Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“Turning mirrors into windows”: A study of participatory dynamic simulation modelling to inform health policy decisions

Background: Evidence-informed decision-making is essential to ensure that health programs and services are effective and offer value for money; however, barriers to the use of evidence persist. Emerging systems science approaches and advances in technology are providing new methods and tools to facilitate evidence-based decision-making. Simulation modelling offers a unique tool for synthesising and leveraging existing evidence, data and expert local knowledge to examine, in a robust, low risk and low cost way, the likely impact of alternative policy and service provision scenarios. This case study will evaluate participatory simulation modelling to inform the prevention and management of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The risks associated with GDM are well recognised; however, debate remains regarding diagnostic thresholds and whether screening and treatment to reduce maternal glucose levels reduce the associated risks. A diagnosis of GDM may provide a leverage point for multidisciplinary lifestyle modification interventions. This research will apply and evaluate a simulation modelling approach to understand the complex interrelation of factors that drive GDM rates, test options for screening and interventions, and optimise the use of evidence to inform policy and program decision-making. Methods/Design: The study design will use mixed methods to achieve the objectives. Policy, clinical practice and research experts will work collaboratively to develop, test and validate a simulation model of GDM in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The model will be applied to support evidence-informed policy dialogues with diverse stakeholders for the management of GDM in the ACT. Qualitative methods will be used to evaluate simulation modelling as an evidence synthesis tool to support evidence-based decision-making. Interviews and analysis of workshop recordings will focus on the participants’ engagement in the modelling process; perceived value of the participatory process, perceived commitment, influence and confidence of stakeholders in implementing policy and program decisions identified in the modelling process; and the impact of the process in terms of policy and program change. Discussion: The study will generate empirical evidence on the feasibility and potential value of simulation modelling to support knowledge mobilisation and consensus building in health settings.
Infrastructure Investment as a Panacea for Sustainable Economic Growth in Nigeria: A Granger Causality Tests Analysis

This paper employed Granger causality tests amid infrastructure spending, economic growth, and employment in Nigeria for the period 1960-2017 using vector autoregression (VAR) model. The result showed a strong causality between infrastructure investment and economic growth in Nigeria. Findings of the study shows a strong underlying relationship between e infrastructure investment and job creation. Economic growth seems to be the key drivers of government jobs and that the private sector jobs drives growth, however, public jobs have not been able to translates into additional jobs in the economy. The bounds test results specify the presence of long-run equilibrium relationship between infrastructure investment, economic growth, job creation and output thereby providing a theoretical underpinning for the empirical results.
Neuropeptides in cnidarians1

