Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of the Patient’s Family, Surrogate and Guardian at the End of Life

The aim of this paper is to explore the intricate issue of the right to die in dignity by focusing on the role of the patient’s family. The paper considers a number of real-life cases. The cases demonstrate the importance of caution in incidents when the best interests of the patient’s family members contradict the best interests of the patient. There is some resemblance between two American cases: Spring and Wendland . But while in Spring the family was unified in its opinion to stop the patient’s treatment, in Wendland family members expressed contrasting opinions. Two English cases - In Re N and In Re 62-year-old Woman and a Dutch case concerning Mrs A, highlight the important role of the incompetent patient’s family when members of family are unified in their opinions. These cases lead to conclude, contra Dworkin, that advance directives should be treated with great caution.
Searching for shear forces flows in arbitrary cross-sections of thin-walled bars: numerical algorithm and software implementation

The problem of shear stresses outside longitudinal edges of an arbitrary cross-section (including open-closed multi-contour cross-sections) of a thin-walled bar subjected to the general load case has been considered in the paper. The formulated problem has been reduced to the searching problem for unknown shear forces flows that have the least value of the Castigliano’s functional. Besides, constraints-equalities of shear forces flows equilibrium formulated for cross-section branch points, as well as equilibrium equation formulated for the whole cross-section relating to longitudinal axes of the thin-walled bar have been taken into account. A detailed numerical algorithm intended to solve the formulated problem has been proposed by the paper. Developed algorithm has been implemented in SCAD Office environment by the program TONUS. Numerical examples for calculation of thin-walled bars with open and open-closed multicontour cross-sections have been considered in order to validate developed algorithm and verify calculation accuracy for sectorial cross-section geometrical properties and shear stresses caused by warping torque and shear forces.
The impact of post-stroke complications on in-hospital mortality depends on stroke severity

Introduction Controversies remain on whether post-stroke complications represent an independent predictor of poor outcome or just a reflection of stroke severity. We aimed to identify which post-stroke complications have the highest impact on in-hospital mortality by using machine learning techniques. Secondary aim was identification of patient’s subgroups in which complications have the highest impact. Patients and methods Registro Nacional de Ictus de la Sociedad Española de Neurología is a stroke registry from 42 centers from the Spanish Neurological Society. Data from ischemic stroke patients were used to build a random forest by combining 500 classification and regression trees, to weight up the impact of baseline characteristics and post-stroke complications on in-hospital mortality. With the selected variables, a logistic regression analysis was performed to test for interactions. Results 12,227 ischemic stroke patients were included. In-hospital mortality was 5.9% and median hospital stay was 7(4–10) days. Stroke severity [National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale > 10, OR = 5.54(4.55–6.99)], brain edema [OR = 18.93(14.65–24.46)], respiratory infections [OR = 3.67(3.02–4.45)] and age [OR = 2.50(2.07–3.03) for >77 years] had the highest impact on in-hospital mortality in random forest, being independently associated with in-hospital mortality. Complications have higher odds ratios in patients with baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale <10. Discussion Our study identified brain edema and respiratory infections as independent predictors of in-hospital mortality, rather than just markers of more severe strokes. Moreover, its impact was higher in less severe strokes, despite lower frequency. Conclusion Brain edema and respiratory infections were the complications with a greater impact on in-hospital mortality, with the highest impact in patients with mild strokes. Further efforts on the prediction of these complications could improve stroke outcome.
Extended lipid profile in Romanian ischemic stroke patients in relation to stroke severity and outcome: a path analysis model

Introduction Our aim was to evaluate the extended lipid profile in ischemic stroke patients and the relationship with stroke type, severity and outcome. Material and methods We prospectively enrolled 124 ischemic stroke patients and 40 healthy controls; baseline plasma and erythrocyte membrane fatty acids concentrations and common lipid profile were analysed. Stroke severity was evaluated by NIHSS on admission, while the functional outcome was defined by mRS at discharge and after 3 months. Results Total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, DHA, adrenic, stearic and lauric acid were all lower in patients, taking into account that 87.7% of patients did not receive statins before admission. There was a different pattern in plasma and erythrocyte membrane of fatty acids between patients and controls, also omega-3 index was significantly lower in patients. Patients with poor outcome without statins had significantly lower triglyceride (p = 0.028), while the total cholesterol levels were significantly lower in patients with poor outcome (p = 0.03) but with treatment initiated after admission. Bivariate analysis revealed that patients with poor outcome had significantly lower triglyceride levels regardless the statins use, while the total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol levels were significantly lower in patients with poor outcome under statin treatment. The long-term outcome were positively influenced by age (β̂ = 0.22, p = 0.001), and NIHSS score at admission (β̂ = 0.55, p < 0.001), and negatively by cholesterol levels (β̂ = –0.17, p = 0.031). Conclusions DHA, adrenic, stearic and lauric acid were lower in stroke patients; plasma adrenic acid was consumed during the acute phase. The most important predictors for long-term outcome was NIHSS at admission followed by age and total cholesterol.
The tolerance of English instructors towards the Thai-accented English and grammatical errors

