Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proximity Trade and Urban Sustainability: Small Retailers’ Expectations Towards Local Online Marketplaces

The aim of this research is to identify the expectations offered by small retail businesses towards local online selling platforms as an innovative tool to ensure their future and the urban sustainability. Based on the previous findings obtained from an analysis of trends, actors and marketplaces operating in the retail sector, sixty semi-structured in-depth interviews have been carried out to Spanish local retail managers and owners. Opportunities and risks faced by local online marketplaces are presented from the perspective of small retail stores. Different attitudes towards online shopping platforms have been identified depending on their size, presence and experience in the online world, which has allowed us to categorize local retail businesses in six groups. Despite the perceptual and attitudinal differences between them, it is concluded that merchants have assumed that the current and future business model goes through the digitalization of their businesses and the selling on e-commerce platforms. The coexistence of the e-marketplace and the physical stores, conducted by the same retailers, could have a positive effect on the urban sustainability: on the one hand, with the economic strengthening and renovation of the historical centers and, on the other, with the maintenance of the population and traditional social relationships.
Good Practice Principles in an Undergraduate Blended Course Design

This study examines students’ perceptions of a blended course which uses the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. A blended teacher education course was designed with teaching and learning activities to introduce the Seven Principles for Good Practice. The participants included 47 pre-service teachers in an undergraduate teacher education program in Turkey. Data were collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods, including a questionnaire, student interviews, and discussion forum transcripts. The results indicate that the students’ perceptions of the blended course were mostly positive; the students felt that the blended environment was very useful. The participants perceived six of the seven principles to be helpful, including student-faculty contact, cooperation, time on task, diversity of ways to learn, feedback, and active learning. However, the students also thought that the seventh “expectations” principle needed to be improved.
Biochemical and radiological markers as predictors of dengue severity in children admitted in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Dengue fever is the arboviral infection with the largest incidence worldwide. Clinical expression of dengue virus infection varies from no symptoms to severe dengue with shock. Severe Dengue is characterized by thrombocytopenia, spontaneous haemorrhages, and gradual plasma leakage that can lead to shock. Biochemical and radiological markers have not been evaluated prospectively in early stages of dengue and their utility as predictors of dengue children progressing to severe dengue have not been studied previously in our part of the country. The objective of this study was to evaluate biochemical and radiological markers as predictors of dengue severity. Methods: This Prospective Cohort study was done in a Tertiary care teaching hospital (Sri Ramachandra Medical College) from January 2010 to June 2011. Children from the age of one month to ≤18 years, who fulfilled the WHO criteria for dengue fever, duration of clinical symptoms < 96 hrs and children with dengue NS 1 antigen positivity with or without IgM antibodies were included in the study. An informed consent was obtained and blood samples were taken for biochemical markers (AST, ALT, CPK and LDH) and radiological markers in the form of plasma leakage was detected by Chest X ray and Ultrasonogram of abdomen. Results: 103 children with dengue infection were enrolled in the study, of which 50 children had warning signs at the time of admission. Among the 50 children with warning signs, 37 children progressed to severe dengue. Serum AST, ALT, CPK and LDH showed significant elevation in children with dengue with warning signs in comparison to children with dengue fever. Radiological markers Chest X-ray and Ultrasonogram abdomen also predicted plasma leakage significantly in children with warning signs than in children with dengue fever. Conclusions: This study suggests that elevated AST, ALT, CPK, LDH, and signs of plasma leak detected within 96 hrs of onset of symptoms can predict a more severe form of dengue infection. Hence, these biochemical and radiological markers may be useful in identification and close monitoring of potentially sick children with dengue infection and serve as valuable prognostic markers early in the course of the illness.
Molecular Graph Enhanced Transformer for Retrosynthesis Prediction

With massive possible synthetic routes in chemistry, retrosynthesis prediction is still a challenge for researchers. Recently, retrosynthesis prediction is formulated as a Machine Translation (MT) task. Namely, since each molecule can be represented as a Simplified Molecular-Input Line-Entry System (SMILES) string, the process of retrosynthesis is analogized to a process of language translation from the product to reactants. However, the MT models that applied on SMILES data usually ignore the information of natural atomic connections and the topology of molecules. To make more chemically plausible constrains on the atom representation learning for better performance, in this paper, we propose a Graph Enhanced Transformer (GET) framework, which adopts both the sequential and graphical information of molecules. Four different GET designs are proposed, which fuse the SMILES representations with atom embeddings learned from our improved Graph Neural Network (GNN). Empirical results show that our model significantly outperforms the vanilla Transformer model in test accuracy.
Uses and gratifications of social media in the Middle East North Africa region

APA Citation Taha, Y. (2020). Uses and gratifications of social media in the Middle East North Africa region [Master’s thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt. edu/etds/816 MLA Citation Taha, Yousra Osama. Uses and gratifications of social media in the Middle East North Africa region. 2020. American University in Cairo, Master's thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt. edu/etds/816
Hypertension and obesity in community of Nain-Sukh.

