Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Isolation in Older Adults: A Qualitative Study on the Social Dimensions of Group Outdoor Health Walks

Physical distancing practices during the COVID-19 global pandemic contributed to a high degree of social isolation among older adults. To reduce loneliness and other ill effects of social isolation, public health experts recommended outdoor social gathering, with physical distancing. Adopting a case study approach, we explored how social aspects of group outdoor health walks (GOHWs) mitigate social isolation for older adults and improve individual social wellbeing. We used semi-structured interviews to understand the experiences of social isolation and social relationships in nine older (50–80 s) adults participating in a GOHW in Scotland, United Kingdom (UK). Verbatim transcripts were analysed through an iterative process of thematic analysis carried out by an interdisciplinary team of qualitative researchers from environmental psychology, medicine, and geography. Themes provide insight into the social dimensions of GOHWs, the mediating effects of social experiences, and the contribution these make to individual social wellbeing. GOHWs provide opportunities to be part of a group and attend to the needs of inexperienced or physically challenged individuals. Being part of the group walk fosters casual interpersonal interactions through spontaneous mixing during and after the walk. This programmatic structure counters loneliness, engenders pleasurable anticipation of regular contact with others, supports physical activity, and fosters group cohesion. These in turn contribute to individual social wellbeing, including expanding social networks, meaningful relationships, a sense of belonging, and acting on empathy for others. GOWHs may be beneficial for mitigation of social isolation as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings were used to propose a conceptual model to parse social constructs and inform selection or development of quantitative social measures for future studies of nature-based interventions such as GOHWs.
A Comprehensive Review of the Cardiovascular Protective Properties of Silibinin/Silymarin: A New Kid on the Block

Silibinin/silymarin has been used in herbal medicine for thousands of years and it is well-known for its hepato-protective properties. The present comprehensive literature review aimed to critically summarize the pharmacological properties of silymarin extract and its main ingredient silibinin in relation to classical cardiovascular risk factors (e.g., diabetes mellitus, etc.). We also assessed their potential protective and/or therapeutic application in cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), based on experimental and clinical studies. Pre-clinical studies including in vitro tests or animal models have predominantly implicated the following effects of silymarin and its constituents: (1) antioxidant, (2) hypolipidemic, (3) hypoglycemic, (4) anti-hypertensive and (5) cardioprotective. On the other hand, a direct amelioration of atherosclerosis and endothelial dysfunction after silymarin administration seems weak based on scarce data. In clinical trials, the most important findings are improved (1) glycemic and (2) lipid profiles in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and/or hyperlipidemia, while (3) the anti-hypertensive effects of silibinin/silymarin seem very modest. Finally, the changes in clinical endpoints are not robust enough to draw a firm conclusion. There are significant limitations in clinical trial design, including the great variety in doses and cohorts, the underlying conditions, the small sample sizes, the short duration and the absence of pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic tests prior to study commitment. More data from well-designed and high-quality pre-clinical and clinical studies are required to firmly establish the clinical efficacy of silibinin/silymarin and its possible therapeutic application in cardiovascular diseases.
Live-Attenuated Oral Vaccines to Reduce Campylobacter Colonization in Poultry

The control of Campylobacter in poultry at the pre-harvest level is critical to reducing foodborne infections with Campylobacter since the consumption of contaminated poultry is the most frequent cause of human campylobacteriosis. Although poultry vaccination is suggested as useful intervention measures, no Campylobacter vaccines are currently available. To develop live-attenuated oral Campylobacter vaccines, in this study, we evaluated the efficacy of pre-colonization by oxidative stress defense mutants, including knockout mutants of ahpC, katA, and sodB, in preventing Campylobacter jejuni from colonizing poultry. Interestingly, when chickens were pre-colonized with ΔahpC and ΔkatA mutants, rather than the ΔsodB mutant, the level of C. jejuni colonization was significantly reduced within 35 days. Further studies demonstrated when chickens were pre-colonized with the ΔahpC mutant by oral challenge with a high dose (ca., 5 × 108 CFU/bird) and a low dose (ca., 5 × 106 CFU/bird), it twice reduced the level of C. jejuni by 3.9 log10CFU/g feces and 3 log10CFU/g feces after 42 days, respectively, compared to the untreated control. Due to a colonization defect, the ΔahpC mutant was removed from chickens within 42 days. After excretion from the host, moreover, the ΔahpC mutant cannot survive in aerobic environments because of compromised aerotolerance. Our findings suggest that the ahpC mutant has a great potential for on-farm application to control C. jejuni at the pre-harvest level.
Work-Life Balance and Stress with the Turnover Rate of the Employees

