Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intention of Use of Long-Term Care Facilities and Home Support Services by Chinese-Canadian Family Caregivers

ABSTRACT One common myth about ethno-cultural minority family caregivers is that they do not use formal services. This study examined the intention of using home support and long-term care facilities by a random sample of 339 Chinese-Canadian family caregivers, using a modified version of the Andersen-Newman service utilization model. Filial piety, caregiving burden, care receivers, and health conditions are the common predictors identified. Filial obligation is most likely manifested through facilitating the care receivers to make use of the services needed, particularly for caregivers who reported a high level of caregiving burden.
Light Induced Afterpulses in Photomultipliers

Various spurious effects limit the effectiveness of Photomultipliers when used in low-light-level coincidence counting experiments. One of these effects is afterpulses from light emission in the Photomultiplier. Here we present a study on the light emission in Photomultipliers using a variety of methods. First we image the light emission directly. Second we characterize the light emission spectrum. Finally we investigate the time resolved light emission. In particular we find that, not only the dynodes “glow,” but also the support structure emits light. A fluorescent effect is found. The experiments performed help to understand the fundamental effects of light emission and afterpulses in Photomultipliers.
Ankle injuries among United States high school sports athletes, 2005-2006.

CONTEXT Ankle injuries are the most common sport-related injuries. To date, no studies have been published that use national data to present a cross-sport, cross-sex analysis of ankle injuries among US high school athletes. OBJECTIVE To investigate the incidence rates of ankle injuries by sex, type of exposure, and sport. DESIGN Descriptive epidemiologic study. SETTING One hundred US high schools. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS United States high school athletes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) We reviewed ankle injury data collected over the 2005-2006 school year from a nationally representative sample obtained by High School RIO, an injury surveillance system. Specific sports studied were boys' football, boys' and girls' soccer, girls' volleyball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' wrestling, boys' baseball, and girls' softball. RESULTS An estimated 326 396 ankle injuries occurred nationally in 2005-2006, yielding an injury rate of 5.23 ankle injuries per 10 000 athlete-exposures. Ankle injuries occurred at a significantly higher rate during competition (9.35 per 10 000 athlete-exposures) than during practice (3.63) (risk ratio = 2.58; 95% confidence interval = 2.26, 2.94; P < .001). Boys' basketball had the highest rate of ankle injury (7.74 per 10 000 athlete-exposures), followed by girls' basketball (6.93) and boys' football (6.52). In all sports except girls' volleyball, rates of ankle injury were higher in competition than in practice. Overall, most ankle injuries were diagnosed as ligament sprains with incomplete tears (83.4%). Ankle injuries most commonly caused athletes to miss less than 7 days of activity (51.7%), followed by 7 to 21 days of activity loss (33.9%) and more than 22 days of activity loss (10.5%). CONCLUSIONS Sports that combine jumping in close proximity to other players and swift changes of direction while running are most often associated with ankle injuries. Future research on ankle injuries is needed to drive the development and implementation of more effective preventive interventions.
Parallel connection of super-junction MOSFETs in a PFC application

The paper deals with an experimental analysis on the behavior of parallel connections of super-junction power MOSFET devices in a boost converter used as power factor corrector (PFC). The main impact of the parameter variation on the parallel connection has been treated. The experimental evaluation of the current sharing in parallel connection has been carried out in several operative conditions by considering the influence of different parameters. Finally, a specific arrangement able to reduce the current imbalance of the devices has been experimented and discussed.
Glioblastoma Induces Vascular Dysregulation in Nonenhancing Peritumoral Regions in Humans.

OBJECTIVE Glioblastoma is an invasive primary brain malignancy that typically infiltrates the surrounding tissue with malignant cells. It disrupts cerebral blood flow through a variety of biomechanical and biochemical mechanisms. Thus, neuroimaging focused on identifying regions of vascular dysregulation may reveal a marker of tumor spread. The purpose of this study was to use blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) to compare the temporal dynamics of the enhancing portion of a tumor with those of brain regions without apparent tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients with pathologically proven glioblastoma underwent preoperative resting-state BOLD fMRI, T1-weighted contrast-enhanced MRI, and FLAIR MRI. The contralesional control hemisphere, contrast-enhancing tumor, and peritu-moral edema were segmented by use of structural images and were used to extract the time series of these respective regions. The parameter estimates (beta values) for the two regressors and resulting z-statistic images were used as a metric to compare the similarity of the tumor dynamics to those of other brain regions. RESULTS The time course of the contrast-enhancing tumor was significantly different from that of the rest of the brain (p < 0.05). Similarly, the control signal intensity was significantly different from the tumor signal intensity (p < 0.05). Notably, the temporal dynamics in the peritumoral edema, which did not contain enhancing tumor, were most similar to the those of enhancing tumor than to those of control regions. CONCLUSION The findings show that the disruption in vascular regulation induced by a glioblastoma can be detected with BOLD fMRI and that the spatial distribution of these disruptions is localized to the immediate vicinity of the tumor and peritumoral edema.
Market Motivations for Voluntary Carbon Disclosure in Real Estate Industry

