Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Long-Term Maintenance Effect of Remote Pulmonary Rehabilitation via Social Media in COPD: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Although the benefits of conventional pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) maintenance are well documented, it is challenged by many difficulties. We investigated whether remote home-based PR maintenance strategy via social media (WeChat) is effective on clinical improvements and reducing the risk for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods The eligible stable COPD patients completing an initial 8-week PR were allocated into three groups randomly. Group A: PR maintenance via social media supervision at home. Group B: PR maintenance at hospital. Group C: Usual care. During a 12-month follow-up, the frequency of acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD), 6 minutes walking test (6MWT), COPD assessment test (CAT), and modified Medical Research Council scale (mMRC) were evaluated every 3 months. Results At the end of the follow-up, compared to the decline in the usual care group (n = 49), the clinical improvements of 6MWD, CAT, and mMRC were sustained in both the home-based group (n = 47) and the hospital-based maintenance group (n = 44) (p < 0.001), no difference was observed between these two groups (p > 0.05). In multivariate analysis, the home-based PR maintenance and hospital-based PR maintenance were independent predictors of lower risk for AECOPD (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.712, 95% CI 0.595–0.841, p < 0.001 and IRR 0.799, 95% CI 0.683–0.927, p = 0.002), respectively. Conclusion Remote PR maintenance via social media is effective in reducing the risk for AECOPD and keeping the clinical improvement from decline. Remote PR maintenance via social media might be used to deliver alternatives to conventional PR.
Master Planned Communities for Healthy Living: A Systematic Literature Review

ABSTRACT Master Planned Community (MPC) Developments are a dominant form of urban growth and housing development. This paper provides a systematic review of the literature on the associations between MPCs and community health. Our review of 39 peer-reviewed journal papers suggested that the MPC physical features (public spaces/facilities, built form, spatial segregation, and location), social dimension (age structure and community development) and governance (private governance and housing tenure) are key players in the health of residents, particularly, their social health. This paper provides valuable information for future research on healthy housing and informs planning and decision-making in housing policy and development.
The Sporisorium reilianum Effector Vag2 Promotes Head Smut Disease via Suppression of Plant Defense Responses

Genome comparison between the maize pathogens Ustilago maydis and Sporisorium reilianum revealed a large diversity region (19-1) containing nearly 30 effector gene candidates, whose deletion severely hampers virulence of both fungi. Dissection of the S. reilianum gene cluster resulted in the identification of one major contributor to virulence, virulence-associated gene 2 (vag2; sr10050). Quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) experiments revealed high expression of vag2 during biotrophic growth of S. reilianum. Using the yeast secretion trap assay, we confirmed the existence of a functional signal peptide allowing protein secretion via the conventional secretory pathway. We identified the cytoplasmic maize chorismate mutase ZmCM2 by yeast two-hybrid screening as a possible interaction partner of Vag2. Interaction of the two proteins in planta was confirmed by bimolecular fluorescence complementation. qRT-PCR experiments revealed vag2-dependent downregulation of salicylic acid (SA)-induced genes, which correlated with higher SA levels in plant tissues colonized by Δvag2 deletion strains relative to S. reilianum wildtype strains. Metabolite analysis suggested rewiring of pathogen-induced SA biosynthesis by preferential conversion of the SA precursor chorismate into the aromatic amino acid precursor prephenate by ZmCM2 in the presence of Vag2. Possibly, the binding of Vag2 to ZmCM2 inhibits the back reaction of the ZmCM2-catalyzed interconversion of chorismate and prephenate, thus contributing to fungal virulence by lowering the plant SA-induced defenses.
Classroom Controversy in the Midst of Political Polarization: The Essential Role of School Administrators

It has been well established that controversial issue discussions are an integral component to a high-quality civic education. However, as the United States has become increasingly politically polarized, teachers have become more hesitant to engage students in discussions of controversial political issues. Two decades worth of literature on teaching controversial issues has shown that a primary factor in determining whether teachers will engage students in controversial issue discussions is whether they feel supported by their school administrators. Yet, school leaders have rarely been the focus of civic education efforts. This article seeks to bridge that divide by first providing a review of the research showing the importance of engaging with controversy in K-12 education and the influence of school leadership on that process and then ending with implications for school administrators who wish to support teachers who broach controversy in their classrooms.
Party Discipline in Elections and Latent Policy Ideals