The aim of my study to find out the relationship of the work-life balance and stress with the turnover rate of the employees and examine the type of relationship among them if exists. Research conducted on the marketers of the Pakistan. The study collects the data by using the questionnaire technique and selects the sample size of 200 marketers of the Pakistan. Correlation and regression analyses are used to find the results and reliability test used to check the reliability of the collected data. Results of correlation show that there is a relationship of work-life balance and stress with the turnover rate of employee and regression analysis to find the nature of that relationship. According to my results of study, my hypotheses are accepted. This study will help the other researchers to further study on this topic. It will also help the managers of the different organizations to improve their strategies about their employees and will be overcome on the turnover rate of the employees so that they can improve their organizational performance.
SmartSwim, a Novel IMU-Based Coaching Assistance

Swimming coaches provide regular timed and technical feedback to swimmers and guide them efficiently in training sessions. Due to the complexity of swimmers’ performance, which is not visible in qualitative observation, quantitative and objective performance evaluation can better assist the coach in this regard. Inertial measurement units (IMUs) are used in swimming for objective performance evaluation. In this study, we propose a new performance evaluation feedback (SmartSwim) using IMU and investigate its effects on the swimmer’s weekly progress. Measurements were conducted each week with 15 competitive swimmers for 10 weeks using a Sacrum IMU. The SmartSwim report included a comprehensive representation of performance based on goal metrics of each phase extracted from the IMU signals. The swimmers were divided into two groups: the experimental and control groups. The SmartSwim report for each swimmer in the experimental group was given to the coach, who used it to adjust the training accordingly. The results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group when comparing each swimmer, each session and the whole sessions. At the level of each individual, more members of the experimental group showed significant downward trend of average lap time (Mann-Kendall trend test, 95% confidence level). While comparing the sessions, the experimental group showed significantly lower lap time than the control group from the sixth session onwards (p-value < 0.05 from t-test). Considering all sessions, the experimental group showed significantly higher progress, lower average lap time, and more consistent records (Mann-Whitney U test at 95% confidence level) than the control group. This study demonstrated that SmartSwim can assist coaching by quantitatively assessing swimmers’ performance, leading to more efficient training.
Automating Test Case Generation for Android Applications using Model-based Testing

Testing of mobile applications (apps) has its quirks as numerous events are required to be tested. Mobile apps testing, being an evolving domain, carries certain challenges that should be accounted for in the overall testing process. Since smartphone apps are moderate in size so we consider that model-based testing (MBT) using state machines and statecharts could be a promising option for ensuring maximum coverage and completeness of test cases. Using model-based testing approach, we can automate the tedious phase of test case generation, which not only saves time of the overall testing process but also minimizes defects and ensures maximum test case coverage and completeness. In this paper, we explore and model the most critical modules of the mobile app for generating test cases to ascertain the efficiency and impact of using model-based testing. Test cases for the targeted model of the application under test were generated on a real device. The experimental results indicate that our framework reduced the time required to execute all the generated test cases by 50%. Experimental setup and results are reported herein.
Fatigue life assessment of thermal cracked dies and moulds for remanufacturing

The conventional life cycle of dies and moulds is not eco-efficient, which shows great potential for the application of remanufacturing. It is of great importance to establish life evaluation technology for remanufacturers to predict the remaining service life of dies and moulds. The main contribution of this thesis is the development of key technologies for life evaluation of dies and moulds after remanufacturing through a thorough review of remanufacture related activities within the die and mould industry. It is proposed that evaluation of remaining service life of dies and moulds after remanufacturing is carried out using finite element modelling. It involves determination of residual stresses induced by repair welding, working conditions for the future operation and life model of die material. Specifically, the thesis is firstly focused on the design of representative die geometry. The geometry is optimized based on the effect of thermal loading and the effect of residual stress due to laser welding. Secondly, fatigue life model was established by conducting thermal fatigue tests and finite element modelling as well. Induction heating based test method was adopted for its capacity of achieving similar thermal shock effects. An energy based life model was derived by taking into account test period. The laser weld characteristics were studied using a sequential experimental design combining orthogonal method and uniform design. Radial Basis Function neutral networks were used to obtain regression models of weld performances for enabling process optimization. Heat source models were also calibrated by achieving sufficient agreement between numerical and experimental weld profiles. Lastly, the effect of residual stress on the fatigue life model was identified and the life model was updated. With close agreement between corresponding coefficients from two curve fittings, the corrected model is proved to be reliable for evaluating remaining useful life of remanufactured dies/moulds.
Effects of dielectric charging on the output voltage of a capacitive accelerometer

