Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sleep Apnea Detection Using Multi-Lag Poincare Plot

The Poincare plot is a geometrical representation of RR time series to study heart rate dynamics. Analysis of Poincare plot with different lags provides insights into the autonomic control of the heart. In this research, various descriptors of points in the Poincare plot of RR time series reconstructed in 10 different lags are used for detecting sleep apnea. The Poincare plot of RR time series was reconstructed using ten different lags (1–10). Traditional (SD1, SD2, SD1/SD2, and SDNN) and advanced features (angle and the average of point's distances relative to the line of identity) were extracted for each lag. Four groups of 70 ECG recordings (three classes in the Apnea-ECG database and a class in the Normal Sinus Rhythm database from the Physionet database) were used to evaluate the new features and their application for apnea detection. The duration of all the recordings was 5 minutes. The classifier was trained on 80% of data as a train set, and the accuracy was evaluated on 20% of data as a test set. In the classification of three apnea classes from Normal Sinus Rhythm using six extracted features from Poincare plot in lag equal to one, random forest classifier led to the best AUC equal to 0.889 and 0.87 for 5-folds cross-validation and test set. The AUC of 0.906 and 0.87 were obtained by the XGBoost model using 60 extracted features from the Poincare plot in lag one to ten in 5-folds cross-validation and test set, respectively.
Heterogeneous Responses to Corporate Tax Rates: Evidence from Small and Large Firms∗

Do changes in the marginal tax rate of corporations affect their investment? Using unique data from US firms and a new measure of exogenous changes in marginal tax rate, we show that investment response of large firms to a marginal tax cut is almost twice the response of small firms. Consistent with small firms being more credit constrained, their new investment is financed almost entirely by debt whereas large firms use both internal cash and debt. Our findings are in line with the view that unconstrained firms are more responsive to marginal tax rate changes than to average tax changes. (JEL C32, C53, E62, G32, H32)
Compositional nutrient diagnosis in two oil palm genetic materials

Oil palm is a hybrid formed from different genetic materials, where different genetic varieties possibly have different nutritional demands. The O x G hybrid is supposed to need more nutrient than the Afriacana palm. The diagnosis of nutritional composition is made by the method of diagnosis of compositional nutrients, which uses nutritional standards in cormercia plantations, this method also supports the recommendation of fertilization. The objective was to generate standards for the diagnosis of nutritional composition (CND) in oil palm for N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S and B leaf and to perform diagnoses in tenera and interspecific hybrids (O x G). The CND and Sufficiency Ranges (FS) method was used in 240 samples of plantations in Pará, up to 6 years old, as well as data on the yield of dried fruit cluster (FFB) and chemical analysis of leaves for N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S and B. Oil palm plantations are located in the Moju municipality, in the north of the state of Pará. Reference values were obtained based on the multivariate relationships between CND indices and nutrients. Comparing leaf contents and degree of agreement (DA) with sufficiency ranges (SR). In both methods, the nutrient with the highest deficiency was S. The plots with tenera and O x G presented, respectively, more cases of B and S deficiency by CND. This method points out different nutritional needs among genetic materials, as well as may help better fertilization recommendations.
Factors Affecting On-Time Delivery in Large-Scale Agile Software Development

Late delivery of software projects and cost overruns have been common problems in the software industry for decades. Both problems are manifestations of deficiencies in effort estimation during project planning. With software projects being complex socio-technical systems, a large pool of factors can affect effort estimation and on-time delivery. To identify the most relevant factors and their interactions affecting schedule deviations in large-scale agile software development, we conducted a mixed-methods case study at ING: two rounds of surveys revealed a multitude of organizational, people, process, project and technical factors which were then quantified and statistically modeled using software repository data from 185 teams. We find that factors such as requirements refinement, task dependencies, organizational alignment and organizational politics are perceived to have the greatest impact on on-time delivery, whereas proxy measures such as project size, number of dependencies, historical delivery performance and team familiarity can help explain a large degree of schedule deviations. We also discover hierarchical interactions among factors: organizational factors are perceived to interact with people factors, which in turn impact technical factors. We compose our findings in the form of a conceptual framework representing influential factors and their relationships to on-time delivery. Our results can help practitioners identify and manage delay risks in agile settings, can inform the design of automated tools to predict schedule overruns and can contribute towards the development of a relational theory of software project management.
It is never too late to learn : the role of organizational support in older employees' learning

