Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biomechanics laboratory-based prediction algorithm to identify female athletes with high knee loads that increase risk of ACL injury

Objective Knee abduction moment (KAM) during landing predicts non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk with high sensitivity and specificity in female athletes. The purpose of this study was to employ sensitive laboratory (lab-based) tools to determine predictive mechanisms that underlie increased KAM during landing. Methods Female basketball and soccer players (N=744) from a single county public school district were recruited to participate in testing of anthropometrics, maturation, laxity/flexibility, strength and landing biomechanics. Linear regression was used to model KAM, and logistic regression was used to examine high (>25.25 Nm of KAM) versus low KAM as surrogate for ACL injury risk. Results The most parsimonious model included independent predictors (β±1 SE) (1) peak knee abduction angle (1.78±0.05; p<0.001), (2) peak knee extensor moment (0.17±0.01; p<0.001), (3) knee flexion range of motion (0.15±0.03; p<0.01), (4) body mass index (BMI) Z-score (−1.67±0.36; p<0.001) and (5) tibia length (−0.50±0.14; p<0.001) and accounted for 78% of the variance in KAM during landing. The logistic regression model that employed these same variables predicted high KAM status with 85% sensitivity and 93% specificity and a C-statistic of 0.96. Conclusions Increased knee abduction angle, quadriceps recruitment, tibia length and BMI with decreased knee flexion account for 80% of the measured variance in KAM during a drop vertical jump. Clinical relevance Females who demonstrate increased KAM are more responsive and more likely to benefit from neuromuscular training. These findings should significantly enhance the identification of those at increased risk and facilitate neuromuscular training targeted to this important risk factor (high KAM) for ACL injury.
Chinese Migration to Eastern Europe

Most of the work on the early history of Chinese migration to eastern Europe, that is, the first half of the twentieth century, has been written by Russian scholars. Contemporary sources — accounts of Russian travellers and government documents — are overwhelmingly preoccupied with migration to the Russian Asian territories. But the interest in Chinese immigration since the 1990s has resulted in considerable attention being paid to the historical background as well, notably by Larin (1998, 2000) and Saveliev (2002). Chinese scholarship on Chinese labour in Europe during World War I (e.g. S. Chen, 1986) only devotes little space to eastern Europe. Yet, Chinese migration to eastern Europe has a particular policy interest because in the past decade it has proven to be predictive of trends in Europe as a whole. A new flow of entrepreneurial migrants, who often had no connection to the historical, rural-based chains of migration that produced the earlier Chinese migrant populations of western Europe, found it possible and profitable to do business and settle on the European periphery during a brief period of liberal migration controls. Erratic crackdowns on illegal migration in the absence of thought-through migration regimes resulted in a volatile situation, periodically generating migration flows from one country in the region to another. These were facilitated by, and gave further rise to, networks of kinship and information spanning both eastern and western Europe. While this paper focuses on Hungary, it also attempts to review information on other eastern European countries (particularly Russia, Romania, Yugoslavia, and the Czech Republic) where it is available. In doing so, it intends to fill a gap in information on Chinese in eastern Europe until more substantial research is produced, as well as to highlight the common features of, and links between, Chinese migration into individual eastern European countries as well as into western Europe.
The contribution of a satellite market to price discovery: Evidence from the Singapore exchange

The Singapore Exchange (SGX), a small satellite market, successfully competes with a large home market, the Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE), in trading the Nikkei 225 futures index. In this paper, we investigate the contribution of the SGX to price discovery and shed light on the reasons for its continued success. Evidence is provided from information revelation and price discovery of three competing but informationally linked markets of the Nikkei 225 index—domestic spot (Tokyo Stock Exchange), domestic futures (OSE), and foreign futures (SGX), which represents the satellite market. Overall, the futures market contributes 77% to price discovery, with the satellite market contributing 42% of the futures and 33% of the total price discovery. These figures, surprisingly, far exceed the satellite market's share of trading volume. Support is provided for the extended trading hours on the SGX for three of the four non‐overlapping trading sub‐periods. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 24:981–1004, 2004
Rapid turns in European renewable energy policy: advocacy and framing of the proposed trading of guarantees of origin

