Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validity and Reliability of the Persian Version of the Consonant-Vowel in White Noise Test

Background: One of the most common complaints expressed by individuals with hearing-impairment is the difficulty in speech perception in background noise. Different tests have been developed for the evaluation of reduced ability of speech perception in noise, and the Consonant-Vowel in noise test is one of the simplest one regard to speech materials. The goal of the present study was development and determined validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Consonant-Vowel in noise test, among 18 to 25 year old Persian speaking because of the lack of a Persian version of this test. Methods: This was a tool-making research that had 3 main stages: development of the Persian version of the Consonant-Vowel in noise test (4 lists and each list in 5 different signal to noise ratio), examination of its content validity, and its administration on a total of 50, 18 to 25 year normal hearing individuals (20 men /30 women) that selected by random sampling method, in order to examine the reliability of the test from the students of the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. For descriptive reports, central tendencies and indices of dispersion were used and for statistics relations; Pearson correlation test, intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), paired t-test and independent t-test were used. Results: The content validity ratio for each item was acceptable (CVR>0.62). The lists number 2, 3, and 4; and also the lists number 1 and 4 in the ConsonantVowel in noise test, were highly correlated (P<0.05). The test-retest correlations were statistically significant at all signal-to-noise ratios (P<0.05). There was no significant differences between the scores of left and right ears (P>0.05) and also men’s and women’s scores (P>0.05). Participant’s performance improved as the SNR increased. Conclusion: According to the study results, it can be concluded that the Persian version of the Consonant-Vowel in noise test has acceptable content validity and reliability, and can be used in clinical and research works. 2016© The Authors. Published by JRSR. All rights reserved. *Corresponding author: Saiede Kargar, Master student, Department of Audiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Koodakyar Ave., Daneshjou Blv. , Evin, Tehran, Iran. Tel: +98 21 22180100 E-mail: saiedekargar@yahoo.com Introduction In our acoustic environment, we are rarely confronted with a single auditory signal; rather auditory system must process simultaneously occurring complex acoustic signals to extract relevant information. The canonical example of this is listening to speech in noise, a task that needs complex interactions between auditory system and cognitive skills (such as attention and memory) of the central nervous system to be able to differentiate between Journal of Rehabilitation Sciences and Research Journal Home Page: jrsr.sums. ac.ir
Structures Similar to Passage Tombs at Grota do Medo Site

The oldest cave art known is of prehistoric origin, dating back to approximately 40,000 years ago in both Asia and Europe. The megalithic constructions in Western Europe and the Mediterranean Region took place mainly in the Neolithic and continued until the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. The Azores Islands did not seem to have been occupied before the arrival of the Portuguese navigators in the XVth century. Because of that, it was not expected that megalithic structures would be found, or structures that resembled megalithic tombs and rock art in the Azores Islands, geographically located in the Center of the North Atlantic, at 1500 km west of Lisbon (Portugal) and about 1900 km southeast of Newfoundland (Canada). These findings seem to be, historically, a paradox. In a first moment, an oral presentation was made about these findings by the author at the 16th Annual Mediterranean Studies Association Congress, and after that, a field trip took place with the archeologists present at the stated Congress. The perplexity was the dominant conduct of the guests, and some hypotheses that certain archaeologists mentioned were evolved versions which had not been empirically corroborated. Afterwards, new findings were registered at Grota do Medo site, helping to make clear that larger stones had been used to construct structures or monuments. The rock art surrounding the megalithic constructions in the Azores also has similarities with those found in Europe. If these findings belong to the Bronze Age or Iron Age, it can reopen new scientific questions about ancient mid-Atlantic crossings. The present article tries to establish ties among the megalith constructions found in the Azores with those known in Europe.
Tenants’ Satisfaction in Abu Dhabi (UAE) : A Survey

Availability of modernised building facilities has led tenant satisfaction to an idealistic level due to socioeconomic factors in addition to the physical conditions (Gibler et al., 2014). The world has become a global village where everyone is on the move to enjoy a better living standard. However, this massive movement of residents requires sufficient residential services. In addition to the economic and infrastructural issues, social factors add complexities for building owners. Current research demonstrates that resident satisfaction level has a close relationship with the factors mentioned above (Azimi and Esmaeilzadeh, 2017). Consequently, understanding and exploring tenant satisfaction remains essential. Satisfaction is an emotional, behavioural and mental phenomenon to evaluate and meet individual needs (Etminani-Ghasrodashti et al., 2017). Tenant satisfaction factors can broadly categorise into internal and external features of a property that contribute towards the overall living condition from the tenants’ perspective. Therefore, understanding tenant behaviour in addition to the building’s facilities are essential to measure tenant satisfaction. Although research into housing satisfaction holds its footprint since the 1970s, the research in this stream is scarce (Gibler et al., 2014) and past studies are lacking in the implications of a holistic approach to tenant satisfaction (Dinc ̧ et al., 2014).
Home-schooling during COVID-19 lockdown: Effects of coping style, home space, and everyday creativity on stress and home-schooling outcomes

