cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Motor control system in Parkinson’s disease: a modeling approach
Approccio modellistico del sistema di controllo motorio nella malattia di parkinson
Creators: name: Baston, Chiara <1986>
Publisher: name: Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Year: 2015
Subjects: ING-INF/06 Bioingegneria elettronica e informatica

description: Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder due to the death of the dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra of the basal ganglia.
The process that leads to these neural alterations is still unknown. 
Parkinson’s disease affects most of all the motor sphere, with a wide array of impairment such as bradykinesia, akinesia, tremor, postural instability and singular phenomena such as freezing of gait. 
Moreover, in the last few years the fact that the degeneration in the basal ganglia circuitry induces not only motor but also cognitive alterations, not necessarily implicating dementia, and that dopamine loss induces also further implications due to dopamine-driven synaptic plasticity got more attention.
At the present moment, no neuroprotective treatment is available, and even if dopamine-replacement therapies as well as electrical deep brain stimulation are able to improve the life conditions of the patients, they often present side effects on the long term, and cannot recover the neural loss, which instead continues to advance.
In the present thesis both motor and cognitive aspects of Parkinson’s disease and basal ganglia circuitry were investigated, at first focusing on Parkinson’s disease sensory and balance issues by means of a new instrumented method based on inertial sensor to provide further information about postural control and postural strategies used to attain balance, then applying this newly developed approach to assess balance control in mild and severe patients, both ON and OFF levodopa replacement. Given the inability of levodopa to recover balance issues and the new physiological findings than underline the importance in Parkinson’s disease of non-dopaminergic neurotransmitters, it was therefore developed an original computational model focusing on acetylcholine, the most promising neurotransmitter according to physiology, and its role in synaptic plasticity. 
The rationale of this thesis is that a multidisciplinary approach could gain insight into Parkinson’s disease features still unresolved.
Soil Quality Index of land impacted by anthropogenic activities in coastal Ghana
Creators: name: Ason, Benjamin
name: Kofi Essumnag, David
name: Ato Armah, Frederick
name: Obiri, Samuel
Publisher: name: EQA - International Journal of Environmental Quality
Year: 2022

description: The excessive use of weedicide and fertilizer by farmers, indiscriminate waste disposal as well as unregulated and pervasive chemical use for mining and industry has huge impacts on the sustainability of soil resource. However, land use-specific characterization of soil has not been extensively studied. The soil quality of 4 different land use classes-cultivated soils, industry, decommissioned waste dump and forest reserve that depict different anthropogenic effect in urban and rural settings were assessed. Twelve composite samples were taken per site at a depth of 30cm with an auger, air dried and sieved with 2mm mesh and portions used for analysis. Soil mineral parameters analyzed include bulk density, reaction pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen, phosphorus, exchangeable cations: sodium (Na), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), and extractable trace elements: manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), iron (Fe), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and lead (Pb). The mean %SQIs for soil samples collected from cultivated soils, decommissioned dump, industrial and forest reserved sites are 54.9%, 57.6%, 60.6% and 61.4% respectively. Mean concentrations of Cd, Pb and Ni are 0.020 mg/kg, 1.301 mg/kg and 0.213 mg/kg, respectively. There were significant variations pairwise between cultivated soil and forest reserve soil and then cultivated and industrial soil (p< 0.05). Assessing soil quality (SQ) through evaluation of changes in soil properties across different land use classes is an essential tool for proper management to promote sustainable use to sustain life.
description: EQA - International Journal of Environmental Quality, Vol. 47 (2022)
COVID-19 Implicated Ban on Diwali Fireworks: A Case Study on the Air Quality of Rajasthan, India
Creators: name: Rathore, Devendra Singh
name: Singh, Bhavya
name: Nagda, Chirmaie
name: Kumar, Kapil
name: Kain, Tanushree
name: Jhala, Lalit Singh
Publisher: name: EQA - International Journal of Environmental Quality
Year: 2022

