Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemical Differences Between Voided and Bladder Urine in the Aye‐Aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis): Implications for Olfactory Communication Studies

Urine serves a communicative function in many mammalian species. In some species, the signaling function of urine can be enhanced by the addition of chemical compounds from glands along the distal portion of the urogenital tract. Although urine marking is the main mode of chemical communication in many primate species, there has been no study of the contribution of urogenital secretions to the chemical complexity of primate urine. Here, we compared the chemical composition of bladder urine versus voided urine in the aye‐aye, Daubentonia madagascariensis, a strepsirrhine primate that relies on urine in intraspecific communication. Both types of urine, collected from each of 11 aye‐ayes representing both sexes of varying adult ages, underwent headspace analysis via gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Although the average number of compounds was similar in bladder and voided urine, 17% of the compounds detected occurred exclusively in voided urine (but only in a subset of individuals). An overall measure of chemical complexity (using a nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis) showed that both types of urine were chemically different at the individual level. There was no apparent sex or age differences in the chemical components found in aye‐aye urine. Nonetheless, the individual dissimilarities between bladder urine and voided urine indicate chemical contributions from structures along the urogenital tract and offer further support for the relevance of urinary communication in the aye‐aye. Am. J. Primatol. 75:695‐702, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Impact of Industry Guest Speakers on Business Students' Perceptions of Employability Skills Development

This study provides insights into the perceptions and expectations of Australian undergraduate business students (n=150) regarding the incorporation of guest speakers into the curriculum of a leadership unit focused on employability skills development. The authors adopted a mixed methods approach. A survey was conducted, with quantitative results analysed using SPSS allowing comparison of mean values between items and the identification of any statistical difference by student demographics. A thematic approach using inductive coding was applied to analyse the qualitative responses to open-ended questions. The results indicate that an appropriately briefed, qualified, interesting and engaging guest speaker plays an important role in active learning by exposing students to the ‘real world’ of the workplace and can reinforce the significance of key employability skills for future career success. The results also indicate that students' experience of guest speakers may be influenced by cultural factors and learning styles, with differences between the perceptions and expectations of domestic and international students with regard to certain factors. The paper has practical implications for those organizing the implementation of guest speaker programmes in HEIs and for the guest speakers themselves.
Cardiac troponins and mortality in type 1 and 2 myocardial infarction

Abstract Background: The pathogenesis of different types of myocardial infarction (MI) differs widely, so that accurate and timely differential diagnosis is essential for tailoring treatments according to the underlying causal mechanisms. As the measurement of cardiac troponins is a mainstay for diagnosis and management of MI, we performed a systematic literature analysis of published works which concomitantly measured cardiac troponins in type 1 and 2 MI. Methods: The electronic search was conducted in Medline, Scopus and Web of Science using the keywords “myocardial infarction” AND “type(-)2” OR “type II” AND “troponin” in “Title/Abstract/Keywords”, with no language restriction and date limited from 2007 to the present. Results: Overall, 103 documents were identified, but 95 were excluded as precise comparison of troponin values in patients with type 1 and 2 MI was unavailable. Therefore, eight studies were finally selected for our analysis. Two studies used high-sensitivity (HS) immunoassays for measuring cardiac troponin T (HS-TnT), one used a HS immunoassay for measuring cardiac troponin I (HS-TnI), whereas the remaining used conventional methods for measuring TnI. In all studies, regardless of type and assay sensitivity, troponin values were higher in type 1 than in type 2 MI. The weighted percentage difference between type 1 and 2 MI was 32% for TnT and 91% for TnI, respectively. Post-discharge mortality obtained from pooling individual data was instead three times higher in type 2 than in type 1 MI. Conclusions: The results of our analysis suggest that the value of cardiac troponins is consistently higher in type 1 than in type 2 MI.
Associability of a Previously Conditioned Stimulus as a Function of Qualitative Changes in the US

