Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting electronic cigarette dependence and perceived barriers for electronic cigarette cessation: examining the roles of fatigue severity and emotion dysregulation

ABSTRACT Objectives: Emotion dysregulation is an important individual difference variable for substance use. Limited empirical data has evaluated the influence of emotion dysregulation on e-cigarette use and outcomes related to use. Similarly, the role of fatigue has received little attention in this regard despite emerging links with e-cigarette use. Methods: Therefore, the present study examined a theoretically informed model focused on whether the experience of more severe fatigue explains, in part, the relation between emotion dysregulation and e-cigarette dependence and perceived barriers to e-cigarette cessation among 525 adult e-cigarette users (50.9% female, Mage = 35.25 years, SD = 10.10). Results: Results suggest that fatigue severity significantly explains part of the relation between emotion dysregulation and dependence (b = 0.04, 95% CI [0.02, 0.06]) as well as perceived barriers for e-cigarette cessation (b = 0.21, 95%CI [0.14, 0.29]). In addition, reverse models were tested that suggest emotion dysregulation may also explain, in part, the relation between fatigue severity and dependence (95% CI [0.07, 0.34]) as well as perceived barriers for e-cigarette cessation (95% CI [0.96, 1.92]). Conclusions: The current study provides initial empirical support for the role of fatigue severity in the relation between emotion dysregulation and e-cigarette use processes, but also highlights the potential for bi-directional effects.
Potassium channels as potential drug targets for limb wound repair and regeneration

Abstract Background Ion channels are a large family of transmembrane proteins, accessible by soluble membrane-impermeable molecules, and thus are targets for development of therapeutic drugs. Ion channels are the second most common target for existing drugs, after G protein-coupled receptors, and are expected to make a big impact on precision medicine in many different diseases including wound repair and regeneration. Research has shown that endogenous bioelectric signaling mediated by ion channels is critical in non-mammalian limb regeneration. However, the role of ion channels in regeneration of limbs in mammalian systems is not yet defined. Methods To explore the role of potassium channels in limb wound repair and regeneration, the hindlimbs of mouse embryos were amputated at E12.5 when the wound is expected to regenerate and E15.5 when the wound is not expected to regenerate, and gene expression of potassium channels was studied. Results Most of the potassium channels were downregulated, except for the potassium channel kcnj8 (Kir6.1) which was upregulated in E12.5 embryos after amputation. Conclusion This study provides a new mouse limb regeneration model and demonstrates that potassium channels are potential drug targets for limb wound healing and regeneration.
Leaving Something for the Imagination: The Effect of Visual Concealment on Preferences

When advertising products to consumers, firms sometimes conceal key aspects in an effort to arouse consumer curiosity. This research investigates when and how visual concealment tactics may benefit or hurt aesthetic product evaluations. The authors propose that when consumers are only able to view a portion of an aesthetic product, assessments of its appeal will be influenced by two interrelated mechanisms: curiosity to see the item completed and inferences about the item’s fully disclosed appearance. The authors show that heightened curiosity triggers feelings of positive affect that are transferred to the product itself, a process that may inflate preferences and choice likelihoods for products beyond what would occur if the full image were known. This transference effect, however, has an important boundary: it works only when initial consumer inferences about the appeal of the product are positive or emotionally congruent with the positive affect triggered by curiosity. The key implication is that, ironically, the products likely to benefit most from concealment tactics are those that have the least to hide. The authors provide evidence for these effects and the underlying mechanism using six experiments that manipulate concealment in a variety of task settings.
TCAD‐based statistical modeling methodology for nanoscale FinFET variability

We demonstrated in this article a TCAD‐based (TCAD is defined as Technology Computer Aided Design) statistical modeling methodology for FinFET devices, which included TCAD Monte Carlo simulation, SPICE model library buildup, and model verification in circuit level. As a demonstrative example, a set of 14 nm FinFET devices are investigated for TCAD variability simulation and statistical model development. The stability and variability of different SRAM cells are further evaluated to verify the applicability of proposed statistical modeling methodology. The demonstrative statistical modeling method in this article is fully compatible with industrial standard methodology of CMOS device model, which can be easily immigrated into advanced technologies.
A New CPW-Fed Diversity Antenna for MIMO 5G Smartphones

