Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Zidovudine (An Antiretroviral Drug) on Some Serum and Erythrocyte Biochemical Parameters in Wistar Albino Rats

Zidovudine (AZT) is a nucleoside analog, a reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) and a type of antiretroviral drug used for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. The administration of zidovudine to the wistar albino rats showed an increase in erythrocyte fragility as can be seen from figure 1. There were significant (p<0.05) increases in serum Aspartate aminotranseferase (AST) activity, and GlutathioneStranseferase (GST) activity, The result also showed non-significant (p>0.05) decrease in serum ALP activity, significant (p<0.05) decrease in Fe2+/Fe3+ ratio and NADH methaemoglobin reductase activity. Findings from this study have revealed that zidovudine is hepatotoxic, increases the concentraton of ferric iron in the body thus imparing oxygen transport and also affects the erythrocyte membrane proteins adversely.
Accented Indian english ASR: Some early results

The problem of the effect of accent on the performance of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems is well known. In this paper, we study the effect of accent variability on the performance of the Indian English ASR task. We evaluate the test vocabularies on HMMs trained on (a) Accent specific training data (b) Accent pooled training data which combines all the accent specific training data (c) Accent pooled training data of reduced size matching the size of the accent specific training data. We demonstrate that the accent pooled training set performs the best on phonetically rich isolated word recognition task. But the accent specific HMMs perform better than the reduced accent pooled HMMs, indicating a possible approach of using a first stage accent identification to choose the correct accent trained HMMs for further recognition.
State and trait anxiety as a psychopathological phenomenon correlated with postpartum depression in a Romanian sample: a pilot study

Abstract The current study aimed to investigate the rate of postpartum depression and its correlation with both state and trait anxiety. A cross-sectional study was performed on 80 mothers monitored in the Ambulatory of “Bega” Obstetrics Clinic from Timisoara. The presence of depression was assessed with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, using a cut-off ≥10. State anxiety was assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory and anchored visual analogue scales. Trait anxiety was dimensionally assessed using the Karolinska Scale of Personality (KSP). More than half of recruited mothers presented a global score significant for postpartum depression (N = 43, 53.8%). Both perspectives of anxiety, as a state (p < 0.001) and as personality traits (e.g. p = 0.003 for psychic anxiety), were significantly correlated with postpartum depression. Furthermore, the levels of worry related to self-perceived health status of both mother and infant were significant in mothers with postpartum depression. We can conclude that postpartum depression was a highly-frequent psychopathological phenomenon among mothers from this sample set. In addition, both state and trait anxiety were common co-occurring clinical features.
Bring IT on(E)! Personal Preferences and Traits as Influencing Factors to Participate in BYOD Programs

Bring your own device (BYOD), as a subset of Consumerization, is referring to the diffusion of consumer devices and hardware into the corporate environment. We investigate how employees perceive different aspects of a BYOD policy and which of those factors influence their decision to participate in the BYOD program. To discuss how organizations can address these factors, we contrast the views of employees with the view of the management. To this end, we conduct a qualitative case study with interview partners from management and the workforce in a consultancy. We find that the employees’ decision to take part in a BYOD program can be broken down into two underlying categories: First, the preference to use just one device for work and private life and second the preference to use the own private device instead of a corporate device. Depending on the employees’ individual preferences, they make interclass or intra-class trade-offs in their decision process. Furthermore, we find that worrying about a potential work-to-life conflict is the main inhibitor regarding BYOD participation in the decision process. If BYOD is beneficial from a management perspective (e.g. due to costs savings) addressing these concerns in the BYOD policy could raise participation.
Human influence on gull non-breeding distribution: potential consequences of changes in fishing practices

