Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and Determinants of Adult Under-Nutrition in Botswana

Background To estimate the prevalence and determinants of adult under-nutrition in Botswana. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted where a nationally representative sample of people aged 20 to 49 years was used for the analysis. The outcome measure of under-nutrition was measured as BMI<18.5 kg/m2. Results Of the total sample, 19.5% of males and 10.1% of females were underweight (BMI<18.5 kg/m2). The wealth index showed that 30.9% of the adult population with low a BMI belongs to the poorest 20% of the households while only 9.6% comprised of the richest 20% of the households. Results from logistic regression analysis indicated that both adult men and women who had no education and belonged to the low socioeconomic group had a statistically significant association with low BMI. Among the female adult population, being young and not having watched TV at least once a week were significantly associated with low BMI. For the male adult population, being unmarried was significantly associated with low BMI. Conclusions Programme interventions aimed at improving the nutritional status of adults can use these findings to make appropriate policy, to establish baselines and study nutritional changes over time and its covariates.
Application of Sequence-Dependent Electrophoresis Fingerprinting in Exploring Biodiversity and Population Dynamics of Human Intestinal Microbiota: What Can Be Revealed?

Sequence-dependent electrophoresis (SDE) fingerprinting techniques such as denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) have become commonplace in the field of molecular microbial ecology. The success of the SDE technology lays in the fact that it allows visualization of the predominant members of complex microbial ecosystems independent of their culturability and without prior knowledge on the complexity and diversity of the ecosystem. Mainly using the prokaryotic 16S rRNA gene as PCR amplification target, SDE-based community fingerprinting turned into one of the leading molecular tools to unravel the diversity and population dynamics of human intestinal microbiota. The first part of this review covers the methodological concept of SDE fingerprinting and the technical hurdles for analyzing intestinal samples. Subsequently, the current state-of-the-art of DGGE and related techniques to analyze human intestinal microbiota from healthy individuals and from patients with intestinal disorders is surveyed. In addition, the applicability of SDE analysis to monitor intestinal population changes upon nutritional or therapeutic interventions is critically evaluated.
The Approximability of Constraint Satisfaction Problems

We study optimization problems that may be expressed as "Boolean constraint satisfaction problems. " An instance of a Boolean constraint satisfaction problem is given by m constraints applied to n Boolean variables. Different computational problems arise from constraint satisfaction problems depending on the nature of the "underlying" constraints as well as on the goal of the optimization task. Here we consider four possible goals: Max CSP (Min CSP) is the class of problems where the goal is to find an assignment maximizing the number of satisfied constraints (minimizing the number of unsatisfied constraints). Max Ones (Min Ones) is the class of optimization problems where the goal is to find an assignment satisfying all constraints with maximum (minimum) number of variables set to 1. Each class consists of infinitely many problems and a problem within a class is specified by a finite collection of finite Boolean functions that describe the possible constraints that may be used. Tight bounds on the approximability of every problem in Max CSP were obtained by Creignou [ J. Comput. System Sci., 51 (1995), pp. 511--522]. In this work we determine tight bounds on the "approximability" (i.e., the ratio to within which each problem may be approximated in polynomial time) of every problem in Max Ones, Min CSP, and Min Ones. Combined with the result of Creignou, this completely classifies all optimization problems derived from Boolean constraint satisfaction. Our results capture a diverse collection of optimization problems such as MAX 3-SAT, Max Cut, Max Clique, Min Cut, Nearest Codeword, etc. Our results unify recent results on the (in-)approximability of these optimization problems and yield a compact presentation of most known results. Moreover, these results provide a formal basis to many statements on the behavior of natural optimization problems that have so far been observed only empirically.
Optimal SNR Model Selection in Multiple-Model Based Speech Recognition System

In the multiple-model based speech recognition system, multiple HMM models corresponding to different types of noise signals and SNR values are trained and the one model which is most close to the input speech is selected for recognition. In the previous research on the multiple- model based speech recognition, it has been thought that the best performance can be obtained by selecting the HMM model which is most similar in SNR values to the input speech. But, from our experimental results, it has been found that better performance can be obtained when there is some mismatch between the SNR values of input speech and the selected HMM model. In this paper, we experimentally determined the optimal HMM models corresponding to the SNR values of the input speech in the multiple-model based speech recognizer. From the recognition experiments on Aurora 2 database, we could see far better recognition results compared with the conventional multiple-model based speech recognizer by using the experimentally determined optimal HMM models.
Post-transcriptional Control of Tumor Cell Autonomous Metastatic Potential by CCR4-NOT Deadenylase CNOT7

