Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The clinical impact of assay standardization and traceability: A case study of cholesterol

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the major cause of death internationally, and yet most can be prevented using population-wide strategies by addressing behavioral risk factors, including reduction of blood cholesterol levels. Following the definition of clinical decision limits for cholesterol according to risk of CHD, an international effort was undertaken to establish traceability of routine clinical cholesterol assays to improve reproducibility and accuracy. This task has been achieved through the establishment of the Cholesterol Reference Measurement Laboratory Network. This work is associated with a reduction in the number of persons with elevated cholesterol levels and reduction in the death rates from CHD. It has been a major achievement for the discipline of laboratory medicine and a guide for future efforts for the improvement of patient outcomes.
How Does One Become an Artist? A Copying Task Provides No Support for the"Upside-Down Drawing" Technique

According to a technique widely used in art schools, everyone can make more realistic drawings by copying upside-down originals. We tested if this is true by asking 40 artistically untrained participants to copy either upright or upside-down drawings of a face or a car. Our results indicate that participants were faster when copying the car in comparison to the face, but not when copying upside-down in comparison to upright images. In addition, they were more accurate in capturing the global proportions of the image in comparison to the local proportions of its parts. However, neither the face nor the car were copied more accurately when presented upside-down. Overall, we observed no significant difference in accuracy between the upright and upside-down conditions, with most measures showing a pattern consistent with greater accuracy in the upright orientation especially for the face. These results provide no evidence that copying upside-down images promotes greater resemblance to the original stimulus image. Implications for the cognitive psychology of drawing and for the pedagogy of the visual arts are discussed.
Seasonal Changes in the Fish Assemblage in a Mixed Vegetation Area of Seagrass and Macroalgae in the Central Seto Inland Sea

A total of 3,363 fishes belonging to more than 42 taxa in 26 families were caught during a monthly seine survey (August 2006 to July 2007) in a mixed vegetation area of seagrass (Zostera marina) and macroalgae (mainly Sargassum spp.) in the central Seto Inland Sea, Japan. The numerically dominant species were Sebastes cheni (45.0% in number), Favonigobius gymnauchen (16.9%), Hypodytes rubripinnis (16.2%), Takifugu niphobles (4.5%), Rudarius ercodes (3.7%) and Sillago japonica (3.4%) and the weight-based dominant species (% in weight) were H. rubripinnis (42.4%), S. cheni (22.6%), Thamnaconus modestus (6.7%), F. gymnauchen (4.9%), T. niphobles (4.3%) and Hexagrammos agrammus (3.5%). Mean number of fish species ranged between 3.3 (February) and 11.5 ( June) /100 m2, abundance (number of fish) between 7.8 (February) and 196.5 (April) 100/m2, and biomass (wet weight) between 19.0 (February) and 441.0 ( June) g/100 m2. Based on the growing season for larvae and juveniles, the dominant fish species were categorized into three types; type-I: grow in spring (macroalgae-dependent: S. cheni), type-II: grow in summer (F. gymnauchen, T. niphobles and S. japonica) and type-III: common throughout the year but the larvae and juveniles do not grow in the seagrass/macroalgae area (vegetation-independent: H. rubripinnis). Fish abundance and number of fish species increased from late winter to early spring, the season before seagrass grow but macroalgae were still abundant, in addition to early summer.
The Effect of Eight Weeks Pilates Exercise on Testosterone and Sex Hormone Biding Globulin (SHBG) in Women with Type 2 Diabetes

iabetes is the most common disease all over the world (1). This is an important and the most crucial health issues for the entire human beings (2). According to the World Health Organization there were 436 million people suffering from diabetes in 2011 and this number will be doubled in 2030(3). The prevalence of diabetes in population older than30of Yazd province is %14.52(4). Regular physical activity plays an important role in the management of type2diabetes especially for hyperglycemic control, cardiovascular function improvement, increase D 1. Masters of Sport Sciences Shahrekord University, Sharekord, Iran. 2. Associate professor of Sport Sciences, Sharekord University, Shahrekord, Iran 3. Professor of Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Diabeties Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran. 4. Medical Student of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 5. Researcher, Diabetes Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
Works councils, training activities and innovation: a study of German firms

Building on the notion of general and specific human capital proposed by Becker (1962), the paper highlights the importance of employee training practices undertaken in firms as an important tool for human resource and knowledge management and focuses on the role of works councils as a specific form of employee representation system therein. Using establishment data on various aspects of training practices and innovation activities in Germany, the paper examines the degree, type and extent to which establishments invest in employee training and finds significant differences for firms with and without works councils. Specifically, findings suggest that works councils are related more with the provision of generalized training rather than in firm-specific technical training of employees. In addition, the paper finds strong support for using works councils as an instrument for a firm’s total training activities that correlate with innovation, and weak support when we consider only generalized training and innovation. Finally, no significant relation is found between training practices and radical innovativeness of firms after accounting for reverse causality.
Lignin Content and Resistance to Sclerotinia minor in Peanut

