Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sexual Experience of Iranian Women with Cancer: A Qualitative Content Analysis

Background: Cancer diagnosis and treatments cause sexual dysfunction in patients. Sexual function is one of the most important aspects of quality of life. However, in previous studies, qualitative methods have been less accentuated to explore in to the sexual experiences and feelings of cancer patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate the experiences of Iranian women affected with cancer about their sexual quality of life. Method: A qualitative descriptive study with a conventional content analysis approach was performed on a targeted sample of 28 Iranian women with cancer from October 2018 to February 2020. Data were collected through face to face and in depth semi structured interviews until data saturation was attained. Results: Data analysis revealed four themes and eleven categories. The emerged themes were entitled: “Changing sexual capacity”, “physical consequences”, “sexual self-sacrifice” and “Changing woman’s identity”. Conclusion: Women with cancer experience many sexual problems such as reduced orgasm, lack of pleasure, and pain during sex. Due to the taboo of sexual issues, especially for women, many of them are embarrassed to ask their questions to the medical staff and for this reason, their problems will remain unresolved. The support of their spouses and the social can play an important role in facilitating coping. Health care providers have an important role in assessing and improving patients' quality of life. It is recommended to adopt strategies for appropriate interventions, education and counseling to improve sexual quality of life in cancer patients.
The Driving Force of ICT Investment and Application in Supply Chain Management: an Organizational Perspective

— It is widely accepted that the effect of information and communication technologies (ICT) on supply chain (SC) management and supply chain performance is a vital research area. However, what factors make companies do ICT investment and application is less investigated. This paper explores two different driving mechanism underlying SC performance: the relational and the transaction cost vie, furthermore this paper postulates that different country settings might be influential for the driving factors. By using Chinese and Dutch data, the analysis of the empirical data shows some support for the effect of different country settings and the applicability of different theoretical lenses in those settings.
Estimating non-market values of fruit tree diversity in the Czech Republic

Inspired by John Krutilla’s landmark essay, “Conservation Reconsidered,” we investigate the non-use values of fruit tree diversity in the Czech Republic by using stated preference methods to estimate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) of a representative sample of the Czech public for different components of the total economic value of this historic Czech resource. We find significant and positive estimates for all types of value in both samples, with respondents from the Czech representative sample WTP the most for insurance value (with a mean value of $10 per respondent) and respondents from the S. Moravian sample WTP the most for option value (with a mean value of $11 per respondent). The mean WTP for existence and bequest value were found to be lower in both samples (around $7 to $8 per respondent) and statistically lower than the estimate for insurance value (with option value only being found to be statistically higher than the estimate for bequest value). In addition, we find large differences in WTP due to socioeconomic characteristics. For example, we find that those who believe it is important to adapt the Czech agriculture sector to climate change were WTP much more for the insurance and existence values stemming from conserving Czech fruit tree diversity, while preferring palenka (Czech fruit brandy) to other kinds of alcohol was highly significant in predicting WTP for option and bequest value value (and retired individuals were found to have a higher WTP for bequest value but a lower WTP for option value). This analysis is of interest both for the local insights it provides into the different values of fruit tree diversity for Czechs, and also as a broader example of how individuals value different non-use values related to crop diversity. Economists have typically focused on estimating the use value of crop diversity, though the conservation of genetic resources is likely to be associated with the provision of non-use values as well. Thus, this study contributes to a quite limited literature on the non-use values of agrobiodiversity, and provides specific estimates of existence, bequest, insurance and option values in the case of traditional Czech fruit tree diversity.
Clinical Signifi cance of Reticulocyte Hemoglobin Content in the Diagnosis of Iron Defi ciency Anemia Demir Eksikliği Anemisi Tanisinda Retikülosit Hemoglobin İçeriğinin Klinik Önemi

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of reticulocyte hemoglobin content (CHr) in the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and to compare it with other conventional iron parameters. Materials and Methods: A total of 32 female patients with IDA (serum hemoglobin 120 g/L and serum ferritin <20 ng/mL) were enrolled. Results: CHr was 24.95±3.92 pg in female patients with IDA and 29.93±2.96 pg in female patients with iron deficiency. CHr showed a significant positive correlation with hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, serum iron, and transferrin saturation and a significant negative correlation with transferrin and total iron-binding capacity. The cut-off value of CHr for detecting IDA was 29 pg. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that CHr is a useful parameter that can be confidently used in the diagnosis of IDA, and a CHr cut-off value of 29 pg predicts IDA.
Eccentric Exercises for Achilles Tendinopathy: Predicting Treatment Outcomes and selecting those who will benefit