The present study examined parents’ experiences of home-schooling their children during the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK. A total of 322 parents completed an online survey between the 1st May and the 24th July 2020. Relationships were explored between predictor variables (coping mechanisms, household income, adequacy of space) and outcome variables (parenting self-efficacy, discipline, home-schooling relationships) mediated by stress and moderated by creativity and parenting dimensions. Moderated mediation analyses showed that inadequate space at home and negative coping mechanisms resulted in elevated stress and worse outcomes in terms of parents approaches to discipline and their experience of home-schooling their children. Negative outcomes were more pronounced for parents who used high levels of behavioural control. In turn, negative outcomes were reduced when parents had higher levels of self-perceived everyday creativity and outcomes were improved by positive coping strategies. Implications and applications of these findings are discussed.
Estimating Sex in an Indonesian Population Using the Mean Value of Eight Mandibular Parameters in Panoramic Images

To obtain mean values for estimating sex based on eight mandibular parameters in panoramic secondary data. The mandible has been proven to be one of the most useful tools for estimating sex after the pelvis because it is the most durable facial bone and resists every disintegration process. The eight mandibular parameters can be assessed through radiographic analysis. Various mandibular parameters can be used to estimate sex, including ramus height, gonial angle, bigonial width, condylar ramus height, coronoid ramus height, maximum ramus breadth, minimum ramus breadth, and mental index. This study used panoramic images of 200 subjects (100 males and 100 females) aged 14–35 years. All parameters were measured using AutoCAD 2016 software, and the data was analyzed using the IBM SPSS statistics program. The values of the mandibular parameters are higher in males than in females, except for the gonial angle. The differences in ramus height, bigonial width, condylar ramus height, coronoid ramus height, maximum ramus breadth, and minimum ramus breadth in males and females were statistically significant (p < 0.01). However, the differences in the gonial angle and the mental index were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Except for the gonial angle and the mental index, mandibular parameters on panoramic images show high sexual dimorphism, so these measurements may be useful for estimating sex. Clinical article (J Int Dent Med Res 2017; 10(Special Issue): pp. 417-422)
The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Investment Efficiency: Is It Important?

This research aims to test, firstly, how the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) helps to moderate the effect of family ownership on investment efficiency; secondly, how CSR disclosures mediate the effect of corporate governance on investment efficiency. STATA was used to analyze archival data collected from a total sample of 210 manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX), which were in the family businesses category for the period of 2016-2018. The first finding is that CSR moderates the effect of family ownership on investment efficiency. This implies that family businesses are very careful about investing. They will avoid risky decisions that may increase the economic wealth, but reduce the socio-emotional wealth. To maintain socio-emotional wealth, they tend to choose an underinvestment strategy and are more concerned with the prestige and good reputation of their families and dynasties than with economic wealth. Thus, CSR disclosures can reduce the underinvestment strategy of family businesses listed on the IDX. The second finding is that CSR disclosures are able to mediate the effect of corporate governance on investment efficiency. CSR activities play a major role in decision-making, and through CSR disclosures, corporate governance has a greater effect on investment efficiency.
Determinants of youth sexual behaviour: program implications for India

Abstract. The objective of this paper is to review the current trend of premarital sexual behaviour among youth in India and the factors influencing this behaviour. Studies done in India in the last two decades were considered for the review. However due to paucity of data it could not be a systematic review and data from other developing countries was considered for comparison. Available data indicates high level of premarital and unsafe sexual activity among youth in India. Limited evidence reveals that the risk and protective factors, which play a role in determining the sexual activity of youth in developing countries are different from those in the west and they are more centered on the youth themselves. Small-scale studies done in India also highlight the factors related to the environment such as peers and family apart from individual factors. However the review highlights the need to conduct large-scale representative studies to explore the comprehensive picture of risk and protective factors that could apply to the youth in India, which has a diverse socio-cultural milieu across regions. Programs must focus on the interventions, which improve the protective factors and reduce the risk factors and not focus only on risk awareness alone. Adolescent's access to friendly services and an enabling environment in the community can improve their health seeking behavior. However multiple players other than health sector such as education, media and social agencies need to work in unison to promote protective factors that prevent unwanted health outcomes due to unsafe premarital sex. Key words: Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ARSH), premarital sexual activity, risk and protective factors, safe sex, adolescents and youth
Why are Energy Policies Acceptable and Effective?

