Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multimedia Technology and Learner Autonomy: An Experimental Study for Asymmetric Effects

One of the advantages of multimedia-assisted instruction is that it makes students more interested in sustainable learning and assists them to access information and learn more effectively. This research sought to explore the asymmetric effects of the development of sustainable multimedia-assisted instruction (MAI) on student reading practice in areas such as the implementation of learner autonomy and the improvement of reading ability, primarily based on multimedia technology-assisted instruction. This experiment was conducted in a junior high school in China. Eighty-six students from two parallel grade two classes were selected as research participants. Class One was set as the experimental class (EC) and Class Two was symmetrically designed as the control class (CC). The research results indicate that MAI encouraged students in the EC to adopt reading strategies more frequently and helped them to improve their level of learner autonomy, from a low level to an intermediate level, for the use of an asymmetrical technology, in comparison with the control class. Furthermore, the EC’s reading ability was significantly enhanced. Additionally, there is a discussion of pedagogical implications and constructive suggestions considered to be beneficial for sustainable learning skills, teaching and for further research on the symmetrical application of technology in education. Finally, one of the most significant findings from this study is the effectiveness of combining modern sustainable technology and advanced educational concepts with symmetry in promoting learner autonomy within a sustainable learning model.
Polymeric emulgel carrying Cinnamomum tamala extract: promising delivery system for potential topical applications

Currently, the use of natural compounds obtained from plants tremendously increased due to their promising therapeutic properties. The aim of this study was to formulate a stable emulgel formulation loaded with Cinnamomum tamala (CT) extract. The antioxidant activity of plant extract was determined by DPPH inhibition assay. The extract was successfully loaded into an emulgels using different concentrations of carbopol-940, liquid paraffin, emulsifying agents and preservatives. Preliminary stability study was performed of 17 CT emulgel formulations at accelerated temperature of 50 °C for 2-months. Organoleptic evaluation, centrifugation, globule size, pH, electrical conductivity and rheological studies were performed for a period of 90-days at different temperature including 8, 25, 40 and 40 °C ±75% RH. The CT extract showed promising antioxidant activity of about 81%. On the other hand, the CT loaded emulgel formulation displayed high physical stability at all tested conditions of temperature and time. However, slight decrease in pH and minimum increase in conductivity was observed at 40 and 40 °C±75% RH. The rheological examination of CT emulgel indicated the flow index values of all the samples kept at different temperatures were less than 1, demonstrated non-newtonian and pseudo-plastic nature of CT emulgel. Taken together, the CT emulgel formulation has been evinced to be an excellent addition in the field of topical formulations.
Corneal Collagen Cross-Linking-10/01/19

I.Description Corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) is a photochemical procedure approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of progressive keratoconus and corneal ectasia. Keratoconus is a dystrophy of the cornea characterized by progressive deformation (steepening) of the cornea while corneal ectasia is keratoconus that occurs after refractive surgery. Both lead to functional loss of vision and need for corneal transplantation.
International Journal of Music Business Research

According to Krueger (2005) the main reason for concert ticket prices for popular music to show a sharp increase between 1996 and 2003 is that artists felt less constrained from increasing prices due to the erosion of the complementary relationship with album sales. This paper continues his analysis in a more current context by focusing on how the rise of music streaming services has influenced concert ticket prices and revenues, while also providing a brief analysis on the effects of the eco-
Competition and Contracting: The Effect of Competition Shocks on Alternative Work Arrangements in the U.S. Labor Market 1995-2005

Alternative Work Arrangements (AWAs) are contract forms commonly associated with less attachment, lower wages, and fewer worker benefts. Even though AWAs are theoretically cheaper for frms, they continue to account for only 10% of employment. I explore why AWAs are not more widely used, given their purported economic beneft for frms. Legal rules suggest that while AWAs have lower fxed costs of employment, they may be less productive than standard employment and likely attract lower-type workers. In this instance, AWAs are used as a mechanism for frms to reduce fxed labor costs in response to a shock. Testing this prediction, I provide the frst evidence that competition shocks, specifcally trade shocks, causally increase the use of AWAs across a number of contract forms. Using micro-level data, I show that competition shocks appear to increase the probability of manufacturing workers being hired by temporary-help agencies, and decrease the probability of manufacturing workers becoming independent contractors. This suggests workers may have shifted towards AWAs in non-manufacturing industries. I also show that AWAs are associated with lower wages and fewer benefts after conditioning on industry and occupation, and are associated with higher rates of inequality.
FINDING SCIENTIFIC MEDICAL INFORMATION THROUGH COLLABORATIVE TAGGING SYSTEMS: A TASK-ORIENTED EVALUATION PERFORMED BY HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS

