Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physical fitness of paramedic students during vocational training - a follow-up study

Introduction: Paramedics’ work includes periods of physically light activity, but also involves short periods of relatively intense physical activity. Even during their studies paramedic students’ days involve a lot of sitting, i.e. physically sedentary behaviour. We initiated a programme to motivate paramedic students to be physically active during their studies. In this study we report physical fitness among paramedic students who for one year participated in brief physical activity counselling consisting of both verbal and a written individually tailored exercise programMethods: A total of 40 paramedic students (26 female, 14 male) had participated voluntarily in a physical activity programme alongside their studies. Subjects’ maximal oxygen consumption and muscle strength were measured at baseline and at one-year follow-up. According to the results of the baseline tests all students were given an individual exercise programme, which included aerobic and muscle strength training.Results: Sixty-five percent (26/40) of the students participated in the follow-up examinations. At baseline male students had higher mean maximal oxygen consumption (VO2Max) and, as expected, greater absolute muscle strength than their female counterparts (all p-values <0.05). During the follow-up females had improved their VO2Max on average by 2.4 ml/kg/min. Furthermore, females on average improved the number of squats by 4.2 [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.01 to 8.33] repetitions, and males improved the number of push-ups (mean improvement 4.8, 95% CI 1.93 to 7.57), and left arm grip strength (mean improvement 4.0 kg, 95% CI 1.39 to 6.53). Conclusions: It seems to be possible to maintain, and even slightly improve paramedic students’ physical fitness with a self-directed, guided, home exercise programme. This approach could enhance prospective paramedics’ willingness to develop the necessary physical qualities long-term throughout their clinical careers.
The Effect of Voluntary Disclosure Quality on Independent Auditors' Opinions and Fees

This study examines the quality of voluntary disclosure on the opinion and fees of the independent auditors in listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange. In line with this goal, all the listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange that had provided the financial statements (balance sheet, loss and profit statement) and the required information in the years 2006 to 2011 were studied. A total of 123 companies from various industries were selected. To test the hypotheses, multiple variables regression (Inter method) was used and their statistical significance took place using t and F statistics. Also, in order to test the model autocorrelation Durbin-Watson test was employed. Research results show that there is no significant relationship between the quality of voluntary disclosure and the opinion and fees of the independent auditors.
Empirical evaluation of Brisbane macroscopic fundamental diagram

The Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD) relates space-mean density and flow, and the existence with dynamic features was confirmed in congested urban network with real data set from loop detectors and taxi probes. Since the MFD represents the area-wide network traffic performances, it gives foundations for perimeter control strategies and an area traffic state estimation enabling area-based network control. However, limited works have been reported on real world example from signalised arterial network. This paper fuses data from multiple sources (Bluetooth, Loops and Signals) and develops a framework for the development of the MFD for Brisbane. Existence of the MFD in Brisbane network is confirmed. Different MFDs (from whole network and several sub regions) are evaluated to discover the spatial partitioning in network performance representation.
Six-degree-of-freedom displacement measurement system using a diffraction grating

Six-degree-of-freedom displacement measurement systems are applicable in many fields: precision machine control, precision assembly, vibration analysis, and so on. This article presents a new six-degree-of-freedom displacement measurement system utilizing typical features of a diffraction grating. It is composed of a laser source, three position sensitive detectors, a diffraction grating target, and several optical components. Six-degree-of-freedom displacement is calculated from the coordinates of diffracted rays on the detectors. A forward and an inverse problem were solved to compute the full pose of an object through kinematic analysis. The experimental results show that the measurement system had a maximum error of ±10 μm for translation and ±0.012° for rotation. The repeatability is about 10 μm for translation and 0.01° for rotation.
Dynamic Estimation of Volatility Risk Premia and Investor Risk Aversion from Option-Implied and Realized Volatilities

This paper proposes a method for constructing a volatility risk premium, or investor risk aversion, index. The method is intuitive and simple to implement, relying on the sample moments of the recently popularized model-free realized and option-implied volatility measures. A small-scale Monte Carlo experiment confirms that the procedure works well in practice. Implementing the procedure with actual S&P500 option-implied volatilities and high-frequency five-minute-based realized volatilities indicates significant temporal dependencies in the estimated stochastic volatility risk premium, which we in turn relate to a set of macro-finance state variables. We also find that the extracted volatility risk premium helps predict future stock market returns.
Mining for Signals of Future Consumer Expenditure on Twitter and Google Trends