Accumulating evidence supports the role of an aberrant transcriptome as a driver of metastatic potential. Deadenylation is a general regulatory node for post-transcriptional control by microRNAs and other determinants of RNA stability. Previously, we demonstrated that the CCR4-NOT scaffold component Cnot2 is an inherited metastasis susceptibility gene. In this study, using orthotopic metastasis assays and genetically engineered mouse models, we show that one of the enzymatic subunits of the CCR4-NOT complex, Cnot7, is also a metastasis modifying gene. We demonstrate that higher expression of Cnot7 drives tumor cell autonomous metastatic potential, which requires its deadenylase activity. Furthermore, metastasis promotion by CNOT7 is dependent on interaction with CNOT1 and TOB1. CNOT7 ribonucleoprotein-immunoprecipitation (RIP) and integrated transcriptome wide analyses reveal that CNOT7-regulated transcripts are enriched for a tripartite 3’UTR motif bound by RNA-binding proteins known to complex with CNOT7, TOB1, and CNOT1. Collectively, our data support a model of CNOT7, TOB1, CNOT1, and RNA-binding proteins collectively exerting post-transcriptional control on a metastasis suppressive transcriptional program to drive tumor cell metastasis.
Interdependence and Conflict : An Introduction

Over the past few decades, there has been a surge of interest in the relationship between economic interdependence and political con›ict. One view that has gained considerable popularity and empirical support is that heightened interdependence fosters cooperative political relations. Voiced with increasing regularity in both academic and policy circles, this claim has been used to help justify the formation of the European Economic Community, Richard Nixon's opening to China, Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik, and Henry Kissinger's conception of détente with the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, critics of this argument have not been stilled. Some observers maintain that, rather than fostering cooperation, increased interdependence generates political discord. Even more widespread is the argument that economic exchange has no strong bearing on the high politics of national security. This debate is hardly new. For centuries, the nature and strength of the links between interdependence and con›ict have been the subject of heated disagreement. Until lately, however, these links remained the subject of remarkably little systematic scrutiny. In recent years, a growing number of studies have attempted to ‹ll this gap in the literature, but they have yet to resolve various crucial questions. Most important, how and to what extent does interdependence in›uence political antagonism? What are the causal mechanisms driving this relationship? And what is the most appropriate way to test this relationship? The purpose of this book is to shed new light on these key issues. In this introduction, we survey the recent literature on the effects of economic interdependence on political con›ict, placing primary emphasis on these questions and on the theoretical and empirical developments needed to answer them. Our central arguments are threefold. First, existing research has
Confronting Competition Investment Response and Constraints in Uganda

Investment rates in Uganda are similar to others in Africa, - averaging slightly more than ten percent annually, with a median value of just under one percent. But the country's profit rates are considerably lower. These results are consistent with the view that Ugandan firms display more confidence in the economy than their counterparts in other African countries. Thus, for given profit rates, Ugandan firms invest more. At the same time, increased competition (because of economic liberalization) has exerted pressure on firms to cut costs. Many of those costs are not under the firms'control, however, so their profits have suffered. Using firm-level data, the authors identify and quantify a number of cost factors, including those associated with transport, corruption, and utility services. Several factors - including crime, erratic infrastructure services, and arbitrary tax administration - not only increase firms'operating costs, but affect their perceptions of the risks of investing in (partly) irreversible capital. The empirical analysis suggests that firms - especially small firms - are liquidity-constrained in the sense that they invest only when sufficient internal funds are available. But given the firms'profit-capital ratio, it is hard to argue that the liquidity constraint is binding in most cases, even though the cost of capital is perceived as a problem.
Understanding Complaints about Paramedics: A Qualitative Exploration in a Uk Context

Introduction This research set out to understand the context and explore the reasons for the disproportionate number of complaints raised against paramedics to the United Kingdom professional regulator – the Health and Care Professions Council – relative to other health professions. Methods This paper reports on qualitative findings from one aspect of a mixed-methods study which included a case analysis, Delphi study and literature review. One-to-one semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 stakeholders drawn from practitioners, educators, representatives and regulators, and three focus groups held with 16 practitioners and service users were used to gain an in-depth understanding of the possible reasons for complaints about paramedic practice. Results Five themes were generated from a thematic analysis of the data: the impact of public perceptions and expectations; the challenges of day-to-day practice; the effect of increasingly pressurised services; the organisational and cultural climate which impacts paramedics’ work; and the evolving nature of the profession. Conclusion This study highlights the complex and changing nature of paramedic practice. It provides an insight into the ways in which the character, practice and environment of the profession contribute to a disproportionate number of complaints.
Headteacher Visibility, Teacher Characteristics, and Headteacher Trustworthiness: Perceptions of Secondary School Teachers in Mukono District, Uganda