Cnidarians are the lowest animal group having a nervous system. In the primitive nervous systems of cnidarians, peptides play important roles as neurotransmitters or neurohormones. So far, we have isolated and sequenced about 35 neuropeptides from different cnidarian classes (Hydrozoa, Scyphozoa, Anthozoa). All these neuropeptides have a C-terminal amide group, which protects against C-terminal degradation, but which also is important for receptor recognition. Also the N-termini of the cnidarian neuropeptides often contain different kinds of protecting groups (such as <Glu residues, L-3-phenyllactyl groups, and X-Pro or X-Pro-Pro sequences). Cnidarian neuropeptides are located in neuronal dense-core vesicles and are synthesized as preprohormones, which can contain up to 41 copies of a neuropeptide sequence. From Hydra, six different neuropeptide genes have been cloned so far. Each gene is expressed by a specific population of neurons, but in two instances coexpression of neuropeptide genes has been found. We have also cloned some of the cnidarian prohormone processing enzymes, among them the enzymes necessary for C-terminal amidation. These enzymes are closely related to their mammalian counterparts. All these data show that the primitive nervous systems of cnidarians have already acquired some of the sophisticated principles that we know from higher animals. Résumé : Les cnidaires sont les animaux les plus primitifs à posséder un système nerveux. Dans les systèmes nerveux des cnidaires, les peptides jouent un rôle important comme neurotransmetteurs ou comme neurohormones. À ce jour, environ 35 neuropeptides différents provenant des différentes classes de cnidaires (hydrozoaires, scyphozoaires et anthozoaires) ont été isolés et soumis au séquençage. Tous ces neuropeptides ont un C-terminal avec un groupe amide qui protège de la dégradation le C-terminal, mais qui permet aussi la reconnaissance des récepteurs. De plus, les terminaisons en N des neuropeptides des cnidaires contiennent souvent divers types de groupes protecteurs (résidus de <Glu, groupes L-3-phényllactyle, séquences X-Pro et X-Pro-Pro). Les neuropeptides des cnidaires se trouvent dans des vésicules nerveuses à centre opaque et sont synthétisés sous forme de préprohormones pouvant contenir jusqu’à 41 copies d’une séquence de neuropeptide. Chez Hydra, six gènes différents de neuropeptides ont été clonés à ce jour. Chaque gène s’exprime par une population spécifique de neurones, mais, en deux cas, nous avons observé la coexpression de gènes de neuropeptides. Nous avons également cloné certains enzymes de cnidaires qui interviennent dans la synthèse de la prohormone, dont les enzymes nécessaires à l’amidation du C-terminal. Ces enzymes sont très semblables à leurs équivalents chez les mammifères. L’ensemble de ces données démontre que les systèmes nerveux primitifs des cnidaires ont déjà acquis certains des principes sophistiqués que l’on trouve chez les animaux supérieurs. [Traduit par la Rédaction] Grimmelikhuijzen et al. 1702
Influence of Two Varieties of Broad Bean and Beauveria bassiana (Blas) on Aphis fabae scop. Under Field Conditions

Black bean aphid (Aphis fabae scop.), belongs to order Hemiptera and family Aphididae, is one of the important pests of the Fabaceae family. Beauveria bassiana is an important biocontrol agent to replace chemical insecticides. Therefore, in this research, two different varieties of broad bean with three different concentrations of B. bassiana were investigated on adults of fabae aphids under field conditions. After 3, 5, 7, and 14 days, the effect of the B. bassiana on the population of aphids was measured. The local variety was found to be more sensitive to the aphids compare with the Spain variety. In the high concentration (108 spores/ml), 80% mortality was obtained with B. bassiana in day 3 with local variety; then mortality increased after 5, 7, and 14 days of measuring the population of the adults. Mortality declined with the decrease in concentrations. The Spain variety was found to be resistance because fewer aphids were recorded compared to the local variety. In the highest concentration and day 14, mortality was 100%. The achieved results showed that B. bassiana can be used as a potential biocontrol agent for the management of black bean aphid in the fields.
Re-examining the Technology Acceptance Model from stakeholders’ management perspective in health sector

Limited implementation and low acceptance of health technologies are the common issues in the National Health Service (NHS), which impacts on the efficiency of organization and quality of the service. Previous research focused on the development and evaluation of models that could help predict the technology adoption and improve the usage of the technology in NHS. Technology Acceptance Models (TAMs) are intensively researched in the last 30 years to solve the above issues. However, there is still a need for exploring the additional and overlooked factors that impact on the acceptance of health technologies in NHS. This paper explores the literature and compares the limitations and impracticality of the existing TAM in the Healthcare sector. As a result, the paper contributes TAM literature by developing an enhanced TAM that integrates TAM and stakeholder management approach, which provides a more comprehensive approach to predict the actual use of health technologies in the NHS.
The Relationship between Saving and Investment: The Case of Saudi Arabia

