Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Telemedicine Acceptability Among Patients of Primary Health Care Clinics in the Western Region, Saudi Arabia

Background Telemedicine has become increasingly important during recent years. Investigating the acceptability of telemedicine among patients is an important first step in adapting and maintaining the use of telemedicine and gaining the advantages of technologies in daily practice. Objective To measure the acceptability of telemedicine among the patients of primary health care centers (PHCC) using the Service User Technology Acceptability Questionnaire (SUTAQ) at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methods This cross-sectional study utilized a validated questionnaire in phone call interviews with patients of PHCC clinics. All patients who had a telemedicine visit at PHCC within the past month of data collection were eligible for inclusion. The SUTAQ tool was used to measure the acceptability of telemedicine technology. Results Out of 365 people selected for participation, 73.9% responded. The study found that the median age was 40 years old with an interquartile range of 30-52. The majority of participants were female (61.1%) and married (86.7%). The median total SUTAQ score was 4.3, out of a maximum score of 6. The medians for SUTAQ subscales were as follows: the perceived benefits score was 5.4, the privacy and discomfort score was 2.1, the health care personnel concerns score was 3, the satisfaction score was 5.7, and the kit as substitution score was 4.3. Patients who had not previously experienced telemedicine visits showed a higher score in “health care personnel concerns” (P-value=0.009), while first-time patients had a higher score in “kit as substitution” (P-value=0.006). Conclusion This study provided positive evidence that telemedicine is an acceptable service among PHCC patients. However, PHCC providers should prioritize patient education and awareness about telemedicine to improve utilization. Addressing privacy, discomfort, and personnel concerns could increase patient satisfaction. Future studies investigating telemedicine utilization can help in understanding its impact on clinical outcome.
Inferência em modelos de mistura via algoritmo EM estocástico modificado

RAUL, C. A. Inference on mixture models via modified stochastic EM algorithm. 2017. 83 p. Dissertação (Mestrado em Estatística – Interinstitucional de Pós-Graduação em Estatística) – Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos – SP, 2017. We present the topics and theory of Mixture Models in a context of maximum likelihood and Bayesian inferece. We approach clustering methods in both contexts, with emphasis on the stochastic EM algorithm and the Dirichlet Process Mixture Model. We propose a new method, a modified stochastic EM algorithm, which can be used to estimate the parameters of a mixture model and the number of components.
Tamil Schoolteachers' Knowledge Competency on Implementing Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration and Communication Skills in Classroom Learning

The Ministry of Education has implemented a 21 st century learning approach to prepare Malaysian students for global competition in higher education and future employment. This shift to 21 st century learning has created uncertainty among Tamil schoolteachers, who are accustomed to the conventional education system centered on teacher-led learning and examinations. This research aims to identify the essential knowledge elements required by Tamil schoolteachers to implement the 4C (Critical thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, and Communication) precisely in classroom learning. A qualitative research approach, specifically a Multiple Case Study design, was chosen to conduct the research with a total of nine participants. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, document analyses, and micro-teaching video analysis, and thematically analyzed and triangulated. The findings indicate that teachers require four types of knowledge to effectively implement the 4C in the classroom: pedagogical knowledge, technological knowledge, 4C skill knowledge, and socioeconomic knowledge. Equipping Tamil schoolteachers with these types of knowledge will assist them to develop their students' 4C skills effectively.
Effect of Molecular Weight on Phase Equilibrium in the Polystyrene–Poly(methyl methacrylate) System

Data on the solubility of oligomer polystyrene (PS) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) of various molecular weights have been obtained. The binodal and spinodal curves of the phase state diagram with the upper critical solution temperature (UCST) are constructed through simulation within the framework of the Flory–Huggins theory. The influence of the molecular weight of polymers on the contribution to their mixing has been compared, and correlation curves have been plotted. The interaction parameters were calculated and the mixing thermodynamics of the components was evaluated. The largest contribution was made by the entropy component. Also, it has been shown using IR spectroscopy that there is no interaction between the functional groups of polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) in a homogeneous mixture.
Design and Optimization of Resonance-Based Wireless Power Transmission for Millimeter-Sized Planar Square Inductors Micro-Magnetic Stimulation