Interpopulation mixing of migratory species at particular stopover and wintering hotspots increases their vulnerability to anthropogenic impacts. Animal associations with human activities at this time of the annual cycle should, therefore, inform management policies. The Gulf of Cadiz, Spain is a key non-breeding area for the Near-Threatened Audouin's gull Ichthyaetus audouinii and the over-abundant lesser black-backed gull Larus fuscus, both of which heavily depend on human fisheries. Here, we used long-term (1990�2013) data on coastal censuses, along with spatially-explicit information on fish landings (2000�2014) and on-board surveys of fishing vessels (2012�2013), to unravel the association of these gulls with human fisheries and evaluate its role in shaping their distribution at this important non-breeding hotspot. Fishing discards from trawlers were extensively used by lesser black-backed gulls, whereas Audouin's gulls apparently benefited from fish aggregations that occurred where purse seines were retrieved. Fishing influ- ence was identified as an important driver of the non-breeding distribution of these gulls, partic- ularly for the lesser black-backed gull, which congregated near main fishing ports. Within this scenario, we speculate that changes in fishing practices, such as those proposed by the upcoming EU Reform of the Common Fisheries Policy that includes a ban on fishing discards, will almost certainly impact the lesser black-backed gull. In contrast, the impact on the Audouin's gull remains unclear and will likely depend on how the proposed ban is implemented.
Beneficial Role of Hydrophytes in Removing Cr(Vi) From Wastewater in Association With Chromate-Reducing Bacterial Strains Ochrobactrum Intermedium and Brevibacterium

This study deals with the use of three chromium-resistant bacterial strains (Ochrobactrum intermedium CrT-1, Brevibacterium CrT-13, and CrM-1) in conjunction with Eichornia crassipes for the removal of toxic chromium from wastewater. Bacterial strains resulted in reduced uptake of chromate into inoculated plants as compared to noninoculated control plants. In the presence of different heavy metals, chromium uptake into the plants was 28.7 and 7.15% less at an initial K 2 CrO 4 concentration of 100 and 500 μg ml−1 in comparison to a metal free chromium solution. K 2 CrO 4 uptake into the plant occurred at different pHs tested, but maximum uptake was observed at pH 5. Nevertheless, the bacterial strains caused some decrease in chromate uptake into the plants, but the combined effect of plants and bacterial strains conduce more removal of Cr(VI) from the solution.
A Communication Efficient Parallel DBSCAN Algorithm based on Parameter Server

Recent benchmark studies show that MPI-based distributed implementations of DBSCAN, e.g., PDSDBSCAN, outperform other implementations such as apache Spark etc. However, the communication cost of MPI DBSCAN increases drastically with the number of processors, which makes it inefficient for large scale problems. In this paper, we propose PS-DBSCAN, a parallel DBSCAN algorithm that combines the disjoint-set data structure and Parameter Server framework, to minimize communication cost. Since data points within the same cluster may be distributed over different workers which result in several disjoint-sets, merging them incurs large communication costs. In our algorithm, we employ a fast global union approach to union the disjoint-sets to alleviate the communication burden. Experiments over the datasets of different scales demonstrate that PS-DBSCAN outperforms the PDSDBSCAN with 2-10 times speedup on communication efficiency. We have released our PS-DBSCAN in an algorithm platform called Platform of AI (PAI) in Alibaba Cloud.
Ambulatory assessment of human circadian phase and related sleep disorders from heart rate variability and other non-invasive physiological measurements

The circadian system plays a key role in our well-being and its effects can be seen in many aspects of our lives. Our master circadian clock, located deep in our brain, influences various physiological processes such as heart rate, body temperature, energy metabolism, hormones, and sleep, to name a few. Misalignments in our circadian system can lead to both short-term and long-term problems. It is possible to willfully shift our internal clock through the use of light therapy by forcing shifts in either direction depending on the timing of the light exposure. However, in order to do this correctly and effectively, it is necessary to know the timing of the circadian clock with respect to our solar clock. This is known as the circadian phase. In this thesis we have created mathematical models which are able to estimate circadian phase based on non-invasively collected signal such as heart rate, light exposure, and activity levels. The models have been trained and tested on various populations including young, middle-aged, and insomniacs. Furthermore, the models have been tested on data collected from a smartwatch equipped with an optical heart rate sensor, providing a potential use case for the rapidly-growing smartwatch market. In addition, a distinctive heart rate variability pattern was observed in sleep onset insomniacs which could be used as a tool to complement clinical diagnosis of this sleep disorder, as well as provide insights into the causes of insomnia.
Metabolic Control and Quality-of-Life Self-Assessment in Adolescents With IDDM

