Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of exercise training on vascular function in active and inactive vascular beds

Introduction: Evidence exists that regular aerobic exercise benefits vascular health. This beneficial effect is potentially related to repeated increases in the flow of blood across endothelial cells during exercise. We hypothesised that any exercise effect on endothelial dependent dilation is localised to vascular beds in the exercised limb. An additional objective was to determine the effects of exercise training on circulating biomarkers of endothelial activation, including soluble adhesion molecules and cellderived microparticles. Methods: Nine overweight, sedentary men (age 34 ± 4 y (mean ± SD) BMI 29.8 ± 4.3 kg.m-2, VO & 2peak 33.2 ± 4.6 ml.min-1.kg-1, systolic blood pressure 131.8 ± 8.6 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure 82.6 ± 4.6 mmHg) participated in the study. All volunteers underwent a two-week exercise intervention, which comprised of two-legged cycleergometry exercise (30-45 min at 70% VO & 2peak for 5 d of each week) combined with one arm handgrip exercise (one contraction every 2 s at 40% maximum voluntary contraction for half of each exercise session). Allocation of dominant and nondominant arm to handgrip training or control condition was counterbalanced. The control arm remained perfectly still during exercise. Results: Preliminary work indicated the medium term coefficient of variation for various indices of reactive hyperaemia to be between 10 and 15%. Peak reactive hyperaemia increased in both the handgrip and control arms following training (p<0.05) but the increase in the handgrip-trained arm was considerably greater (48 ± 12% vs. 16 ± 8%, p<0.05 for interaction). The duration of reactive hyperaemia and the total reactive hyperaemia increased in the handgrip-trained arm (p<0.05) but was unchanged in the control arm. With the exception of an increase in soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule, training did not influence soluble adhesion molecules or cell derived microparticle counts. Conclusions: Short-term exercise training increases vascular function in active vascular beds with little or no change in inactive beds, in sedentary overweight men. Biomarkers of endothelial activation are largely unaffected by short-term exercise training.
Investigation on the Impact of Surface and Ground Water Use for Irrigation on Soil Salinity Development and Its Effect on Plant Productivity In the Central Rift Valley Region around Lake Ziway

Investigation on the Impact of Surface and Ground water use on Soil Salinity Development and Its Effect on plant productivity in the Central Rift Valley Region around Lake Ziway Danait Hadera Addis Ababa University, 2015 Salinization affects many irrigated areas mainly due to the use of brackish water in arid and semi-arid areas. This study was conducted in north western part of Lake Ziway, Adami Tulu Jido Kombolcha Wereda in the Central Rift Valley region of Ethiopia. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of ground and surface water use on soluble salt rise in soil and its effect on plant yield and biomass. Soil and water samples were systematically collected from the study site. Soil samples were collected from the surface water irrigated fields and ground water irrigated fields for Laboratory analysis and glass house experiment. Ground and Surface water samples were also collected for glass house experiment. The ground water was found to be slightly saline having 0.98 ds/m Electrical Conductivity whereas surface water was found to be non-saline having 0.61 ds/m. The ground water irrigated soils from the study site had an Electrical Conductivity of 2.57 ds/m while the surface water irrigated soils had an Electrical Conductivity of 1.2 ds/m. Glass house experiment was carried out to observe the impact of use of slightly saline ground water on soluble salt accumulation in soil and its effect on plant growth and biomass. The soils were subjected to Laboratory analysis once the glass house experiment was completed to investigate the impact of ground water use leading to soluble salt rise in the soil. Results showed that the ground water treated soils were found to have less Electrical Conductivity of 1.27 ds/m than that of the surface water treated soils 1.37 ds/m. The ground water irrigated soils were not significantly different from the surface water irrigated soils in Electrical Conductivity level. There was no significant variation between surface and ground water irrigated plants in plant growth parameters (P < 0.05). However, the yield was found to be affected by the salinity level as measured by electrical conductivity but no correlation was observed in the root biomass. Water salinity also had no significant effect on plant fruit yield, shoot and root biomass. In conclusion, the ground water was found to be slightly saline from the ten electrical conductivity measurements taken and soil analysis results before experiment have shown a moderately low salinity level from the laboratory analysis. This could have resulted from irrigation water mismanagement. Therefore, there is a need to regulate irrigation water use in the study area.
Nursing faculty experiences and perceptions of the implementation process to a learner -centered teaching philosophy: A case study

