Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of a Personalized Fitness Module on Knowledge, Attitude, and Cardiovascular Endurance of Fifth-Grade Students: “Heart Smart”

The effectiveness of a Personalized Fitness Module was compared to a Traditional Fitness Unit, both of which were designed to develop knowledge, behavioral skills, fitness and positive attitudes. 95 students in Grade 5 and from intact physical education/health classes within two public schools participated in a seven-week cardiovascular fitness program. The experimental group of 48 participated in the personalized and noncompetitive fitness module. The control group of 47 participated in the traditional unit, a teacher-centered fitness module. Students received a total of 14 55-min. lessons over seven weeks. Pre- and posttest measurements included the Superkids-Superfit Knowledge Test, the Children's Attitudes Toward Physical Activity Inventory, and the one-mile run/walk. Data were analyzed using group mean gain scores on eight dependent variables (knowledge, six subscales of attitude, and one-mile run/walk) followed by a multivariate analysis of variance. A significant difference between groups led to a discriminant function analysis as a post hoc test. Findings indicated that the use of the personalized unit can substantially improve one-mile run/walk time. The use of modules of this type in health and physical education programs may promote life-long exercise patterns and fitness.
Effect of intravenous N-acetylcysteine infusion on haemostatic parameters in healthy subjects

Background and aim: N-acetylcysteine is used to treat paracetamol overdose but depresses the activity of plasma coagulation factors II, VII, and X, which are often used to assess liver injury. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of N-acetylcysteine on haemostasis in normal volunteers. Methods: Haemostatic parameters in 10 healthy subjects were analysed before and following intravenous infusion of therapeutic doses of N-acetylcysteine, as well as in vitro. Results: N-acetylcysteine induced significant decreases in plasma levels of vitamin K dependent haemostatic proteins in vivo, being maximal at one hour following the start of infusion, with maximal decreases from 1.00 to 0.73 (0.67–0.79) (mean (95% confidence interval)), 0.66 (0.58–0.73), 0.81 (0.73–0.90), 0.64 (0.57–0.70), 0.74 (0.65–0.82), and 0.61 (0.54–0.67) for factor II, VII, IX, and X activities, protein C activity, and free protein S reactivity, respectively. These data suggest that N-acetylcysteine induces protein modifications affecting activity. Five subjects developed an adverse reaction to infusion of N-acetylcysteine and these were associated with a rapid increase in levels of factor VIII and its carrier protein von Willebrand factor (vWf) from 1.0 to 1.85 (1.08–2.62) and 1.77 (0.83–2.71), respectively, which suggests that the allergic reaction induced release of vWf from endothelial cells. N-acetylcysteine did not affect factor VIII or vWf in subjects without adverse reactions, and nor did it affect factor V or antithrombin in any of the subjects. Conclusion: Therapeutic doses of N-acetylcysteine cause abnormal haemostatic activity, and this should be taken into account when using haemostatic function tests as an indicator of hepatic injury.
Ecological functions of carbohydrates stored in corms of Tipularia discolor (Orchidaceae)

The orchid Tipularia discolor possesses two to five subterranean corms containing a high concentration of total non-structural carbohydrates (TNC). We investigated the role of corms in the initiation of new growth following seasonal dormancy, in reproduction, and in the response of plants to artificial defoliation. Severance of older corms (representing c. 30% of total corm biomass) influenced new shoot initiation, but had little or no effect on plants during fruit production or in their response to defoliation. Shading of plants during growth initiation had no detectable impact on shoot growth or storage use (.)
Experimental evaluation of sensorless control for doubly-fed induction wind power generator

This paper analyzes the implementation of the sensorless control strategy for a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) for wind energy. The proposed algorithm can directly obtain the information of rotor position and speed via simple arithmetic operation by measuring the stator voltage, the rotor and stator currents. A DFIG sensorless digital control system has been carried out based on TMS320F2808 DSP. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can precisely estimate the rotor position and speed, the system can achieve excellent control performance.
Inverse correlation between amyloid precursor protein and synaptic plasticity in transgenic mice

Soluble amyloid &bgr; peptide (A&bgr;) is believed to cause synaptic dysfunction in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Here, we examined in-vivo synaptic functions in the hippocampus in two lines of transgenic mice expressing different amounts of human wild-type amyloid precursor protein (APP). Compared with nontransgenic littermates, one transgenic line with higher APP expression displayed potent inhibition of paired-pulse facilitation and long-term potentiation in the absence of amyloid deposition, whereas the line with lower APP expression exhibited moderate inhibition of paired-pulse facilitation and long-term potentiation. Soluble A&bgr;1-42 levels in their brains nearly paralleled APP levels. The observed inverse correlation between APP expression and synaptic plasticity appears to support the current hypothesis regarding the pathogenic roles of soluble A&bgr;.
Tiered provider networks in health insurance

