Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On store design and affective consumer experience: effects of color and store layout as a function of shopping goals

: Although a considerable body of literature is available documenting effects of store design, understanding of how and when store design affects consumer responses is limited. In this paper, it is argued that effects of two important design variables (i.e., color and layout) vary with consumers’ shopping goals. After presenting a literature review highlighting the importance of arousal and spatial control in explaining effects of store design, an experimental study is reported in which color and store layout were manipulated in a clothing store. Findings indicate that whereas recreational shoppers are primarily affected by store color, and report positive affect in a high-arousing environment, task-oriented shoppers are mainly affected by store layout and benefit from spacious layout conditions. In terns of practical implications, these findings suggest that an improvement of store atmospherics from recreational shoppers’ point of view does not frustrate task-oriented shoppers. Reversely, a more spacious store layout is likely to reduce irritation, nervousness and distress among task-oriented shoppers, without taking away the fun for recreational shoppers.
Supermicrosurgical Lymphaticovenular Anastomosis for the Treatment of Lymphedema in the Upper Extremities

Over the last eight years, the authors analyzed obstructive lymphedema of a unilateral upper extremity in a total of 27 females, comparing the use of supramicrosurgical lymphaticovenule anastomoses and/or conservative treatment. The most common cause of edema was mastectomy, with or without subsequent radiation therapy for breast cancer. As an objective assessment of the extent of edema, the circumferences of the affected and opposite normal forearms were measured at 10 cm below the olecranon of the arm. Twelve of these patients received continual bandaging. In these patients, the average excess circumference of the affected arm was 6.4 cm over that of the normal forearm; the average duration of edema before treatment was 3.5 years; the average period for conservative treatment was 10.6 months; and the average decrease in circumference was 0.8 cm (11.7 percent of the preoperative excess). Twelve patients underwent surgery and postoperative continual bandaging. In these patients, the average excess circumference was 8.9 cm; the average duration of edema before surgery was 8.2 years; the average follow-up after surgery was 2.2 years; and the average decrease in circumference was 4.1 cm (47.3 percent of the preoperative excess). These results indicated that supermicrolymphaticovenular anastomoses with postoperative bandaging have a valuable place in the treatment of obstructive lymphedema.
Multifamily psychoeducation for first-episode psychosis: a cost-effectiveness analysis.

OBJECTIVE Family psychoeducation is considered part of optimal treatment for first-episode psychosis, but concerns about the cost of this intervention have limited its availability. Although evidence suggests that family psychoeducation is cost-effective, many cost-effectiveness analyses have suffered from limitations that reduce their utility in guiding decisions to incorporate this intervention within existing clinical services. These include not presenting results in present-day dollars and not examining whether the intervention would remain cost-effective in situations where the clinical benefits achieved were smaller than those reported in past studies. Thus the goal of this study was to investigate the cost of providing a specific psychoeducation program-multifamily group psychoeducation-to individuals with first-episode psychosis and their families. METHODS Statistical simulation was used to estimate the cost and burden of illness associated with usual treatment versus usual treatment plus multifamily group psychoeducation. In addition, the simulation model was rerun to test whether multifamily psychoeducation would remain cost-effective in situations where the clinical benefits achieved were smaller than those reported in past studies. RESULTS When provided for two years, multifamily group psychoeducation ranged from a cost-effective to a cost-saving intervention, depending on the clinical benefits achieved by staff delivering the intervention. When provided for longer durations (five, ten, or 20 years), multifamily psychoeducation was a cost-saving intervention even in scenarios where the clinical benefits of the intervention were reduced by 90%. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that multifamily group psychoeducation may not only be a cost-effective intervention for first-episode psychosis but may often be a cost-saving intervention.
The Effect of Personal Factors on the Customer Rating of the Quality of Services of the Islamic Banks Operating in the Syrian Coast

