Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computed tomography assessment of pancreatic steatosis in association with anthropometric measurements: A retrospective cohort study

Amac: Pankreatik yaglanma, pankreas parankiminde yag birikimidir. Bazi inflamatuar sureclere ve fibrozise yol acarak diyabet, malignite, pankreatit gibi hastaliklarin prognozunda etkili olabilecegi ve hatta pankreasla ilgili hastaliklarin gelisiminde etiyolojik rol oynayabilecegi one surulmektedir. Pankreatik yag birikiminin yasla, cinsiyetle ve obeziteyle artis gosterdigi dusunulmektedir. Ancak literaturde pankreas yaglanmasi ile ilgili sinirli sayida calisma mevcuttur. Bu calismada pankreas yaglanmasinin; yas, cinsiyet, subkutan yag doku kalinligi, visseral yag doku kalinligi ve hepatosteatoz ile iliskisini arastirmak amaclandi. Yontemler: Arastirmaya; bilinen pankreas hastaligi ve diabetes mellitus oykusu bulunmayan, uriner sistem tasi arastirilmasi amaciyla tomografi incelemesi yapilan 100 olgu dahil edildi. Retrospektif olarak yeniden degerlendirilen tomografi goruntuleri uzerinden pankreas parankim dansitesi, visseral ve subkutan yag doku kalinliklari olculdu. Eslik eden hepatosteatoz varligi arastirildi. Bulgular: Calismaya dahil edilen 100 olgunun %54’unde pankreatik yaglanma saptandi. Pankreatik yaglanma olan ve olmayan olgular karsilastirildiginda; cinsiyet ve subkutan yag doku kalinligi acisindan fark yoktu (sirasi ile p=0,115 ve p=0,511). Pankreas yaglanmasi yas ve visseral yag doku kalinligi arttikca istatistiksel olarak anlamli sekilde artmisti (sirasi ile p=0,001ve p = 0,001). Pankreatik yaglanmasi olan olgularda karaciger yaglanmasi insidansi %42 olarak bulundu. Sonuc: Bulgularimiza gore; yas ve visseral yag doku kalinligi arttikca pankreas yaglanmasi da artis gostermistir. Bu nedenle visseral yag doku kalinligi artmis, ileri yastaki olgular pankreas yaglanmasi acisindan da arastirilmalidir.
Regional Importance of Mittelstand Firms and Innovation Performance

Berlemann M. and Jahn V. Regional importance of Mittelstand firms and innovation performance, Regional Studies. Despite the deeply rooted belief of politicians all over the world about the important role of Mittelstand firms, there has yet been surprisingly little empirical research on this issue. This article contributes to the literature by studying whether the relative regional importance of Mittelstand firms has an effect on regional innovation performance. Using a cross-section of German NUTS-3 regions, a significantly positive relation between the relative importance of owner-managed small and medium-sized enterprises and patent applications is identified. This finding is highly robust when controlling for spatial correlations as they often occur in highly disaggregated regional analyses.
In vitro Evaluation of Alfalfa Substitution with Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graegum) Hay in a High Concentrate Ration

This study was conducted to evaluate the possibility of alfalfa replacement with fenugreek hay for ruminants, using in vitro gas production parameters and some of rumen fermentation characteristics. For this propose, five different total mixed rations were formulated to meet nutrient requirements of 35 kg growing lambs with gradually replacement of alfalfa in control diet (T1) with different levels of fenugreek hay (25, 50, 75 and 100%, respectively T 2, T3, T4 and T5). In vitro gas production (mL/200 mg DM) was determined at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours of incubation. Ammonia-N concentration (mg/dL) and pH of rumen liquor was determined immediately after removal. Gas production was increased with increasing levels of fenugreek (P<0.05). Significant increases of gas production from insoluble fraction (b) were observed with increasing levels of fenugreek hay (P<0.05). A same trend was observed for potential gas production (a+b, P<0.05). Also, the constant rate of gas production (c) of T2, T3 and T4 were significantly higher than control, but the differences between T3, T4 and T5 were not significant. Replacement of fenugreek at 25 and 75 percent significantly increased final pH compared to control (100% alfalfa) (P<0.05), but the differences between T3, T5 and control and between T3, T4 and T5 were not significant. Short chain fatty acids production (mmol/200 mg DM) was significantly greater in treatments with 50% or more fenugreek substitution (P<0.05). Organic matter digestibility of treatments containing 50% or more fenugreek hay (T3, T4 and T5) were significantly higher than control (P<0.05). Similarly, estimated metabolisable energy content of these treatments were higher than control (P<0.05). According to these results, it can be concluded that fenugreek can provide highly valuable forage for ruminants with comparable feeding values with alfalfa, and alfalfa can be replaced completely in ration with fenugreek hay without any problem.
Momentum Profits and Time-Varying Unsystematic Risk