Climate change mitigation in developing economies is a balancing act, between economic development and environmental sustainability. The need for market friendly determinants for low carbon economy, without compromising economic development is of essence. The aim of the study is to determine market friendly factors, which motivates voluntary carbon information disclosure, in the real estate industry. The study modeled economic factor with three variables and financial market factor with three variables against voluntary carbon information disclosure in the real estate industry. Structural equation modeling was used for the modeling and content analysis was used to collect data on the level of voluntary carbon information disclosure, from 2013 annual reports of 126 real estate sector companies listed in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE). The model achieved a good fit, and was acceptable prediction. The results show that financial market factor has a significant predictive influence on voluntary carbon disclosure. The application of the result is that financial market factor is has a significantly positive influence on companies’ willingness to make voluntary carbon disclosure in the real estate industry. The result may be limited to the real estate industry that is highly leveraged on syndicated fund.
The Sources of Utilitarian Benefits and Hedonic Shopping Enjoyment, and Purchasing Intention in an Online Shopping Mall

The objective of this paper is to explore critical factors affecting customers’ purchasing intention when shopping in a virtual world. Based on the SITEQUAL model, the technology acceptance model and the utilitarian and hedonic motivation theory, this study proposes an integrative model which explains customers’ purchasing intentions in an online shopping mall. And it tries to empirically verify the model by using survey data from Korean customers. In addition, the relative importance of site reputation and hedonic shopping enjoyment is examined as moderating variables between utilitarian site quality variables and customers’ purchasing intention.
A model for the delivery of culturally competent community care.

AIM To describe the proposed Culturally Competent Community Care (CCCC) model, and the process of development and testing of the model. BACKGROUND Community health nurses are challenged to provide culturally competent care in all types of communities. However, existing models have not provided community nurses with specific guidelines, and none attempt to explain the effects of culturally competent care on populations in community settings. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a model that is comprehensive in its description of the dimensions of culturally competent care in community-based settings and that also requires a focus on ethnic populations. The model is essential for reducing racial and ethnic health disparities. METHODS Based on literature review and concept analysis, three constructs of the Culturally Competent Community Care Model were developed. Two of the constructs, the health care system and health outcomes, were developed based on a literature review. The main construct of the model, cultural competence, was developed after a concept analysis, following the development and testing of the Cultural Competence Scale (CCS). Interviews with eight community health nurses and a survey by five community nurse experts were conducted in order to refine and confirm the dimensions of cultural competence and its impact on health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS The proposed dimensions of culturally competent care are caring, cultural sensitivity, cultural knowledge, and cultural skills. This model focuses on the relationship between cultural competence and health outcomes for culturally diverse populations. The framework provides specific guidelines for community nurses in developing and assessing cultural competence and meeting the health needs of diverse communities.
Re-examining Kohlberg's conception of morality in schizophrenia

Introduction. Early clinical descriptions of and research with people with schizophrenia described apparent difficulties in moral judgement and sensitivity. However, this research failed to take into account the effect of cognitive deficits and symptoms on task performance. Methods. We assessed people with schizophrenia on the Moral Judgement Interview, a task used in the earlier literature, alongside a battery of neuro- and social-cognitive tasks. Results. Whereas people with schizophrenia perform more poorly on this task than controls, this is mediated by memory and declarative theory of mind, and also impacted by negative symptoms. Conclusions. These results indicate that performance deficits on moral judgement tasks are not a universal feature of schizophrenia, but rather due to associated difficulties such as those in social cognition.
Identifying Employee Training Topics and Their Value In Development of An Effective Chinese Business By United States Agricultural Companies: A Delphi Study

A three-round Delphi study was conducted to identify training topics required for development of a successful China business by U.S. agricultural companies. By identifying the training topics, business educators can better assist in the development of training programs targeted at U.S. companies wishing to conduct business in China. Thirty-seven (37) panel members completed the first round survey with 34 of them completing the second and third round surveys. In summary, the panel generated nine groups of training topics for U.S. agricultural companies wishing to enter the Chinese market. The nine training topics are: ethics and trust, Chinese markets, networks and partnerships in China, Chinese business practices, language and culture, product advantages and customer service, political and economic climate in China, legal counsel and intellectual property in China, and human resources and labor costs in China. Of the nine training topics, the “product advantages and customer service” group reached high consensus level among the panel. The other eight training topics reached moderate consensus level. Furthermore, of the nine training topics, the “ethics and trust” as well as the “Chinese markets” groups were both considered as essential by the panel for including into training programs that U.S. agricultural companies should consider when entering the Chinese market. The other seven training topics were considered as very important.
Body mass index: different nutritional status according to WHO, OPAS and Lipschitz classifications in gastrointestinal cancer patients.

