Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Correlation between caries experience in Sudanese school children and dietary habits, according to a food frequency questionnaire and a modified 24-hr recall method

World-wide epidemiological studies have found positive correlations between sugar-sweetened snack intake and dental caries in developing countries and the contrary in developed countries. The pattern of sugar-sweetened snack intake and the magnitude of its effect on the prevalence of dental caries differs from one population to another rendering it important to study each situation separately. In Sudan, to the best of our knowledge, the relation between dietary habits and oral health has not been reported previously, with the exception of a single study by Emslie, in 1966. The aims of this study among 12-year-old public and private school attendees in Khartoum were to test the hypothesis that the frequency of intake of sugar-sweetened snacks and beverages is associated with caries experience and socio-demographics, using a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and Food Behaviour Checklist (FBC). A school-based survey was conducted among the 12-year-old school children of Khartoum state. Data was collected through face to face interviewer administered questionnaires. Decayed, Missing and Filled teeth (DMFT) index was measured using WHO criteria. No significant association was found between the total frequency of intake of the listed sugar-sweetened items and caries experience (DMFT >0 n=298). The 7 food items were inserted in a multiple variable logistic regression model (Nagelkerke 0.026]) alongside the socio-demographic variables with the Higher caries Experience Group as the dependent, and the soft drinks demonstrated a statistically significant association (OR 1.5 95% CI [1.0 – 2.4]). The hypothesis that the frequency of intake of sugar-sweetened snacks or beverages is associated with caries experience and socio-demographics in Khartoum 12-year-old school children is accepted in the higher caries experience group in that the high consumption of soft drinks was found to be a risk indicator for dental caries. School health promotion programs should be established, with the common risk factor approach in mind, thus, addressing the risk factor of poor dietary habits, which is common to many chronic conditions within a wider context. Keywords: Sudan, Caries, Dietary habits, Risk African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development , Volume 13 No. 2, April 2013
Description and Theoretical Analysis (Using Schemata) of Planner: A Language for Proving Theorems and Manipulating Models in a Robot

Abstract : PLANNER is a formalism for proving theorems and manipulating models in a robot. The formalism is built out of a number of problem-solving primitives together with a hierarchical multiprocess backtrack control structure. Statements can be asserted and perhaps later withdrawn as the state of the world changes. Under BACKTRACK control structure, the hierarchy of activations of functions previously executed is maintained so that it is possible to revert to any previous state. Thus programs can easily manipulate elaborate hypothetical tentative states. In addition PLANNER uses multiprocessing so that there can be multiple loci of control over the problem-solving.
LINC00707 contributes to hepatocellular carcinoma progression via sponging miR‐206 to increase CDK14

Recently, increasing numbers of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been found to be aberrantly expressed in various cancers. However, the roles of lncRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression is largely unknown. In our current study, we identified that long intergenic nonprotein‐coding RNA 707 (LINC00707) was remarkably elevated in HCC cells, indicating that LINC00707 was involved in HCC development. Subsequently, LINC00707 was significantly decreased in HepG2 and Huh7 cells. The in vitro functional assays demonstrated that knockdown of LINC00707 significantly reduced HCC cell proliferation, induced cell apoptosis, and blocked the cell cycle progression. In addition, HCC cell migration and invasion was also greatly inhibited by downregulation of LINC00707. Increasing evidence has indicated that lncRNAs can act as molecular sponges of microRNAs. Currently, we observed that microRNA‐206 (miR‐206) was dramatically inhibited in HCC cells and LINC00707 can modulate HCC development through sponging miR‐206. The binding correlation between LINC00707 and miR‐206 was confirmed by dual‐luciferase reporter assay, RNA pull down and RNA immunoprecipitation assay in our study. Moreover, cyclin‐dependent kinase 14 (CDK14) was predicted as a target of miR‐206 and we found that miR‐206 suppressed CDK14 levels in HCC cells. Finally, in vivo assays were used and it was proved that silence of LINC00707 can restrain HCC development through modulating miR‐206 to upregulate CDK14. In conclusion, it was implied that LINC00707 can lead to HCC progression through sponging miR‐206 and modulating CDK14.
Being Able to Do the Things that I Want to Do

Abstract This study examined the meanings that older women aged 75 to 86 with osteoporosis attributed to health, quality of life, and well-being. The purpose of the research was to ascertain how the women defined these concepts within the context of their lived realities and in relation to their changing social and physical circumstances. The ability to engage in meaningful leisure activities was the foundation of the women's definitions of health, quality of life, and well-being. The data suggest that the ways in which women define health, quality of life, and well-being reflect Bury's (1988) concept of “meaning as consequence. ”
“So what happens next?” exploring the psychological and emotional impact of anti-Mullerian hormone testing