description: Diwali is a five-day festival celebrated every year with lamp illumination and bursting of firecrackers in India. Considering the present situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rajasthan government im- posed a ban on firecrackers during the five-day festivities in the year 2020 to tackle air pollution caused by the emission of harmful pollutant gases from their burning. This paper has assessed the concentration of PM10, PM2.5, CO and SO2 pollutants, which are released from fireworks in large amounts in the environment during the Diwali festival. Seven air quality monitoring stations viz. Ajmer, Alwar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Pali and Udaipur in Rajasthan state were selected to examine the effect of a ban on the use of firecrackers during the Diwali festival. The analysis was done by comparing the mean concentrations of baseline data and Diwali day data of 2019 and 2020. The results depict that the firecracker ban helped in declining the concentrations of all the air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, CO and SO2) taken into consid- eration, which significantly improved the ambient air quality of Rajasthan during the Diwali festival, and it is suggested that such regulations should be implemented from time to time to improve the quality of air and human health effectively.
description: EQA - International Journal of Environmental Quality, Vol. 47 (2022)
Understanding How Blind Users Handle Object Recognition Errors: Strategies and Challenges
Creators: name: Hong, Jonggi
name: Kacorri, Hernisa
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC)
subject: Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Object recognition technologies hold the potential to support blind and low-vision people in navigating the world around them. However, the gap between benchmark performances and practical usability remains a significant challenge. This paper presents a study aimed at understanding blind users' interaction with object recognition systems for identifying and avoiding errors. Leveraging a pre-existing object recognition system, URCam, fine-tuned for our experiment, we conducted a user study involving 12 blind and low-vision participants. Through in-depth interviews and hands-on error identification tasks, we gained insights into users' experiences, challenges, and strategies for identifying errors in camera-based assistive technologies and object recognition systems. During interviews, many participants preferred independent error review, while expressing apprehension toward misrecognitions. In the error identification task, participants varied viewpoints, backgrounds, and object sizes in their images to avoid and overcome errors. Even after repeating the task, participants identified only half of the errors, and the proportion of errors identified did not significantly differ from their first attempts. Based on these insights, we offer implications for designing accessible interfaces tailored to the needs of blind and low-vision users in identifying object recognition errors.
Advancing pediatric nurse practitioner training: A child trafficking simulation
Creators: name: Clark, Samantha
Publisher: name: Oregon Health and Science University
Year: 2025
Subjects: subject: Human Trafficking
subject: Pacific Northwest
subject: child trafficking

description: Gaps in healthcare provider training are placing children at risk of not being identified as human trafficking victims. The lack of formal training hinders providers from recognizing the signs of trafficking and knowledge of the local, state, and national resources created to facilitate safe intervention. Students participated in a child trafficking (CT) simulation, followed by an educational debrief session. The simulation utilized a standardized patient (SP) to exhibit realistic, high-yield, red-flag characteristics of trafficking to illicit students’ recognition of and response to a victim.
ผลของชนิดบรรจุภัณฑ์และอุณหภูมิการเก็บรักษาต่อคุณภาพแคบหมูกึ่งสำเร็จรูปสำหรับอบให้พองตัวด้วยเตาไมโครเวฟ
Creators: name: อรทัย บุญทะวงศ์
Publisher: name: คณะเทคโนโลยีการเกษตร มหาวิทยาลัยราชภัฏมหาสารคาม
Year: 2022
Subjects: แคบหมูอบพอง,บรรจุภัณฑ์,อายุการเก็บรักษา

description: วารสารเกษตรพระวรุณ, 19, 1, 27-35
The combination technique of bioaugmentation and phytoremediation on the degradation of paraquat in contaminated soil
Creators: name: Mullika Teerakun
Publisher: name: Asia-Pacific Journal of Science and Technology
Year: 2022
Subjects: Pesticide, Bioremediation, Biodegradation, Rhizosphere remediation

description: Asia-Pacific Journal of Science and Technology, 27, 3, 9
MDT-A2G: Exploring Masked Diffusion Transformers for Co-Speech Gesture Generation
Creators: name: Mao, Xiaofeng
name: Jiang, Zhengkai
name: Wang, Qilin
name: Fu, Chencan
name: Zhang, Jiangning
name: Wu, Jiafu
name: Wang, Yabiao
name: Wang, Chengjie
name: Li, Wei
name: Chi, Mingmin
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Recent advancements in the field of Diffusion Transformers have substantially improved the generation of high-quality 2D images, 3D videos, and 3D shapes. However, the effectiveness of the Transformer architecture in the domain of co-speech gesture generation remains relatively unexplored, as prior methodologies have predominantly employed the Convolutional Neural Network (CNNs) or simple a few transformer layers. In an attempt to bridge this research gap, we introduce a novel Masked Diffusion Transformer for co-speech gesture generation, referred to as MDT-A2G, which directly implements the denoising process on gesture sequences. To enhance the contextual reasoning capability of temporally aligned speech-driven gestures, we incorporate a novel Masked Diffusion Transformer. This model employs a mask modeling scheme specifically designed to strengthen temporal relation learning among sequence gestures, thereby expediting the learning process and leading to coherent and realistic motions. Apart from audio, Our MDT-A2G model also integrates multi-modal information, encompassing text, emotion, and identity. Furthermore, we propose an efficient inference strategy that diminishes the denoising computation by leveraging previously calculated results, thereby achieving a speedup with negligible performance degradation. Experimental results demonstrate that MDT-A2G excels in gesture generation, boasting a learning speed that is over 6$\times$ faster than traditional diffusion transformers and an inference speed that is 5.7$\times$ than the standard diffusion model.
Database search engines and target database features impinge upon the identification of post-translationally cis-spliced peptides in HLA class I immunopeptidomes.
Creators: name: Mishto, Michele
name: Horokhovskyi, Yehor
name: Cormican, John A
name: Yang, Xiaoping
name: Lynham, Steven
name: Urlaub, Henning
name: Liepe, Juliane
Publisher: name: The Francis Crick Institute
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry & Proteomics
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: Tumour Biology