CONTEXT The body mass index (BMI) is the most common marker used on diagnoses of the nutritional status. The great advantage of this index is the easy way to measure, the low cost, the good correlation with the fat mass and the association to morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE To compare the BMI differences according to the WHO, OPAS and Lipschitz classification. METHODS A prospective study on 352 patients with esophageal, gastric or colorectal cancer was done. The BMI was calculated and analyzed by the classification of WHO, Lipschitz and OPAS. RESULTS The mean age was 62.1 ± 12.4 years and 59% of them had more than 59 years. The BMI had not difference between the genders in patients <59 years (P = 0.75), but over 59 years the BMI was higher in women (P<0.01). The percentage of undernourished was 7%, 18% and 21% (P<0.01) by WHO, Lipschitz and OPAS, respectively. The overweight/obesity was also different among the various classifications (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Most of the patients with gastrointestinal cancer had more than 65 years. A different cut off must be used for this patients, because undernourished patients may be wrongly considered well nourished.
Tax Risk and Internal Governance Mechanisms: An Empirical Analysis in Tunisian Context

This paper examines the impact of internal governance mechanisms on tax risk for a sample of Tunisian listed firms over the 2006 to 2010 period. Four hypotheses arise from the developed theoretical framework. These hypotheses stipulate that the independence of the board of directors, the separation of CEO and Chairman of the Board, the tax or accounting expertise of the audit committee and the tax or accounting expertise of internal audit function influence negatively the probability of presence of the tax risk. To test these hypotheses, a new measure of tax risk was conceived based on the financial statements of Tunisian listed firms as well as on a survey. The results of logistic regression show that the independence of the board of directors and the appeal to an external tax adviser has a positive and significant effect on the probability of presence of tax risk. Although, contrary to the hypothesis, these results are understandable by the measure of the tax risk used in this study. In fact, we captured the presence or the absence of this risk, by applying the statutory requirements relating to the disclosure of information on this risk in financial statements. For that purpose, we used a dichotomous variable which is equal to 1 in the presence of a tax reserve (provision) or any information about the tax risk inserted either into financial statements notes or into external auditors general reports and 0 if not. The positive relation is understandable by the dominating existence of the component of the tax reserve in this measure. Although the tax reserve allows getting the existence of a tax risk, it also represents a way of accounting management of this risk. So, the independence of the board of directors and the appeal to an external tax adviser seem to work in favor of the accounting management of the tax risk.
Gain Enhancement in Inductively-Loaded Distributed SIS Junction Arrays

Due to their very low IF output capacitance, series-connected distributed SIS junction array mixers possess very wide IF bandwidth. However, careful control of parasitic inductance in the IF network is important in order to obtain a flat IF response in this class of wideband mixer. We have studied the effect of inductive loading on the operation of these mixers, both experimentally and theoretically. It is shown that over the range of IF where the reactive part of the load impedance is large, a higher mixer conversion gain accompanied by a lower noise temperature is observed.
An Alternative Method for Measuring Human Respiratory Impedance

