Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of Marijuana-Related Traffic on Twitter, 2012-2013: A Content Analysis

This study assessed marijuana-related content posted by adolescents on Twitter and examined content variation before and after the 2012 U.S. election legalizing recreational use in two states. For two 3-week periods occurring 6 months before and after the election, a 1% random sample was obtained of all tweets matching a set of marijuana-related queries. Original content was separated from reposted content (retweets), and foreign language tweets and those not related to marijuana were excluded. Using a structured codebook, tweet content was categorized (e.g., mention of personal marijuana use, parents' views, perceived effects.) Self-reported age was extracted from tweet metadata when available. Chi-square tests were used to assess differences in content by whether the user self-identified as an adolescent and to compare content pre- versus post-election. The full sample consisted of 71,901 tweets. After excluding nonrelevant tweets and separating original tweets from retweets, the analytic sample included 36,969 original tweets. A majority (65.6%) of original tweets by adolescents (n=1,928) reflected a positive attitude toward marijuana, and 42.9% indicated personal use. Of adolescents' tweets that mentioned parents, 36.0% of tweets indicated parental support for the adolescent's marijuana use. Tweets about personal marijuana use increased from 2012 to 2013, as did positive perceptions about the drug. Adolescents and others on Twitter are exposed to positive discussion normalizing use. Over the study period, Twitter was increasingly used to disclose marijuana use.
A C ] 1 2 Ju l 2 01 0 GPGCD , an Iterative Method for Calculating Approximate GCD , for Multiple Univariate Polynomials

We present an extension of our GPGCD method, an iterative method for calculating approximate greatest common divisor (GCD) of univariate polynomials, to multiple polynomial inputs. For a given pair of polynomials and a degree, our algorithm finds a pair of polynomials which has a GCD of the given degree and whose coefficients are perturbed from those in the original inputs, making the perturbations as small as possible, along with the GCD. In our GPGCD method, the problem of approximate GCD is transferred to a constrained minimization problem, then solved with the so-called modified Newton method, which is a generalization of the gradient-projection method, by searching the solution iteratively. In this paper, we extend our method to accept more than two polynomials with the real coefficients as an input.
Fatty Liver and Hepatic Function for Residents with Markedly High Serum PCDD/Fs Levels in Taiwan

This study was designed to examine the associations between serum polychtorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) levels and adverse hepatic-related health outcomes. Residents living in the vicinity of a closed pentachlorophenol (PCP) manufacturing factory (exposure area) and other areas nearby (control area) were identified from prior investigation of serum PCDD/Fs measurements. A total of 85 subjects were recruited for the study, 52 from exposure area and 33 from control, respectively. Average level of serum PCDD/Fs was 80.1 6 50.9 pg WHO-TEQ/g lipid for those residing in exposure area, and 25.5 6 18.2 in control area. Statistically higher odds ratio (ORs) for fatty liver and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activity was found in subjects with higher serum PCDD/Fs levels and high body mass index (BMI) as compared to those with lower PCDD/Fs levels and less BMI. Data suggest that dioxin exposure and high lipid content affect the prevalence of fatty liver in exposed subjects. Future study should be directed to prevent continuous exposure to environmental PCDD/Fs from the defunct PCP factory, and to characterize prospectively, with a larger study sample size, the potential long-term consequences on hepatic function associated with contaminant exposure.
Particle Swarm Optimization applied to system restoration

The electrical power system restoration after an incident is a complex process involving decision-making problems of combinatory nature. In this case, the operator support systems play an important role in a performance of this process. This paper introduces a decision support tool based on Particle Swarm Optimization Technique (PSO). The technique is based on the change of system functional configuration and consists in the use of the maximization of power demand supplied and minimization of the number switched lines. This technique also avoids the overload of system lines. A case study is introduced.
Meandering Waveguide Distributed Feedback Lightwave Circuits

Meandering waveguide distributed feedback structures are introduced as novel integrated photonic lightwave circuit elements, and analyzed in the frequency domain by the transfer matrix method. The directional coupling of the electromagnetic field occurs at the meander coupling points. The meandering loop mirror is the building block of all meandering waveguide-based lightwave circuit elements. The simplest uncoupled meandering distributed feedback structure exhibits Rabi splitting in the transmittance spectrum. The symmetric and antisymmetric coupled meandering distributed feedback geometries can be utilized as bandpass, Fano, or Lorentzian filters or Rabi splitters. Meandering waveguide distributed feedback structures with a variety of spectral responses can be designed for a variety of lightwave circuit element functions.
Comparative Analysis of Quality Costs and Organization Sizes in the Manufacturing Environment

