Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HOW RELIGIOUSNESS AFFECTS ALCOHOL USE AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS ?

OF THESIS DOES OPTIMISM EXPLAIN HOW RELIGIOUSNESS AFFECTS ALCOHOL USE AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS? Alcohol use, because of its many negative consequences, is the number one health problem facing college students. Because of this, researchers have looked for factors associated with reduced drinking. Religiousness is one such factor. Religiousness is a complex, multidimensional construct, and while it tends to be negatively associated with alcohol use, research progress has been slow due to the tendency of researchers to poorly operationalize this construct and to design studies that fail to go beyond the bivariate relationship of religiousness and alcohol use. In order to address these shortcomings, this study will assess two dimensions of religiousness, religious commitment/motivation and religious consequences, and will test a model, presented by Koenig et al., (2001), that postulates religiousness works through mental health in order to reduce alcohol use. More specifically, this study will test optimism as a possible mediator and moderator of the relationship between religiousness and alcohol use. This study used archival data from 260 (202 female and 58 male) Caucasian, Christian, undergraduate college students who completed a battery of surveys that included measures of religiousness, optimism, and alcohol use. A factor analysis was conducted on one measure of religiousness, the short form of the Faith Maturity Scale. Also, optimism was tested as both a mediator and a moderator for both dimensions of religiousness in predicting alcohol use. Findings indicated optimism is not a significant mediator of the religiousness-alcohol use relationship because optimism did not meet the preconditions for a mediator as it was not associated with alcohol use in this sample. Also, optimism was not a significant moderator of religious commitment/motivation, but it did moderate the relationship of religious consequences and alcohol use. Finally, the two dimensions of religiousness interacted in predicting alcohol use. While both dimensions of religiousness were negatively associated with alcohol use throughout the findings, gender was a significant moderator in all significant interactions. Several implications follow from this study. First, greater specificity is needed regarding Koenig et al.’s (2001) model specifically in regards to which third variables are associated with which health outcomes and to whom the model applies. Second, this study highlights the importance of a multidimensional assessment of religiousness. Finally, this study indicates specificity is needed regarding what religious interventions will be helpful for which genders.
Uphill from here: Sentiment patterns in videos from left- and right-wing YouTube news channels

News consumption exhibits an increasing shift towards online sources, which bring platforms such as YouTube more into focus. Thus, the distribution of politically loaded news is easier, receives more attention, but also raises the concern of forming isolated ideological communities. Understanding how such news is communicated and received is becoming increasingly important. To expand our understanding in this domain, we apply a linguistic temporal trajectory analysis to analyze sentiment patterns in English-language videos from news channels on YouTube. We examine transcripts from videos distributed through eight channels with pro-left and pro-right political leanings. Using unsupervised clustering, we identify seven different sentiment patterns in the transcripts. We found that the use of two sentiment patterns differed significantly depending on political leaning. Furthermore, we used predictive models to examine how different sentiment patterns relate to video popularity and if they differ depending on the channel’s political leaning. No clear relations between sentiment patterns and popularity were found. However, results indicate, that videos from pro-right news channels are more popular and that a negative sentiment further increases that popularity, when sentiments are averaged for each video.
Breaking boundaries : How gestures reveal conceptualization of boundary-crossing in Italian

It has long been considered a linguistic constraint for speakers of verb-framed languages to express boundary-crossing events with manner verb + path satellite constructions. Recent theoretical discussions suggest that Italian may overcome this constraint by expressing directed motion by means of manner verbs + complex locative PPs that can be interpreted as boundary-crossing. We ask whether these constructions are produced in natural speech and how co-speech gestures may help disentangle the ambiguous nature of such expressions. Results show that a small number of boundary-crossing events are expressed with manner verbs + complex PPs. Coexpressive gestures support the claim that these constructions are conceptualized as being boundary-crossing.
DESIGN OF SINGULARITY-ROBUST AND TASK-PRIORITY KINEMATIC CONTROLLERS IN THE UNIT DUAL QUATERNION SPACE

