Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Blood Collection Tubes on Erroneous 1-Propanol Detection and on Forensic Ethanol Analysis

Impact of blood collection tubes on erroneous 1-propanol detection and on forensic ethanol analysis Aim: The present study aims to emphasize the importance of selecting the proper blood collection tubes for the right intended use in order to avoid erroneous results, especially in reference to forensic alcohol analysis. Introduction: Forensic alcohol analysis in blood from living subjects is performed in various situations, such as driving under the influence, is usually related to consumption of alcoholic beverages and often results to the detection of ethanol and/or congener alcohols. Alternatively, ethanol and congeners, such as 1-propanol, can be microbially produced especially in autopsy samples. Methods: Sixty eight blood samples from living subjects, all drivers involved in traffic accidents, contained in different collection tubes, were included in the study. Volatiles were detected with a validated HS-GC-FID method. Samples of normal human blood, spiked with ethanol and/or 1-propanol, dispersed in different tubes were treated and analyzed as the authentic blood samples in order to test the suitability of the collection tubes. Results: Authentic blood samples, contained in certain tubes with separator gel, had high concentrations of “1-propanol”. It was shown that the separator gel released a substance that was recognized as “1-propanol” during analysis by HS-GC-FID at 600C (routine conditions). The erroneous “1-propanol” was separated from authentic 1-propanol during analysis at 580C. Discussion: The separator gel of certain blood collection tubes compromises a source of pre-analytical error that results to erroneous concentrations of 1-propanol. This is unfavorable in forensic cases and can complicate interpretation of the origin (exogenous or microbial) of the detected ethanol.
Differences in Alcohol Consumption and Self-Esteem between Tattooed and Non-Tattooed People

Background. The primary aim of this research was to examine differences in alcohol consumption and self-esteem between tattooed and non-tattooed people. The secondary objective of this study was to examine the correlations between the number of tattoos and the alcohol consumption as well as the self-esteem. Methods. Two standardized test were used: the “Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test” (AUDIT) for investigation of alcohol drinking behaviour and the “Multidimensional Self-Esteem Scale”. In addition, the number, size and body parts of tattoos were asked with a non-standardized questionnaire. Results. A total of 228 German persons (127 tattooed and 101 non-tattooed) participated in an online survey, aged between 17 and 65 years (M = 26.41, SD = 9.03). The results indicate that there were no significant group differences concerning the alcohol consumption, as well as there was no correlation between tattoos and the self-esteem. Equally, there was no correlation between the number of tattoos and the alcohol consumption. A positive correlation between the number of tattoos and the self-esteem was found. Conclusion. Tattooed people do not seem to consume more alcohol or have lower self-esteem than non-tattooed people. This study shows that the number of tattoos is associated with the self-esteem. No differences between tattooed people and nontattooed people could be found in this study. An explanation is that regarding the explosion of costs for professional made tattoos, the area of customers changed from outsiders of the society to people with average and high earnings.
Dental Knowledge and Self-reported Oral Care Practices Among Medical, Pharmacy and Nursing Students

A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the level of dental knowledge among senior medical, pharmacy and nursing students of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and to determine self-reported practices of oral care. Students were invited to complete a set of questionnaires on knowledge related to causes, prevention, signs and treatment of dental caries and periodontal disease; and practices related to oral hygiene and dental visits. A total of 206 questionnaire forms were distributed. 204 forms were returned complete (response rate = 99%). Dental knowledge scores ranged from 0 (no correct answer given) to 16 (gave all correct answers). The mean knowledge scores between the groups were statistically different (p < 0.05): pharmacy students scored highest (mean = 12.29, 95% CI 11.44, 13.14) followed by the medical students (mean = 12.02, 95% CI 11.33, 12.71) and nursing students (mean = 10.83, 95% CI 10.40, 11.26). Areas that had lowest knowledge scores were signs and treatment of gum disease. With regard to oral care practices, majority cited that they brushed teeth at least twice a day (94.6%) and used toothbrush and toothpaste (97.5%). Not many (21.8%) used dental floss and about half (54.2%) reported visiting the dentist more than twelve months ago. Reasons for dental visits included getting check-ups (64.6%), restorations (45.6%) and emergency care such as extractions (24.0%). In general students had at least a moderate level of dental knowledge but demonstrated poor knowledge in some areas. While most reported good oral hygiene habits, behaviour related to dental visits need to be improved. Findings suggest a need for inclusion of oral health education in the medical, pharmacy and nursing curriculum.
Performance Analysis of HEVC Parallelization Methods for High-Resolution Videos