Companies can lose money because they fail to take advantage of opportunities to improve their costs of quality. Most cost accounting data are not revealed to the public and are rarely exchanged among businesses. Also, there is no known study testing the effect of an organization's size on costs of quality. This study attempts to analyze and compare quality cost categories between small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large organizations, and proposes an empirically based model for quality costs in the manufacturing environment. The quality cost model—or prevention, appraisal, and failure (PAF) costs model—was used as the theoretical foundation for the research design. ASQ and Quality Progress magazine helped in the announcement of the online questionnaire to manufacturing and quality professionals, resulting in 63 respondents. Excel spreadsheets were used in data analysis and analysis of variance was used in hypotheses testing. The results indicate no significant differences in prevention, appraisal, and internal failure costs between SMEs and large organizations, but there were external failure cost differences. The findings also suggest that total quality costs were on an average 8 to 10 percent of manufacturing expenses, or 2.6 to 4 percent of sales revenues. The failure costs were the major expenses and ranged from 70 percent to 80 percent of total quality costs. In addition, the primary problems in quality cost program implementation were culturally related in favor of correction over prevention, human mistakes, insufficient processes, and lack of proper information.
Briefly Noted

An analysis of over 50,000 US patients >60 years of age who had been listed for renal transplantation showed that death before transplant is likely in 46%; the range for the eleven UNOS regions was striking: 6–81% (1). About 4% of those with Type AB blood will probably die compared with about 71% of those with Type B blood. The discordance with race was notable: 34% v 62% for Caucasians v African Americans.
Acute shortness of breath and chest tightness in an elderly patient: clinical history tells it best!

Almost 50% of patients presenting with heart failure have no systolic left ventricular dysfunction and thus are diagnosed with diastolic heart failure (HF). Diastolic HF reflects an increased sensitivity to volume status and vasoreactivity of patients with underlying diastolic dysfunction, a condition commonly observed in elderly patients with numerous comorbidities. In this case report, an example of the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges in a patient with diastolic HF is illustrated. Indeed, while defined international guidelines are available for patients with systolic HF, the management of diastolic HF patients is less well defined and largely dependent on patients’ characteristics.
A formal framework for Data Fusion

In order to develop a formal framework for data fusion field main data fusion models are observed and a logical model of data fusion is suggested. It is shown that considered data fusion models are representable in the logical model. The logical model being insufficiently general to compare different methods of data fusion is reformulated on category theory language. After that a number of information theoretic measures defined on morphisms are suggested as universal criteria for evaluation of data fusion methods.
The impact of language policies and global movement in Saipan: English as an L1 on the merge

Saipan is the largest island in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in the north-western Pacific Ocean. English became a community language in Saipan when the US began its administration post-WWII. Saipan was first part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) before becoming a Commonwealth in 1978. The two indigenous communities, the Chamorros and Saipan Carolinians, each have their own language, yet mostly use English as a lingua franca. Consequently, Saipan is shifting from an English as an L2 to an English as an L1 community according to Schneider’s (2007) dynamic model.
Utilization and Outcomes of Chemotherapy in Women With Intermediate-Risk, Early-Stage Ovarian Cancer

OBJECTIVE: To examine utilization and efficacy of chemotherapy for stage I ovarian cancer. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the National Cancer Data Base to identify women with stage I ovarian cancer treated from 1998 to 2012. Patients were classified into three groups based on grade and stage: stage IA or IB grade 1 (low risk); stage IA or IB grade 2 (intermediate risk); and stage IA or IB grade 3 or any stage IC (high risk). Multivariable models were developed to examine predictors of chemotherapy use and survival. RESULTS: We identified 21,758 patients including 4,196 (19.3%) low-risk, 3,777 (17.4%) intermediate-risk, and 13,785 (63.4%) high-risk women. The median follow-up of the cohort was 63.9 months. Use of chemotherapy within the groups was 15.5%, 39.5%, and 69.8%, respectively (P<.001). Among low-risk patients, chemotherapy was not associated with a change in survival (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.10, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.85–1.42), whereas chemotherapy was associated with reduced mortality for high-risk patients (adjusted HR 0.78, 95% CI 0.71–0.85). For intermediate-risk patients (stage IA–IB grade 2), chemotherapy was associated with a 26% reduction in mortality (adjusted HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.62–0.89). The association between chemotherapy and improved survival among intermediate-risk patients remained significant when limited to patients who underwent staging lymphadenectomy (adjusted HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.62–0.97). CONCLUSION: There is widespread variation in the patterns of care for early-stage ovarian cancer. Chemotherapy was associated with improved survival for stage IA–IB grade 2 patients.
A comparison of local anaesthetics for venepuncture

AIM To compare the effectiveness of EMLA cream and Ametop gel in providing analgesia for venous cannulation. METHODS Single blind study in 120 children. RESULTS Both anaesthetic agents produced adequate analgesia. However, Ametop gel was more effective, with a statistically significant difference in the pain scores of the two groups (p < 0.05).
Are Public Sector Tax Practitioners Satisfied with the Services of South Africa Revenue Service

