Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors Affecting the Adoption of Social Media in Business: Evidence from Individual and Household Retailers in Vietnam

This paper used an integrated framework adapting from Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Technological-Organizational-Environmental (TOE) framework adapted from a study by Tripopsakul (2018) to examine factors affecting the decision to adopt social media in business by individual and household retailers in Vietnam. Data were collected from 773 respondents through an online self-administered questionnaire survey in the three biggest cities of Vietnam (i.e. Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang) using convenient and snowball sampling method. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Results showed that social media adoption was significantly influenced by environmental context, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness, respectively. The technological and organizational contexts were proved to have a medium positive impact on social media adoption through perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness as two mediators. It is implied from the research findings that Vietnamese individual and household retailers mainly adopt social media because of the extrinsic forces rather than their intrinsic motives. Moreover, this study revealed that the more self-efficacy, innovativeness and IT experience that the Vietnamese retailers have, the more willing they are to adopt social media in business.
Invertebrates and microbiota associated with aquatic macrophyte degradation in a shallow lake in southern Brazil

Aquatic macrophytes are the main producers of organic matter in shallow aquatic ecosystems. They are also food sources for many herbivores. When macrophytes die, they enter the debris chain, are conditioned by microbial action and colonized by benthic invertebrates which remobilize nutrients from their biomass. In subtropical aquatic systems, the participation of shredder invertebrates has been questioned, highlighting the participation of fungi and bacteria in the degradation of organic matter. This study evaluated the degradation of two submerged aquatic macrophytes, Mayaca fluviatilis and Stuckenia pectinata, determining the quality of debris and microbiota and invertebrate trophic group density throughout the degradation process. Our results indicated that plants with lower polyphenol concentrations had higher degradation speeds. The shredders invertebrates had reduced abundance in both macrophytes, emphasizing the importance of bacteria and fungi in the nutrient cycling process in subtropical shallow lakes.
Prevalence and Factors Associated with Intestinal Parasitic Infection among School Children from Jagüey Grande Municipality in Matanzas Province, Cuba.

Background: Infections by intestinal parasites are a major public health problem worldwide, especially among children in developing countries. As the prevalence of parasitic infection is different among and within countries, there is a need for periodical prevalence evaluation to appropriate control strategies. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out during October 2013 to estimate the prevalence of intestinal parasites and associated factors among school children attending “Juan Lefont Alonso” primary school from Jagüey Grande municipality in Matanzas province, Cuba. Three fresh faecal samples were collected from each child in different days. Parasite detection was achieved using direct wet mount, formalin-ether concentration, Ziehl-Neelsen permanent staining and Kato-Katz techniques. One hundred and seven children of third grade (8 to 9 years old, 56 males and 51 females) were included in the study after an informed consent form was signed by their parents or legal guardians. Questionnaire and observation were used to identify sociodemographic and associated factors. Data were analysed using EpiInfo 6.0 software. Results: Fifty-five out of 107 screened schoolchildren (51.4%) were infected with one or more intestinal parasites. The most common parasites were Giardia duodenalis (39.2%; 42/107), Bastocystis sp (28%; 30/107), Trichuris trichuria (23.4%; 25/107) and Ascaris lumbricoides (19.6%; 21/107). Parasitic infection was similar by gender or place of residence. The risk of intestinal parasitic infection was significantly associated with the use of unboiled drinking water, and with bad hand washing practices as well as with the presence of diarrhoea and abdominal pain (p < 0.01). Conclusions: The present study indicated that intestinal parasitic infections are common in this school and could negatively influence the quality of life of the community where the centre is located. In order to effectively reduce these infections, a multi-sectoral effort is needed.
Site selection for Croatian low and intermediate level radioactive waste repository

ABSTRACT Radioactive waste disposal and management presents a unique problem at the Krško nuclear power plant as it is built and co-owned by the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia. Each country is responsible for the management of half of the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF). So far, Slovenia has officially selected the site for LILW disposal and the Croatian programme has a single location left (since 1999), not officially approved as acceptable. This paper contains a new approach to site selection related to the implementation of GIS technology and presents a map of potential areas for LILW disposal including only the remaining Croatian location. It was constructed based on eleven layers that include natural characteristics and anthropogenic pressures. For the construction of the main map, detailed topological checks and spatial analysis of polygons have been made, reducing potential areas to be further evaluated.
Modeling of a Microscale Surface Using NURBS Technique