Several parallelization methods that can be applied to High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) decoders are evaluated. The market requirements of high-resolution videos, such as Full HD and UHD, have been increasing. To satisfy the market requirements, several parallelization methods for HEVC decoders have been studied. Understanding these parallelization methods and objective comparisons of these methods are crucial to the real-time decoding of high-resolution videos. This paper introduces the parallelization methods that can be used in HEVC decoders and evaluates the parallelization methods comparatively. The experimental results show that the average speed-up factors of tile-level parallelism, wavefront parallel processing (WPP), frame-level parallelism, and 2D-wavefront parallelism are observed up to 4.59, 4.00, 2.20, and 3.16, respectively.
Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus Colonization in Atopic Dermatitis Decreases Disease Severity

Huang JT, Abrams M, Tlougan B, Rademaker A, Paller AS. Pediatrics . 2009;123(5). Available at: www.pediatrics. org/cgi/content/full/123/5/e808 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY. To determine the rate of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization in children with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD) and to investigate the use of bleach baths and intranasal mupirocin treatment in management. STUDY POPULATION. Patients ( N = 31) 6 months to 17 years of age with moderate-to-severe AD and signs of bacterial skin infection were recruited from a dermatology clinic in Children's …
Improving the Performance and Understanding of the Expectation Maximization Algorithm: Evolutionary and Visualization Methods

The Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm is a method for learning the parameters of probabilistic graphical models when there is hidden or missing data. The goal of an EM algorithm is to estimate a set of parameters that maximizes the likelihood of the data. In spite of its success in practice, the EM algorithm has several limitations, including slow convergence, computational complexity, and inability to escape local maxima. Using multiple random starting points is a popular approach to mitigate the local maxima problem, but this method is time consuming. This work seeks to improve the understanding and performance of the EM algorithm. We combine evolutionary algorithms, which make use of stochastic search, with the multiple random starting points strategy for the EM algorithm. First, we propose a genetic algorithm for expectation maximization (GAEM), where we combine the global search property of genetic algorithms (GAs) and the local search property of EM. We investigate how different choices of population sizes, crossover and mutation probabilities, and selection techniques affect the solution quality. We found that small population sizes are sufficient to produce high solution quality and considerable speed-up compared to the traditional EM algorithm. Second, we develop an age-layered EM algorithm (ALEM), where we incorporate an age-layered population structure heuristic in which age is the number of iterations of an EM run. We focus on speeding up the EM algorithm for Bayesian networks. ALEM enables comparisons between similarly aged EM runs and discards less promising EM runs well before their convergence. Experimentally, we find that ALEM can significantly reduce the average number of iterations with no or minimal degradation in solution quality. Finally, we introduce an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) to visualize and analyze graphs including Bayesian networks. In particular, the user can perform multi-focus zooming wherein he or she can compare multiple nodes in an overview graphical window and study their parameters in detail windows. For EM learning, this GUI helps to understand the progress of the estimated probability parameters.
Behavioral Intention Analysis on E-Money Services in Indonesia: Using the modified UTAUT model

The level of use of e-money services in Indonesia is still relatively low. Low in trust and high risk are thought to be determinants of the level of community behavioral intention. On the other hand, other factors of age, gender and level of education also affect the relationship of behavioral intention with the determinants. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of the dimensions of trust (multi dimensional trust) and perceived risk on the intention of people's behavior on e-money services in Indonesia. Purposive sampling conducted on this study to the population of big city in Indonesia. Data collection was carried out with online Likert scale questionnaire, with instruments distributed in 5 big cities in Indonesia. The results of this study indicate that the dimensions of trust (Multi Dimensional Trust) influence the intention of the community in adopting e-money services, while the perceived risk does not affect the intention of the community in adopting e-money services. Performance expectation variable (Performance Expectancy) is the biggest factor that influences people's intention to adopt e-money services. Education as a moderating variable is the only variable that has significant effect on the influence of determinant variables on behavioral intention. Keywords—e-money; behavioral intention; multidimensional trust; modified UTAUT
The role of men in contraceptive use and fertility preference in Hossana town, Southern Ethiopia