description: Unconventional epitopes presented by HLA class I complexes are emerging targets for T cell targeted immunotherapies. Their identification by mass spectrometry required development of novel methods to cope with the large number of theoretical candidates. Methods to identify post-translationally spliced peptides led to a broad range of outcomes. We here investigated the impact of three common database search engines - i.e. Mascot, Mascot+Percolator and PEAKS DB - as final identification step, as well as the features of target database on the ability to correctly identify non-spliced and cis-spliced peptides. We used ground truth datasets measured by mass spectrometry to benchmark methods' performance and extended the analysis to HLA class I immunopeptidomes. PEAKS DB showed better precision and recall of cis-spliced peptides and larger number of identified peptides in HLA class I immunopeptidomes than the other search engine strategies. The better performance of PEAKS DB appears to result from better discrimination between target and decoy hits and hence a more robust FDR estimation, and seems independent to peptide and spectrum features here investigated. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Training LLMs to Recognize Hedges in Spontaneous Narratives
Creators: name: Paige, Amie J.
name: Soubki, Adil
name: Murzaku, John
name: Rambow, Owen
name: Brennan, Susan E.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Computation and Language (cs.CL)
subject: Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: I.2.7

description: Hedges allow speakers to mark utterances as provisional, whether to signal non-prototypicality or "fuzziness", to indicate a lack of commitment to an utterance, to attribute responsibility for a statement to someone else, to invite input from a partner, or to soften critical feedback in the service of face-management needs. Here we focus on hedges in an experimentally parameterized corpus of 63 Roadrunner cartoon narratives spontaneously produced from memory by 21 speakers for co-present addressees, transcribed to text (Galati and Brennan, 2010). We created a gold standard of hedges annotated by human coders (the Roadrunner-Hedge corpus) and compared three LLM-based approaches for hedge detection: fine-tuning BERT, and zero and few-shot prompting with GPT-4o and LLaMA-3. The best-performing approach was a fine-tuned BERT model, followed by few-shot GPT-4o. After an error analysis on the top performing approaches, we used an LLM-in-the-Loop approach to improve the gold standard coding, as well as to highlight cases in which hedges are ambiguous in linguistically interesting ways that will guide future research. This is the first step in our research program to train LLMs to interpret and generate collateral signals appropriately and meaningfully in conversation.
description: Amie Paige, Adil Soubki, and John Murzaku contributed equally to this study
Trends related to plans, projects and indicators for walkable promotionThrough an analysis of 53 local governments that have been designated as town-walkable areas
Creators: name: MORIMOTO, Anna
name: Usui, Madoka
name: IZUMIYAMA, Rui
name: UOZAKI, Katsuya
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2025
Subjects: classificationCode: 330411
subject: Urban design
classificationCode: 440714
subject: Urban policy
classificationCode: 330413
subject: Urban planning and health

description: In Japan, 53 local governments are implementing projects in line with the “Walkable Promotion Program” established by the Japanese government as the need to create new value and solve regional issues grows for workforce diversification. In this report, we surveyed these municipalities to identify examples of how they utilize the program. As a result, it became clear that each municipality has established walkable zones based on previously formulated plans and projects and measures to establish walkable zones within walking distance of each other.
YouTube-videos for patient education in lymphangioleiomyomatosis?
Creators: name: Wilkens, Finn M.
name: Ganter, Claudia
name: Kriegsmann, Katharina
name: Wilkens, Heinrike
name: Kahn, Nicolas
name: Goobie, Gillian C.
name: Ryerson, Christopher J.
name: Kreuter, Michael
name: Goobie, Gillian
Publisher: name: BioMed Central
Year: 2022

description: Background The Internet is commonly used by patients to acquire health information. To date, no studies have evaluated the quality of information available on YouTube regarding lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). Our aim was to determine the quality and content of YouTube videos regarding LAM and to compare the information provided with current knowledge and guidelines about the disease. Methods The first 200 video hits on YouTube in English for the search term “lymphangioleiomyomatosis” were recorded. All videos suitable for patient education on LAM were included. Video quality was analyzed independently by two investigators utilizing the Health on the Net (HONcode) score, which assesses whether websites provide understandable, accessible, and trustworthy health information; the DISCERN score, which evaluates the quality of information about treatment decisions; and a newly developed LAM-related content score (LRCS) with 31 guideline elements. Results The search identified 64 eligible videos. The “engagement rate” of 0.3 was low, with a median number of views of 408 (range 42–73,943), a median of 4 likes (range 0–2082), and the majority (53%) receiving a low HONcode score (≤ 2) and only 10% of videos achieving a high score (> 5). The median DISCERN score was 28 (range 15–61, maximum possible score 80), indicating poor video quality and reliability. The median LRCS was 8 (range 0–29, maximum possible score 31) and videos frequently failed to provide sources of information. Conclusions Online resources could contribute to the limited and often inaccurate information available to patients with LAM, with only a few YouTube videos providing high-quality patient-relevant information.
The Many Sides of the Beloved: Symbolism and Significance of David and Ganymede in Italian Renaissance Art
Creators: name: Rosenberg, Rebecca Haines
name: Johnson, Lynne
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2005
Subjects: Research -- Periodicals.
Humanities -- Research -- Periodicals.
Social sciences -- Research -- Periodicals.

