Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Translation and validation study of the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS)among Malaysian college students

Due to the convenience and availability of internet in universities, internet use has become one of the most common methods of entertainment and studying for college students. However, using the internet excessively leading to internet addiction may result in negative consequences such as decline in academic performance, social isolation, and emotional disturbances Hence there is a real need to have a validated scale to address this issue. The aims of this study are to translate and validate the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) into Malay language (BM). Two forward and backward translations were done in BM, and its validation was determined by using confirmatory factor analysis. A total of 268 medical students were approached to represent Malaysian adult population for reliability and validity purposes. Reliability of the Malaysian version of Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) revealed excellent Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.89. Construct validity, evaluated using exploratory factor analysis, had good factor loadings for most of its 26 items except 4. These 4 items had been discussed thoroughly and few suggestions were highlighted. The Malaysian version of Chen Internet Addiction Scale is correctly and adequately translated to Bahasa Malaysia with high psychometric properties among the tested population. Further studies are needed to verify these preliminary outcomes especially for higher analysis such as confirmatory factor analysis to affirm the validity among Malaysian population
Shelf‐life of bank blood and stored plasma with special reference to coagulation factors

Whole blood and plasma drawn into plastic bags containing citrate‐phosphate‐dextrose (CPD) and stored at 4°C for various periods were studied for variations of coagulation factor and fibrinolytic activity. The blood was collected and processed in the conventional way. The most labile component, factor VIII coagulant activity, decreased to about 50 percent of its original value within the first 24 hours in whole blood, but thereafter, it decreased more slowly. Storage of whole blood for 6 hours at 4°C had an insignificant effect on VIII coagulant activity; an even slower decrease was found for factor VIII coagulant antigen. The major fall in VIII coagulant activity occurred between 6 and 24 hours of whole blood storage. Factor Vlll‐related antigen remained normal for about 1 week, but on further storage showed signs of proteolytic degradation.
The burden of HIV-related illness on outpatient health services in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract Health services in sub-Saharan Africa will be faced with increasing numbers of AIDS patients for many years to come. Where there is good availability of drugs and other resources, the costs of treating HIV/AIDS is likely to be higher than those of treating other types of illness. This will put services under strain and potentially jeopardise health system reform, depending on the vulnerability of the system. Whereas previous research has focussed on inpatients, this paper looks at the impact of HIV/AIDS on outpatient services in a district of South Africa. Through facility visits at various levels of care, data concerning HIV status and the costs of care was collected for all patients presenting over a set period of time. The proportion of patients presenting for HIV-related care ranged from 20.2 to 24.5%. The average costs of treating HIV-positive patients were significantly higher than those for non HIV patients at hospitals, with clinics not experiencing this difference due to the limited service provided. District hospitals spent the greatest proportion of direct patient care resources on treating HIV-related illness. In terms of outpatient care, this data suggests that district hospitals may require the most support in dealing with a rising number of AIDS patients.
Optimal Control for Energy Harvesting : Electrical Model and Measurements

The energy harvesting of piezo-electric devices is not simple nor straightforward. The complex internal structure of the device makes the AC-DC conversion too involved. The buck-boost topology showed to be effective in discontinuous mode providing a constant input impedance for small amount of power. In this paper a closed-loop optimal control algorithm to deal with any kind of electrical voltage input of a buck-boost converter is considered. This optimality yields a much bigger output power when compared to the case of non-optimal control. Application to piezo-electric devices is focused with the energy harvesting in mind, in this case the sudden drop of energy exhibited by the nature of the piezo-device is significantly mitigated by the optimal algorithm. Some simulations as well as comparisons with real measurements using a commercial piezo-electric device are presented along with conclusions and future work. Key–Words: Optimal Control, Energy Harvesting, Electrical Model, Piezo-Electric
F 1-1 体験メディアの構築に向けて:体験の記録・利用の技術動向 Towards Experience Medium : Technical Survey for Record and Utilization of Experiences 角 康之

我々人間には、感動や知識を他人と共有したいという本能 があるようだ。 これまでにも、知識や感動を伝え合うために、 本、新聞、ラジオ、テレビといった様々なメディアを利用して きた。 昨今のインターネットの普及は、瞬時に時空間を超えた コミュニケーションを可能にし、誰もが気軽に知識や感動を発 信できるようになった。 しかしこれらのメディアは、言語表現に大きく頼っている。 発信者は、基本的に自分の感動や知識を言語化する必要があ り、受信者は言語で表現された情報を解釈する必要がある。 し たがって、現在のメディア技術だけでは、発信者の感動が十分 に伝わらなかったり、知識が身に付かないという限界がある。 そこで近年、感動や知識の源泉である「体験」そのものを伝 達し合えるメディア技術、つまり、我々の五感に近い状態で体 験を記録・解釈し、共有と再利用を支援するための技術の開発 への興味が急速に高まっている [1, 2]。 筆者が気づいた範囲で も、以下に挙げたような学術活動が行われている。
PROTINFO: new algorithms for enhanced protein structure predictions

