Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-reported hypertension and job strain in nursing personnel: Assessing two different formulations of the demand-control model

Object: This study analyzed the association between job strain and self-reported hypertension. Methods: A cross sectional study concerning nursing professionals involved with patient care was performed at three hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2005-2006. The sample comprised 1,307 female workers (participation rate: 81.9%). Job strain was assessed according to two different formulations of the demand-control model: the traditional quadrant term and the quotient term. Adjusted prevalence ratio was calculated using generalized liner models with binomial distribution and Poisson link (robust estimator). Results: The association between self-reported hypertension and job strain was statistically significant only when job strain was evaluated using the ratio between demand and control. Workers in the highest quartile of job strain (quotient term) were 1.54 times more likely to report hypertension than the reference group. Conclusions: These results are particularly interesting considering that self-reported hypertension can be used as an alternative to situations where using blood pressure monitors is not feasible, particularly in studies with big samples.
Psychological treatment of evoked pain and anxiety by invasive medical procedures in paediatric oncology

Durante la ultima decada se ha observado un gran interes por investigar la naturaleza del dolor infantil, dando lugar a interesantes avances en este campo de conocimiento. Se han elaborado instrumentos de evaluacion que permiten acceder a la experiencia subjetiva en edades muy tempranas y se han desarrollado buenas estrategias psicologicas para reducir el malestar evocado por procedimientos medicos dolorosos. En este articulo se ofrece una exposicion general sobre la naturaleza del dolor en relacion a los aspectos evolutivos y se revisan diversos trabajos relativos al tratamiento psicologico de ninos con cancer que deben someterse con cierta regularidad a tales procedimientos. Las tecnicas distractoras, el uso de la imaginacion y el entrenamiento en respiracion/relajacion se perfilan como los elementos terapeuticos esenciales para aliviar el dolor y reducir la ansiedad.
Modeling of and Experimentation on Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser Arrays

Modal behavior of a 2D (square lattice geometry) antiguided vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array was studied by the 3D bidirectional beam propagation method. Above-threshold operation of leaky modes was simulated using multiple iterations. In addition, a method based on functions of Krylov's sub- space was developed to find the number of array optical modes in a VCSEL array with gain and index distribu- tions established by the oscillating mode. In calculations, both Fourier and space variable descriptions of beam propagation were combined. Analysis of an effective-index approximation is made, and explicit expressions are derived for the effective index and blue shift of the laser frequency. Conditions are found for favorable lasing of the in-phase mode providing high laser beam quality. The 2D antiguided array results from shifting the cavity resonance between the element and interelement regions and is fabricated by selective chemical etching and two-step metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth. In-phase and out-of-phase array mode operation is observed from top-emitting rectangular arrays as large as 400 elements, depending on the interele- ment width, in good agreement with theory. The experimentally realized set of laser arrays of variable size was studied numerically.
Ant colony optimization for agile motion planning

With the need for greater autonomy in unmanned vehicles growing, design of algorithms for mission-level planning becomes essential. The general field of motion planning for unmanned vehicles falls into this category. Of particular interest is the case of operating in hostile environments with unknown threat locations. When a threat appears, a replan must be quickly formulated and executed. The use of terrain masking to hide from the threat is a vital tactic, which a good algorithm should exploit. In addition, the algorithm should be able to accommodate large search spaces and non-linear objective functions. This thesis investigates the suitability of the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) heuristic for the agile vehicle motion planning problem. An ACO implementation tailored to the motion planning problem was designed and tested against an existing genetic algorithm solution method for validation. Results show that ACO is indeed a viable option for real-time trajectory generation. ACO’s ability to incorporate heuristic information, and its method of solution construction, make it better suited to motion planning problems than existing methods. Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Marc McConley Title: CSDL Technical Supervisor Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Brent Appleby Title: Lecturer in Aeronautics and Astronautics
Wireless Signal Map Matching for NLOS error mitigation in mobile phone positioning

Angle of arrival (AOA), time of arrival (TOA) and time difference of arrival (TDOA) are widely used for mobile phone positioning. However, these measurements experience degradation of location accuracy due to localised non-line-of-sight (NLOS) signal propagation, especially in urban or suburban area. NLOS error is well known to be a major source of error in mobile phone positioning and is simply caused by buildings blocking the line-of-sight propagation of the RF signal. Hence mobile station (MS) appears further away from the base transceiver station than it actually is. This significantly increases the positioning error. To mitigate the effects of NLOS error in terrestrial wireless location systems, a wireless signal mapmatching (WSMM) concept was recently introduced. WSMM is based on using a database method to generate the NLOS error correction map, and then use the correction map to correct the measurements. Therefore, a more accurate MS location can be estimated. Furthermore, WSMM can automatically extract the relationship between an electronic map representing the ideal world and the fully-populated anonymous user distribution representing distorted world. After the concept was verified by simulation, an experiment was carried out in a typical suburban area. The
Genetic Differences between Wild and Cultured Populations in Olive Flounder in Korea Based on Mitochondrial DNA Analysis

