Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Democratizing candidate selection: Controlled turnover in Botswana’s Bulela Ditswe primaries

Why do political parties implement primary elections? With multi-party elections firmly established, political parties in many young democracies have begun to democratize internally by adopting mass primaries. Previous work argues that parties institute primaries to select for high quality candidates, incentivize campaigning effort, and reduce intra-party conflict. In this paper, I theorize that parties also implement mass primaries to open up the political elite while protecting their most senior members. Consistent with this hypothesis, using original data from Botswana’s ruling party, I find that primaries facilitate a limited and controlled turnover, decreasing the likelihood of re-nomination of long-term incumbents in favor of political newcomers while still protecting senior ministers. Combined with qualitative and historical evidence, these results suggest that electorally successful political parties may implement mass primaries to replace unpopular and entrenched leaders.
Reasons behind Low Cervical Screening Uptake among South Asian Immigrant Women: A Qualitative Exploration

Despite advancements in prevention strategies, cervical cancer remains a leading cause of death among underprivileged women. Although Australia has low age-standardized cervical cancer incidence rates compared with other countries, disparities exist in cervical screening uptake among certain population subgroups, especially those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. South Asian immigrant women have been reported to have lower cervical screening uptake than Australian-born women and those from other immigrant backgrounds. The objective of this study was to gain insight into the reasons and barriers for low cervical screening participation among South Asian immigrant women, through qualitative exploration. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 women, aged 26–50 years, living in Queensland, Australia, who were recruited via purposive sampling. After translation and transcription of recorded interviews, data was analysed via inductive thematic approach. Resulting themes, illustrating barriers towards screening, included: lack of cervical cancer and screening knowledge, especially of the changes in the revised screening program; effect of preventive, health-seeking behaviours; health care system factors; role of practical constraints and influence of sociocultural beliefs. Results suggest that culturally informed interventions, that involve relevant information provision and behavioural change strategies, to clarify women’s misconceptions, are required.
An analysis of the effects of customer satisfaction and engagement on social media on repurchase intention in the hospitality industry

Abstract The purpose of this quantitative-deductive paper is to explore the link amongst customer satisfaction and engagement on social media on repurchase intention in the hospitality industry. The study was conducted on social media because, it is the fastest growing media in history. Data was collected from hotels in the three major business hub cities (Accra, Tamale and Kumasi) in Ghana. A total of 504 valid responses were obtained from respondents in the selected cities. SmartPLS software was used to analyze the data using (PLS-SEM) method. The results show that customer satisfaction has a positive and significant relationship on the dimensions of customer engagement. The three dimensions of customer engagement (contribution, consumption and creation) were found to significantly influence repurchase intention. Finally, two dimensions of engagement (contribution and consumption) were found to mediate the relationship between customer satisfactions and repurchase intention. The study is among the few to combine the COBRA model and Social Exchange Theory to assess the nexus between customers’ engagement in an online environment and its linkages with satisfaction and repurchase intentions. Marketers should consider creating posts with photos, videos, and animation that consumers find entertaining and enjoyable, as this stimulates their desire to consume, contribute, and create content on social media pages for hotel brands.
Item-Level Analysis of a Newly Developed Interactive Nutrition Specific Physical Exam Competency Tool (INSPECT) Using the Rasch Measurement Model