Although Thai English has emerged as one variety of World Englishes (Trakulkasemsuk 2012, Saraceni 2015), it has not been enthusiastically embraced by Thai educators, as evidenced in the frustration expressed by ELT practitioners over Thai learners’ difficulties with pronunciation (Noom-ura 2013; Sahatsathatsana, 2017) as well as grammar (Saengboon 2017a). In this study, we examine the perception English instructors have on the different degrees of grammar skills and Thai-oriented English accent. We investigated the acceptability and comprehensibility of both native-Thai and native-English instructors (ten of each), as these subjects listen to controlled passages produced by 4 Thai-English bilingual speakers and another 4 native-Thai speakers. There were 3 types of passage tokens: passages with correct grammar spoken in a near-native English accent, passages with several grammatical mistakes spoken in a near-native English accent, and the last being a Thai-influenced accent with correct grammar. We hypothesized that (1) native-Thai instructors would favor the near-native English accent over correct grammar, (2) native-English instructors would be more sensitive to grammar than a foreign accent, and (3) there is a correlation between acceptability and comprehensibility judgment. The findings conformed to the first hypothesis given that most Thai instructors were tolerant towards the near-native English accent, regardless of grammatical errors. The second hypothesis is rejected since native-English instructors were less tolerant towards both grammatical errors and the foreign accent. The third hypothesis was proved correct, that acceptability correlates with comprehensibility. Our study suggests that English instructors should devote proportionate attention to teaching both pronunciation and grammar. They should also be made aware of the negative attitude against Thai-accented English, so that learners would be treated fairly and without discrimination based on their Thai-influenced accent.
A Web-Based Skin Disease Diagnosis Using Convolutional Neural Networks

—Skin diseases are reported to be the most common disease in humans among all age groups and a significant root of infection in sub-Saharan Africa. The diagnosis of skin diseases using conventional approaches involves several tests. Due to this, the diagnosis process is seen to be intensely laborious, time-consuming and requires an extensive understanding of the domain. The enhancement of computer vision through artificial intelligence has led to a more straightforward and quicker way of detecting patterns in images, which can be harnessed to equip diagnosis process. Despite the breakthrough in technology, the dermatological process in Ghana is yet to be automated, making the diagnosis process complicated and time-consuming. Hence, this study sought to propose a web-based skin disease detection system named medilab-plus using a convolutional neural network classifier built upon the Tensorflow framework for detecting (atopic dermatitis,
Comparing the High-Probability Instructional Sequence with and without Food to Increase Consumption of Nonpreferred Foods in Children with Food Selectivity

The high-probability (high-p) instructional sequence is a non-intrusive procedure involving the presentation of a series of high-p instructions followed by 1 low-probability instruction. To date, 9 studies – with mixed findings – examined its effectiveness to treat food selectivity in children. We used a multielement within a reversal design to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of 2 iterations of the high-p sequence to increase food consumption in 2 food-selective children: highp with preferred food on a spoon and high-p with an empty spoon. For both participants, neither high-p sequence alone increased consumption. For one participant, consumption increased in the high-p empty spoon condition with the introduction of non-removal of the spoon (NRS). For the other participant, consumption initially increased in the high-p with food condition with the introduction of NRS plus re-presentation but subsequently decreased. Results are discussed within the context of treatment implications and suggestions for future research.
Improved RPCA method via non-convex regularisation for image denoising