Abstract Research Question: Significant medical benefits could be derived from universal AMH screening for women in their mid to late twenties. We aimed to investigate the psychological and emotional responses of women to being informed of their anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) result with a view to informing the possible introduction of universal AMH screening. Materials and methods: This was a prospective qualitative study using semi-structured in-depth interviews of women attending a reproductive medicine clinic who had ovarian reserve testing performed via measurement of serum AMH levels, as part of their gynecological investigations. A semistructured interview schedule was developed after a review of the literature. A purposive sample of women was recruited, and data collection continued until thematic saturation was reached (n = 10). The number of women interviewed is low as this was a pilot qualitative study of a two-part study. The next part of the study involves the development of a quantitative questionnaire related to the key themes identified in this study to be based on a much larger group of women. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and imported into QSR NVivo pro 11 for analysis. Results: Three key themes emerged from the data: the experience of AMH testing, the response to the AMH result, and suggested lessons for medical professionals. The theme of the experience of AMH testing describes and reflects two sub-themes: the reasons for ovarian reserve testing and the potential barriers that may prevent women from accessing testing. A further key focus of this study was the emotional and psychological responses to receiving an AMH result and this emerged as a major theme in the interviews. Women described the significant impact that their individual result had on a number of lifestyle and behavioral factors and how it impacted on their gender identity. Lessons for medical professionals including the appreciation of the patient’s awareness of the test and how the test result was relayed to the patient were important factors in how they dealt with the result. There were mixed reactions and opinions from the group in relation to the introduction of AMH testing as a screening tool for all young women. Conclusions: Knowledge and communication of a low AMH result has a negative psychological impact. The findings from this study support the move to further explore the psychological and emotional impact of the test with the development of a quantitative questionnaire.
Knowledge Services for Distributed Service Integration

Key Objectives: Introduce a service-oriented approach to providing knowledge support for distributed computing, develop a generic knowledge service architecture to realise such an approach, apply this approach design search and optimisation (Geodise) to enhance the design process and also for architecture validation. Motivation for the work: While computing increasingly addresses collaboration, sharing and interaction involve distributed services, there is a growing demand for knowledge services that provide underlying semantic support for such distributed services and also support the sharing and coordinated use of knowledge itself.
Multimodal Biometric Face and Fingerprint Recognition Using Neural Network

This paper presents multimodal biometric face and fingerprint recognition using neural network. Multimodal has great demands to overcome the issue involved in single trait system and it has become one of the most important research areas of pattern recognition multimodal biometrics system for identity verification using two traits: face and fingerprint System based on adaptive principal component analysis and multilayer perception to improve accuracy and performance. The advantages of using biometrics to verify a person’s identity over using passwords or token have been broadly presented in many research papers . The main aim of this review is to develop an efficient Multimodal Biometric face and Fingerprint Recognition system to provide good recognition by selecting good algorithms for feature extraction and recognition.
A Simple and Cost-Effective TLC-Densitometric Method for the Quantitative Determination of Acetylsalicylic Acid and Ascorbic Acid in Combined Effervescent Tablets

A new, simple, and cost-effective TLC-densitometric method has been established for the simultaneous quantitative determination of acetylsalicylic acid and ascorbic acid in combined effervescent tablets. Separation was performed on aluminum silica gel 60F254 plates using chloroform-ethanol-glacial acid at a volume ratio of 5:4:0.03 as the mobile phase. UV densitometry was performed in absorbance mode at 200 nm and 268 nm for acetylsalicylic acid and ascorbic acid, respectively. The presented method was validated as per ICH guidelines by specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, limit of detection, limit of quantification, and robustness. Method validations indicate a good sensitivity with a low value of LOD and LOQ of both examined active substances. The linearity range was found to be 1.50–9.00 μg/spot and 1.50–13.50 μg/spot for acetylsalicylic and ascorbic acid, respectively. A coefficient of variation that was less than 3% confirms the satisfactory accuracy and precision of the proposed method. The results of the assay of combined tablet formulation equal 97.1% and 101.6% in relation to the label claim that acetylsalicylic acid and ascorbic acid fulfill pharmacopoeial requirements. The developed TLC-densitometric method can be suitable for the routine simultaneous analysis of acetylsalicylic acid and ascorbic acid in combined pharmaceutical formulations. The proposed TLC-densitometry may be an alternative method to the modern high-performance liquid chromatography in the quality control of above-mentioned substances, and it can be applied when HPLC or GC is not affordable in the laboratory.
CRISPR and Target-Specific DNA Endonucleases for Efficient DNA Knock-in in Eukaryotic Genomes