It is an attempt to investigate the relationship between saving and investment and the mechanism of the way they influence the economic growth. It is very vital to study such causality to help policy makers setting out appropriate economic policies. It is taking us too long to come up with the results because of the lack of data, and the complexity of how saving and investment defined in case of Saudi economy. The results show that there is a bidirectional granger causality between private saving and private GDP, and unidirectional causality running from private saving to private investment. However, there is an ambiguous relationship missing between investment and economic growth at both aggregate and private levels. Finally, although this study shows the directional of causality between the three considered variables, the study could not catch up the magnitude of the impact of these variables on each other.
Effect of Ultrasonic Pre-treatment on the Formation of DDR3 Zeolites as Adsorbent of Carbon Dioxide Capture By

iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT . iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background of Study . 1 1.2 Problem Statement . 4 1.3 Objectives and Scope of Study . 4 1.4 Relevancy and Feasibility of Project . 4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW . 5 2.1 Importance of carbon dioxide removal . 5 2.2 Existing technology in CO2 removal . 6 2.3 Zeolites and DDR3 Type zeolite . 7 2.4 Comparison between other adsorbents and DDR3 zeolites . 9 2.5 Synthesis of DDR particles . 11 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY . 16 3.1 Research Methodology . 16 3.2 Experimental . 17 3.2.1 Synthesis of DDR3 zeolite seeds . 17 3.3 Characterization Study . 21 3.4 CO2 Physisorption Testing . 21 3.5 Project Activities . 21 3.5.1 Availability of chemicals . 22 vi 3.5.2 Availability of apparatus/equipment. 22 3.5. 3 Time Management . 23 3.6 Key milestone . 24 3.7 Gantt Chart . 25 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION . 27 4.1 X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) . 27 4.2 Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) . 32 4.3 Fourier Transformed Infared (FTIR) . 34 4.4 CO2 Adsorption Capability (BELSORP) . 36 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION . 39 5.1 CONCLUSION . 39 5.2 RECOMMENDATION AND FUTURE WORK . 41 REFERENCES . 42
Transfer Learning for Detecting Question Similarity between Stack Overflow Posts by Victor Wing-chuen KWAN

Developers often come to Stack Overflow to seek help about their programming problems. However, the technicality of the content makes the task of relevant question retrieval especially difficult. Drawing from a wide pool of natural language processing techniques, we devise a deep neural network model for question similarity that attempts to learn the semantic relationships between Stack Overflow questions using the titles and tags of posts. We additionally build around the idea of pretraining against a Quora dataset for added robustness against the noisy Stack Overflow dataset. Our contributions include an effective model for question similarity that leverages transfer learning for added robustness; a study into how the model components contribute towards model performance; and a study into the transferability of knowledge between the Quora and Stack Overflow domains.
Surgical treatment of acute patellar dislocation associated with bony avulsion in children

Purpose: The management of acute patellar dislocation in children and adolescents is controversial. Traditionally, most first–time traumatic patellar dislocations have been treated nonoperatively. However, due to new knowledge about medial patellar stabilizers some authors have advocated for surgical repair. The present report describes the mid–term subjective and functional results of operative treatment of acute patellar dislocation in children less than eighteen years of age with concomitant osteochondral fracture. Methods: Data on a cohort of sixteen patients (eight girls and eight boys) aged 14.9 years (mean, range 12–17 years) with acute patellar dislocation were retrospectively collected. Intraarticular fragments were detected in all patients in conventional radiographs. Operative treatment consisted of arthroscopic removal (12 cases) or refixation (4 cases) of the osteochondral fragments and direct repair of the damaged medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) if that was still feasible (13 cases). All patients were seen at six months, and a telephone interview with twelve patients (75%) was conducted at four years (mean, range 2–7 years). Results: Of the sixteen patients, two (12.5%) had a recurrent patellar luxation. The subjective IKDC score at the time of the most recent follow–up was 86 (mean, range 63–100), and the Marx Activity Rating Scale score was 9.2 (mean, range 2–16). Conclusions: Direct surgical repair of the injured MPFL may be considered an option to prevent subsequent dislocation and subluxation in first–time traumatic dislocation of the patella in children and adolescents with osteochondral fractures and substantial disruption of medial patellar stabilizers.
Development of the University Health Index to Examine the Interface between Campus Environment and Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Weight in College Students