This study assesses whether the widely documented momentum profits can be ascribed to time-varying risk as described by a GJR-GARCH(1,1)-M model. Consistent with rational pricing in efficient markets, we reveal that momentum profits are a compensation for time-varying unsystematic risks, common to the winner and loser stocks. We also find that, because losers have a higher propensity than winners of disclose bad news, negative return shocks increase their volatility more than it increases that of the winners. The volatility of the losers is also found to respond to news more slowly, but eventually to a greater extent, than that of the winners. Following Hong et al. (2000), we interpret this as a sign that managers of loser firms are reluctant to disclosing bad news, while managers of winner firms are eager to releasing good news.
Impact of increasing heatwaves on U.S. ozone episodes in the 2050s: Results from a multi-model analysis using extreme value theory

We develop a statistical model using extreme value theory to estimate the 2000 – 2050 changes in ozone episodes across the United States. We model the relationships between daily maximum temperature ( T max ) and maximum daily 8h average (MDA8) ozone in May – September over 2003 – 2012 using a Point Process (PP) model. At ~20% of the sites, a marked decrease in the ozone-temperature slope occurs at high temperatures, de ﬁ ned as ozone suppression. The PP model sometimes fails to capture ozone- T max relationships, so we re ﬁ t the ozone- T max slope using logistic regression and a generalized Pareto distribution model. We then apply the resulting hybrid-extreme value theory model to projections of T max from an ensemble of downscaled climate models. Assuming constant anthropogenic emissions at the present level, we ﬁ nd an average increase of 2.3da (cid:1) 1 in ozone episodes ( > 75ppbv) across the United States by the 2050s, with a change of +3 – 9da (cid:1) 1 at many sites.
Irreversible Investment Decisions in Perennial Crops with Yield and Price Uncertainty

Optimal entry and exit thresholds for Georgia commercial peach production are calculated when both price and yield follow a Brownian motion process. The thresholds are based on an irreversible sunk-cost investment model, where revenue from peach production is affected by the timing of when to enter production. Results indicate stability in Georgia peach production, with growers who are currently producing peaches remaining in production and potential peach growers delaying investment unless they have the ability of earning enhanced returns.
On Convergence in the Spatial AK Growth Models

Recent research in economic theory attempts to study optimal economic growth and spatial location of economic activity in a unified framework. So far, the key result of this literature - asymptotic convergence, even in the absence of decreasing returns to capital - relies on specific assumptions about the objective of the social planner. We show that this result does not depend on such restrictive assumptions and obtains for a broader class of objective functions. We also generalize this finding, allowing for the time-varying technology parameter, and provide an explicit solution for the dynamics of spatial distribution of the capital stock.
Boiled milk, food safety and the risk of exposure to milk borne pathogens in informal dairy markets in Tanzania