We describe new algorithms and modules for protein structure prediction available as part of the PROTINFO web server. The modules, comparative and de novo modelling, have significantly improved back-end algorithms that were rigorously evaluated at the sixth meeting on the Critical Assessment of Protein Structure Prediction methods. We were one of four server groups invited to make an oral presentation (only the best performing groups are asked to do so). These two modules allow a user to submit a protein sequence and return atomic coordinates representing the tertiary structure of that protein. The PROTINFO server is available at .
Variations in the emphasis of rural development programmes in the eu: the cases of Lithuania and Scotland

The idea for this article arose collaborating with researchers from EU countries within the 6th Framework project AGRIGRID. During the project it was noticed, that different EU countries have chosen different priorities, measures and budget allocation when preparing the National Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) for 2007–2013. The main aim of this paper is to review the implementation of rural development programmes in Lithuania and Scotland in the context of derived rural development priorities and existing key challenges of agriculture and rural areas. Following a comparison of the socio-economic indicators, strengths and weaknesses of the RDPs in both countries are explored. The results suggest that the differences in programme priorities are driven by socio-economic and bio-physical characteristics in Lithuania and Scotland. The analysis concludes with proposals for future amendments to the RDPs considering the specific circumstances and characteristics in the two case study countries.
Bridging the gap between public relations and investor relations : a survey among management students

In today's competitive and challenging South African organisational environment, investor relations (IR) is delegated to either the accounting or the corporate communication (Public Relations) department. Do accountants have the necessary communication skills, however? Conversely, few communication practitioners have a working knowledge of accounting. This indicates a definite gap in the market place for IR practitioners with an academic background in both these fields. The main objectives of this study were to understand the theoretical definitions of public relations (PR), financial communication, accounting and IR; to determine the perceptions of accounting and communication students regarding whose responsibility IR is; and to determine these students' opinions as to whether IR practitioners should have both accounting and communication knowledge. The study was a quantitative, formal, descriptive study conducted under field conditions. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among accounting sciences and communication management students to determine the differences in their opinions regarding whose responsibility IR should be and what knowledge and skills an IR practitioner should have. Using a k-sample chi-square test, it was determined that there was a significant difference in the perceptions of students regarding whose responsibility IR is. A one-way ANOVA test indicated that students' opinions do not differ significantly on the need for IR practitioners to have knowledge of both Accounting Sciences and Communication Management.
Association of kidney disease with obstructive sleep apnea in a population study of men.

STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Previous population studies of the association are sparse, conflicting and confined largely to studies of administrative data. METHODS Cross-sectional analysis in unselected participants of the Men Androgens Inflammation Lifestyle Environment and Stress (MAILES) study, aged >40 y. Renal data were available on 812 men without a prior OSA diagnosis who underwent full in-home polysomnography (Embletta X100) in 2010-2011. CKD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73m2 or eGFR≥60 and albuminuria (albumin creatinine ratio ≥3.0 mg/mmol). RESULTS CKD [10.5%, n=85 (Stage 1-3, 9.7%; Stage 4-5, 0.7%)] of predominantly mild severity showed significant associations with OSA (AHI≥10): odds ratio (OR)=1.9, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.02-3.5, severe OSA (AHI ≥30/h): OR=2.6, 95% CI:1.1-6.2, and respiratory related arousal index: ≥7.6/h OR=2.3, 95%CI: 1.1-4.7, but not measures of hypoxemia after adjustment for age, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, obesity, and NSAID use. There was no association of CKD with daytime sleepiness. In men with CKD, those with OSA were not significantly more likely to report symptoms (sleepiness, snoring, apneas) or be identified with the STOP OSA screening questionnaire, compared to men without OSA. CONCLUSIONS Predominantly mild CKD is associated with severe OSA and arousals. Further population studies examining the longitudinal relationship between CKD and OSA are warranted. Better methods are needed to identify OSA in CKD which may have few symptoms.
Self-similar scaling limits of non-increasing Markov chains

We study scaling limits of non-increasing Markov chains with values in the set of non-negative integers, under the assumption that the large jump events are rare and happen at rates that behave like a negative power of the current state. We show that the chain starting from n and appropriately rescaled, converges in distribution, as n → ∞, to a non-increasing self-similar Markov process. This convergence holds jointly with that of the rescaled absorption time to the time at which the self-similar Markov process reaches first 0. We discuss various applications to the study of random walks with a barrier, of the number of collisions in Λ-coalescents that do not descend from infinity and of non-consistent regenerative compositions. Further applications to the scaling limits of Markov branching trees are developed in the forthcoming paper [1 1].
Strategic Innovation Management on the Basis of Searching and Mining Press Releases