OBJECTIVE To examine the relation between metabolic control and self-assessed quality of life in adolescents with IDDM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The Diabetes Quality of Life (DQOL) questionnaire for youths was given to 69 subjects with IDDM aged 10-20 years at the time of their outpatient visit. Subjects with IDDM of < 1 year's duration or with documented psychotic disorder or mental retardation were excluded. Metabolic control was assessed by the mean HbA1c during the preceding year (long-term), by a single HbA1c at the time of the visit (short-term), and by the number of acute events related to IDDM in the preceding year. RESULTS The DQOL score correlated with mean HbA1c (β = 6.13, R2 = 0.22, P = 0.0122) and single HbA1c (β = 3.94, R2 = 0.18, P = 0.05). Self-health assessment was the best predictor of DQOL score (β = −44.42, R2 = 0.45, P < 0.0001). The Worries subscale score on DQOL correlated with the occurrence of acute events (β = 6.97, R2 = 0.2, P = 0.006), but did not correlate with either HbA1c level. Correlations of mean HbA1c with the predictors were stronger than the correlations of single HbA1c with the same predictors. CONCLUSIONS Metabolic control and quality of life are two important outcomes of IDDM care. In our study, adolescents in better metabolic control report better quality of life. Both components need to be addressed in developing successful diabetes treatment strategies for adolescents with IDDM.
Performance evaluation of space vector modulation techniques for reducing leakage current of a three-phase four-leg PV inverter

Solar energy has attracted considerable attention around the world. Commonly, the photovoltaic systems connected to the grid. PV systems can principally be integrated to the electrical grid via galvanic isolation (transformer) or without it (transformerless). Although the low frequency transformer makes galvanic isolation, it increases size, cost and losses. On the other hand, transformerless PV systems increase the leakage current (common mode current, (CMC)) through the parasitic capacitors of the PV array. The leakage current depends on several parameters, mostly inverter topology and switching technique. Since there is no need to additional hardware for switching scheme modification, it's an inexpensive method to reduce leakage current. This paper investigates the impact of various space vector modulation techniques on leakage current for a two-level three-phase four-leg inverter used in PV system, as a new study. It proposes an effective space vector modulation technique which reduces the leakage current to below the quantity specified in VDE-0126-1-1 standard. Moreover, some other characteristics of the space vector modulation schemes that have not been significantly discussed for four-leg inverter, are taken into account, such as switching actions per period, modulation index, common mode voltage (CMV), and total harmonic distortion (THD). An extend software simulation using MATLAB/Simulink is performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed modulation technique.
Assessments of Information Quality: Does the Medium Matter?

As the amount of information available through the Internet has exploded, users have come to depend on the Internet as a source of information. This study will improve our understanding of how users perceive the quality of this information. The study addresses a limitation of prior research by examining users’ evaluations of the information quality of specific documents available on the web and in print. A repeated measures design is used to examine the question of whether the publication medium (print-based versus web-based) affects users’ perceptions of the quality of information. The study also examines differences in users’ evaluations as author credibility varies. The findings of the study will have implications for decisions about media choice.
The effect of age and fixation instability on retinotopic mapping of primary visual cortex.

