Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effectiveness of a peer‐mentored older adult fitness program on perceived physical, mental, and social function

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to compare changes in perceived physical, mental, and social function measured by the Short Form‐36 (SF36vr2) in a group of older adults who were trained by peer mentors (PMs) versus a similar group trained by qualified kinesiology student mentors (SMs). Data sources: We conducted a two‐arm repeated measures longitudinal intervention and collected data for 87 PM and 44 SM participants. Pre‐ and post‐training subscale scores were computed for all eight subscales and the two summary physical and mental component scores. The percentage differences in the 10 scores were used as the response variables. Conclusions: After a 14‐week physical fitness intervention, perceived physical, mental, and social functioning improved significantly (p < .05) for the PM group, but not for the SM group (p > .06). Thus, older adults who participated in a physical fitness program with peer support perceived (a) overall improvement in physical and mental well‐being; (b) better social functioning, (c) enhanced ability to carry out physical and emotional roles, (d) improved general health, and (e) increased level of vitality. Thus, we conclude that peer‐mentored exercise programs for older adults are superior to programs mentored by young professionals and may lead to increased adherence. Implications for practice: Nurse practitioners routinely prescribe exercise while educating older adults about the benefits of an active lifestyle; however, older adults often remain sedentary and exhibit poor adherence to exercise. One potential solution is to use peer support. Two factors that can improve adherence are availability of structured exercise programs for the older adult and peer mentoring.
A U3 snoRNP protein with homology to splicing factor PRP4 and G beta domains is required for ribosomal RNA processing.

Yeast fibrillarin (NOP1) is an evolutionarily conserved, nucleolar protein necessary for multiple steps in ribosome biogenesis. Yeast mutants lacking a functional NOP1 gene can be complemented by human fibrillarin but are temperature sensitive for growth and impaired in pre‐rRNA processing. In order to identify components which interact functionally with human fibrillarin in yeast, we isolated extragenic suppressors of this phenotype. One dominant suppressor, sof1‐56, which is allele‐specific for human fibrillarin and restores growth and pre‐RNA processing at 35 degrees C, was cloned by in vivo complementation. The wild‐type allele of SOF1 is essential for cell growth and encodes a novel 56 kDa protein. In its central domain, SOF1 contains a repeated sequence also found in beta‐subunits of trimeric G‐proteins and the splicing factor PRP4. A single amino acid exchange in the G beta‐like repeat domain is responsible for the suppressing activity of sof1‐56. Indirect immunofluorescence shows that SOF1 is located within the yeast nucleolus. Co‐immunoprecipitation demonstrates the physical association of SOF1 with U3 small nucleolar RNA and NOP1. In vivo depletion of SOF1 leads to impaired pre‐rRNA processing and inhibition of 18S rRNA production. Thus, SOF1 is a new component of the nucleolar rRNA processing machinery.
Direct visualization and quantification of the anticancer agent, cis‐diamminedichloro‐platinum(II), in human lung cancer cells using in‐air microparticle‐induced X‐ray emission analysis

The authors designed an elemental analysis system using an ion microbeam combined with a microparticle‐induced X‐ray emission (micro‐PIXE) method for the analysis of biomedical samples in air with a spatial resolution of 1 µm (in‐air micro‐PIXE system). This system was used to develop an imaging and quantification method for intracellular cis‐diamminedichloro‐platinum(II) (CDDP) in a human lung cancer cell line. A human lung adenocarcinoma cell line, A549, was cultured and nuclear labeling was carried out by incubating the cells with BrdU. The cells were then exposed to CDDP at concentrations ranging from 1 µmol to 1 mmol, for 30 min to 24 h. After drug treatment, samples were washed and frozen with liquid nitrogen, and freeze‐dried for 24 h. Standard samples were made using agar containing several concentrations of CDDP. Experiments using standard samples showed a linear correlation between CDDP concentration and platinum signal strength. No clear platinum signal was detected after exposure to CDDP for 24 h at doses between 1 and 100 µmol. However, significant platinum signals were observed at 1 mmol. When nucleus and cytoplasm visualization was sufficiently clear to efficiently use in‐air micro‐PIXE, the platinum image quality was considered satisfactory. The detected signals of CDDP were stronger in the nucleus than in the cytoplasm. A time‐course study showed increased CDDP uptake in cells after longer drug exposure periods. The present study demonstrates the application of element analysis using in‐air micro‐PIXE to biomedical samples. The use of this system enables the high‐resolution visualization of intracellular CDDP distribution and measurement of intracellular CDDP concentrations. (Cancer Sci 2008; 99: 901–904)
Adopting factors of electronic human resource management: Evidence from Bangladesh