Family planning programs have always been considered as the interventions of choice for slowing population growth. These programs however are seen to give relatively little attention to the roles that could be played by men regarding fertility regulation. Consequently there is a shortage of information on family planning knowledge attitudes and practices among married men and their fertility preferences in Ethiopia. The objective of this study hence was to assess the role of men in contraceptive use and fertility preference among currently married men. The study used a community-based cross-sectional survey conducted from December 2003 to January 2004 in Hossana town southern Ethiopia. A total of 773 currently married men in the age group of 20-64 years were included in the study. A total of nine Kebeles were selected from 15 Kebeles of the town using simple random sampling method. Study households were selected from each Kebele through systematic random sampling. Pre-tested structured questionnaires were used for data collection. The average number of living children per man was 3.8. The majority of the study participants (60.3%) reported wanting more children. About 91% of the respondents were familiar with at least one of the family planning methods. The most commonly known methods of family planning included the pill (79.4%) injection (78.5%) male condom (65.6%) Norplant (42%) and IUD (30.5%). Nearly half (48%) reported current use of contraceptives by their wives. An additional 15% had used a method some time in the past. Injection was the most commonly used method (58%) followed by the pill (27.5%). The main reasons for not using contraceptives included a desire to have more children (32%) opposition from the respondents (husband opposition) (23.2%) and fear of side effects (15%). About 90% of them approved the use of family planning methods and two-thirds (66%) of the respondents had discussed about family planning matters with their wives during the last one year. More than half (54%) of the respondents reported joint decision-making on when to have another child and 80.9% reported agreement between spouses on a decision when to use contraceptives. This study found high prevalence of knowledge of contraceptive methods among married men but a relatively low utilization rate. Discussion between spouses and their joint decision-making on contraceptive use was also found to be high. Thus family planning programs should not focus only on women but they should also address men. Information education and communication programs for promoting family planning methods should thus be strengthened. (authors)
DIURETIC POTENTIAL OF CAPSICUM FRUTESCENS LINN., CORCHORUS OLITURIUS LINN., AND ABELMOSCHUS ESCULENTUS LINN .

This experimental study was explored to determine the diuretic property of C. frutescens L. , C. oliturius L. , and A. esculentus L. Specifically, it sought to determine the diuretic efficacy of the different plant decoctions in white rats. The study looked into the most effective concentration in each of the experimental plant decoction. It likewise determined the significant difference of the following variables: concentration in different plant decoction and between the control and the plant decoction. Determination of the diuretic property of the three plant material was done by Rat Metabolic Cage Method using 48 albino rats. Each treatment was replicated with three (3) rats. Measurements of urine volume excreted after five hours was done to measure their effectiveness as a diuretic. Based on the gathered data, there was an increase of urine output of albino rat in the 10 ml/kg concentration of C. frutescens L. Likewise in C. oliturius L. 10 ml/kg and 7 ml/kg concentration increased the urine output of rats. While in okra, all of the four concentrations (10 ml/kg, 7 ml/kg, 4 ml/kg, and 1 ml/kg) increased the urine output. Whereas in furosemide both 7 ml/kg and 4 ml/kg had an increase. This increase of urine output shows that the three plant materials possess diuretic potential. It was also found out that no significant difference was noted within the different concentration used in increasing the urine output of rats. Similarly, in the efficacy of the three plant materials and the commercial diuretic furosemide, no significant difference was revealed.
The Compensation Hypothesis Revisited and Reversed

This note describes how research on the link between globalization and openness has changed over time. Early contributions assumed that countries develop welfare states to compensate for volatility caused by economic openness (the compensation hypothesis). Recent findings have cast doubts on several steps in the causal chain implied by the compensation hypothesis. In many ways economic openness has been shown to be particularly beneficial for countries with high taxes and high income equality. Countries with large welfare states can use economic openness to mitigate some of the unintended side-effects of social protection and high taxes. The compensation hypothesis can thus be reformulated: Through trade, the citizens in large welfare states can enjoy some of the benefits associated with cheap labor and high wage dispersion despite their domestic economy being characterized by the opposite.
Primary repair of the colon: when is it a safe alternative?

: Management of civilian colon injuries has clearly departed from the military directive advocating mandatory colostomy. The treatment of 228 colon injuries at the Denver General Hospital was reviewed to elucidate risk factors for colon-related complications and quantify the morbidity of available surgical treatment options. In our population, 68% of patients sustained gunshot wounds with a high percentage of severe colon injuries and associated abdominal organ damage. Primary repair was accomplished in 49% with 17% septic morbidity and 1% septic mortality rates. Colostomy was required in 36% with a cumulative septic morbidity of 48% and 2% septic mortality. The most common complications were abdominal abscess (12%), wound infection (7%), and fecal fistula (4%). Analysis of risk factors for colon-related morbidity showed that the Abdominal Trauma Index (ATI), colon injury severity, preoperative shock, and peritoneal contamination were most important. Synthesis of the treatment outcome and risk factor data yields a proposed management scheme for colon injuries that is based on the patient's hemodynamic status, colon injury severity, and ATI scores. Primary repair by either debridement and simple closure or resection with primary anastomosis is advocated for colon injuries in patients who are hemodynamically stable with an ATI score less than 25.
Automatic Speaker Recognition :An Approach using DWT based FeatureExtraction and Vector Quantization