Purpose: To identify patients who are unlikely to response to Eccentric Exercises (EE) for Achilles tendinopathy. Methods: The prognostic model utilised data from 158 Achilles tendinopathy patients from an NHS heel pain clinic who completed a 12 week EE program. Multivariable logistic regression was used to develop the model and identify the significant predictors of outcome of treatment. The model’s accuracy and predictive capabilities were assessed for use in the clinical setting. Results: Only 34% of patients achieved treatment success with eccentric exercises. Pre-intervention patient-reported measurements of severity (VAS and VISA-A) were most highly correlated with treatment outcome. The probability of success ranged from 10% (in all patients) to 75% in patients with a low VAS score (20 or less). The final model accounted for the capability for patients to complete EE. Conclusion: A prediction model identified patients least likely to benefit from eccentric exercises, a common treatment for Achilles tendinopathy.More severe symptoms were associated with a lower chance of success.The process facilitates clinical management by enabling direct referral to subsequent, potentially more effective treatments thereby reducing the time and cost of overall treatment. INTRODUCTION
User interface management systems (UMIS) in chemistry

Le developpement de logiciels pour microordinateurs permettant une recherche en differe, notamment dans le domaine de l'information chimique est un atout pour la recherche en ligne. Les caracteristiques propres a l'information chimique ont ete prises en charge par un certain nombre de logiciels qui sont cites
GLAD

Traditional anomaly detection on social media mostly focuses on individual point anomalies while anomalous phenomena usually occur in groups. Therefore, it is valuable to study the collective behavior of individuals and detect group anomalies. Existing group anomaly detection approaches rely on the assumption that the groups are known, which can hardly be true in real world social media applications. In this article, we take a generative approach by proposing a hierarchical Bayes model: Group Latent Anomaly Detection (GLAD) model. GLAD takes both pairwise and point-wise data as input, automatically infers the groups and detects group anomalies simultaneously. To account for the dynamic properties of the social media data, we further generalize GLAD to its dynamic extension d-GLAD. We conduct extensive experiments to evaluate our models on both synthetic and real world datasets. The empirical results demonstrate that our approach is effective and robust in discovering latent groups and detecting group anomalies.
No More Hand-Tuning Rewards: Masked Constrained Policy Optimization for Safe Reinforcement Learning

In safe Reinforcement Learning (RL), the agent attempts to find policies which maximize the expectation of accumulated rewards and guarantee its safety to remain above a given threshold. Hence, it is straightforward to formalize safe RL problems by both a reward function and a safety constraint. We define safety as the probability of survival in environments where taking risky actions could lead to early termination of the task. Although the optimization problem is already constrained by a safety threshold, reward signals related to unsafe terminal states influence the original maximization objective of the task. Selecting the appropriate value of these signals is often a time consuming and challenging reward engineering task, which requires expert knowledge of the domain. This paper presents a safe RL algorithm, called Masked Constrained Policy Optimization (MCPO), in which the learning process is constrained by safety and excludes the unsafe reward signals. We develop MCPO as an extension of gradient-based policy search methods, in which the updates of the policy and the expected reward models are masked. Our method benefits from having a high probability of satisfying the given constraints for every policy in the learning process. We validate the proposed algorithm in two continuous tasks. Our findings prove the proposed algorithm is able to neglect unsafe reward signals, and thereby resolving the desired safety-performance trade-off without having the need for hand-tuning rewards.
A Comparative Study of Machine Learning Models for Spreading Factor Selection in LoRa Networks

Low power wide area networks (LPWAN) technologies offer reasonably priced connectivity to a large number of low-power devices spread over great geographical ranges. Long range (LoRa) is a LPWAN technology that empowers energy-efficient communication. In LoRaWAN networks, collisions are strongly correlated with spreading factor (SF) assignment of end-nodes which affects network performance. In this work, SF assignment using machine learning models in simulation environment is presented. This work examines three approaches for the selection of the SF during LoRa transmissions: 1) random SF assignment, 2) adaptive data rate (ADR), and 3) SF selection through machine learning (ML). The main target is to study and determine the most efficient approach as well as to investigate the benefits of using ML techniques in the context of LoRa networks. In this research, a library that enables the communication between ML libraries and OMNeT++ simulator was created. The performance of the approaches is evaluated for different scenarios using the delivery ratio and energy consumption metrics.
First record of a seed shrimp (Ostracoda: Podocopida) Cypretta campechensis (Cyprididae) in a perennial lake (Coimbatore, India): Its molecular identification