This article examines which policy features affect the perceived effectiveness and acceptability of pricing policies aimed to reduce CO2 emissions. A survey study was conducted among 112 Dutch respondents in 2003. As hypothesized, incentives and policies targeting efficiency behavior were perceived to be more effective and acceptable than were disincentives and policies targeting curtailment behavior. Policies targeting direct energy use were evaluated as more effective than those targeting indirect energy use. No significant differences were found between the acceptability of policies targeting direct and indirect energy savings. As expected, push measures were perceived to be more effective and acceptable when revenues are allocated within the energy domain rather than to general funds. Pull measures were evaluated as more effective when they are funded from within the energy domain rather than from general public funds. The way pull measures are funded did not significantly affect their acceptability.
What Controls Springtime Fine Dust Variability in the Western United States? Investigating the 2002–2015 Increase in Fine Dust in the U.S. Southwest

We use empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis to investigate the role of meteorology in controlling the interannual variability of fine dust concentrations in the western United States during 2002–2015 March–May. We then develop a prediction model to explore the causes of an observed increase in fine dust concentrations during March in the Southwest. For each spring month, 54–61% of the total variance in fine dust anomalies can be explained by the first two leading EOF modes, which consist of a coherent pattern of covariability across the West and a dipole northwest‐southwest pattern. We identify the key meteorological controlling factors to be regional precipitation, temperature, and soil moisture, which are in turn mostly driven by large‐scale changes in sea surface temperature and/or atmospheric circulation patterns, including the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). In addition, fluctuations in the trans‐Pacific transport of Asian dust likely contribute to fine dust variability in March and April. We find that March fine dust concentrations have increased from 2002 to 2015 in the Southwest (0.06 ± 0.04 μg m−3 a−1, p < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis suggests that these increases are associated with the following: (1) regionally drier and warmer conditions driven by constructive interference between ENSO and PDO, (2) soil moisture reductions in areas spanning the North American deserts, and (3) enhanced trans‐Pacific transport. Our results provide an observational basis for improving dust emission schemes and for assessing future dust activity under climate change.
Direct recovering of surface structure characterized by an Nth degree polynomial equation using the UOFF approach

There are two different approaches for estimation of structure and/or motion of objects in the computer vision community today. One is the feature correspondence method, and the other is the optical flow method [1]. There are many difficulties and limitations encountered with the feature correspondence method, while the optical flow method is more feasible, but requires a substantial amount of extra calculations if the optical flow is to be computed as an intermediate step. Direct methods have been developed [2-4], that use the optical flow approach, but avoid computing the full optical flow field as an intermediate step for recovering structure and motion. The unified optical flow field theory was recently established in 15]. It is an extension of the optical flow (UOFF) [1] to stereo imagery. Based on the UOFF, a direct method is developed to reconstruct an Alpha shape surface structure characterized by an third degree polynomial equation, and a Sphere surface characterized by a second degree polynomial [6]. This thesis work uses the methods developed in [5,6], to reconstruct the third degree polynomial describing a surface. The main difference from the simulation results obtained in [6], is that in this case, one of the two surfaces tested is a third order, unbounded surface, and that the image gradients are computed directly from the image data, with no prior knowledge of the surface gray function distribution. Another important difference is that the gray levels of the surface are quantized in this work; i.e., the computations are done using integer image data, not the continuous gray levels as in [6]. These differences contribute to proving that the UOFF technique can be used in a practical manner, and with good results. Further discussions of the contributions of this work are included in the last chapter. DIRECT RECOVERING OF SURFACE STRUCTURE CHARACTERIZED BY AN Nth DEGREE POLYNOMIAL EQUATION USING THE UOFF APPROACH
Title The circumference of a graph with no K 3 , t-minor

It was shown by Chen and Yu that every 3-connected planar graph G contains a cycle of length at least |G|log3 , where |G| denotes the number of vertices of G. Thomas made a conjecture in a more general setting: there exists a function β(t) > 0 for t ≥ 3, such that every 3-connected graph G with no K3,t-minor, t ≥ 3, contains a cycle of length at least |G|β(t). We prove that this conjecture is true with β(t) = log8tt+1 2. We also show that every 2-connected graph with no K2,t-minor, t ≥ 3, contains a cycle of length at least |G|/tt−1.
Trade and Wage Inequality in Developing Countries: South-South Trade Matter