In this study, a new coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed diversity antenna design is introduced for multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) smartphone applications. The diversity antenna is composed of a double-fed CPW-fed antenna with a pair of modified T-ring radiators. The antenna is designed to cover the frequency spectrum of commercial sub-6 GHz 5G communication (3.4–3.8 and 3.8–4.2 GHz). It also provides high isolation, better than −16 dB, without an additional decoupling structure. It offers good potential to be deployed in future smartphones. Therefore, the characteristics and performance of an 8-port 5G smartphone antenna were investigated using four pairs of the proposed diversity antennas. Due to the compact size and also the placement of the elements, the presented CPW-fed smartphone antenna array design occupies a very small part of the smartphone board. Its operation band spans from 3.4 to 4.4 GHz. The simulated results agree well with measured results, and the performance of the smartphone antenna design in the presence of a user is given in this paper as well. The proposed MIMO design provides not only sufficient radiation coverage supporting different sides of the mainboard but also polarization diversity.
Expression-Based Inference of Human Microbiome Metabolic Flux Patterns in Health and Disease

Metagenomic sequencing has revealed that the composition of the gut microbiome is linked to several major metabolic diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, the exact mechanistic link between the gut microbiome and human host phenotypes is unclear. Here we used constraint-based modeling of the gut microbiome, using a gene-expression based algorithm called FALCON, to simulate metabolic flux differences in the microbiome of controls vs. metabolic disease patients. We discovered that several major pathways, previously shown to be important in human host metabolism, have significantly different flux between the two groups. We also modeled metabolic cooperation and competition between pairs of species in the microbiome, and use this to determine the compositional stability of the microbiome. We find that that the microbiome is generally unstable across controls as well as metabolic microbiomes, and metabolic disease microbiomes even more unstable than controls.
Strategi pemasaran Wakaf Asuransi: studi pada Produk Insurance Protection Linked Auto Navigation (IPLAN) Syariah PT. Asuransi Jiwa Generali di Sidaorjo

Perubahan selera nasabah, teknologi, dan persaingan yang ketat membuat PT. Asuransi Jiwa Generali harus mengembangkan dan berinovasi secara terus menerus produk dan jasanya agar dapat terus eksis di dunia perasuransian. Oleh karena itu Generali Indonesia membuat produk iPLAN Syariah dengan fitur wakaf asuransi agar dapat memenuhi keinginan dan kebutuhan nasabah. Permasalahan dalam penelitian ini adalah bagaimana konsep strategi pemasaran wakaf asuransi produk iPLAN Syariah pada PT. Asuransi Jiwa Generali, bagaimana implementasi strategi pemasaran wakaf asuransi produk iPLAN Syariah pada PT. Asuransi Jiwa Generali, dan apa yang menjadi faktor pendorong dan penghambat strategi pemasaran wakaf asuransi produk iPLAN Syariah. Untuk menjawab beberapa permasalahan tersebut, maka penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan deskriptif kualitatif. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan metode observasi, wawancara, dan metode dokumentasi. Analisis data yang dilakukan adalah mengolah, memisahkan, mengelompokkan, dan memadukan sejumlah data yang dikumpulkan di lapangan secara empiris menjadi sebuah kumpulan informasi ilmiah yang terstruktur dan sistematis yang selanjutnya siap dikemas menjadi laporan hasil penelitian. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa konsep strategi pemasaran produk iPLAN Syariah dengan memperhatikan komponen-komponen bauran pemasaran diantaranya yaitu product (produk), price (harga), place (tempat/distribusi), dan promotion (promosi). Generali Indoensia melakukan pemasaran melalui media periklanan dan bekerja sama dengan Gerakan Wakaf indoensia, Kitawakaf, Koperasi Syariah, BMT Permata dan beberapa Universitas. Penerapan strategi pemasaran Produk iPLAN Syariah di Generali memperhatikan hal-hal sebagai berikut yaitu segmentasi pasar, targeting, dan positioning. Dalam merumuskan strategi pemasaran dibutuhkan pendekatan-pendekatan analitis untuk menanggapi setiap perubahan kondisi pasar yaitu faktor lingkungan, faktor pasar, persaingan, analisis kemampuan internal perusahaan, perilaku konsumen dan analisis ekonomi. Di dalam memasarkan suatu produk, tidak terlepas dari adanya faktor pendorong dan penghambat. Faktor pendorong dan penghambat dapat dilihat melalui faktor lingkungan eksternal dan internal perusahaan. Dengan adanya faktor pendorong dan penghambat, maka selain inovasi produk dan kreativitas pemasaran, peranan penting agen pemasar sangat diperlukan.
IMPACT OF WATER ABSTRACTION ON THE WATER LEVEL OF LAKE ZIWAY, ETHIOPIA