We sequenced a 522 bp fragment including the tRNA Thr , tRNA Pro gene and the first half of the control region from 29 wild and cultured olive flounder specimens from Korea. Out of 522 nucleotide sites, 49 (9.4%) were variable, 23 haplotypes being found. Most haplotypes are unique in the wild population and only four were shared by cultured specimins. The nucleotide diversity and differences between wild and cultured populations were 0.025±0.013 and 0.015±0.008, and 12.94±6.00 and 7.83±3.75, respectively. Haplotype diversity was 0.98±0.02 and 0.49±0.09 in the wild and cultured populations, respectively. These results show that marked reductions of genetic variability in the hatchery strains were observed in the number of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes and haplotype diversity when compared to the wild populations. Furthermore, we detected significant population differentiation between both populations. The mtDNA sequencing technique used to evaluate the genetic variability of hatchery strains compared to that of the wild population is potential for genetic monitoring of olive flounder hatchery stocks.
Brand Community Development Through Associated Communities: Grounding Community Measurement Within Social Identity Theory

The purpose of this study was to measure consumer identification with several (brand) communities using a multidimensional psychometric community identity instrument grounded in social identity theory. Use of such instrumentation allowed the authors to examine how consumer identification with associated communities affected identification with the brand community. Data were collected on four different community identities (college football team, university, city, state) among students at the three major Florida universities. Results indicated that identification with the respective teams was affected by identification with other communities surrounding the team. This interplay among community identities had a strong subsequent effect on consumer behavior.
Adaptations, alterations and shifted strategies: the pragmatics of knowledge transfer in HIV and AIDS interventions in South Africa.

The historical relationship between western and traditional health practitioners in South Africa was always uncomfortable and remote. This paper does not rehearse the complex colonial history of this disjunction, but rather focuses on some of the effects of that history on contemporary medical relationships, especially concerning interventions in the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS. The controversy about the rights of HIV positive patients to choose ‘traditional’ African remedies over biomedical antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) is considered first. The paper argues that by attaching the notion of ‘pseudoscience’ to traditional medicine in this debate AIDS activists’ are reproducing an unhelpful contemporary version of the familiar ‘scientific knowledge’ versus ‘traditional belief’ dichotomy, an attitude that alienates traditional health practitioners and discourages useful dialogue and cooperation. The paper then introduces ethnographic coverage of an HIV/AIDS intervention in the Western Cape Province, in which Xhosa traditional health practitioners (THPS) have adopted and adapted the techniques of HIV/AIDS counselling, and advocacy of HIV/AIDS testing and ARVs, into their conventional practice. The testimony of the healers themselves is used to discover the effects of this process of medicalisation and the extent to which it has changed the THPs’ relationship – real and perceived – with western medicine. The paper will show that although these THPs are eager to be involved with western medicine, this does not constitute surrender to a superior system, but is simply a pragmatic act of conciliation in the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In their practical approach, the healers can be recognised not as ‘ignorant’ or naïve, but 1 The use of the term ‘traditional’ is contested in academia, but less so by the practitioners themselves. Several different categories of healers practice in South Africa; the amagqirha who feature in this paper (Xhosa pl.; sing. igqirha; Zulu sing. isangoma, pl. izangoma.) are diviner-healers who achieve their diagnosis and remedies through communication with ancestral spirits (Wreford 2008b).
Next-Generation Transport Networks Leveraging Universal Traffic Switching and Flexible Optical Transponders

Recent developments in communication technology contributed to the growth of net- work traffic exponentially. Cost per bit has to necessarily suffer an inverse trend, posing several challenges to network operators. Optical transport networks are no exception to this. On one hand, they have to keep up with the expectations of data speed, volume, and growth at the agreed quality-of-service (QoS), while on the other hand, a steep down - ward trend of the cost per bit is a matter of concern. Thus, the proper selection of network architecture, technology, resiliency schemes, and traffic handling contributes to the total cost of ownership (TCO). In this context, this chapter looks into the network architec -tures, including the optical transport network (OTN) switch (both traditional and univer - sal), resiliency schemes (protection and restoration), flexible-rate line interfaces, and an overall strategy of handover in between metro and core networks. A design framework is also described and used to support the case studies reported in this chapter.
Technology Policy Implementation Road: Exploring Firms’ Technology Readiness in a Mandatory Vertical Diffusion Environment