ABSTRACT Lignin has been shown to be an important component for plant defense in several pathosystems, but the relationship between peanut stem lignin content and resistance in the field to Sclerotinia blight has not been investigated. Stem lignin was quantified from twenty runner, six virginia, and ten spanish genotypes grown in the greenhouse using the acetyl bromide method. Significant differences in lignin content were found within the runner and spanish entries, but not among the virginia genotypes. Disease data collected in the field over two to three years were used to test correlations between lignin content and Sclerotinia blight resistance for a subset of the runner and virginia entries. No significant correlations were found. Within the runner entries, the highest and lowest stem lignin content was found in entries with the most disease resistance. These results indicate that preformed stem lignin content is not a reliable predictor for resistance to Sclerotinia blight in peanut. In addition, c.
Potential marker proteins for ozone-induced yield reduction in rice

Three proteins - a 60-kDa chaperonin (CPN-60), chloroplastic ATP synthase, and enolase 1 - were evaluated as potential markers of ozone-induced yield responses in six rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars (‘Kirara 397’, ‘Koshihikari’, ‘Nipponbare’, ‘Takanari’, ‘Kasalath’, ‘Suphanburi 90’) under ozone stress in laboratory-scale tests. The levels of all three proteins decreased after ozone exposure in cultivars identified as ozone-sensitive while they increased or remained constant after ozone exposure in tolerant cultivars, although ATP synthase tended to decrease. Furthermore, the protein level and grain yield in each cultivar exposed to ozone were significantly positively correlated for all three proteins. Thus, CPN-60 and enolase 1 are potential markers for chronic ozone stress in rice
4 Assessment of Motor Symptoms

This chapter describes the methodology developed and used to obtain the elements of the REMPARK system devoted to monitor the related PD motor symptoms, according to the specifications discussed in the previous chapter. The monitoring part basically consists in the waist-worn device and its embedded algorithms for the analysis of the PD patients’ movement and gait. The development of such a device to assess motor symptoms has been divided into several steps that are summarised below: • First, different questionnaires were administered to professionals and cargiveers to identify some system requirements and the most important symptoms to be monitored. This step has been already partially presented and used for the purpose of Chapter 3. The present chapter describes the details of these questionnaires and the obtained results. • A methodology was developed to detect these symptoms, which is based on inertial sensors and machine learning techniques. This methodology is presented in Section 4.3. • A database of signals was collected in order to develop automatic detection methods based on the mentioned methodology. The design of the experiment to collect such data and a summary of the data obtained are also detailed in Section 4.3.
Stakeholder salience in humanitarian supply chain management

Mitchell et al.(1997) developed a framework for assessing the salience of stakeholder groups based on their power, urgency and the legitimacy of their claim. This has been applied to illustrate the complexities of stakeholder interactions in humanitarian supply chains and to provide insights for their management and further research. Keywords: Supply chain management, Humanitarian logistics, Stakeholder salience
Authors’ Response to the Reviewer Comments

We sincerely thanks to the reviewers for their comments on the manuscript and offering their suggestions and critical input that has helped improve the manuscript. We provide here our replies to the reviewers’ comments and highlight the changes made in the revised manuscript based on the comments. These have been incorporated in the manuscript as follows. The point wise replies of the comments of the Reviewer#3 are given below.
The T-polynomial approach for LQG control applied to a Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM)

This paper proposes a tuning procedure that combines the well known T-polynomial, from predictive control, with the LQG algorithm. The proposed scheme was successfully applied to a speed loop of a switched reluctance motor (SRM), which is known by its specific issues related to driving and control. Such characteristics make the SRM a strong set up to exploit the proposed solution. Results are compared with both the predictive controller approach GPCBC and the classical LQG/LTR, analysed regarding the transient and disturbance rejection. Power analysis of the control signal shows a power efficiency improvement favourable for the proposed approach. Streszczenie. Opisano sposob sterowania silnikiem reluktancyjnym wykorzystująca metode T-wielomianu z algorytmem LQG - linear quadratic Gaussian. Metode porownano z innymi metodami jak GPCBC I LQG/LTR pod kątem tlumienia zaklocen i stanow chwilowych. T-wielomianowa metoda sterowania przelączalnym silnikiem reluktancyjnym
Communication patterns in coordinated care planning conferences with older patients