The traditional robust principal component analysis (RPCA) model is based on the nuclear norm, which usually underestimates the singular values of the low-rank matrix. As a consequence, the restoration image experiences serious interference by Gaussian noise, and the image quality degenerates during the denoising process. Therefore, an improved RPCA method via non-convex regularisation terms is proposed to remedy the above shortcomings. First, in order to estimate the singular value of the low-rank matrix more accurately, the authors employ the non-convex penalty function and add a weight vector to it. Then, the regularisation with non-convex penalty function and its weighted version are used to replace the nuclear norm and entry-wise l 1 norm in original RPCA, respectively, to establish an improved model. Finally, an optimal solution algorithm is derived by developing the alternating direction multiplier method. Experimental results show that the proposed method has better performance in terms of both quantitative measurement and visual perception quality than other several state-of-the-art image denoising methods.
Non-Stationary Thompson Sampling For Stochastic Bandits with Graph-Structured Feedback

We propose an extension of the multi-armed bandit problem with graph feedback studied in [4] where the distributions of reward and feedback are non-stationary. We also propose an extension with two variants of the Global Switching Thompson Sampling proposed in [3] for the graph feedback setting. This extension is based on the aggregation of a growing number of experts seen as learners. Finally, we conduct experiments providing evidences that in practice our proposal compares favorably with the oracle that exactly knows the location of the environment changes.
Intraorganizational conditions for social innovation in sport for development and peace

ABSTRACT Research question: What are the intraorganizational conditions necessary for social innovation in Sport for Development and Peace (SDP)? Research methods: Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and focus groups from 51 leaders in the SDP field who received awards for their innovative work and/or had notable reputations as innovators in the SDP field. Findings: Findings highlight how an SDP organization’s culture, leadership, paid staff, organizational infrastructure, and financial resources enable social innovation. Several sub-themes were identified as particularly important in the SDP context. Practical implications: A more detailed understanding of these internal conditions help identify ways funders and policymakers can better support the development of more creative and sustainable organizations able to successfully adapt to changing environments and social issues. Research contribution: This study provides a starting point for theoretical advancements on the intraorganizational conditions necessary for the development and implementation of social innovation in sport.
Study of human origin and migration from a novel genomic footprint derived from mitochondrial sequences

The origin of modern human and their migration across the world is one of the most debated topics for the decades. There exist two different hypotheses, recent African origin and multi-regional evolution, based on the genomic studies, haplogroups, archaeological records, cultural behaviors, palaeontology studies, etc. Various studies placed the modern humans in a phylogenetic tree to depict the relationships among them. However, the conflicts between the results obtained from the molecular data and the archaeological and palaeontological reports still exist. We adopt a novel genomic features derived from the whole mitochondrial sequence, and using them phylogenetic trees are constructed providing a new insight on human migration. The results we derived from the genomic feature is more consistent with the archaeological findings based on the time of origin of different communities. We find that some Asian communities are placed at the basal point with a very high bootstrap score. This study roughly estimates the existence of the archaic human at 4-5 million years ago and presence of human in Africa at 800 kilo years ago. The basal position of the Asian communities show some close relationships between the modern Asians and the archaic humans along with the Africans.
Pharmacognostical standardization and preliminary phytochemical screening of Cissampelos pareira Linn. var. Hirsuta Roots

Cissampelos pareira Linn. var. hirsuta belongs to family Menispermaceae. It is commonly known as venivel. The present study was undertaken to carry out pharmacognostical and phytochemical investigation of the roots of the plant. Different pharmacognostical parameters studied were macroscopy and microscopy, fluorescence analysis, physicochemical analysis and elemental analysis. Phytochemical analysis included preliminary screening and qualitative chemical tests for identification of the chemical constituents present in the roots. In the light of the above factors, the purpose of the study was to set up the standardization parameters which can be of immense value for the identification of the genuine drug.
Three-Port Bidirectional Series-Resonant Converter With First-Harmonic-Synchronized PWM

An isolated three-port bidirectional series-resonant converter with first-harmonic-synchronized pulsewidth modulation (FHS-PWM) is proposed for energy storage applications. With FHS-PWM control, the voltage conversion ratio is only determined by the effective duty cycle and has nothing to do with the amplitude and direction of the transferred power. The operating mode can be transited between the forward and backward modes automatically and smoothly. The voltage of the output and energy storage ports can also be regulated individually with decoupling control. Furthermore, with the help of auxiliary inductors, zero-voltage switching (ZVS) of all the switches can also be achieved within the entire operating range. The detailed operation principles, characteristics, design considerations, and control strategy of the proposed converter are analyzed. An experimental prototype is built and tested to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed solution.
Developing Urban Family Physician Program in Shiraz, Fars Province, the Doctors’ Experiences: A Qualitative Research