This article describes microscale surface modeling using the Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) surface interpolation technique. A three-dimensional surface model was generated on the basis of measured surface profile data. To validate this model, three brass specimens having different roughness values were used. Direct comparison between measured profiles and the curves modeled with NURBS was employed. It was identified that the proposed method allows the generation of microscale models similar to actual surfaces. Finally, a method to extract the Bearing Area Curve (BAC) from a 3D model was detailed. The proposed modeling will be useful for the characterization of bearing capacity of the surface and for contact analysis.
Breast Cancer: From Transcriptional Control to Clinical Outcome

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women worldwide. The risk of breast cancer in women increases with age, and this is partly attributable to the accumulation of genetic lesions. Growing evidence demonstrates the role played by epigenetic modifiers and the tumor microenvironment in contributing to the increased risk of breast cancer. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the epigenetic regulatory signatures that impact the well-studied signaling pathways in breast tissues. Additionally, we will also delve into the therapeutic and diagnostic potential of noncoding RNAs in breast cancer.
Innovation, Risk, and Uncertainty: A Study of Tourism Entrepreneurs

Innovation is inherently associated with risk and uncertainty, and the engagement of entrepreneurs with these is central to the innovation process. Entrepreneurs are not passive actors but, through learning, they contribute to the dynamic capabilities of the firm across the innovation process. Drawing on 57 interviews with entrepreneurs in tourism small and medium enterprises in Spain and the United Kingdom, the article identifies how risk and uncertainty are understood to change throughout the innovation process in the key areas of technology, finance, markets, and organizations. It also examines how tourism entrepreneurs respond to risk and uncertainty through a range of strategies, especially the harvesting of knowledge and networking. However, engaging with uncertainty remains elusive and relies as much on intuition as on reasoning.
Goal Ambiguity, Management, and Performance in U.S. Nursing Homes

Public administration research has produced a large literature on the determinants, consequences, and complexities of goal clarity and ambiguity. This article contributes to this line of work by examining how perceived goal ambiguity and goal multiplicity condition the effect of top administrators’ management on performance. In the context of U.S. nursing homes, we find that the positive effect of management on service quality tends to decrease when administrators report facing high levels of goal ambiguity and pursue numerous priorities that they consider important. This study improves our understanding of the complex mechanisms through which managerial strategies influence organizational outcomes.
Serum Chemerin and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Diabetic Subjects without Established Vascular Disease.

Aims: was correlated with glycated hemoglobin (r= -0.207, p <0.05) and with C reactive protein (CRP) (r= 0.171, p <0.05). Moreover, serum chemerin was correlated with prothrombin time (r = -0.278, p <0.05) in control subjects and with diastolic blood pressure (r = -0.233, p <0.05) in diabetic subjects. Conclusion: We concluded that only glycated hemoglobin was significantly and independently correlated with serum chemerin levels.
Knowing How to Help: Providing Health Information in Public Libraries

ABSTRACT Public libraries offer multiple resources and programs to community members at all socio-economic levels. One area that public libraries struggle with is the provision of consumer health information. This article reports on a qualitative study examining the practices of 38 public library staff in 18 libraries in Oklahoma, highlighting their experiences and perceptions about providing health information. The results indicate that many staff were unsure of the overall health needs of their communities. Many staff found fielding health information questions to be challenging, including issues related to understanding questions, providing online resources, and the need for more training.
Expanded huntingtin CAG repeats disrupt the balance between neural progenitor expansion and differentiation in human cerebral organoids

Huntington disease (HD) manifests in both adult and juvenile forms. Mutant HTT gene carriers are thought to undergo normal brain development followed by a degenerative phase, resulting in progressive clinical manifestations. However, recent studies in children and prodromal individuals at risk for HD have raised the possibility of abnormal neurodevelopment. Although key findings in rodent models support this notion, direct evidence in the context of human physiology remains lacking. Using a panel of isogenic HD human embryonic pluripotent stem cells and cerebral organoids, we investigated the impact of mutant HTT on early neurodevelopment. We find that ventricular zone-like neuroepithelial progenitor layer expansion is blunted in an HTT CAG repeat length-dependent manner due to premature neurogenesis in HD cerebral organoids, driven by cell intrinsic processes. Transcriptional profiling and imaging analysis revealed impaired cell cycle regulatory processes, increased G1 length, and increased asymmetric division of apical progenitors, collectively contributing to premature neuronal differentiation. We demonstrate increased activity of the ATM-p53 pathway, an up-stream regulator of cell cycle processes, and show that treatment with ATM antagonists partially rescues the blunted neuroepithelial progenitor expansion in HD organoids. Our findings suggest that CAG repeat length regulates the balance between neural progenitor expansion and differentiation during early neurodevelopment. Our results further support the view that HD, at least in its early-onset forms, may not be a purely neurodegenerative disorder, and that abnormal neurodevelopment may be a component of HD pathophysiology.
Information Needs and Information Sources of Patients Diagnosed with Rare Cancers