description: From Gail Husch, on behalf of faculty nominator Lynne Johnson: In her paper on homoerotic themes in Italian Renaissance art, Rebecca beautifully connects specific examples of drawing and sculpture to the broader historical context of the time. She provides a succinct overview of Florentine attitudes towards male homosexuality, and offers intriguing interpretations of works by Donatello and Michelangelo in light of those social perspectives and in relation to the artists’ own lives. Her analysis of the visual and expressive qualities of individual art works is particularly eloquent.
description: I began this paper as a look at homoeroticism in depictions of David and Ganymede in Renaissance Florence. It seemed like mostly an aesthetic question: how do these works establish their subjects as sensual and sexual creatures, and how does that reflect on their artists? As I began my research however, I was intrigued by social aspects of homosexuality in Renaissance Florence, particularly the adoption of Greek paederastia (the love of an older man for a youth). I began to see David and Ganymede as representing two sides of the beloved youth, as my title states, the youth who overcomes his lover with his beauty and the youth who is overcome by the power of an older man. Someday I hope to return to this subject and delve more deeply into the social issues involved.
description: Lynne Johnson
description: http://blogs.goucher.edu/verge/verge-2/
Evolution of oxygen transfer in the various cork stopper manufacturing conditions. Effect of this parameter on still and sparkling wine
Creators: name: Colell, Aitor
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Oxygen transfer
cork stoppers
wine aging
permeability

description: The project explores how oxygen transfer rates in cork stoppers affect wine evolution. By assessing production variables and oxygen permeability, it aims to optimize corks for different wine types, enhancing the relationship between the cork and winemaking industries.
Peace and Conflict in The Democratic Republic of the Congo
Creators: name: Bob, Shani
name: Doherty, Meghan
name: Littman, Sarah
name: Welch, Nancy
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2005
Subjects: Research -- Periodicals.
Humanities -- Research -- Periodicals.
Social sciences -- Research -- Periodicals.

description: From the faculty nominator, Seble Dawit: This paper, "Peace and Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo", is the final paper for PCE 110, Introduction to Peace Studies. Teams of students were asked to conduct all planning, research and writing together. They were also asked to make the voice in the paper seamless, that is, to truly write together and not merely join four different parts at the end. Members of this group had little if any previous knowledge of the conflict in the sub-region of the Congo which includes 6 or more other countries. They were to identify the nature of the conflict, the countries involved in it through a geo-political lens, the ethnic groups involved in the conflict, the level of arms exports and imports as a percentage of GDP, and the major players in the arms trade to the region. Finally, they were asked to propose a solution to the conflict. Meghan, Nancy,Sarah and Shani have done an exemplary job and have produced a well researched, informative and balanced anyalysis of what is sometimes called the first African world war.
description: This joint research paper was written for an introductory peace studies class. We were asked to devote ourselves to an in-depth study of a conflict in one of five countries. The four of us came together with no knowledge about the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was an invaluable collaborative experience as we, together, gathered and sifted through the overwhelming amounts of information, posed questions, discussed one another’s writing and edited each other’s assessments of material that we were all attempting to understand. It felt like we were uncovering a new world we hadn't known was our own, growing more and more amazed at how little the United States acknowledges and publicizes about the non-Western world. As the concept of conflict became more and more multifaceted and complex, so did our ideas of what “peace” is and should consist of. The entire project, and course itself, continues to impact us academically and personally; parts of each of us are embedded within this "labor of love", just as it is within us.
description: Seble Dawit
description: http://blogs.goucher.edu/verge/verge-2/
title: Three Essays in Health Economics
Creators: name: Hjalmarsson, Linn Beatrice
Publisher: name: Universität Bern
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: 330 Economics