Background: When an older patient is discharged from a hospital in Sweden, a care plan in cooperation with the patient should be made through coordinated care planning (COCP). Previous research has described difficulties in the discharge process; consequently, it is important to develop additional knowledge and investigate both whether and how patients are given the opportunity to participate in COCP. The aim of the present study was to determine if older patients are given the opportunity to participate in COCP meetings, and if so, what characterizes these meetings. Method: This qualitative, descriptive study is based on non-participant observation of interactions between older patients and care staff at six COCP meetings. The data collected were analyzed using directed content analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA). Results: The main findings indicate a lack of patient participation in all the COCP meetings held at the hospital. The dialogues in that context were less information intensive, and a professional perspective dominated. The situation in advanced home care (AHC) was the opposite; already from the outset, it was evident that the patient was the chief informant and that the patient’s perspective predominated during the dialogues. Conclusions: General differences in the way the dialogues were initiated and in how they progressed were observed between the hospital and AHC. Due to both shortage of time in health care today and financial issues, it is important to find solutions that incorporate the older patient’s experiences as well as professional knowledge.
Manifestation of deformation effect in band spectra in crystals with inhomogeneous bonding

The effect of the shear strains on the energy spectrum of the strongly anisotropic SbSI crystal has been investigated by group-theoretical method in combination with the Pikus method of invariants. The first-principles local density approximation has been implemented to determine the band structure of the crystal. Ab initio calculations of the band structure have shown an exact localization of twofold degenerate maximum of the valence band in the T point. It turned out that the shear strains result in the band topology changes in the vicinity of the T point and the k -linear term appears in the corresponding dispersion law.
Efficacy of Intravenous Fluid on Prevention of Post-Operative Nausea and Vomiting at Ayder Referral Hospital Mekelle University, Northern Ethiopia

Background: From post-operative complications which can put stress on operated patients, nausea and vomiting have a higher percentage and patient can have serious complications like fluid and electrolyte disturbance and pulmonary aspiration. Although there are many anti-emetics drugs are available for the prevention of postoperated nausea and vomiting a benefit is observed on few of them. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the efficiency of intravenous fluid on prevention post-operative nausea and vomiting, Mekelle University Ayder Referral Hospital. Methodology: Cohort study was carried out using probability sampling technique. Data was collected by the interviewer administered structured questioner and it was entered, cleaned and analyzed by Epi-Info version 7.0 and SPSS version 20. Proportion was used to describe the results and it was presented in the form of figure, table and texts. Result: Incidence rate of post-operative nausea and vomiting in early, middle and late post-operative period in exposed group was 35.45 and 19.35, 29.03 and 6.45, 29.03 and 6.45 similarly it was 67.24 and 65.52, 68.97 and 46.55, 37.93 and 17.24 non-exposed group. Female patients took the higher incidence rate (67.67). Patients whose age groups range from 20-49 took 68.42% of the whole incidence rate of post-operative vomiting. Body mass index and type of anesthesia didn’t put their influence on the incidence rate of post-operative nausea and vomiting. Conclusion and recommendation: The incidence rate of post-operative nausea and vomiting and ant-emetic used in early and middle phase of post-operative period was highly associated with pre-operative administration of intravenous fluid in the bivariate analysis, so the anesthesia provider and the ward nurses should take the responsibility of doing it and Further studying mainly addresses on amount of bolus fluid that may significantly affect the incidence rate of post-operative nausea and vomiting are recommended.
A machine learning calibration model using random forests to improve sensor performance for lower-cost air quality monitoring

Abstract. Low-cost sensing strategies hold the promise of denser air quality monitoring networks, which could significantly improve our understanding of personal air pollution exposure. Additionally, low-cost air quality sensors could be deployed to areas where limited monitoring exists. However, low-cost sensors are frequently sensitive to environmental conditions and pollutant cross-sensitivities, which have historically been poorly addressed by laboratory calibrations, limiting their utility for monitoring. In this study, we investigated different calibration models for the Real-time Affordable Multi-Pollutant (RAMP) sensor package, which measures CO, NO2, O3, and CO2. We explored three methods: (1) laboratory univariate linear regression, (2) empirical multiple linear regression, and (3) machine-learning-based calibration models using random forests (RF). Calibration models were developed for 16–19 RAMP monitors (varied by pollutant) using training and testing windows spanning August 2016 through February 2017 in Pittsburgh, PA, US. The random forest models matched (CO) or significantly outperformed (NO2, CO2, O3) the other calibration models, and their accuracy and precision were robust over time for testing windows of up to 16 weeks. Following calibration, average mean absolute error on the testing data set from the random forest models was 38 ppb for CO (14 % relative error), 10 ppm for CO2 (2 % relative error), 3.5 ppb for NO2 (29 % relative error), and 3.4 ppb for O3 (15 % relative error), and Pearson r versus the reference monitors exceeded 0.8 for most units. Model performance is explored in detail, including a quantification of model variable importance, accuracy across different concentration ranges, and performance in a range of monitoring contexts including the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and the US EPA Air Sensors Guidebook recommendations of minimum data quality for personal exposure measurement. A key strength of the RF approach is that it accounts for pollutant cross-sensitivities. This highlights the importance of developing multipollutant sensor packages (as opposed to single-pollutant monitors); we determined this is especially critical for NO2 and CO2. The evaluation reveals that only the RF-calibrated sensors meet the US EPA Air Sensors Guidebook recommendations of minimum data quality for personal exposure measurement. We also demonstrate that the RF-model-calibrated sensors could detect differences in NO2 concentrations between a near-road site and a suburban site less than 1.5 km away. From this study, we conclude that combining RF models with carefully controlled state-of-the-art multipollutant sensor packages as in the RAMP monitors appears to be a very promising approach to address the poor performance that has plagued low-cost air quality sensors.
Evironmental evaluation of the middle São Francisco River basin between Três Marias and Pirapora, using chemical and geophysical investigation in sediment profiles from selected marginal lagoons