Introduction: Finding relevant scientific information is crucial for healthcare professionals. But with the exponential number of resources published on the Internet, the task has become a lot more difficult and time-consuming. Collaborative tagging systems, such as CiteULike, allow Web users to store and organize their bookmarks of online content by assigning them metadata in the form of tags. Aim: The study investigated the extent to which tags assigned in the collaborative tagging system CiteULike contribute to the finding of relevant medical scientific papers by healthcare professionals. Methods: A task-oriented evaluation was designed and conducted with a sample of 22 physicians from various specialisations at different career levels. Their information behaviour in PubMed/Medline and CiteULike was observed and compared. The evaluation was followed by a semi-structured interview. Results: Relevant tags are assigned in CiteULike but their number is too low to efficiently contribute to the searching process. Nevertheless the study also showed that CiteULike helped physicians to find relevant papers thanks to its social bookmarking features. In addition to measuring the efficiency of collaborative tagging systems for healthcare professionals in their information seeking process, the study also presents various observations and insights into the information behaviour of physicians.
MEASURING MARKET POWER IN THE READY-TO-EAT CEREAL INDUSTRY BY AVIV NEVO

The ready-to-eat cereal industry is characterized by high concentration, high price-cost margins, large advertising-to-sales ratios, and numerous introductions of new products. Previous researchers have concluded that the ready-to-eat cereal industry is a classic example of an industry with nearly collusive pricing behavior and intense nonprice competition. This paper empirically examines this conclusion. In particular, I estimate price-cost margins, but more importantly I am able empirically to separate these margins Ž . Ž . into three sources: i that which is due to product differentiation; ii that which is due to Ž . multi-product firm pricing; and iii that due to potential price collusion. The results suggest that given the demand for different brands of cereal, the first two effects explain most of the observed price-cost margins. I conclude that prices in the industry are consistent with noncollusive pricing behavior, despite the high price-cost margins. Leading firms are able to maintain a portfolio of differentiated products and influence the perceived product quality. It is these two factors that lead to high price-cost margins.
DMSO_A_242208 753..761

Ahmad Zare Javid Seyed Ahmad Hosseini Hassan Gholinezhad Leila Moradi Mohammad Hosein Haghighi-zadeh Hadi Bazyar 1,5 1Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran; 2Department of Nutrition, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran; 3Health Research Institute, Diabetes Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran; 4Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran; 5Student Research Committee, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran Background and Aim: The imbalance between pro-oxidant and antioxidant systems often leads to further oxidative damage in the pathogenesis of both diabetes and periodontal disease. This study aimed to investigate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of melatonin in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with periodontal disease (PD) under non-surgical periodontal therapy (NSPT). Materials and Methods: In this double-blind clinical trial study, 50 T2DM patients with PD were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups and received 250 mg/day (2 tablets) either melatonin or placebo 1 h before bedtime for 8 weeks. The NSPT was performed for all patients in both groups at the beginning of the study. The serum levels of interleukin-1b (IL-1b), malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were measured preand post-intervention. Results: Supplementation with melatonin in adjunct to NSPT significantly increased the serum levels of TAC, SOD, CAT, and GPx in the intervention group (P = 0.02, 0.008, 0.004 and 0.004, respectively). The mean changes of SOD, CAT, and GPx were significantly (P = 0.02, 0.04 and 0.04, respectively) greater in the intervention group compared with the control group. Also, after adjusting for confounding factors, the results did not change in terms of significance (P < 0.05). After the intervention, serum levels of MDA and IL-1b were significantly reduced in the intervention group (P < 0.001 and P = 0.008, respectively). The intervention group exhibited lower mean changes of MDA compared with the control group, and these changes were statistically significant (P = 0.008). In addition, after adjusting for confounding factors, the results did not change in terms of significance. Conclusion: The adjunctive effects of melatonin and NSPT may improve inflammatory and antioxidant parameters in T2DM patients with PD.
SUMMARY OF MODELLING STUDIES ON THE BEAM INDUCED VACUUM EFFECTS IN THE FCC-hh