description: Many developed countries currently face increasing health care costs, with Switzerland being no exception. Part of this development can be explained by inefficiencies. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to elaborate on the causes of such inefficiencies and find possible solutions. This thesis consists of three separate chapters in empirical health economics. For all of these chapters, I use very detailed claims-level data obtained from one of the largest health insurers in Switzerland. In the first chapter of this thesis, I analyse together with Boris Kaiser and Tamara Bischof how practice handovers induced by general practitioner (GP) retirements affect patients’ health care utilization and the associated costs. We conclude that, given access to care is provided, changes in the main GP are not necessarily bad, and thus policy makers should preserve patients’ access to primary care in the case of GP exits. In the second chapter, I analyse together with Christian Schmid and Nicolas Schreiner how a targeted mailing campaign of a large Swiss health insurer, informing their clients about cheaper generic alternatives of brand-name drugs, impacts generic substitution. We conclude that simple but concise information about generic alternatives can significantly increase the probability of generic substitution. In particular, we observe a nearly fourfold increase in the probability to purchase generics following the information letter. This paper thus highlights the potential of a simple and comparably cheap instrument in reducing health care costs. Finally, in the last chapter, I analyse together with Michael Gerfin whether patients with chronic conditions who appear forward-looking and rational in their deductible choice, are also forward-looking with respect to their prescription drug demand. Our results show that patients heavily react to spot prices, which is not what we would expect from rational patients. We conclude that in health insurance, alternatives to deductibles should be considered for treatments such as medications used to treat chronic conditions.
The Effect of Modifications to a Token Board-Based Reward System on Motivation and Engagement of Students with ASD when Completing Challenging Activities at School
Creators: name: Peoples, Janelle
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Education -- Research papers (Graduate)

description: This study was completed to determine whether modifying the criteria for success using a token
board reward system impacted the engagement in challenging academic tasks of two
kindergarten students with autism. Engagement in the tasks was presumed to be related to
students’ interest or stress levels. Ideally, students begin to make the connection between their
behavior and the rewards received from the use of the token board. The students in this study,
who were 5 and 6 years old, attended a primary school for children with special needs focusing
on autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). They were monitored to determine whether
modifications to their token board demands affected ratings of their behavior (apparent
motivation and engagement) and the number of rewards they earned. Modifications involved
raising the required number of tokens for rewards from 5 to 8 over a one-week period each. The
rewards and criteria were selected to encourage appropriate on-task behavior and were based on
the researcher’s familiarity with students’ levels of stress and frustration during the activities.
Mean total verbal prompts given and rewards earned and mean behavior ratings were compared
across the 5 and 8 token conditions and across four activities of interest (morning meeting, read
aloud, small group one, and small group two). Results indicated that token boards can have
positive and negative effects on students’ behavior. Results indicated that students earned more
rewards when Threats to Validity 5 tokens versus 8 were required on the token boards. They
also indicated that the mean incidence of problem behaviors monitored did not differ
significantly across the different activities assessed with the exception of elopement, which
occurred significantly more often during morning meetings than in literacy small groups. Due to
the degree of stress that increasing the number of tokens required appeared to cause, the study
was discontinued earlier than planned.
title: Design and Demonstration of a Miniature Lidar System for Rover Applications
Creators: name: Robinson, Benjamin
Publisher: name: Old Dominion University
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/04zjtrb98
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2011

description: Public awareness of harmful human environmental effects such as global warming has increased greatly in recent years and researchers have increased their efforts in gaining more knowledge about the Earth's atmosphere. Natural and man-made processes pose threats lo the environment and human life, so knowledge of all atmospheric processes is necessary. Ozone and aerosols are important factors in many atmospheric processes and active remote sensing techniques provide a way lo analyze their quantity and distribution.

A compact ground-based lidar system for a robotic platform meant for atmospheric aerosol measurements was designed, tested, and evaluated. The system will eventually be deployed for ozone and aerosol measurements in Mars and lunar missions lo improve our knowledge and understanding of atmospheres on Mars and the Moon. All of the major subsystems were described in detail and atmospheric testing was performed to test the operability of the receiver system to acquire the lidar return signal from clouds and aerosols. The measured backscattered results are discussed and compared with theoretical results.
Internet access is a necessity: a latent class analysis of COVID-19 related challenges and the role of technology use among rural community residents
Creators: name: Dow-Fleisner, Sarah
name: Seaton, Cherisse L.
name: Li, Eric Ping Hung, 1978-
name: Plamondon, Katrina
name: Oelke, Nelly
name: Kurtz, Donna
name: Jones, Charlotte
name: Currie, Leanne M.
name: Pesut, Barbara
name: Hasan, Khalad
name: Rush, Kathy L.
Publisher: name: BioMed Central
Year: 2022

