C following a single freeze event and from -20°C to -15°C following a double freeze. Results of the cell culture studies were confirmed in the 3D tissue-engineered tumor model, wherein the combination of 10.61 µM sorafenib and freezing was found to further increase the lethal temperature from <-20°C to -15°C following a single freeze event. This increased freeze susceptibility yielded a 32% improvement in the overall ablative volume of the ice ball following combinatorial treatment versus freezing alone. These in vitro results suggest that the combination of sorafenib and cryoablation may provide a possible combinatorial treatment path for RCC.
Exploring Work from Home Amidst Post-Covid

Time has passed since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Hundreds of millions of people have lived in and out of lockdowns. Interestingly, the pandemic has opened our eyes to the possibility of making work from home a norm. There are two opposing views when it comes to working from home. One view says that people will get nothing done, and the other view believes workers will be happier and more productive working from home. Therefore, this pilot study attempts to investigate both sides of the coin for issues relating to working from home. 44 participants responded to this quantitative study. The instrument used is a questionnaire. It looks at how working from home influence work-life balance, work fulfilment and also work performance of workers. In ensuring the reliability of the instrument, the reliability analysis has been conducted on the instrument comprising of 34 items with four sections; Section A: Demographic Data, Section B: Work Fulfilment, Section C: Work-life Balance and Section D: Work Performance. Findings revealed interesting implications for employers to consider work from home as a new norm.
The effect of functional endoscopic sinus surgery on patients with asthma and CRS with nasal polyps

Aim: To study the effect of functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and nasal polyps (NP) with concomitant asthma. Design: The study was designed to evaluate prospectively whether FESS can influence parameters of asthma in patients with CRS with nasal polyps. Methods and results: One hundred thirty seven patients were recruited from the ENT-Allergy and Panedoscopy Clinic of the ENT Department. All selected patients underwent medical therapy for CRS and NP for 12 weeks, and in case of no improvement, they proceeded to surgical treatment. They also underwent pre- and post-treatment subjective and objective measurements for CRS and asthma. In the study, 86 patients were finally evaluated who completed the protocol and were followed up for a period of 12 months. The patients showed statistically significant improvement of the objective measurements for asthma, from baseline to six and twelve months follow-up. No significant increase was found in the proportion of patients with well or very well overall asthma-control during the follow-up period. There was a clear improvement in the use of bronchodilators, oral steroids and need for hospitalization for asthma. Conclusions: Obviously, there is a link between CRS with NP and asthma. The data analysis of our study supports the hypothesis that FESS could have beneficial effect on both diseases improving objective and subjective measurements.
Change in News Access, Change in Expectations? How Young Social Media Users in Switzerland Evaluate the Functions and Quality of News

Online media environments have changed the way young people access news. Despite much research on the topic, the expectations of journalistic news by young adults who have turned their back on traditional news media remain unclear. We use a novel multimethod qualitative online study design to investigate the perceived quality, functions, and expectations toward journalistic news of young adults in Switzerland who use social media as their main source for news and rarely consume traditional media. Nineteen young adults between 20 and 25 years of age with different educational levels participated in our study in May 2020. Our results show that even though the participants only occasionally use traditional news media channels, they still consider journalistic news relevant and appreciate quality standards of professional journalism such as actuality and veracity (Swart 2021b). Among the functions of news, the participants highlighted sociability and identification. Exchange and discussion of news are, thus, of high relevance online but also offline. Also, the participants show a high affinity toward news on mobilizing topics, which are of interest to themselves and their peers, and motivate them to engage with news more intensely. According to the participants, news should be attractively prepared, such as with audiovisual formats and easy to understand and integrate into everyday life. The participants also expressed a preference to consume news articles from different media brands within a single platform. Our study outlines a fruitful path for comprehensive qualitative research with innovative online tools.
SOLUTIONS AND EFFECTIVENESS OF WATER PROTECTION STRUCTURES IN FOREST DRAINAGE SYSTEM MAINTENANCE: EXAMPLES FROM LATVIA

