Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatiotemporal variation in mechanisms driving regional‐scale population dynamics of a Threatened grassland bird

Abstract To achieve national population targets for migratory birds, landscape‐level conservation approaches are increasingly encouraged. However, knowledge of the mechanisms that drive spatiotemporal patterns in population dynamics are needed to inform scale‐variant policy development. Using hierarchical Bayesian models and variable selection, we determined by which mechanism(s), and to what extent, changes in quantity and quality of surrogate grassland habitats contributed to regional variation in population trends of an obligatory grassland bird, Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorous). We used North American Breeding Bird Survey data to develop spatially explicit models of regional population trends over 25 years across 35 agricultural census divisions in Ontario, Canada. We measured the strength of evidence for effects of land‐use change on population trends over the entire study period and over five subperiods. Over the entire study period, one region (Perth) displayed strong evidence of population decline (95% CI is entirely below 0); four regions displayed strong evidence of population increase (Bruce, Simcoe, Peterborough, and Northumberland). Population trends shifted spatially among subperiods, with more extreme declines later in time (1986–1990: 28% of 35 census divisions, 1991–1995: 46%, 1996–2000: 40%, 2001–2005: 66%, 2006–2010: 82%). Important predictors of spatial patterns in Bobolink population trends over the entire study period were human development and fragmentation. However, factors inferred to drive patterns in population trends were not consistent over space and time. This result underscores that effective threat identification (both spatially and temporally) and implementation of flexible, regionally tailored policies will be critical to realize efficient conservation of Bobolink and similar at‐risk species.
Evaluating exemplary training accelerators for Programming-by-Demonstration

Robot Programming by Demonstration requires comprehending the usage of a robotic system. This article is about accelerating the training of these skills, using the example of a DLR/KUKA light-weight robot. An augmented reality and a virtual reality setup are presented that aim to demonstrate and evaluate skills transfer of two different sub-tasks of this system: Avoiding robot singularities and setting correct compliance parameters. For this purpose training accelerators are introduced for visualising robot singularities, exploring robot singularities and feeling compliance parameters. An evaluation procedure for all three accelerators is suggested and has been performed on the first two. As interesting evaluation result a contrast to the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning hypothesis could be observed: Additional visual information on the robot singularities impairs the participants' performance.
Fair Connection Admission Control Scheme for IEEE 802.16e Systems

The IEEE 802.16e standard provides Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees for users based on the conception of connection-oriented service. However, fairness has not been considered in existing connection admission control solutions, which is very important for user experience. In this paper, we propose a fair connection admission control scheme (FCAC) to improve the system's fairness on bandwidth allocation to users by setting a dynamic admitting threshold. FCAC considers a common scenario that users are limited to the fixed amount of bandwidth by Internet Service Provider (ISP). Simulation results show that FCAC can improve service fairness for users without degrading the performance of the system.
Clinical Interventions in Aging Dovepress Relationship between Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in the Elderly Agricultural and Fishing Population of Taiwan Tao-hsin Tung

Background: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the elderly agricultural and fishing population of Taipei, Taiwan. Methods: The study participants comprised 6,511 (3,971 male and 2,540 female) healthy elderly subjects voluntarily attending a teaching hospital for a physical checkup in 2010. Blood samples and real-time ultrasound-proven fatty liver sonography results were collected. Results: The prevalence of NAFLD in this elderly population was 27.2%, including mild NAFLD (16.0%), moderate NAFLD (10.3%), and severe NAFLD (0.9%). The prevalence of moderate or severe NAFLD for metabolic syndrome proved to be substantially greater (P,0.0001, χ 2 test) for one or two metabolic factors. Using multinomial logistic regression analysis, age, sex, metabolic syndrome, and higher body mass index had a statistically significant association with mild NAFLD. Age, sex, metabolic syndrome, higher body mass index, and higher alanine aminotransferase were significantly related to moderate NAFLD. In addition, higher body mass index, higher uric acid, and higher alanine aminotransferase levels were significantly related to severe NAFLD. The sensitivity and specificity of body mass index and waist circumference as markers of NAFLD were estimated to be 81% and 84%, respectively, and 77% and 69%, respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of mild or moderate NAFLD was related to obesity and metabolic syndrome. Higher body mass index was also related to severe NAFLD but not to metabolic syndrome. Targeting this population for control of obesity and improved metabolic function is important.
Detecting and Locating Near-Optimal Almost-Invariant Sets and Cycles