Automatic Speaker Recognition (ASR) is the use of a machine to recognize a person from a spoken phrase. It verifies the persons claimed identity from his voice pattern. It is probably the most natural and economical method of restricting unauthorized access to computer network, communication system and multilevel access control. With the ubiquitous telephone network and microphones attached with computers, the cost of speaker recognition system might only be for software. In this paper speaker recognition system using DWT based feature extraction technique and VQ for pattern matching is proposed. The performance of the proposed recognizer is compared with traditional methods and found better in terms of measure of False Acceptance and False Rejection.
The B+-tree-based Method for Nearest Neighbor Queries in Traffic Simulation Systems

Extensive used traffic simulation systems are helpfulin planning and controlling the traffic system. In traffic sim-ulation systems, the state of each vehicle is affected by thatof nearby vehicles, called neighbors. Nearest neighbor (NN) queries, which are multi 1-dimensional and highly concurrent,largely determine the performance of traffic simulation systems. Majority of existing traffic simulation systems use Linked list-based methods to process NN queries. Although simple andeffective they are, existing methods are neither scalable nore fficient. In this paper, we propose a B+-tree-based method to improve the efficiency of NN queries by borrowing ideas from methods used in databases. In particular, we create a linked local B+-tree, called LLB+-tree, which is a variation of Original B+-tree, to maintain the index of neighbors of each vehicle. We also build a mathematical model to optimize the parameter setting of LLB+-tree according to multiple parameters for lanes and vehicles. Our theoretical analysis shows that the time complexityof the method is O(logN) under the assumption of randomly distribution of vehicles. Our simulation results show that LLB+-tree can outperform Linked list and Original B+-tree by 64.2%and 12.8%, respectively.
“Becoming Cold-hearted like the Gentiles Around Them”: Scottish Gaelic in the United States 1872-1912

Historians have occasionally recognized the presence of Scottish Gaelic-speaking immigrants in the United States, but no previous study has attempted to determine the relationship between the Gaelic-American community and their language in detail. This article makes use of evidence available in contemporary periodicals to examine the attitudes of Scottish Gaels resident in the United States towards their native language from 1872 to 1912, and attempts to assess the efforts made to maintain that language. The failure of Gaelic to thrive in the United States is evident in the lack of development of effective strategies to buttress the language. The evidence for several linguistic domains is examined, as well as the prevailing attitudes about Gaelic and how Gaelic-speakers responded to, and were influenced by, the representation of their native language.
The Fortress of Riolo Terme, near Ravenna: digital survey and 3D printing for cultural dissemination

This study is focused on the management of the information derived from the 3D Laser survey of the Fortress of Riolo Terme, near Ravenna, Italy. After studying the building and its history, this survey method was chosen because of its speed in acquiring 3D data, with the advantage of a level of detail and a high definition impossible to obtain by other methods. The geometric survey of the whole fortress and its surroundings was enriched by the collection of color information: taking a specific set of photos at every position, each scan was associated with a panoramic image in order to obtain a point cloud enhanced with the corresponding color values. Given the complexity and articulation of the building, part of the project was dedicated to the work program, in terms of the decimation of the data, in order to achieve a fluid management of the vast amount of collected data, and the preservation of the appropriate definition of information. This led to the creation of an automatic process both for the alignment of the scans and for the following graphic postprocessing. In addition to the production of drawings as plans, elevations, and sections, whose generation was automated by creation of several procedures for Autodesk AutoCAD, a specific part of the project was aimed at the construction of an optimized model of a portion of the building to be printed out using 3D technology. The project made it possible to thoroughly investigate an architectural complex that is an outcome of stratifications over time, from the fourteenth century until the present day.
A Distributed Solution for Fair Bandwidth Distribution among Data Flows in Wireless Networks

In wireless networks, it is important to ensure fairness among data flows in their access to network bandwidth. Providing end-to-end fairness in mobile networks is particularly challenging. This paper proposes a packet tagging and prioritized scheduling scheme that achieves fairness under network dynamics, without the need of maintaining any flowlevel state in the network. The new scheme is a distributed solution that can work with any routing protocol. Numerical evaluation shows that the proposed scheme achieves far better
The effect of psychological distance on young children's future predictions

Inf Child Dev. 2019;28:e2133. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.2133 wileyonli Abstract The current study examined the impact of psychological distance on children's performance on the pretzel task. In this task, children eat pretzels (inducing thirst) and then are asked to reason about future preferences (pretzels or water). Children typically perform poorly on this task, indicating a future preference for water over pretzels, potentially due to conflicting current and future states. Given past work showing that children's future reasoning is more accurate for another person, we asked 90 thirsty 3‐ to 7‐ year‐olds to reason about their own and an experimenter's future preference. Results showed that thirsty children had more difficulty predicting their own future preference compared with the experimenter's. Thirstier children were more likely to predict a future preference for water. Thirst interacted with age when making a future choice for the experimenter. How psychological distance might boost episodic foresight and possible reasons for children's poor pretzel task performance are discussed.