The relationship between trade liberalization and inequality has received considerable attention in recent years. The primary purpose of this paper is to present new results on the sources of wage inequalities in manufacturing taking into account South-South (S-S) trade. Globalization not only leads to increasing North-South (N-S) trade, but the direction and composition of trade has also changed. More trade is carried out between developing countries. We observe increasing wage inequality is more due to the South-South trade liberalization than to the classical trade liberalization with northern countries. The second purpose is to elucidate the link between the direction of trade and technological change, arguing that it might explain why we obtain different results for South-South trade and North-South trade on wage inequality. A part of this increasing wage inequality due to S-S trade comes from the development of N-S trade relationship in S-S trade which increases wage inequality in middle income developing countries. However the fact that S-S trade is more skill intensive sector oriented increase wage inequality for all developing countries.
Clinico-radiological manifestations of multidrug resistant tuberculosis ( MDR-TB ) in HIV / AIDS patients and its co-relation with treatment outcome in Southern Odisha

Multidrug resistance tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is one of the infections among the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seropositive cases. Varied clinical and radiological manifestations and treatment outcomes are being observed according to the immune status of the HIV serpositive MDR-TB patients. In this retrospective study, the data of the diagnosed cases of MDR-TB patients with HIV seropositivity who were registered in DR TB centre of Southern Odisha, over a period of three years. The detailed basal demographic characteristics, clinical, radiological, laboratory investigation findings, the treatment outcomes were noted and analysed statistically. In this setup, Maximum patients were (61.54%) within the age range of 26-35yrs with male preponderance. (M: F = 12:1). 88.89% of them were from rural areas and all were Hindus. The major clinical presentations were anaemia (100%), fever (84.61%), persistent cough (92.31%) weight loss (46.15%), and decreased appetite (38.46%). The radiological findings were cavitary lesions (53.84%) and infiltrations (46.15%) Among this study sample, only 23.08% of patients were declared to be cured, 46.15% died following successful treatment. 23.08% patients were declared to be default and 7.69% were lost to follow up within the study period. In the present study, MDR –TB patients co-infected with HIV were commonly observed among adult males. The treatment outcomes were poor probably due to non-adherence to multiple drug regimens under RNTCP and ANTI-HIV drugs.
The Role of Selected Team Design Elements in Successful Sibling Teams

For any team to function effectively, several basic elements need to be present. The extent to which these elements are present increases the chances of a successful team outcome. Since a family business can be viewed as a type of team, the literature on how to design effective teams is also relevant to business families. The primary objectives of this study are to identify the team design elements commonly referred to in the family business literature and to empirically test their influence on the effectiveness of South African sibling teams in family businesses. The empirical findings of this preliminary study show that physical resources, skills diversity, and strategic leadership are important determinants of sibling team success whereas role clarity and competence are not.
Title Collaborating with management academics in a new economy : Benefits and challenges

As a response to intensified globalization, international research collaboration has become common in the social sciences. This paper reports a study that examined what Chinese management academics and their overseas counterparts perceived to be the benefits and challenges arising from research collaboration with each other. Data collected with two parallel questionnaires administered, respectively, to 114 Chinese and 30 overseas management academics revealed a variety of perceived benefits relating mainly to Chinese and overseas academics’ complementing strengths. Analysis of the same data also identified an array of perceived challenges stemming from a combination of cultural, epistemological, ideological, linguistic, institutional, and relational differences. Our study generated insights to be drawn upon in policy-making and in the coordination of international research collaboration.
Effect of some socio-economic activities on fish diversity of lagoon systems in Ogun waterside Local Government of Ogun State, Nigeria

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of some socio-economic activities such as beach seining, brush park fisheries and laundry activities on fish diversity, distribution and abundance over two years (dry and wet seasons) in lagoon systems of Ogun waterside Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on various activities in the study locations. Fish sampling from the catches from selected fishermen using assorted gears, physical and chemical characteristics of the lagoon systems were carried out in four selected stations based on activity. The study revealed that beach seine and laundry activities as socio-economic activities impacted negatively on fish diversity in Iwopin study location. Bagridae represented by Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus contributed the highest number of fish in the two seasons. Fish species were evenly distributed in the wet seasons than dry seasons. Simpson index (D) computed for the 4 sites are 0.15, 0.11, 0.62 and 0.12 respectively for Makun-omi, Idaleketa, Iwopin and Ebute-Ilamo in the dry season and 0.37, 0.10, 0.42 and 0.10 for wet season. There are positive correlations between fish number, phosphate (r = 0.79) and Nitrate (r = 0.6). There are variations among physico-chemical parameters of water samples. Information gathered from this study is a useful tool for fisheries resource management of the lagoon systems of Ogun state. © 2010 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved. Key words : Fish resources, lagoon, season, socio-economic, Ogun waterside.