The paper discusses the satisfaction with services provided by South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) to public sector tax practitioners to enhance tax compliance. A survey of 375 tax practitioners in eight provinces was made. Tax practitioners appreciate SARS services in paying tax refunds, responding to and handling enquiries, tax practitioners education and the organization of professional training/workshops. Accountants in particular strongly appreciate SARS tax practitioners education. Accountants and older tax practitioners appreciate SARS assistance in completing tax returns. Tax practitioners who work as Financial Managers, Accountants, and those who possess secondary level of education, diploma, degree or have special tax education find tax payer training to be quite useful. Older tax practitioners are more satisfied with SARS office services.
CORNEAL TOPOGRAPHY: A CLINICAL MODEL

A keratometric photokeratoscopic study of 220 eyes representative of a normal population leads to the ellipsoid corneal model proposed. This model is applicable to the design of rigid corneal lenses and to the calculation of computer models of the dioptric system of the eye. The results obtained show that (1) there is a systematic difference between central keratometric and photokeratoscopic measurements that is statistically but not clinically significant, (2) a significant number of corneas steepen at the periphery, (3) the corneal shape varies greatly with a normal population and (4) peripheral and central astigmatisms are usually similar.
Feeder Use Patterns in Group-Housed Pregnant Sows Fed With an Unprotected Electronic Sow Feeder (Fitmix)

Previous studies on feeder use in group-housed pregnant sows focused on dynamic groups and protected electronic sow feeders (ESF). This study observed 60 pregnant sows, 1st to 8th parity—housed from Day 29 of pregnancy to 1 week before parturition in stable groups of 20 animals, 1 Fitmix feeder per group. Data from 25 nonconsecutive 24-hr feeding cycles showed sows making several visits to the feeder. Literature on conventional ESF indicated shorter daily feeder occupation. Daily feeder occupation per sow decreased over time (p < .001). The study observed maximum feeder activity in the hours following the start of each feeding cycle. During the experiment, there was a relatively stable, quickly established, and maintained feeder order (W > 0.80, p < .001). This highly correlated with dominance rank (r s = 0.80, p < .001). High-ranking sows fed earlier and made as many—but longer—visits as low-ranking sows; thus, they occupied the feeder more time every day (p < .01). Although optimization of the feeder efficiency may take several weeks, Fitmix seems an efficient feeding system for medium-size, stable groups of sows.
Secure Routing with the AODV Protocol

Ad-hoc networks, due to their improvised nature, are frequently established in insecure environments, which makes them susceptible to attacks. These attacks are launched by participating malicious nodes against different network services. Routing protocols, which act as the binding force in these networks, are a common target of these nodes. Ad-hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) is one of the widely used routing protocols that is currently undergoing extensive research and development. AODV is based on distance vector routing, but the updates are shared not on a periodic basis but on an as per requirement basis. The control packets contain a hop-count and sequence number field that identifies the freshness of routing updates. As these fields are mutable, it creates a potential vulnerability that is frequently exploited by malicious nodes to advertise better routes. Similarly, transmission of routing updates in clear text also discloses vital information about the network topology, which is again a potential security hazard. In this paper we present a novel and pragmatic scheme for securing the ad-hoc on-demand distance vector routing protocol that protects against a number of attacks carried out against mobile ad-hoc wireless networks
Quality Perception in 3 D Interactive Environments

In this paper we investigate how configuration and visualization parameters influence the quality of experience in a 3D interactive environment, more specifically in a motion parallax setup. In order to do so, we designed a dedicated testing room and conducted subjective experiments with a team of evaluators. The tests considered parameters such as different disparities, amount of parallax, monitor sizes and visualization angles. Factors such as visual comfort, sense of immersion and the 3D experience as a whole have been assessed. The users were also asked to execute a task in the 3D motion parallax environment assessing the difficulty to complete the task for different parameter configurations. Obtained results suggest that user experience in an immersive environment is not as critically influenced by configuration parameters such as disparity and amount of parallax as initially thought. They also indicate that a better understanding of how this experience is influenced still requires the design and conduction of more comprehensive testing procedures.
Weight Perception Is Associated With Extreme Weight-Management Practices in US High School Students