Individual members of Congress can have different policy preferences from the party leadership or special interest groups (SIGs), and the latter two may pressure members to shift their positions. To study this tension, we develop and estimate a multi-stage election model that incorporates party discipline with election spending. First, we uncover the unobserved “ideal” policies of these different political agents. Second, we estimate disciplining constraints and the importance of “policy gaps” with candidates to parties and SIGs. We then study various dimensions of discipline: the conditions under which representatives become more responsive to SIGs, the effects of safe seats on disciplining ability, and the limits of disciplining in the U.S. We ﬁnd that safe seats make discipline less effective and that voter preferences are the main predictors of incumbent positions.
Analyzing energy deprivation for cooking in Argentina and Brazil

Lack of access to clean cooking is one dimension of energy poverty that has called the attention of many international organizations and policymakers, due to the relevance of cooking, as an energy service, in the satisfaction of essential needs. The present paper has two central objectives: it intends to characterize the population with energy deprivation for cooking and detect if their characteristics are coincident in Brazil and Argentina, and it analyses whether the selection of traditional fuels for cooking is related to the presence of other socioeconomic deprivations. To fulfill these objectives, an analysis of descriptive statistics is performed, and logistic models are estimated during the period 2004-2014. From the descriptive analysis, it is found that the socioeconomic characteristics of the population that presents energy deprivation in cooking are markedly different from those that are not deprived in this dimension. In turn, there is a strong dependence between the multidimensional deprivations and energy poverty in cooking.
Digital influencer marketing: How message credibility and media credibility affect trust and impulsive buying

ABSTRACT This study develops an underlying mechanism outlining the impact of digital influencers on consumer impulse-buying behavior in the context of social networking sites (SNSs). Based on signaling theory, this research examines the role of message credibility (informational value and vicarious expressions) and media credibility (perceived interactivity and transparency) in developing trust in digital influencers, resulting in impulse buying. Moreover, this study explores the moderating effect of social commerce (s-commerce) experience on the relationship between urge-to-buy (UTB) and impulse buying. This study collects data from SNS users. Findings reveal that message credibility and media credibility play a significant role in developing trust in digital influencers, thereby enhancing the urge to buy impulsively on SNSs. In addition, results show that s-commerce experience does not moderate the relationship between UTB and impulsive buying. Finally, this study provides critical insights to marketers and policymakers.
Acquisition and Retention of Skilled Employees for Industries in Giles County, Tennessee

Acquisition and Retention of Skilled Employees for Industries in Giles County, Tennessee by James I. Greene, Jr. MS, Belmont University, 2004 BS, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, 2000 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration
A coupled Lagrangian-Eulerian framework to model droplet to film interaction with heat transfer

A droplet to film interaction modelling Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique is presented in this work. The eventual target application is an aeroengine bearing chamber where oil is used to lubricate and cool the bearings and the bearing chamber walls. Inside the chamber, the oil is found as jets/filaments, film and as droplets in the highly rotational environment. Of particular interest in this work is the formation of the continuous film from the droplets. Spray-film is another relevant application with droplets forming film as it cools the wall. In this work, the liquid and gas continua are modelled using an enhanced Volume of Fluid (VoF) technique. The droplets in the core-air are tracked using a Lagrangian framework that treats them as discrete particles and are coupled to the Eulerian VoF film upon impact using source terms. In finite volume CFD techniques, a prohibitively large number of computational cells would be required to describe, in details, the droplet-film impact phenomenon. The proposal here is that finer mesh, sufficient to capture the film physics, is used only close to walls or where film is expected to form. Simple droplet train to complex spray-film setups are used to verify and validate for mass, momentum and energy transfer. The technique was also applied to experimental rigs representative of aeroengine bearing chambers; and as with every CFD problems, the choice of boundary conditions determines the final output. A parametric study of the bearing chamber flows shows that film thickness increases with flow rate. The film thickness increases with a reducing shaft speed for same flow rate. The heat transfer coefficient results show that higher flow rates provide better heat transfer at higher shaft speeds.
A novel GIS-based MCDM approach to identify the potential eco-tourism sites in the Eastern Dooars region (Himalayan foothill) of West Bengal, India

Abstract The present study was designed to assess the capability of the novel Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method such as Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) along with Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in identifying the potential site of ecotourism in the Eastern Dooars region of West Bengal, India. Two popular objective weighting methods such as Entropy and Criteria Importance through Interaction Correlation (CRITIC), were used to minimize the subjectivity of AHP methods. The suitability map obtained from these applied methods showed that the northern and north-eastern parts, namely Kalchini and Kumargram blocks, were identified as the highly suitable zone for ecotourism development. Finally, the obtained suitability map was validated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and Area Under Curve (AUC) analysis. The AUC value of ROC was more than 0.80 for all the applied methods, indicating the reliability of all the applied models.
Vaccination against Bacterial Infections: Challenges, Progress, and New Approaches with a Focus on Intracellular Bacteria