Press releases may contain a lot of information that is especially applicable in strategic innovation management: They contain up-to-date information by definition and thus may give hints to upcoming trends and techniques. They also tell a lot about the strategies of partners, customers, and, most of all, competitors. We analysed many of today’s existing press release search engines and identified a number of shortcomings: The query frontends do not provide enough flexibility with regards to search space restriction, the result lists presentation typically cannot be influenced by the user, and the ranking order stays often unclear. Press releases offer a number of features that make them useful for automatic handling but are widely ignored by today’s search engines: They are relatively homogenously structured and contain certain kinds of easy-extractable meta-data that can be utilized for use cases such as monitoring trends (date of publishing), discovering geographical competency clusters (author and address information), or identifying relations between companies (firm name mentioning). We describe the prototype of a new press release search engine that makes use of the above-mentioned meta-data and additionally offers sophisticated search features tailored to the needs of innovation professionals.
Polarimetric SAR data compensation for terrain azimuth slope variation

This paper addresses the problem of polarimetric SAR (POLSAR) data correction for changes in radar cross sections, which are caused by azimuth slopes. Most radiometric slope corrections remove slope effects to account for the effective scattering pixel area. However, few studies address the slope effect on the radar cross section as a function of polarization states. We propose two approaches to compensate for this azimuth slope effect for POLSAR data. In the first approach, the digital elevation model (DEM), obtained from interferometric SAR or from other means, is used to estimate orientation angles, and in the second approach, orientation angles are derived directly from the POLSAR data. We have developed three new methods to implement this second approach. One is based on the right-right and left-left circular polarizations, and the other two are based on Cloude's and Huynen's decompositions. The results are compared with the original polarization signature method using the DEM-generated orientation angles as the reference. POLSAR data is then compensated using the derived orientation angles. Significant changes were observed in many elements of the coherency matrix. The compensated POLSAR data should improve the accuracy of geophysical parameter estimation techniques. NASA/JPL AIRSAR data for an area in central California is used for illustration.
Early extubation after transthoracic oesophagectomy.

OBJECTIVES To assess patient outcome following transthoracic (Ivor-Lewis) oesophagectomy and the effects of epidural analgesia and early extubation compared with overnight sedation and ventilation. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING University teaching hospital, Hong Kong. SUBJECTS AND METHODS A retrospective review of patients undergoing oesophagectomy during two periods, 1990 to 1994 (n=65) and 1995 to 1998 (n=83), was completed. In the latter period, factors associated with early extubation were also evaluated. RESULTS Between 1990 and 1994, only three (4.6%) of 65 patients were extubated early compared with 34 (41.0%) of 83 patients between 1995 and 1998 (P<0.001). Comparing these two periods, there were no differences in respiratory complications or hospital mortality. In the period 1995 to 1998, more patients who were extubated early had received epidural analgesia (85% versus 41%, P<0.001). There were no differences between the early and late extubation groups in terms of respiratory complications and hospital mortality. Patients extubated early had shorter stays in the intensive care unit (1 versus 2 days, P=0.005). Epidural analgesia was an independent factor associated with early extubation (odds ratio=9.4; 95% confidence interval, 2.8-31.2). CONCLUSION After transthoracic oesophagectomy, early extubation is safe and can lead to a shorter stay in the intensive care unit. Epidural analgesia appears to facilitate early extubation.
Toward a smart mobility system: integrating electric vehicles within smart cities

Within the context of Smart Cities, Smart mobility aims at reducing road traffic, carbon emissions and total travel times of transportation tools. In this paper, we propose to investigate the capabilities of electric cars within the context of Smart Cities. We propose to reduce polluting gas emissions from road traffic in modern cities by integrating electric cars with other existent public transportation tools. Next, we focus on the related operational level of decision by studying a specific optimization problem which aims at reducing the total energy consumption of the proposed Smart mobility system. An iterated local search algorithm is proposed as a solution approach. The efficiency of our proposed Smart mobility option as well as our algorithmic approach is studied in a realistic Smart City context and is proven to yield good results.
Family, Poverty and Inequalities in Latin America and the Caribbean