Health insurers are increasingly using plan designs that incentivize consumers to shop for health care based on price. This dissertation studies the effects of one such plan design on demand and equilibrium prices. Tiered hospital networks group hospitals by price ranking and vary consumers' out-of-pocket prices to reflect the price variation faced by the insurer. Proponents argue that tiered networks reduce health care spending by steering consumers toward lower-priced hospitals, and by giving insurers an additional bargaining lever in price negotiations with hospitals. To evaluate these claims, I estimate a structural model of health care demand and insurer-hospital bargaining over prices in the Massachusetts private health insurance market. The model extends the standard Nash bargaining framework to explicitly account for the multiplicity of possible tier outcomes. I find that the effects of tiered networks on demand alone can lead to moderate or sizable reductions in hospital spending, ranging from 1% to 8% depending on the consumer population and the concentration of the hospital market. The effects on negotiated hospital prices add an additional 2% to 4% savings, for a total savings from tiered networks of up to 12% under favorable market conditions. I conclude that insurance plan designs with demand-side incentives can have large health care spending reduction effects. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Health Care Management & Economics First Advisor Robert J. Town
Genetic influences on the development of grip strength in adolescence.

Enhanced physical strength is a secondary sex characteristic in males. Sexual dimorphism in physical strength far exceeds sex differences in stature or total body mass, suggesting a legacy of intense sexual selection. Upper-body strength is a particularly promising marker of intrasexual competitiveness in young men. Consequently, it is assumed that sex-influenced gene expression contributes to the development of physical strength. It is unclear, however, whether the underlying sources of individual differences in strength development are comparable across sex. We obtained three measurements of hand-grip strength (HGS) over a six-year period spanning adolescence in male and female same-sex twins (N = 2,513). Biometrical latent growth models were used to partition the HGS variance at age 11 (intercept) and its growth over time (slope) into genetic and environmental components. Results demonstrated that variance around the intercept was highly heritable in both males and females (88% and 79%, respectively). In males, variance around the slope exceeded that of the intercept, while the reverse held for females. Additive genetic effects accounted for most (80%) of the variance around the slope in males, but were of less importance in females (heritability = 28%). Absolute genetic variance around the slope was nearly nine-fold higher in males. This striking disparity suggests that the developmental processes shaping HGS growth are different between the sexes. We propose that this might account for the sex-specific pattern of associations between HGS and external measures (e.g., digit ratio and physical aggression) typically reported in the literature. Our results underscore the role of endogenous androgenic influences in the development of physical strength.
Earned value and agile reporting