In Tanzania, more than 90% of the milk consumed is informally marketed as loose, raw milk. On the other hand, the practice of boiling milk before consumption is very common. The study was carried out to establish food safety status of informally marketed milk including boiled milk. Milk samples were collected in four wards of Temeke Municipality of Dar es salaam. A total of 69, 44 and 7 milk samples were collected from randomly selected farmers, milk kiosks and all milk vendors. The bacteriological quality of the milk with respect to Total Bacterial Counts (TBC) and Escherichia coli was lower at milk vendors level than farm and milk kiosk. The TBC of raw milk was found to be an average of 2.8 ± 0.98 x 10 6 cfu/ml at producer level, 3.4 ± 2.6 x 10 7 cfu/ml at vendor’s level and 4.8 ± 3.3 x 10 7 cfu/ml at kiosk level. TBC values for kiosk milk boiled and served hot was also determined and found to be an average of 3.7 ± 2.3 x 10 5 cfu/ml. The samples were analysed for presence of toxin producing Staphylococcus aureus. Exposure assessment showed that the probability of purchasing boiled milk contaminated with S. aureus, served hot at kiosks was 0.227 (90%CI: 0.062-0.436). It was estimated that every day, 953 (90%CI: 718-1,249) people purchase milk from kiosks in peri-urban Temeke, and among them, 217 (90%CI: 62-427) people were likely to purchase contaminated milk. The present study found that while boiling made milk generally safer by killing most pathogens, it still carries the risk of consumer exposure to pathogenic bacteria due to possible recontamination.
Application of the deuterium-oxide dose-to-mother technique to determine the exclusivity of breastfeeding in women in Kanye, Botswana

Abstract Objective: The objective of the study was to determine breastfeeding exclusivity and impact on the nutritional status of mothers and infants. Design: This was an observational descriptive study. Setting: The setting was government clinics in Kanye, Botswana. Subjects: Women who gave birth to singleton healthy babies participated in the study. Method: Milk intake and breastfeeding exclusivity were determined by the deuterium-oxide dose-to-mother technique. Nutritional status was assessed using anthropometric measures (height and weight) in 56 mother-infant pairs at six weeks, and again at three and six months postpartum. Results: Mothers overestimated exclusive breastfeeding rates at all of the time points. However, according to the deuterium-oxide dose-to-mother technique, at three months 61% of the mothers were exclusively breastfeeding, 13% were predominantly breastfeeding, and 27% were partially breastfeeding. At six months, none of the mothers were exclusively breastfeeding. The mean body mass index (BMI) and the percentage of body fat of the mothers in all of the groups were within the healthy range of 23.9 kg/m² and 28.3%, respectively, at six months. Mean infant weight was 6.1 ± 0.95 kg, 7.6 ± 1.28 kg and 8.4 ± 1.22 kg at three, six and nine months, respectively. Infant undernutrition based on weight for age was < − 2 standard deviation. Malnutrition was 5.2% and 1.7% at six weeks and six months, respectively. Conclusion: Contrary to reported high rates of breastfeeding in Botswana, low rates of exclusive breastfeeding were observed with the deuterium oxide dose-to-mother technique. Therefore, this technique can be applied as a reliable method of validating mothers’ reports and their recall of exclusive breastfeeding practices. In future, the application of this method would be helpful to identify challenges in infant feeding practices, policies and programmes, all of which need further prioritisation within the Botswana context.
Méthode de calcul à N-corps basée sur la G0W0 : étude du couplage électron-phonon dans le C60 et développement d’une approche accélérée pour matériaux organiques

This thesis studies the limitations of density functional theory. These limits are explored in the context of a traditional implementation using a plane waves basis set. First, we investigate the limit of the size of the systems that can be treated. Cutting edge methods that assess these limitations are then used to simulate nanoscale systems. More specifically, the grafting of bromophenyl molecules on the sidewall of carbon nanotubes is studied with these methods, as a better understanding of this procedure could have substantial impact on the electronic industry. Second, the limitations of the precision of density functional theory are explored. We begin with a quantitative study of the uncertainty of this method for the case of electron-phonon coupling calculations and find it to be substantially higher than what is widely presumed in the literature. The uncertainty on electronphonon coupling calculations is then explored within the G0W0 method, which is found to be a substantially more precise alternative. However, this method has the drawback of being severely limitated in the size of systems that can be computed. In the following, theoretical solutions to overcome these limitations are developed and presented. The increased performance and precision of the resulting implementation opens new possibilities for the study and design of materials, such as superconductors, polymers for organic photovoltaics and semiconductors.
Strong size evolution of the most massive galaxies since z~2