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency of factors related to hypertension in a peri-urban community. METHODS It was a cross-sectional survey conducted from January to August, 2016, in Nain Sukh, Sheikhupura, near Lahore comprised household individuals of either gender aged 15-69 years. Data was collected through interviews by using a structured questionnaire focussing on socio-demography, history and factors associated with hypertension, like body mass index and lifestyle modifications. Hypertensive patients were identified by using clinical and medication history. SPSS 21 was used to analyse data. RESULTS Of the 1080 subjects, 871(80.6%) were females and 209(19.4%) were males. The overall mean age was 33.5±14 years. Hypertension was found in 307(28.4%) subjects. Hypertension was significantly associated with lifestyle modification factors, like weight reduction, reduction in salt intake and smoking cessation (p<0.05), and with body mass index categories (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Hypertension was found to be significantly high among overweight and obese participants, especially females.
Epidemiological determinants of road traffic accidents: a cross sectional study in Amravati, Maharashtra, India

Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The pace of scientific and technological development especially in the areas of automobile, locomotive and aviation technology has instilled an ingredient known as ‘speed’ in human life. Man’s blind infatuation with speed in the absence of conducive road and traffic conditions and adequate proficiency has become a major cause of human agony and suffering due to RTAs.
Evaluating the effectiveness of KooLKIDS: An interactive social emotional learning program for Australian primary school children

The effectiveness of universal social emotional learning (SEL) programs are dependent on the incorporation of best practice principles, including an evaluative component. In the present study, the effects of a best practice, teacher-led SEL program was examined with 854 children aged 8–12 years. KooLKIDS uses an interactive multimedia format and animated character to help children develop their emotion regulation capacities, social and friendship skills, empathy and compassion for others, and self-esteem. A quasi-experimental waitlist-control design was used to examine the impact of KooLKIDS on social and emotional competence, behavioral and emotional problems, academic achievement and effort. Hierarchical linear modeling demonstrated significant increases in social and emotional competence, and reductions in internalizing and externalizing problems in children post KooLKIDS program in the intervention group. The findings suggest that KooLKIDS has strong potential as a teacher-led, classroom-based, structured program for enhancing children's social and emotional learning.
Study on permanent tubal sterilisation in a semi-urban based medical college hospital

Background: Tubal sterilisation is a permanent method of contraception in use for many years. Main objective of our study is to find the acceptance of permanent method of tubal sterilisation in women delivering in a semi-urban based medical college hospital. Methods: Retrospective analysis was carried to find the number of women undergoing tubal sterilisation in our hospital for period of one year from April 2015 to March 2016. Results: Total women delivered over a period of one year were 10959 out of them 2619 women underwent tubal sterilisation. Analysis showed acceptance was high when combined with lower segment cesarian section (LSCS) and more among women in the age of 20-29 years. Conclusions: The present study showed the acceptance of tubal sterilisation following vaginal delivery to undergo mini lap is still low compared to concurrent sterilisation with LSCS. High order births are still prevalent in semi-urban based hospitals. Not only motivation, also regular review of registers that update the eligible couples, identification of complications and timely referral to higher centers will help in achieving the goal of bringing down the number of high order birth which in turn will reducing the maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity.
Probabilistic Consistency Guarantee in Partial Quorum-Based Data Store