INFORMATION NEEDS AND INFORMATION SOURCES OF PATIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH RARE CANCERS By Dana L. Ladd, Ph.D., MS, SLIS A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2016 Major Director: Robin K. Matsuyama, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Policy BACKGROUND: Approximately 25% of all cancers diagnosed are considered rare. Patients may face many significant challenges including difficulty obtaining information about their rare conditions. Patients often have high information needs and may seek desired information from a variety of informational sources including healthcare providers, media, print, government and non-profit organizations in order to meet their needs. Accessing reliable consumer-level information can be challenging and often information needs are unmet. Dissatisfaction with health information provision can result in negative health-related outcomes and factors including decreased health-related quality of life. METHOD: This cross-sectional design study used validated measures to assess the information needs, information sources, information satisfaction, and health-related quality of life of patients diagnosed with rare cancers (n=113). Adult patients at the VCU Health Massey Cancer Center who had been diagnosed with a rare cancer in the past 12 months were contacted via mail survey. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize patients’ information need and information received levels. Unmet needs were analyzed using a two-sample T-test. Chi-square tests were used to analyze information needs and received by demographics for gender and race and logistic regression analysis was used for age. Descriptive statistics summarized information sources used and preferred. Finally, descriptive statistics were used to summarize information satisfaction. The relationship between information satisfaction and health-related quality of life was assessed using a two-sample T-test. RESULTS: Study participants had high information needs, particularly for information about disease, medical tests, and treatment. Though patients also reported receiving information at high levels, 21 participants (18.9%) reported being unsatisfied with information provision. Unmet needs were found for information about disease and on the item level for information about causes of cancer, whether their cancer was under control, expected benefits of treatment, and financial, insurance, and work-related information. Although participants reported preferring information from their healthcare providers, they most commonly sought information from the Internet more than any other source. CONCLUSION: By identifying patients’ information needs and sources, this study fills an important gap in the information needs and sources literature of patients diagnosed with rare cancers. Identification of these needs allows healthcare providers to tailor information provision to more effectively meet patients’ information needs.
Assessment of Functionality of Multifunction Prosthetic Hands

Introduction This study is part of a program to investigate the function of prosthetic arm systems, specifically the new generation multifunction hands. Materials and Methods The Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure was used to measure the relative performance of a range of commercial multifunction prosthetic hands. To compare different designs of hands, a single subject was used with repeated measures. Hands from Touch Bionics (i-limb), Steeper (BeBionic), and Ottobock (Michelangelo) were tested and compared with the most effective single degree of freedom hand (Motion Control), as measured in a previous study. Results The overall performance of the Motion Control hand (94) was a significantly higher score than the Ottobock (89) (P > 0.05); the other two hands also had lower Overall scores (Touch Bionics, 81; Steeper, 83). When the individual grip scores are normalized against the Overall score, the Tips grips for all hands showed a much poorer value than the other grips (Steeper, 0.77; Touch Bionics, 0.73; and Ottobock, 0.82). Conclusions All three hands were more anthropomorphic in action and appearance than the earlier hands, but this did not result in greater function than the simpler fixed geometry hands.
The Correlation between Specific Biochemical Parameters, Radiological data and clinical sings for practicing laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the first 24 hours for acute cholecystitis. How safe it is?

The best timing of cholecystectomy on patients with acute gallbladder pathology is still unclearly defined. Some studies have reported that cholecystectomy during the index acute admission presents an increased morbidity rate, extended duration of stay and increased costs. The study below is aiming at finding the most accurate moment to practice the surgery when acute cholecystitis is confirmed. Consequently, 368 patients admitted to hospital from January 2013 to December 2015 with the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis (AC) who underwent cholecystectomy in the 2nd Department of Surgery, Emergency County Hospital, Timi�oara, Romania constituted the two lots. The cases were retrospectively identified, introduced into the database and the data were subsequently analyzed according to various parameters. The study results reveal that laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in the first 24 hours is safe procedure on the majority of the cases. Also, our findings sustain that emergency cholecystectomy can reduce the length of hospital stay, having similar rates of conversion to open surgery, complications and outcome compared with a delayed operation.
Une méthodologie d’apprentissage automatique pour l’aide à la décision en contexte d’industrialisation