PURPOSE Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments determining the retinotopic structure of visual cortex have commonly been performed on young adults, who are assumed to be able to maintain steady fixation throughout the trial duration. The authors quantified the effects of age and fixation stability on the quality of retinotopic maps of primary visual cortex. METHODS With the use of a 3T fMRI scanner, the authors measured cortical activity in six older and six younger normally sighted participants observing an expanding flickering checkerboard stimulus of 30 degrees diameter. The area of flattened primary visual cortex (V1) showing any blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) activity to the visual stimulus and the area responding to the central 3.75 degrees of the stimulus (relating to the central ring of our target) were recorded. Fixation stability was measured while participants observed the same stimuli outside the scanner using an infrared gazetracker. RESULTS There were no age-related changes in the area of V1. However, the proportion of V1 active to our visual stimulus was lower for the older observers than for the younger observers (overall activity: 89.8% of V1 area for older observers, 98.6% for younger observers; P < 0.05). This effect was more pronounced for the central 3.75 degrees of the target (older subjects, 26.4%; younger subjects, 40.7%; P < 0.02). No significant relationship existed between fixation stability and age or the magnitude of activity in the primary visual cortex. CONCLUSIONS Although the cortical area remains unchanged, healthy older persons show less BOLD activity in V1 than do younger persons. Normal variations in fixation stability do not have a significant effect on the accuracy of experiments to determine the retinotopic structure of the visual cortex.
Physician Knowledge, Attitude, and Experience With Advance Care Planning, Palliative Care, and Hospice

Purpose: To evaluate primary care physicians’ understanding of and experience with advance care planning (ACP), palliative care, and hospice and how this might affect their utilization of these services. Methods: Investigator-generated survey. Results: Older age, more years in practice, and more personal and professional experience with ACP were correlated with an increase in the percentage of patients with progressive, chronic life-limiting diseases with whom physicians discussed advance directives. Overall, 97.5% of physician’s expressed comfort in discussing ACP yet reported discussing advance directives with only 43% of appropriate patients. Discussion: Often, discussions about ACP or referrals to palliative care or hospice do not occur until the patient is near the end of life. Our results indicate that primary care physician’s personal and professional experience with ACP may be contributing to some of the barriers to these discussions.
Optimized partitioned binary interpolative coding

Inverted index is the core data structure in large scale information retrieval systems such as Web search engine. Index compression techniques are usually used to reduce the storage and transmission time from disk to memory. Many index compression schemes have been proposed and among them Binary Interpolative Coding (IPC) is one of the most widely used schemes due to its superior compression ratio(CR). However we find the bottleneck of CR of IPC is the existing of over-long d-gaps in the inverted lists. To avoid them and to strengthen the advantage of CR of IPC we propose two improvement schemes including an optimized one. We discuss our method in detail and also introduce some important implementation details. Experimental results on two publicly available standard corpora show that compared with normal IPC, our method reduces the amount of storage by 13% with a negligible time cost incensement of less than 1% in Boolean AND, WAND and Rank queries.
How to Establish a Scale That Best Fits Your Agenda: The Guidelines to Build a Web Service Quality Scale

As the Web-based commerce booms rapidly, it is crucial for companies to develop comprehensive yet customized measurement of Website service quality in order to formulate their winning strategies. However, no single exiting scale can be globally effective to capture Websites service quality because service quality dimensions can differ according to the various characteristics of the websites. Therefore, managers and engineers need to cultivate their own abilities to develop a scale that can be more effectively evaluating service quality of their Websites. Accordingly, this article aims to provide guidelines for managers and/or engineers to adjust current measures or build new scales for Website service quality that best fits their agenda. This paper firstly discusses how to use literature review and focus group interview to identify possible dimensions of Website service quality. Next, item generation and selection techniques are introduced. Last, statistical methods for refining items and accessing reliability and validity of the scale are described. An example from previously published paper is also provided for readers’ reference.
Εξωγενείς επιδράσεις, ενδογενής ανάπτυξη και ο επιταχυντής: μερικά εμπειρικά αποτελέσματα για την ελληνική οικονομία