The Interactive Nutrition Specific Physical Exam Competency Tool (INSPECT) is a tool designed specifically to observe and measure registered dietitian nutritionists’ (RDNs) nutrition-focused physical exam (NFPE) competence in authentic acute care settings. The initial INSPECT items were generated and tested for content and face validity using expert RDNs’ input. The INSPECT was further examined for inter-rater, intra-rater, and internal consistency using clinical supervisor observations of RDNs performing NFPE on patients in real-life acute care settings. These previous studies showed the INSPECT to have excellent content validity, acceptable face validity, good inter-rater reliability, moderate to strong intra-rater reliability, and excellent internal consistency. In the current study, the Rasch measurement model was applied to examine the item-level properties of the INSPECT. Results confirm that the INSPECT measured a single construct. All items fit the established criteria for clinical observations of >0.5 and <1.7, had positive point measure correlations, met the Wright Unidimensionality Index criteria of ≥0.9, exhibited one latent construct with >40% variance explained by the Rasch dimension as well as a sub-dimension based on item difficulty from the principal component analysis of the first contrast Rasch residuals. Rasch rating scale analysis revealed that the rating scale and majority of the items (39/41) fit the Rasch model. Rasch item hierarchy analysis matched the a priori hypothesized hierarchy for the top-most and bottom-most items. Ceiling effects were seen for three items (hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, and patient position) and one item (handgrip using hand dynamometer) reached the floor effect. Rasch reliability assessment demonstrated high person reliability (0.86), high item reliability (0.96), and person separation of 3.56 ability levels. The principal component analysis of residuals revealed two factors based on item difficulty, one for micronutrient exam and another for macronutrient exam, initial steps, and bedside manner. The resulting two factors may likely be due to a sub-dimension of the latent NFPE trait. Overall, the INSPECT items were found to have good item-level psychometrics. Continued testing of the INSPECT with RDNs at different ability levels will help to determine cut-off scores ranging from novice to expert. Establishing cut-off scores for the INSPECT will further enhance the utility of the tool.
Characteristics of Clinics without National Health Insurance Contracts: A Nationwide Survey in Taiwan

Based on the 1978 Alma-Ata Declaration, the key to achieving health for all is primary health care, and many countries have established various comprehensive health care systems. Because of the financial toll of a public health care system, government-sponsored public health insurance is not universally accepted. This study used Taiwan as the backdrop to understand why many health clinics have chosen not to accept the National Health Insurance (NHI), despite it covering 99.93% of the country’s population. The clinics’ operational details were garnered from the datasets of Taiwan’s open government data platforms and checked against the list of contracting clinics within the NHI. Of 10,907 Western medicine primary care clinics in 2016, as many as 9846 (90.3%) clinics had signed contracts with the NHI. The remaining 1061 noncontracting clinics were distributed in urban (94.5%, n = 1003), suburban (4.9%, n = 52), and rural/remote areas (0.6%, n = 6). The NHI did not have contracts with 183 plastic surgery, 88 internal medicine, and 85 surgery clinics. In conclusion, nearly one-tenth of clinics practiced independently of the NHI in Taiwan. Their reasons for declining the contract and practices for delivering their services deserve further studies.
Identification of Inhibitory Activities of Dietary Flavonoids against URAT1, a Renal Urate Re-Absorber: In Vitro Screening and Fractional Approach Focused on Rooibos Leaves

Hyperuricemia, a lifestyle-related disease characterized by elevated serum urate levels, is the main risk factor for gout; therefore, the serum urate-lowering effects of human diets or dietary ingredients have attracted widespread interest. As Urate transporter 1 (URAT1) governs most urate reabsorption from primary urine into blood, URAT1 inhibition helps decrease serum urate levels by increasing the net renal urate excretion. In this study, we used a cell-based urate transport assay to investigate the URAT1-inhibitory effects of 162 extracts of plant materials consumed by humans. Among these, we focused on Aspalathus linearis, the source of rooibos tea, to explore its active ingredients. Using liquid–liquid extraction with subsequent column chromatography, as well as spectrometric analyses for chemical characterization, we identified quercetin as a URAT1 inhibitor. We also investigated the URAT1-inhibitory activities of 23 dietary ingredients including nine flavanols, two flavanonols, two flavones, two isoflavonoids, eight chalcones, and a coumarin. Among the tested authentic chemicals, fisetin and quercetin showed the strongest and second-strongest URAT1-inhibitory activities, with IC50 values of 7.5 and 12.6 μM, respectively. Although these effects of phytochemicals should be investigated further in human studies, our findings may provide new clues for using nutraceuticals to promote health.
The source of cobalt in ancient Egyptian pigments

