Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experiences of living with chronic back pain: The physical disabilities

Purpose. Back-related functional limitations are largely assessed using lists of activities, each scored on a yes/no basis and the scores then summed. This provides little information about how chronic back pain (CBP) patients live with their condition. This study describes the consequences of living day-to-day with CBP and documents the ‘insider’ accounts of its impact on daily life. Method. Unstructured interviews, using the ‘Framework’ approach with topic guide, were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Subjects were sampled for age, sex, ethnicity and occupation from new referrals with back pain to a rheumatology outpatient clinic. Eleven subjects (5 male, 6 female) were interviewed either in English (n = 9) or their preferred language (n = 2). Interviews were read in-depth twice to identify the topics. Data were extracted in phrases and sentences using thematic content analysis. Results. Four themes emerged: sleep/rest, mobility, independence and leisure. All subjects reported issues about sleep and rest, nine about mobility, seven about independence and six on leisure. Most descriptions concerned loss and limitation in daily life. Strategies for coping with sleep disruption and physical limitations were described. Conclusions. Subjects provided graphic ‘in-depth’ descriptions of experiences living with CBP every day; expressed regret at the loss of capabilities and distress at the functional consequences of those losses. Facilitating ‘adjustment’ to ‘loss’ may be more helpful than inferring the potential for a life free of pain as a result of therapeutic endeavours.
Felsefe Dersinde Aktif Öğrenme Tekniklerinin Kullanımı

Bu calismanin amaci felsefe dersinde aktif ogrenme yontemlerinin kullanimina yonelik ogretmen goruslerini belirlemektir. Nitel arastirma yontemine dayali olarak yurutulmus bu calismada felsefe ogretmenlerinin ders de kullanmis olduklari aktif ogrenme yontemlerine iliskin deneyim ve algilarini belirlemek amaci tasidigindan olgubilim deseni kullanilmistir. Arastirmanin calisma grubunu, 2016–2017 egitim-ogretim yilinda Milli Egitim Bakanligina bagli Kahramanmaras ilindeki farkli orta ogretim kurumlarinda calisan 10 ogretmen olusturmustur. Arastirmada veri toplamak icin yari yapilandirilmis gorusme formu kullanilmistir. Verilerin analizinde, icerik analizi yonteminden faydalanilmis ve icerik analizi sonucunda calismanin amaci ve literatur dogrultusunda tema, alt tema ve kodlar olusturulmustur. Olusturulan tema ve kodlar gorsellestirilmis ve yorumlanmistir. Ogretmenlerin kullandiklari aktif ogrenme yontemlerinin soru-cevap, beyin firtinasi, kavram haritasi, ornek olay, tartisma, hikaye , alti sapkali dusunme, oldugu sonucuna ulasilmistir. Aktif ogrenmenin dersi eglenceli hale getirmesi, dersin verimini artirmasi, kalici ogrenmeyi saglamasi, dikkati artirmasi, derse yonelik on yargiyi kirmasi, oz guveni artirmasi, ogretmen ogrenci iletisimini artirmasi ve degerlik bilincini artirmasi seklinde ogrenciye bir cok avantaj sagladigi sonucuna ulasilmistir. Arastirmanin sonunda ulasilan sonuclar diger arastirma sonuclariyla tartisilmis ve sonuclara bagli olarak oneriler sunulmustur.
Probing disorders of the nervous system

The groundbreaking technologies of induced pluripotency and lineage conversion have generated a genuine opportunity to address fundamental aspects of the diseases that affect the nervous system. These approaches have granted us unrestricted access to the brain and spinal cord of patients and have allowed for the study of disease in the context of human cells, expressing physiological levels of proteins and under each patient’s unique genetic constellation. Along with this unprecedented opportunity have come significant challenges, particularly in relation to patient variability, experimental design and data interpretation. Nevertheless, significant progress has been achieved over the past few years both in our ability to create the various neural subtypes that comprise the nervous system and in our efforts to develop cellular models of disease that recapitulate clinical findings identified in patients. In this Review, we present tables listing the various human neural cell types that can be generated and the neurological disease modeling studies that have been reported, describe the current state of the field, highlight important breakthroughs and discuss the next steps and future challenges.
Playful Card-Based Tools for Gamification Design