The discovery and mechanistic understanding of target-specific genome engineering technologies has led to extremely effective and specific genome editing in higher organisms. Target-specific genetic modification technology is expected to have a leading position in future gene therapy development, and has a ripple effect on various basic and applied studies. However, several problems remain and hinder efficient and specific editing of target genomic loci. The issues are particularly critical in precise targeted insertion of external DNA sequences into genomes. Here, we discuss some recent efforts to overcome such problems and present a perspective of future genome editing technologies.
Practical dynamic facial appearance modeling and acquisition

We present a method to acquire dynamic properties of facial skin appearance, including dynamic diffuse albedo encoding blood flow, dynamic specular intensity, and per-frame high resolution normal maps for a facial performance sequence. The method reconstructs these maps from a purely passive multi-camera setup, without the need for polarization or requiring temporally multiplexed illumination. Hence, it is very well suited for integration with existing passive systems for facial performance capture. To solve this seemingly underconstrained problem, we demonstrate that albedo dynamics during a facial performance can be modeled as a combination of: (1) a static, high-resolution base albedo map, modeling full skin pigmentation; and (2) a dynamic, one-dimensional component in the CIE L*a*b* color space, which explains changes in hemoglobin concentration due to blood flow. We leverage this albedo subspace and additional constraints on appearance and surface geometry to also estimate specular reflection parameters and resolve high-resolution normal maps with unprecedented detail in a passive capture system. These constraints are built into an inverse rendering framework that minimizes the difference of the rendered face to the captured images, incorporating constraints from multiple views for every texel on the face. The presented method is the first system capable of capturing high-quality dynamic appearance maps at full resolution and video framerates, providing a major step forward in the area of facial appearance acquisition.
Signaling Plurality in Learner English

This paper reports the results of a study of the acquisition of plural marking by adult learners of English as a second language. This is an area in which there appears to be very little data. Our research therefore will contribute to the study of second language acquisition by increasing the available data pool. In the process we in part confirm the findings of earlier research, but also raise further questions about the process of language acquisition. The acquisition of the plural morpheme in English features prominently in the “morpheme studies” of the 1970s. These studies consistently placed the regular plural morpheme very early in the acquisition hierarchy, in both first and second language acquisition, and for both adult and child learners. On the basis of these studies, Krashen (1977) proposed a ‘natural order’ for the L2 acquisition of some grammatical morphemes, in which the acquisition of the plural morpheme is in the earliest group. Morpheme studies have been criticized by a number of researchers. For example, Wode et al (1983: 116) suggest that by focusing on the relative order of mastery, the morpheme studies approach “necessarily misses all the developments leading towards and preceding the final state of achievement”. The “mastery” criterion also faces difficulties with the frequently observed plateau effect with adult L2 learners. As we will see, one of our more proficient adult learners (Learner H) did not achieve Cazden’s (1968) 90% ‘mastery’ benchmark; yet his use of plural marking is too well advanced to ignore. Alternative approaches to the study of the acquisition of morphology have been more process-oriented rather than product-oriented. The functional approach (used for example by Miller 1996) and the conceptual approach advocated by von Stutterheim & Klein (1987) both attempt to move beyond a simple categorization of errors, to focus on the concepts that the L2 learner wishes to express.
Extending the User Action Notation (UAN) for Specifying Interfaces with Multiple Input Devices and Parallel Path Structure.

Abstract : Many modern computer applications provide the user with a choice of several different methods of completing the same task. These options are afforded the user by the implementation of multiple input devices (e.g., a mouse and a keyboard) and keyboard shortcuts, or hot keys, into the interface. Although these options can be described by current interface specification methods, there is a need for a notation that can clearly represent this type of interface design in a meaningful format. A survey of formal specification methods was conducted in an attempt to identify' a method which captured these elements of the human- computer interface. The User Action Notation UAN) shows promise for illustrating these options and providing an analytical tool for interfaces with this type of parallel structure. A graphing task from a DOS application called SigmaPlot TM is then specified in UAN. During this process, structural modifications to the standard UAN format are made, and new symbols are added to the existing repertoire in an effort to augment the notation's analytical strengths. The modifications prove to clarify the specification of interfaces with multiple input devices and allow the reader of the specification to make meaningful comparisons of alternative methods for completing a specified task. These modifications are documented, and their benefits are discussed.
Food Insecurity, Diet Quality, and Body Weight: Inter-Relationships and the Effect of Smoking and Alcohol Consumption