description: Background Rural and remote communities faced unique access challenges to essential services such as healthcare and highspeed infrastructure pre-COVID, which have been amplified by the pandemic. This study examined patterns of COVID-related challenges and the use of technology among rural-living individuals during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A sample of 279 rural residents completed an online survey about the impact of COVID-related challenges and the role of technology use. Latent class analysis was used to generate subgroups reflecting the patterns of COVID-related challenges. Differences in group membership were examined based on age, gender, education, race/ethnicity, and living situation. Finally, thematic analysis of open-ended qualitative responses was conducted to further contextualize the challenges experienced by rural-living residents. Results Four distinct COVID challenge impact subgroups were identified: 1) Social challenges (35%), 2) Social and Health challenges (31%), 3) Social and Financial challenges (14%), and 4) Social, Health, Financial, and Daily Living challenges (19%). Older adults were more likely to be in the Social challenges or Social and Health challenges groups as compared to young adults who were more likely to be in the Social, Health, Financial, and Daily Living challenges group. Additionally, although participants were using technology more frequently during the COVID-19 pandemic to address challenges, they were also reporting issues with quality and connectivity as a significant barrier. Conclusions These analyses found four different patterns of impact related to social, health, financial, and daily living challenges in the context of COVID. Social needs were evident across the four groups; however, we also found nearly 1 in 5 rural-living individuals were impacted by an array of challenges. Access to reliable internet and devices has the potential to support individuals to manage these challenges.
title: Teachers’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Towards the Conduct and the Discipline Regulations for the Teaching Profession in Malawi: Case of Zomba Urban Conventional Secondary Schools.
Creators: name: Chigeda, Antonie Lyson
Publisher: name: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Year: 2004
Subjects: subject: Malawi
subject: Conduct
subject: Discipline
subject: Teachers
subject: Self-report
subject: Practice
subject: Survey
subject: Enforcing
subject: Regulations
subject: Education
subject: Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research

description: If we were to take a poll asking people whether they wou]d vote for or against morality, one would expect a rather overwhelming endorsement. There is little disagreement that people should behave morally, should respect moral rules and should be concerned about justice and responsibility (Berkowitz & Oser, 1985, p. 1 ). This study examines teachers' knowledge and attitudes towards conduct and discipline regulations as outlined in the Malawi government teaching service regulations, analyzes the relationships between their know ledge, attitudes and self reported practice. It ftn1her explores the contribution of preservice teacher training to teachers' knowledge and understanding of the regulations. Data was collected from in-service and pre-service teachers using Knowledge, Attitude and Practice survey methods. The study found that teachers have limited knowledge about the regulations, although serving teachers rated themselves highly in following the regulations. It was found that in addition to a weak system for promoting and enforcing regulations in schools, teacher preparation little to develop professional appreciation of regulations related to conduct and discipline.
Risk of Anxiety and Depression after Diagnosis of Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer: A Population-Based Cohort Study
Creators: name: Howren, Alyssa
name: Sayre, E. C.
name: Cheng, Vicki
name: Oveisi, Niki
name: McTaggart-Cowan, Helen
name: De Vera, Mary
Publisher: name: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Year: 2022

description: Given the increasing incidence of young-onset colorectal cancer (yCRC; <50 years), we aimed to evaluate the risk of depression and anxiety in individuals with yCRC in comparison to average-age-onset CRC (aCRC; 50 years) and to cancer-free controls, with stratification by sex. Our cohort study identified individuals ( 18 years) with CRC and cancer-free controls (10:1) matched on age and sex using population-based linked administrative health databases in British Columbia, Canada. We assessed depression and anxiety using validated algorithms. We evaluated the risk of depression and anxiety using multivariable Cox proportional hazard models. The cohort included 54,634 individuals with CRC (46.5% female, mean age 67.9 years) and 546,340 controls (46.5% female, mean age 67.9 years). Those with yCRC as compared to aCRC had an increased risk for depression (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.41; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.25 to 1.60), and when stratified by sex, the risk was only significant among males (aHR 1.76; 95% CI 1.48 to 2.10). When comparing individuals with yCRC to cancer-free controls, the overall risk of depression (aHR 1.00; 95% CI 0.92 to 1.10) and anxiety (aHR 1.10; 95% CI 0.95 to 1.27) was non-significant; however, males had a significantly higher risk for mental health disorders, specifically depression (aHR 1.17; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.33). Altogether, our findings that individuals with yCRC experience higher risk of depression compared to those with aCRC as well as cancer-free controls, particularly among males, suggest effects of age and sex on mental health outcomes.
title: Essays on college admissions and fair team formation
Creators: name: Victorova, Elizaveta
Publisher: name: University of Glasgow
Year: 2022