Chemical analyses of Egyptian blue pigments of the second millennium B.C. have established that those containing cobalt invariably contain elevated concentrations of aluminum, magnesium, manganese, iron, nickel, and zinc. The correlation holds true in pottery, paint, glass, and faience. Past attempts to identify the source of the cobalt used in Egypt have foundered on the problem of finding an ore with all of the above-mentioned elements, or on the fact that some other correlations expected from the proposed sources were not detectable in the manufactured materials. Analyses just completed show that the cobalt in the alum from the Dakhla Oasis is invariably accompanied by all of the elements associated with it in Egyptian pigments. The elemental proportions are similar to those observed in Egyptian New Kingdom faience. It is therefore suggested that the cobalt employed in New Kingdom Egypt and in the Mycenean world, where similar correlations have been observed, came from the Great Western Oases in Egypt. Cobalt used in Egypt during the first millennium B.C. shows no clear correlations with other elements and resembles the cobalt detected in Mesopotamian pigments of all time periods, which presumably came from Iran.
Stress Resistance Traits under Different Thermal Conditions in Drosophila subobscura from Two Altitudes

Simple Summary The global warming and rapid climate change that we are witnessing is generally influencing all of the living world, so all species must necessarily cope with these changes in order to survive. The ability to withstand environmental stress, especially during the last two decades, has been of great importance for any species’ long-term survival. For that purpose, we studied these abilities in the Drosophila subobscura species, which is known to be a good model organism for studying adaptations to environmental changes such as in temperature. We chose to investigate thermal stress responses in D. subobscura populations from two different altitudes, through four traits linked to stress tolerance: desiccation resistance, heat knock-down resistance, starvation resistance, and chill coma recovery time. Correlations between the populations’ origin and these traits were found, as well as the significant influence of the laboratory thermal conditions and sex on these traits showing that males and cold-adapted populations are expected to fare much worse in a fast-changing warming environment. Abstract Global warming and climate change are affecting many insect species in numerous ways. These species can develop diverse mechanisms as a response to variable environmental conditions. The rise in mean and extreme temperatures due to global warming and the importance of the population’s ability to adapt to temperature stress will further increase. In this study, we investigated thermal stress response, which is considered to be one of the crucial elements of population fitness and survival in fast-changing environments. The dynamics and variation of thermal stress resistance traits in D. subobscura flies originating from two natural populations sampled from different altitudes were analysed. Three different temperature regimes (25 °C, 19 °C, and 16 °C) were used for the F1 progeny from both localities to establish six experimental groups and investigate stress resistance traits: desiccation resistance, heat knock-down resistance, starvation resistance, and chill-coma recovery time. We detected that laboratory thermal conditions and population origin may have an effect on the analysed traits, and that sex also significantly influences stress resistance. Individuals from the lower altitude reared at higher temperatures show inferior resistance to thermal shock.
Assessment of Land Use Land Cover Changes and Future Predictions Using CA-ANN Simulation for Selangor, Malaysia

Land use land cover (LULC) has altered dramatically because of anthropogenic activities, particularly in places where climate change and population growth are severe. The geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing are widely used techniques for monitoring LULC changes. This study aimed to assess the LULC changes and predict future trends in Selangor, Malaysia. The satellite images from 1991–2021 were classified to develop LULC maps using support vector machine (SVM) classification in ArcGIS. The image classification was based on six different LULC classes, i.e., (i) water, (ii) developed, (iii) barren, (iv) forest, (v) agriculture, and (vi) wetlands. The resulting LULC maps illustrated the area changes from 1991 to 2021 in different classes, where developed, barren, and water lands increased by 15.54%, 1.95%, and 0.53%, respectively. However, agricultural, forest, and wetlands decreased by 3.07%, 14.01%, and 0.94%, respectively. The cellular automata-artificial neural network (CA-ANN) technique was used to predict the LULC changes from 2031–2051. The percentage of correctness for the simulation was 82.43%, and overall kappa value was 0.72. The prediction maps from 2031–2051 illustrated decreasing trends in (i) agricultural by 3.73%, (ii) forest by 1.09%, (iii) barren by 0.21%, (iv) wetlands by 0.06%, and (v) water by 0.04% and increasing trends in (vi) developed by 5.12%. The outcomes of this study provide crucial knowledge that may help in developing future sustainable planning and management, as well as assist authorities in making informed decisions to improve environmental and ecological conditions.
Local and Remote Conformational Switching in 2-Fluoro-4-Hydroxy Benzoic Acid