The great number of possible tasks that can be performed by a robotic manipulator has inspired the development of many different kinematic control strategies in the literature. These classic strategies often use minimal representations for the end-effector pose, leading to representation singularities. Alternatively, in strategies that use non-minimal representations, as homogeneous transformation matrices, it is usually difficult or counterintuitive to extract suitable parameters in order to control the robot. On the other hand, dual quaternions are a suitable representation to unify pose representation and control techniques, and hence this work reviews the design of singularity-robust and task-priority kinematic manipulator controllers and adapts these designs to the unit dual quaternion space. Further, the performance of the designed controllers is evaluated in a software framework composed of ROS, OpenRAVE and the custom DQ_robotics library. Keywords— robotic manipulator, kinematic control, dual quaternions, ROS, OpenRAVE
A Survey of Bacterial Pathogens Detected in Feces and Wool in Small Ruminants (Pilot Study)

Sheep feces can carry a high concentration of pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria, which potentially may contaminate wool as well as the shearers or wool manipulators through direct contact. A pilot study was carried out to determine the presence of bacterial DNA in feces and the degree of bacterial contamination in wool in two species of ruminants. Fourteen 2-month old lambs and 14 kids (7 male and 7 female), uncastrated, no twins, with their mothers, were randomly selected at weaning from a free flock grazing on naturalized pasture of Los Rios region, Chile. Fecal and wool samples were taken once and analyzed for genomic DNA of Salmonella typhimurium containing the virulence plasmid spv, Eschrichia coli serotype O157, Clostridium perfringens type C containing α toxin and Mycobacterium avium sp paratuberculosis containing the IS900 insertion element. The results showed that lamb and kids feces had higher contents of bacterial DNA for E. coli O157 and SalmT than lamb wool, although only one lamb showed these two bacteria on its wool. The bacterial species influenced the DNA expression for 16S in both, feces (P=0.05) and wool (P=0.0006) and for E. coli O157 and SalmT only in feces (P<0.0001). The sex was associated with E. coli detection in lambs feces (P<0.0007) and in kids feces (P<0.05). The values obtained for MAP IS900 and Cpa DNA contents, considering both species and sex, were undetectable. In conclusion, lamb and kids feces should potentially contaminate wool especially by Eschrichia coli O157 and Salmonella typhimurium, representing a potential health risk and public health concern, especially for shearers and wool handlers.
Integrating optimization and learning to prescribe interventions for tuberculosis patients

Creating impact in real-world settings requires agents which navigate the full pipeline from data, to predictive models, to decisions. These components are typically approached separately: a machine learning model is first trained via a measure of predictive accuracy, and then its predictions are used as input into an optimization algorithm which produces a decision. However, the loss function used to train the model may easily be misaligned with the end goal of the agent, which is to make the best decisions possible. We focus on combinatorial optimization problems and introduce a general framework for decision-focused learning, where the machine learning model is directly trained in conjunction with the optimization algorithm to produce high-quality decisions. Technically, our contribution is a means of integrating common classes of discrete optimization problems into deep learning or other predictive models, which are typically trained via gradient descent. The main idea is to use a continuous relaxation of the discrete problem to propagate gradients through the optimization procedure. We instantiate this framework for two broad classes of combinatorial problems: linear programs and submodular maximization. We then provide an application of such techniques to a real problem of societal importance: improving interventions in tuberculosis treatment. Using data on 17,000 Indian patients provided by the NGO Everwell, we consider the problem of predicting which patients are likely to miss doses of medication in the near future and optimizing interventions by health workers to avert such treatment failures. We find the decisionfocused learning improves the number of successful interventions by approximately 15% compared to standard machine learning approaches, demonstrating that aligning the goals of learning and decision making can yield substantial benefits in a socially critical application. 4
A Portable Sensor for Skin Bioimpedance Measurements

