Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and predictors of medication non-adherence among patients with multimorbidity: A systematic review protocol

Introduction: Patients with multimorbidity are expected to adhere to complex medication regimens in order to manage their multiple chronic conditions. It has been reported the likelihood of adherence decreases as patients are prescribed more medications. Much medication adherence research to date is dominated by a single-disease focus, which is at odds with the rising prevalence of multimorbidity and may artificially underestimate the complexity of managing chronic illness. This review aims to describe the prevalence of medication non-adherence among patients with multimorbidity, and to identify potential predictors of non-adherence in this population. Methods: A systematic review will be conducted and reported according to PRISMA guidelines. PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL and PsycINFO will be searched using a predefined search strategy from 2009–2019. Quantitative studies will be considered eligible for review if prevalence of medication non-adherence among adults with two or more chronic conditions is reported. Studies will be included in the review if available in English full text. Titles and abstracts will be screened by single review, with 20% of screening cross-checked by a second reviewer. Full-text articles will be screened by two independent reviewers, noting reasons for exclusions. Data extraction will be performed using a predefined extraction form. Quality and risk of bias assessment will be conducted using criteria for observational studies outlined by Sanderson et al. (2007). A narrative synthesis and, if feasible, meta-analysis will be conducted. Discussion: By exploring medication non-adherence from a multimorbidity perspective, the review aims to inform an evidence base for intervention development which accounts for the rising prevalence of patients with multiple chronic conditions. Study registration: The systematic review is prospectively registered in PROSPERO ( CRD42019133849); registered on 12 June 2019.
DYNAMICAL BEHAVIOR OF A STOCHASTIC FOOD CHAIN CHEMOSTAT MODEL WITH MONOD RESPONSE FUNCTIONS

This paper studies a food chain chemostat model with Monod response functions, which is perturbed by white noise. Firstly, we prove the existence and uniqueness of the global positive solution. Then sufficient conditions for the existence of a unique ergodic stationary distribution are established by constructing suitable Lyapunov functions. Moreover, we consider the extinction of microbes in two cases. In the first case, both the predator and prey species are extinct. In the second case, only the predator species is extinct, and the prey species survives. Finally, numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate the theoretical results.
Effects of Neuroactive Amino Acids Derivatives on Cardiac and Cerebral Mitochondria and Endothelial functions in Animals Exposed to Stress

Introduction: To study the effects of glufimet, a new derivative of glutamic acid, and phenibut, a derivative of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), on cardiac and cerebral mitochondria and endothelial functions in animals following exposure to stress and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibition. Methods: Rats suspended by their dorsal cervical skin fold for 24 hours served as the immobilization and pain stress model. Arterial blood pressure was determined using a non-invasive blood pressure monitor. Mitochondrial fraction of heart and brain homogenates were isolated by differential centrifugation and analysed for mitochondrial respiration intensity, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and antioxidant enzyme activity using polarographic method. The concentrations of nitric oxide (NO) terminal metabolites were measured using Griess reagent. Hemostasis indices were evaluated. Platelet aggregation was estimated using modified version of the Born method described by Gabbasov et al., 1989. Results: The present study demonstrated that stress leads to an elevated concentration of NO terminal metabolites and LPO products, decreased activity of antioxidant enzymes, reduced mitochondrial respiratory function, and endothelial dysfunction. Inhibition of iNOS by aminoguanidine had a protective effect. Phenibut and glufimet inhibited a rise in stress-induced nitric oxide production. This resulted in enhanced coupling of substrate peroxidation and ATP synthesis. The reduced LPO processes caused by glufimet and phenibut normalized the endothelial function which was proved by the absence of average daily blood pressure (BP) elevation episodes and a significant increase in platelet aggregation level. Conclusion: Glufimet and phenibut restrict the harmful effects of stress on the heart and brain possibly by modulating iNOS activity.
A TRAP DESIGN FOR CAFFURING INDIVIDUAL BIRDS AT THE NEST