This paper reviews the concepts of earned value management established in traditional project management, and determines whether and how they can be applied to software development projects following an agile methodology. First the origins and concepts of earned value are reviewed, followed by its application in traditional projects. Then the application of earned value management to agile software projects is investigated
Swedish nursing students' experience of stress during clinical practice in relation to clinical setting characteristics and the organisation of the clinical education.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To describe nursing students' experience of stress during clinical practice and evaluate the risk of stress in relation to the clinical setting characteristics and the organisation of the clinical education. BACKGROUND Stress during clinical practice is well documented, but there is a lack of knowledge concerning whether the clinical setting characteristics and the organisation of the education make a difference. DESIGN A cross-sectional study with evaluative design. METHODS Data were collected by means of a numerical rating scale for the assessment of stress and questions about the clinical setting characteristics and the organisation of the education. One hundred and eighty-four students who had completed their final year on the nursing programme at three universities in Sweden were included. RESULTS Nearly half of the students (43%) experienced high level of stress during clinical practice. Measured by decision in the tree analysis, the absolute risk of stress was 57% in students with placements in hospital departments, as compared to 13% in students with placements in other clinical settings. The risk of stress increased to 71% if the students with placement in a hospital took the national clinical final examination. Performance of practice in a hospital department overcrowded with patients was also associated with increased risk of stress. The organisation of supervision and number of students at the clinical placement had an effect on the experience of stress, but did not prove to be risk factors in the analysis. CONCLUSIONS The risk of stress in nursing students during their clinical practice differs depending on clinical setting characteristics. The taking of the national clinical final examination could be a source of stress, but this requires further investigation. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE It is important that supervisors are aware that students in hospital departments overcrowded with patients are at risk of stress and may have increased need of support.
Correlation of the Schirmer 1 and fluorescein clearance tests with the severity of corneal epithelial and eyelid disease.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the correlations of the fluorescein clearance test (FCT) and the Schirmer 1 test with the severity of corneal epithelial and eyelid disease in normal patients and patients with tear film disorders due to meibomian gland disease (MGD) and/or aqueous tear deficiency (ATD). METHODS Nineteen normal control subjects, 16 patients with MGD associated with rosacea, 21 patients with noninflammatory atrophic MGD, and 43 patients with ATD were enrolled. There was a similar age and sex distribution in each group. Each patient completed a symptom severity questionnaire that consisted of 11 questions and then underwent a panel of diagnostic tests in the following order: assessment of corneal and conjunctiva sensation with the Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer, FCT, assessment of corneal fluorescein staining, Schirmer 1 test (5 minutes without anesthesia), and biomicroscopic examination of the eyelid margins and meibomian glands. The FCT was performed with a fluorophotometer by measuring the fluorescein concentration in minimally stimulated tear samples collected from the inferior tear meniscus. By studying the best area under the receiver operating characteristic curves, we developed a formula that combined the FCT and Schirmer test results, which we termed the FCT corrected by Schirmer test. RESULTS The FCT showed stronger correlation with ocular irritation symptoms (r = 0. 35, P <.001), corneal fluorescein staining (r = 0.54, P<.001), and meibomian gland and eyelid pathologic signs than the Schirmer 1 test. A correction factor that was based on the best area under the receiver operating characteristic curves, added to the FCT score, improved its correlation with ocular irritation symptoms, eyelid margin and meibomian gland pathologic signs, and ocular surface sensitivity scores. CONCLUSIONS Corneal epithelial disease is correlated with decreased aqueous tear production and delayed tear clearance, whereas eyelid and MGD are correlated with delayed tear clearance. The FCT corrected by Schirmer 1 test improves the correlations of the FCT with ocular irritation symptoms, corneal epithelial and eyelid pathologic signs, and corneal and conjunctival sensitivity for patients with MGD and ATD.
Learning Algorithms for Stochastic Dynamic Pricing and Inventory Control.

Learning Algorithms for Stochastic Dynamic Pricing and Inventory Control by Boxiao Chen Chair: Xiuli Chao, Hyun-Soo Ahn This dissertation considers joint pricing and inventory control problems in which the customer’s response to selling price and the demand distribution are not known a priori, and the only available information for decision-making is the past sales data. Data-driven algorithms are developed and proved to converge to the true clairvoyant optimal policy had decision maker known the demand processes a priori, and, for the first time in literature, this dissertation provides theoretical results on the convergence rate of these data-driven algorithms. Under this general framework, several problems are studied in different settings. Chapter 2 studies the classical joint pricing and inventory control problem with backlogged demand, and proposes a nonparametric data-driven algorithm that learns about the demand on the fly while making pricing and ordering decisions. The performance of the algorithm is measured by regret, which is the average profit loss compared with that of the clairvoyant optimal policy. It is proved that the regret vanishes at the fastest possible rate as the planning horizon increases. Chapter 3 studies the classical joint pricing and inventory control problem with lost-sales and censored demand. Major challenges in this study include the following:
High‐frequency brain networks undergo modular breakdown during epileptic seizures

Cortical high‐frequency oscillations (HFOs; 100–500 Hz) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of epilepsy; however, whether they represent a true epileptogenic process remains largely unknown. HFOs have been recorded in the human cortex but their network dynamics during the transitional period from interictal to ictal phase remain largely unknown. We sought to determine the high‐frequency network dynamics of these oscillations in patients with epilepsy who were undergoing intracranial electroencephalographic recording for seizure localization.
In Vitro and In Vivo Antioxidant Activity of Aged Ginseng (Panax ginseng)

