Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The neurological risks of playing association football

Summary Aims: The present study aims to provide a narrative review of the literature surrounding concussion and head injury in football and its clarity in evaluating the risk of long-term neurological disease. Findings: Epidemiological studies have shown correlations between participation in professional football and increased incidence of neurodegenerative disease and there have been reports of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the brains of former players in autopsy. These findings have been assumed by some to be the result of repetitive brain injury from head injuries and/or from heading the ball over a player's career. Data linking increased heading exposure with dementia is conflicting, and studies are limited by the reliance on retrospection and undocumented reports of concussion. It remains unclear whether CTE is unique to sportsmen or a variant of dementia pathology endemic in the population. Conclusions: Although logically appealing, there is no current evidence that heading is the cause of neurodegeneration amongst footballers and risks should be balanced by the protective mental and physical benefits of the sport. Physicians have an important role in providing balanced views in this emotive and controversial area.
Advantages and Challenges of Cooperative Learning in Two Different Cultures

Cooperative learning (CL) is a teaching and learning pedagogy that has been used widely in school but there is limited information on instructors’ perceptions of CL nor observations of how CL is implemented in higher education settings. In this study, we investigated the ad-vantages and challenges of embedding CL into instructors’ teaching in Iran and Australia. Data were collected through interview and observation. Results showed that despite challenges such as the lack of familiarity of CL and how it can be implemented in university curricula, issues associated with assessment, and time constraints, CL created an interactive, pleasant and safe environment for deep learning in both countries. The findings showed that there were challenges in Iran such as a tendency to use traditional approaches to teaching, insufficient understanding of how to establish teamwork, and a lack of up-to-date teaching resources. In Australia, changing courses, working with external students, catering for individual differences, and building positive relationships were some of the challenges of implementing CL. We believe that these challenges can be overcome if university instructors are prepared to address them.
Analysis and evaluation of using a tuning inductance on the performance of gilbert cell-based CMOS sub-harmonic mixer

The effect of using a tuning inductance on the performance of a Gilbert cell-based two level transistor CMOS sub-harmonic mixer is investigated. The tuning inductor used between the RF and LO switching stages causes conversion gain enhancement and noise figure improvement. Additionally, it compensates LO distortion due to the phase mismatch of LO signals in the sub-harmonic mixer. The design procedure is done in 0.18 :m CMOS process at 1.8 V supply voltage and 2.4 GHz frequency and reveals that the mixer has exhibited high performance after a FOM-based comparison, without increase the power consumption of 5 mW. The inductive connection between the RF and LO stages causes 7 dB enhancement of conversion gain and 7.3 and 6 dB improvement of noise figure and LO distortion, respectively while the mixer has achieved up to 8 dB conversion gain, 0.5 dBm IIP3, and 13.8 dB noise figure.
Spatial and Temporal Trends of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from Wastewater Treatment Plants over 6 Weeks in Cape Town, South Africa

Recent scientific trends have revealed that the collection and analysis of data on the occurrence and fate of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater may serve as an early warning system for COVID-19. In South Africa, the first COVID-19 epicenter emerged in the Western Cape Province. The City of Cape Town, located in the Western Cape Province, has approximately 4 million inhabitants. This study reports on the monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the wastewater of the City of Cape Town’s wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) during the peak of the epidemic. During this period, the highest overall median viral RNA signal was observed in week 1 (9200 RNA copies/mL) and declined to 127 copies/mL in week 6. The overall decrease in the amount of detected viral SARS-CoV-2 RNA over the 6-week study period was associated with a declining number of newly identified COVID-19 cases in the city. The SARS-CoV-2 early warning system has now been established to detect future waves of COVID-19.
PROVISION AND MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOL FACILITIES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF UBE PROGRAMME

This paper focuses on the provision and management of school facilities for the management of UBE programme. School facilities are those things that enable the teacher to carry out his/her work well and also help the learners to learn effectively. School facilities are vital tools in the teaching and learning process, hence the justification for their adequate provision and management. The school facilities are divided into instructional, recreational, residential and general-purpose types. They can be maintained through regular, emergency or prevention and periodic maintenance. Eight stages are discussed for the management of these facilities. However, it has been observed that these facilities are not adequately provided for our secondary schools for the implementation of this programme. The indicators are dilapidated school buildings, ill- equipped libraries and laboratories, lack of games facilities, computers e.t. c. However, for the successful implementation for UBE programme, all these school facilities must be adequately provided for and managed. The government should provide all necessary facilities, the school head should ensure optimal utilization of these facilities and make sure that they are well maintained.
Penerapan Kepemimpinan Asta Brata dalam Pendidikan dari Sudut Pandang Teori Konflik