For last decades, lifelong-learning has been receiving growing attention as playing a crucial role in active ageing social policies. Due to numerous controversial research findings regarding older employees' continuous learning, our work focuses on comparing older vs. younger employees in terms of their motivation (willingness) to learn and outcomes that result from learning and training processes. Our results do not show statistically significant differences in learning results of both groups of employees, neither nor in general motivation for learning. However, the results show that older employees engage in learning less to fulfil their career goals and more to improve their work efficiency as well as facilitate knowledge transfer to the workplace. The crucial role of perceived organizational support for older employees' continuous learning and training at workplace is further discussed.
Dynamical Heart Beat Correlations During Complex Tasks - A Case Study in Automobile Driving

Driving is a complex task that is known to cause highly individual stress responses. Here we study heart rate variability (HRV) during automobile driving compared with being at rest. We focus on time-dependent variations in the scaling properties of the RR intervals by applying a newly developed dynamical detrended fluctuation analysis (DDFA). In particular, we study whether DDFA brings additional insights to the HRV analysis carried out by conventional measures in the time and frequency domain. We utilize the publicly available PhysioNet database for 16 drivers, whose ECG was recorded during 35–60 min of driving on public roads, preceded and followed by 15 min rest periods. The extracted RR intervals are then analyzed through the conventional HRV measures, followed by DDFA analysis that yields the time- and scale-dependent scaling exponents $\alpha(t, s)$. The temporal fidelity of the method permits accurate determination of distributions of $\alpha(t, s)$ in relatively short segments of data. We find that even when the HRV measures show clear differences between driving and being at rest, the subjects exhibit highly individual cardiac responses to the experiment. at the individual level, however, DDFA gives detailed information on the dynamic changes in HRV which are often hidden in the conventional measures.
The Expectance-Confirmation Model of IS Continuance: A Replication in a Scandinavian E-Bank Context

This paper investigates whether Bhattacherjee’s (2001) findings from his test of the Expectation-Confirmation Model of IS continuance in a consumer setting in USA, could be generalized to an equal consumer setting in Scandinavia. To address this issue, the paper starts with a brief description of the Expectation-Confirmation Model of IS continuance. Thereafter the paper describes the empirical approach in the present study. The result indicates that perceptions of benefits (perceived usefulness) may be the key factor to explain consumers’ continuance intentions, also in a different national context. In contrast to Bhattacherjee’s (2001) study, our Scandinavian study does not confirm a relationship between satisfaction and continued intention to use the technology.
Effect of Video Assisted Teaching Regarding Normal labour on Anxiety among Primi Parturient Mothers

Labour is an event that had a great psychological, social and emotional meaning for the mother and her family. Fear, stress and anxiety all have marked effects on labor progression and fetus, so mothers need education and support to alleviate anxiety. The study investigates the effect of video assisted teaching regarding normal labour on anxiety among primi parturient women. The study was conducted at El-Shohada MCH center. The research design was quasi-experimental. The sample size for the study was 50 primi parturient women. 25 of them were assigned to the study group and 25 to the control group. Using Zung self -rating scale as an instrument. The results showed that, there was a highly statistically significant difference between the study and the control groups only at the posttest level of anxiety where p >0.001. It is concluded that video assisted teaching was effective in reducing the anxiety of the primi parturient women in study group. It is recommended that video assisted teaching regarding normal labour should be a basic component of the antenatal care programs me for primi parturient women at MCH centers.
A method for predicting natriuretic peptides in congenital heart disease using support vector machine

Congenital heart disease (CHD) includes structural abnormalities of the heart that occur before birth. Congenital heart defects happen during the first eight weeks of the fetus development. CHD affected 0.8% of live births in the past few decades. The discovery of cardiac natriuretic peptides (NPs) such as ANP, BNP, CNP and research on their function and regulation in health and disease has led to breakthroughs in more profound understanding and clinical management of heart failure. Among NP properties are inhibition of cardiac remodeling. In cardiology, NPs are a valuable biomarker of heart failure. Studies investigating NP levels in the fetuses are quite limited. However, recent findings suggest that elevated NP levels are mainly attributed to increased central venous pressure secondary to arrhythmia caused by CHD. The features of ANP, BNP, and their related peptides in the umbilical cord blood and amniotic fluid provide a potential basis for their use as biomarkers. In our recent study we analyzed 182 natriuretic peptides obtained from the UniProt database to predict and classify these peptides using Support Vector Machine (SVM). The di-peptide amino acid composition model achieved an accuracy of 92.86%, with Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.86.
Dividend Taxes and the Allocation of Capital

This paper investigates the 2013 threefold increase in the French dividend tax rate. Using administrative data covering the universe of firms from 2008 to 2017 and a quasi-experimental setting, we find that firms swiftly cut dividend payments and used this tax-induced increase in liquidity to invest more. Heterogeneity analyses show that firms with high demand and returns on capital responded most while no group of firms cut their investment. Our results reject models in which higher dividend taxes increase the cost of capital and show that the tax-induced increase in liquidity relaxes credit constraints, which can reduce capital misallocation. (JEL D22, G31, G35, H25, H32)
Banking Service in Albania: Satisfied… from what?