The costs of pressure injury treatments continue to rise with a steadily aging population and consistent pressure injury incidence rates. Evidence suggests that the bioimpedance of living tissues changes in response to continuous pressure loading and may be useful as an indicator for the onset of pressure injuries. Therefore, the development of a low-cost, accurate, and portable sensor capable of measuring the bioimpedance of human skin has practical significance in the development of pressure injury prevention devices. This paper reports the design and characterization of a system for measuring skin impedance based on the AD5933 impedance analyzer. The sensor was tested for accuracy via measurements of a simplified electrical equivalent skin model. Long duration measurement stability was assessed over 24 hours and skin measurement repeatability was performed on the volar forearm. The power consumption was measured both during idle and when transmitting data for each major component. The sensor demonstrated accuracies similar to those reported for other AFE’s used in conjunction with the AD5933. Additionally, the sensor shows good stability over long measurement durations as well as good repeatability when measuring the skin bioimpedance on the volar forearm. Power consumption was as expected and future suggestions for lowering the overall circuit power consumption and size are presented.
Propagation of toxic substances in the urban atmosphere : A complex network perspective

9 The accidental or malicious release of toxic substances in the urban atmo10 sphere is a major environmental and safety problem, especially in large cities. 11 Computational fluid dynamics codes and simplified modelling tools have been 12 used in the last decades to model pollutant dispersion in urban areas. These 13 studies have shown that propagation is strongly influenced by the layout of 14 buildings and, therefore, by the street topology of the city. This work presents 15 a novel approach to the study of toxic propagation within the urban canopy 16 based on the theory of complex networks. Following recent studies on the devel17 opment of urban dispersion models, the urban canopy is modelled as a network: 18 the streets and the street intersections represent respectively the links and the 19 nodes of the network. The direction and the weights of the links contain the ge20 ometric characteristics of the street canyons and their wind conditions. Within 21 this approach, propagation is modelled as a spreading process on networks and 22 a depth-first search algorithm is used to rapidly delimit the zone of influence of 23 a source node. This zone is the set of streets that are contaminated from the 24 source. As a case study, the proposed model is applied to the urban tissue of 25 the city of Lyon. The algorithm simulates a toxic release in all the nodes of 26 the network and identifies the number of people affected by each propagation 27 process. In this way, vulnerability maps of the city are constructed. Moreover, 28 various wind and concentration scenarios are easily implemented. These results 29 ∗Corresponding author Email address: sofia.fellini@polito.it (Sofia Fellini) Preprint submitted to Journal of LTEX Templates July 16, 2018 *Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript: manuscript_Fellini. pdf Click here to view linked References
A finite element model of coil insertion in cerebral aneurysms

Tomohiro Otani I, , Satoshi Ii I, , Toshiyuki Fujinaka II, , Masayuki Hirata II, , Tomoyoshi Shigematsu II, , Tomohiko Ozaki II, 6 and Shigeo Wada* I, 7 I Graduate school of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Machikaneyamacho 1-3, Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan II Graduate school of Medicine, Osaka University, Yamadaoka, 2-2, Suita, Osaka, Japan 1 t.ohtani@biomech.me.es.osaka-u.ac. jp 2 sii@me.es.osaka-u.ac. jp 3 fujinaka@nsurg.med.osaka-u.ac. jp 4 mhirata@nsurg.med.osaka-u.ac. jp 5 s.tomoyoshi@nsurg.med.osaka-u.ac. jp 6 t-ozaki@nsurg.med.osaka-u.ac. jp 7 shigeo@me.es.osaka-u.ac. jp
CLPsych2019 Shared Task: Predicting Suicide Risk Level from Reddit Posts on Multiple Forums

We aimed to predict an individual suicide risk level from longitudinal posts on Reddit discussion forums. Through participating in a shared task competition hosted by CLPsych2019, we received two annotated datasets: a training dataset with 496 users (31,553 posts) and a test dataset with 125 users (9610 posts). We submitted results from our three best-performing machine-learning models: SVM, Naïve Bayes, and an ensemble model. Each model provided a user’s suicide risk level in four categories, i.e., no risk, low risk, moderate risk, and severe risk. Among the three models, the ensemble model had the best macro-averaged F1 score 0.379 when tested on the holdout test dataset. The NB model had the best performance in two additional binary-classification tasks, i.e., no risk vs. flagged risk (any risk level other than no risk) with F1 score 0.836 and no or low risk vs. urgent risk (moderate or severe risk) with F1 score 0.736. We conclude that the NB model may serve as a tool for identifying users with flagged or urgent suicide risk based on longitudinal posts on Reddit discussion forums.
Performance Analysis of Isolated Zeta Converter FED Switched Reluctance Motor