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui penerapan kepemimpinan berlandaskan filosofi Asta Brata dalam pendidikan dari sudut pandang Teori Konflik. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kualitatif. Sumber data diperoleh melalui studi kepustakaan. Hasil penelitian ini yaitu filosofi Asta Brata merupakan filosofi yang menuntun seorang pemimpin memiliki sifat dari delapan dewa dalam agama Hindu yang terdiri dari Indra Brata, Yama Brata, Surya Brata, Candra Brata, Bayu Brata, Kuwera Brata, Baruna Brata, dan Agni Brata. Kepemimpinan Asta Brata dari sudut pandang teori konflik merupakan konsep kepemimpinan yang dapat digunakan sebagai peredam konflik. Pemimpin dalam hal ini kepala sekolah seharusnya memiliki sifat kedewataan sehingga dapat lebih bijaksana dalam menjalankan kepemimpinannya di lingkungan sekolah. Dengan sifat kedewataan yang diterapkan diharapkan konflik yang terjadi dapat dikelola menjadi konflik ke arah yang positif sehingga apa yang menjadi visi, misi dan tujuan sekolah dapat tercapai.
Overview of the mesophotic coral ecosystems around Sesoko Island, Okinawa, Japan

Coral reef ecosystems extend beyond the standard SCUBA diving depth. These ecosystems found between approximately 30 and over 150 m are referred to as mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs). Mesophotic coral communities have already been reported from Okinawa over 50 years ago. However, since then little additional knowledge has been obtained on the distribution and diversity of mesophotic corals in the region. Here, we provide an overview of the coral communities observed at selected sites in the region around Sesoko Island. Using photo-quadrats, we surveyed coral communities and specifically the contribution of the dominant coral genera to the total coral cover between differ ent sites at depths ranging from 30 to 80 m. We found that deep coral communities around Sesoko Island hold a high potential biodiversity and need to be taken into account into coastal management plans.
Virginia Department of Transportation Early Experience with Self-Consolidating Concrete

This paper summarizes the work conducted by the Virginia Department of Transportation on self-consolidating concrete (SCC). Initially, a laboratory study with locally available materials was conducted to develop and evaluate the properties of SCC, including flow, segregation, strength, permeability, resistance to cycles of freezing and thawing, and drying shrinkage. Studies at two precast plants followed. Then, one of the precast plants furnished SCC for an arch bridge. The other plant fabricated two bulb T-beams with SCC. Studies also were conducted with cast-inplace SCC. A structures pad at the FHWA Turner—Fairbank Highway Research Center, a median on I-64, and a column in Norfolk, Virginia, were constructed with SCC. The results show that SCC can be produced successfully and provide many benefits to transportation agencies and the construction industry.
How does inventory pooling work when product availability influences customers’ purchasing decisions?

Inventory pooling is a technique that is widely used to cope with supply chain uncertainty. Naturally, however, product availability at a given store also influences the customer’s purchasing decisions. Hence, a centralised inventory system with a long delivery lead time carries the risk of losing sales to customers who are product-availability-conscious. Assuming a supply chain of a supplier and multiple retailers, we study how inventory pooling works when product-availability-conscious customers abandon a given purchase if the items are not available at a given store. Developing a model with two random variables, Poisson demand and Bernoulli customer response to out-of-stock, we explore who should stock products – a supplier, a retailer, or both – in the context of a product-availability effect on sales. We then propose decision processes by which a supply chain can find the best inventory system based on supply chain size, demand rate, and inventory costs for both supplier and retailer. We also discuss the coordination required between a retailer and a supplier that must synchronise an optimal inventory system.
Comparison of the effects of aerobic training alone versus aerobic training combined with clinical Pilates exercises on the functional and psychosocial status of patients with ankylosing spondylitis: A randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT To compare the effects of aerobic training versus aerobic training combined with clinical Pilates exercises (CPE) on the functional and psychosocial status of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Twenty-eight patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) were randomized into 2 groups. Group 1 (n = 14) performed both aerobic training and CPE, whereas group 2 (n = 14) performed aerobic training alone. Functional status of the patients was assessed using the Bath Ankylosing Mobility Index (BASMI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), back scratch test (BST), single leg stance test, functional reach test, a dynamometer, chair sit and stand test, and 6-minute walk test (6MWT), and the psychosocial status of the patients was assessed using the Ankylosing Spondylitis Quality of Life (ASQoL) questionnaire, the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), and Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK). Both training programs were conducted for 8 weeks, and then, the assessments were repeated. A statistically significant improvement was observed in the BASMI (p = .001), BASDAI (p = .001), BASFI (p = .002), BST (right, p = .05; left, p = .025), functional reach test (p = .013), back muscle strength (p = .033), 6MWT (p = .011), ASQoL (p < .001), MAF (p = .01), and PSQI (p = .013) scores in group 1. A significant difference was observed in the BASDAI (p = .028), chair sit and stand test (p = .022), 6MWT (p = .04), and ASQoL (p = .04) scores in group 2. CPE in addition to aerobic training was more effective in improving the functional and psychosocial status of the patients with AS.
Developing a National Trauma Research Action Plan: Results from the prehospital and mass casualty research Delphi survey