Using data from the 1999-2002 rounds of the continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the inter-relationships between food insecurity, diet quality and body mass index (BMI) were examined. The impact of smoking and alcohol consumption behaviors were also examined. The relationship between BMI and food insecurity was found to be sensitive to the specification of control variables, such as age, income, and race and ethnicity. Smoking was directly associated with lower BMI for both men and women; while alcohol consumption was directly associated with lower BMI only for men. Smoking negatively affected food insecurity and diet quality, as measured by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI). For women, these indirect effects were statistically significant and positive, but extremely small in magnitude compared to the direct effect. For both men and women, level of physical activity was found to be a much more important determinant of body weight than smoking, drinking, and food insecurity. For women, race had a more important impact on body weight than smoking or drinking.
Studies of Artists: An Annotated Directory

This annotated directory documents more than 80 different studies of artist populations. The directory provides information about how the researcher in each study has defined the artist and identified the population. Studies are arranged by type of artist population and, within each category, by study date. Each entry indicates, in so far as possible from available materials, the study investigator, the artist population, the way in which artists were identified, sampling procedures, number of respondents and response rates, and publications based on the study. This directory should provide researchers and other interested parties with a range of definitions, identification methods, and sampling procedures currently used in studies of artists. The introduction to the directory provides a critical overview of the numerous methods for identifying and defining "artists. "
Literature Review into Mobile Learning in the University Context

This document represents an extensive survey of the existent literature surrounding the fast-growing field of mobile learning or ‘m-learning’. In referencing over 400 recent publications, encompassing conference papers, reports, reviews, and research projects, it presents an indication of the ‘state of play’ in this emerging discipline. Undertaken during December 2005 and January 2006, the literature review’s primary purpose has been to provide the basis for an academic book on the area: a ‘what to’ guide considering contemporary changes to learner behaviours, institutional directions, technological developments, and realistic visions for exploiting seamlessly-embedded mobile learning.
The IRIDIA TAM: A device for task abstraction for the e-puck robot

The information provided is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the members of IRIDIA. The authors take full responsibility for any copyright breaches that may result from publication of this paper in the IRIDIA – Technical Report Series. IRIDIA is not responsible for any use that might be made of data appearing in this publication. The information provided is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reect the opinion of the members of IRIDIA. The authors take full responsibility for any copyright breaches that may result from publication of this paper in the IRIDIA Technical Report Series. IRIDIA is not responsible for any use that might be made of data appearing in this publication.
Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life

As social and natural science inquiry moves toward a new paradigm that encourages a greater use of emergence and pattern recognition, the social work field remains underrepresented. Those familiar with the concepts of complex adaptive systems (CAS) and, more specifically, agentbased modeling (ABM) may ask how these concepts apply to social workers. Miller and Page’s Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life provide possible answers. Although the computational nature of complex adaptive systems may strike fear in many, it provides a valuable bottoms-up framework that accounts for individual client (agent) behavior resulting in larger patterns rather than a top-down approach to the testing of models. It potentially provides a more sensitive method for investigating individuals and their responses to social interventions. In this volume, the authors develop a concise introduction to what many refer to as the science of the 21st century. The authors’ strength comes from multiple perspectives developed through the application and study of complexity science. Because of its adaptive nature, complexity science—understanding what attracts agents (clients), how these agents then self-organize in order to lead to an emergent behavior—provides a promising investigative framework adaptable within both qualitative and quantitative methods. The authors take a 5-part approach to explain their method. Part I introduces the reader to the complexity present in our social world. It gives readers unfamiliar with complex adaptive systems a solid orientation to several key concepts. While several of these concepts may initially be unfamiliar to social work researchers (e.g., cellular automata, self-organized criticality, and emergence theory), these concepts nonetheless are essential to grasping and applying complexity components. Part II briefly discusses preliminary information on the basics of modeling and emergence theory. Part III begins a lengthy discussion on computational modeling and its role in social inquiry. By discussing 10 aspects of applying complexity, the authors cover a broad range of advantages in using the approach. Given that the authors’ backgrounds lie primarily in economics, political science, and computational social sciences, the material remains accessible and applicable to social service research. Foremost are flexibility versus precision whereby a wider range of behaviors can be included and being process oriented while not being oversimplified in a reductionist sense. Other valuable concepts that separate the complex adaptive systems framework from traditional inquiry include the use of adaptive agents who are inherently dynamic and heterogeneous and the relative costs of conducting research. Part IV is the most technical section because it discusses several models of complex adaptive social systems. The chapters include a basic classifying framework based on the Buddhist Eightfold Path of right view, right intention, right