The EU has assumed ambitious targets and strategies for the promotion of renewable sources of energy (RES) binding to all its member states. This report examines the proposed EU-wide policy instrument designed to help achieve the targets on renewable electricity and heat - the trading of Guarantees of Origin (GO). It analyses the rise and fall of the GO trading proposal in the European policy-making machinery during 2007 and 2008. It first discusses its origins, key components and points of contention, and then examines key factors behind the policy development leading first to its development and subsequently to its probable abandonment in 2008. Addressing these factors, the report explores first the near-term policy-making process before and after the proposal on GO trading was tabled in January 2008, focusing on processes in the European bureaucracy and how they were influenced by different interest groups and member state governments. It then looks at how competing policy frames over time have shaped the GO debate. Results show how a strong internal market frame acted as a primary driving force in the Commission throughout the 2000s to promote the GO trading instrument. The subsequent deconstruction of the GO trading proposal can be largely attributed to a) the lack of a strong lobby in favour of GO among member states and interest groups, b) the accumulated experience with and institutionalisation of national RES support policy, and c) growing general political concerns among both member states and EU bodies for supply security, innovation and competitiveness. In the end, the fall of the GO trading instrument is indicative of how the underlying political dividing line between advocates of the European internal market and guardians of national interests has moved in favour of the latter in recent years. (Less)
The impact of knowledge management processes on organisational performance: The case of the airline industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate knowledge management (KM) processes and to investigate their impact on organisational performance (OP) within the context of the airline industry (AI). Design/methodology/approach – An inductive and deductive qualitative approach was used based on a preliminary study. A pilot study was conducted which involved the use of interviews as a primary data collection method. Content analysis was used to extract and analyse themes from the data. Findings – The study showed that knowledge usage is the most influential aspect of KM in terms of the impact on OP. Moreover, the study revealed that knowledge transfer is a common KM process employed by organisations. Research limitations/implications – This study outlined the findings of a pilot study which aimed to test a proposed conceptual model and to provide an initial understanding of the interrelationships between KM processes and OP. To this end, a number of interviews were conducted in order to consolidate a co.
Study of central supply methodology for silica-based CMP slurry

For supply quality and reliability concern, a Central Dispense System (CDS) for CMP oxide slurry was recently upgraded by replacing a pressure vacuum vessel dispense unit with maglev centrifugal pumps. This opened up the opportunity to measure various slurry health parameters and CMP defect rates before and after the retrofit and thus determine the influence of the slurry dispense method on slurry health and scratch rates. Most slurry health parameters were unaffected by the retrofit. However, a significant reduction in large particle counts could be observed after replacing the pressure vacuum vessel dispense-units with maglev centrifugal pumps. As a result, slightly lower scratch rates were observed after the retrofit.
Tissue segmentation of head and neck CT images for treatment planning: a multiatlas approach combined with intensity modeling.

PURPOSE Hyperthermia treatment of head and neck tumors requires accurate treatment planning, based on 3D patient models that are derived from segmented 3D images. These segmentations are currently obtained by manual outlining of the relevant tissue regions, which is a tedious and time-consuming procedure (≈ 8 h) limiting the clinical applicability of hyperthermia treatment. In this context, the authors present and evaluate an automatic segmentation algorithm for CT images of the head and neck. METHODS The proposed method combines anatomical information, based on atlas registration, with local intensity information in a graph cut framework. The method is evaluated with respect to ground truth manual delineation and compared with multiatlas-based segmentation on a dataset of 18 labeled CT images using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), the mean surface distance (MSD), and the Hausdorff surface distance (HSD) as evaluation measures. On a subset of 13 labeled images, the influence of different labelers on the method's accuracy is quantified and compared with the interobserver variability. RESULTS For the DSC, the proposed method performs significantly better for the segmentation of all the tissues, except brain stem and spinal cord. The MSD shows a significant improvement for optical nerve, eye vitreous humor, lens, and thyroid. For the HSD, the proposed method performs significantly better for eye vitreous humor and brainstem. The proposed method has a significantly better score for DSC, MSD, and HSD than the multiatlas-based method for the eye vitreous humor. For the majority of the tissues (8/11) the segmentation accuracy of the proposed method is approaching the interobserver agreement. The authors' method showed better robustness to variations in atlas labeling compared with multiatlas segmentation. Moreover, the method improved the segmentation reproducibility compared with human observer's segmentations. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, the proposed framework provides in an accurate automatic segmentation of head and neck tissues in CT images for the generation of 3D patient models, which improves reproducibility, and substantially reduces labor involved in therapy planning.
Histochemical Studies of the Effects of Monosodium Glutamate on the Liver of Adult Wistar Rats