Background: Regarding problems related to quality, justice, effectiveness of health care provided by the Ministry of Health of Islamic Republic of Iran in 2015, the family physician is the main responsible for the health team who provides all the services and medical-healthcare with the assistance of midwives and other staff. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explain the experiences of urban family physicians in Shiraz, Fars province, Iran. Methods: This study was conducted in 2018 at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Participants in this study were 8 physicians in the urban family physician program with a variety of experiences. The method of this study is qualitative, based on content analysis. Sampling was done purposefully using semi-structured in-depth interviews from participants to reach saturation. Data were analyzed using content analysis with software MAXQDA V. 2007. Data validity was evaluated using criteria such as credibility, dependability, and confirmability. Results: Results were presented in 4 categories: lack of infrastructure, inefficiency of implementation, comprehensive look at the health of the community, and the need for corrective actions along with 17 subcategories. Conclusions: The most important challenges after 8 years of starting a family physician program include the lack of infrastructure, inefficiency of the implementation method, lack of a comprehensive look at the health of the community, and the need for corrective actions in the program. It is the responsibility of health policymakers to address these challenges to improve them. It is recommended that training at all levels of the involved individuals, including theoretical and practical training should be considered.
Vertical van der Waals Heterostructure of Single Layer InSe and SiGe

We present a first-principles investigation on the stability, electronic structure and mechanical response of ultra-thin heterostructure composed of single layers of InSe and SiGe. First, by per- forming total energy optimization and phonon calculations, we show that single layers of InSe and SiGe can form dynamically stable heterostructures in 12 different stacking types. Valence and conduction band edges of the heterobilayers form a type-I heterojunction having a tiny bandgap ranging between 0.09-0.48 eV. Calculations on elastic-stiffness tensor reveal that two mechanically soft single layers form a heterostructure which is stiffer than constituent layers due to relatively strong interlayer interaction. Moreover, phonon analysis show that the bilayer heterostructure has highly Raman active modes at 205.3 and 43.7 cm −1 , stemming from out-of-plane interlayer mode and layer breathing mode, respectively. Our results show that, as a stable type-I heterojunction, ultra-thin heterobilayer of InSe/SiGe holds .
Estimating Chlorophyll-a and Dissolved Oxygen Based on Landsat 8 Bands Using Support Vector Machine and Recursive Partitioning Tree Regressions

In general, water quality mapping is done by interpolation of in situ measurement samples. Often, these parameters change with time. Due to geographic variability and the lack of budget in Nepal, such measurements are done less often. Remote sensors that collect spectral information continually can be very useful in the regular monitoring of water quality parameters. Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI) bands have been used to estimate water quality parameters. In this work, we model two water quality parameters: chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and dissolved oxygen (DO) using sequential minimal optimization regression (SMOreg), which implements a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm and recursive partitioning tree (REPTree) regressions. A total of 19 measurements were taken from Phewa Lake, Nepal and various secondary bands were derived from using Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) bands. These bands underwent feature selection, and regression models were created based on selected bands and sample data. The results showed satisfactory modelling of water quality parameters using Landsat 8 OLI bands in Phewa Lake. Due to a limited number of data, cross-validation was done with 10 folds. The SVM showed a better result than the REPTree regression. For future studies, the performance can be further evaluated in large lakes with larger sample numbers and other water quality parameters.
Evolution of reception efficacy and execution in women’s volleyball according to level of competition – a descriptive study aged from 14-year-old to adult professional players

The aim of this study was to determine the technical performance profile of service reception with regard to execution and efficacy level according to level of competition in women’s volleyball. The sample of the study was composed of a total of 6,311 game phases from 187 sets in 48 matches played during season 2005–2006 by the following divisions: under-14, under-16, under-18, 2nd national senior division, 1st national senior division, and international senior division. The design of the study was a descriptive and interand intra-group correlational one. The variables studied included level of competition, technique used to serve, technique used to receive, zone where the reception was executed, and efficacy of reception. The results indicated that at higher levels of competition: a) there is higher efficacy in reception; b) number of errors decreases; and c) proportion of receptions that allow one or more attacking options for the receiving team increases. As level of competition increases, the effect of service on reception decreases, and receiving zones are more diverse. This study establishes the technical and tactical service-reception profiles in women’s volleyball, compares them, and establishes the dependence between variables to understand how the action changes throughout the levels of competition.