This article adopts the concept of development as freedom and the relationship between income and capabilities to analyze and compare macroeconomic, demographic and poverty trends and inequalities in Latin American and the Caribbean countries, and the responses from governments to promote the inclusion of the poorest and marginalized population groups in development and policies. Differences in population structures indicate that poverty and gender, generational and race inequalities fragment societies. Policies oriented to reduce poverty have been implemented with a set of combined programs such as cash transfers articulated with actions in nutrition, health, education, day-care programs for poor children, civil registration and other programs to promote poverty reduction and the conciliation of domestic and work life for poor women and social protection. Some good practices are discussed, particularly in Brazil and Mexico. During the last 15 years, the Conditioned Cash Transfers programs raised public support and political consensus, guaranteeing continuity in their implementation, development and integration with other social protection programs. Currently there are 18 countries implementing such programs, covering approximately 25 million households and over 133 million people, representing 19% of the Latin American and Caribbean. Policies to reduce poverty, in combination with income distribution and social protection in nutrition, health, education, civil registration and day-care for children, have contributed to human development, and also promoted internal market of consumers, even in rural areas, mobilizing local economies and promoting the return of investments to development. Despite the economic crisis in 2008-2009, Latin America had a relatively good performance in the world economy, demonstrating that social and economic inclusion can be compatible with development. That positive balance is fundamental to guarantee the inclusion of rural, indigenous, women and youth in access to services, as well as to reducing poverty and inequalities in the region.
Reading comprehension on the Internet: Expanding our understanding of reading comprehension to encompass new literacies

The nature of literacy is rapidly changing as new technologies emerge (diSessa, 2000; Dresang & McClelland, 1999; Leu & Kinzer, 2000; Reinking, McKenna, Labbo, & Kieffer, 1998; Tapscott, 1998). "Today, the definition of literacy has expanded from traditional notions of reading and writing to include the ability to learn, comprehend, and interact with technology in a meaningful way" (Selfe cited in Pianfetti, 2001, p. 256). Electronic texts introduce new supports as well as new challenges that can have a great impact on an individual's ability to comprehend what he or she reads. The Internet, in particular, provides new text formats, new purposes for reading, and new ways to interact with information that can confuse and overwhelm people taught to extract meaning from only conventional print. Proficiency in the new literacies of the Internet will become essential to our students' literacy future (International Reading Association, 2001).
Excess heat utilisation in oil refineries – CCS and algae-based biofuels

The main objective of this thesis is to investigate two different concepts for CO2 mitigation, from a system perspective, in relation to the oil refining industry: CO2 capture and storage; and algae-based biofuels. For all these processes, process integration with an oil refinery is assumed. The oil refinery sector is a major emitter of CO2 and is responsible for 9% of the industrial emissions of CO2 worldwide. Oil refineries have large amounts of unused excess heat, which can be used to satisfy the heat demands of a CO2 capture plant, a land-based algal cultivation facility, or an algae-based biofuel process. The use of this excess heat significantly reduces the cost for CO2 capture, while an economic evaluation for algaebased biofuels has not been made. Since the amount of heat available from the oil refinery ́s processes increase with decreasing temperature in the stripper reboiler, it was investigated how much heat was available at different temperatures. It was also investigated how the decreased temperature would affect the heat demand of CO2 capture processes that use MEA or ammonia as the absorbent. The findings show that it is possible to capture more CO2 using excess heat when the temperature in the stripper reboiler is decreased. For the MEA process, the lower limit of the temperature interval investigated showed the maximum CO2 capture rate, while the ammonia process benefitted from a lower temperature than the standard temperature but showed maximal CO2 capture rate above the lower limit. These results are valid only when using excess heat to satisfy the entire heat demand. At the case study refinery, the available excess heat could satisfy between 28% and 50% of the heat demand of the MEA process when treating the flue gases from all chimneys, depending on the temperature in the stripper reboiler. This utilisation of excess heat represents a way to reduce significantly the costs for CCS in an oil refinery. Land-based cultivation of algae proved to be unsuitable for the utilisation of excess heat. Since the cultivation pond is exposed to wind, rain, and cold, the heat demand fluctuates strongly over the year, making the pond an unstable recipient of the excess heat. Three types of biofuel processes based on microalgae and macroalgae were investigated with respect to integration with the oil refinery. For the algae-based biofuel processes, heat integration and material integration combined to increase the efficiency of the system. When two different build margin technologies (with different CO2 emission factors) are employed for electricity production, macroalgae-based biofuel production appears to be the more robust process from the perspective of CO2 due to the lower electricity demands of the algal cultivation and harvesting phases.
Isoflurane Induces Coronary Steal in a Canine Model of Chronic Coronary Occlusion

The hypothesis that isoflurane causes coronary steal was investigated in a canine model of chronic coronary occlusion. An ameroid constrictor was implanted in dogs to stimulate the development of intercoronary collateral vessels. During an acute experiment 3–4 weeks following implantation, heart rate, mean arterial pressure, and total coronary flow were held constant, and flow distribution was measured with microspheres in the presence and absence of isoflurane. Contractile function of the collateral-dependent zone and myocardial lactate extraction were also measured. Isoflurane produced a decrease in collateral flow and a decrement in collateral zone contraction, while, at the same time, enhancing flow in the normally perfused zone. In a second series of animals, isoflurane was found to have effects similar to those of adenosine, an arteriolar dilator known to produce coronary steal. In contrast, neither halothane nor nitrous oxide caused flow alterations or dysfunction of the collateral-dependent zone.