s International, 39, 7111a. Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (2 ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Cross, K. P. (1993). Improving the quality of instruction. In A. Levine (Ed.), Higher learning in America, Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press. Crotty, M. (1993). The influence of educational theory on the development of nursing training to education in the United Kingdom. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 18(10), 1645-50. Dalley, K. (2004). Evidence for learning-centered nursing programs: Putting students first. Southern Utah University. Retrieved March 20,2008 from http://www.acestar. uthscsa.edu/institute/su06/docunients/Dalley 000.pdf Derksen, L. , & Gartell, J. (1993). The social context of recycling. American Sociological Review, 58,434-442. Dewey, J. (1963). Experience and education (Collier 1 ed.). New York: Collier Books. Diekelmann, N. (2002). 'Too much content. ", epistemologies' grasp and nursing education. Journal of Nursing Education, 41,469-470. Diekelmann, N. , & Smythe, E. (2004). Covering content and the additive curriculum: How can I use my time with students to best help them learn what they need to know? Journal of Nursing Education, 43, 341-344. Dingwall, R. , Rafferty, A. M. , & Webster, C. (1988). An introduction to the social history of nursing. London: Routledge Publishers. Donley, R. , & Flaherty, M. J. (2002). Revisiting the American Nurses Associations's first position on education for nurses. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Retrieved November 5, 2006 from http://nursingworld.org/oiin/topic 18/tpc 18 1 Doyle, T. (2008). Helping students learn in a learner-centered environment: A guide to facilitating learning in higher education. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC. Eisler, D. (2004). A vision for Ferris and its future. Retrieved January 30, 2009 from Ferris State University Web site: http://www.ferris. edu/htmls/administration/president/speeches/vision2004.pdf Eisler, D. (2005). Ferris State University: Past, present, and future. Retrieved January 30,2009 from Ferris State University Web site: http://www.ferris. edu/htmls/administration/president/speeches/ FoundersDay090105.pdf Ely, D. P. (1990). Conditions that facilitate the implementation of educational technology innovations. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 25(2), 272-283. Ely, D. P. (1999) New perspectives on the implementation of educational technology innovations. Paper delivered at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Annual Conference, Houston, TX, Feb.,
A General Pattern of Town Streets on Map Spaces

This paper presents a town street model which is a natural model to describe general borders of residential sections/blocks in town streets, and discusses the features of the model. This paper takes the typical residential blocks in Tokyo, presents the features of the blocks, and reproduces future general block borders which are taking into the updates in temporal borders based on Schelling model. We employ two features in this paper: one is the lengths of borders in sections/blocks, and the other is the angles between two borders in sections/blocks, where the boarders are represented by the piecewise linear. Then, we show that we can find the human features in the general town street patterns based on a boundary effect and a fluctuation.
Chi-square tests with one degree of freedom

Abstract A published method for analyzing multiple 2×2 contingency tables arising in retrospective studies of disease is extended in application and form. Extensions of application include comparisons of age-adjusted death rates, life-table analyses, comparisons of two sets of quantal dosage-response data, and miscellaneous laboratory applications as appropriate. Extensions in form involve considering multiple contingency tables with arbitrarily many rows and/or columns, where rows and columns are orderable, and may even be on a continuous scale. The assignment of some score for each row or column is essential to use of the method. With scores assigned, a deviation of the sum of cross products from expectation, and its variance conditioned on all marginal totals, are computed for each table and a chi square is determined corresponding to the grand total of the deviations. For various specific instances and for various scoring procedures, the procedure extends or is equivalent to the asymptotic form of man.
Review of the Project of Quantitative Remote Sensing of Major Factors for Spatial-Temporal Heterogeneity on the Land Surface

The researches of the 973 project(G2000077900) are reviewed,and scientific background,general scientific strategy,research content and scientific objective are introduced.Through five years' hard work,series achievements have been acquired on theories of scale effects and scale transform,quantitative remote sensing inversion based on prior knowledge,and synchronous in-situ,simulation experiments.Application models between remote sensing and agriculture,ecology etc.,are successfully linked.Successful applications are performed in accurate agriculture,ecology construction of north-west China,etc.
Indicators for Highway Flood Hazard Environmental Regionalization in Chongqing City

Through investigation and analysis,the importance of environmental regionalization for natural hazard prevention and treatment has been revealed.Based on the work,principles for highway flood hazard environmental regionalization,such as regional differentiation,similarity,integration of comprehensive analysis,dominant factors,and practicability,are put forward.According to the principles,the index system for highway flood hazard environmental regionalization in Chongqing City is studied systematically.Based on the causes of highway flood hazard,a two stage index system is established by using Delfei method.The weight of each indicator is determined in the light of its relation with highway flood hazard by using analytic hierarchy process.The classification system of the secondary indicator including 5 grades is set up based on the outcome of in-situ investigation and analysis of historical data.The value of the secondary indicator for each grade is also determined by using Delfei method and thus the methodology for calculating synthetically the value of highway flood hazard environmental regionalization is formed.The classification and corresponding criterion for highway flood hazard environmental regionalization are brought forward subsequently,which provide a basis for environmental regionalization work.
THE OBJECT-ORIENTED METHOD FOR WETLAND INFORMATION EXTRACTION

