Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tomographic evaluation of the contralateral ear in patients with severe chronic otitis media

Some studies indicate a bilateral tendency of chronic otitis media. It is believed that the contralateral ear can provide evidences of the route of formation of ear disease in the most affected, be a parameter of Eustachian tube function and predict successful treatment. The CT scan is an excellent test to evaluate the structures of the temporal bone and the changes resulting from otitis media. Objective To evaluate Temporal Bone Computed Tomography of patients with chronic otitis media and describe abnormalities in the contralateral ear. Method Cross-sectional study. Evaluation of CT scans of 75 patients with chronic otitis media from a tertiary referral hospital in Brazil by a neuroradiologist. Results Population was consisted of 50.6% males with a mean age of 36 years. We found 54.7% of changes in contralateral ear clearly associated with chronic otitis media. Conclusion The prevalence of radiographic changes in the contralateral ears of patients with chronic otitis media corroborates with clinical, histopathological and functional resources developed by the same group that this disease has a bilateral feature.
Abnormal psychosocial situations and eating disorders in adolescence.

OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship between abnormal psychosocial situations and eating disorders in adolescents. METHOD Twenty girls with eating disorders, 20 girls with major psychiatric conditions, and 20 healthy controls took part in the study. They were interviewed using a semistructured interview designed by the World Health Organization to diagnose the psychosocial situations included in the International Classification of Disease Axis 5 classification for child and adolescent psychiatry. All subjects were also given the Eating Attitudes Test. RESULTS Many life events and psychosocial adversities differentiated significantly between the patients and controls. Inappropriate parental pressure was specific only for the subjects with eating disorders compared with the other psychiatric patients. In addition, Eating Attitudes Test scores correlated significantly with hostility toward child, sibling disability, parental overprotection, inappropriate parental pressures, and negative changes in family relationships. CONCLUSION These results support the growing literature on the interrelationship between disordered family relationships and eating disorders. They point the way for developing treatment programs dealing with these issues.
Scoring systems in the intensive care unit: A compendium

Severity scales are important adjuncts of treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) in order to predict patient outcome, comparing quality-of-care and stratification for clinical trials. Even though disease severity scores are not the key elements of treatment, they are however, an essential part of improvement in clinical decisions and in identifying patients with unexpected outcomes. Prediction models do face many challenges, but, proper application of these models helps in decision making at the right time and in decreasing hospital cost. In fact, they have become a necessary tool to describe ICU populations and to explain differences in mortality. However, it is also important to note that the choice of the severity score scale, index, or model should accurately match the event, setting or application; as mis-application, of such systems can lead to wastage of time, increased cost, unwarranted extrapolations and poor science. This article provides a brief overview of ICU severity scales (along with their predicted death/survival rate calculations) developed over the last 3 decades including several of them which has been revised accordingly.
Improving cell-edge user performance with multi-streaming

Currently deployed cellular data systems limit any user to downlink reception only from a single base station. Recent standardization work on newer revisions of the HRPD and HSPA air-interface technologies relaxes this constraint by allowing multiple base stations to transmit independent data streams targeted towards a single user. We characterize the regions of performance gain for this technology, and investigate further improvements using advanced terminal receivers. The scheme is shown to be an effective load-balancing adaptation to bursty traffic at low to moderate loads. Furthermore, with a Successive Self Interference Cancellation capability at the device and Co-ordinating Scheduling at the base stations, further performance gains are demonstrated by favorably trading-off link adaptation loss for larger interference cancellation gains. 3 different schedulers are considered to intuit the ideal scheduler. Improvements are quantified when load is varied by increasing data usage per user, rather than increasing the number of users.
OPTIMUM OPERATION OF HYDROPOWER SYSTEMS IN GHANA

Hydropower plants in Ghana have suffered several low level operations within the past two decades. This paper looks at optimum operations of the plants during these low level conditions. The two hydropower plants are located along the VoltaRiver at Akosombo and Kpong. The Akosombo plant is at the upstream such that its discharge creates available head for the Kpong plant which is downstream. The Akosombo plant is designed to operate between the levels of 75.59m minimum and 84.12m maximum while the Kpong plant operates between 14.5m and 17.7m. The mode of unit combinations for optimum power generation is determined in this paper. This could serve as a guide in operating the two Hydropower plants. The method presented could also function as a power prediction tool during the low level conditions at Akosombo (i.e. below 75.59m).
License to Cheat: Voluntary Regulation and Ethical Behavior