Background: Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a commonly used food additive and there is growing concern that excitotoxins such as MSG play a critical role in the development of several hepatic disorders. Objectives: The histochemical effect of monosodium glutamate was investigated on the liver of adult Wistar rats. Methods: Adult male Wistar rats (n = 24), with an average weight of 230 g were randomly assigned into two treatment groups, (A & B) (n=16) and Control (C) (n=8). The rats in the treatment groups (A & B) received 0.04mg/kg and 0.08mg/kg of monosodium glutamate thoroughly mixed with the grower's mash, respectively on a daily basis for forty-two days. The 0.04mg/kg and 0.08mg/kg monosodium glutamate doses were chosen and extrapolated in this experiment based on the previous work done with the additive. The control group (C) received equal amount of feed (Growers’ mash) without monosodium glutamate added for the same period. The rats were given water ad libitum. Both the treatment and control rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation on day forty-three of the experiment. The Liver was carefully dissected out and quickly fixed in Bouin's fluid for histochemical studies, while blood was collected for estimation of total protein, albumin, transaminasese (aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Results: The histological findings showed changes like dilatation of the central vein, which contained lysed red blood cells, cyto-architectural distortions of the hepatocytes, atrophic and degenerative changes on the liver of the animals that received feed incoporated with monosodium glutamate. Furthermore, the biochemical parameters were significantly higher in the test than control groups (P < 0.0001). These changes were more severe in the group that had 0.08 mg/kg of monosodium glutamate mixed in their feed. Conclusion: These findings showed that monosodium glutamate consumption may have some deleterious effects on the liver of adult Wistar rats at higher doses and by extension may affect the functions of the liver.
Market Town Centres in England: Meeting the Challenge of Maintaining their Contemporary Relevance

Abstract In the context of improvements in mobility and changing patterns of retail, the importance of market town centres to rural residents has diminished, leaving many vulnerable to decline and their contemporary relevance questioned. Based on experience from 11 case-study towns located throughout England, this paper considers the prospects for regenerating the fortunes of market town centres. It is argued that this can be achieved through an integration of functional concerns with an appreciation of the desire to develop ‘spaces of consumption’ where there is focus on the leisure aspects of town centre visits. Although a number of the issues are beyond the direct remit of spatial planners, an awareness of the implications of development management and the context within which decisions are occurring is crucial.
Microbiological analysis of isolates in Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.

BACKGROUND Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the common cause of bacterial infection. Recently UTI become more complicated and difficult to treat because of appearance of pathogen with increasing resistance to antimicrobial agents. OBJECTIVE To determine the etiology of the urinary tract infections and their susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. METHODS This study was carried out in Kathmandu Medical College, at department of microbiology. Total 3,460 urine samples were tested microbiologically by standard procedure. Antibiotic susceptibility test was performed for all the isolates by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method and result was interpreted according to National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) guide line. RESULTS Out of 3,460 urine samples 680 (19.7%) showed the significant bacteriuria. The most common pathogens isolated were Escherichia coli 75.7% followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae 10.7%, Acinetobacter spp 5.5%, Proteus spp 3.5% and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 1.2%. Most susceptible antibiotic was Amikacin, Ceftriaxone and Ciprofloxacin for most of the isolates. E. coli which was the main isolate was found to be most susceptible to Amikacin 96.1%, Nitrofurantoin 91.3% and Gentamicin 77.7% followed by Ceftriaxone 65.8% and Ciprofloxacin 64.1%. CONCLUSION Regular surveillance of the resistance rate among uro-pathogens is needed to ensure the appropriate therapy of UTI.
BAHA in Single-Sided Deafness: Patient Compliance and Subjective Benefit