This study represents diversity of zooplankton species in a perennial freshwater lake located in Singanallur (Lat. 10.59° N and Long. 77.88° E) at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India for a period of one year (June, 2017-May, 2018). Fifty three zooplankton species including rotifera-18, cladocera-10, copepoda-13 and ostracoda-12 were observed. The first record of an ostracoda species Cypretta campechensis was observed during summer. This species was recognized according to its morphological characteristics of anterior view, posterior view, dorsal margin, lateral view (triangular shape), maxillular palp, posterior seta, posterior claw, uropodal ramus and hemipenis. This was mass cultured in mixed phytoplankton as feed. The molecular identification was done via analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (mt-COI). The gene was amplified with universal primers (LCO1490 and HCO2198), sequenced and authenticated with NCBI GenBank (MN641913). The BLAST showed 100% similarity with C. campechensis of Mexico (MF076727). The sequence showed more number of identical amino acid residues than that of variable amino acid sites. The noticed higher AT biases (62.4-63.0%) than GC biases (36.1-37.5%) indicated that lower abundance of nuclear copies of mt-DNA (NUMTs) genes. The divergence rate was very low between the subjected and retrieved species (0.000-0.290%). The endemism of C. campechensis can be used as a bio-indicator of water pollution status of this lake and may afford an opening to assess its importance in aquaculture production.
Effects of Financial Integration on Financial Devel opment and Economic Performance of the SACU Countries

This paper examines the effects of financial integration on financial development and economic performance of the SACU countries within a country-specific framework. The paper employs four measures of financial integration, two measures of financial development and real per capita output and annual time series from 1970 to 2004 for the analysis. The econometric analyses were carried out using the Johansen cointegration and error correction modelling techniques. The effects of financial integration were mixed, but what is apparent is that countries that are more integrated to South Africa produce more discernible evidence of positive effects of financial integration. The paper attributes the weak gains from the official integration arrangement to weak institutional and structural impediments in the countries. JEL Classification: F36, N17
Lessons from the Vaiont landslide

The landslide of the northern flank of Monte Toc that slid into the newly-constructed Vaiont reservoir in northern Italy in 1963 continues to attract considerable attention from earth scientists and geotechnical engineers trying to explain its occurrence and behaviour, not least because of the speed of the landslide displacement and its tragic consequences. There are two major areas of difficulty in understanding the landslide mechanics: 1. A scientific consensus that assumes the 1963 failure was a reactivation of an ancient landslide with a ‘chair’-shaped failure surface; and 2. The very limited site and movement data that were obtained during the three years leading up to the failure. These broad issues make it very difficult to identify other possible causal factors such as the degree of influence of the newly impounded reservoir on the stability of the mountain slope. The landslide can now be explained, and causal factors assessed, because it is now known that the ‘chair’ shape does not exist. This paper identifies and briefly examines the separate elements that constitute the two areas of difficulty in order to assess other possible causal factors in the occurrence of the landslide, given what is now known about the landslide and its geomorphological, geological and geotechnical characteristics. New information regarding the potential role of rainfall and the influence of the failure surface shape on stability analysis results are presented to underpin some of these assessments. The evidence seems to suggest that the landslide was probably inevitable, though not necessarily in 1963 immediately following the construction of the Vaiont dam and partial filling of the reservoir. Quantitative Risk Analysis at the time, had the techniques been available, would most probably have failed to predict the magnitude of the wave, especially in the light of the physical modelling that predicted a much lesser problem. Without that wave height, the full extent of the danger zone from a landslide into the reservoir would also have been under-predicted. The lessons for engineering are mostly well-known, including the need to investigate subsurface conditions to verify hypotheses based on surface observations alone and to thoroughly explore any questions or issues of concern raised at the design or indeed (early) construction stages of a project. A key lesson of science is also reinforced, i.e. to critically challenge prior ‘knowledge’ rather than to assume that what is generally regarded as being correct really is correct. SCG-XIII INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON LANDSLIDES. CARTAGENA, COLOMBIAJUNE 15th-19th-2020
Investigating the Validity of Methods Used to Adjust for Multiple Comparisons in Educational Data Mining

Research studies in Educational Data Mining (EDM) often involve several variables related to student learning activities. As such, it may be necessary to run multiple statistical tests simultaneously, thereby leading to the problem of multiple comparisons. The Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) procedure is commonly used in EDM research to address this issue, and it has proven to be a useful method. However, the main limitation of the procedure is that it requires the statistical tests to either be independent or satisfy certain dependency conditions. The Benjamini-Yekutieli (BY) procedure is an alternative that can be applied under arbitrary dependence assumptions, but this extra ﬂexibility comes with a loss of statistical power; hence, the BH procedure is preferred whenever it can be properly applied. Based on these considerations, in this work we employ simulation studies to assess the validity of the BH procedure in two scenarios common to EDM research. The ﬁrst scenario considers the evaluation and comparison of diﬀerent classiﬁcation models— such an analysis might occur, for instance, during the model tuning and validation stage of a study. Then, in the second scenario we look at experiments involving the study of state transitions in sequential data, examples of which occur in aﬀect dynamics research. We ﬁnd that the BH procedure performs as expected when used with simulated classiﬁcation model predictions; however, when applied to simulated sequential data, it does not perform at the expected level. Based on these results, as well as previous studies evaluating the BH and BY methods, we discuss the appropriate usage of these procedures for the scenarios under examination.
Construction of a Multi-purpose Spherical Microphone Array