This paper presents a card-based toolset to assist in the gamification design process for business processes, products and services. Grounded in the concepts of design games and design card methodologies, four sets of cards have been developed to facilitate creative problem solving and the prototyping of gamification design projects. Seven workshops have been run involving 114 project managers in experimenting with the prototype cards to design applications in human resource management, training, marketing, and innovation management. Using the cards focuses participants on the development of designs that are human-centred and on embedding values and ethics into the final design artifacts. The field of gamification is at an early stage of development and is limited by a lack of rigorous frameworks and design methods. This work contributes to closing this gap with practical tools and frameworks.
Concepção, Implementação e Avaliação de um Agente Conversacional com Suporte à Aprendizagem Ubíqua

A ampla incorporacao das tecnologias digitais na sociedade vem fazendo as ferramentas instrucionais adquirirem novos recursos, com a finalidade de atender as reais necessidades de seus utilizadores. Essa premissa e refletida nos Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem, que vem recebendo constantes atualizacoes, em direcao aos sistemas ubiquos. Nessa perspectiva, a presente pesquisa se insere com o intuito de apresentar a concepcao, implementacao e avaliacao de um agente conversacional, integrado ao Moodle, que auxilia estudantes de Engenharia de Software. Para tanto, o agente, denominado Ubibot, adapta suas mensagens de auxilio, considerando o contexto do estudante, a fim de oferecer acesso propicio a aprendizagem ubiqua.
Sine-square embedded fuzzy sets

Type-2 fuzzy sets minimize the effects of uncertainties that cannot be modeled using type-1 fuzzy sets. However, the computational complexity of the type-2 fuzzy sets is very large and it is more difficult to use and understand than are type-1 fuzzy sets. This paper proposes sine-square embedded fuzzy sets and gives a comparison with type-2 and nonstationary fuzzy sets. The sine-square embedded fuzzy sets consist of type-1 fuzzy sets and sine function. The footprint of uncertainty in the type-2 fuzzy sets is provided with amplitude and frequency of sine-square function in the proposed algorithm. The proposed sine-square embedded fuzzy sets are very simpler than the type-2 fuzzy sets and the nonstationary fuzzy sets. Finally, the simulation results are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy sets.
Income-related inequality in mental health in Britain: the concentration index approach

Background. Reduction of health inequalities is a major policy goal in the UK. While there is general recognition of the disadvantaged position of people with mental health problems, the extent of inequality, particularly the association with socio-economic characteristics, has not been widely studied. We aimed to measure income-related inequality in the distribution of psychiatric disorders and to compare with inequality in other health domains. Method. The concentration index (CI) approach was used to examine income-related inequality in mental health using data from the Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2000 for Britain. Results. There is marked inequality unfavourable to lower income groups with respect to mental health disorders. The extent of inequality increases with the severity of problems, with the greatest inequality observed for psychosis. Income-related inequality for psychiatric disorders is higher than for general health in the UK. Standardized CIs suggest that these inequalities are not due to the demographic composition of the income quintiles. Conclusions. Income-related inequalities exist in mental health in Britain. As much of the observed inequality is probably due to factors associated with income and not due to the demographic composition of the income quintiles, it may be that these inequalities are potentially ‘avoidable’.
Noncompetitive Inhibition of Indolethylamine-N-methyltransferase by N,N-Dimethyltryptamine and N,N-Dimethylaminopropyltryptamine