Since many adolescents experience the transition to young adulthood in college, the university health environment could play a significant role in addressing the current rise in chronic disease and obesity epidemic. The University Health Index for Nutrition and Physical Activity (UHI) tool, guided by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) K-12 School Health Index, was developed to evaluate the associations between the university health environment and student health outcomes related to nutrition, physical activity, and weight. Several studies were conducted to examine what university characteristics are most strongly associated with college student health habits related to weight, nutrition, and physical activity behaviors. These studies culminated in a study to develop and validate the UHI. A request soliciting participation in the completion of the UHI was posted on the American College Health Association (ACHA) listserve. The final dataset used for analysis included 13 universities (N = 19) with a total of 9,460 National College Health Assessment (NCHA) student participants. Data were analyzed using Mixed-effects REML regression model adjusting for clustering effects, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05 and trends set a p < 0.10. Data were analyzed to determine associations between the total UHI score, individual module scores, and individual components of each module with student outcomes from the NCHA data (fruit/vegetable intake per day, days per week of aerobic and strength physical activity, and body mass index: BMI; kg/m calculated from self-reported height and weight). Total UHI score was not significantly associated with outcome variables related to BMI, nutrition, or physical activity. The total health promotion module, however, was associated with vigorous physical activity (coefficient = 0.095; SE = 0.048; p = 0.046) and the built environment was associated with moderate physical activity (coefficient = 0.029; SE = 0.017; p = 0.096) and with high fruit and vegetable intake (coefficient = 0.021; SE = 0.011; p = 0.061). Individual questions related to recreational sports and fitness and nutrition and/or weight management counseling were associated with outcome variables as well. Measures for physical
Aplicaciones móviles en salud: potencial, normativa de seguridad y regulación

El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar las implicaciones y el potencial de lo que se ha denominado salud movil o mHealth, asi como revisar las normativas y regulaciones sobre seguridad desarrolladas por aplicaciones moviles en salud. Entendemos por seguridad movil, la capacidad de hacer un uso confiable de una aplicacion movil, en terminos de rendimiento, medicion adecuada y privacidad de los datos. El uso de las tecnologias moviles para apoyar el logro de los objetivos de salud tiene el potencial de transformar la prestacion de servicios de salud en todo el mundo. Esto incluye rapidos avances en el ambito tecnologico y el crecimiento exponencial de las aplicaciones moviles, lo que conlleva nuevas oportunidades para la integracion de la salud movil en los servicios sanitarios. Sin embargo, la calidad de estas apps es muy variable, tanto en contenidos como en funcionalidades. Muchas de ellas son de dudosa fiabilidad y la mayoria no estan integradas en el sistema sanitario. Este crecimiento desordenado hace necesario establecer mecanismos de regulacion que garanticen que estas aplicaciones se utilicen con seguridad. En este documento se analizan los esfuerzos de regulacion a nivel internacional, regional y nacional (Espana) de las aplicaciones moviles sobre salud, tanto para uso profesional como para el uso por parte de pacientes, y otras aplicaciones orientadas hacia la prevencion y los habitos saludables. Tras un analisis de las normativas de salud mas destacadas en el ambito, se observa que algunas de las aplicaciones que son consideradas como seguras por parte de algunos organismos reguladores, no superan algunos de los tests de seguridad movil, tales como Open Web Application Security Project, por lo cual se recomienda la existencia de medidas que minimicen los posibles riesgos del uso de aplicaciones moviles en salud.
Mortality after Metastatic Breast Cancer: Co-morbidity as a Mediator of Age on Survival, and Delays in Treatment for Breast Cancer Metastasis