This paper deals with the utilization of the object-oriented method to extract wetland information from the Landsat ETM image.The test area is located in the source area of the Yellow River,and the wetland information extracted includes that of swamps and lakes.The object-oriented method consists of four steps,i.e.,image segmentation,class hierarchy building,feature choice and classification,and precision evaluation.The test results show that the object-oriented method can effectively extract wetland information with smooth borders and avoid the pepper shape effect.With some adjustment the method can be widely applied to other areas.It can raise the automation degree of information extraction,reduce artificial workload and improve working efficiency.
Assessing the impact of parental mental health on child physical health : validation of a measure of carer burden within carers of children with chronic kidney disease

Section A provides an overview of the literature investigating the relationship between parental mental health and child physical health within populations of children with chronic childhood illness. Evidence for whether this relationship definitively exists, as well as the potential pathways through which this relationship could operate, is evaluated. Carers of children with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) can experience burden and psychological distress, which has been shown to impact on the child's physical health. Section B is an empirical study aiming to assess the validity and reliability of the Paediatric Renal Carer Burden Scale (PR-CBS) , a 51 item psychometric measure designed to assess carer burden in carers of children with CKD. Factor analysis indicated retention of 21 items representing 5 factors; Illness worries (8 items), Impact on self (5 items), Impact on child (3 items), Responsibility (3 items) and Institutional burden (2 items). Together they explain 53% of the total variance. Internal reliability for both the full scale and sub-scales were acceptable. Convergent validity was demonstrated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Caregiver Strain Questionnaire and the scale was reported by respondents as being acceptable to complete. The PR-CBS has been shown to be a valid and reliable scale and as such is a clinically relevant tool with which to identify burdened carers and provide additional psycho-social support so as to ensure best outcomes for both carer and child. Section C provides a critical evaluation of the research process and reflections from the researcher on learning throughout the process of the study as well as clinical implications and future research directions.
Developing self-management skills in persons with spina bifida through mHealth applications: Design and clinical efficacy

The medical complexity of spina bifida results in equally complex self-care regimes that many persons with spina bifida (SB) struggle to effectively manage and maintain. Lack of consistent follow-through of self-care routines and health care recommendations, often results in the development of secondary conditions, impacting morbidity and mortality in this population. This dissertation provides a description of the development and initial clinical testing of an innovative mHealth system to help support adults with SB and improve self-management skills. The clinical needs and functional abilities of the SB population were integrated into a mHealh system called iMHere (Interactive Mobile Health and rehabilitation). The iMHere system consists of software including a suite of smartphone apps specifically designed for persons with SB, a clinician portal, and a communication system connecting the two. The three primary phases of this study are 1) development, 2) usability testing and 3) clinical application. Due to the nature of development, feedback and improvements to the system continued throughout a year-long randomized control trial (N=26), conducted to determine the clinical efficacy of the system. Usability testing for this project was intensive and occurred in a step-wise manner. Detailed data was collected to revise and improve upon the design and functionality of the smartphone apps. Results for the first six months of the clinical study are also shared comparing self-management outcomes for the intervention group using the iMHere system versus the control group receiving traditional care through the UPMC Adult SB clinic. Significance was found in looking at time x group (p = .006). In particular, improvement in self-management skills as assessed by the AMIS-II are noted in the intervention group participants from three months to six months. A moderate effect size of 0.46 was found in the association of group and time as calculated with change scores. Limitations of the clinical study are discussed at length as well as potential future research opportunities including expanding usage of the iMHere system to other populations with chronic conditions and application of the intervention during the transition years (14-21 years).
Preventing obesity in school children in the state of Qatar