Indolethylamine-N-methyltransferase (INMT) is a Class 1 transmethylation enzyme known for its production of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a hallucinogen with affinity for various serotonergic, adrenergic, histaminergic, dopaminergic, and sigma-1 receptors. DMT is produced via the action of INMT on the endogenous substrates tryptamine and S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM). The biological, biochemical, and selective small molecule regulation of INMT enzyme activity remain largely unknown. Kinetic mechanisms for inhibition of rabbit lung INMT (rabINMT) by the product, DMT, and by a new novel tryptamine derivative were determined. After Michaelis–Menten and Lineweaver–Burk analyses had been applied to study inhibition, DMT was found to be a mixed competitive and noncompetitive inhibitor when measured against tryptamine. The novel tryptamine derivative, N-[2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]-N′,N′-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine (propyl dimethyl amino tryptamine or PDAT), was shown to inhibit rabINMT by a pure noncompetitive mechanism when measured against tryptamine with a Ki of 84 μM. No inhibition by PDAT was observed at 2 mM when it was tested against structurally similar Class 1 methyltransferases, such as human phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase (hPNMT) and human nicotinamide-N-methyltransferase (hNNMT), indicating selectivity for INMT. The demonstration of noncompetitive mechanisms for INMT inhibition implies the presence of an inhibitory allosteric site. In silico analyses using the computer modeling software Autodock and the rabINMT sequence threaded onto the human INMT (hINMT) structure (Protein Data Bank entry 2A14) identified an N-terminal helix–loop–helix non-active site binding region of the enzyme. The energies for binding of DMT and PDAT to this region of rabINMT, as determined by Autodock, were −6.34 and −7.58 kcal/mol, respectively. Assessment of the allosteric control of INMT may illuminate new biochemical pathway(s) underlying the biology of INMT.
The Impact of Wage Bargaining Regime on Firm-Level Competitiveness and Wage Inequality: The Case of Ireland

This paper uses a linked employer-employee dataset to analyze the impact of institutional wage bargaining regimes on average labor costs and within-firm wage dispersion in private sector companies in Ireland. The results show that while centralized bargaining reduced labor costs within both the indigenous and foreign-owned sectors, the relative advantage was greater among foreign-owned firms. The analysis suggests that there are potentially large competitiveness gains to multinational companies that locate in countries implementing a centralized bargaining system. Furthermore, the results provide additional support to the view that collective bargaining reduces within-firm wage inequality.
Carbon Monoxide Levels Experienced by Heavy Smokers Impair Aerobic Capacity and Cardiac Contractility and Induce Pathological Hypertrophy

Cigarette smoke contains hundreds of potentially toxic compounds and is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, the key components responsible for endothelial and myocardial dysfunction have not been fully identified. The objective of the present study was to determine the cardiovascular effects of long-term inhalation of carbon monoxide (CO) administrated to give concentrations in the blood similar to those observed in heavy smokers. Female rats were exposed to either CO or air (control group) (n = 12). The CO group was exposed to 200 ppm CO (100 h/wk) for 18 mo. Rats exposed to CO had 24% lower maximal oxygen uptake, longer (145 vs. 123 μ m) and wider (47 vs. 25 μ m) cardiomyocytes, reduced cardiomyocyte fractional shortening (12 vs. 7%), and 26% longer time to 50% re-lengthening than controls. In addition, cardiomyocytes from CO-exposed rats had 48% lower intracellular calcium (Ca2 +) amplitude, 22% longer time to Ca2 + decay, 34% lower capacity of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2 +-ATPase (SERCA2a), and 37% less t-tubule area compared to controls. Phosphorylation levels of phospholamban at Ser16 and Thr17 were significantly reduced in the CO group, whereas total concentration of phospholamban and SERCA2a were unchanged. Cardiac atrial natriuretic peptide, vascular endothelial growth factor, cyclic guanosine monophosphate, calcineurin, calmodulin, pERK, and pS6 increased, whereas pAkt and pCaMKII δ remained unchanged by CO. Endothelial function and systemic blood pressure were not affected by CO exposure. Long-term CO exposure reduces aerobe capacity and contractile function and leads to pathological hypertrophy. Impaired Ca2 + handling and increased growth factor signaling seem to be responsible for these pathological changes.
CPOE-Enabled Coordination: Appropriation for Deep Structure Use and Impacts on Patient Outcomes