In this work, 2-F-4-OH benzoic acid was isolated in Ar matrices and conformational changes were induced by near-IR irradiating the sample. Upon deposition, three conformers could be observed in the matrix, denoted as A1, A2, and D1, respectively. A1 and A2 are trans carboxylic acids, i.e., there is an intramolecular H bond between the H and the carbonyl O atoms in the COOH group, whereas D1 is a cis carboxylic acid with an intramolecular H bond between the F atom and the H atom in the COOH group, which otherwise has the same structure as A1. The difference between A1 and A2 is in the orientation of the carbonyl O atom with regard to the F atom, i.e., whether they are on the opposite or on the same side of the molecule, respectively. All three conformers have their H atom in their 4-OH group, facing the opposite direction with regard to the F atom. The stretching overtones of the 4-OH and the carboxylic OH groups were selectively excited in the case of each conformer. Unlike A2, which did not show any response to irradiation, A1 could be converted to the higher energy form D1. The D1 conformer spontaneously converts back to A1 via tunneling; however, the conversion rate could be significantly increased by selectively exciting the OH vibrational overtones of D1. Quantum efficiencies have been determined for the ‘local’ or ‘remote’ excitations, i.e., when the carboxylic OH or the 4-OH group is excited in order to induce the rotamerization of the carboxylic OH group. Both ‘local’ and ‘remote’ conformational switching are induced by the same type of vibration, which allows for a direct comparison of how much energy is lost by energy dissipation during the two processes. The experimental findings indicate that the ‘local’ excitation is only marginally more efficient than the ‘remote’ one.
Epidemiological Profile of Stroke patients at Neuropsychiatry Department, Tanta University Hospitals

Background: Stroke is the second most common cause of death and long-term disability worldwide with up to one of every six survivors remaining permanently disabled. It is a devastating and disabling cerebrovascular disease with significant amount of residual deficit leading to economic loss and disease burden worldwide. Aim: Describe the epidemiological profile of stroke during the period of five years (2014-2018). Study Design: cross- sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out in the Neuro-psychiatry hospital (free and economic departments) at Tanta University Hospital. This study started from the first of April 2019 and completed by July2021. Methodology: The sample we included 3435patient medical records. Tools of the study were: file extracted sheets of the five years (2014-2018). It was about data related to epidemiological profile of stroke. Results: This study included 3435patient medical records admitted with stroke at the years2014-2018 and had the following epidemiological profile: the age ranged from 30-95 years and the median age was 65 years old . Male constituted 51.8% of patients, about two thirds, (64.9%) of patients were from urban residence and 66.8%were married. As regards type of stroke: ischemic stroke presented by 63.5%of patients and hemorrhagic stroke by 36.5%. Of all patients 30% had favorable outcome, 67.4% had stable condition and 2.7% were died. Conclusion: The rate of stroke was increasing through the studied five years with most cases at year 2018 and the epidemiological profile was not different from other studies.
Effects of information communication technology-assisted teaching training on English language teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and English language proficiency