In this article, a wireless passive micro-magnetic stimulation (WP-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>MS) for isolated hippocampal slices is designed. Wireless power transmission (WPT) is used to couple the energy from the transmitting coil into the micro-coil to achieve magnetic stimulation for the cell. However, the critical issue involved here is to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the micro-coil stimulation target and reach the threshold of effective magnetic stimulation. First, the magnetic coupling resonance WPT theory and finite element analysis model of the WP-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>MS are established. The transmission efficiency and mutual inductance of the WP-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>MS are measured at different resonant frequencies. Second, the magnetic field strength and magnetic field distribution regularity of the stimulated targets in hippocampal brain slices are analyzed. The system achieves a WPT efficiency of 39.58% at a resonance frequency of 920 kHz with a guaranteed threshold of 1 mT effective magnetic field strength generated by the micro-coil. Last, biological experiments based on isolated hippocampal brain slices are performed for validation. The results show that the WP-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>MS enhances the synaptic plasticity long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampal CA1 region.
The Investment Balance Index and its Role in Economic Diversity: Sultanate of Oman, North al Batinah Governorate: Sohar Province as an Example

Purpose: The study aimed to clarify the reflection of the disparity in the growth of the productive sectors on the degree of economic diversification in the Sultanate of Oman, and to propose work according to the standards of the Tawazun Investment Index as an attempt to reduce the disparity and achieve balance in the growth of the non-oil productive sectors, and to find out the extent to which investor segments are satisfied with working according to those standards in an environment investment. Theoretical Framework: Many studies that dealt with the issue of economic diversification agreed that despite the many and great efforts that the guardian authorities worked on translating to achieve the goal and strategy of economic diversification, they did not reach the desired level, and this reflects the lack of a specific theory in itself capable of resolving this problem and that it is necessary to focus On other aspects, to find out the extent to which economic diversification programs can succeed and reach the level of complete or required diversification. Design/Methodology/Approach: The descriptive and analytical methods were used to cover the theoretical aspect of the study, and the statistical method was used to address the analytical aspects of the subject of the study through a questionnaire designed specifically for this purpose, and the questionnaire was unpacked and analyzed through the statistical analysis program (SPSS). Findings: The results showed that the outputs represented in the growth of the non-oil productive sectors are a reflection of the inputs represented in the number of economic institutions and establishments and the number of workers in the non-oil productive sectors. The results of the statistical analysis showed that all forward-looking economic policies to enable the investment climate are important and serve the investment climate. Practical and Social Implications: This study proposes working according to the Tawazun Investment Index criteria as an attempt to maximize the economic diversification programs in the Sultanate of Oman. Originality/Value: This study provides researchers and decision-makers in the Sultanate of Oman with illumination for an attempt to address the problem of economic diversification and the use of practical solutions to maximize economic diversification programs by working according to the criteria of the proposed Tawazun Investment Index.
Multiagent Coordination Via Distributed Pattern Matching

This paper addresses a distributed formation control problem of multiple mobile agents using relative positions and local bearings. First, a formation control method via distributed pattern matching is proposed, which is executed over each clique (i.e., complete induced subgraph) of a network. It is shown that this method achieves the best control performance for a given desired formation and network topology in the following sense: The closest formation to the desired one is achieved among all formations achievable by distributed and relative control over the network. Next, a necessary and sufficient network condition is derived under which the desired formation can be obtained. It turns out that a new concept of connectivity, called clique rigidity, plays a crucial role. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated through simulations in both two and three dimensional spaces.
Spectral Weighting Orthogonal Matching Pursuit Algorithm for Enhanced Out-of-Band Digital Predistortion Linearization

This brief presents a new variant of the orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithm for reducing the computational complexity of the digital predistortion (DPD) behavioral model in the forward path. The proposed spectral weighting OMP (SW-OMP) algorithm focuses on selecting the most relevant basis functions to compensate for the out-of-band residual distortion which may eventually be masked by the dominant in-band residual error. This basis selection is carried out in an off-line process that does not affect the computational complexity of the real-time closed-loop DPD but, on the contrary, reduces its complexity while enhancing the robustness. Experimental results show that by selecting the DPD coefficients with the SW-OMP, the inherent ACLR and NMSE degradation suffered when reducing the number of coefficients is mitigated under strong nonlinear operation, when compared to using the basis functions selected by the classical OMP algorithm.
A Uniform Bound on Negative Binomial Approximation with w-Functions

This paper uses Stein’s method and w-functions to determine a uniform bound for the Kolmogorov distance between the cumulative distribution function of a non-negative integer-valued random variable X and the negative binomial cumulative distribution function with parameters 0 r > and 1( 0,1) pq =− ∈ , where () rq p EX = and () EX is the mean of X. Two examples are provided to
A Scoring Rule for Factor and Autoregressive Models Under Misspecification