--We describe traps designed for the trapping of particular individual parent birds during the nestling phase of the breeding cycle. These traps have been used successfully with large cup-nesting birds (egrets) and small cavil-nesting birds (House Sparrows). The common features shared include a dropping wire door that prevents escape and an electronic radio-release triggering mechanism that allows the researcher to control the precise moment of capture from a considerable distance away. The radio technology is modified from commercially available units developed for remote-control toy craft. The sparrow trap includes a mechanical motion-amplifier, adapted from a standard rat-trap. Both traps have been successfully field tested many dozens of times and currently result in captures on approximately 90% of attempts. UNA TRAMPA DISEi•ADA PARA CAPTURAR AVES DE FORMA INDIVIDUAL EN SUS
Assessing the Impact of the Current Financial and Economic Downturn on the Textile and Apparel Industry in Poland

Faculty of Organization and Management Lodz University of Technology ul. Żeromskiego 116, 90-924 Łódź, Poland E-mail: ppom@p.lodz. pl Abstract In the long run a company can outperform rivals only if it can identify and establish a difference that it can preserve; in the short and medium run managers need to respond to a changing environment to preserve its growth capacities and exploit opportunities. Both external and internal factors affect the financial standing of companies operating in the textile sector. The current, extended economic downturn is slowly changing the environment. Managers need to take that into account by making appropriate changes in strategy and operations. In this study the author provides an analysis of economic and financial changes and an assessment of their impact on Polish textile companies. The article focuses on managers’ response to current changes resulting from the financial crisis and on-going changes in increasingly competitive markets.
Analysis of the attitude to volunteering and donations to NGOs in Greece

This dissertation was written as part of the MSc in Management at the International Hellenic University. It is an attempt to analyze the issues of pertaining to civil society, non-governmental (NGO) and the movement of volunteerism in Greece, placing emphasis on the benefits of volunteering on a personal and collective level for volunteers and society, respectively. The challenges of effectiveness, funding and public engagement as faced by NGOs were also analyzed. The main objectives of the present work were to explore general perceptions about NGOs in Greece, identify needs and sectors perceived by the public as priorities for support by NGO action, examine the extent to which people in Greece volunteer and if not, the reasons limiting participation. Whether demographic characteristics affect the attitude of the individual with regards to volunteering was also investigated. Furthermore, selected organizations were presented in order to gauge public awareness of them despite their limited exposure to media, thus correlating media coverage to public support and perception of NGOs. In order to answer to the above questions, an online questionnaire survey was conducted as an attempt to capture public opinion. From a sample size of 116 respondents, answers were quantitatively analyzed with the use of MS Excel 2016 software. Results analysis showed that 36,2 % of the sample actively volunteered in the last 3 years and that gender, age and other demographics did not play a crucial role on how individual perceive NGOs. The general sentiment and perception of NGOs averaged a “fair” view of them – showing reluctance often seen in previous studies – while the need prioritized by respondents for support by NGOs was vulnerable social groups and children in need. Lack of time followed by skepticism about NGOs constitute the main reasons for people not being involved with volunteering actions, although 70,7% supports donating food and belongings to people in need through an NGO. Recommendations for raising awareness in schools so as to instill the values of solidarity and active support from a young age were made.
Protein For Life: Review of Optimal Protein Quantity, Distribution, Sustainable Sources and the Effect on Appetite in Ageing Adults

 Food-based solutions for healthy ageing requires consumer focus and collaboration between industry and academia. Protein For Life: Review of Optimal Protein Quantity, Distribution, Sustainable Sources and the Effect on Appetite in Ageing Adults. Marta Lonnie , Emma Hooker , Jeffrey M Brunstrom , Bernard M Corfe , Mark A Green , Anthony Watson , Elizabeth A Williams , Emma Stevenson , Simon Penson , Alexandra M Johnstone 1 *
Sketch-based Interac (cid:415) on and M odelling: Where do we stand?