Abstract This study was conducted to examine the effects of training in Information Communication Technology-assisted (ICT-assisted) English language teaching on secondary school English language teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and English language proficiency. To achieve this goal, a one-group within-subject quasi-experimental design was utilized. Twenty-two (n = 22) teachers selected from three government secondary schools in Arba Minch and Sawla towns of Gamo and Gofa zones of South Nations, Nationalities, and the Peoples Regional State of Ethiopia were included in the study using a comprehensive sampling technique. Four rounds of repeated measurements were used to collect data and Friedman’s test was used to compare the mean scores to examine the effects of the training on the teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and English language proficiency. Related-samples Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (effect size) was also run using the same non-parametric test of Friedman’s test to exmine the magnitude of the effect. The results revealed that training in ICT-assisted teaching has a significant effect on the pedagogical knowledge and English language proficiency of the teachers. Moreover, the independent variable (training in ICT-assisted English language teaching) has a strong effect (effect size) on their pedagogical knowledge and English language proficiency. Based on the results, in-service teacher training in ICT-assisted teaching is recommended to harness the potential of new technologies for English language teachers’ professional development.
Incidence and Predictors of Pulmonary Tuberculosis among Children Who Received Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), Northwest Ethiopia: A Multicenter Historical Cohorts Study 2009–2019

The human immune deficiency virus (HIV) is the strongest risk factor for endogenous reactivation of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) through target reduction of CD4, T-lymphocytes, and cellular immune function. Almost one-third of deaths among people living with HIV are attributed to tuberculosis. Despite this evidence, in Ethiopia, information is scarce and meager regarding PTB incidence after ART initiated for seropositive children. Methods. Facility-based multicenter historical cohort was conducted among 721 seropositive children after initiating ART from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2019. Data from the records of children were extracted using a standardized checklist. The collected data were entered using Epi-Data version 4.2 and exported to STATA (SE) R-14 version statistical soft wares for further analysis. Bivariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses were conducted to identify predictors of PTB incidence. Results. Seven hundred twenty-one (N = 721) seropositive children were included with a mean (±SD) age of 118.4 ± 38.24 months. During the follow-up periods, 63 (15.2%) participants developed new cases of TB; majority (61/63, 96.8%) of them were PTB. The overall incidence rate and the median (±IQR) time of PTB reported were determined as 5.86 per 100 child years (95% CI: 4.58, 7.5) and 17.8 (±11) months, respectively. At baseline, children being severely stunted (AHR = 2.9 : 95% CI, 1.2–7.8, P=0.03), with Hgb ≤10 mg/dl (AHR = 4.0; 95% CI, 2.1–8.1, P=0.001), and not given isoniazid and cotrimoxazole preventive therapy (AHR = 2.4; 95% CI: 1.2; 5.1, P=0.001) (AHR = 2.5; 95% CI, 1.4–4.7, P=0.021) were significantly associated with PTB incidence. Conclusion. A high incidence rate of PTB was observed in our study as compared with the previous finding in Ethiopia. Cases at baseline not taking IPT and CPT, being severely stunted, and having low hemoglobin (≤10 mg/dl) levels were found to be at higher risk of developing PTB.
Competition between Export Cities in China: Evolution and Influencing Factors

Based on the Export Similarity Index (ESI), this study examines the export competition pattern among Chinese cities in the global market from 2000 to 2017, analyzing the mechanism of competition using a panel Granger causality test and a gravity model. The study reports several findings, as follows: (1) The competition pattern among Chinese cities first increased and then decreased, and the ESI between most cities was low. (2) More provincial capitals in the central and western regions converged with the developed eastern regions in their export structures, and cities in the regions of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta competed differently. (3) Using all cities in the sample, the results show a bidirectional causal relationship between a city’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the average export competitive pressure from other cities. However, results for the provincial capitals and three urban agglomerations indicated that GDP intensifies competition among cities. (4) The gravity model’s regression results show that the larger the economic size and the smaller the distance between cities, the more obvious the competition between them. This study provides a new direction for the study of export trade from the perspective of urban scale.