Many NoSQL databases support quorum-based protocols, which require a subset of replicas (called a quorum) to respond to each write/read operation. These systems configure the quorum size to tune the operation latency and adopt multiple consistency levels. Some recent works illustrate that using probability models to quantify the chance of reading the last update is important because it could avoid returning stale values under eventual consistency. There are two challenging issues: (1) from inconsistent replicas, how to determine the minimum quorum size (i.e., the lowest access latency) to read the newest data at a specified probability; (2) node failure frequently happens in large-scale systems, how to guarantee the probability-based consistent reads. This article presents Probabilistic Consistency Guarantee (PCG), which is the first dynamic quorum decision and failure-aware quantification model. PCG model respectively quantifies the server-side consistency after the latest write, which reflects the object's time-varying update progress, and the possibility of reading this update when responding to the end-users. Our theoretical analysis derives several formulas to determine the quorum size of a read quorum and the consensus result selected from this quorum is the data updated by the last write at the user-specified probability. When some replicas are unavailable, our model knows how to rescale the quorum and read values from surviving replicas could reduce the stale reads caused by node failures. The experimental results in Cassandra demonstrate that the PCG model can achieve up to 77.7 percent more accurate predictions and reduce up to 48.9 percent read latency than those of the previous model.
Publicar en castellano, o en cualquier otro idioma que no sea inglés, negativo para el factor de impacto y citaciones. To publish in Spanish or in any non English language, negative for impact factor and citations.

The number of citations of an article or its impact factor is greatly biased by the language in which it is written. Most of the journals included in the Web of Science (WOS) are in English. English written articles have much more penetration than articles in other languages. There are three articles in the world literature that have been cited more than 100,000 times, all of them in English. In contrast, the most cited article in Spanish appeared only 561 times. There are 74 Spanish journals indexed in the web of Science, but only four in the first quartile and five in the second quartile. For this reason, scientists are forced to publish in foreign journals. We should devise the system of electronic diffusion of scientific publications in the XXI century as a unique instrument, located in the web, to which articles are conducted. It would not be necessary to know through which journal each article is carried because with its identifying DOI articles can be traced. Impact factor has some drawbacks that shade its equity. The adequate way to evaluate articles would be through the number of times that are cited, being authors judged through their h index.
Staff and Youth Buy-In Ideas for Initial and Sustainable Facility-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports Implementation Within Residential and Juvenile Facilities

The positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) framework is a well-researched framework used to teach, model, and reinforce positive behavior in schools across the country. Many residential and juvenile facilities have adopted the PBIS framework to fit a 24/7 delivery model spanning facility environments and activities (known as facility-wide PBIS [FW-PBIS]); this implementation is still in its early stages. While many FW-PBIS leadership teams report improved outcomes when implementing FW-PBIS, many continue to struggle to gain initial buy-in from youth and staff as well as sustain buy-in after initial implementation. We offer suggestions from the field to promote buy-in from key stakeholders within residential and juvenile settings.
Financial Volatility and Economic Growth

We investigate the impact of financial volatility on economic growth, using a panel spanning 150 years and 74 countries. A positive shock to volatility and persistent high volatility lead to a short-term decrease in growth. Persistent low volatility affects growth differently: Initially leading to higher growth, but with a reversal two years hence, consistent with theories of how continued low risk environment induces higher risk-taking. The impact is stronger when volatility is low globally, during the post Bretton Woods era, and for countries experiencing high credit growth. Furthermore, long-lasting global volatility has a significant impact on capital flows, investment, and lending quality.
Short Term Time Course Skeletal Responses to High Intensity Physical Exercise

The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to investigate temporal skeletal responses to short-term high intensity physical activity. Twenty-eight normal active females [age: 20.7 +/2.1 yr (mean +/SD)] were randomized into exercise (EX, n = 15) or control (CN, n = 13) groups. The exercise group trained 6 days/wk for 6 wk, which consisted of maximal isokinetic knee flexion/extension 3 days/wk, combined with 3 days/wk running. The purpose was to expose the tibiae to a period of abruptly increased loading forces. Tibial bending stiffness (EIMRTA), and serum concentrations of biochemical markers of bone formation [osteocalcin (OC)], and bone resorption [ntelopeptide of type I collagen (NTx)] were measured at baseline, 2 wks, 4 wks, and 6 wks. Isokinetic concentric knee extension/flexion peak torque, as well as total body and site-specific bone mineral density (BMD) were measured at baseline and 6 wk. After training, the exercise group significantly increased (p < 0.05) isokinetic concentric peak torque for the dominant (13.6%) and non-dominant (5.7%) quadriceps, as well as dominant (7.7%) and non-dominant (9.5%) hamstrings, compared to the controls. No differences for total body or site-specific BMD were noted. A two-way multivariate repeated measures ANOVA revealed no time•group interactions for composite tibial bending stiffness [(EIMRTA); p = 0.57] or the biochemical markers of bone turnover [(OC and NTx); p = 0.15] across the four sampling periods. While there were no main effects for group, a trend for time (p = 0.051) for composite EIMRTA was observed. The exercise group demonstrated a 20% increase in EIMRTA from baseline (74.8 +/22.3 Nm) to 6 wk (89.8 +/24 Nm), compared to controls who demonstrated a 4% increase (Baseline 86.5 +/23.8 Nm; 6 wk 90 +/23.7 Nm). Significant group differences (p = 0.05) were noted for OC, but not NTx. Differences (p < 0.05) for OC were observed at baseline [13.2 +/2.4 ng/ml (CN), 15.6 +/2.7 ng/ml (EX)], and follow-up ANCOVA revealed no differences for subsequent sampling periods. Main effects for time were found for OC and NTx (p < 0.001). Main effects for time in OC were attributable to changes in the exercise group (p < 0.01) and NTx (p < 0.01), but not the control group.
For a Safer Working Environment with Hydrofluoric Acid in Iraqi Industrial Plants