We used a Delphi process and interdisciplinary national experts in prehospital and mass casualty trauma care to generate 81 high priority research questions to guide future research and funding in this domain. Supplemental digital content is available in the text. BACKGROUND The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2016 trauma system report recommended a National Trauma Research Action Plan to strengthen and guide future trauma research. To address this recommendation, 11 expert panels completed a Delphi survey process to create a comprehensive research agenda, spanning the continuum of trauma care. We describe the gap analysis and high-priority research questions generated from the National Trauma Research Action Plan panel on prehospital and mass casualty trauma care. METHODS We recruited interdisciplinary national experts to identify gaps in the prehospital and mass casualty trauma evidence base and generate prioritized research questions using a consensus-driven Delphi survey approach. We included military and civilian representatives. Panelists were encouraged to use the Patient/Population, Intervention, Compare/Control, and Outcome format to generate research questions. We conducted four Delphi rounds in which participants generated key research questions and then prioritized the questions on a 9-point Likert scale to low-, medium-, and high-priority items. We defined consensus as ≥60% agreement on the priority category and coded research questions using a taxonomy of 118 research concepts in 9 categories. RESULTS Thirty-one interdisciplinary subject matter experts generated 490 research questions, of which 433 (88%) reached consensus on priority. The rankings of the 433 questions were as follows: 81 (19%) high priority, 339 (78%) medium priority, and 13 (3%) low priority. Among the 81 high-priority questions, there were 46 taxonomy concepts, including health systems of care (36 questions), interventional clinical trials and comparative effectiveness (32 questions), mortality as an outcome (30 questions), prehospital time/transport mode/level of responder (24 questions), system benchmarks (17 questions), and fluid/blood product resuscitation (17 questions). CONCLUSION This Delphi gap analysis of prehospital and mass casualty care identified 81 high-priority research questions to guide investigators and funding agencies for future trauma research.
The Uncertain Role of Educational Software in Remediating Student Learning: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Three Local Education Agencies

Abstract Educators must balance the needs of students who start the school year behind grade level with their obligation to teach grade-appropriate content to all students. Educational software could help educators strike this balance by targeting content to students’ differing levels of mastery. Using a regression discontinuity design and detailed software log and administrative data, we compare two versions of an online mathematics program used by students in three education agencies. We find that although students assigned the modified curriculum did progress through content objectives more quickly than students assigned the default curriculum, they did not perform better on pre- and post-objective quizzes embedded in the software, and most never progressed far enough to reach the grade-level content. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant effect of the modified curriculum on formative test scores. These findings suggest policymakers and practitioners should exercise caution when assigning exclusively remedial content to students who start the school year behind grade level, even though this is a common feature of many math educational software programs.
Incidence patterns and review of Hodgkin lymphoma in the Republic of Armenia

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) accounts for roughly 10% of all lymphomas and 0.6% of all malignant tumours analysed worldwide yearly. Data regarding HL in developing world are exceptionally constrained. The main objective of this research is to investigate the incidence patterns of HL within the Republic of Armenia and to portray disease distribution according to age and sex. There is a very strict evidence on the frequency of HL in Armenia. The results of our research find out that the frequency of HL in Armenia has not changed altogether over the past 15 years and is comparable to that detailed from the USA and Europe.
Near-optimal Policy Optimization Algorithms for Learning Adversarial Linear Mixture MDPs

Learning Markov decision processes (MDPs) in the presence of the adversary is a chal-lenging problem in reinforcement learning (RL). In this paper, we study RL in episodic MDPs with adversarial reward and full information feedback, where the unknown transition probability function is a linear function of a given feature mapping, and the reward function can change arbitrarily episode by episode. We propose an optimistic policy optimization algorithm POWERS and show that it can achieve (cid:101) O ( dH √ T ) regret, where H is the length of the episode, T is the number of interactions with the MDP, and d is the dimension of the feature mapping. Further-more, we also prove a matching lower bound of (cid:101) Ω( dH √ T ) up to logarithmic factors. Our key technical contributions are two-fold: (1) a new value function estimator based on im-portance weighting; and (2) a tighter conﬁdence set for the transition kernel. They to-gether lead to the nearly minimax optimal regret.
Transferring appropriate manufacturing technologies for developing countries