Using the combined capabilities of the large near-infrared Palomar/DEEP-2 survey, and the superb resolution of the Advanced Camera for Surveys HST camera, we explore the size evolution of 831 very massive galaxies (M_⋆ ≥ 10^(11)h^(−2)_(70) M_⊙) since z ~ 2. We split our sample according to their light concentration using the Sersic index n. At a given stellar mass, both low (n 2.5) concentrated objects were much smaller in the past than their local massive counterparts. This evolution is particularly strong for the highly concentrated (spheroid like) objects. At z ~ 1.5, massive spheroid-like objects were a factor of 4 (±0.4) smaller (i.e. almost two orders of magnitudes denser) than those we see today. These small sized, high-mass galaxies do not exist in the nearby Universe, suggesting that this population merged with other galaxies over several billion years to form the largest galaxies we see today.
Corruption, legitimacy and the quality of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America

This paper investigates the relationship between the overall perception of the level of corruption and that of the quality of the ruling regime. Two subsets of political regimes are analysed — the neo-democracies from Latin America (LA) and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The principal thesis advanced here is that corruption affects negatively the quality of neo-democracy. However, the current research tries also to discover the specific mechanism by which this is achieved in practice. It is hypothesised that legitimacy, or, even, the particular way of legitimising the fledgling democracies, is the key. Legitimisation is mainly about the support granted to a specific policy and the regime as a whole. It has been demonstrated that the entire process has an input and output side. It is presumed that, during transition to democracy and its eventual consolidation, on the input side, both the opportunity structures (political institutions, legal tools and different kinds of both formal and informal practices.
The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Survey (VIPERS) - First Data Release of 57 204 spectroscopic measurements

We present the first Public Data Release (PDR-1) of the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Survey (VIPERS). It comprises 57 204 spectroscopic measurements together with all additional information necessary for optimal scientific exploitation of the data, in particular the associated photometric measurements and quantification of the photometric and survey completeness. VIPERS is an ESO Large Programme designed to build a spectroscopic sample of ' 100 000 galaxies with iAB < 22.5 and 0.5 < z < 1.5 with high sampling rate (~45%). The survey spectroscopic targets are selected from the CFHTLS-Wide five-band catalogues in the W1 and W4 fields. The final survey will cover a total area of nearly 24 deg2, for a total comoving volume between z = 0.5 and 1.2 of ~4x10^7 h^(-3)Mpc^3 and a median galaxy redshift of z~0.8. The release presented in this paper includes data from virtually the entire W4 field and nearly half of the W1 area, thus representing 64% of the final dataset. We provide a detailed description of sample selection, observations and data reduction procedures; we summarise the global properties of the spectroscopic catalogue and explain the associated data products and their use, and provide all the details for accessing the data through the survey database (http://vipers.inaf.it) where all information can be queried interactively.
Isolation and partial purification of lysozyme from saliva of Bali cattle ( Bos sondaicus ) using an aqueous mixture of polyethylene glycol (PEG) with sodium sulfate

Lysozyme from saliva of Bali cattle (Bos sondaicus) was successfully isolated through an aqueous mixture system of polyethylene glycol (PEG 4000) and salt (Na2SO4). About 100 µg/ml lysozyme of 14.2 kDa, determined through sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), per 4800 µg/ml saliva was obtained. Based on turbidity assay of Staphylococcus aureus, it was revealed that inhibition activities of 40 µg/ml isolated lysozyme were comparable to 800 µg/ml of a commercial hen egg white lysozyme.
A stochastic formulation for erosion of cohesive sediments