Sketching is a natural and intui (cid:415) ve communica (cid:415) on tool used for expressing concepts or ideas which are di ﬃ cult to communicate through text or speech alone. Sketching is therefore used for a variety of purposes, from the expression of ideas on 2D physical media, to object crea (cid:415) on, manipula (cid:415) on or deforma (cid:415) on in 3D immersive environments. This variety in sketching ac (cid:415) vi (cid:415) es brings about a range of technologies which, while having similar scope, namely that of recording and interpre (cid:415) ng the sketch gesture to e ﬀ ect some interac (cid:415) on, adopt di ﬀ erent interpreta (cid:415) on approaches according to the environment in which the sketch is drawn. In ﬁ elds such as product design, sketches are drawn at various stages of the design process and therefore, designers would bene ﬁ t from sketch interpreta (cid:415) on technologies which support these di ﬀ ering interac (cid:415) ons. However, research typically focuses on one aspect of sketch interpreta (cid:415) on and modelling such that literature on available technologies is fragmented and dispersed. In this posi (cid:415) on paper, we bring together the relevant literature describing technologies which can support the product design industry, namely technologies which support the interpreta (cid:415) on of sketches drawn on 2D media, sketch-based search interac (cid:415) ons, as well as sketch gestures drawn in 3D media. This posi (cid:415) on paper therefore gives a holis (cid:415) c view of the algorithmic support that can be provided in the design process. In so doing, we highlight the research gaps and future research direc (cid:415) ons required to provide full sketch-based interac (cid:415) on support.
EFFECT OF CHICKEN MANURE AND GYPSUM ON SUGAR BEET (Beta vulgaris, VAR. SACCHARIFORA, L.) UNDER SALINE CONDITION

A plastic bags trial was conducted at the Agric. Experimental Station of Mansoura University using sandy soil to study the effect of chicken manure levels (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 tons/fed) and gypsum rates (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 tons/fed ) on nutrients uptake and yield of sugar beet plant irrigated with saline water. The experiment was conducted in a spilt plot design with three replicates during the two successive seasons 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 The Obtained results indicated that the yield of sugar beet roots increased significantly by adding chicken manure over the control. The highest level (20 tons/fed) gave 289.9 and 327.1 g/plant during first and second season, respectively. Also, the highest gypsum rate increased significantly root yield to be 307.15 and 341.77 g/plant during first and second season, respectively. Also, elements uptake such as N,P,K and Na were increased significantly over control due to supplying with either chicken manure or gypsum to a sandy soil. The same trend was found with the interaction effect of both treatments. Also, It could be recognized that chicken manure gave relatively higher increase in some characters than gypsum treatments. Data also revealed that root quality parameters such as SC%, TSS%, purity and sugar yield significantly increased with chicken manure over the control by 26.67% and 27.86 for TSS%, 18.96% and 18.74% for SC% and 77.39 and 79.98 g/plant for sugar yield in the 1 st and 2 nd season, respectively. Whereas, purity as a quality parameter significantly decreased with increasing chicken manure and gypsum treatments due to uneventually increasing for Sc% and TSS% which was not in a harmony which reflecting in decreasing purity. Generally, the interaction between chicken manure and gypsum revealed that the high rate of both chicken manure and gypsum treatments gave the highest root yield, elements uptake (N,P,K and Na) and sugar yield.
Characterizing the Volatility of Wholesale Electricity Spot Prices in Australia