Although monitoring and regulation can be used to combat socially costly unethical conduct, their intended targets can often avoid regulation or hide their behavior. This surrenders at least part of the effectiveness of regulatory policies to firms' and individuals' decisions to voluntarily submit to regulation. We study individuals' decisions to avoid monitoring or regulation and thus enhance their ability to engage in unethical conduct. We conduct a laboratory experiment in which participants engage in a competitive task and can decide between having the opportunity to misreport their performance or having their performance verified by an external monitor. To study the effect of social factors on the willingness to be subject to monitoring, we vary whether participants make this decision simultaneously with others or sequentially, as well as whether the decision is private or public. Our results show that the opportunity to avoid being submitted to regulation produces more unethical conduct than situations in which regulation is either exogenously imposed or entirely absent. This paper was accepted by Uri Gneezy, behavioral economics.
Problemorientierte Lehr-Lern-Arrangements in der Praxis. Eine empirische Untersuchung zur Organisation und Gestaltung fächerübergreifenden Unterrichts

Flexibel verfugbares Wissen wird vorzugsweise in Lernsituationen erworben, die semantisch reichhaltig sind und deren Komplexitat nicht didaktisch reduziert wurde. Die Inhalte solcher Lernsituationen nehmen ihren Ausgangspunkt von gesamtgesellschaftlich relevanten Problemstellungen, die sich zumeist nur multiperspektivisch erschliesen lassen. Dafur bietet sich in besonderem Mas facherubergreifender Unterricht an. Bislang ist die Praxis facherubergreifenden Unterrichtens jedoch nur unzureichend empirisch durchleuchtet. Das Forschungsprojekt "Facherubergreifender Unterricht in der gymnasialen Oberstufe" (FUGO) mochte zur Schliesung dieser Erkenntnislucke beitragen. In einer umfangreichen schriftlichen Befragung an 117 hessischen Schulen beschrieben Lehrerinnen und Lehrer ihre realisierten facherubergreifenden Unterrichtseinheiten in der gymnasialen Oberstufe und gaben Einschatzungen zum Stellenwert des selbststandigen Arbeitens der Schulerinnen und Schuler. Es konnten typische Muster facherubergreifender Unterrichtsarrangements herausgearbeitet werden, die auf nachhaltiges Lernen ausgerichtet sind. Die Ergebnisse der Befragung geben daruber hinaus Auskunft zur Organisation facherubergreifenden Unterrichts, zum auseren Profil der realisierten Unterrichtssequenzen und zu vorrangigen Problemen der Umsetzung. (DIPF/Orig.) Flexibly available knowledge is preferably attained in learning situations which are semantically rich and the complexity of which has not been reduced didactically. The contents of such learning situations are triggered by issues relevant to the entire society which can usually only be approached from a multi-perspective approach. Interdisciplinary instruction appears to be particularly suited to this approach. So far, however, the practice of interdisciplinary instruction has not been sufficiently examined empirically. The research project "Interdisciplinary Instruction in Higher Secondary Schooling" (Facherubergreifender Unterricht in der gymnasialen Oberstufe, FUGO) aims at closing this gap. In a comprehensive paper and pencil survey carried out at 117 schools in Hessen, teachers described the interdisciplinary units they had taught in higher secondary grades and formulated statements as to the ranking of independent student work. Typical patterns of interdisciplinary instruction could be discerned which aim at long-term effective learning. The survey furthermore yields information on the organization of interdisciplinary instruction, on the external profile of actually implemented instructional units, and on the most prominent problems of the implementation. (DIPF/Orig.)
Review of Different Face Recognition Techniques

Face recognition techniques can be generally separated into three categories based on the face data learning methodology: techniques that manage on intensity images; those that deal with video sequences; and those that require other sensory data such as 3D information or infra-red imagery. Biometrics represents a valid alternative but they suffer of drawbacks as well. Iris scanning, for example, is very reliable but too disturbing; fingerprints are socially accepted, but not applicable to non-consentient people. On the other hand, face recognition represents a good compromise between what's socially acceptable and what's reliable, even when operating under controlled conditions. In this paper, an overview of some of the well known methods in each of these categories is described and some of the benefits and drawbacks of the schemes mentioned there in are examined. Furthermore, a discussion outlining the incentive for using face recognition, the applications of this technology, and some of the difficulties plaguing current systems with consider to this task has also been provided.
The antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of Petasites formosanus Kitamura extract