description: The thesis consists of three Chapters. The first Chapter considers college admission process with restricted applications. Each student has heuristic beliefs about the probability of being admitted and applies to a limited number of programmes within the colleges. We find that reducing the number of applications may result in an increase in total utility. Second Chapter focuses of a team formation problem in markets with indivisible goods without transfers. Each agent is allocated equal number of goods. Since fairness notions are unattainable, we consider the relations between approximate fairness properties. We find that, contrary to general case, most approximate fairness and minimal guarantee properties are logically independent in relatively big markets. We show that when there are two agents, envy-freeness up to one good and optimality are compatible. We examine some of the well-known assignment rules and find that Round Robin and Generalised Round Robin are not efficient, although satisfy some of the approximate fairness properties. Nash Max, Utilitarian Max and Leximin procedures are efficient, but do not guarantee that any of the approximate fairness notions hold. Third chapter investigates allocating students to equal number of elective courses. Compared to Chapter 2, here we examine many-to-many markets. We show that the Deferred Acceptance (DA) mechanism may violate the quotas, and design two modifications. We show that the modifications may allow for additional profitable manipulations compared to DA. We then simulate the allocation procedures and show that, on average, there are no more than 1% of additional profitable manipulations. When considering the number of manipulable markets, we find that roughly 20% and 18% of the markets are manipulable under our two modifications, which is low compared to the similar outcomes in one-to-many markets without lower quotas.
Supplementary document for Accurate Determination of Fractional Retardations in Photoelasticity through Digital Fringe Multiplication - 5479910.pdf
Creators: name: Swain, Digendra
name: Thomas, Binu
name: Selvan, Karthigai
name: Philip, Jeby
Publisher: name: Optica Publishing Group
Year: 2025
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: Supplemental document
title: Von der Idee zum Konzept
title: Von der Idee zum Konzept
titleType: AlternativeTitle
Creators: name: Rückert-John, Jana
name: Ritter, Johanna
name: Kröger, Melanie
Publisher: name: Umweltbundesamt
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Abfallvermeidung
subject: Kommunikation
subject: Abfallwirtschaft
subject: Kreislauftwirtschaft
subject: soziale Milieus
subject: Abfall | Ressourcen

description: Konsumpraktiken und Gewohnheiten sind in einer modernen Gesellschaft vielfältig. Eine/n typische/n Verbraucher/in gibt es nicht; verschiedene soziale Merkmale wie Alter, Einkommen, Geschlecht, Wertvorstellungen bestimmen die soziale Wirklichkeit und auch die Chancen der Teilhabe. Bei der Kommunikation über Abfallvermeidung sollten dies berücksichtigt werden. Die Handreichung bietet Multiplikatoren aus Politik, Verwaltung und Zivilgesellschaft Einsicht in die alltagsweltliche Sicht sozialer Gruppen, um wirksame Kommunikationskonzepte - insbesondere zur Abfallvermeidung - entwickeln zu können. Quelle: www-umweltbundesamt.de
description: Konsumpraktiken und Gewohnheiten sind in einer modernen Gesellschaft vielfältig. Eine/n typische/n Verbraucher/in gibt es nicht; verschiedene soziale Merkmale wie Alter, Einkommen, Geschlecht, Wertvorstellungen bestimmen die soziale Wirklichkeit und auch die Chancen der Teilhabe. Bei der Kommunikation über Abfallvermeidung sollten dies berücksichtigt werden. Die Handreichung bietet Multiplikatoren aus Politik, Verwaltung und Zivilgesellschaft Einsicht in die alltagsweltliche Sicht sozialer Gruppen, um wirksame Kommunikationskonzepte - insbesondere zur Abfallvermeidung - entwickeln zu können.
The Effects of Repeated Readings on the Fluency of First Grade Students
Creators: name: Lanman, Kne-Shall
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Education -- Research papers (Graduate)

description: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of repeated readings on the fluency of first grade students. This study utilized a quasi-experimental design that included a pre-assessment and treatment, followed by a post-assessment. There were ten participants in this study which included three African American males, three Caucasian females, two African American females, and two Hispanic females. Data was collected by the researcher over a period of six months. The study hypothesized that there will be no statistically significant improvement in reading fluency, as measured by the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment, of students who received repeated reading instruction over a six month period when their results are compared with their performance on the reading fluency portion of the DIBELS assessment that was administered at the beginning of the year. The results suggested that there were statistically significant differences overall in the performance of students on the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency assessment. This study supports previous research on the effectiveness of implementing a repeated reading program in the first grade classroom.
The Relationship Between Natural Speech Rate and Oral Reading Fluency Rate and Reading Comprehension among Third Grade Students
Creators: name: Neumer, Meghan
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Education -- Research papers (Graduate)

description: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between students’ natural speech rate and oral reading fluency rate and reading comprehension. A correlational study design was used. Participants in the study were 22 third grade students who were enrolled in a public elementary school in Baltimore County, Maryland. The 22 students who participated in the study represented a wide range of ability levels and included four students with Individualized Educational Plans, students who were considered reading on grade level, and several students who were considered having above average reading achievement. Data were collected and analyzed for each student’s natural speech rate, reading fluency rate, and comprehension assessments. The analysis did not reveal a significant relationship between natural speech rate and reading fluency and comprehension rate. Recommendations for future research include using different assessment tools to gather a student’s speech rate, fluency rate, and comprehension rate to strengthen validity and creating different guidelines for speech that would involve collecting data on the speech rate when conversing with an adult.
The Effect of Q Angle on Vertical Jump in Female Athletes
Creators: name: Jones, Bradley R.
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Education -- Research papers (Graduate)