Many bacterial infections are major health problems worldwide, and treatment of many of these infectious diseases is becoming increasingly difficult due to the development of antibiotic resistance, which is a major threat. Prophylactic vaccines against these bacterial pathogens are urgently needed. This is also true for bacterial infections that are still neglected, even though they affect a large part of the world’s population, especially under poor hygienic conditions. One example is typhus, a life-threatening disease also known as “war plague” caused by Rickettsia prowazekii, which could potentially come back in a war situation such as the one in Ukraine. However, vaccination against bacterial infections is a challenge. In general, bacteria are much more complex organisms than viruses and as such are more difficult targets. Unlike comparatively simple viruses, bacteria possess a variety of antigens whose immunogenic potential is often unknown, and it is unclear which antigen can elicit a protective and long-lasting immune response. Several vaccines against extracellular bacteria have been developed in the past and are still used successfully today, e.g., vaccines against tetanus, pertussis, and diphtheria. However, while induction of antibody production is usually sufficient for protection against extracellular bacteria, vaccination against intracellular bacteria is much more difficult because effective defense against these pathogens requires T cell-mediated responses, particularly the activation of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. These responses are usually not efficiently elicited by immunization with non-living whole cell antigens or subunit vaccines, so that other antigen delivery strategies are required. This review provides an overview of existing antibacterial vaccines and novel approaches to vaccination with a focus on immunization against intracellular bacteria.
Colorectal cancer surveillance by colonoscopy in a prospective, population-based long-term Swiss screening study – outcomes, adherence, and costs

Background The success of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening depends mainly on screening quality, patient adherence to surveillance, and costs. Consequently, it is essential to assess the performance over time. Methods In 2000, a closed cohort study on CRC screening in individuals aged 50 to 80 was initiated in Uri, Switzerland. Participants who chose to undergo colonoscopy were followed over 18 years. We investigated the adherence to recommended surveillance and collected baseline characteristics and colonoscopy data. Risk factors at screening for the development of advanced adenomas were analyzed. Costs for screening and follow-up were evaluated retrospectively. Results 1278 subjects with a screening colonoscopy were included, of which 272 (21.3%; 69.5% men) had adenomas, and 83 (6.5%) had advanced adenomas. Only 59.8% participated in a follow-up colonoscopy, half of them within the recommended time interval. Individuals with advanced adenomas at screening had nearly five times the risk of developing advanced adenomas compared to individuals without adenomas (24.3% vs. 5.0%, OR 4.79 CI 2.30–9.95). Individuals without adenomas developed advanced adenomas in 4.9%, including four cases of CRC; three of them without control colonoscopy. The villous component in adenomas smaller than 10 mm was not an independent risk factor. Costs for screening and follow-up added up to CHF 1’934’521 per 1’000 persons screened, almost half of them for follow-up examinations; 60% of these costs accounted for low-risk individuals. Conclusion Our findings suggest that follow-up of screening colonoscopy should be reconsidered in Switzerland; in particular, long-term adherence is critical. Costs for follow-up could be substantially reduced by adopting less expensive long-term screening methods for low-risk individuals.
The Influence of Social Economic Background on Academic Performance of Secondary School Student Council Officials in Kenya.

This paper investigates the influence of socio-economic background on the academic performance of student council officials in secondary schools. The study was conducted in public secondary schools in Kajiado North, Sub-County, Kajiado County. A sample size of seven (7) principals, ten (10) deputy principals and ninety-four (94) student council officials was used in the study. Data collection was done using questionnaires, after which analysis involved both descriptive and inferential statistics were done for data analysis using Statistical Package for Social Science software program (SPSS). The measure of associations was determined using Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient (r) between variables which enabled the authors to determine whether the relationship between variables was positive or negative (-1.0 to +1.0). The study findings established that the high social-economic background of student council officials significantly influenced their academic performances (r=.025; p<.05). The findings further indicated that the availability of funds enables student council officials to have access to more academic resources; availability of funds motivates student council officials to perform better in examinations, and that student council officials from high socio-economic status were competent to pursue good grades in examinations. However, the study hypothesis was partially rejected. The authors recommend that public secondary schools should try to reduce the gap between students from the high social, economic background and low backgrounds.
Integration in Interscholastic Sport: What is still missing 23 years after ADA?