The behaviors of trajectories of nonlinear dynamical systems are notoriously hard to characterize and predict. Rather than characterizing dynamical behavior at the level of trajectories, we consider following the evolution of sets. There are often collections of sets that behave in a very predictable way, in spite of the fact that individual trajectories are entirely unpredictable. Such special collections of sets are invisible to studies of long trajectories. We describe a global set-oriented method to detect and locate these large dynamical structures. Our approach is a marriage of new ideas in modern dynamical systems theory and the novel application of graph dissection algorithms.
The Internal Factor of Satisfaction among Teachers at State Junior High Schools in Indonesia

The objective of this study is to describe the internal factor of teacher satisfaction. In this study, a descriptive quantitative approach was employed with the number subject of 40 teachers working in 24 state Junior High Schools in Malang, Indonesia. The data are collected through a five-scale closed instrument. The data are analysed based on the spread of teacher perception in the form of frequency and percentage in order to describe teacher perception on the work satisfaction through internal. The results of this study show that teacher perception on the internal factor of satisfaction show the very satisfactory rank. Keywords: dimensions of teacher empowerment, teacher, work satisfaction, determination coefficient
CHRONIC RENAL FAILURE AND PERIODONTAL DISEASE

In order to define the effects of chronic renal failure (CRF) in the progress of gingival inflammation, we studied 6 patients (4 male, 2 female) with CRF who were on chronic hemodialysis for 4.25 (range 1–15) years. Six healthy individuals, age and sex matched were used as controls. The protocol which we used comprised of two periods (a) a 40-day duration period of preparation and (b) a 28-day duration experimental period. During the (a) period, all subjects went through: (1) therapy of the chronic gingivitis and (2) complete control of dental plaque by oral hygiene. During the experimental period, all subjects were advised to avoid, for at least 21 days, any mechanical or chemical media of oral hygiene and went through photographing, recording of gingival index (GI), recording of plaque index (PlI), and the collection and quantification of gingival crevicular fluid (GCF). On the 21st day, root planning and polishing were performed and subjects were advised to carry out oral hygiene. On the 28th day, all previous examinations (GI, PlI, GCF) were repeated. In both patients and controls, GI, PlI and GCF were increased on 7th, 14th and 21st day, without significant differences between the groups and returned to normal (close to zero point) on the 28th day. There are no significant differences between patients with CRF and normal controls in the evolution of experimental gingivitis. Therefore, chronic uremia has no effect on the defense of periodontal tissue against microbial plaque.
Laboratory Diagnostics of Botulism

SUMMARY Botulism is a potentially lethal paralytic disease caused by botulinum neurotoxin. Human pathogenic neurotoxins of types A, B, E, and F are produced by a diverse group of anaerobic spore-forming bacteria, including Clostridium botulinum groups I and II, Clostridium butyricum, and Clostridium baratii. The routine laboratory diagnostics of botulism is based on the detection of botulinum neurotoxin in the patient. Detection of toxin-producing clostridia in the patient and/or the vehicle confirms the diagnosis. The neurotoxin detection is based on the mouse lethality assay. Sensitive and rapid in vitro assays have been developed, but they have not yet been appropriately validated on clinical and food matrices. Culture methods for C. botulinum are poorly developed, and efficient isolation and identification tools are lacking. Molecular techniques targeted to the neurotoxin genes are ideal for the detection and identification of C. botulinum, but they do not detect biologically active neurotoxin and should not be used alone. Apart from rapid diagnosis, the laboratory diagnostics of botulism should aim at increasing our understanding of the epidemiology and prevention of the disease. Therefore, the toxin-producing organisms should be routinely isolated from the patient and the vehicle. The physiological group and genetic traits of the isolates should be determined.
Configurable distributed retrieval of scientific data