Understanding the volatility dynamics of electricity markets is important in evaluating the deregulation experience and in pricing electricity futures. This paper introduced an approach to portray the volatility of electricity price. We first introduced the Integrated Volatility (IV) and Quadratic Variation (QR) theory to define the volatility. Based on the theories, two nonparametric methods, i.e. Classical Realized Volatility (RV) and Realized Bi-power Volatility (RBV) were adopted to respectively measure the electricity price volatility with half-hour resolution in High-Frequency (HF) environment, using historical data from Victoria, Australia. By comparing the characterizing performance, the RBV method exhibited more superior effect. Next, the paper separated the total volatility into jump and continuous components based on Z jump test and the distinct dynamics of the Jump Volatility (JV) and Continuous Volatility (CV) were also analyzed.
Copper (II) Oxide particles as Adsorbent for Removal of Alkali Blue; Isotherm and Kinetic Studies

Adsorption behaviour of copper (II) oxide particles (CuO-Ps) for the removal of Alkali Blue (AB) was studied. Different adsorption variables such as contact time, initial concentration and pH for the adsorption process were investigated by batch adsorption studies. FTIR was carried out to determine the functional groups present at the surface of the particle with functional groups such as –OH, C=C, C-H, C≡C detected. The percentage removal and optimum contact time for the removal of AB was 84.8% at 10 min. The experimental isotherms data were analyzed using Langmuir, Temkin, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherms and it was observed that AB fits closely to Langmuir with R value of 0.884. Kinetics studies shows that the adsorption process fits better to pseudo-second order with the experimental values of qe 4.242 been closer to the calculated values of the qe 4.108. Effect of pH shows that it adsorb better at the initial pH of 5.30. Lower value of mean square energy of 0.707 kJ/mol indicates that the adsorption process is physical. The results indicated that copper (II) oxide particle can be used as a low-cost adsorbent for the removal of AB from aqueous solutions.
A study of sexual related determinants and marital quality among married couple in Malaysia

Divorce rate had been increasing dramatically in Malaysia over the past few years. One of the main reason was low level of marital quality. Hence, present study determined to examine the mediation effects of sexual satisfaction on sexual desire and compatibility towards marital quality among married individuals in Malaysia. Moreover, this study also aimed to study the moderation effect of marriage length on sexual satisfaction towards marital quality among married individuals in Malaysia. 302 participants who had registered under National Registration Department of Malaysia had participated our study. This study was a quantitative, cross-sectional, and also correlational study. Present study was using online survey method and purposive sampling methods to collect primary data. The results depicted that sexual satisfaction and compatibility significantly affected marital quality. Besides, results also showed that sexual satisfaction significantly mediated the effect of sexual desire and compatibility towards marital quality. However, results of this study indicated that the moderation effect of marriage length on sexual satisfaction towards marital quality was not significant. In a nutshell, marital counsellors and practitioners could put sexual discontentment or dissatisfaction as one of the reason that affected low marital quality of clients as sex-related behaviours or desires might be the factors that were affecting marital relationships of married couples in Malaysia.
Optimal control using sparse-matrix belief propagation

The optimal control framework is a mathematical formulation by means of which many decision making problems can be represented and solved by finding optimal policies or controls. We consider the class of optimal control problems that can be formulated as a probabilistic inference on a graphical model, known as KullbackLeibler (KL) control problems. In particular, we look at the recent progress on exploiting parallelisation facilitated by the graphics processing units (GPU) to solve such inference tasks, considering the recently introduced sparse-matrix belief propagation framework [1]. The sparse-matrix belief propagation algorithm was reported to deliver significant improvements in performance with respect to traditional loopy belief propagation, when tested on grid Markov random fields. We develop our approach in the context of the KL-stag hunt game, a multi-agent, grid-like game which shows two different behavior regimes [2]. We first describe how to transform the original problem into a pairwise Markov random field, amenable to inference using sparse-matrix belief propagation and, second, we perform an experimental evaluation. Our results show that the use of GPUs can bring notable performance improvements to the optimal control computations in the class of KL control problems. However, our results also suggest that the improvements of sparse-matrix belief propagation may be limited by the concrete form of the Markov random field factors, specially on models with high sparsity within a factor, and variables with high cardinality.
Effects of digital games on enhancing language learning in Tanzanian preschools