Drainage system maintenance (DNM) is essential for the main function of the drainage system – to drain excess water ensuring the growth of high quality forest stands. However, it can contribute to erosion and increase the discharge of suspended solids and nutrients from drainage network catchments. To avoid deterioration of water quality, water protection structures should be constructed while carrying out DNM. This paper presents preliminary effectiveness assessment of a custom sedimentation pond sized according to catchment area and the first peak flow control (PFC) structure built in production forests in Latvia. We compared changes of various chemical and physical parameters in periods before and after construction of water protection structures as well as evaluated the effectiveness of the structures during DNM. Slight increase of pH, N-NH 4+ , N-NO 3- as well as slight decrease of P-PO 43- and DOC was observed after DNM in affected sites. Sedimentation pond and PFC structure proved their effectiveness in reducing concentrations of suspended solids (by 62% and by 65% respectively). Retention of nutrients in the structures was not significant, furthermore, mean nutrient concentrations during sampling period in all study sites were generally low. As nutrient accumulation by the living vegetation (that is not yet developed) is an important facet of the nutrient retention, sampling and assessment of effectiveness of the constructed water protection structures is still ongoing. In addition, study is being continued to further assess DNM impact on water quality.
Proposing Employee Level CSR as an Enabler for Economic Performance: The Role of Work Engagement and Quality of Work-Life

The aim of the current research is to foster the economic performance of a hotel enterprise through employee-level corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities with the mediating effect of work engagement (W.E) and quality of work-life (QWL). A hypothesized model was developed for this purpose. The data were collected from the hotel employees of a developing economy (n = 396). The hypothesized relations were tested by employing the structural equation modeling technique. The current work’s statistical outcomes validated CSR’s seminal role to influence W.E and QWL perceptions of hotel employees, which eventually contribute to the economic performance of a hotel enterprise. The findings of the current analysis have different theoretical and practical implications. To the extent of theory, the current work advances the fields of enterprise management and employee wellbeing from an individual-level perspective of CSR. Practically, the current study helps the hotel management to realize that a carefully planned CSR strategy not only improves the economic performance of a hotel enterprise through employees but also helps to fulfill its social responsibility, hence leading a hotel enterprise towards a win-win situation.
Fifty years of data show the effects of climate on overall skull size and the extent of seasonal reversible skull size changes in the common shrew

1. Global climate change affects many aspects of biology and has been shown to cause body size changes in animals. However, suitable datasets allowing the analysis of long-term relationships between body size and climate are rare. 2. The size of the skull, often used as a proxy for body size, does not change much in fully grown vertebrates, but some soricine shrews shrink their skull and brain in winter and regrow it in spring. This is thought to be a winter adaptation in these high-metabolic, nonhibernating animals, as a smaller brain size reduces energy requirements. 3. Climate could thus affect not only the overall size but also the pattern of the size change, i.e., Dehnel’s Phenomenon, in these shrews. 4. We assessed the impact of the changes in climate on the overall skull size and the different stages of Dehnel’s phenomenon in skulls of the common shrew, Sorex araneus, collected over 50 years in the Białowieża Forest, NE Poland. 5. Overall skull size decreased, along with increasingly mild winters and decreasing soil moisture, which determined the availability of the shrews’ main food source, earthworms. The magnitude of Dehnel’s phenomenon increased over time, indicating an increasing selection pressure on animals in winter. Overall, climate clearly affected the common shrew’s overall size as well as its seasonal size changes. With the current acceleration in climate change, the effects on the distribution range of this cold-adapted species may be quite severe.
As-Rigid-As-Possible Shape Servoing

Shape servoing is the problem of controlling the shape of a deformable object via robotic manipulation, exploiting sensory feedback. In many shape servoing scenarios of practical interest, the object has a natural tendency to preserve local rigidity. Motivated by this observation, we propose to use the As-Rigid-As-Possible deformation model for shape servoing. Specifically, we propose a novel control scheme based on a deformation Jacobian computed from this model. The proposed scheme drives the object to a desired 3D shape using as feedback the object's measured current 3D shape. The scheme is simple to implement, and it avoids some typical requirements in existing work: specifically, (i) we do not need to know the object's mechanical deformation parameters, and (ii) we do not use a Jacobian computed from data collected over a time window while the robots move. We test the proposed scheme in bi-arm shape servoing experiments with a variety of deformable objects of different material (paper, rubber, plastic). Tracking of the deformable object's surface in 3D is performed in our experiments via an algorithm based on monocular vision. The experimental results validate the practicality of our scheme.
Persistence of Immunity in Adults after 1, 5 and 10 Years with Recombinant Hepatitis B Vaccine in Beijing in 2010–2020