The industrial, farming and housing occupation of the upper to middle San Francisco basin is getting stronger, resulting in an increase of the environmental impact. Marginal lagoons, which are important support for wildlife and water supply are invaded during the flooding of the river and filled with material. The aim of this study was to characterize the particle size distribution, chemical and mineral development shown in the profiles of these marginal lagoons and correlate with the environmental evolution and impacts. Granulometric and geophysical studies were carried out using combined sieves, GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar), total chemical analysis by X-Ray Fluorescence and sequential leaching analyses by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy. The granulometric and mineralogical results showed a predominance of silt, alternating with sandy layers, indicating the annual and seasonal energy evolution and depositional source. Investigations with GPR show horizontal sets formed by the change of energy deposition. Selected elements (Ni, Zn, Co, As, Pb, Cu) showed a continue enrichment with higher concentration on the surface. All elements concentrations are related to the clay/silt fraction, thus allowing the use of this fraction for the investigation of the impact assessment. Chromium is related to sandy layers indicating its correlation with the mineral content. The positive correlation between Ni, Zn and Pb indicate industrial influence (refinement of Zn, heavy industry) the correlation Cu, Ni, Co and As may derive from the use of agro products. The elements Pb, Zn and Cu presented at the top of the profiles concentrations above legislation limits.
Challenges and Strategies to Maintaining Emotional Health Qualitative Perspectives of Mexican Immigrant Mothers India

1 Authors’ Note: We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Foundation for Child Development, young scholars program, and the Department of Health and Human Services, aCYF early Head Start–University Partnership grant 90YF0042/01. We would like to thank ginny Lewis and Hjordis Blanchard for their excellent management of this project and Hiro Yoshikawa for his initial advice in designing our interview protocol. Challenges and Strategies to Maintaining Emotional Health
A study of transformational leadership, strategic flexibility, and firm performance: The moderating role of environmental dynamism

The relationship between leadership behavior and firm performance has always been a focus of academic research. This study offers a theoretical model that examines strategic flexibility as an intermediate mechanism in the relationship between transformational leadership and firm performance. On the basis of the dynamic environment in China, we tested environmental dynamism as a moderator in this relationship, empirically validated our hypotheses. We conducted questionnaire surveys of the senior managers of 328 companies located mainly in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong, and received 210 valid samples. The results show that strategic flexibility has a fully mediating role in the relationship between transformational leadership and firm performance. Moreover, environmental dynamism was found to moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and strategic flexibility, as well as having moderating effects on the relationship between strategic flexibility and firm performance. These conclusions indicate that strategic flexibility and environmental dynamism influence the effect of transformational leadership on firm performance.
Induction of systemic resistance in green gram against leaf blight caused by Macrophomina phaseolina ( Tassi . )

Studies were conducted to develop the sustainable plant protection strategies against leaf blight of green gram incited by Macrophomina phaseolina by using plant extracts and fungicides under in vitro and in vivo conditions. In vitro studies indicated that plant leaf extracts of Adenocalymma alliaceum (77.20%) and Allium sp. (74.71%) demonstrated the highest inhibition of mycelia growth of M. phaseolina at 10% concentration. The results revealed the significant performance by foliar spray of carbendazim (0.1%), mancozeb (0.2%) and leaf extracts of A. alliaceum (10%), Allium sp. (10%) was more effective in reducing leaf blight disease in mungbean plants under greenhouse conditions. Further, induction of defense enzymes, such as peroxidase (PO), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), phenols and also chlorophyll content were studied. The enzyme accumulation was greater in treated plants as compared to untreated control. The present study revealed the induced systemic resistance (ISR) in enhancing the disease resistance in green gram plants against leaf blight disease by the application of plant extracts and fungicides.