Significant change has been observed in the water level of Lake Ziway in Ethiopia which hinders its services for a wide variety of ecosystems. However, the contribution of water withdrawal and its impact on the lake water level variation has not been quantified yet. In this study, we conducted a water abstraction survey (WAS) to estimate actual water withdrawal from the lake. Then, we applied a water balance model coupling with simulated river inflow from rainfall-runoff model output data to evaluate the isolated impact of water withdrawal on the lake water level from 1986–2000 at monthly time steps. The amount of water withdrawal from the lake for irrigation water use is 37 106 m3 per year. This led to 0.36 m drop in the lake level which corresponded to 18 km2 reductions in the lake surface area. This consequently resulted in a reduction of mean annual lake volume by 162 106 m3 from 1986–2000, which accounts for 23% of the total lake inflow from rivers.The results indicate that abstraction from the lake is a significant contributor to the drop in water level of Lake Ziway. This calls for serious action on the management of water abstraction from the lake.
A comparative study of inflammatory marker highly sensitive C- Reactive Protein in depression patients exhibiting suicidal behaviour and depression patients without suicidal behaviour

Background: Recent research have found a link between inflammatory pathway and suicidal behaviour. hs-CRP, IL, TNF have been shown to have significant alterations in suicidality, however multiple covariates influence this relationship. One of the main limitations of most of the studies is that they have evaluated the CRP in patients demonstrating suicidal behaviour but not in depression. No study has been conducted in Indian subpopulation with parameters of our study. Aims of the study was to compare hsCRP levels between depression patients with suicidal behaviour and without suicidal behaviour. Methods: Authors compared 50 depression patients with suicidal behaviour and 50 depression patients without suicidal behaviour, diagnosed using ICD10. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS‐17), Suicide behaviour QuestionnaireRevised (SBQ-R), Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSSI) were applied for assessment of depression and suicidality. Highly sensitive CRP was measured using autoanalyzer. Results: hsCRP levels were significantly high in depression patients with suicidal behaviour (4.12 mg/dl) than depression without suicidal behaviour (2.42 mg/dl). Duration of illness, HAM-D, BSSI and SBQ-R scores correlated positively with hsCRP levels. Conclusions: Depression with suicidal behaviour patients have a significantly higher hs-CRP levels than depression without suicidal behaviour. Patients of depression with suicidal behaviour group have a strong positive correlation between hs-CRP levels and HAM-D, BSSI and SBQ-R scores.
Confirmation and Characterization of Cyhalofop-Butyl–Resistant Chinese Sprangletop (Leptochloa chinensis) Populations from China