Ambisonics is a surround sound technique developed in the 1970s by Michael Gerzon and colleagues at the Mathematical Institute of Oxford. Ambisonics is often criticized for its small sweet spot area. This can be improved by increasing the order of the Ambisonic microphone through the use of higher-order spherical harmonics. This project consists of the physical construction of a spherical microphone containing several capsules placed on its surface and a description of how it can be used to generate virtual microphones for multi-channel playback and higherorder Ambisonics recording and reproduction. The microphone’s functionality is then assessed and suggestions are made for future improvements. RESUMO Ambisonics é uma técnica surround desenvolvida nos anos setenta por Michael Gerzon e seus colegas no Instituto de Matemática da Universidade de Oxford. Esta técnica é frequentemente criticada pela sua reduzida definição espacial. Estes aspectos podem ser melhorados aumentando a ordem do microfone através da utilização de esféricos harmónicos de ordens superiores. Este projeto consiste na construção de um microfone esférico contendo várias cápsulas colocadas na sua superfície e uma descrição de como pode ser usado para gerar microfones virtuais para a reprodução multi-canal e para gravação e reprodução de ambisonics de ordem superior. A funcionalidade do microfone é posteriormente aferida e são feitas sugestões relativamente a futuros melhoramentos.
UNSTEADY SIMULATIONS OF ROTORCRAFTS IN GROUND EFFECT USING A FAST PANEL – FAST VORTEX FORMULATION

Since the last past years, there have been several attempts to simulate entire helicopter configurations using lifting surface (or panel) codes coupled with different free-wake vortex models. Results normally exhibit a good level of correlation at least in steady level forward flight conditions out of ground effect (OGE). However, in case of rotorcraft operations very close to the ground (IGE in ground effect), several phenomena have still remained a challenge to be numerically simulated by rotorcraft potential tools because the strong non-linear effects induced by the ground on the development of rotor wake. At the same time, the usage of Eulerian of Navier-Stokes solvers, seem to be a strong challenge because of the enormous amount of required computational times and allocated computer memory. Experimental and numerical studies led up to now on this subject, have confirmed that as a hovering rotor moves from OGE conditions toward the ground, the wake starts to impinge on it and convents out with a strong radial component. IGE operations in forward flight complicates further more the aerodynamics environment around the helicopter. At very low advance ratios, a small region of ‘flow recirculation’ is formed upstream of the rotor, increasing the inflow through the forward part of the rotor disk. At a bit higher advance ratios, previous recirculation disappeared, and a large vortex (‘ground vortex’) occurs below the rotor making the flow more uniform. This ground vortex is finally overrun with the increasing of the helicopter advancing speed. Normally, positioning and generation of the ground vortex can happen intermittently in time further increasing flowfield unsteadiness and pilot workload in these transitional flight regimes, which occur as a strong function of advance ratio and of square root of the disk loading. Present paper will present the capability of the tool ADPANEL (AgustaWestland in-house developed) to simulate and predict the unsteady vortical flows generated by a rotorcraft operating on ground, both in Hover and in Forward-Flight. Different rotor configurations will be examined in present work, taking into account a change in rotor solidity and in its disk-loading value. Particular emphasis will be given to the understanding of main characteristics of different regimes occurring in IGE, as well as to the numerical assessment of velocity and vorticity unsteadiness of ground-vortex-structures dominated flows.
Effect of reaction conditions on silanisation of sepiolite nanoparticles

ABSTRACT The study provides insights into the silanisation process of sepiolite nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were modified applying acidic and basic silanisation methods using Methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (γ-MPS) as coupling agent. The silanisation reaction was performed in the following conditions: (1) acidic ethanol–water solution with a pH of 5 and (2) basic cyclohexane with a pH of 9. The influence of the conditions on the surface chemistry of modified particles was then investigated. To characterise the surface of sepiolite nanoparticles, analytical methods such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis, X-Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and zeta potential analyses were applied. In addition, the colloidal stability of the modified nanoparticles was studied using a separation analysis. According to XRD and SEM, the basal interlayer distance of pristine sepiolite is not altered by silanisation process. TGA reveals that the grafting percentage of organosilane synthesised by basic method is approximately two times of that of acidic method. The silane coverage on the surface of the sepiolite and the per cent of hydroxyl groups covalently bound to γ-MPS were calculated. Separation analysis indicates decline in dispersion stability of the modified nanoparticles in ethanol due to increment of their hydrophobicity.