This paper presents the effects of using digital games on improving language learning in Tanzanian preschools. A gamified learning prototype system was developed for making alphabetical sound articulation more engaging and fun. The study was conducted with twelve preschools in Tanzania. The results revealed that preschoolers’ learning performance was improved when the game-based learning approach was incorporated into the sound articulation lesson. The findings inform educational stakeholders about the potential use of gamification in preschool education and propose ideas and means to standardize sound articulation and language learning to improve the overall quality of education.
The potential of elastic/polarization lidars to retrieve extinction profiles

Abstract. In this study we estimate the particle extinction profiles at Finokalia, Crete, using only the information provided by the elastic and polarization channels of a PollyXT lidar system. Most of the time Finokalia site is affected by only two aerosol types, i.e. marine and dust particles. These two aerosol types, having different optical properties, permit the separation of aerosol mixture. The proposed method uses the particle backscatter profiles at 532 nm and the vertically resolved particle linear depolarization ratio measurements at the same wavelength. The particle linear depolarization ratio and the lidar ratio values of pure aerosol types are taken from literature. The total extinction profile is then estimated and compared well with Raman retrievals. Any difference between the proposed methodology and Raman extinction profiles indicates that the non-dust component could be probably attributed to polluted marine or polluted continental aerosols. Comparison with sun-photometric aerosol optical depth observations is performed as well during daytime with reasonable differences between the two instruments. Differences in the total aerosol optical depth is attributed to the limited ability of the lidar to correctly represent the aerosol optical properties in the near range due to overlap problem.
Need-supportiveness and athlete well-being: Coaches' competence-support at risk in the elite sport context throughout the season

The aim of this study was to explore how coaches’ behaviour affected athletes’ well-being by examine: (a) the potential change in perceptions of need-support from the coach (over an academic year), and (b) the within-person relationship between the three aspects of need-supportiveness and subjective vitality at the end of the winter sport season. 102 youth elite student athletes completed ta questionnaire three times. Bayesian growth curve analyses showed that the levels of relatedness and autonomy support were stable and high throughout the year. In contrast, competence support decreased during the season. In addition, the results showed a credible positive within-person relationship between changes in all three facets of need-supportiveness from the coach and vitality measured at the end of the season which support SDT tenets. These findings indicate the importance of need-support for athletes' wellbeing, and that competence support needs extra attention in the elite sport context where the competence need is constantly challenged.
Analysis of Chemical Composition in Pork Longissimus Muscle of Latvian Breed Pigs

The aim of this study was to investigate the pork chemical composition (protein, intramuscular fat, cholesterol) and fatty acid composition (SFA, PUFA, MUFA) of the longissimus dorsi muscle of purebred Latvian White (Latvian Yorkshire) and crossbred Latvian Yorkshire and Landrace pigs selected from different herds. The average protein level in pork was 22.8 ±0.21 g 100 g -1 and average intramuscular fat (IMF) 5.6 ±0.62%. It was found that IMF in investigated meat samples was higher than the ideal level. The crossbred pigs produced meat with higher protein level (p < 0.05) and with less IMF (p < 0.05). The saturated fatty acid (SFA) range from 0.7 to 5.2 g 100 g -1 and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) range from 0.1 to 1.2 g 100 g -1. PUFA:SFA ratio of lean meat was 0.24 on average, which is less than the recommended minimum and did not exceed the value 0.4. The crossbred pigs meat contained significantly lower SFA with higher PUFA:SFA ratio (p < 0.05) compared to those of purebred pigs. Investigated pork samples contain higher level of omega-6 (n-6) and a small level of omega-3 (n-3) with evaluated n-6:n-3 ration 4:1 to 11:1. However, in our investigation were samples of pork in which the IMF was in the recommended range 2–3% and with higher protein and omega-3 level. In general, pork chemical and fatty acid composition depended on pigs genetic.