Petasites formosanus Kitamura (Compositae) is native to Taiwan and is used in folk medicine to treat hypertension and asthma. Aqueous methanolic (50%) extracts of leaves of P. formosanus (Leaves-MeOH extract) showed the strongest inhibitory effect against NO production by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 cells with an IC50 of 22.85 μg/mL. In an in vivo assay, 200 mg/kg of the extract also significantly decreased the acetic acid-induced writhing response, increased the hot-plate latency, and significantly suppressed carrageenan-induced paw edema. The principle anti-inflammatory constituents of the leaf extract were isolated by column chromatography combined with bioassay-guided fractionation, and 4 compounds, isopetasin, S-isopetasin, S-petasin, and caffeic acid methyl ester, were obtained. S-Ispopetasin and S-petasin more significantly inhibited NO production, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and cyclooxygenase-2 expression in a dose-dependent manner in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells, and S-ispopetasin showed stronger potency than S-petasin. S-Isopetasin also showed stronger reductions in the acetic acid-induced writhing response and carrageenan- induced paw edema than S-petasin. Taken together, the results indicate that P. formosanus possesses both anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities, and S-isopetasin was the major constituent mediating those activities and may be used as a lead for new anti-inflammatory drug development.
Effect of Probiotics Supplementation on Bone Mineral Content and Bone Mass Density

A few studies in animals and a study in humans showed a positive effect of probiotic on bone metabolism and bone mass density. Most of the investigated bacteria were Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium . The positive results of the probiotics were supported by the high content of dietary calcium and the high amounts of supplemented probiotics. Some of the principal mechanisms include (1) increasing mineral solubility due to production of short chain fatty acids; (2) producing phytase enzyme by bacteria to overcome the effect of mineral depressed by phytate; (3) reducing intestinal inflammation followed by increasing bone mass density; (4) hydrolysing glycoside bond food in the intestines by Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria. These mechanisms lead to increase bioavailability of the minerals. In conclusion, probiotics showed potential effects on bone metabolism through different mechanisms with outstanding results in the animal model. The results also showed that postmenopausal women who suffered from low bone mass density are potential targets to consume probiotics for increasing mineral bioavailability including calcium and consequently increasing bone mass density.
Constituency Parsing of Bulgarian: Word- vs Class-based Parsing

In this paper, we report the obtained results of two constituency parsers trained with BulTreeBank, an HPSG-based treebank for Bulgarian. To reduce the data sparsity problem, we propose using the Brown word clustering to do an off-line clustering and map the words in the treebank to create a class-based treebank. The observations show that when the classes outnumber the POS tags, the results are better. Since this approach adds on another dimension of abstraction (in comparison to the lemma), its coarse-grained representation can be used further for training statistical parsers.
Assessing the available and accessible evidence: how personal reputations are determined and managed online.

This paper is concerned with how online information contributes to the determination of personal reputations. The term “personal reputation” in this context means the reputation of private individuals, rather than corporate identity and brand. The paper’s content is based largely on a critical evaluation of the literature. This reveals clear gaps in knowledge of how online information contributes to the determination of individuals’ personal reputations, and shows that there is scope to explore the strategies that individuals deploy - whether consciously or unconsciously - to manage the online information sources that may influence how others perceive them. Two main themes will be discussed in the paper. The first is the means by which people evaluate the personal reputations of others from the online evidence available to them. The second is how people manage their own personal reputations through their use of online information. These themes are firmly situated within the domain of information science, where studies of everyday information behaviour, information evaluation, and the use of citations (especially in the context of academic identity), shed light on reputation building. However, much relevant academic literature is also dispersed across a number of other subject domains. Thus articles from computing, employment research, human-computer interaction, human resources management, information systems, management and organisational studies, marketing, media and communication studies, and physical and mental health contributed to the body of work reviewed for this evaluation. The paper will conclude with a report of preliminary findings from a pilot study designed to scope and test a possible approach for a more extensive piece of largely qualitative research on the themes of the paper. The larger piece of work (to be conducted later in 2015) is expected to address important questions that have not been considered in prior studies, for example: • To what extent are individuals concerned about how others can assess their reputations using online information sources? • How do individuals manage combined professional and private reputations (for example, a formal presence of LinkedIn combined with another less formal one on Facebook) as one “personal” reputation? • To what extent do individuals actively monitor their online footprints for the purpose of reputation management? For the delegates at the i3 conference, these themes are of particular interest because they address the importance of information behaviours (how individuals manage the online information that refers to others and themselves as individuals and members of identifiable groups) and information quality (the messages that such information conveys). The ways in which individuals create, assess, and engage with information in online environments are also pertinent here, and of relevance to the i3 conference theme of information literacy.
Korean Children's Evaluation of Parental Restrictions Regarding Gender-stereotypic Peer Activities