ABSTRACT Generally all the motors in the nature are inductive in nature. By operating on the AC supply, due to that inductance the input power factor will be affected. This paper presents an isolated zeta converter fed switched reluctance motor (SRM) drive with power factor correction for low power applications. A single phase AC supply is given to the diode bridge rectifier followed by an isolated Zeta converter then frontend converter with switched reluctance motor (SRM) drive. To design the PFC isolated Zeta converter operated in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) for low power applications. For better current regulation, the input voltage is boosted without using any voltage are current sensors, we get both current and voltage wave forms are in phase. For many variable speed drives applications, the presented topology makes it a better choice due to power factor correction.
A Quantitative Comparison of 12-Lead Electrocardiograms and In Vitro Field Potentials of Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes

Objective: The human pluripotent stem cell -derived cardiomyocyte (hPSC-CMs) represent a novel biomedical technology that hold great promise for investigating cardiac differentiation and characteristics. The electrophysiological aspects of hPSC-CM can be studied using microelectrode arrays (MEAs). However, there are no reports about the relationship of electrophysiological characteristics between the human heart and hPSC-CMs. Methods: We analyzed 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECG) of healthy individuals with low basic heart rate and they all performed stress exercise test to increase heart rate and to match the beating rate of hPSC-CMs. All participants were on sinus rhythm. The field potential (FP) recordings of hPSC-CMs were obtained with MEAs. We compared FP duration (FPD) to QT time of ECG and the effect of beating frequency on repolarization time was analyzed. Results: The heart rate in ECG ranged from 39 to 120 beats per minute (bpm) and the beating hPSC-CMs clusters were selected to match this range. The uncorrected mean FPD value was 375 ms with a mean beating rate of 73 bpm, while the uncorrected mean QT was 397 ms with a mean heart rate 76 bpm. When FPD was corrected with Bazett’s formula, cFPD was 400 ms with standard deviation (SD) 64 ms. Volunteers had a mean QTc 432 ms with SD 39 ms. The duration of uncorrected and corrected QT and FPD were similar in ECG and MEA recordings in this beating range. Conclusions: Our results further validate hPSC-CM clusters as proper in vitro models of the native human heart and demonstrate the quantitative relationship of corresponding components in ECG and cardiac MEA recordings.
Informal settlements and social Inequality in fiji : evidence of serious policy gaps

The proliferation of informal or squatter settlements in Fiji reveals several issues that relate to social inequality. Issues such as economic, social and environmental conditions are inextricably linked to one another and they manifest inequalities that exist within, and between residents of the 200 informal settlements and other socio-economic groups in Fiji. Market oriented policies have increased the difficulties faced by low income earners. This paper seeks to highlight a number of social inequalities which have given rise to such settlements and their prevalence. Most prominent among the social inequalities that exist is the lack of access by residents of informal settlements to security of land tenure and adequate housing. Using a Rights based approach, the paper will examine income inequalities between households; land tenure inequality; spiraling property prices; and inequality in access to infrastructure, utilities and services (roads, electricity, and water supply, and health and education). The post-2006 government’s policies relating to squatter upgrade and relocation will be considered.
A NOVEL WAY TO SIMULATE THE BEHAVIOUR OF TIMBER COMPOSITE CONNECTION JOINTED THROW DOWELS

This paper presents a novel way to simulate, with the finite element method, the behaviour of timber composite connection jointed throw dowels. The main originality of this study is the demonstrated ability to avoid the detailed 3D finite element modelling of dowels using solid elements, which is costly ineffective. The authors developed recently a beam-to-solid approach (BTSA), where the dowels were modelled using one-dimensional beam element, while the assembled timber members were modelled using solid elements. The effectiveness of the numerical model developed was verified experimentally showing several advantages by comparison to the existing models in the literature.
TM IN VITRO ANTAGONISM OF RESIDENT RHIZOBACTERIA , BACILLUS AMYLOLIQUEFACIENS SUBSP . AMYLOLIQUEFACIENS AGAINST THE BACTERIAL BLIGHT PATHOGEN OF BT COTTON