Fresh ginseng roots were aged in an oven at 80°C for 14 d. The in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activities of this aged ginseng, in comparison with those of the white and red ginsengs, were evaluated. In in vitro antioxidant assays, the ethanolic extracts from aged ginseng showed significantly higher free radical scavenging activity and reducing power than those of the white and red ginsengs. In in vivo antioxidant assays, mice were fed a high fat diet supplemented with white, red, or aged ginseng powders. High fat feeding resulted in a significant increase in lipid peroxidation and a substantial decrease in antioxidant enzymes activities in the animals. However, diet supplementation of ginseng powders, particularly aged ginseng, markedly reduced lipid peroxidation and enhanced the antioxidant enzymes activities. The results illustrate that the aged ginseng has greater in vitro and in vivo antioxidant capacity than the white and red ginsengs. The aged ginseng also showed considerably higher total saponin, phenolic, and flavonoid contents, indicating that its antioxidant capacity may have been partly due to its high levels of antioxidant compounds. This new ginseng product may be useful as a functional food with strong antioxidant potential.
Disclosure of tax incentives and the corporate liabilities in Brazilian public companies: a quantitative study

This article aims to evaluate the effect of tax incentives on the liability level of firms listed in Brazilian Stock Exchange. Obtaining the tax incentives require many investments from the company. This paper contributes with the literature to identify if the companies that disclosed their fiscal incentives have any changes in their debt, because of these investments. The final sample was 382 firms, for the years 2010-2013, and with a total of 1,528 observations. We used a regression model for the panel data in order to estimate the relation between liabilities and the fiscal incentives. The results show that encouraged firms have higher long-term debt and total debt than those who are not encouraged. In addition, the authors found a positive relationship between the assets of these companies and the tax incentive.
Face recognition against variation in pose and background

Human faces are full of information but their recognition by computer is a complex task. Recognition of faces is a routine task for humans and it is normally done by using various face features such as eyes, color of eyes, skin color, positions and shapes of nose, mouth and shapes of hair and its color. Keeping track of all this information is difficult for a computer system. Hence, only certain important and unique features are isolated and used for recognition of face. Here, we have attempted to produce an efficient principal component analysis and artificial neural network system to identify faces. The system gives 100% results for standard database for variation in pose and background. The system is also tested for locally created poor image quality database and its performance is satisfactory.
Testing Explanations of Preference Reversal

We present a new experimental investigation of preference reversal. Although economists and psychologists have suggested a variety of accounts for this phenomenon, the existing data do not adequately discriminate between them. Relative to previous studies, our design offers enhanced control for economic explanations and new tests of psychological hypotheses. We find a pattern of preference reversals that is inconsistent with all of the best-known explanations of the phenomenon proposed by economists, with the fundamental economic assumption of context-free preferences, and with several psychological theories of preference reversal. We explore the explanatory strategies that survive exposure to our data.
Game Theoretic Load Management Schemes for Smart Grids

To achieve a high level of reliability, efficiency, and robustness in electric systems, the concept of smart grid has been proposed. It is an update of the traditional electric grid designed to meet current and future customers’ requirements. With the smart grid, demand management has been adopted in order to shape the load pattern of the consumers, maintain supply-demand balance, and reduce the total energy cost. In this thesis, we focus mainly on energy savings by critically investigating the problem of load management in the smart grid. We first propose a user aware demand management approach that manages residential loads while taking into consideration users’ comfort. This latter is modeled in a simple yet effective way that considers waiting time, type of appliance, as well as a weight factor to prioritize comfort or savings. The proposed approach is based on game theory using a modified regret matching procedure. It provides users with high incentives to participate actively in load management and borrows advantages of both centralized and decentralized schemes. Then, we investigate the issue of fairness within demand response programs. The fair division of the system bill stemming from the use of shared microgrid resources with different costs is examined. The Shapley value provides one of the core solutions to fairness problems; however, it has been known to be computationally expensive for systems such as microgrids. Therefore, we incorporate an approximation of the Shapley value into a demand response algorithm to propose a fair billing mechanism based on the contribution of each user towards attaining the aggregated system cost. Finally, we study energy trading in the smart grid as an alternative way to reduce the load on the grid by efficiently using renewable energy resources. We propose a solution that takes into account the smart grid physical infrastructure, in addition to the distribution of its users. Different constraints stemming from the nature of the smart grid have been considered towards a realistic solution. We show through simulation results that all of the proposed schemes reduce the load on the grid, the energy bills, and the total system energy cost while maintaining the users’ comfort as well as fairness.
Optical frequency-domain reflectometry using rapid wavelength tuning of a Cr4+:forsterite laser.

We present a cw chromium-doped forsterite laser that permits rapid wavelength tuning over a broad bandwidth and demonstrate the application of this source to frequency-domain ranging and optical tomography. The entire tuning range of 1200 to 1275 nm can be swept in less than 500 micros . This permits frequency-domain ranging to be performed with a scan rate of 2 kHz and an axial resolution of 15 microm .