Patients with breast cancer metastases have very poor survival. Delays in the initiation of breast cancer treatment may adversely affect survival. Comorbid illness is more common in older women. Comorbid illness may explain effects of age on metastatic breast cancer survival outcomes. Comorbid illness may affect treatment delay.The purpose of the present study was to 1) identify factors related to survival following metastatic breast cancer diagnosis, 2) assess the impact of delay in treatment on survival while controlling for immortal time bias, and 3) evaluate the role of comorbidity as a mediator of survival disparity between younger (≤ 51 years) and older (> 51 years) patients.A total of 557 patients with the initial breast cancer metastasis diagnosis have been followed up between January 1, 1999 and June 30, 2008. Prognostic factors and outcomes of these patients were analyzed using log-rank test and Cox regression model, demonstrating that hypertension, ER/PR, HER2 status, number of metastatic sites, and BMI at metastatic breast cancer diagnosis were the most relevant prognostic factors for survival. Backward stepwise selection of covariates was conducted among 553 patients and showed that treatment delays of > 12 weeks had a marginal impact on poor survival (HR 1.76, 95% CI 0.99-3.13). Moreover, the interval of 12-24 weeks, compared to the interval of 4-12 week was a prognostic factor for survival from first treatment (HR 2.39, 95% CI 1.19-4.77). To assess comorbidity variable as a mediator of age-survival relationship among 553 patients, we applied two approaches: 1) Baron Kenny approach, and 2) alternative assessment to compute the percentage change in the HRs. Hypertension was related to survival (HR 1.45, 95% CI 1.12-1.89) and hypertension augmented Charlson comorbidity score (hCCS) explained survival disparity between young and old patients by 44% compared to 40 % of hypertension and 14% of the Charlson comorbidity score (CCS). Looking for opportunities to improve public health, the present study identifies modifiable factors associated with variable outcomes after diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer.
Real-time alignment and reconstruction in Run 2 and its performance at the LHCb experiment

[2] Adam Davis. Search for Mixing and Charge Parity Violation in Neutral Charm Mesons through Semileptonic B Meson Decay. PhD thesis, 2016-07-21. [3] R. Aaij et al. Measurement of D–D 0 mixing parameters and search for CP violation using D ! K⇡ decays. Phys. Rev. Lett. , 111:251801, 2013. [4] John F. Donoghue, Eugene Golowich, Barry R. Holstein, and Josip Trampetic. Dispersive E↵ects in D anti-D Mixing. Phys. Rev., D33:179, 1986. [5] Adam F. Falk, Yuval Grossman, Zoltan Ligeti, and Alexey A. Petrov. SU(3) breaking and D–D 0 mixing. Phys. Rev. D, 65:054034, Feb 2002.
Link-Based Characterization and Detection of Web Spam

We perform a statistical analysis of a large collection of Web pages, focusing on spam detection. We study several metrics such as degree correlations, number of neighbors, rank propagation through links, TrustRank and others to build several automatic web spam classiers. This paper presents a study of the performance of each of these classiers alone, as well as their combined performance. Using this approach we are able to detect 80.4% of the Web spam in our sample, with only 1.1% of false positives.
Lognormal modelling for the prediction of long-term survival rates from short-term follow-up data

Mathematical modelling is widely used and in terms of health is, for example, associated with predictions of the incidence of leukaemia and solid cancers in the surviving Japanese population after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs and in the exposed populations after the Chernobyl accident. In addition, for Chernobyl, modelling is used to predict the radiation risk of thyroid cancer incidence among emergency accident workers, with BEIR [1] for instance, quoting an excess absolute risk of 1.25 per 104 person.year. Gy. The term model is also associated with multivariate analysis, such as the Cox proportional hazards model and the lognormal has also been used within the framework of a regression model for multivariate analysis, to study, for example, prognostic factors in breast cancer [2, 3, 4]. However, in the field of radiation oncology, mathematical modelling seems seldom to be employed apart from multivariate analysis regression models and the obvious example of radiobiological modelling for which oncologists will be familiar with the linear-quadratic model and the various attempts to use biological dose as distinct from physical dose [5]. It is largely forgotten that some 50 years ago, well be