This research aims at identifying with the customers’ evaluation of the quality of services in Islamic banks branches in the Syrian coast (the cities of Latakia and Tartous). As well as knowing the impact of personal factors (gender, age, scientific qualification, income, name of the bank) on this Assessment. In order to achieve this objective, data were collected through a questionnaire designed by Jabnoun and Khalifa (2005). Descriptive statistics has been used to determine the level of the assessment. In order to find out the impact of personal factors on the evaluation & services quality, the analysis of variance test, “Anova test”, has been used. The research found that the customers’ evaluation of services in the studied branches was average in general, and there is no statistically significant impact of the personal variables on the customers’ evaluation of the quality of the studied branches.
NALP1/NLRP1 Genetic Variants are Associated With Alzheimer Disease

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a complex neurodegenerative disease. Genetic and molecular studies have confirmed that in the human brain, amyloid-&bgr; fibrils can induce, through the activation of NALP1 inflammosome, inflammatory and apoptotic responses involved in the pathogenesis of AD. Considering that AD pathogenesis is multifactorial, we hypothesized that NALP1/NLRP1 could be a susceptibility gene involved in the devolvement of the disease. The possible association between 9 selected polymorphisms in the NALP1/NLRP1 gene and AD was evaluated by comparing their frequency distribution in an Italian cohort of AD patients (AD, n=276) and in a group of Italian sex-matched and age-matched healthy controls without dementia (HC, n=266). Our study, evidences the association of 4 nonsynonymous polymorphisms in the NLRP1 gene (rs2137722, rs34733791, rs11657747, rs11651595) with AD. The major alleles of all 4 single nucleotide polymorphisms and the corresponding homozygote genotypes were more frequent in AD patients than in healthy controls, suggesting an association of these variants in the predisposition versus the development of the disease. These findings seem to support the previously reported role of NALP1 in neuronal damage, and provide evidence of an association between single nucleotide variations in the NLRP1 gene and AD.
Optimal input design for parameter estimation of nonlinear systems: case study of an unstable delta wing

ABSTRACT A closed-loop optimal experimental design for online parameter identification approach is developed for nonlinear dynamic systems. The goal of the observer and the nonlinear model predictive control theories is here to perform online computation of the optimal time-varying input and to estimate the unknown model parameters online. The main contribution consists in combining Lyapunov stability theory with an existing closed-loop identification approach, in order to maximise the information content in the experiment and meanwhile to asymptotically stabilise the closed-loop system. To illustrate the proposed approach, the case of an open-loop unstable aerodynamic mechanical system is discussed. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm allows to estimate all unknown parameters, which was not possible according to previous work, while keeping the closed-loop system stable.
Online RGB-D tracking via detection-learning-segmentation

In this paper, we address the problem of online RGB-D tracking where the target object undergoes significant appearance changes. To sufficiently exploit the color and depth cues, we propose a novel RGB-D tracking framework (DLS) that simultaneously builds the target 2D appearance model and 3D distribution model. The framework decomposes the tracking task into detection, learning and segmentation. The detection and segmentation components locate the target collaboratively by using the two target models. An adaptive depth histogram is proposed in the segmentation component to efficiently locate the target in depth frames. The learning component estimates the detection and segmentation errors, updates the target models from the most confident frames by identifying two kinds of distractors: potential failure and occlusion. Extensive experimental results on a large-scale benchmark dataset show that the proposed method performs favourably against state-of-the-art RGB-D trackers in terms of efficiency, accuracy, and robustness.
Soluble plasma HLA peptidome as a potential source for cancer biomarkers