In the United States, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has begun instituting pay-for-performance incentives that reward hospitals based on patient-centric outcomes such as patient satisfaction. Further, to promote the “meaningful use” of health information technology (HIT), CMS has been prompting hospitals to adopt and use HITs. Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) is one such HIT and is designed to improve coordination in patient care teams and consequently patient outcomes. We explore the impact of CPOE-enabled coordination on patient satisfaction with the care team. In a departure from prior research that has tended to treat the team as all clinicians within a hospital unit/clinic, we conceptualize (and operationalize) patient care teams as ad hoc and patient-specific and thus comprised of those clinicians having direct contact with the patient. In a further departure from prior research that has employed lean measures of IS use (e.g., use intentions, duration, or frequency of use), we respond to the call for rich measures of IS use by conceptualizing deep structure use (DSU) of CPOE as patient care team-level usage of CPOE features. We draw upon adaptive structuration theory (AST) to identify faithfulness of appropriation (FOA) and consensus on appropriation (COA) as two related, but distinct, aspects of CPOE appropriation by patient care teams that affect DSU. We also draw on relational coordination theory to conceptualize communicative coordination (CC) as team communication for coordination purposes and theorize that DSU affects patient satisfaction through CC and informating the patient differentially across high/low patient mortality risk conditions. Based on data from 224 patient care teams caring for both low and high patient mortality risk conditions, our results indicate that FOA and COA are salient predictors of DSU, and that the effect of COA on DSU is mediated by FOA. We also observed a significant indirect effect of DSU on patient satisfaction (as mediated by communicative coordination and patient informating), but only for high patient mortality risk conditions. Our findings are important because they show that by using CPOE in a comprehensive manner, patient care team members are better able to coordinate patient care and are able to better inform the patient about their care, ultimately leading to improved patient satisfaction. Additional implications for HIT research and practice are discussed.
A review of Salmonella surveillance in New South Wales, 1998-2000.

Salmonella is the most common bacterial cause of gastrointestinal disease notifiable in New South Wales. The objectives for Salmonella surveillance as listed in the NSW Notifiable Diseases Manual are: to identify the source of infection and to prevent further cases; and to monitor the epidemiology to inform the development of better prevention strategies. This article reviews the process of Salmonella surveillance in NSW. The system is described and an evaluation of selected attributes including system simplicity, data completeness and timeliness of notification is presented. This study was conducted as part of a review of foodborne disease surveillance in NSW for the period 1998–2000 by members of OzFoodNet based at the Hunter Public Health Unit. OzFoodNet is a national network established by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing in 2000 to enhance foodborne disease surveillance in Australia.
A Bistable Comb-Drive Electrostatic Actuator Biased by the Built-In Potential of Potassium Ion Electret

A new bistable micro-electro-mechanical systems actuator functioned by the potassium ion electret technique is presented. We utilize a three-terminal comb-drive actuator with a built-in electret potential. We first describe the operation principle of the bistable device that is driven by a pulse and/or step-function voltage. We next explain the fabrication results and the procedure of the electret polarization. Device operation is demonstrated to determine the switching characteristics from one stable state to another with a 12 V pulse voltage of 300 μs duration. We also establish bistable switching operation with a step voltage of 5 V or less, which is manageable by a battery for portable equipment. Discrepancy of switching characteristics between the theory and the experiments is discussed from a point of view on the fringe electrical fields between the comb electrodes.
Classification of EEG Physiological Signal for the Detection of Epileptic Seizure by Using DWT Feature Extraction and Neural Network

EEG (Electroencephalogram) is a technique for identifying neurological disorders. There are various neurological disorders like Epilepsy, brain cancer, etc. Feature extraction and classification of electroencephalogram (EEGs) signals for (normal and epileptic) is a challenge for engineers and scientists. Various signal processing techniques have already been proposed for classification of non-linear and non stationary signals like EEG. In this work, neural network analysis (NNA) based classifier was employed to detect epileptic seizure activity from background electro encephalographs (EEGs). Two types of EEG signals (healthy subject with eye open condition, epileptic) were selected for the analysis. Signals were reprocessed, decomposed by using discrete wavelet transform DWT till 5th level of decomposition tree. Various features like mean. Standard deviation, median, entropy, kurtosis and skewness were computed and consequently used for classification of signals. The range of these features in non-epileptic and epileptic group of 80 subjects each from data set is analyzed for data available at the Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn, and the parameters with distinct non-overlapping zone are identified. The results show the promising classification accuracy of nearly 100% in detection of abnormal from normal EEG signals. The main purpose of this new approach is that the computation time of NNA classifier is less to provide better accuracy. This proposed classifier can be used to design expert system for epilepsy diagnosis purpose in various hospitals.
Reconstruction of the biogeochemistry and ecology of photoautotrophs based on the nitrogen and carbon isotopic compositions of vanadyl porphyrins from Miocene siliceous sediments