The recent boom of new application categories, such as multimedia systems, groupware and the wide-area distribution of information across the Internet, has led to further demands for flexibility in software. This paper presents a framework, called COBS-OM (Configurable OBjectS project-Object Model), for building configurable parallel and distributed programs where type-dependent object functionality is explicitly separated from its characteristics subject to configuration. COBS-OM supports a programming model where dealing with configuration issues is a central part of the design. It provides abstractions for incorporating flexibility into a distributed object-oriented application in a methodical fashion. In addition, performance issues are addressed by considering runtime execution adjustments of the basic mechanisms that influence them. We introduce the basic elements of the model. We also present Data Object, a complex configurable object that provides flexible access to data output from a high-performance parallel and distributed scientific application.
Factors determining perceptions of fairness in access to hospital outpatient departments in Taiwan

Objectives To investigate the effects of four factors on perceptions of fairness in access to outpatient services: proportions of walk-in versus scheduled registration, consultation queues, regulations for late patients and particular categories of patients getting better access. Methods A total of 124 young adults were asked to consider nine different scenarios and report their views of the fairness of each one. Results As regards the balance of types of patients, 60% walk-in registration was seen as fair to both walk-in and scheduled patients. The fairness to both types of patients was higher in the queue with a 1:1 ratio of walk-in to scheduled patients. The policy that a late patient should wait for three on-time patients to be seen was considered to be fair to both on-time and late patients. Immediate consultation for some particular categories of patient (e.g. the elderly) was fair, but for other categories was unfair (e.g. paying an addition amount). Conclusions Fairness in outpatient care is based on equality and need principles. Shorter waiting time does not mean patients view the system as fairer.
The role of good faith, equity and fairness in the South African law of contract : the influence of the common law and the Constitution : notes

The role of abstract values such as good faith and fairness in South African contract law needs to be considered against the wider background of the South African legal system and its historical development. South African private law is essentially uncodified and we must remember that, at the heart of this uncodified system lies seventeenth-century Roman Dutch law, which was the law of Holland at the time when the Cape of Good Hope was occupied, in 1652, by a Dutch commercial company, the Dutch East India Company. In 1806 the Cape was taken over by the British. The first Charter of Justice promulgated by the new colonial power in 1826 created a new Supreme Court, headed by a Chief Justice and two other judges who were to be appointed from the bars of the United Kingdom. The charter further provided that the substantive law to be applied by the court was the existing legal system - ie Roman Dutch Law - but that the judges could formulate their own law of procedure. Because the newly appointed judges were trained and formerly practiced in a common-law system, they superimposed the procedure known to them as well as the principle of stare decisis on the basic system of Roman Dutch law. Moreover, since these first judges at the Cape were more comfortable with the English language, they often resorted to English law when difficulties arose. The other geographical areas that eventually formed part of what is now the Republic of South Africa, followed closely in the footsteps of the Cape Colony. And so it came about that we joined the small group of jurisdictions - which includes Scotland, Louisiana and Sri Lanka - that are classified as mixed legal systems.
A Novel Feature Ranking Criterion for Supervised Interval Valued Feature Selection for Classification

In this paper, a novel feature ranking criterion for selecting interval valued features in supervised environment is introduced. The introduced feature ranking criterion works on uni-variate interval valued data. Each feature is evaluated and associated with a score using the proposed ranking criterion. Subsequently the features are sorted based on their scores. A feature sub-setting is accomplished by considering the top d' features where d' is empirically selected. The introduced feature selection criterion is validated using a suitable symbolic classifier on relatively large dataset of flowers and water dataset. The experimental results show the superiority of the proposed feature ranking criterion stating that it outperforms the state-of-the-art feature selection methods both in-terms of dimension and classification accuracy.
La leadership nei contesti dell’interazione virtuale