The Forced Oscillation Technique (FOT) denotes a non-invasive lima function test which serves as a medical diagnostic tool to measure human respiratory impedance. The FOT principle is based on superimposing air pressure oscillations onto the normal breathing waves of the subject, measuring both air flow and an pressure at the mouth and analyzing the data with signal processing techniques which apply to linear systems. The motivation to eliminate the need for flow measurement arises from i) economic reasons, because measurement of an flow in this case requires the presence of an expensive component, the pneumotachograph, in the FOT device and innovative aspects, The present work assessed the possibility that the requirement to measure flow could be eliminated if the transformation from excitation signal to measured pressure in the FOT device (given by the internal impedances of the device) is known. This conceptual solution was theoretically proven by analyzing the electrical circuit which models these transformations. Measurements were conceived and performed in order to estimate these quantities.
Detection of Helicobacter pylori in gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Considering the high prevalence of stomach cancer in the northern region of Brazil and the recognized relationship between chronic gastric inflammation caused by Helicobacter pylori, and its carcinogenic potential, the objective we had with this study was to investigate the presence of the microorganism in macro and microscopic presentations of neoplasm in different regions of the stomach, and in non-malignant lesions concomitant to the adenocarcinoma in patients originating from the metropolitan area of Belém (State of Pará, Brazil). METHODS Examinations were made on 172 patients divided into two groups: group I, formed by 75 patients with gastric carcinoma, and group II, formed by 97 patients with mild enanthematic gastritis, considered control group. The diagnosis was obtained during endoscopic examination and the respective biopsy. Gastric neoplasms were classified macroscopically in accordance with Borrmann's classification, and microscopically in accordance with Laurén's classification. In group I, 54 patients were male and 21 female while in group II, 22 patients were male and 75 female. The average age in group I was 61.2 years (range 27 to 86 years), while in group II it was 37.5 years (range 16 to 69 years). Thin sections were prepared and stained using the hematoxylin-eosin method. In the Helicobacter pylori research, the modified Gram stain was utilized. Statistical analysis was done by utilizing the chi-squared (chi 2) test, Mann-Whitney test (U), and Fisher's exact test. RESULTS The results showed the detection of Helicobacter pylori were significantly greater in patients with mild enanthematic gastritis than in patients with gastric carcinoma. The presence of Helicobacter pylori in patients with gastric carcinoma and mild enanthematic gastritis was significantly greater in the antral region than in other gastric regions. Helicobacter pylori detection in patients with gastric carcinoma did not present a significant difference in relation to the macroscopic aspect of the tumor either intestinal or diffuse histological types. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest the presence of the bacteria is predominant in the antral region and it does not show relation with the macroscopic types or histological intestinal or diffuse types of gastric carcinoma.
Sur l'analyse et la conception des contrôles distribués pour les systèmes multi-agents soumis à des informations limitées. (On distributed control analysis and design for multi-agent systems subject to limited information)

Multi-agent systems are dynamical systems composed of multiple interacting elements known as agents . Each agent is a dynamical system with two characteristics. First, it is capable of autonomous action—that is, it is able to evolve according to a self-organised behavior, which is not influenced by the external environment. Second, it is able to exchange information with other agents in order to accomplish complex tasks, such as coordination, cooperation, and conflict resolution. One commonly studied problem in multi-agent systems is synchronization. The agents are synchronized when their time evolutions converge to a common trajectory. Many real-world applications, such as flocking and formation control, can be cast as synchronization problems. Agent synchronization can be achieved using different approaches. In this thesis, we propose distributed and centralized control paradigms for the synchronization of multi-agent systems. We develop necessary and sufficient conditions for the synchronization of multi-agent systems, composed by identical linear time-invariant agents, us- ing a Lyapunov-based approach. Then we use these conditions to design distributed synchronization controllers. Then, we extend this result to multi-agent systems subject to external disturbances enforcing disturbance rejection with 퐻 ∞ control techniques. Furthermore, we extend the analysis to multi-agent systems with actuator constraints using LMI-based anti-windup techniques. We test the proposed control design strategies in simulated examples among which two are inspired by real-world applications. In the first, we study airplane formation control as a synchronization problem. In the second, we analyze the delivery of video streams as a synchronization problem and we compare the results to existing controllers.
Protein Significance Analysis in Selected Reaction Monitoring (SRM) Measurements*

Selected reaction monitoring (SRM) is a targeted mass spectrometry technique that provides sensitive and accurate protein detection and quantification in complex biological mixtures. Statistical and computational tools are essential for the design and analysis of SRM experiments, particularly in studies with large sample throughput. Currently, most such tools focus on the selection of optimized transitions and on processing signals from SRM assays. Little attention is devoted to protein significance analysis, which combines the quantitative measurements for a protein across isotopic labels, peptides, charge states, transitions, samples, and conditions, and detects proteins that change in abundance between conditions while controlling the false discovery rate. We propose a statistical modeling framework for protein significance analysis. It is based on linear mixed-effects models and is applicable to most experimental designs for both isotope label-based and label-free SRM workflows. We illustrate the utility of the framework in two studies: one with a group comparison experimental design and the other with a time course experimental design. We further verify the accuracy of the framework in two controlled data sets, one from the NCI-CPTAC reproducibility investigation and the other from an in-house spike-in study. The proposed framework is sensitive and specific, produces accurate results in broad experimental circumstances, and helps to optimally design future SRM experiments. The statistical framework is implemented in an open-source R-based software package SRMstats, and can be used by researchers with a limited statistics background as a stand-alone tool or in integration with the existing computational pipelines.