Factor models (FM) are now widely used for forecasting with large set of time series. Another class of models, which can be easily estimated and used in a large dimensional setting, is multivariate autoregressive models (MAR), where independent autoregressive processes are assumed for the series in the panel. We compare the forecasting abilities of FM and MAR models when assuming both models are misspecified and the data generating process is a vector autoregressive model. We establish which conditions need to be satisfied for a FM to overperform MAR in terms of mean square forecasting error. The condition indicates in presence of misspecification that FM is not always overperforming MAR and that the FM predictive performance depends crucially on the parameter values of the data generating process. Building on the theoretical relationship between FM and MAR predictive performances, we provide a scoring rule which can be evaluated on the data to either select the model, or combine the models in forecasting exercises. Some numerical illustrations are provided both on simulated data and on wel-known large economic datasets. The empirical results show that the frequency of the true positive signals is larger when FM and MAR forecasting performances differ substantially and it decreases as the horizon increases.
RESISTANCE PROFILE OF ENTEROBACTERIACEAE ACQUIREDIN URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS IN A REGIONAL HOSPITAL IN TANGIERSNORTHERN MOROCCO.

Urinary tract infections are the most recorded infections in the microbiology laboratory. The enterobacteria are the most commonly isolated bacteria in these types of infections. The present work aims to study the frequency of isolated strains of Enterobacteriaceae cytobacteriological urinalysis from the microbiology laboratory of Mohamed V Tangier hospital and determine their resistance patterns to antibiotics. This is a retrospective study, which took place over a period of 24 months (January 2013 to December 2014) on 2716 urine samples, 410 examinations met the criteria for urinary tract infection including 325 (11.9%) Enterobacteriaceae strains were isolated. The identification was done by API 20 E galleries, sex ratio female / male was 1.69,
SNHG3/hsa-miR-455-5p Axis-mediated High Expression of MTHFD2 Correlates with Tumor Immune Infiltration and Endometrial Carcinoma Progression

Purpose: Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is one of the three most common female genital tract cancers, and it contributes to the leading deaths of gynecologic cancer. MTHFD2 was reported up-regulated and associated with poor prognosis in many malignancies. However, its biological functions and mechanisms in EC are unclear. The present study aimed to identify the biological functions and potential molecular mechanisms of MTHFD2 in EC. Methods: The gene expression and information of patients used in this study were derived from TCGA, GEO and HPA databases. KM survival analysis was used to explore the clinical outcomes of EC patients and correlation analysis was applied to find the correction between MTHFD2 expression level and immune infiltration in EC. We used GO and GSEA analysis to explore the biological functions and mechanisms of MTHFD2. The CCK8 assay, the colony formation assay and the transwell migration assay were conducted to validate the function of MTHFD2 in EC cells. We applied STRING to find the protein that interacted with MTHFD2. Finally, ENCORI was used to explore the potential upstream regulation of MTHFD2 in EC and it was validated in EC cells. Results: In the present study, we found that MTHFD2 was up-regulated in EC and its high expression level was associated with patients' poor prognosis and adverse clinical parameters. MTHFD2 level was shown to be correlated with immune infiltration. Knockdown of MTHFD2 inhibited the malignant phenotype of HEC-1A and Ishikawa cells, including proliferation, colony formation and migration. Furthermore, we found the SNHG3/hsa-miR-455-5p axis as the potential upstream of MTHFD2. Conclusion: SNHG3/hsa-miR-455-5p axis-mediated high expression of MTHFD2, and the MTHFD2 expression level was associated with tumor immune infiltration and endometrial carcinoma progression. Knockdown of MTHFD2 significantly inhibited the malignant phenotype of EC cells. MTHFD2 may be a valuable predictive biomarker, and targeting MTHFD2 may be an effective way to improve the therapeutic effect in EC.
Nameless and Voiceless: The Evolution of an Action-Research Student/Teacher National Teaching Repository Webspace

The MEd (Professional Practice) degree at the University of Glasgow, is aimed at In-Service teachers, qualified professionals who undertake situated research into pedagogical challenges evident in their establishments to improve the quality of teaching. Those who engage in such ethically approved professional inquiry, conduct Action Research, without being considered ‘academics. They have, however, the potential to bridge theory and practice in education and yet they are given neither voice nor space to effectively disseminate their small-scale, though still important, research. This paper aims to raise awareness of this issue and to generate solutions by discussing and showcasing the evolution of an Action-Research Student/Teacher National Teaching Repository (NTR) Webspace.
Description of K‐spaces by means of J‐spaces and the reverse problem in the limiting real interpolation