EuroCirCol is a conceptual design study of a Future Circular Collider (FCC-hh) which aims to expand the current energy and luminosity frontiers that the LHC has established. The vacuum chamber of this 50 TeV, 100 km collider, will have to cope with unprecedented levels of synchrotron radiation power for proton colliders, dealing simultaneously with a tighter magnet aperture. Since the high radiation power and photon flux will release large amounts of gas into the system, the difficulty to keep a low level of residual gas density increases considerably compared with the LHC. This article presents a study of the beam induced vacuum effects for the FCC-hh novel conditions, the different phenomena which, owing to the presence of the beam, have an impact on the vacuum level of the accelerator. To achieve this, a novel beam screen has been proposed, featuring specific mitigating measures aimed at dealing with the beam induced effects. It is concluded that thanks to the new beam screen design, the vacuum level in the FCC-hh shall be adequate, allowing to reach the molecular density requirement of better than 1×1015 H2/m with baseline beam parameters within the first months of conditioning.
05 Maldonado et al.indd

Address correspondence to: Norman Maldonado, MD, Hematology-Medical Oncology Section, University of PR Medical Sciences Campus, P.O. Box 365067, San Juan, PR 00936-5067. E-mail: maldonadosimon@yahoo.com Objective: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is among the most common cancers in Puerto Rico. Few studies have correlated clinical and pathological variables with the overall survival of CRC patients in Puerto Rico. We report the clinical and pathological characteristics of patients who underwent surgical resection at a community hospital in Puerto Rico. Methods: Demographic and pathological variables of patients who underwent CRC surgery at Hospital del Maestro from 2006 through 2011 were reviewed. Descriptive statistics (mean, range, and frequency) and the Cox proportional hazards model were used to determine the influence of demographic and pathological variables on survival, after adjusting for age. Results: Two hundred and five CRC pathology reports were reviewed. Adenocarcinoma represented the most common pathology (202/205; 98.5%). Females represented 52% of the population (106/202) while males represented 48% (96/202). The median age was 71 years (30–96). The right colon was the most common site of presentation (49.7%; 100/201). Stage III was the most common stage at presentation. The presence of mucin, perineural or lymphatic invasion and tumor size were not related to decreased survival. Being male, having a higher stage at diagnosis, and having a moderately or poorly differentiated tumor were characteristics related to decreased survival. Conclusion: This study provides information on clinical and pathological variables and their influence on the overall survival of CRC patients at a community hospital in Puerto Rico. Further research must be performed to identify potential disparities and their influence on the prognosis of this patients. [P R Health Sci J 2014;33:65-70]
STRUCTURAL FUNDS: AN EFFECTIVE REDISTRIBUTIVE POLICY? SOME EVIDENCE FROM ITALIAN PUBLIC POLICIES

In this paper, we focus on the European Structural Funds’ effects on the economies of the 20 Italian administrative regions for 1994-2012. Our evidence implies that the Funds had a significant impact on regional GDP per capita, as well as a weaker effect on capital accumulation. We also find that (nationally-financed) subsidies to firms increase GDP per capita. Quality of government is found to have little impact on Structural Funds, but enhances the impact of subsidies to firms. Different types of Structural Funds are found to have widely different influences, with the European Regional Development Fund, arguably, having the strongest impact. (JEL: C43, D24).
Influence of packaging Materials and Storage Length on the Physico-Chemical Quality of Balangu: A Nigerian Ready-To-Eat Meat Product

Physico-chemical qualities of balangu, a traditional ready-to-eat meat (rte-mp), were evaluated in a 3×4 factorial experiment involving three packaging materials (aluminium foil, paper and polythene) and four storage times (0 , 24, 48 and 72 hours). Balangu was prepared using traditional methods, packaged and stored according to the designated treatments. Data obtained from all treatments were analysed using in the general linear model analysis of variance, and means were separated by Tukey test at 5% level of significance. Both packaging materials and storage length had significantly affected (P<0.05) weight loss, pH, moisture, crude protein, ether extract and ash contents during storage. However, pH was not significantly affected by storage length. There was a significant interaction (P<0.01) between packaging materials and storage length on all parameters except weight loss, ether extract and ash. Paper packaging performed better than aluminium foil and polythene packaging while storage length however indicated an order of (0) > 24 > 48 >72 hours and ranked 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Paper packaging had shown better performance and could store balangu up to 48 hours with optimum sensory
The role of active monitoring in reducing the execution times of public works. Evidence from Italy

The article investigates the role of active monitoring with respect to the execution times of public works. Exploiting the data from an Italian regional case study (Tuscany), where a local law imposes more active monitoring than usual for projects passing a minimum ‘financial’ size and benefiting from co-financing by the regional government above a certain threshold, the article contributes to the literature by estimating the causal effect of increased monitoring within a regression discontinuity approach and by means of survival analysis techniques. The presence of two variables jointly determining the assignment of projects to increased monitoring makes this estimation problem particularly challenging. Results suggest that, at the threshold values of the two assignment variables, the causal effect of active monitoring on time-to-completion is positive on very short projects that would have not lasted long anyway and, more interestingly, on the subset of projects that are very persistent in time.
NSS_A_239852 221..230