The incorporation of information technology (IT) instincts the legacy of human resource management (HRM) towards agile HRM. To achieve agility, this paper explores the factors or determinants inducing the organisation decisions to adopt electronic human resource management (e-HRM) in organisations of Bangladesh through structural equation modeling (SEM) of data science. To realize the influencing determinants, a research model was developed based on technology-organisation-environment (TOE) model. A total number of 320 respondents were participated from 48 organisations in Bangladesh using simple random sampling. The SEM results indicate that perceived compatibility, perceived cost, top management support, organisational culture, centralisation, IT vendor support, and government support have significant influence on management decision of e-HRM adoption. The applied implication of the findings and the scope of future studies are deliberated at the end of this paper.
THE EFFECTS OF A SHOPPING MALL ON HOUSING PRICES: A CASE STUDY IN HANGZHOU

There are few studies on the externalities of shopping malls affecting the housing market. This study aims to discuss two issues: (1) What is the intensity of the impact of a shopping mall? (2) When does the external influence of a shopping mall begin to reveal itself? The West Intime Shopping Mall in Hangzhou offers a unique situation to research the questions. By dividing the study area into nine blocks, using hedonic price theory, and the price gradient approach with housing price data from 2011 to 2015, we found that in the space dimension, the mall exerted a significantly positive effect on the housing prices of nearby blocks. With the increase in distance from the mall, the positive effect decreased. There were more significantly positive effects in blocks far away from the city center. In the time dimension, the effects of West Intime did not reveal themselves until the mall had started to operate and gradually matured over time, implying that the mall did not have the obvious expected impact on housing prices before the mall had begun operating.
Decomposing Economic Inequality in Early Modern Venice (ca. 1650-1800)

This article analyses trends in economic inequalities in Venice between the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. Based on largely unpublished archive sources, changes in income and consumption inequalities have been studied, while the bootstrap method was used to determine if these changes are statistically significant. The households studied were divided into subgroups to better understand the dynamics between and within the different population components. We show that changes in consumption inequality are significant, whereas those relating to income inequality are not. We argue that this is due to the inability of the economy to generate wealth, whereas families were better able to face the major structural changes in the European economy in the last two centuries of the early modern period.
Comparison of the effects of intragastric infusions of equal volumes of water, dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, and magnesium sulfate on fecal composition and output in clinically normal horses.

A Latin square design was used to compare the effects of laxatives and a corresponding volume of water on gastrointestinal tract function in 4 healthy horses. Horses were intragastrically infused with each of the following: dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DSS; 50 mg/kg of body weight); magnesium sulfate (0.5 g/kg--low dosage); magnesium sulfate (1.0 g/kg--high dosage); and an equal volume of water (6 L) given as a control infusion. From 5 to 33 hours after the high dosage of magnesium sulfate, feces were slightly softer than usual in all horses. In 1 horse, DSS caused mild colic, hyperpnea, and diarrhea from 0.3 to 3 hours after administration. After all laxative treatments and the control infusion, fecal output, fecal water, number of defecations, and fecal water percentage were greater during the first 6 and 12 hours, compared with each subsequent 6-hour period (P less than 0.05). The high dosage of magnesium sulfate had greater effect on fecal output and fecal water than did the low dosage and control infusion (P less than 0.05). However, this effect preceded arrival of the liquid transit marker, polyethylene glycol, and magnesium at their highest concentrations in feces by 12 to 18 hours. Compared with the control infusion, none of the laxative treatments affected excretion of polyethylene glycol and plastic particulate markers, nor did they increase water consumption. It was concluded that the response to intragastric infusions may involve reflex mechanisms in the gastrointestinal tract and that these responses could be used for treatment of colon impactions. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Development of Agricultural Cooperatives in Ethiopia: History and a Framework for Future Trajectory

Cooperatives have been playing important roles in the socio-economic lives of communities for a long time during which they have also encountered challenges and weaknesses. These have made countries to have their own distinct histories of the development of cooperatives and of course sometimes having similarities. Based on a critical review of literature and analysis of secondary data, this article presents a brief history of the development of the Ethiopian cooperatives with a focus on agricultural cooperatives. It indicates that although modern cooperatives have rapidly increased and positively contributed to community development, several weaknesses and challenges still remain being rooted in the economic, social, institutional, political and environmental settings. Due to the importance given to agricultural cooperatives in today’s Ethiopia, sustaining the contributions of cooperatives to members and the larger community becomes vital that deserves policymakers’ attention. Towards that end and based on the key findings, the article proposes a framework that can help integrate sustainability principles into a cooperative structure right from the setup stage, as a future trajectory in the development of cooperatives in Ethiopia. Keywords : agricultural cooperatives, collective action, developing country, Ethiopia, sustainable development, framework
Electricity price forecasting by linear regression and SVM