We establish conditions under which K‐spaces in the limiting real interpolation involving slowly varying functions can be described by means of J‐spaces and we also solve the reverse problem. To this end, we prove several versions of the fundamental lemma of the real interpolation theory. We apply our results to obtain density theorems for the corresponding limiting interpolation spaces.
Dynamics of short-term ecosystem carbon fluxes induced by precipitation events in a semiarid grassland

Abstract. Infrequent and small precipitation (PPT) events characterize PPT patterns in semiarid grasslands; however, plants and soil microorganisms are adapted to use the unpredictable small pulses of water. Several studies have shown short-term responses of carbon and nitrogen mineralization rates (called the “priming effect” or the Birch effect) stimulated by wet–dry cycles; however, dynamics, drivers, and the contribution of the priming effect to the annual C balance are poorly understood. Thus, we analyzed 6 years of continuous net ecosystem exchange measurements to evaluate the effect of the PPT periodicity and magnitude of individual PPT events on the daily/annual net ecosystem C exchange (NEE) in a semiarid grassland. We included the period between PPT events, previous daytime NEE rate, and previous soil moisture content as the main drivers of the priming effect. Ecosystem respiration (ER) responded within a few hours following a PPT event, whereas it took 5–9 d for gross ecosystem exchange (GEE; where −NEE = GEE + ER) to respond. Precipitation events as low as 0.25 mm increased ER, but cumulative PPT > 40 mm infiltrating deep into the soil profile stimulated GEE. Overall, ER fluxes following PPT events were related to the change in soil water content at shallow depth and previous soil conditions (e.g., previous NEE rate, previous soil water content) and the size of the stimulus (e.g., PPT event size). Carbon effluxes from the priming effect accounted for less than 5 % of ecosystem respiration but were significantly high with respect to the carbon balance. In the long term, changes in PPT regimes to more intense and less frequent PPT events, as expected due to the effects of climate change, could convert the semiarid grassland from a small C sink to a C source.
Approximate solution of nonlinear optimal control problems with scale delay function via a composite pseudospectral approach

In this paper, a direct discretization method is used to approximate the nonlinear scale delayed optimal control problems. The technique is a pseudospectral collocation approach based on the Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto points. Firstly the domain of interest is divided into several adaptive subintervals, and then the traditional pseudospectral approach is used for each segment. This approach discretizes the optimal control problem with a scale delay function and transforms it into a nonlinear programming problem whose solution can be achieved via the existing solvers. The main advantages of this method are the simplicity of the structure and the ease of its implementation and execution. Moreover, the necessary and sufficient conditions of optimality associated with the scale-delayed control problems are obtained. To do this, a new transformation technique is proposed which transforms the scale delayed control problem into a constant delayed one. These conditions can be used to measure the accuracy of the approximate findings obtained by applying the suggested method. The effectiveness and usefulness of the discretization procedure are demonstrated by the implementation of the proposed method in some experimental examples.
Finsler geometry and diffusion MRI

• A submitted manuscript is the author's version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
Sensorless Variable Admittance Control for Human–Robot Interaction of a Dual-Arm Social Robot

These days, physical human-robot interaction (pHRI) of social robots has received a lot of attention. This paper proposes a method for variable admittance control (VAC) based pHRI to enable social robots to perform various social gestures. The proposed method includes several schemes. Firstly, a scheme to adjust the robot’s damping is proposed, which takes into account the external torques exerted by the user and the robot’s pose to control movement speed, reflecting the workspaces of both the human and the robot. Secondly, a scheme to change the joint stiffness is proposed, considering the reference angle and the external forces from the user to generate active motions for cooperative pHRI. Additionally, a scheme to change the robot reference point is proposed, which adjusts based on the user’s external forces and the robot’s posture for pHRI in various situations. The proposed methods are implemented with a dual-arm social robot. To realize pHRI based on the proposed schemes, a generalized momentum-based disturbance observer, one of the sensorless disturbance observers, is employed to estimate the exerted torque. To verify the performance of the proposed methods, experiments are carried out for handshaking and hugging.
Nonlinear Schrödinger Equations with Sign-Changing Potential

Abstract In this paper, we show that the following system −Δu + λV(x)u = g(x, v), −Δv + λV(x)v = f (x, u), x ∈ ℝN (0.1) possesses at least one non-trivial solution pair (u, v) for λ > 0 large enough, where f (x, t), g(x, t) are continuous functions on ℝN × ℝ and super-linear at t = 0 as well as at t = +∞, V(x) is allowed to be sign-changing. We mention that we do not assume that f or g satisfies the Ambrosetti-Rabinowitz condition.