Tra i diversi ambiti di ricerca, quello che assume il ruolo piu importante per la prospettiva dell’ergonomia sociale e in buona parte rappresentato dagli studi sulla leadership. L’importanza di una leadership nella guida di un gruppo per il raggiungimento di risultati, sia in termini di efficacia ed efficienza, sia in termini di soddisfazione per i partecipanti al gruppo, e condizione nota e segnalata da innumerevoli ricerche. Disegnare e favorire le migliori condizioni affinche, all’interno dei contesti di Comunicazione Mediata dal Computer (CMC), questo avvenga e uno dei compiti propri dell’ergonomia sociale. In questo articolo vengono evidenziate le caratteristiche della leadership secondo alcune importanti aree di ricerca, vedremo la leadership all’interno della teoria dell’Identita Sociale, gli aspetti di riconoscibilita del leader, la leadership condivisa e la leadership trasformazionale e transazionale. Cercheremo, infine, di inquadrare ciascuno di questi aspetti all’interno delle dinamiche proprie della comunicazione mediata dal computer.
Genetics and population analysis WHAP: haplotype-based association analysis

Summary: We describe a software tool to perform haplotype-based associationanalysis,forquantitativeandqualitativetraits,inpopulation and family samples, using single nucleotide polymorphism or multi-allelic marker data. A range of tests is offered: omnibus and haplotype-specifictests;prospectiveandretrospectivelikelihoods;covariatesand moderators; sliding window analyses; permutation P -values. We focus on the ability to flexibly impose constraints on haplotype effects, which allows for a range of conditional haplotype-based likelihood ratio tests: for example, whether an allele has an effect independent of its haplotypic background, or whether a single variant can explain the overall association at a locus. We illustrate using these tests to dissect a multilocus association. test looks for one particular marker or haplotype showing a non-signiﬁcant result, given a signiﬁcant omnibus test result. This would be consistent with the variant being causal (i.e. nothing else has an independent effect) although this does not of course prove this (as the effect might represent indirect association to local ungenotyped variation). To illustrate the conditional tests, we simulated a dataset (also available from the author’s website) of 200 cases and 200 controls containing 5 single (cid:1) To whom
Complex-analytic structures on moment-angle manifolds

We show that the moment-angle manifolds corresponding to complete simplicial fans admit non-Kaehler complex-analytic structures. This generalises the known construction of complex-analytic structures on polytopal moment-angle manifolds, coming from identifying them as LVM-manifolds. We proceed by describing Dolbeault cohomology and some Hodge numbers of moment-angle manifolds by applying the Borel spectral sequence to holomorphic principal bundles over toric varieties.
The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians.

Tables and Figures.Preface. PART ONE: INTRODUCTION.1. The Emergence and Evolution of the Social Norms Approach to Substance Abuse Prevention (H. Wesley Perkins). PART TWO: CASE STUDIES OF COLLEGE EXPERIMENTS TO REDUCE ALCOHOL ABUSE.2. The Northern Illinois University Experiment: A Longitudinal Case Study of the Social Norms Approach (Michael P. Haines, Gregory P. Barker). 3. The Hobart and William Smith Colleges Experiment: A Synergistic Social Norms Approach Using Print, Electronic Media, and Curriculum Infusion to Reduce Collegiate Problem Drinking (H. Wesley Perkins, David W. Craig). 4. The University of Arizona's Campus Health Social Norms Media Campaign (Koreen Johannessen, Peggy Glider). 5. Applying the Social Norms Model to Universal and Indicated Alcohol Interventions at Western Washington University (Patricia M. Fabiano). 6. The Rowan University Social Norms Project (Linda R. Jeffrey, Pamela Negro, DeMond S. Miller, John D. Frisone). 7. The Small Groups Norms-Challenging Model: Social Norms Interventions with Targeted High-Risk Groups (Je anne M. Far, John A. Miller). PART THREE: EXPANDING SOCIAL NORMS INTERVENTIONS TO OTHER COLLEGE STUDENT APPLICATIONS.8. Perceptions, Norms, and Tobacco Use of College Residence Hall Freshmen: Evaluation of a Social Norms Marketing Intervention (Linda C. Hancock, Neil W. Henry). 9. A Social Norms Approach to Building Campus Support for Policy Change (William DeJong). PART FOUR: YOUNG ADULTS AND SOCIAL NORMS WORK BEYOND THE CAMPUS.10. Misperceptions of Peer Alcohol Norms in a Statewide Survey of Young Adults (Jeffrey W. Linkenbach, H. Wesley Perkins). 11. The Montana Model: Development and Overview of a Seven-Step Process for Implementing Macro-Level Social Norms Campaigns (Jeffrey W. Linkenbach). PART FIVE: THE SOCIAL NORMS APPROACH IN MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL POPULATIONS.12. The Imaginary Lives of Peers: Patterns of Substance Use and Misperceptions of Norms Among Secondary School Students (H. Wesley Perkins, David W. Craig). 13. MOST of Us Are Tobacco Free: An Eight-Month Social Norms Campaign Reducing Youth Initiation of Smoking in Montana (Jeffrey W. Linkenbach, H. Wesley Perkins). 14. Using Social Norms to Reduce Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Two Midwestern High Schools (Michael P. Haines, Gregory P. Barker, Richard Rice). PART SIX: FURTHER APPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE SOCIAL NORMS MODEL IN PROMOTING HEALTH AND WELL-BEING.15. Parents' Perceptions of Parenting Norms: Using the Social Norms Approach to Reinforce Effective Parenting (Jeffrey W. Linkenbach, H. Wesley Perkins, William DeJong). 16. Applications of Social Norms Theory to Other Health and Social Justice Issues (Alan David Berkowitz). 17. The Promise and Challenge of Future Work Using the Social Norms Model (H. Wesley Perkins). About the Editor.About the Contributors.Index.
Construction and validation of consumer attitudes on biosecurity principles: A methodological perspective