Σ' αυτό το άρθρο κάνουμe μια πολύ σύντομη και σe αδρές γραμμές eπισκόπηση της προσέγγισης της eνδογeνούς ανάπτυξης, αναφeρόμαστe στους eμπeιρικούς eλέγχους που διeξάγονται σχeτικά μe αυτήν και προχωρούμe στην eξέταση της ύπαρξης eπιταχυντή στην eλληνική οικονομία. Ο eπιταχυντής της eπένδυσης μπορeί να υπονοeί τη διαδικασία της μάθησης, δηλαδή οι eπιχeιρήσeις μαθαίνουν για τη φάση του οικονομικού κύκλου από την παρατήρηση σχeτικά μe το παραγόμeνο προϊόν και τότe eπeνδύουν (και πιθανόν μισθώνουν eργασία) ανάλογα. Τα στατιστικά μας στοιχeία υποστηρίζουν την ύπαρξη του eπιταχυντή eπeνδύσeων για την eλληνική οικονομία, αλλά όχι και του eπιταχυντή απασχόλησης.
Early malnutrition decreases contrast sensitivity to circular concentric gratings

malnutrition refers to inadequate nutrition during the critical period of nervous system development followed by nutritional recovery, resulting in a short stature according to age but normal weight according to short stature. We measured the effects of early malnutrition on contrast sensitivity (CS) to concentric circular gratings in 18 children of both sexes, aged 8 to 11 years (mean = 9.2 years, standard deviation = .99 years). Nine of the children were eutrophic (E group), and nine experienced early malnutrition (EM group) based on state healthcare records and Waterlow's anthropometric parameters. Contrast sensitivity to four spatial frequencies (.25, 1.0, 2.0, and 8.0 cycles per degree (cpd)) was measured using a temporal two-alternative forced-choice psychophysical method with mean luminance of 40.1 cd/m 2 . Statistical analyses showed significant differences between groups and a group × frequency interaction. EM group was significantly less sensitive than the E group to the 8.0 cpd frequency and needed 1.49-times more contrast to detect the gratings. These results suggest that early malnutrition impairs CS to high-spatial- frequency concentric circular gratings in children. Therefore, early malnutrition, which is known to affect primary visual cortical areas, may also affect higher visual cortical areas such as V4 and the inferotemporal cortex. Keywords: early malnutrition; non- Cartesian stimuli; contrast sensitivity; extrastriate processing.
Independent components of oculomotor learning

This research is an investigation of the visual circuit for saccadic and vergence eye movements using an oculomotor learning task to study the cerebral and cerebellar areas utilizing fMRI. Data from eight subjects were analyzed with analysis of functional neural images (AFNI) and the Infomax independent component analysis algorithm. This study showed that 1) neural activation is present in the prefrontal, frontal, parietal, occipital cortices, and cerebellar vermis (4/5) and cerebellar vermis (VI/VII) or declive for saccadic and vergence eye movements and 2) there are two distinct pathways involved in an oculomotor learning task. The first is a frontal-parietal and the second is cerebellar (VI/VII) pathway, for short-term oculomotor learning. These findings suggest that oculomotor learning utilizes two distinct circuits to learn a visual stimulus pattern.
A New Compensation Control Strategy for Grid-Connected Wind Turbine and Fuel Cell Inverters in a Microgrid

The use of a new control method for grid-connected inverters for reducing the output current harmonic distortion in a wide range of grid-connected distributed generation (DG) applications, including wind turbine (WT) and fuel cell (FC) inverters is proposed in this paper. The control method designed to eliminate main harmonics in a microgrid (MG) and between MG and point of common coupling (PCC) and responsible for the correction of the system unbalance. Another advantage of the proposed control method is that it can be easily adopted into the DG control system without the installation of extra hardware. The proposed control method is comprised of the synchronous reference frame method (SRF). Results from the proposed control method are provided to show the feasibility of the proposed approach.
The Balassa-Samuelson Effect in Central and Eastern Europe: Myth or Reality?

This paper studies the Balassa-Samuelson effect in nine Central and East European countries. Using panel cointegration techniques, we find that productivity growth in the open sector leads to inflation in non-tradable goods. Because of the low share of non-tradables and the high share of food items in addition to regulated prices, the consumer price index is misleading when analyzing the Balassa-Samuelson effect. Consequently, the appreciation of the real exchange rate, which has been established as a stylized fact over the last decade, is caused only partly by the Balassa-Samuelson effect. We identify a trend increase in the prices of tradable goods as a contributing explanation.