The HLA molecules are membrane-bound transporters that carry peptides from the cytoplasm to the cell surface for surveillance by circulating T lymphocytes. Although low levels of soluble HLA molecules (sHLA) are normally released into the blood, many types of tumor cells release larger amounts of these sHLA molecules, presumably to counter immune surveillance by T cells. Here we demonstrate that these sHLA molecules are still bound with their authentic peptide repertoires, similar to those of the membranal HLA molecules (mHLA). Therefore, a single immunoaffinity purification of the plasma sHLA molecules, starting with a few milliliters of patients’ blood, allows for identification of very large sHLA peptidomes by mass spectrometry, forming a foundation for development of a simple and universal blood-based cancer diagnosis. The new methodology was validated using plasma and tumor cells of multiple-myeloma and leukemia patients, plasma of healthy controls, and with cultured cancer cells. The analyses identified thousands of sHLA peptides, including some cancer-related peptides, present among the sHLA peptidomes of the cancer patients. Furthermore, because the HLA peptides are the degradation products of the cellular proteins, this sHLA peptidomics approach opens the way for investigation of the patterns of protein synthesis and degradation within the tumor cells.
SMSE-based DSA radar waveforms

Previous communications systems research has demonstrated that the Spectrally Modulated, Spectrally Encoded (SMSE) framework is well suited to SDR platforms and operation in both contiguous and non-contiguous spectrum given its ability to generate a wide variety of multicarrier waveforms such as OFDM, NC-OFDM, MC-CDMA, NC-MC-CDMA, CI/MC-CDMA, NCCI/MC-CDMA, and TDCS. In this paper, SMSE waveforms are extended for use in sparse frequency radar systems. Sparse frequency radar can be capable of dynamically sensing available spectrum, and tailoring the transmitted waveforms to suit the instantaneous RF environment conditions, simultaneously transmitting energy in multiple noncontiguous spectrum bands. Conventional radar performance metrics are reviewed, and a new metric is introduced which specifically addresses performance of noncontiguous spectrum waveforms through comparison to contiguous spectrum waveforms. Through simulation, various examples are shown to illustrate and characterize the impairments that are introduced in processing these classes of non-contiguous spectrum waveform returns, specifically the generation of large range sidelobes.
Tiny Transform Net for Mobile Image Stylization

Artistic stylization is an image transformation problem that renders an image in the style of another one. Existing methods either regard image style transfer as an optimization of perceptual loss function based on a pre-trained network, or train a feed forward network that achieves style transfer through one forward propagation. However, time-consuming optimization processes or relatively large feed forward networks are unacceptable for mobile application. In this work we propose a tiny transform net to accomplish image stylization on mobile devices. The advantages of our proposed architecture come from that: (i) The size of the carefully designed network is less than 40KB, which is more than 166 times smaller than the current popular network; (ii) Progressive training is put forward to keep the training stable, which is implemental to achieve semantics aware stylization; (iii) Deep convolutional network inference algorithm is reconstructed on mobile platform to reduce the overhead of storage and time. In addition, well-trained tiny transform nets and demo application will be made available.
Kinesio taping and the circulation and endurance ratio of the gastrocnemius muscle.

CONTEXT Kinesio Tex tape is a therapeutic tape that is applied with the Kinesio-taping (KT) method and is theorized to increase circulation and subsequently improve muscle function. However, little research has been conducted to determine how KT affects performance. OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of KT on muscular endurance ratio, blood flow, circumference, and volume of the gastrocnemius muscle. DESIGN Randomized controlled clinical trial. SETTING Research laboratory. Patients or Other Participants: Sixty-one healthy, active people (23 men, 38 women; age = 19.99 ± 8.01 years, height = 169.42 ± 23.62 cm, mass = 71.53 ± 36.77 kg) volunteered to participate. They were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 groups: treatment KT, sham KT, and control. INTERVENTION(S) Tape was applied based on group assignment. The treatment KT group received the ankle-tape technique as described in the KT manual. The sham KT group received 1 strip of Kinesio Tex tape around the circumference of the proximal gastrocnemius muscle. The control group did not receive tape application. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) The dependent variables were blood flow in blood perfusion units, volume of water displacement in milliliters, circumference of the gastrocnemius muscle in centimeters, and endurance ratio in joules measured before, 24 hours after, and 72 hours after the intervention. Separate repeated-measures analyses of variance were conducted for each dependent variable. RESULTS We found no group-by-test day interaction for endurance ratios (F(4,116) = 1.99, P = . 10). Blood flow, circumference, and volume measurements also yielded no differences among groups (F(2,58) range, 0.02-0.51; P > . 05) or test days (F(2,116) range, 0.05-2.33; P > . 05). CONCLUSIONS We found KT does not enhance anaerobic muscle function measured by endurance ratio. The KT also did not affect circulation or volume of the gastrocnemius muscle in a healthy population.
Halal Products Quality Assurance System