Abstract Chinese sprangletop [Leptochloa chinensis (L.) Nees] is one grass weed severely affecting rice (Oryza sativa L.) growth in paddies in China. Cyhalofop-butyl is the main herbicide used to control grass weeds in Chinese paddy fields, especially for controlling L. chinensis; however, L. chinensis has evolved resistance to cyhalofop-butyl due to continuous and extensive application. To investigate cyhalofop-butyl resistance levels and mechanisms in L. chinensis in some of the Chinese rice areas, 66 field populations were collected and treated with cyhalofop-butyl. Of these tested populations, 10 showed a high level of resistance to cyhalofop-butyl; the 50% effective dose ranged within 108.4 to 1,443.5 g ai ha–1 with resistance index values of 9.1 to 121.8 when compared with the susceptible population. Acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase genes (ACCase) of susceptible and all 10 resistant populations were amplified and sequenced. Among them, Ile-1781-Leu, Trp-2027-Cys, Trp-2027-Ser, and Ile-2041-Asn mutations were found in five resistant populations. No known resistance-related mutations were found in the other five resistant populations, indicating that resistance to cyhalofop-butyl in these populations was likely to be endowed by non–target site resistance mechanisms. Notably, the Ile-1781-Leu and Trp-2027-Cys substitutions have previously been reported, but this is the first report of Trp-2027-Ser and Ile-2041-Asn mutations in L. chinensis. Furthermore, three derived cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence methods were developed to rapidly detect these mutations in L. chinensis.
A Fault-Tolerant Control Strategy for T-Type Three-Level Rectifier With Neutral Point Voltage Balance and Loss Reduction

This article presents a fault-tolerant control strategy when an open-circuit fault (OCF) occurs in T-type three-level rectifiers, in which the neutral-point (NP) voltage balance and loss reduction are considered simultaneously. When an OCF occurs, one fundamental period is classified into two time intervals: the normal time interval (NTI), and abnormal time interval (ATI). In the NTI, a time-offset is utilized to achieve the NP voltage balance and loss reduction within a switching period. Aside from this, the extra switching event between the switching periods is also reduced by employing an appropriate carrier. In the ATI, the proposed method is explained by dividing fault into two conditions: the faulty condition of half-bridge switches, and NP switches. When OCF occurs at HB switches, a restriction of the time-offset is introduced during the ATI. While, if an OCF occurs at NP switches, the two-level modulation strategy is applied in the faulty phase during the ATI. Besides, the principle of carrier selection of the faulty phase is changed correspondingly to avoid the extra switching event. The performance of the fault-tolerant control with respect to the NP voltage balance and loss reduction is illustrated and verified by the simulation and experimental results.
Defining efficiency requires more fidelity

end of their shift. It is also worth noting that defining an ‘overrun’ as a finish time beyond 110% of the scheduled list duration, as Pandit et al. have, means that an 8 h list can continue for up to 48 min beyond its planned finish time before being classified as late running. If list overruns of this magnitude were accepted in our theatres on a regular basis organisational chaos would ensue! While we acknowledge that this paper enhances our understanding of the concept of theatre efficiency we question whether any formula which yields a single value can provide a satisfactory description of the effectiveness of an operating list. We certainly feel that their measure falls short of the requirements for an effective Key Performance Indicator of operating theatre efficiency and would caution against its premature adoption without more rigorous testing in a wider range of clinical scenarios.
Diversification, Bank Risk, and Efficiency on Sharia Banking in Indonesia

The study aims to analyze the effect of asset diversification, bank risk, and bank size moderated by the ownership structure and board of Commissioners on the level of efficiency in Sharia banking in Indonesia. The study was conducted on 13 Sharia banks with the observation period in 2010-2017. The results of this study found that diversification moderated by ownership structures and the diversification moderated by Shariah Supervisory Boards had no significant influence on bank efficiency, while bank risk measured with NPF ratio (non-performing Finance) had a significant negative influence on the bank's level of efficiency, and the bank's total size of the asset had a significant positive influence on the efficiency rate of Sharia banking in Indonesia. R-Square, with a value of 28.65 percent signifies that dependent variables in the study contributed to the efficiency of the bank by 28.65 percent.
Innate lymphoid-macrophage crosstalk promotes lung cancer regression in response to IL-12 therapy