On January 25, 2013, the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a guidance document clarifying that extracurricular activities are a component of the public education program under Section 504. In the years to come, creating opportunities for integrated participation in interscholastic sports will be essential. Research in Physical Education has shown positive attitudes from students with disabilities in regards to integrated settings and hesitancy from Physical Educators and coaches. There are questions as to whether or not the feelings about integration in an education setting and integration in a sports setting will parallel one another. Training for adults facilitating integration will be essential as the window for integration widens in interscholastic sports. A recommendation is to provide these adults with information in a minimum of three key areas: the legal obligations and compliance with the law; appropriate integration practices; and education about different types of disabilities.
Increased artificiality trend driven by an inter-basin water transfer on the Zayandeh-rud River floodplain in Iran

Abstract The objective is to evaluate the effects of inter-basin water transfers on land use changes in the floodplain buffer area and the geomorphological evolution of a fluvial system on the receiving basin. Remote sensing techniques and machine learning algorithms have been combined with geomorphological indices for this purpose in the Zayandeh-rud Basin located in central Iran, to assess the trajectory of change over the last 50 years (from 1969 to 2020). This basin extremely experienced water crises due to artificialization events which made government transferring water from surplus basin. The outcomes of the present research express a reduction process in the area of the active channel throughout the study period, with an average narrowing rate of 0.92 m per year, i.e., a total reduction of 49.3%. Based on geomorphological indexes, Bank Retreat and River Network Channel Index, the highest sedimentation and narrowing trend was found for the period 1984-1997, while in the most recent period, from 2009 to 2020, a reverted tendency is observed which indicates higher erosion rates. Additionally, the area of natural cover, water bodies, and absence of farming classes have reduced surfaces in the floodplain to the benefit of urbanisation and agriculture. The stationarity conditions of the floodplain cover predominate followed by degradation or artificialisation processes. Given the current perspective of increasing the availability of water in the basin, an integrated planning that aims to consider environmental, socio-political, and economical elements of the system would be advantageous and needed to break the environmental degradation of this fluvial system.
Cardiovascular Signal Entropy Predicts All-Cause Mortality: Evidence from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)

In this study, the relationship between cardiovascular signal entropy and the risk of seven-year all-cause mortality was explored in a large sample of community-dwelling older adults from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). The hypothesis under investigation was that physiological dysregulation might be quantifiable by the level of sample entropy (SampEn) in continuously noninvasively measured resting-state systolic (sBP) and diastolic (dBP) blood pressure (BP) data, and that this SampEn measure might be independently predictive of mortality. Participants’ date of death up to 2017 was identified from official death registration data and linked to their TILDA baseline survey and health assessment data (2010). BP was continuously monitored during supine rest at baseline, and SampEn values were calculated for one-minute and five-minute sections of this data. In total, 4543 participants were included (mean (SD) age: 61.9 (8.4) years; 54.1% female), of whom 214 died. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations between BP SampEn and all-cause mortality. Results revealed that higher SampEn in BP signals was significantly predictive of mortality risk, with an increase of one standard deviation in sBP SampEn and dBP SampEn corresponding to HRs of 1.19 and 1.17, respectively, in models comprehensively controlled for potential confounders. The quantification of SampEn in short length BP signals could provide a novel and clinically useful predictor of mortality risk in older adults.
Key Factors in Effective Patient-Tailored Dosing of Fluoroquinolones in Urological Infections: Interindividual Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Variability

Fluoroquinolones (FQs) are a critical group of antimicrobials prescribed in urological infections as they have a broad antimicrobial spectrum of activity and a favorable tissue penetration at the site of infection. However, their clinical practice is not problem-free of treatment failure, risk of emergence of resistance, and rare but important adverse effects. Due to their critical role in clinical improvement, understanding the dose-response relation is necessary to optimize the effectiveness of FQs therapy, as it is essential to select the right antibiotic at the right dose for the right duration in urological infections. The aim of this study was to review the published literature about inter-individual variability in pharmacological processes that can be responsible for the clinical response after empiric dose for the most commonly prescribed urological FQs: ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, and moxifloxacin. Interindividual pharmacokinetic (PK) variability, particularly in elimination, may contribute to treatment failure. Clearance related to creatinine clearance should be specifically considered for ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin. Likewise, today, undesired interregional variability in FQs antimicrobial activity against certain microorganisms exists. FQs pharmacology, patient-specific characteristics, and the identity of the local infecting organism are key factors in determining clinical outcomes in FQs use.