Objective: The objective of the present study was to examine whether adolescents’ weight perception accuracy (WPA) was associated with extreme weight-management practices (EWPs) in differing body mass index (BMI) categories. Methods: WPA, overassessment, and underassessment were determined by comparing self-reported BMI and weight perception among US high school students in the 2009 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey. BMI was classified as follows: underweight (<5th percentile), healthy weight (5th to <85th), overweight ( 85th to <95th), and obese ( 95th). WPA was considered inaccurate if BMI and weight perception were discordant. Overassessors thought they were heavier than they were (among underweight/healthy groups); underassessors thought they were lighter than they were (among healthy/overweight/obese groups). EWPs included 1 of fasting, use of diet pills, or purging/laxative use. Logit models were fitted for different BMI sex strata. Results: In the final sample of 14,722 US high school students with complete data, 20.2%, 85.7%, 5.8%, and 80.9% of those who were underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and obese, inaccurately assessed their weight, respectively. In turn, 11.4% and 17.6% of accurate and inaccurate assessors engaged in EWPs, respectively. After adjustment, underweight girls who overassessed their weight had 12.6 times higher odds of EWPs (95% confidence interval 3.4–46.6). Moreover, there were elevated odds of EWPs among healthy weight students who overassessed their weight. Conclusions: Overassessing healthy weight students and underweight girls had higher odds of 1 EWPs, likely related to an unhealthy desire to lose weight. The present study demonstrates a need to further educate
Controller design for music playing robot — Applied to the anthropomorphic piano robot

Simple and friendly operation panel, intelligent algorithm, high performance control and driving circuit and precision and reliable plant are the necessary conditions for music playing robot design. In this paper, a hierarchical control structure, host controller (PC) and local controller (FPGA), is proposed to implement the anthropomorphic piano robot control with parallel controlling of two hands and ten fingers. In order to simplify the programming on the host controller and increase the performance of the whole system, the actuators of the hands (linear motors) and fingers (servo motors) are controlled and driving by local controllers, the FPGA-based controllers. The host PC is in charge of to integrate and encode the music codes of playing music to command the robot via the local controller, namely FPGA controller or distributed control module. The host controller is programmed with an intelligent algorithm to generate the music control code and an interactive man-machine interface. Giving a music score, the intelligent algorithm will generate a series of optimum positions commands for the hands and fingers of the piano robot to play the piano. The series of optimum positions commands are programmed with crashing protection and minimum movement for the hands and fingers to anthropomorphize the robot. After the codes receiving, the local controller will quick decode the commanding such as the position of two hands, opening angle of ten fingers and key rapping of ten fingers to control the driving circuits of actuators of the hands and fingers.
New rate distortion optimization method for video coding

In this paper, we propose a new rate-distortion optimization (RDO) method for high efficient video coding (HEVC), based on texture and motion masking properties of video. Firstly, the texture perception factors of the coding tree units are defined by using the energy features of the gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), and the motion regions are obtained by using robust orthogonal subspace learning (ROSL), and motion perception factor is defined. Then, we combine the texture and motion perception factors to define the perceptual scaling factor. Finally, we adjust the Lagrangian multiplier and quantization parameter adaptively according to the perceptual scaling factor. Experimental results show that the highest bit rate is reduced by 4.2% and 6.2% under the same peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM) over the HEVC test model 16.0 (HM 16.0) for low-delay P configurations, respectively.
Fluoroquinolones resistance of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli isolated from poultry in 1994-1996 and 2005-2008 in Poland

The aim of the research was the determination of resistance to fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin) of 387 Campylobacter sp. strains isolated from poultry between 1994-1996 (broilers, laying hens) and between 2005-2008 (broilers, laying hens, and turkeys). The resistance was determined by an agar dilution method (MIC), with accordance to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute recommendation. Limit concentration for both antimicrobials was measured at ≥4 µg/mL. It was demonstrated that during 14 years (1994-2008) there was almost two-fold increase in the number of Campylobacter sp. strains resistant to ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin. The strains isolated from poultry between 1994-1996 revealed 47.9% and 52.1% resistance to ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin, respectively, while the percentage of resistant strains among the isolates taken between 2005 and 2008 was measured at 90.2% for ciprofloxacin and 92% for enrofloxacin.
The investigation and classifying the web traffic delay & Solution plans presentation

As the number of the Internet users increase, various services on the Internet increases, too. Particularly, there were much effort for resolving the problem of Web traffic delay occurring due to the above reason. The increment of the Web traffic is noticeably increased due to the Web service which comes to have high capacity like a multimedia. In this paper, the Web delay has been classified. If we optimize each part of the classification and merge it, it will be the most optimized solution to solve the Web traffic delay. This paper presents the solution plans about expanding network bandwidth, distributing bandwidth by router, caching, designing the position of DNS root servers, Web packet retransmission time, and using ToS field. This paper is written on the assumption that the Web traffic has the first priority than the other traffics on the Internet. To reduce all the traffic delay, further studies are required.
Beyond silicon: Strained-SiGe channel FinFETs

Coupled three-dimensional (3D) process and device simulations have been applied to study the performance of FinFETs to handle the new FinFET-specific design and process challenges. By using an appropriate 3D technology CAD (TCAD) simulation methodology, it is demonstrated that the novel strained-SiGe channel FinFETs may achieve more than 50% performance enhancement compared to Si-channel FinFETs.