Bacterial blight is one of the most important yield-reducing diseases of Bt cotton caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. malvacearum. The present work was undertaken to search for efficient biocontrol agents from resident microflora of soil as an alternative for chemical management. 114 resident rhizobacterial isolates were screened in vitro antagonistic activity against bacterial blight pathogen using cross plate technique. Among the tested rhizobacterial isolates, six isolates showed antagonistic activity. The highest antagonism was exhibited by rhizobacterial isolate RLS19. Based on the inhibitory activity, the rhizobacterial isolate RLS19 was selected for further investigation. The rhizobacterial isolate RLS19 was later identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. amyloliquefaciens by 16S rRNA sequence analysis. To study antagonistic mechanism, the rhizobacterial isolate was evaluated for production of non-volatile metabolites and volatile metabolites. B. amyloliquefaciens subsp. amyloliquefaciens was able to produce non-volatile diffusible metabolites and showed 32 mm zone of inhibition around the well. Also, the GC-MS analysis of cell free culture filtrate reveals the presence of three volatile metabolites i.e. Pyrrolo[1,2-a] pyrimidine-2,6-dione, hexahydro, 2,5-Piperazinedione, 3,6-bis(2-methylpropyl)and Acetamide, N-methyl-N-[4-(3-hydroxypyrrolidinyl)-2-butynyl]-. Based on these results Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subsp. amyloliquefaciens can be served as good microbial control candidate for control of bacterial blight pathogen of Bt cotton.
Alkaline Proteases from the Digestive Tract of Four Tropical Fishes Proteases Alcalinas do Trato Digestório de Quatro Espécies Tropicais Marinhas

The occurrence of digestive alkaline proteases was investigated in four tropical fishes: Crevalle Jack (Caranx hippos), Spotted Goatfish (Pseudupeneus maculatus); Parrotfish (Sparisoma sp.) and Traira (Hoplias malabaricus). The highest enzymatic activities were found in pyloric caeca of Crevalle Jack; Spotted Goatfish and Traira and in the intestine of Parrotfish. The enzyme activities presented an optimum temperature of 55oC and remained unaltered after 30min incubation at 45oC. This thermal property is similar to that reported for other tropical fish enzymes. The optimum pH range for the enzymatic activity was established as from 7.0 to 9.0, such a broad interval probably being due to the mixture of proteases. The use of specific substrates and inhibitors showed strong evidences that trypsin, chymotrypsin and leucine-aminopeptidase were present among the alkaline proteases of the digestive tract (pyloric caeca and intestine) of these species. Large amounts of viscera are produced by processing these fishes and are discarded. Therefore, these wastes could represent an alternative source for obtaining these important proteases. Rodrigo Barboza ALENCAR1,2 Michelle Miranda BIONDI2 Patrícia Maria Guedes PAIVA1 Vera Lúcia Almeida VIEIRA2 Luiz Bezerra CARVALHO JUNIOR1 Ranilson de Souza BEZERRA1,2
COMPUTER MODELING OF OPERATION OF THE CONDUCTIVE MHD CENTRIFUGAL PUMP

Abstract. The mathematical model of an MHD centrifugal conductive pump (CCP) is developed, which allows the flow of molten metal in the MHD channel and the output pressure to be calculated as a function of the basic determining major parameters: flow rate, current strength, and magnetic induction. The development and testing of the mathematical model were based on the experimental results obtained for the CCP working model. Determination of friction forces effect in scope of initial system of the MGD-equations is carried out on the basis of the known square-law of the drag for turbulent flow in a pipe, generalized on a case of two-dimensional flows in the channel. On base of the matching of computational and experimental values of pressure at exit of conductive centrifugal pump for different operating modes, dependences of coefficient of drag depending on the determining major parameters were got. The calculations showed that the dependences obtained have universal enough character. The implementation of this model in a computer code can be used to design pumps of this type and to control their operation in the metallurgical process technology.