The linear formulation for erosion E = M(? b? c), often applied in engineering applications, has two properties, which do not always comply with field and laboratory observations, they are as follows: (1) The erosion rate is zero below the critical bed shear stress ? c and increases linearly with bed shear stress ? b, when exceeding the critical bed shear stress; incipient motion (? b $\simeq$ ? c) is poorly represented. (2) The erosion rate is constant in time for constant values of M and ? c, whereas observations often suggest time dependency. In this paper we analyze the process of incipient motion and time dependency by using a stochastic forcing (bed shear stress) and a stochastic bed strength (critical bed shear stress). It is well known that the bed shear stress is not constant but varies due to turbulence. This stochastic nature of the turbulent motion is accounted for by a probability density distribution for the bed shear stress, which is based on the formulation of Hofland and Battjes (2006). This distribution is implemented in the linear erosion formulation. An analytical solution for the erosion rate is obtained, which only depends on the mean bed shear stress. A parametrization is made for efficient application in numerical models. The sediment in the bed is considered to be nonuniform. Therefore, it is subdivided into several classes, distinguished by the critical bed shear stress and not necessarily by the grain size. The variability of the critical bed shear stress is treated in a discritized way. Sediment balance equations are solved for each class. Considering different classes, the total erosion rate becomes time dependent, as the erosion depends on the availability of sediment. The model is applied to two annular flume data sets, Jacobs (2009) and Amos et al. (1992a). The results show that with a proper choice of the required parameters, the time dependence of the erosion rate and the concentration can be reproduced. We conclude that the occurrence of incipient motion can be explained from a stochastic forcing. Time? varying erosion rates can be explained from a stochastic bed strength distribution or from a vertical gradient in bed strength. The latter is, however, not likely and not measurable in the top layers of dense consolidated cohesive sediment beds.
Particle Emission Characteristics of a Gas Turbine with a Double Annular Combustor

The total climate, air quality, and health impact of aircraft black carbon (BC) emissions depend on quantity (mass and number concentration) as well as morphology (fractal dimension and surface area) of emitted BC aggregates. This study examines multiple BC emission metrics from a gas turbine with a double annular combustor, CFM56-5B4-2P. As a part of the SAMPLE III.2 campaign, concurrent measurements of particle mobility, particle mass, particle number concentration, and mass concentration, as well as collection of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) samples, allowed for characterization of the BC emissions. Mass- and number-based emission indices were strongly influenced by thrust setting during pilot combustion and ranged from <1 to 208 mg/kg-fuel and 3 ×× 1012 to 3 ×× 1016 particles/kg-fuel, respectively. Mobility measurements indicated that mean diameters ranged from 7 to 44 nm with a strong dependence on thrust during pilot-only combustion. Using aggregation and sintering theory with empirical effective density relationships, a power-law relationship between primary particle diameter and mobility diameter is presented. Mean primary particle diameter ranged from 6 to 19 nm; however, laser-induced incandescence (LII) and mass-mobility-calculated primary particle diameters demonstrated opposite trends with thrust setting. Similarly, mass-mobility-calculated aggregate mass specific surface area and LII-measured surface area were not in agreement, indicating both methods need further development and validation before use as quantitative indicators of primary particle diameter and mass-specific surface area. Copyright 2015 American Association for Aerosol Research
Tilburg University MBS Ratings and the Mortgage Credit Boom

We study credit ratings on subprime and Alt-A mortgage-backed securities (MBS) deals issued between 2001 and 2007, the period leading up to the subprime crisis. The fraction of highly-rated securities in each deal is decreasing in mortgage credit risk (measured either ex-ante or ex-post), suggesting ratings contain useful information for investors. However, we also find evidence of significant time-variation in risk-adjusted credit ratings, including a progressive decline in standards around the MBS market peak between the start of 2005 and mid-2007. Conditional on initial ratings, we observe underperformance (high mortgage defaults and losses, and large rating downgrades) amongst deals with observably higher-risk mortgages based on a simple ex-ante model, and deals with a high fraction of opaque low-documentation loans. These findings hold over the entire sample period, not just for deal cohorts most affected by the crisis.