Purpose – This work attempts briefly to identify factors affecting the success of technology transfer in order to reduce the potential of incompatibilities in respect to micro‐ and macro‐ergonomics and to optimize the decision process of managers in DCs.Design/methodology/approach – Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was selected as appropriate technique. The decision model developed in this research is specified in the context of micro‐ and macro‐ergonomics view of technology transfer in DCs.Findings – Based on the AHP, it is possible to determine the global priority weights of different technology alternatives and examine the critical factors and benefits that affect the appropriateness of technology transfer based on micro‐ and macro‐ergonomics considerations. In its general form, the model provides a useful conceptual framework for evaluating alternative technologies in respect to ergonomics and suggests the ergonomics choices which must be made.Originality/value – As noted above, this study is unique i.
Capital adequacy ratio and a bank’s financial stability in Vietnam

The objective of this study is to provide more empirical evidence on the impact of the capital adequacy ratio, as well as control and micro variables, on the financial stability of commercial banks in emerging markets such as Vietnam. The study analyzes the impact of the capital adequacy ratio on the financial stability of 18 Vietnamese commercial banks in the period 2010–2020 using the Generalized method of moments (GMM) model. Empirical research results show that the capital adequacy ratio has a positive correlation with the financial stability of Vietnamese commercial banks during the study period. Besides, the study also uses control variables such as Profitability through ROA and ROE, Bank Size (SIZE), Loans to Assets Ratio (LTA), Deposits to Assets Ratio (DTA), and Loan Loss Ratio (LLR), to analyze their impact on the financial stability of Vietnamese commercial banks. Based on the above results, the study proposes some policy implications to enhance the financial stability of Vietnamese commercial banks using the capital adequacy ratio and the control variables from the GMM model that are statistically significant. The paper also pointed out four limitations of the study in terms of data, research samples, methods and research models, so that further research can be more complete. AcknowledgmentThe author wishes to acknowledge support from the Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City. This research was made possible thanks to all valuable support from relevant stakeholders.
Crowdsourced Evaluation of Robot Programming Environments: Methodology and Application

Industrial robot programming tools increasingly rely on graphical interfaces, which aim at rendering the programming task more accessible to a wide variety of users. The usability of such tools is currently being evaluated in controlled environments, such as laboratories or companies, in which a group of participants is asked to carry out several tasks using the tool and then fill out a standardized questionnaire. In this context, this paper proposes and evaluates an alternative evaluation methodology, which leverages online crowdsourcing platforms to produce the same results as face-to-face evaluations. We applied the proposed framework in the evaluation of a web-based industrial robot programming tool called Assembly. Our results suggest that crowdsourcing facilitates a cost-effective, result-oriented, and reusable methodology for performing user studies anonymously and online.
Finding Near Optimal Policies via Reducive Regularization in Markov Decision Processes

Regularized Markov Decision processes (MDPs) serve as a smooth version of ordinary MDPs to encourage exploration. Given a regularized MDP, however, the optimal policy is often biased when evaluating the value function. Rather than making the coefﬁcient λ of regularized term sufﬁciently small, we propose a scheme by reducing λ to approximate the optimal policy of the original MDP. We prove that the iteration complexity to obtain an ε -optimal policy could be maintained or even reduced in comparison with setting a sufﬁciently small λ in both dynamic programming and policy gradient methods. In addition, there exists a strong duality connection between the reduction method and solving the original MDP directly, from which we can derive more adaptive reduction methods for certain reinforcement learning algorithms.
Rheology of Crosslinked Foams

The rheology of foam fracturing fluids has been previously described as a yield-pseudoplastic fluid for a broad range of qualities, linear gel concentrations, and temperatures. With the increased use of foams for fracturing with higher proppant concentrations, cross-linking agents are often added. Because the viscous character of the external phase of the foam strongly influences the viscous properties of the foam, the viscosity of the foam will increase if the external phase is crosslinked. Rheological properties of 25%- to 75%-quality N{sub 2} foams containing borate-crosslinked guar were measured on the recirculating flow-loop viscometer at temperatures from 75 to 300 F. When polymer was crosslinked in the foam, viscosity increased by factors of 3 to 10 or more over foams that contained only linear gel. The fluid viscosity developed in a foam is a product of gas quality, external phase fluid viscosity, and crosslinking of the polymer in the external phase. The extent to which each of these factors is important depends upon both the quality and the concentration of the crosslinked polymer. Viscosity resulting from borate crosslinking is a stronger factor than either quality or linear polymer concentration. Borate crosslinking influence is greatest at low quality and at high polymermore » concentration. « less