Hall and Pearce (1979) reported retarded manifestation of conditioned responding to repeated CS–strong shock pairings as a result of prior CS–weak shock pairings. These authors suggested that a latent inhibition (LI)-like process reduced the associability of the CS during weak shock conditioning despite excitatory associations between CS and weak shock being formed. The present experiments examined the possibility that the negative transfer from CS–weak shock conditioning in Stage 1 to CS–strong shock conditioning in Stage 2 observed by Hall and Pearce was due at least in part to the similarity between weak and strong shock rather than, or in addition to, a general loss of CS associability. Specifically, the transfer of decreased associability to conditioning with a dissimilar US was investigated. Consistent with Hall and Pearce, who gave multiple training trials in Stage 2, Experiment 1 found the development of conditioned responding owing to a single CS–strong shock pairing in Stage 2 to be retarded by prior CS–weak shock pairings and compared this effect to conventional LI. In Experiment 2, partial attenuation of the negative transfer following CS–weak shock was obtained by substituting ice water immersion for strong shock, that is, by making the strong US qualitatively dissimilar from the weak US. In contrast, conventional LI resulting from preconditioning CS-only exposures was equivalent for strong shock in Experiment 1 and ice water immersion in Experiment 2. A possible mechanism for the sensitivity to qualitative US changes of the observed negative transfer is discussed.
Application of principal component pursuit to process fault detection and diagnosis

Data-driven process monitoring has been extensively discussed in both academia and industry because of its applicability and effectiveness. One of the most applied techniques is the principal component analysis (PCA). Recently a new technique called principal component pursuit (PCP) is introduced. Compared to PCA, PCP is more robust to outliers. In this paper, the application of the PCP technique to process monitoring is thoroughly discussed from training data preprocessing to residual signal post-filtering. A new scaling preprocessing step is proposed to improve quality of data matrices in the sense of low coherence. A residual generator and a post-filter suitable for PCP generated process models are also provided. The post-filtered residual represents the fault signal, which makes the fault detection, isolation and reconstruction procedures simple and straightforward. A numerical example is provided to describe and illustrate the PCP-based process modeling and monitoring procedures.
Leg paresthesias induced by magnetic brain stimulation in patients with thoracic spinal cord injury

We studied the induction of leg paresthesias by magnetic stimulation of the brain in seven patients with thoracic T9-12 spinal cord injury and in four normal volunteers by delivering transcranial magnetic stimulation over scalp positions 1 cm apart with a Cadwell MES-10 magnetic stimulator and an 8-shaped magnetic coil at 100% stimulus intensity. We asked subjects to report sensations felt after each stimulus. In all normal subjects, magnetic stimulation evoked sensations described as tingling or a wave descending along the leg, usually accompanied by EMG responses in leg muscles. In three of the seven patients, stimulation evoked sensations of tingling, numbness, touch, or a wave descending along the leg, lasting up to 10 seconds and referred to different parts of the legs and toes. In the patients, sensations were felt more distally the closer the site of stimulation was to the midline. Patients with leg paresthesias had less motor reorganization in abdominal muscles than those without paresthesias. These findings suggest that portions of the cortical representation areas for body parts deafferented by a complete spinal cord injury can remain related to those body parts for up to several years. A central origin of these paresthesias is probable.
Building Impossible States? State-Building Strategies and EU Membership in the Western Balkans

SINCE THE EARLY 2000S THE EU HAS EMERGED AS THE PRIMARY ACTOR in state building in the Western Balkans. Based on a dual strategy of state building and European integration, the EU has sought to replace other international organisations in the post-conflict reconstruction of the Western Balkans. The record of this experience has been mixed. This essay will discuss the dual approach of the EU and examine its application to Bosnia & Hercegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina, BiH), Serbia and Montenegro, and Kosovo. It argues that the EU’s approach has relied strongly on the effect of conditionality as a tool of state building; however, as the case studies will demonstrate, the conditionality approach has been largely ineffective in regard to state building, in part due to the lack of commitment of political elites to EU integration and the persistence of status issues on the policy agenda. The essay will seek to examine the causes of this failure and what this means for future EU-driven state building in the Western Balkans and in other post-conflict regions. Since the early 1990s, different international actors have promoted the reform and creation of states as a solution to the conflicts that erupted on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. In fact, one of the first of many failed peace plans was the ‘Arrangements for a general settlement’ proposed by the EC mediator for Yugoslavia, Lord Carrington in September 1991, which sought to create an association of independent republics (UN Secretary General 1991, pp. 29–45). Numerous subsequent proposals have been drafted for Croatia (Z4 plan), BiH (Cutileiro Plan, Vance–Owen Plan, Owen–Stoltenberg Plan, Contact Group plan), Kosovo (Rambouillet) and Macedonia (Ohrid Framework Agreement) (Bieber 2012). Some failed at the negotiation stage, while others have been implemented with varying degrees of success. A key feature of these plans has been the establishment of a particular form of state to accommodate competing claims: a minimalist state. Together with ending hostility, the structure of post-war governance has rightfully been the key concern of international mediators, but also of parties to the conflict. As the conflicts were rooted in disputes over governance and ethnic dominance, negotiating the shape and
Foreign Travel in North American MBA Programs