Power system has appeared as a complex interconnected network due to competitive business environment. Power producers and consumers obligate for a precise price forecasting, as this information is an important part of decision making process. Decisions, regarding optimal scheduling of generators, bidding tactics and demand side organizations are based on price forecast. In recent years, development of new approaches for short term price forecasting has attracted the interest of the researchers. Electricity as a commodity consists of some distinct features that, firstly it can't be stock piled & secondly the volatile nature of the electricity price. With these two issues, forecasting of electricity price becomes an intimidating task for system planners and designers. This paper presents a hybrid approach based on linear regression and Support Vector Machine (SVM) to forecast short term electricity price. Linear Regression patterns are developed with the help of different factors of historical data of the electricity price. Two philosophies are developed with the combination of different factors. It is observed that method of similar days is effective. Further forecasted results of the regression models are given to SVM based supervised learning model which have tuned by Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique. It is observed that proposed hybrid approach shows better accuracy as compared with others.
Does the Earned Income Tax Credit Reduce Housing Instability

Housing instability (inability to pay rent, frequent moves, doubling up, eviction, or homelessness) is common among low-income households and is linked with a host of negative outcomes for families and children. As rents have risen and wages have not kept pace, housing affordability has declined over the last 15 years, increasing rates of housing instability. In this study, we examine whether the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a key US social welfare policy and one of the largest cash transfer programs in the US, reduces housing instability. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we employ a simulated instruments strategy to examine whether policy-induced expansions in the EITC reduce housing instability. Results suggest that a $1,000 increase in the EITC reduces doubling up (living with other non-nuclear family adults) 3 to 5 percentage points. We find some suggestive evidence that the EITC decreases the average number of moves per year (0.05 moves). While our results suggest that the EITC does decrease certain, less severe forms of housing instability, we find no evidence that the EITC decreases more extreme (and rarer) forms of housing instability: eviction or homelessness.
Preclausal Patterns in Language Acquisition: A Study of Spanish-Speaking Children in Chile

Language utterances were recorded in three groups of 1- to 3-yr. -old day care children in Valdivia, Chile. An analysis of the preclausal patterns of language development according to the model outlined by Hubbell (1988) indicated that 4 of 12 major utterances—experiencer-state, action-object, agent-action, and negation-X—accounted for 68% of the total number of utterances recorded. The results suggest that preclausal patterns in language development of Spanish-speaking children are similar to and yet different in some respects from those of children who acquire English as their first language.
An authentication algorithm of audio aggregate based on the (k, n/k=n) method

In this paper, an authentication algorithm of audio aggregate based on the (k, n/k=n) method is proposed, which can implement integrity authentication for audio aggregation. Watermark was distributed into n shares by means of the (k, n) method, and these n shares were embedded into each audio carrier of aggregation. Because the watermark is embedded into the whole audio aggregation, the watermark is only visible in the aggregation while it is not meaningful in each audio. The k sharing watermarks were recovered from k audio carriers in aggregation, and then the watermark was constructed by the (k, n) method. In the paper, k is set as n. The recovered watermark is relative with all detected audio signals in aggregation, which improved the fragility of the proposed algorithm. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has good imperceptibility, strong fragility and low computational complexity.
Tailored mental health care after nursing home admission: improving transfers of people with dementia with behavioral problems. An explorative study

Objectives: In the Netherlands, many community-dwelling people with dementia and behavioral disturbances and their family caregivers receive mental health care from a community psychiatric nurse (CPN). To promote continuity of care for these persons after moving to a nursing home, a transfer intervention was developed. The aim of this explorative study was to evaluate this intervention and its implementation. Method: A qualitative explorative study design was used. CPNs visited professional nursing home carers, people with dementia and family caregivers six weeks after moving, advised on how to manage behavioral problems of their former clients and provided support to family caregivers. Twenty-two interviews were conducted with participants exposed to the intervention (5 CPNs, 5 family and 12 nursing home carers) and with 11 stakeholders (i.e., nursing home and mental health care managers, professional caregivers) to identify facilitators and barriers to the implementation. Data were collected in 2012 and 2013. Results: The follow-up visit at six weeks met the need for background information of new admitted patients and helped family caregivers close off the period prior to the move. It did not meet the original purpose of providing nursing home staff with advice about problem behaviors on time: six weeks after the move was experienced as too late. Conclusion: The transfer intervention increased the awareness of nursing home staff about personal and behavioral characteristics of residents with dementia and supported caregivers in coping with the new situation. The timing of the intervention could be improved by scheduling it immediately after the move.
A Light-weight Location-aware Position Update Scheme for High Mobility Networks