Technology Transfer and Technology Diffusion body of knowledge emerge from the research interest to explore the demand side of technology transfer by identifying the firm’s technology readiness to operate a new technology—product and process—in the context of the transfer of technology from a single source to multiple receivers/users—termed vertical diffusion—, where the adoption is by mandate. Demarcating the e-Invoice document as technology transfer object, this paper presents results of quantitative study performed with data collected from a 137 small retail firms, oriented to identify their technology readiness in terms of technology infrastructure and skills to operate under the electronic invoice legal procedure, as well as their perceived barriers for the diffusion. Results of factor analysis reveal insufficient information among all the participant firms, reflecting poor communication from the technology source, low awareness for the software solution available and of the competences/skills required to operate it as well as a passive attitude from the adopter who leans in a third party option to face the mandate.
Original Article Major lipid classes and their fatty acid composition in the flesh of two edible marine food fishes from India

Objective: The present analysis investigated various lipid classes and their fatty acid composition from the body flesh of two commercially cheap marine fish species- Gangetic hairfin anchovy (Setipinna phasa) and khoira (Gudusia chapra) for the exploration of the nutritional quality to assess their usefulness for human consumption. Scope: These two fishes are found in profusion but in spite of their importance in capture fisheries in Bay of Bengal, nutritional assessment of fat quality has not been done so far. This study evaluated the pattern of distribution and amount of principal lipids and their fatty acids by TLC (thin layer chromatography) and GLC (gas liquid chromatography) from the muscles of these two fishes to evaluate the health benefits for the consumers. Major findings: Both in S. phasa and G. chapra, the total lipid (TL) contents are 12.51 and 10.72 respectively, for which they are considered as high fat fish. Among TL fractions, neutral lipid (NL) was predominant followed by phospholipid (PL) and glycolipid (GL). Within NL fractions, triacylglycerol (TG) was found to be prime followed by 1-O-Alkyl-2, 3diacylglycerol (ADAG) and in the PL fractions, Phosphatidylcholine (PC) was largest. Twenty five fatty acids from S. phasa and twenty six fatty acids of G. chapra were quantified. Among saturates, palmitic acid (16:0) and among monounsaturates, oleic acid (18:1) were abundant in both. In S. phasa DHA and in G. chapra EPA was the major polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA).
Examining the Construct Validity of the Emotional Leadership Questionnaire

Abstract This paper presents a 51-item self-rating Likert-scale Emotional LeadershipQuestionnaire (ELQ) that operationalises Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee’s (2002)four domains of Emotional Intelligence (EI) with eighteen characteristics. The sampleconsists of 806 Finnish adult employees (elementary and upper secondary school,vocational institution, polytechnic institute of higher education, public administrationand various industrial companies). The participants were asked to assess theirsuperiors' emotional leadership (EL) competencies with the ELQ. The constructvalidity of the ELQ was tested with the following three stages: 1) Comparison of themean values and standard deviations of the 18 ELQ characteristics measuringemployee groups’ evaluations on their superiors EL competencies; 2) Examination ofthe variable structure of the ELQ to test it against the theoretical EI –model; 3)Reliability analysis of the eighteen EL characteristics. Results showed that leaders inboth samples were self-confident, able to adapt to new challenges, able see the upsidein the events, and they also had a good sense of efficacy. Dissatisfaction with theirleaders’ low ability to resolve disagreements and generate good working atmosphereunited the adult workers of both samples. The results of BDM showed that in both 18and 51 item ELQ versions, all the items measuring the eighteen EL characteristicswere selected for the most probable model. This finding indicates that the theoreticalstructure of EI is present in these empirical domains. The results of reliability analysisshowed that a 51-item solution was adequate to describe the four EmotionalLeadership domains.Keywords: emotional intelligence, leadership, competence, self-regulation,comprehensive school, Finland
Ecological and developmental issues in the practice of educational psychology.