Introduction: Obesity has been recognized as a major public health problem worldwide that requires preventive action. Prevention is best targeted at children, there is lack of quantitative and qualitative research on obesity prevention in children and most have been conducted in western countries. The aim of this study is to describe the prevalence of obesity among 6-7 years old school children, investigate contributing factors and identify potential components for an intervention programme to prevent obesity amongst children in the State of Qatar. Methods The study consisted of two distinct parts: cross sectional survey and focus groups with a range of stakeholders. Results: Whilst there was a high prevalence of overweight and obesity 16%, underweight was also prevalent (21.7%). The results of the focus group discussions indicate that causes of childhood obesity are multifactorial, and a multi-sector approach to prevention would be acceptable. Some of the important barriers that need to be considered in developing interventions were highlighted. Conclusion: In Qatar there is coexistence of underweight and obesity in primary school children. Qualitative results suggest that a multi-sector approach to prevention would be acceptable toward dietary and physical activity, and suggested potential components for an intervention programme in preventing obesity amongst children in the State of Qatar.
Spatial distribution characteristics of vegetation phenology in northern Tibetan Plateau based on MODIS enhanced vegetation index

In this paper,the 2001-2010 time-series TERRA/MODIS EVI dataset of northern Tibetan Plateau was reconstructed by asymmetric Guassian function fitting method,and the yearly key vegetation phenological parameters including the maximum EVI(EVImax) in growth season,growth season length,green-up date, and wilting date of typical grassland plants in the region in 2001-2010 were extracted with dynamic threshold method.On these bases,the spatial distribution patterns of the vegetation phenology in northern Tibetan Plateau were analyzed.For the typical grassland plants in the region,their EVImax in growth season,growth season length,and green-up date all showed the spatial distribution of horizontal transition from southeast to northwest and vertical zonation in southeastern Nagqu mountain topography,and the three phenological parameters all decreased in the order of mixed agriculture-forestry zone forest and shrub meadow steppe desert steppe.As for the wilting date,it was obviously later in mixed agriculture-forestry zone than in other vegetation cover types.Considering for different climatic zones,the EVImax in growth season,growth season length,and green-up date all performed the order of sub-humid area semi-arid zone arid zone.Besides,with the increase of altitude,the EVImax in growth season became smaller,growth season length became shorter,and green-up date postponed.
STUDY ON UNLOADING EFFECT AND WIDTH OF UNLOADING ZONES IN EXCAVATING OF SOIL-LIKE MATERIAL SLOPES

The occurring mechanism of unloading crannies during excavating soil-like material slopes is analyzed. It is shown that the excavation changes stress in the soil or rock masses,and during the excavation,an extra lateral stress in the direction to the slope surface will act on the slopes. The generation of new crannies and the splaying of existing crannies are attributed to the extra stress. The characteristics of unloading crannies and the influencing factors of their displacements are summarized through centrifugal tests in test chamber about the excavation in silt,clay,and completely weathered mudstone. From the tests,it is concluded that deformations of the existing crannies will increase with the accretion of its obliquity,depth and approaching to unloaded surface. The relations of stretch and obliquity of cranny,deformation modulus and angle to unloading direction of cranny are put forward The method of determining the width of unloading zones is presented for practical engineering projects,and feasibility of the method is proved through an application in the bank of Yangtze River in Chongqing City.
Post-treatment adjustment and behavior change among women with breast cancer

Anecdotal and qualitative evidence suggests that women may experience disrupted adjustment during the months following the end of adjuvant breast cancer treatment, in part due to the loss of a “safety net” associated with regular treatment coupled with uncertainty regarding cancer status. The present study examined distress and quality of life, as well as behavioral and cognitive predictors of adjustment, during the three months following adjuvant treatment for breast cancer. Participants were 89 women with breast cancer who completed measures of distress, quality of life, health behavior, behavior changes, and common-sense beliefs about cancer at three time points: toward the end of adjuvant treatment, 3 weeks following the end of treatment, and 3 months post-treatment. Findings indicated that breast cancer survivors were remarkably well-adjusted following treatment: participants reported low levels of anxiety and depression and good health-related quality of life. Nonetheless, women acknowledged significant concerns about ongoing physical symptoms, potential recurrence, and the process of returning to or building a “new normal. ” Results further suggested that behavior changes were quite common after the end of treatment, particularly positive changes in health practices. Although good health practices were associated with better adjustment, making positive changes in the same behaviors often predicted greater distress. Women’s common-sense beliefs about breast cancer provided insight into whether women decided to make behavior changes and what behaviors they decided to change. Women who perceived greater control over their cancer, saw their cancer as an acute rather than chronic condition, and attributed cancer to controllable causes or believed that behavioral or psychological factors could prevent recurrence were more
Distributed formation control with time and connectivity constraints

In this paper, we propose a distributed control law for non-holonomic vehicles that guarantees to achieve the desired formation and location before a given deadline, while maintaining the connectivity of the group. The group is commanded by a a selected subset of the agents, which know the location of the desired objective, while the rest of the vehicles only have information about their relative desired positions respect their set of neighbors. The analytical results are illustrated with a simulation example.