The article analyzes one of the fastest growing products certification - Halal certification. The authors evaluate Halal certification peculiarities and its relations with the companies implementing quality and food safety assurance standards. There is also highlighted Halal certification situation in Lithuania based on the survey of Lithuanian companies already possessing Halal certificates. The authors present Halal assurance system that allows enterprises to successfully maintain Halal products.
The study of multi-objective decision method based on Bayesian network

Based on the study of analytic hierarchy process (AHP), fuzzy comprehensive evaluation and Bayesian network, this paper establishes the multiple objective decision Bayesian network model (MODBN) by use of the method of converting the indexes and their relationships into the nodes and directed edges in Bayesian network. First of all, calculate the prior probabilities of the leaf nodes in MODBN using the fuzzy relation matrix of grade field of index system in fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. Second, calculate the conditional probabilities of the MODBN nodes by the index weights of AHP. Third, MODBN can not only optimally select one scheme and determine its state, but also find out the key factors based on the comprehensive importance analysis and propose the optimization measures for the scheme. At last, the effectiveness and practicality of the model are verified by the comparison of the example of application for research projects and the analytic hierarchy process.
Smartphone: The Ultimate IoT and IoE Device

Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Everything (IoE) are emerging communication concepts that will interconnect a variety of devices (including smartphones, home appliances, sensors, and other network devices), people, data, and processes and allow them to communicate with each other seamlessly. These new concepts can be applied in many application domains such as healthcare, transportation, and supply chain management (SCM), to name a few, and allow users to get real-time information such as location-based services, disease management, and tracking. The smartphone-enabling technologies such as built-in sensors, Bluetooth, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tracking, and nearfield communications (NFC) allow it to be an integral part of IoT and IoE world and the mostly used device in these environments. However, its use imposes severe security and privacy threats, because the smartphone usually contains and communicates sensitive private data. In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive survey on IoT and IoE technologies, their application domains, IoT structure and architecture, the use of smartphones in IoT and IoE, and the difference between IoT networks and mobile cellular networks. We also provide a concise overview of future opportunities and challenges in IoT and IoE environments and focus more on the security and privacy threats of using the smartphone in IoT and IoE networks with a suggestion of some countermeasures.
Interchannel Mixing Minimization in Semi-Packed Micro Gas Chromatography Columns

Semi-packed columns containing an array of micropillars embedded within an open rectangular column structure are a new class of micro gas chromatography (μGC) columns introduced to provide higher separation efficiency and higher sample capacity. Three different semi-packed column configurations are evaluated with respect to pillar spacing along the flow direction and number of pillars across channel. The efficiencies of semi-packed columns, in terms of height-equivalent-to-a-theoretical-plate (HETP), are compared with two microfabricated open-rectangular columns. According to simulation results, arranging the pillars in a symmetrical configuration with spacing equal to the post dimension can suppress multi-path flows. Experimental results confirm the simulation prediction as the design with 2 μm post spacing (SP1) demonstrates the highest performance among other designs. SP1 is found to have HETP of 0.010 cm (15 000 plates/m) at an optimal velocity of 18 cm/s. An open channel design with comparable channel width yields an HETP of 0.025 cm (6000 plates/m) at an optimal velocity of 45 cm/s. The pressure drop in semi-packed columns is experimentally measured to be ~ 9 kPa which falls within the practical range of microfabricated pumps.
Intensive, progressive exercise improves quality of life following lumbar microdiskectomy: a randomized controlled trial

Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine changes in quality of life measures in patients who have undergone an intensive exercise program following a single level microdiskectomy. Design: Randomized controlled trial with blinded examiners. Setting: The study was conducted in outpatient physical therapy clinics. Subjects: Ninety-eight participants (53 male, 45 female) who had undergone a single-level lumbar microdiskectomy allocated to receive exercise and education or education only. Interventions: A 12-week periodized exercise program of lumbar extensor strength and endurance training, and mat and upright therapeutic exercises was administered. Outcome measures: Quality of life was tested with the Short Form 36 (SF-36). Measurements were taken 4–6 weeks postsurgery and following completion of the 12-week intervention program. Since some participants selected physical therapy apart from the study, analyses were performed for both an as-randomized (two-group) design and an as-treated (three-group) design. Results: In the two-group analyses, exercise and education resulted in a greater increase in SF-36 scales, role physical (17.8 vs. 12.1) and bodily pain (13.4 vs. 8.4), and the physical component summary (13.2 vs. 8.9). In the three-group analyses, post-hoc comparisons showed exercise and education resulted in a greater increase in the SF-36 scales, physical function (10.4 vs. 5.6) and bodily pain (13.7 vs. 8.2), and the physical component summary (13.7 vs. 8.9) when compared with usual physical therapy. Conclusions: An intensive, progressive exercise program combined with education increases quality of life in patients who have recently undergone lumbar microdiskectomy.
Spatial profiles of store‐dependent calcium release in motoneurones of the nucleus hypoglossus from newborn mouse

Hypoglossal motoneurones (HMN) are selectively damaged in both human amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and corresponding mouse models of this neurodegenerative disease, a process which has been linked to their low endogenous Ca2+ buffering capacity and an exceptional vulnerability to Ca2+‐mediated excitotoxic events. In this report, we investigated local Ca2+ profiles in low buffered HMNs by utilizing multiphoton microscopy, CCD imaging and patch clamp recordings in slice preparations. Bath application of caffeine induced highly localized Ca2+ release events, which displayed an initial peak followed by a slow ‘shoulder’ lasting several seconds. Peak amplitudes were paralleled by Ca2+‐activated, apamin‐sensitive K+ currents (IKCa), demonstrating a functional link between Ca2+ stores and HMN excitability. The potential involvement of mitochondria was investigated by bath application of CCCP, which collapses the electrochemical potential across the inner mitochondrial membrane. CCCP reduced peak amplitudes of caffeine responses and consequently IKCa, indicating that functionally intact mitochondria were critical for store‐dependent modulation of HMN excitability. Taken together, our results indicate localized Ca2+ release profiles in HMNs, where low buffering capacities enhance the role of Ca2+‐regulating organelles as local determinants of [Ca2+]i. This might expose HMN to exceptional risks during pathophysiological organelle disruptions and other ALS‐related, cellular disturbances.
Local People’s Perception regarding Tourism Development: The Case of Yogyakarta, Indonesia

The development of tourism is viewed as a source of new job opportunities, foreign exchanges, additional taxes, and regional development. Although residents’ perception toward tourism has significantly influenced tourism development, still there is a lack of academic studies in Indonesia to show the support of tourism by the local community. The purpose of this research is to determine the cultural, economic, and environmental effects of tourism on the culture of the local people in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. A qualitative approach through face-to-face interviews conducted to know the viewpoints of local people from Yogyakarta. The findings propose new insights into the different impacts of tourism and community development practices. These findings show the positive and negative aspects of tourism on the local community. This study concludes that although the host population perceives different point of views with tourism development, overall the Yogyakarta residents are happy about the economic benefits it brings to their community. Finally, the results of this research present some managerial implications and practical information for both the Ministry of Tourism and stakeholders in the tourism industry.