This conceptual article examines what is meant by the term ‘ecological-contextual’ in relation to the assessment of children’s needs. Revisiting the discipline of ethology, the article applies the construct of niche to the human species, including examples from children’s experiences tovalidate the relevance of this link. Issues of power imbalance in relationships are discussed in relation to the strategies children use to assume some control over the situationsthey find themselves in. It is suggested that without a comprehensive contextual analysis it becomes more likely that children’s problematic behaviours will be interpreted in terms of medical categories. A range of theoretical perspectives linked to the reciprocity that characterises all relationships and the significance of such reciprocity to children’s construction of meaning and feelings of self-efficacy is discussed. The hypothesis that attachment issuescan become a disorder for the child is challenged. The use of the community genogram is introduced as a working tool for exploring children’s multiple contexts. While the practiceof educational psychology is the primary focus of this article, the dimensions discussed have equal relevance to all who work with children presenting problematic behaviours ordevelopmental concerns. This article is intended to initiate further dialogue on these themes.
Excitation control for improving transient stability limit and voltage regulation with dynamic loads

Abstract This paper presents a new robust control methodology to improve the power system transient stability and voltage regulation in interconnected power systems including dynamic loads. The inclusion of dynamic load model significantly increases the nonlinearity of the system. The automatic voltage regulation (AVR) and power system stabiliser (PSS) design problems are coordinated for the augmentation of stability. The nonlinear behaviour of power systems has been represented in this paper by an uncertain term, derived from the Cauchy remainder of the Taylor series expansion. An IEEE benchmark test system has been used to demonstrate the performance of the designed controller. Large disturbance simulations demonstrate that the proposed controller enhances voltage stability as well as transient stability of a power system during severe transients.
Technical Analysis in the Foreign Exchange Market: A Cointegration-Based Approach

Most technical analysis studies are concerned with the profitability of technical trading rules and almost all of them focus exclusively on trend- following patterns. In this paper we examine a different kind of technical indicator which suggests a structural relationship between High, Low, and Close prices of daily exchange rates. Since, for a given exchange rate, it can be shown that these prices have different time series properties, it is possible to explore the structural relationships between them using multivariate cointegration methods. This methodology facilitates the construction of dynamic structural econometric models, which are used to derive dynamic out-of-sample forecasts over different time horizons. Compared to standard benchmarks, it turns out that these models have extremely good forecasting properties, even when allowance has been made for transactions costs and risk premia.
Recognition of rolling bearing fault patterns and sizes based on two-layer support vector regression machines

The fault diagnosis of rolling element bearings has drawn considerable research attention in recent years because these fundamental elements frequently suffer failures that could result in unexpected machine breakdowns. Artificial intelligence algorithms such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) and support vector machines (SVMs) have been widely investigated to identify various faults. However, as the useful life of a bearing deteriorates, identifying early bearing faults and evaluating their sizes of development are necessary for timely maintenance actions to prevent accidents. This study proposes a new two-layer structure consisting of support vector regression machines (SVRMs) to recognize bearing fault patterns and track the fault sizes. The statistical parameters used to track the fault evolutions are first extracted to condense original vibration signals into a few compact features. The extracted features are then used to train the proposed two-layer SVRMs structure. Once these parameters of the proposed two-layer SVRMs structure are determined, the features extracted from other vibration signals can be used to predict the unknown bearing health conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by experimental datasets collected from a test rig. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is highly accurate in differentiating between fault patterns and determining their fault severities. Further, comparisons are performed to show that the proposed method is better than some existing methods.
Photoelectric photometry and period analysis of selected Delta Scuti stars in Praesepe

Photoelectric photometry of seven Delta Scuti stars in Praesepe was secured. Three of them were ob- served simultaneously at observatories located at dier- ent longitudes. Period analysis has been carried out for each star with dierent computing packages and the re- sults compared to those in the literature. Their physical characteristics have been determined from the Stromgren photometry and theoretical and empirical calibrations.
STOMATAL CONDUCTANCE OF SHORT ROTATION COPPICE BASED ON SAP FLOW MEASUREMENTS AND ITS RESPONSE TO CHOSEN METEOROLOGICAL VARIABLES STOMATÁLNÍ VODIVOST PLANTÁéE RYCHLE ROSTOUCÍCH DŘEVIN ODVOZENÁ Z MĚŘ ENÍ SAP FLOW A JEJÍ OVLIVN ĚNÍ VYBRAN›MI METEOROLOGICK›MI PROM ĚNN›MI

The main aim of this study was to derive stomatal c onductance (gs) from sap flow measurements and explore some of possible applications of this m ethod. Sap-flow and other meteorological variables were continuously monitored in poplar-bas ed short rotation coppice (SRC) plantation in Bystřice nad Pernotejnem during growing season 2012. Sap flow of 8 trees was measured using heat dissipation method, then expressed as transpir ation per square meter of projection area and by adding into rewritten Penman-Monteith equation the canopy conductance (gs) was obtained. Compared with direct measurements on leaf level thi s approach is advantageous for obtaining gs, because of integrating all leaf categories of tree or whole canopy. Further analysis also proved, that gs is strongly driven by VPD. Finally, it was found that the relationship between gs and VPD is also influenced by available soil moisture content.