Output voltage drifting observed in one typical capacitive microelectromechanical system (MEMS) accelerometer is discussed in this paper. Dielectric charging effect is located as one of the major determinants of this phenomenon through a combination of experimental and theoretical studies. A theoretical model for the electromechanical effects of the dielectric surface charges within the electrode gap is established to analyze the dielectric charge effect on the output voltage. Observations of output voltage drift against time are fitted to this model in order to estimate the possible dielectric layer thickness. Meanwhile, Auger electron spectroscopy is carried out to analyze the electrode surface material composition and confirms a mixture layer of dielectric SiO2 and Si with a thickness about 5 nm, which is very close to the model estimation. In addition, observation of time-varing output drift in the variable bias voltage experiment indicates the movement of dielectric charge can be controlled by the applied electric field.
¿Expansión o Contracción de la Democracia Ambiental?: Gobernanza Ambiental en el Programa para la Recuperación Ambiental y Social de Quintero-Puchuncaví

El presente artículo versa en torno a las prácticas de gobernanza ambiental de un novedoso dispositivo de recuperación/restauración ecosistémica en la zona de Quintero-Puchuncaví, la cual es reconocida por ser una de las principales y más emblemáticas zonas de sacrificio ambiental en Chile. En esta dirección, ahondamos en el estudio del Programa de Recuperación Ambiental y Social (PRAS) que tiene como órgano encargado de la elaboración, ejecución y seguimiento de sus objetivos y medidas al Consejo de Recuperación Ambiental y Social (CRAS), del cual participaron distintos representantes de la sociedad civil, empresas y del sector público del territorio. Profundizamos a través del análisis de entrevistas, documentos (actas de sesiones, convenios, reglamentos, etc.) y observación no-participante de sus sesiones ordinarias y extraordinarias, en el modo en que se configuran las relaciones de poder en la gobernanza del proceso de restauración/recuperación ambiental y social sobre un territorio afectado por un profunda e histórica injusticia ambiental. Esto nos lleva a indagar en la forma en que se relaciona el PRAS con un conflicto ambiental que ha vivido diversos procesos de activación y latencia, donde se ha visualizado constantes tensiones entre, por un lado, organismos del Estado y empresas de la zona que intentar contener y administrar el conflicto; y, por otro, la resistencia de la comunidad en búsqueda de mejorar su calidad de vida y democratizar e incidir en los espacios de gestión ambiental.
Lifestyle Indicator Scheme For Grouping Similarities In Social Media

Even though huge efforts were produced for activity recognition by means of wise phones, there's comparatively minute concentrate on recognition of daily routines by means of wise phones. To cope with challenges of existing works, we provide Friend book, this can be a semantic-based system of friend recommendation for social systems according to sensor-wealthy wise phones. In recent occasions, when using the growth and development of systems of social networking, friend recommendations are suffering from plenty of consideration. It is the friend recommendation system which was measured first using existence style information of user that was discovered from Smartphone sensors. Totally different from friend recommendation techniques according to social graphs in traditional services of social networking, Friend book found existence styles from user-centric data collected from sensors on wise phone and suggested potential buddies towards clients once they distribute comparable existence styles. Introduced system finds out existence styles concerning clients from user centric information, and assesses being much like existence styles among clients plus this method, client-server mode was created where every client might be a Smartphone that suits the use of user and servers are data centres.
Moth declines are most severe in broadleaf woodlands despite a net gain in habitat availability

While agricultural intensification and habitat loss are cited as key drivers of moth decline, these alone cannot explain declines observed in UK woodlands – a habitat that has expanded in area since 1968. We quantified how moth communities changed across habitats and regions and determined how species traits interacted with habitat in predicting moth abundance change. We hypothesised that, in woodlands, species more vulnerable to shading and browsing by deer (species specialising on forbs, shrubs and shade‐intolerant plants) had declined more severely than other species, and that moth decline in woodlands was more severe at sites more susceptible to deer damage. We modelled abundance, biomass, species richness and diversity from 1968 to 2016 and explored how these interacted with habitat and region. We also modelled the interaction between habitat and two moth species traits: larval feeding guild and shade‐tolerance of hostplant. Moth declines were consistently highest in broadleaf woodland. Abundance, biomass, species richness and diversity declined significantly by −51%, −52%, −14% and −15% in woodlands, respectively, compared to national trends of −34%, −39%, −1% (non‐significant) and +10%. Declines were no greater in woodlands more susceptible to deer browsing damage. Traits based analysis found no evidence that shading and intensive browsing by deer explained moth declines in woodland. Moth decline was more severe in broadleaf woodlands than in intensively managed farmlands. We found no evidence that deer browsing or increased shading has driven these trends: the primary cause of the decline of moths in woodlands remains unclear.
Emerging Market Research Opportunities with Agent-Based Simulations