Consumer expenditure constitutes the largest component of Gross Domestic Product in developed countries, and forecasts of consumer spending are therefore an important tool that governments and central bank use in their policy-making. In this paper we examine methods to forecast consumer spending from user-generated content, such as search engine queries and social media data, which hold the promise to produce forecasts much more efficiently than traditional surveys. Specifically, the aim of the paper is to study the relative utility of evidence about purchase intentions found in Google Trends versus those found in Twitter posts, for the problem of forecasting consumer expenditure. Our main findings are that, firstly, the Google Trends indicators and indicators extracted from Twitter are both beneficial for the forecasts: adding them as exogenous variables into regression model produces improvements on the pure AR baseline, consistently across all the forecast horizons. Secondly, we find that the Google Trends variables seem to be more useful predictors than the semantic variables extracted from Twitter posts, the differences in performance are significant, but not very large.
Monotone convergence theorems for semi-bounded operators and forms with applications

Abstract Let Hn be a monotone sequence of non-negative self-adjoint operators or relations in a Hilbert space. Then there exists a self-adjoint relation H∞ such that Hn converges to H∞ in the strong resolvent sense. This result and related limit results are explored in detail and new simple proofs are presented. The corresponding statements for monotone sequences of semi-bounded closed forms are established as immediate consequences. Applications and examples, illustrating the general results, include sequences of multiplication operators, Sturm–Liouville operators with increasing potentials, forms associated with Kreĭn–Feller differential operators, singular perturbations of non-negative self-adjoint operators and the characterization of the Friedrichs and Kreĭn–von Neumann extensions of a non-negative operator or relation.
Small Enterprise Growth and the Rural Investment Climate: Evidence from Tanzania

This paper analyzes characteristics of nonfarm enterprises, their employment growth patterns, and constraints in doing business in rural Tanzania. Using unique survey data, the authors describe a low-return sector struggling to compete in a difficult business environment. However, about one-third of rural enterprises are growing fast. Most enterprises engage in agricultural trade. Due to a rapidly growing agricultural sector in recent years, limiting demand-side constraints, rural enterprise constraints in Tanzania mainly operate from the supply side. This suggests that, in particular, access to finance, road infrastructure, and rural cell phone communication is correlated with employment growth. A major finding is that subjective and objective measurements of business constraints are broadly comparable. The authors discuss a number of factors that would help to unleash the full potential of private sector-led growth in rural areas. The findings show that marginal improvements in the rural investment climate matter for growth.
Speech Enhancement Using Gaussian Mixture Models, Explicit Bayesian Estimation and Wiener Filtering

Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs) of power spectral densities of speech and noise are used with explicit Bayesian estimations in Wiener filtering of noisy speech. No assumption is made about the nature or stationarity of the noise. No Voice Activity Detection (VAD) or any other means is employed to estimate the input SNR. The GMM mean vectors are used to form sets of over-determined system of equations whose solutions lead to the first estimates of speech and noise power spectra. Based on the selected noise model from the initial noise power spectrum estimate, the noise source type is identified and the input SNR estimated in this first step. The first power spectra estimates are then refined using approximate but, explicit MMSE and MAP estimation formulations. The refined estimates are then used in a Wiener filter to reduce noise and enhance the noisy speech. The proposed filtering schemes show good results. Nevertheless, it is shown that the MAP explicit solution, introduced here for the first time, reduces the computation time to less than one third in comparison to the MMSE solution. Slight higher improvements in SNR and PESQ score and less distortion are also noted.
Chapter 2 History of Stereolithographic Processes

There are a number of processes that can realize three-dimensional (3D) shapes such as those stored in the memory of a computer. An example is the use of holographic techniques [1], but these require many complex calculations to obtain the hologram and there is insufficient accuracy and clarity. A manual or a conventional mechanical process can also make a physical model, but such models require long fabricating times, high cost and excessive labor. To solve these kinds of problems, a new group of techniques called additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have been developed over the last 10 numbers [2–14]. AM is a collection of processes inwhich physical objects are quickly created directly from computer generated models. The basic concept of rapid prototyping is where 3D structures are formed by laminating thin layers according to two-dimensional (2D) slice data, obtained from a 3Dmodel created on a CAD/CAM system [2–15]. Stereolithography is one of the most popular AM process. It usually involves the curing or solidification of a liquid photosensitive polymer by a laser beam scanned across its surface. The laser supplies energy that induces a chemical reaction, bonding large number of small molecules and forming a highly cross-linked polymer [16].
Sea-level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records