ABSTRACT Since the early 1990s, graduate schools of business in North America increasingly have relied on short overseas study trips to give students an international experience. Shorter trips have been shown to be more cost-effective and lead to more student participation than study-abroad programs and internships. This article presents the results of a survey of international travel at North American MBA programs and the types of exposure students received during the travel. Although travel is not required extensively, student participation is widespread and granting of academic credit is typical. Students conduct a variety of activities abroad, including coursework and projects.
Teachers’ Attitude and Gender Factor as Determinant of Pupils’ performance in Primary Science

Teachers are regarded as the basic tools in education and curriculum implementations. The quality of any nation’s education is determined by the qualities of the teachers and their attitude to the profession. This paper seeks to examine the influence of the teachers’ attitude and gender factor on the academic performance of the primary schools pupils. Fifty science teachers were randomly selected from seventy (70) primary schools out of the ninetyseven (97) primary schools in ondo west local Government in ondo state and two hundred pupils were randomly selected and used for the same study. Two instruments were used to collect data, the Teachers’ attitude questionnaire (TAQ) and Primary science achievement test (PSAT) . The research design adopted for this study was survey design. The reliability of the instrument was 0.78 and 0.84 by using crombach alpha and k-21 respectively. Pearson moment product correlation coefficient was used to analyze the instruments. The result indicated that there exists a significant relationship between teachers’ attitude and pupils’ performance in primary science. The result also indicated that there exists no significant relationship between the performance of pupils taught by male and female teachers in primary science. Recommendations were made on how to promote further development of primary science teaching and learning in Nigeria. Key words : Attitude, Gender, Performance, Nigeria
Announcing is Bad, Delaying is Worse: Another Pitfall in Well-intended Climate Policy

Summary It is frequently observed that the implementation of green policies is delayed compared to the initial announcement. Considering a setting with a representative monopolist extracting a nonrenewable resource, we demonstrate that announcing a green policy, but then delaying its implementation, is associated with a larger cumulative extraction at any point in time than announcing a late implementation of this policy at the outset.
Energy Balance in Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease and End‐Stage Renal Disease

Energy intake, resting energy expenditure, and energy expended for physical activity (EEPA) are components of energy balance that may be disrupted by a number of disorders and clinical conditions commonly present in advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end‐stage renal disease (ESRD). Energy intake of patients with CKD has been consistently lower than the recommended intake in multiple reports. On the other hand, while reduced energy intake due to anorexia may be applicable for ESRD patients with overt protein‐energy wasting, it is potentially unrealistic for overweight or obese subjects who are able to maintain their body weight. Studies on resting energy expenditure have provided mixed results, most likely as a consequence of differences in the population characteristics, clinical conditions, and stage of the disease. Finally, although there is lack of specific studies on EEPA, there is evidence that ESRD patients, particularly those undergoing hemodialysis are in general less active than sedentary healthy individuals. These observations may raise questions regarding the accuracy of dietary reports and the uncertainties related to the energy requirements, optimal dietary energy intake, and recommendations for physical activity in these patients.
Knowledge Codification, Exploitation, and Innovation: The Moderating Influence of Organizational Controls in Chinese Firms

This study examines how firms use organizational controls in the knowledge exploitation process to enhance endogenous innovation. Some past studies have shown that controls restrict the flexibility needed in innovation, whereas others have shown that controls enhanced innovation by directing the efforts of research and development professionals. Thus, we extend the theoretical development of organizational control theory to examine how different types of organizational controls (clan, behaviour, and output controls) play different roles at different points in the innovation process. First, we propose that codifying knowledge enhances its level of exploitation, with clan control serving as a moderator. Next, we propose that knowledge exploitation enhances endogenous innovation with behaviour and output controls serving as moderators. Our results from a sample of 607 Chinese manufacturing firms show that clan control moderated the knowledge codification–exploitation relationship positively. Behaviour control moderated the knowledge exploitation–innovation relationship positively, but output control had an inverse U-shaped moderating influence in this relationship. The results indicate that examining different types of organizational controls at different points in the knowledge management process provides a more comprehensive understanding for the role of controls in innovation.
Sleep Organization in Children With Partial Refractory Epilepsy