Hydrofluoric acid has been one of the important chemicals in the industry. In Iraq, there is a considerable consumption of it in petrochemicals and detergents industry. However, so far, there is no genuine evaluation for the hazards and any prospective procedures to minimise the risk of it. In this regard, we show here some accidents took place in some industrial amenities in Iraq and other Arabic countries. In addition, there is an elaborated description of the degree of risk, safety practices, and some feasible treatments for hydrofluoric acid burns and inhalations.
Comparison of growth and toxicity responses between non-toxic and toxic strains of Prorocentrum hoffmannianum

We aimed to study the growth and toxicity responses of non-toxic (CCMP683) and toxic (CCMP2804) strains of Prorocentrum hoffmannianum under various nitrate and phosphate concentrations. The 2 strains were cultured in L1-Si medium with standard, depleted or 10-fold repleted nitrate or phosphate. CCMP683 cultured in standard L1-Si medium exhibited delayed growth. Nitrate or phosphate depletion decreased the cell density of both strains. Repletion of nitrate slightly increased the cell density of both strains. Repletion of phosphate also slightly increased the cell density of CCMP2804 but surprisingly decreased the cell density of CCMP683. Okadaic acid (OA) and its derivatives were not detected in CCMP683. OA was detected only in CCMP2804. Depletion of nitrate or phosphate increased the cellular concentration of OA, and repletion of nitrate or phosphate had no effect on the cellular concentration of OA. Correlation analysis indicated that the cellular concentration of OA was negatively correlated with cell density. Differences in the growth response to phosphate repletion and in the ability to produce OA suggest that the 2 strains may be good candidates for comparative studies related to phosphate metabolism and OA toxicity.
Does Access to International Capital Markets Affect Investment Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa?

ABSTRACT This study investigates the influence of government borrowing through international capital markets on investment dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We apply the synthetic control method to Gabon, Ghana and Senegal to assess whether this kind of government borrowing affects public and private investment, and FDI in these countries using annual data for the period 1995–2017. Our results suggest that government borrowings through international capital markets have not affected public and private investment, but that the move may have boosted these countries’ capacity to attract FDI. These results lend support to the hypothesis that these countries’ exposure to international capital markets constitutes an opportunity to register on the investors’ radar.
The influence of birth quartile, maturation, anthropometry and physical performances on player retention: Observations from an elite football academy

Understanding the factors that influence player retention within elite youth football can be used to enhance current practices. This study investigated an English Category 1 academy to determine if birth quartile, somatic maturity, anthropometric and physical performance characteristics are associated with player retention across the developmental pathway. Birth dates of 355 elite players from Under 11 (U11) to U21 groups were categorised into birth quartiles, and logistic regression (odds ratio) analysis was used to determine the differences in retention. Multilevel modelling compared somatic maturity, anthropometry, countermovement jump, sprint time (10 and 30 m), agility T-test and Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Level 1 or 2 performance between retained and dropout players. Logistic regression (odds ratio) analysis revealed no significant differences between birth quartiles for the likelihood of being retained across age groups. Multilevel modelling revealed that retained players were typically older, advanced in maturity and superior in body size and physical performances compared to dropouts, with small to medium effect sizes typically observed. This study indicates that within a highly selective cohort of young football players, somatic maturity, anthropometric and physical performance characteristics, but not birth quartile, distinguish individuals that are subsequently retained or dropout in an age group-dependent manner. Youth football organisations should seek to implement multidisciplinary and dynamic talent selection and retention strategies to prevent inappropriate discrimination and loss of talented young players.