The persistence of immunity after hepatitis B vaccination is still under investigation in adults. In Chaoyang District, Beijing, people who were aged ≥ 18 years and completely immunized with HBV vaccine according to the standard procedure (0–1–6 months) were enrolled. Three groups were set for 1 (Y1), 5 (Y5) and 10 (Y10) years after the hepatitis B vaccination. The following data was collected and analyzed: antibody against hepatitis B virus surface antigen(anti-HBs) positive rates and geometric mean concentration (GMC) between the different compared groups through questionnaires and laboratory detection, including hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg), anti-HBs and antibody against hepatitis B virus core antigen(anti-HBc). All 600 subjects completed the questionnaires and serological tests. Among all subjects, the positive rates of HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc were 0, 70.5% (423/600) and 2.5% (15/600), respectively. The anti-HBs positive rates in Y1, Y5 and Y10 groups were 86.5% (173/200), 71.0% (142/200) and 54.0% (108/200) (χ2 = 50.8, p < 0.001) and showed a linear decreasing trend year by year (trend χ2 = 50.7, p < 0.001). The GMC in Y1, Y5 and Y10 groups were 296.6 mIU/mL, 51.6 mIU/mL and 25.5 mIU/mL (H = 64.8, p < 0.001), respectively. The anti-HBs positive rates and GMC decreased rapidly after the vaccination of adults against hepatitis B. Screening after 5–10 years and booster vaccination for the unprotected population is recommended.
Comparative Study of PWM Control and PI Control of Induction Motor

The induction motor is without doubt the most used electrical motor because of its unique characteristics. Most of its applications need fast and intelligent speed control system. This paper presents comparison of the intelligent and advanced speed control methods based on PWM technique and PI controller to achieve maximum torque and efficiency. Simulation is carried out in MATLAB environment and results are investigated for speed control of induction motor without any controller and with PI controller on full load condition.
Short Term Electric Power Load Forecasting Using Principal Component Analysis and Recurrent Neural Networks

Electrical load forecasting study is required in electric power systems for different applications with respect to the specific time horizon, such as optimal operations, grid stability, Demand Side Management (DSM) and long-term strategic planning. In this context, machine learning and data analytics models represent a valuable tool to cope with the intrinsic complexity and especially design future demand-side advanced services. The main novelty in this paper is that the combination of a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) techniques is proposed to improve the forecasting capability of the hourly load on an electric power substation. A historical dataset of measured loads related to a 33/11 kV MV substation is considered in India as a case study, in order to properly validate the designed method. Based on the presented numerical results, the proposed approach proved itself to accurately predict loads with a reduced dimensionality of input data, thus minimizing the overall computational effort.
Semi-automated detection of cervical spinal cord compression with the Spinal Cord Toolbox.

Background Degenerative cervical spinal cord compression is becoming increasingly prevalent, yet the MRI criteria that define compression are vague, and vary between studies. This contribution addresses the detection of compression by means of the Spinal Cord Toolbox (SCT) and assesses the variability of the morphometric parameters extracted with it. Methods Prospective cross-sectional study. Two types of MRI examination, 3 and 1.5 T, were performed on 66 healthy controls and 118 participants with cervical spinal cord compression. Morphometric parameters from 3T MRI obtained by Spinal Cord Toolbox (cross-sectional area, solidity, compressive ratio, torsion) were combined in multivariate logistic regression models with the outcome (binary dependent variable) being the presence of compression determined by two radiologists. Inter-trial (between 3 and 1.5 T) and inter-rater (three expert raters and SCT) variability of morphometric parameters were assessed in a subset of 35 controls and 30 participants with compression. Results The logistic model combining compressive ratio, cross-sectional area, solidity, torsion and one binary indicator, whether or not the compression was set at level C6/7, demonstrated outstanding compression detection (area under curve =0.947). The single best cut-off for predicted probability calculated using a multiple regression equation was 0.451, with a sensitivity of 87.3% and a specificity of 90.2%. The inter-trial variability was better in Spinal Cord Toolbox (intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.858 for compressive ratio and 0.735 for cross-sectional area) compared to expert raters (mean coefficient for three expert raters was 0.722 for compressive ratio and 0.486 for cross-sectional area). The analysis of inter-rater variability demonstrated general agreement between SCT and three expert raters, as the correlations between SCT and raters were generally similar to those of the raters between one another. Conclusions This study demonstrates successful semi-automated compression detection based on four parameters. The inter-trial variability of parameters established through two MRI examinations was conclusively better for Spinal Cord Toolbox compared with that of three experts' manual ratings.