Purpose-This article examines the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction from the banking service in Albania. Design/methodology/approach-For the realization of this study, the authors relied on primary data. The population, taken in the study, are the clients of a commercial bank operating in the city of Durrës. The questionnaire is structured with questions on a five-point psychometric scale, grouped for each dimension of quality and the dependent variable of customers' satisfaction. To prove the consistency of the indicators within each factor, the Cronbachs' alpha test was performed, while for the analysis of the functional relationships between the dimensions of service quality and customers' satisfaction, the correlations were tested and the Enter/Stepwise methods were used. The software used for data processing is SPSS V.21. Findings-Customers’ satisfaction for the sample taken in the study is dependent on two factors, assurance and responsiveness. Other factors do not directly affect customers’ satisfaction with banking services, but are statistically significant related to the independent variables included in the study. Originality/value-This paper tests previously found relationships, but the socio-economic developments, the level of financial culture, and the extent of banking sector in Albania, seem to affect consumers’ perceptions of quality and what makes them satisfied. Passing two major financial crises (pyramid schemes in 1997 and the 2008 financial crisis) with a poor financial culture, the Albanian customers expect a quality service in a service that makes them feel safe and is being offered specifically to their expectations.
Enhanced Oxygen Reduction Activity by Selective Anion Adsorption on Non-Precious-Metal Catalysts

Non-precious-metal catalysts (NPMC) are promising alternatives to platinum-based catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which is the cathode reaction in fuel cells. In this paper, we focus on an iron–nitrogen–carbon (Fe/N/C) catalyst, in comparison to platinum, and investigate how these different types of catalysts behave toward selective anion poisoning. The catalysts are studied with respect to their ORR activity, using the rotating disk electrode (RDE) technique in aqueous HClO4, H2SO4, H3PO4, and HCl electrolytes, and the results are supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We find that the ORR on the Fe/N/C catalyst is less affected by anion poisoning than platinum. Surprisingly, it is seen that phosphoric acid not only does not poison the Fe/N/C catalyst, but instead promotes the ORR; this finding is in sharp contrast to the poisoning effect observed on platinum. This is a highly important finding, as modern high-temperature proton exchange fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) employ.
Determination of water-yield basil function under deficit irrigation conditions and use of nano fertilizer

Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is one of the important aromatic plants belonging to the family Lamiaceae, which is used as an herb, spice as well as fresh vegetable.The present study was performed to determine the irrigation depth index under different management conditions with evaluating the effect of deficit irrigation, soil texture and nano fertilization on basil. The experiment was performed as a factorial based on randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 18 treatments and three replications at weather station, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Deficit irrigation treatments consisted of three levels of irrigation (I1=100% ETc), (I2=75% ETc), (I3=50%ETc) and three levels of nano fertilizers, containing nano fertilizer with full concentration (F1), 70% (F2), and nonusing of nano fertilizer (F3) were implemented in two light soil texture (S1) and medium soil texture (S2). The results showed that the average actual evapotranspiration estimation by REC-P55 device has been equal to 3.38 mm at the beginning .
Unsupervised Fetal Behavioral State Classification Using Non-Invasive Electrocardiographic Recordings

Understanding the Fetal Behavioral States (FBSes) is one of the ways to understand the fetal Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) maturation. This preliminary work aims to automatically classify FBSes using the unsupervised k-means clustering technique. Non-invasive electrocardiogram signals were recorded from 67 healthy fetuses with Gestational Age (GA) range of 20–40 weeks for a duration of 10 min. Features extracted from the original fetal Heart Rate (HR) and detrended HR are used to classify the FB-Ses. Results showed that during the early gestational period, the prominent state was 1F compared to other states and the least common state was 4F. The decrease in 1F frequency and the increase in 2F frequency in late gestation represent the coordination and overall maturation of the fetal ANS. Results showed that the k-means clustering algorithm had good overall performance and stronger classification ability with good Cohen's $k$ score. Unsupervised classification of FBSes based on electrocardiography data is possible. It is achievable to incorporate this algorithm into future devices for in depth understanding of fetal brain maturation and well-being.
Identification and Quantification of Phenolic Compounds and Bioactive Properties of Sorghum-cowpea-based Food Subjected to an In vitro Digestion Model