The ability of IL-12 to affect both innate and adaptive immunity positions this cytokine as a promising candidate to overcome the immunosuppressive microenvironment within tumours. Despite its potent activity in experimental models, the clinical use of IL 12 has been thwarted by its reported toxicity in human trials. Intranasal administration of an IL-12-coding lentivirus efficiently transduced alveolar macrophages in tumour-bearing mice, restricting IL-12 expression to the lung parenchyma and promoting rejection of established lung metastases. IL-12 stimulated IFNγ production by innate lymphoid cells (ILC), inducing the activation of interstitial macrophages, whose presence was essential for tumour eradication. These data demonstrates the potent anti tumour activity of local lentiviral IL-12 therapy against metastatic disease in the lung and the critical role played by the innate crosstalk established between ILCs and tissue resident phagocytes within the lung microenvironment.
Multi-Scale Feature Fusion Convolutional Neural Network for Concurrent Segmentation of Left Ventricle and Myocardium in Cardiac MR Images

Accurate segmentation of the blood pool of left ventricle (LV) and myocardium (or left ventricular epicardium, MYO) from cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) can help doctors to quantify LV ejection fraction and myocardial deformation. To reduce doctor’s burden of manual segmentation, in this study, we propose an automated and concurrent segmentation method of the LV and MYO. First, we employ a convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture to extract the region of interest (ROI) from short-axis cardiac cine MR images as a preprocessing step. Next, we present a multi-scale feature fusion (MSFF) CNN with a new weighted Dice index (WDI) loss function to get the concurrent segmentation of the LV and MYO. We use MSFF modules with three scales to extract different features, and then concatenate feature maps by the short and long skip connections in the encoder and decoder path to capture more complete context information and geometry structure for better segmentation. Finally, we compare the proposed method with Fully Convolutional Networks (FCN) and U-Net on the combined cardiac datasets from MICCAI 2009 and ACDC 2017. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method could perform effectively on LV and MYOs segmentation in the combined datasets, indicating its potential for clinical application.
How strong are Malawi’s family planning programs for adolescent and adult women? Results of a national assessment of implementation strength conducted by Malawi’s National Evaluation Platform

Background To assess the strength of implementation of family planning programs targeting youth (15-24) in Malawi with a specific focus on youth and the Youth-Friendly Health Services program Methods We conducted 9781 mobile phone interviews with facility in-Charge Nurses and health workers (health facility workers, health surveillance assistants [HSAs] and community-based distribution agent [CBDAs]) who provide family planning (FP) services across the 28 districts. Responses were entered in tablet using Open Data Kit. They were summarized and presented using R, Stata (College Station, TX, USA, StatsReport, JHU, Baltimore, MD, USA) and ArcView GIS (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA). Results Availability of key products was a challenge across all health worker types as only 39% of health facilities, 29% of HSAs and 45% of CBDAs had all the FP methods they are supposed to provide on the day of the interview. About 50% of health workers were supervised within past 90 days preceding the study. Despite most facilities saying that they provide youth friendly health services, youth-specific FP guidelines or protocols were not available in 43% of facilities that provide these services and only 33% of facilities had special rooms and 58% have special days for youth. Conclusions The commodity supply system needs to ensure that all facilities and workers have a consistent supply of all contraceptive methods. Government and program implementers should ensure availability of all FP guidelines and information, education, communication materials at all service delivery points and facilitate creation of special rooms or days for youth.
Heterogeneity of proteome dynamics between connective tissue phases of adult tendon

Maintenance of connective tissue integrity is fundamental to sustain function, requiring protein turnover to repair damaged tissue. However, connective tissue proteome dynamics remain largely undefined, as do differences in turnover rates of individual proteins in the collagen and glycoprotein phases of connective tissue extracellular matrix (ECM). Here, we investigate proteome dynamics in the collagen and glycoprotein phases of connective tissues by exploiting the spatially distinct fascicular (collagen-rich) and interfascicular (glycoprotein-rich) ECM phases of tendon. Using isotope labelling, mass spectrometry and bioinformatics, we calculate turnover rates of individual proteins within rat Achilles tendon and its ECM phases. Our results demonstrate complex proteome dynamics in tendon, with ~1000-fold differences in protein turnover rates, and overall faster protein turnover within the glycoprotein-rich interfascicular matrix compared to the collagen-rich fascicular matrix. These data provide insights into the complexity of proteome dynamics in tendon, likely required to maintain tissue homeostasis.