Abstract. We determined both the nitrogen and carbon isotopic compositions of various vanadyl alkylporphyrins isolated from siliceous marine sediments of the Onnagawa Formation (middle Miocene, northeastern Japan) to investigate the biogeochemistry and ecology of photoautotrophs living in the paleo-ocean. The distinctive isotopic signals support the interpretations of previous works that the origin of 17-nor-deoxophylloerythroetioporphyrin (DPEP) is chlorophylls-c1-3, whereas 8-nor-DPEP may have originated from chlorophylls-a2 or b2 or bacteriochlorophyll-a. Although DPEP and cycloheptanoDPEP are presumably derived from common precursory pigments, their isotopic compositions differed in the present study, suggesting that the latter represents a specific population within the photoautotrophic community. The average δ15N value for the entire photoautotrophic community is estimated to be –2 to +1‰ from the δ15N values of DPEP (–6.9 to –3.6‰; n=7), considering that the empirical isotopic relationships that the tetrapyrrole nuclei of chloropigments are depleted in 15N by ~4.8‰ and enriched in 13C by ~1.8‰ relative to the whole cells. This finding suggests that nitrogen utilized in the primary production was supplied mainly through N2-fixation by diazotrophic cyanobacteria. Based on the δ13C values of DPEP (–17.9 to –15.6‰; n=7), we estimated isotopic fractionation associated with photosynthetic carbon fixation to be 8–14‰. This range suggests the importance of β-carboxylation and/or active transport of the carbon substrate, indicating in turn the substantial contribution of diazotrophic cyanobacteria to primary production. Based on the δ15N values of 17-nor-DPEP (–7.4 to –2.4‰ n=7), the δ15N range of chlorophylls-c-producing algae was estimated to be –3 to +3‰. This relative depletion in sup>15N suggests that these algae mainly utilized nitrogen regenerated from diazotrophic cyanobacteria. Given that diatoms are likely to have constituted the chlorophylls-c-producing algae within the biogenic-silica-rich Onnagawa Formation, cyanobacteria-hosting diatoms may have been important contributors to primary production.
Microvascular and systemic effects following top load administration of saturated carbon monoxide-saline solution*

Objective:To determine how top loads with different doses of carbon monoxide (CO)-saturated saline solutions (CO-saline) affect microvascular and systemic hemodynamics and to delineate the corresponding biochemical mechanisms. Design:Prospective study. Setting:University research laboratory. Subjects:Male Golden Syrian hamsters. Interventions:Hamsters implemented with a dorsal window chamber were given different volumes (characterized as percent of blood volume, BV) by intravenous injection of CO-saturated saline. Measurements and Main Results:Hamsters were observed until 90 mins after infusion of CO-saline solution. In the 20% BV CO-saline infusion group, observation was extended until 180 mins. Systemic variables measured included mean arterial pressure, heart rate, systemic arterial blood gases, and cardiac output and index. Microvascular hemodynamic measurements included vessel diameter, red blood cell velocity, and functional capillary density. Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) content in the chamber tissue was measured by enzyme immunoassay. 10% BV of CO-saline increased flow maximally in the microcirculation at 30 mins after infusion (207% in arterioles and 238% in venules, p < .05 vs. baseline). Functional capillary density was significantly increased in both 10% and 15% groups (p < .05 vs. baseline), and cardiac index increased 130% (p < .05 vs. baseline) at 10 mins after 10% CO-saline infusion. There were no changes of microhemodynamic variables and functional capillary density with 2.5%, 5%, and 20% CO-saline infusion during the observation period. Microvascular hemodynamic changes by 10% CO-saline infusion were inhibited completely by L-NAME pretreatment and partially by 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazole[4,3-a]quinoxqalin-1-one pretreatment. cGMP content in skin fold tissues was related to changes of vessel diameter. Conclusions:Intravenous injection of CO-saturated saline caused vasodilation and improved microvascular hemodynamics in the hamster window chamber model in a dose-dependent manner. These changes were related to increased cardiac output and local cGMP content. These results support the possible use of CO-saturated solutions as a vasodilator in critical conditions.