This work was carried out in collaboration between both authors. Author GD headed the project. Author OEA conducted the analysis and interpretation and drafted the manuscript. Author GD was involved in the early work and assisted with the interpretation of the results. Author OEA was in charge of data management. Both authors were involved in the critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript
A One‐Step Approach to the Synthesis of High Aspect Ratio Titania Nanoflakes

High aspect ratio TiO2 nanoflakes are synthesized by a one‐step modified surface hydrolysis method. Surface morphology and physical dimensions are characterized using scanning electron microscopy, laser diffraction analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. Microsized flakes having a thickness ≈40 nm are successfully synthesized by spreading an oil phase consisting of titanium tetraisopropoxide and a low surface tension hydrocarbon on the surface of water. Pure anatase phase crystalline titania nanoflakes are obtained by calcining at 400 °C without changing the shape and thickness of flakes. Relatively higher specific surface area (2–6 times) and less crystal defects enhance photocatalytic activities of nanoflakes due to more surface reaction sites and the suppression of fast recombination. By performing dye degradation under ultraviolet illumination, titania nanoflakes exhibit the higher photocatalytic efficiency over the commercial photocatalyst, Degussa P25. As far as it is known, this method is the most efficient and cost effective process for making low‐dimensional nanomaterials in a continuous manner. These titania flakes can be easily separated from the treated water by simply sedimentation or filtration and therefore is very suitable for water purification application.
TIME-COURSE EFFECTS OF LOW-LEVELS ARSENIC ON ELECTROLYTES AND LIPIDS IN MALE ALBINO RATS

his study was conducted to investigate the time-course effects of low levels of organic arsenic on electrolytes balance and lipid profiles in different organs of male rats. Animals were exposed to arsenic (As) as Dimethylarsenate (DMA) in their drinking water for 5, 10 and 15 weeks at doses 20 and 40 ppm. Lipids (Triacylglycerol (TAG), total cholesterol, phospholipids) and electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium) levels were determined in the hepatic, renal, brain and cardiac tissues of experimental animals. Potassium significantly (p<0.05) increased in the hepatic, renal and cardiac tissues after 5 weeks exposure to 40 ppm arsenic. Significant (p<0.05) increase observed in hepatocytes calcium level was shown to be dose-dependent. While there was no observed significant (p>0.05) difference in hepatic and renal magnesium after 15 weeks exposure, magnesium significantly altered in the brain and cardiac tissues after 15 weeks. TAG concentration in most of the organs studied was significantly (p<0.05) altered after 5 weeks exposure to 20 ppm arsenic. Phospholipids in the renal and hepatic tissues were also significantly (p<0.05) decreased after 15 weeks of exposure to As. However, only in the renal tissues was hypocholesterolemia observed in 40 ppm groups at 5, 10 and 15 weeks of exposure. Our findings indicate exposure to progressively low-levels arsenic can result in electrolytes imbalance and dyslipidemia in different organs in rats.
Topological relationships between perivascular spaces and progression of white matter hyperintensities: A pilot study in a sample of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Enlarged perivascular spaces (PVS) and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) are features of cerebral small vessel disease which can be seen in brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Given the associations and proposed mechanistic link between PVS and WMH, they are hypothesized to also have topological proximity. However, this and the influence of their spatial proximity on WMH progression are unknown. We analyzed longitudinal MRI data from 29 out of 32 participants (mean age at baseline = 71.9 years) in a longitudinal study of cognitive aging, from three waves of data collection at 3-year intervals, alongside semi-automatic segmentation masks for PVS and WMH, to assess relationships. The majority of deep WMH clusters were found adjacent to or enclosing PVS (waves−1: 77%; 2: 76%; 3: 69%), especially in frontal, parietal, and temporal regions. Of the WMH clusters in the deep white matter that increased between waves, most increased around PVS (waves−1–2: 73%; 2–3: 72%). Formal statistical comparisons of severity of each of these two SVD markers yielded no associations between deep WMH progression and PVS proximity. These findings may suggest some deep WMH clusters may form and grow around PVS, possibly reflecting the consequences of impaired interstitial fluid drainage via PVS. The utility of these relationships as predictors of WMH progression remains unclear.
Body fat volumes and distribution in chronic schizophrenia compared to healthy controls; a cross-sectional MR study

People with schizophrenia show higher risk for abdominal obesity than the general population, which could contribute to excess mortality. However, it is unclear whether this is driven by alterations in abdominal fat partitioning. Here, we test the hypothesis that individuals with schizophrenia show a higher proportion of visceral to total body fat measured using MRI. We recruited 38 patients with schizophrenia and 38 healthy controls matched on age, sex, ethnicity and body mass index. We found no significant difference in body fat distribution between groups, suggesting that increased abdominal obesity in schizophrenia is not associated with altered fat distribution.