We show that robust regressions can be established between relative sea-level (RSL) data and benthic foraminifera oxygen isotopic ratios from the North Atlantic and Equatorial Pacific Ocean over the last climatic cycle. We then apply these regressions to long benthic isotopic records retrieved at one North Atlantic and one Equatorial Pacific site to build a composite RSL curve, as well as the associated confidence interval, over the last four climatic cycles. Our proposed reconstruction of RSL is in good agreement with the sparse RSL data available prior to the last climatic cycle. We compute bottom water temperature changes at the two sites and at one Southern Indian Ocean site, taking into account potential variations in North Atlantic local deep water dO. Our results indicate that a Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) enrichment of the ocean mean oxygen isotopic ratio of 0.95% is the lowest value compatible with unfrozen deep waters in the Southern Indian Ocean if local deep water dO did not increase during glacials with respect to present. Such a value of the LGM mean ocean isotopic enrichment would impose a maximum decrease in local bottom water dO at the North Atlantic site of 0.30% during glacials. r 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
A nonsequential turbulent mixing process

We study the relaxation of an initially segregated scalar mixture in a randomly stirred medium, aiming at describing the overall concentration distribution of the mixture, its shape, and its rate of deformation as it evolves toward uniformity. An ever dispersing mixture is realized by releasing a plume of scalar in a large scale, sustained turbulent medium on the axis and in the far field of a turbulent jet. The fluid particles constitutive of the plume are soon resolved into a set of stretched sheets whose rates of diffusive smoothing build up the overall mixture concentration distribution. The randomness of the particle’s net elongation at a given instant of time induces a distribution of the mixing time from which molecular diffusion becomes effective in erasing the concentration differences. This ingredient is shown to rule the composition of this dispersing mixture, providing a detailed analytic description of the overall concentration distribution. It compares favorably with experiments using three .
Synthesis and Analgesic Activity of Novel Derivatives of 1,2-Substituted Benzimidazoles

A series of novel 2-phenylhydrazinomethyl and 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-benzimidazole derivatives substituted at the N1-position of benzimidazole nucleus were synthesized as well as screened for analgesic activity. Some of these compounds showed promising analgesic activity when compared with the standard drug diclofenac sodium. The incorporation of a phenylhydrazinomethyl nucleus at 2-position of benzimidazole compound gave a biologically active pharmacophore.
EFFECT OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PHOSPHORUS ON AGRO- NOMIC TRAITS OF TWO MASHBEAN GENOTYPES (Vigna mungo L.) _

A study in a sandy clay loam field to investigate the effect of phosphorus rates on the agronomic traits of two mashbean genotypes (Mash-97 and Mash-88) was conducted at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad during 1998. The phosphorus rates were 0, 50, 7S and lOOkg P205 ha-I. Mashbean genotypes did not differ significantly regarding number of plants m-2, plant height, number of seeds pod-I, total number of seeds plant-I, lOoo-seed weight, seed yield and harvest index. However, Mash-97 gave significantly more seeds per plant than that of the Mash-88. Phosphorus application @ 75 kg ha-I gave significantly the highest seed yield of 1832 kg ha-I against the minimum of 1390 kg ha-I without phosphorus . ~
Mixed-format exams in higher education: Assessment of internal consistency reliability

In higher education courses, instructors often use mixed-format exams composed of several types of questions such as essays, problem-solving, and multiple-choice to evaluate student performance. It is important to discriminate reliably amongst students according to their performance on final examinations. The lower the reliability of student exam scores, the greater the error associated with making decisions based on them. Why then have we found no previous studies of reliability for this, one of the most common types of exam? We investigated the reliability of student scores on 12 official mixed-format final exams used in 22 classes with 1012 students in six undergraduate courses taught by five professors in three fields of business (finance, accounting, and statistics). We focussed on estimating internal consistency reliability, which is essentially a measure of the reproducibility of test scores. Using coefficient omega, the most appropriate measure of assessing reliability of mixed-format exams, we found that in these 22 classes reliability averaged . 85, with over 90% of the classes with reliabilities exceeding . 80. These reliabilities are very high, comparable with those reported for professionally developed standarized tests and better than those reported recently for single-format multiple choice exams in higher education. http://dx.doi. org/10.4995/HEAd15.2015. 364
Viability and telomere length analysis of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have provided various potential clinical applications, particularly due to their immunomodulation and tissue repair abilities. To develop cellular therapy products based on human MSCs, some basic requirements should be implemented. These include the choice of MSCs source, cultivation media and methods, and sterility tests. In this study, cell viability and telomere length analysis have been applied to ensure optimal and consistent therapeutic results of MSCs therapy.
Digitalized-Management Voltage-Domain Programmable Mechanisms for Dual-Vdd Low-Power Embedded Digital Systems