L'evolution des techniques de fouilles de donnees, ainsi que l'accroissement des capacites de stockage et de calcul suscite, dans tous les domaines, un interet pour les donnees produites. En ce sens, le domaine manufacturier ne fait pas exception. Au vu de la quantite de donnees creees lors de l'ecriture des differents programmes a jouer sur les machines a commande numerique, l'application de techniques de fouille de donnees afin de capitaliser les connaissances d'industrialisation est consideree. Les travaux presentes dans ce papier concernent la structuration d'un systeme d'Industrialisation a Base de Connaissances, capable d'apporter a un programmeur une aide a la decision, a partir d'un corpus de documents relatifs a l'usinage de pieces deja realisees, et ainsi de l'assister dans la realisation d'une nouvelle piece. Le systeme utilise des techniques de fouille de donnees pour extraire cette information et la delivrer au programmeur.
Antenne optique tunnel pilotée électriquement : une source lumineuse large bande à l'échelle du nanomètre

Cette these a pour objectif la conception d'une source optique nanometrique, directive, et pilotee electriquement. Le dispositif repose sur l'integration d'une jonction tunnel emettrice en tant que point d'alimentation d'une antenne optique metallique. L'integration de ce nouveau type de composant a necessite une etude approfondie du mecanisme d'emission. Les travaux menes a l'aide de mesures optiques et electriques demontrent que le processus de conversion electron-photon peut etre decrit par la desexcitation radiative d'une population electronique portee a haute temperature par le passage a travers une barriere de potentiel. Le composant developpe est un dispositif d'interfacage entre une couche de controle electronique et une emission electromagnetique large bande. Nous avons complete nos travaux par une etude des proprietes de modulation du signal. Le temps de vie des electrons chauds etant tres court (ps), la source nanometrique ainsi developpee devrait permettre des taux de modulation nettement superieurs aux technologies s'appuyant sur les semi-conducteurs.
Integrated application of network traffic and intelligent driver models in the test laboratory analysis of autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles

The aim of the research is to develop a laboratory model-based diagnostic procedure that performs tests of the motion processes of autonomous electric vehicles in a particular city, on a transport network or track. The test consists of a laboratory based generation of the corresponding speed and steering angle signals, being in accordance with real driving and traffic conditions, which are also used in the test procedure. The procedure takes into account the real trajectory tracking process as well (Peter and Lakatos, 2017).
Issues in Contemporary Drug Delivery

D rug substances are administered to humans and animals in dosage forms that are not only suitable to the drug characteristics but also convenient and appealing to the consumer. These dosage forms in most instances include the drug sub­ stances and other pharmaceutical excipients that serve varied and specialized pharmaceutical functions. The pharmaceutical excipients can assist in critical functions such as solubilization, suspension, thickening, emulsification, dilution, stabilization, preservation, coloration, and others. Numerous dosage forms are currently available for treatment of an ailment. Medicinal substances can be prepared for administration by every conceivable route, and the appropriate pharmaceutical preparation is formulated to ensure maximum therapeutic response. Table 1 lists some of the various routes of drug adminis­ tration as well as the dosage forms most commonly em­ ployed for these routes. Each type of dosage form is unique in its physical and pharmaceutical characteristics. Additionally, these varied dosage forms provide a choice of drug delivery systems to prescribe. The physicochemical characteristics of the drug dosage forms impart different properties to the dosage unit. These properties are predominantly reflected in the nature and manner in which the drug (active princi­ pal) is released from the dosage form. The rate and ex­ tent of drug release from the dosage form following its
A low‐power, low‐data‐rate efficient ADC with hybrid exponential‐linear transfer curve for bio‐potential recording systems

A digital‐ramp hybrid exponential‐linear analog‐to‐digital converter (ADC) is presented in this paper, which is attractive, where a high dynamic range (DR) is required. It is especially applicable for sampling neural (bio‐potential) signals, as most of the neural signal data are concentrated on higher side of the amplitude range. By the exponential quantization function for low signal amplitudes, the background noise that disperses in lower amplitudes will be reduced. For higher signal amplitudes, the exponential function optionally switches to linear function at an adjustable voltage threshold, to reduce required number of bits for those high amplitudes, as well. As a result of this exponential‐linear hybrid operation, the total data rate and the power required for data transmission are decreased. A prototype 8‐bit counter‐based exponential ADC is designed and simulated in 0.18‐μm complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor (CMOS). The 20‐KS/s ADC achieves a DR of 66 dB, occupies 0.036 mm2 area, and consumes 6.4‐μW power from a 1.8‐V supply. Integral nonlinearity (INL) and differential nonlinearity (DNL) that are redefined to be compatible with nonlinear ADCs are 3.2 and 0.88 least significant bits (LSBs), respectively.