Korean children's evaluations of parental restrictions of children's activities based on gender stereotypic expectations were investigated. Third and sixth grade Korean (N = 128) children evaluated scenarios in which a boy or girl desired to play ballet or soccer. Participants used stereotypes to support children's desires to play gender-consistent activities and adhered to parental authority for choice of gender-consistent social activities. Yet, they also rejected parental decisions to treat sons and daughters differently based on the view that it would be unfair. Stereotypic expectations decreased with age and were used more by boys than by girls when evaluating exclusion. The results are discussed in terms of exclusion, development, and culture.
Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives

Many claim that meditation is effective in the treatment of many ailments associated with stress and high blood pressure, and in the management of pain. While there are many popular books on meditation, few embrace the science as well as the art of meditation. In this volume, Shapiro and Walsh fill this need by assembling a complete collection of scholarly articles--Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives. From an academic rather than a popular vantage, the volume takes the claims and counterclaims about meditation to a deeper analytical level by including studies from clinical psychology and psychiatry, neuroscience, psychophysiology, and biochemistry. Each selection is a contribution to the field, either as a classic of research, or by being methodologically elegant, heuristically interesting, or creative. Original articles cover such topics as the effects of meditation in the treatment of stress, hypertension, and addictions; the comparison of meditation with other self-regulation strategies; the adverse effects of meditation; and meditation-induced altered states of consciousness. Concluding with a major bibliography of related works, Meditation offers the reader a valuable overview of the state and possible future directions of meditation research. Today, in the popular media and elsewhere, debate continues: Is meditation an effective technique for spiritual and physical healing, or is it quackery? Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives weighs in on this debate by presenting what continues to be the most complete collection of scholarly articles ever amassed on the subject of meditation.
Cultivation of an L‐lactate dehydrogenase mutant of Bacillus stearothermophilus in continuous culture with cell recycle

Continuous fermentation with cell recycle proved very effective in increasing the ethanol volumetric productivity of the thermophilic facultative anaerobe, Bacillus stearothermophilus strain LLD‐15, on sucrose at 70°C. When complete cell recycle was used, cell viability decreased after a few residence times and sucrose consumption was reduced. Operation using a constant bleed rate resulted in greater stability and higher ethanol volumetric productivities. A mathematical model based on maintenance energy requirements provided an adequate description of the system. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Weight status, physical activity, and fitness among third-grade rural children.

BACKGROUND Rural children are at a particular high risk for obesity. Given the importance of exercise in obesity and chronic disease prevention, this study evaluated the level and relationship between physical activity and fitness in a sample of rural third graders. The second purpose of the study was to determine potential differences in physical activity and fitness level by weight status in this sample. METHODS Twelve schools participating in a multidisciplinary research project were randomly selected for the study. Body mass index-for-age percentile, the modified Self-administered Physical Activity Checklist, and the FITNESSGRAM battery tests were utilized to determine children's weight status, physical activity, and fitness level, respectively. RESULTS Thirty-eight percent of the 237 participating children (9.2 ± 0.4 years) were overweight or obese. Nearly 15% were extremely obese. Children spent 91.8 ± 83.8 and 32.2 ± 47.7 minutes in moderate- and vigorous-intensity activities. Obese children spent less time in moderate-intensity activity (p < .01) and combined moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity more than other children (p < .05). Forty-three percent of all children failed to meet the fitness standard for muscular strength and 36% failed to meet it for flexibility. CONCLUSIONS Rural children in this sample had higher rates of obesity compared to the national average; they had poor fitness and 30% failed to meet the minimum physical activity recommendations on the previous day. Future interventions should focus on increasing physical activity, especially of moderate-intensity, and improving physical fitness in order to reduce obesity and decrease the risk of future chronic diseases in this high-risk population.
Creating the User Experience — The Need of Subjective Knowledge

The support and guides that are desirable for the home environment, and the technology present there, have the goal of replacing boring tasks (e.g. dish wash er) or decrease repetitive work and make the interaction more “casual”. This indicates that the interest of the users will also differ from the forms of interaction represented by the accidental users and users in professional situations. Aspects that are highly prioritized in a production situation, such as economical aspects or efficiency aspects, might not be as important when interacting with the TV on the couch. It has also previously been argued that objective measurements of what is usable are not enough to satisfy the users. Instead, it has been shown that it is possible to reach increased usability by making applications more aesthetic and attractive (Tractinsky, Katz and Ikar 2000). But it is more to it than making the interaction beautiful; it is also a more general matter of making the interaction appreciated by the users. As an example, we will discuss some of the findings from the Numpad Typer.