description: The purpose of the investigation was to determine the relationship between Q angle and vertical jump in female collegiate athletes. The measurement tools used were a goniometer and a Vertec vertical jump stand. This study involved a correlational test. The Q angle measurements of each participant were taken and compared to an average vertical jump height. The analysis of the results from 15 participants revealed no correlation between Q angle and vertical jump. Future research should analyze a larger population of female athletes and should not be limited to age. Future research should also examine different methods of measuring strength other than vertical jump when looking for a correlation with Q angle.
Why do Young Urban Indians vote the way they do a study across four States
Creators: name: Netheena Mathews And Nahia Hussain
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Young Urban Indians vote

description: With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) riding a second victory wave in India in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Centre for Development Policy and Practice (CDPP) embarked on a study to analyse voting behaviour among young urban Indians and their understanding of the nation’s development. The study, supported by Institute of Objective Studies (IoS), looks into major issues that concern urban Indians in the 18-35 age group, while assessing how they feel about inclusive growth, India’s progress since independence, its global reputation, and cases concerning religious polarisation in the country.
 With India entering its 37-year period of demographic dividend, the opinions, aspirations and priorities of the young Indian assume even more significance. To this end, CDPP partnered with Neev Research & Advisory to undertake a comprehensive survey across four Indian states in early 2020, spanning five cities and a total of 2,586 respondents.Neev provided data collection services, gathering responses from young citizens residing in Lucknow, Varanasi, Bhopal, Jaipur and Ahmedabad on a range of issues such as the economy’s performance, abrogation of Article 370, Uniform Civil Code, cow vigilantism, demonetisation, voting preferences, and the Citizenship Amendment Act, among others. Questions on their demographic characteristics and voting behaviour were also posed. The responses have been analysed across various parameters such as the respondents’ age, gender, occupation, education, monthly income and city of residence – essential drivers of the young hindi speaking Indian voter’s identity.
 While this report does not intend to serve as a predictor of future election exercises in any manner, it aims to provide insights into the young urban Indian’s understanding of their identity and India’s development. CDPP trusts this report will help leaders at the state and central levels across all political parties rethink their strategy and priorities such that they align with the young voters’ needs and aspirations. This report also intends to help underline issues regarding religious polarisation that call for affirmative action and creation of counter-narratives, wherever required.
Early Childhood Learning Experiences and Kindergarten Achievement
Creators: name: Knudsen, Lindsay
Publisher: name: Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Education -- Research papers (Graduate)

description: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a prior school experience on the academic achievement of kindergarten students at the beginning of the school year. Using a causal-comparative design, the study examined fifty nine kindergarten students with a variety of prior learning experiences. The students were divided into three separate categories based on their prior schooling and their beginning of the year assessment scores were analyzed. Overall, the findings support the null hypothesis that a formalized prior school experience has no significant impact on kindergarten academic achievement. However, there were some variances in the beginning of the year scores. Because of these score variances, future studies should address specific early childhood learning programs and their impact on kindergarten achievement.
Mechanical constraints to cell-cycle progression in a pseudostratified epithelium.
Creators: name: Hecht, Sophie
name: Perez-Mockus, Gantas
name: Schienstock, Dominik
name: Recasens-Alvarez, Carles
name: Merino-Aceituno, Sara
name: Smith, Matt
name: Salbreux, Guillaume
name: Degond, Pierre
name: Vincent, Jean-Paul
Publisher: name: The Francis Crick Institute
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Neurosciences
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: Model organisms
subject: Synthetic Biology
subject: Imaging
subject: Signalling & Oncogenes
subject: Genetics & Genomics
subject: Developmental Biology
subject: Structural Biology & Biophysics
subject: Cell Biology
subject: Computational & Systems Biology

description: As organs and tissues approach their normal size during development or regeneration, growth slows down, and cell proliferation progressively comes to a halt. Among the various processes suggested to contribute to growth termination,1-10 mechanical feedback, perhaps via adherens junctions, has been suggested to play a role.11-14 However, since adherens junctions are only present in a narrow plane of the subapical region, other structures are likely needed to sense mechanical stresses along the apical-basal (A-B) axis, especially in a thick pseudostratified epithelium. This could be achieved by nuclei, which have been implicated in mechanotransduction in tissue culture.15 In addition, mechanical constraints imposed by nuclear crowding and spatial confinement could affect interkinetic nuclear migration (IKNM),16 which allows G2 nuclei to reach the apical surface, where they normally undergo mitosis.17-25 To explore how mechanical constraints affect IKNM, we devised an individual-based model that treats nuclei as deformable objects constrained by the cell cortex and the presence of other nuclei. The model predicts changes in the proportion of cell-cycle phases during growth, which we validate with the cell-cycle phase reporter FUCCI (Fluorescent Ubiquitination-based Cell Cycle Indicator).26 However, this model does not preclude indefinite growth, leading us to postulate that nuclei must migrate basally to access a putative basal signal required for S phase entry. With this refinement, our updated model accounts for the observed progressive slowing down of growth and explains how pseudostratified epithelia reach a stereotypical thickness upon completion of growth.