Headteacher Visibility, Teacher Characteristics, and Headteacher Trustworthiness: Perceptions of Secondary School Teachers in Mukono District, Uganda David McKay Boren Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations Doctor of Philosophy Research indicates that students perform better academically in schools with higher levels of trust than in schools with lower levels of trust. School leaders are primarily responsible for building cultures of trust but are often at a loss as to how to do so effectively. With the assumption that as perceptions of school leader trustworthiness improve, teachers will be more likely to place their trust in that school leader, this research seeks to clarify how Ugandan headteachers improve teachers’ perceptions of headteacher trustworthiness. In particular, we examined how specific types of headteacher visibility related to teachers’ perceptions of headteacher relational and competence trustworthiness. This qualitative research used grounded theory methodology to interpret and analyze the interview responses of 28 Ugandan secondary school teachers in eight schools in Mukono District, Uganda. Findings from this research suggest that teachers’ perceptions of headteacher relational trustworthiness were strongly related to both the level of risk and formality of headteacher visibility. Additional findings suggest that perceptions of both headteacher relational and competence trustworthiness were influenced by differences in teacher and headteacher personal characteristics. The final finding indicates that certain types of headteacher visibility moderated the influence that teacher characteristics have on perceptions of trustworthiness. These findings can inform school leaders about how to more effectively improve teachers’ perceptions of school leader trustworthiness. The grounded theory model presented will provide opportunities for further theory building and testing with respect to the relationship between school leader visibility and teachers’ perceptions of school leader trustworthiness.
Exploring Subscription Renewal Intention of Operational Cloud Enterprise Systems - A Stakeholder Perspective

Retaining customers is a relevant topic throughout all service industries. However, only limited attention has been directed towards studying the antecedents of subscription renewal in the context of operational cloud enterprise systems. Cloud services have historically been offered as subscription-based services with the (theoretical) possibility of seamless service cancellation, in contrast to classical IT-Outsourcing contracts or license-based software installations of on-premise enterprise systems. In this work, we investigate the central concept of subscription renewal by focusing on different facets of IS success and their relevance for distinct employee cohorts. Analyzing inter-cohort differences has strong practical implications, as it helps IT vendors to focus on specific IT-related factors when trying to retain customers. Therefore an empirical study was undertaken. The hypotheses were developed on an individual level and tested using survey responses of IT decision makers within companies which adopted cloud enterprise systems. Gathered data was then analyzed using PLS. The results show that subscription renewal intention of the strategic cohort is mainly based on perceived system quality, whereas information quality explains most of the variance of subscription renewal in the management cohort. Beneath the cloud enterprise systems specific contributions, the work adds to the theoretical body of research related to IS success and IS continuation, as well as stakeholder perspectives.
Linking ozone pollution and climate change: The case for controlling methane

Methane (CH4) emission controls are found to be a powerful lever for reducing both global warming and air pollution via decreases in background tropospheric ozone (O3). Reducing anthropogenic CH4 emissions by 50% nearly halves the incidence of U.S. high‐O3 events and lowers global radiative forcing by 0.37 W m−2 (0.30 W m−2 from CH4, 0.07 W m−2 from O3) in a 3‐D model of tropospheric chemistry. A 2030 simulation based upon IPCC A1 emissions projections shows a longer and more intense U.S. O3 pollution season despite domestic emission reductions, indicating that intercontinental transport and a rising O3 background should be considered when setting air quality goals.
Influence of prolonged optic flow stimuli on spontaneous activities of cat PMLS neurons

Changes in neuronal spontaneous activities after prolonged optic flow stimulation (using the three basic flow modes: translation, radiation and rotation) were inve stigated by extracellular single-unit recording in cortical area PMLS of the cat. The results showed that the evoked responses decreased with the prolongation of visual stimuli, and the spontaneous activities usually dropped to a lower level after the stimuli were withdrawn. Generally, the reduction in spontaneous activities was larger after adaptation in the preferred direction than in the non-preferred direction. This difference was much pronounced to translation stimuli, but relatively insignificant to radiation and rotation. These points suggest that non-specific fatigue may act as the key factor in adaptation to simple translation, while some kinds of more complicated, direction-specific mechanism may be involved in adaptation to the complex optic flow patterns. In addition, PMLS may play an important role in perception and adaptation to complex motion and the relevant motion after-effects.
Epidemiology of hip fractures in Ecuador.