Zhexue Xu* Tao Han* Tian Li 3 Xiaodong Zhang Zhaoyang Huang Shuqin Zhan Chunyan Liu Jinping Xu Yuping Wang 1Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053, People’s Republic of China; 2Beijing Key Laboratory of Neuromodulation, Beijing 100053, People’s Republic of China; 3Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, People’s Republic of China
Examining virtual identity profiles of social network users with respect to certain variables

Bu arastirmada sosyal ag kullanicilarinin sanal kimlik profillerini belirlemek uzere bir olcme araci gelistirilmis ve sosyal ag kullanicilarinin sanal kimlik profilleri cinsiyet, sosyal aglarda harcanan zaman, sosyal ag profil sayisi ve gorulebilirlik degiskenleri baglaminda iliskisel tarama modeli cercevesinde incelenmistir. Arastirma 252’si kadin, 419’u erkek olmak uzere toplam 671 sosyal ag kullanicisiyla gerceklestirilmistir. Arastirma verileri calisma kapsaminda gelistirilen Sosyal Ag Kimlik Yonetimi Olcegi kullanilarak toplanmistir. Gelistirilen 5’li likert yapida dort faktorden 23 maddeden olusan sosyal ag kimlik yonetimi olcegi toplam varyansin %55.29’unu aciklamaktadir (Cronbach Alpha =.93). Arastirma sonucunda gecerligi ve guvenirligi kanitlamis 23 maddelik Sosyal Ag Kimlik Yonetimi Olcegi (Social Network Identity Management Scale - SNIMS) elde edilmistir. Arastirma sonucunda elde edilen bulgulara gore birden fazla profili olan kullanicilarin sanal kimlik profilleri, olcegin alt boyutlari olan begeni ve gizlilik baglaminda farklilastigi belirlenmistir. Ayrica sosyal aglarda harcanan zamana gore sanal kimlik profillerindeki degisimin arttigi belirlenmistir.
Role of Multidetector Computed Tomography with Multiplanar and Curved Multiplanar Reformations in the Detection of Cause of Intestinal Obstruction: A Tertiary Care Experience

Objective To determine the role of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) with multiplanar (MPR) and curved multiplanar reformations (CMPR) in the detection of the cause of intestinal obstruction. Materials and methods A retrospective analysis of 200 patients with a clinical suspicion of intestinal obstruction referred to the department of radiology, Dr. Ziauddin University Hospital, Clifton campus, from September 2016 to October 2019, was done. All patients who underwent an MDCT scan with oral and intravenous (I/V) contrast were included in the study. Patients with deranged serum creatinine and an allergic reaction to contrast were excluded from the study. MPR and CMPR images were acquired in each patient in addition to routine axial images. The causes of intestinal obstruction as determined by a computed tomography (CT) scan were confirmed on surgery and colonoscopy. The CT scans were analyzed by an independent radiologist with five years of experience blinded to the surgical and colonoscopy findings in detecting the cause of bowel obstruction using the axial, MPR, and CMPR images. Data analysis was done on IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results Out of 200 patients with a clinical suspicion of intestinal obstruction, 120 patients with intestinal obstruction was confirmed on CT scan. Fifty-eight patients were males (48.33%) and 62 patients were females (51.66%) with a male-to-female ratio of 1:1.06. The mean age of the patients was 54.7 years (age range from 06 years to 85 years). Abdominal distension was the most common presentation seen in 37 patients (30.83%) followed by vomiting in 25 patients (20.83%). Small bowel obstruction was seen in 96 patients (80.00%) with the ileum being the most common site of obstruction seen in 76 patients (63.33%). Among the patients with the ileum being the site of obstruction, distal ileal obstruction was seen in the majority of patients (30 patients, with a frequency of 25.00%). Twenty-three patients (19.16%) had a large bowel obstruction, with sigmoid colon involvement seen as the most common site in 10 patients (8.33%). Adhesions were the leading extrinsic cause of bowel obstruction seen in 32 patients (26.6%). Intraluminal causes of obstruction were seen in 36 patients (30.0%) with carcinoma being the commonest cause (12 patients with a frequency of 10.0%). A foreign body is the primary cause of intraluminal obstruction (three patients, with a frequency of 2.5%). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of MDCT were 86.2%, 92.7%, 90.1%, and 96.4%, respectively. Conclusion MDCT has high sensitivity and specificity to diagnose and determine the cause of bowel obstruction. It not only determines the site of obstruction but also the cause of obstruction, including intrinsic, extrinsic, and intraluminal causes.