Purpose – This chapter illustrates how agent-based modeling (ABM) simulations may be incorporated into future emerging market research so as to build and strengthen existing and new theory. The area of strategy and organizations has used cellular automata, NK landscapes, and network simulations, but international business has rarely entertained their use. This is a loss for the area because emerging markets are rapidly growing and changing while research lags behind. Emerging markets are extremely complex environments best studied using simulations as complementary to existing research tools. Design/methodology/approach – This chapter divides emerging market studies into three main areas including (1) foreign direct investment, (2) governance structures, and (3) international trade exporting. Through a discussion of the existing research in each of these areas, research opportunities applying ABM are identified. Illustrations allow explanation of the three agent-based simulation methods, as mentioned, based on previous ABM research in strategy and demonstrate how ABM may be applied to future emerging market studies. Findings – A main insight is that ABM could lead to the rapid catch-up and improvement of emerging market research, especially when data for empirical work is limited, nonexistent, or prohibitively expensive to gather. ABM does not replace empirical work, but past research can be clarified and early theory developed so that if data becomes available, empirical work can be sharp and quickly realized having strong theoretical guidance. Originality/value – This work, aimed at emerging market researchers, uniquely highlights why and how simulation tools are required and may be used in emerging market research.
Arabinoxylan-Carboxymethylcellulose Composite Films for Antibiotic Delivery to Infected Wounds

Modern dressings should provide for local delivery of antibiotics and protect the wound from bacterial infection, dehydration and environmental factors to achieve optimal healing. The local delivery of antibiotics can reduce adverse effects and resistance challenges. In this study, we fabricated film dressings composed of arabinoxylan (AX) from Plantago ovata seed husks and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) by a solvent cast method for the delivery of the antibiotic amikacin (AMK). To determine the suitability of the prepared AX-CMC composite films as wound dressings and drug delivery materials, their physical, chemical, mechanical, morphological, thermal, pharmaceutical, antimicrobial, cytocompatible, and drug delivery properties were investigated. The results demonstrated that the dressings were suitable for delivering the drug at the wound site in a sustained manner and keeping the environment moist for rapid healing. The AMK-loaded AX-CMC films exhibited controlled release of AMK, excellent antibacterial activity, and cytocompatibility. Thus, the AX-CMC composite films appear to be promising bioactive dressing materials for the prevention of wound infections.
Instructor Presence in Online Distance Classes

Instructor presence are words that call to mind a professor at the front of a classroom lecturing to a room full of students. Today the image associated with instructor presence is quite different. The vision is one of an individual engaged with the student, leading, and mentoring students, and facilitating classes either visibly in the classroom or invisibly in the online environment. Instructor presence is a broad phrase that refers to the instructor’s jobs of structuring and presenting the materials as well as providing feedback and engaging with the student academically through e-mail, by telephone, or by instant messaging either text or video. The roles are different but the outcome is the same, student learning. Gone are the days where the instructor was the center of the class, lecturing and passing along knowledge to students. Because today’s learner is actively involved in the building of new knowledge, learning is more student-focused. As the environment changes, the instructor assumes a variety of roles from designer to facilitator to mentor. The new roles are the same for both instructors in the face-to-face classroom and instructors in the online environment. Instructors for classes in the online environment cannot just compile a site for the class with materials available to the students. Instructors need to have an online presence as they facilitate the class mentoring students, providing activities, encouraging students, and communicating with student on a regular basis. Online instructors should be willing to provide the leadership and mentoring necessary for students to become engaged and flourish. Distance education literature discusses the importance of both interaction and sense of community to student learning and the part that the instructor plays in creating the learner-centered environment. Developing a classroom community online, then, is a process that begins with social interactions among individuals and progresses to developing a sense of belonging and trust so that learners will engage with the instructor, their peers, and the subject matter in an active way. In the beginning the instructor is the common denominator, and the instructor’s ability to be present without being visible holds the class together while the students become acquainted. As the class progresses, the instructor’s presence keeps the conversation moving and the subject matter interaction on track.