OBJECTIVES To report the age-, sex-, and type-specific hip fracture incidence rates in Ecuador. A secondary objective was to examine hip fracture geographic variations in Latin America. METHODS The Anuario de Egresos Hospitalarios was analyzed to determine the number of persons aged 50 years or older hospitalized with a principal diagnosis of hip fracture (ICD-10 S72) in 2005. Census estimates of the population were used as the denominator to calculate hip fracture incidence rates per 100,000 inhabitants. Age-adjusted rates were calculated by the direct method using the 2000 U.S. population as the standard to examine hip fracture geographic variations. RESULTS A total of 1 005 persons were hospitalized with a diagnosis of hip fracture (664 women and 341 men) during the study period. The crude annual incidence rate of hip fractures was 49.5 per 100,000 (34.8 per 100,000 men and 63.2 per 100,000 women). In general, the number and incidence of hip fractures increased exponentially with age in both sexes. However, the increase was more relevant in women. Age-adjusted rates in Latin America ranged from a low of 15.1 per 100,000 in women and 6.7 per 100,000 in men for Sobral, Brazil, to a high of 499.0 per 100,000 in women for La Plata, Argentina. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study indicate a low incidence of hip fractures in Ecuador and geographic differences of hip fracture rates in Latin America. Because the population of Ecuador is aging, this study provides valuable information for public health authorities to start planning and implementing prevention strategies aimed at reducing the burden of hip fractures in the near future.
Documento de Trabajo Working Paper N ° 350 N ° 350 INFLATION PREMIUM AND OIL PRICE VOLATILITY

In this paper we establish a link between the volatility of oil price shocks and a positive expected value of inflation in equilibrium (inflation premium). In doing so, we implement the perturbation method to solve up to second order a benchmark New Keynesian model with oil price shocks. In contrast with log linear approximations, the second order solution relaxes certainty equivalence providing a link between the volatility of shocks and inflation premium. First, we obtain analytical results for the determinants of the level of inflation premium. Thus, we find that the degree of convexity of both the marginal cost and the Phillips curve is a key element in accounting for the existence of a positive inflation premium. We further show that the level of inflation premium might be potentially large even when a central bank implements an active monetary policy. Second, we evaluate numerically the second order solution of the model to explain the episode of high and persistent inflation observed in the US during the 70’s. We find, in contrast with Clarida, Gali and Gertler (QJE, 2000), that even when there is no difference in the monetary policy rules between the pre-Volcker and post-Volcker periods, oil price shocks can generate high inflation levels during the 70’s through a positive high level of inflation premium. As by product, our analysis shows that oil price shocks along with a distorted steady state can generate a time-varying endogenous trade-off between inflation and deviations of output from its efficient level. The previous trade-off, once uncertainty is taking into account, implies that a positive level of inflation premium is an optimal response to oil price shocks. ________________ Document presented at the First Monetary Policy Research Workshop in Latin America and the Caribbean on Monetary Policy Response to Supply and Asset Price Shocks, Santiago, Chile, November 17, 2005. We would like to thank Pierpaolo Benigno, Alberto Humala, Pau Rabanal, Marco Vega and participants in the research workshop at the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú and the First Resarch Workshop on Monetary Policy Asset Prices and Oil Prices co-organized by the CCBS Central Bank of Chile for useful suggestions. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú. Any errors are our own responsibility. Email: pcastillob@bcrp.gob. pe.
Epistatic Relationships between sarA and agr in Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm Formation

Background The accessory gene regulator (agr) and staphylococcal accessory regulator (sarA) play opposing roles in Staphylococcus aureus biofilm formation. There is mounting evidence to suggest that these opposing roles are therapeutically relevant in that mutation of agr results in increased biofilm formation and decreased antibiotic susceptibility while mutation of sarA has the opposite effect. To the extent that induction of agr or inhibition of sarA could potentially be used to limit biofilm formation, this makes it important to understand the epistatic relationships between these two loci. Methodology/Principal Findings We generated isogenic sarA and agr mutants in clinical isolates of S. aureus and assessed the relative impact on biofilm formation. Mutation of agr resulted in an increased capacity to form a biofilm in the 8325-4 laboratory strain RN6390 but had little impact in clinical isolates S. aureus. In contrast, mutation of sarA resulted in a reduced capacity to form a biofilm in all clinical isolates irrespective of the functional status of agr. This suggests that the regulatory role of sarA in biofilm formation is independent of the interaction between sarA and agr and that sarA is epistatic to agr in this context. This was confirmed by demonstrating that restoration of sarA function restored the ability to form a biofilm even in the corresponding agr mutants. Mutation of sarA in clinical isolates also resulted in increased production of extracellular proteases and extracellular nucleases, both of which contributed to the biofilm-deficient phenotype of sarA mutants. However, studies comparing different strains with and without proteases inhibitors and/or mutation of the nuclease genes demonstrated that the agr-independent, sarA-mediated repression of extracellular proteases plays a primary role in this regard. Conclusions and Significance The results we report suggest that inhibitors of sarA-mediated regulation could be used to limit biofilm formation in S. aureus and that the efficacy of such inhibitors would not be limited by spontaneous mutation of agr in the human host.