In a mobile networking environment, constant node motion result in drastic changes in spatial distribution of nodes which in turn causes changes in network topology. Blind position information updates could comprise a significant fraction of the network traffic. Consequently, maintaining accurate position information in such situations could become prohibitively expensive. In addition, the reference of information decreases as the distance increase, i.e., interest in position information could be highly localized and distant nodes do not require precise position description. In this paper, we propose a grid-based update mechanism that establishes the relationship between the grid-size and the frequency of position update. Such an association has two salient features: Firstly, only relevant updates based on location are transmitted avoiding redundant position updates. Secondly, it provides a guidance for adjusting the frequency of position updates in connection with the required positional accuracy and mobility pattern. We present an analysis of the performance of the proposed approach under the random walk mobility model, and proposes a fully distributed grid-based Markov model to capture the impact of mobility pattern on the frequency of position updates. We show in the simulation experiment that the proposed grid-based position update mechanism can reduce the network overhead for position updates by more than 65% while affecting the positional accuracy by less than 3%.
Space and contact networks: capturing the locality of disease transmission

While an arbitrary level of complexity may be included in simulations of spatial epidemics, computational intensity and analytical intractability mean that such models often lack transparency into the determinants of epidemiological dynamics. Although numerous approaches attempt to resolve this complexity–tractability trade-off, moment closure methods arguably offer the most promising and robust frameworks for capturing the role of the locality of contact processes on global disease dynamics. While a close analogy may be made between full stochastic spatial transmission models and dynamic network models, we consider here the special case where the dynamics of the network topology change on time-scales much longer than the epidemiological processes imposed on them; in such cases, the use of static network models are justified. We show that in such cases, static network models may provide excellent approximations to the underlying spatial contact process through an appropriate choice of the effective neighbourhood size. We also demonstrate the robustness of this mapping by examining the equivalence of deterministic approximations to the full spatial and network models derived under third-order moment closure assumptions. For systems where deviation from homogeneous mixing is limited, we show that pair equations developed for network models are at least as good an approximation to the underlying stochastic spatial model as more complex spatial moment equations, with both classes of approximation becoming less accurate only for highly localized kernels.
Pain and Hip Fracture Outcomes for Older Adults

Purpose: To determine if postoperative pain is a predictor of functional outcomes for elderly hip fracture patients who were previously independent ambulators (with or without assistive device). Design: Prospective comparative survey design. Sample: Convenience sample. 85 hip fracture patients age 65 years or older from two Midwestern urban hospital orthopaedic units. Methods: Subjects were interviewed between day 2 and 5 (M = 2.6) postoperatively and again 2 months postoperatively. Independent variables of cognitive status and pain status were measured using the Folstein Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) and two pain measures, the Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS) and Ferrell's Pain Experience Interview (FPEI). The dependent variable, functional outcome, was measured using the degree of assistance required for basic ADLs from Jette's Functional Status Index (FSI). Findings: Pain with movement was significantly higher than pain at rest (p < .0001). Mental status, pain report with movement (during hospital interview), illness severity, and age accounted for 51% of the variance in functional outcomes 2 months postoperatively. Conclusions: Undertreated postoperative pain contributes to poor functional outcomes. Implications for Nursing Practice: Pain assessment of postoperative older patients should be conducted during movement. Efforts to reduce postoperative pain severity in the immediate postoperative period may yield better functional outcomes months later.
Quantification of aflatoxin B1 in ready-to-use food thickeners in South-east geo-political zone in Nigeria.

A total of 150 ready to use food thickeners were randomly collected from various markets in both urban and rural settings. Four of the samples tested Achi (Brachystegia eurycoma), Akpalata (Afzelia africana), Ofor (Detarium microcarpum), and Ukpo (Mucuna flagellipes) were contaminated with fungal flora. The most common and prevalent fungi observed on incubated powdered form of food thickeners on media, were the Aspergillus group namely Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus and Aspergillus niger. Pure isolates of A. flavus and A. parasiticus from various food thickeners from open markets in Nigeria were screened for their potential to produce aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on agar media. Ultraviolet (UV) light, a standard procedure was used to differentiate the toxin from non-toxin form of Aspergillus species. Further, aflatoxin quantification was done using thin layer chromatography (TLC) followed by fluorometry. A. flavus was more prevalent than A. parasiticus in all samples. Toxin and nontoxin isolates were grouped as per bright greenish-yellow fluorescence (BGYF) presumptive test under UV light. The amounts of AFB1 from A. flavus isolates ranged between 0.94 to 3.83 μg/g of agar and all positive A. parasiticus ranged from 0.22 2.87 μg/g of agar. Analysis of food thickeners also revealed a high incidence and alarming levels of naturally produced aflatoxin. The levels of AFB1 ranged between 4.0 and 95 μg/g in various food thickeners tested. That the presence of aflatoxin in food thickeners poses a potential health threat to consumers in this part of Nigeria and elsewhere is discussed.