This paper presents a methodological perspective to the construction and validation of consumer attitudes on biosecurity principles. Four biosecurity principles are reviewed with regard to indigenous chicken production and consumption. Using Fishbein Multi-Attribute Model, the four principles are translated into a psychometric construct to measure consumer attitudes. A 74-item 7-point Likert scale is constructed. The study proposes a procedure to validate the construct. This includes conducting a pilot study to gather primary data, summarizing the data, testing inter-item validities, and performing factor analysis to measure construct validity among others. The study sets a methodological perspective that researchers, government agencies, international organizations and donors can use to measure consumer attitudes on biosecurity principles for indigenous chicken. Key words: Scale Construction, Scale Validation, Consumer Attitudes, Biosecurity Principles, Indigenous Chicken.
Falls from height: A retrospective analysis.

BACKGROUND Emergency services manage trauma patients frequently and falls from height comprise the main cause of emergency service admissions. In this study, we aimed to analyse the demographic characteristics of falls from height and their relationship to the mortality. METHODS A total of 460 patients, who admitted to the Emergency Department of Inonu University between November 2011 and November 2014 with a history of fall from height, were examined retrospectively. Demographic parameters, fall characteristics and their effect to mortality were evaluated statistically. RESULTS The study comprised of 292 (63.5%) men and 168 (36.5%) women patients. The mean age of all patients was 27±24.99 years. Twenty-six (5.6%) patients died and the majority of them were in ≥62 years old group. The highest percentage of falls was at 0-5 years age group (28.3%). People fell mainly from 1.1-4 metres(m) level (46.1%). The causes of falls were ordered as unintentional (92.2%), workplace (8.1%) and suicidal (1.7%). Skin and soft tissue injuries (37.4%) were the main traumatic lesions. CONCLUSION Age, fall height, fall place, lineer skull fracture, subarachnoidal hemorrhage, cervical fracture, thoracic vertebra fracture and trauma scores had statistically significant effect on mortality. The casualties died because of subarachnoid hemorrhage mostly.
Physical Characteristics of Spores of Food-Associated Isolates of the Bacillus cereus Group

ABSTRACT All 47 food-borne isolates of Bacillus cereus sensu stricto, as well as 10 of 12 food-borne, enterotoxigenic isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis, possessed appendages. Spores were moderately to highly hydrophobic, and each had a net negative charge. These characteristics indicate that spores of food-associated B. thuringiensis and not only B. cereus sensu stricto have high potential to adhere to inert surfaces.