A built-in digitalized power management (DPMM) and voltage domain programmable (VDP) mechanisms are proposed to design a low-power system. In the proposed techniques, the high and low voltages applied to logic modules can be switchable. This flexible voltage-domain assignment allows the chip performance and power consumption can dynamically adjust during circuit operation. To support the DPMM and VDP mechanisms, the voltage-level monitor circuit and power-switch circuit are designed to support multiple operation modes for DPMM-VDP digital circuit designs. A powerless retention flip-flop is developed for temporary data storage during voltage domain dynamically switching. While to prevent the system failure come from voltage integrity problem, a built-in voltage-level monitoring mechanism is utilized to monitor voltage integrity during VDP circuit operation. The proposed mechanism allows the chip performance and power consumption to be flexibly adjusted during circuit operation. The physical implementation chips and measured results proof of this methodology has $30 \sim 55$% power reduction comparisons with using single-Vdd.
ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITIES FROM VARIOUS LEAVES EXTRACTS OF FOUR VARIETIES MANGOES USING DPPH, ABTS ASSAYS AND CORRELATION WITH TOTAL PHENOLIC, FLAVONOID, CAROTENOID

Objectives: The objectives of this research were to study antioxidant activity of leaves extract from four varieties of mangoes using two methods of antioxidant testing which were DPPH (2.2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS (2.2’-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) and correlation of total phenolic, flavonoid and carotenoid content in various extracts of four varieties mangoes with DPPH and ABTS scavenging acivities. Methods: Extraction was performed by reflux using gradient polarity solvent. The extracts were vaporated using rotavapor. Chromatogram pattern on each extracts were observed by thin layer chromatography (TLC). Then, antioxidant activity of each extracts using DPPH and ABTS assays, IC 50 of DPPH and ABTS scavenging activities and determination of total phenolic, flavonoid and carotenoid content and its correlation with DPPH and ABTS scavenging capacities. Results: GD2 (ethyl acetate extract of gedong mangoe leaves) had the highest DPPH scavenging capacity (98.70 %.), while AR3 (ethanolic extract of arumanis mangoe leaves) was the highest ABTS capacity (70.55 %). AR2 (ethyl acetate extract of arumanis mangoe leaves) contained the highest total flavonoid (37.57 g QE/100 g), GD2 had highest phenolic content (30.73 g GAE/100 g), while the highest carotenoid 16.28 g BET/100 g was given by GL1 (n-hexane extract of golek mangoe leaves). Conclusions: There were positively high correlation between total phenolic content in four varieties mangoes leaves with their antioxidant activity using ABTS and DPPH assays. ABTS scavenging activities in various leaves extracts of four varieties mangoes had positively high correlation with their DPPH scavenging activities.
Assessment on Stylometry for Multilingual Manuscript

Linguistics and stylistics have been studied for author identification / verification for few years but recently, we have testified a remarkable development in the quantity with which lawyers, courts, applicable in cyber crime, detective agencies etc. etc. have called upon the expertise of linguists in cases of disputed authorship. This inspires researchers to look to the problem of author identification / verification from a different outlook. This paper pact shows text author verification problem using character n-gram information( final n-gram & initial n-gram) for both English & Arabic Text. Experiments demonstrate that author profiles generated with initial bi-gram and initial tri-gram are effective in verifying texts authors. A doorsill value has been set using dissimilarity measure that separate dissimilarity of same author texts from texts written by different authors.
Modelling and Simulation of Solar Panel

This paper aims to model a solar photovoltaic system with built in MPPT(Maximum Power Point Tracker) for Photovoltaic (PV) system. It provides theoretical study of PV systems and modelling techniques using equivalent electric circuits. MATLAB simulations verify each individual block as well as combined simulation of model containing solar panel, MPPT and Cuk converter. The results validate that MPPT can significantly increase the efficiency and the performance of PV system.
Semiparametric partial Linear quantile regression of longitudinal data with time varying coefficients and informative observation times

Regression analysis of longitudinal data has been a popular topic in many fields for long time. However, only limited research exists for the case where observation times may be informative and for quantile regression of longitudinal data. In particular, to our knowledge, there does not exist any established method for quantile regression of longitudinal data with informative observation times, the focus of this paper. More specifically, we will discuss this problem and present a semiparametric partial linear model with time-varying coefficients. For estimation, B-splines are used to approximate the time-varying coefficients and in addition to the estimation approach, model checking and selection procedures are also provided. The latter can be used to determine the covariates that indeed have time-varying effects on the longitudinal process of interest. The proposed method could identify the underlying true model structure and estimate the parameters simultaneously. Also we establish the convergence rate of the proposed estimators and the asymptotic normality of the estimated time-independent regression parameters. For the assessment of the finite sample performance of the proposed methods, an extensive simulation study is conducted and suggests that they work well for practical situations. Finally they are applied to a set of longitudinal medical cost data on chronic heart failure patients that motivated this study.