Although it is currently known that sleep can influence epilepsy and epilepsy can influence sleep organization, few data have been published on this mutual interaction concerning the pediatric population. The objective of this study was to verify the eventual presence of sleep alterations in children with partial refractory epilepsy. Seventeen patients with partial refractory epilepsy were submitted to whole-night polysomnography as part of their epilepsy investigation. Polysomnographic recordings were performed on a digital video-electroencephalography (EEG) system and consisted of the registration of EEG (24 channels), electro-oculogram, electromyogram, electrocardiogram, and nasal airflow and abdominal respiratory movements. Sleep stages were visually scored following standard criteria, and ictal events were classified according to the international classification of seizures. The patients were also subdivided into two subgroups based on the presence or absence of ictal episodes during the recording night. The results concerning sleep organization were compared with those obtained from a normal control group. The analysis of the sleep parameters showed a reduction of total time in bed and total sleep time in both subgroups of epileptic children; there was a higher number of stage shifts per hour in the control group than in both epileptic subgroups. The percentage of stage 2 shifts is significantly reduced in patients with epilepsy and seizures during the night and the percentage of stage 3 to 4 shifts is increased. Nonsignificant differences are evident for the number of awakenings per hour and the percentage of stage 1 shifts. The percentage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is reduced, and first REM latency is increased in both epileptic subgroups, compared with normal controls, without statistical significance. Nine of 17 patients had seizures during the polysomnographic recording; nocturnal ictal events occurred mostly during non-REM sleep stage 2. Our results show that patients with partial refractory epilepsies have only mild sleep structure abnormalities, and this can be considered as an effect of the epileptic syndrome per se or as a result of the chronic antiepilepsy drug treatment. (J Child Neurol 2003;18:763—766).
Electroacupuncture Increases the Concentration and Organization of Collagen in a Tendon Healing Model in Rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on the composition and organization of the extracellular matrix of the rat Achilles tendon after a partial transection during the proliferative phase of healing. Wistar rats were divided into three groups: rats that were not tenotomized (G1), tenotomized rats (G2), and rats that were tenotomized and submitted to EA (G3). EA was applied 15 days after injury at the ST36 and BL57 acupoints for 20 min, three times per week on alternate days for a total of six sessions. Biochemical analyses were performed using non-collagenous proteins, glycosaminoglycans, and hydroxyproline quantifications. An analysis of metalloproteinase-2 was carried out by zymography. The general organization of the extracellular matrix and the metachromasy of the tendons were analyzed under light microscopy. The organization of the bundles of collagen fibers was analyzed by birefringence analysis. The results showed that EA did not alter the concentration of non-collagenous proteins or glycosaminoglycans or the enzymatic activity of metalloproteinase-2 in the transected tendons. However, the concentration of hydroxyproline was significantly increased when these tendons were treated by EA. The analysis of birefringence showed a higher organization of collagen fibers in the group treated by EA. These results indicate, for the first time, that EA may offer therapeutic benefits for the treatment of tendon injuries by increasing the concentration of collagen and by inducing a better molecular organization of the collagen fibers, which may improve the mechanical strength of the tendon after injury.
Utility of frozen-section examination for diagnosis of malignancy associated with multinodular goiter.

BACKGROUND Frozen-section examination (FSE) has traditionally been used for the intraoperative diagnosis of thyroid cancer. However, the utility of the technique is now controversial, especially in multinodular goiter (MNG), on which there are few studies. The aim of this study was to analyze the utility of FSE for ruling out malignancy in patients undergoing surgery for MNG. PATIENTS AND METHODS FSE was performed in 197 patients with MNGs undergoing surgery for suspected malignancy, either preoperatively (n = 145; 74%) or intraoperatively (n = 52; 26%), and where the preoperatively planned surgical technique was partial resectional surgery. The FSE diagnosis was classified as benign, suggestive of malignancy, or malignant. The following FSE parameters were calculated for diagnosing MNG-associated carcinoma: true- and false-positives and true- and false-negatives, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and diagnostic accuracy. The chi2 and Student's t tests were applied. RESULTS The FSE revealed benignity in 191 cases (97%), suggested malignancy in 3 (1.5%), and were malignant in the remaining 3. The final histology revealed 16 carcinomas (8%), of which only 3 were detected by FSE. Only tumor size was a factor significantly associated with FSE carcinoma detection (p = 0.0012). The sensitivity of the technique for detecting carcinoma was 19%, specificity, 100%; positive predictive value, 100%; negative predictive value, 93%; and diagnostic accuracy, 93%. CONCLUSIONS FSE should not be used routinely in the management of MNG, and considering its low rate of sensitivity for detecting malignancy, the decision on the extent of the thyroidectomy should be based on other factors and explorations.