Objective: Despite most patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) after operation for acoustic neuroma (AN) perceiving a significant hearing handicap, less than 25% are interested in bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) implantation. We evaluated the treatment compliance of BAHA in SSD and the effect of BAHA on the subjective handicap. Methods: Part 1: It was determined, from our first study, how many of the SDD patients after operation for AN (n = 59) and interested in BAHA (n = 14) had been implanted. Part 2: Of 23 BAHA-implanted patients with SSD due to various causes, including the implanted patients from the previous study, 21 answered a questionnaire on the BAHA treatment compliance and the subjective handicap with and without BAHA. Results: Part 1: Of the 14 patients from our first study who were interested in implantation for BAHA, 11 had been implanted (18.6% of all 59 patients). Part 2: Of the 21 patients with SSD, 95% still used BAHA, and of these, 81% used it more than 8 hours a day. Of the patients, 90% considered BAHA a moderate to significant aid; it reduced the subjective hearing handicap from 7.4 to 2.3 arbitrary units on a visual analog scale. Conclusion: Despite the subjective handicap perception among most patients with SSD after AN surgery, less than 20% chose treatment with BAHA. Conversely, patients with SSD choosing implantation had high treatment compliance and felt that BAHA reduced their handicap. Thus, when selected by the patients after testing, BAHA is effective in SSD and results in a high patient compliance.
Entry and exit from manufacturing industries: symmetry, turbulence and simultaneity - some empirical evidence from Greek manufacturing industries, 1982-1988

The interdependence between entry and exit of firms into manufacturing industries is the focus of this research. When both entry and exit equations are estimated separately the results support the existence of strong symmetry in their determinants. When, however, entry and exit are estimated within a simultaneous equation framework, the empirical evidence does not offer sufficient grounds to support the notion that entry and exit are simultaneously linked. Instead it seems that they are two contemporaneously related processes which respond in like fashion to the structural characteristics found in particular industries. Their linked response is also extended to factors unaccounted for by the individual entry and exit formulations, and this expresses itself in significant contemporaneous correlation between the entry and exit equation residuals. The change in the identities of firms operating, implied by the positive correlation between entry and exit, may then be attributed to industry turbulent conditions, which in turn appear perhaps to be conditioned in the shorter run by time-invariant inter-industry differences in technological factors and sunk costs.
Publicly Provided Goods and Intrafamily Resource Allocation: Female Child Survival in India

The paper examines the problem of excess mortality of females in India. The determinants of gender-specific child survival are investigated through the traditional household production model pioneered by Becker, which is extended to include publicly provided goods as fixed inputs in production decisions. The introduction of government-provided goods provides an avenue for investigating the influence of the state on household decisions. Gender-specific child survival equations are estimated using a robust "seemingly unrelated regression" method. Results using 1981 Indian Census data indicate that increases in female literacy and female labor force participation increase female child survival in rural India. Furthermore, higher ratios of female to male medical technicians are associated with higher female child survival relative to males. This paper demonstrates that a large and effective role exists for government to address excess female morality. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003
Rapid cold-hardening increases the freezing tolerance of the Antarctic midge Belgica antarctica

SUMMARY Rapid cold-hardening (RCH) is well known to increase the tolerance of chilling or cold shock in a diverse array of invertebrate systems at both organismal and cellular levels. Here, we report a novel role for RCH by showing that RCH also increases freezing tolerance in an Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica (Diptera, Chironomidae). The RCH response of B. antarctica was investigated under two distinct physiological states: summer acclimatized and cold acclimated. Summer-acclimatized larvae were less cold tolerant, as indicated by low survival following exposure to -10°C for 24 h; by contrast, nearly all cold-acclimated larvae survived -10°C, and a significant number could survive -15°C. Cold-acclimated larvae had higher supercooling points than summer larvae. To evaluate the RCH response in summer-acclimatized midges, larvae and adults, maintained at 4°C, were transferred to -5°C for 1 h prior to exposures to -10, -15 or -20°C. RCH significantly increased survival of summer-acclimatized larvae frozen at -10°C for 1 h compared with larvae receiving no cold-hardening treatment, but adults, which live for only a week or so in the austral summer, lacked the capacity for RCH. In cold-acclimated larvae, RCH significantly increased freeze tolerance to both -15 and -20°C. Similarly, RCH significantly increased cellular survival of fat body, Malpighian tubules and gut tissue from cold-acclimated larvae frozen at -20°C for 24 h. These results indicate that RCH not only protects against non-freezing injury but also increases freeze tolerance.
International Trends in Forest Products Consumption: is there Convergence?

SUMMARY International data from 1961 to 2005 showed that the coefficient of variation of consumption per capita across countries had tended to decrease over time for all forest products except sawnwood. This convergence of per-capita consumption was confirmed by the trends in Theil's inequality coefficients: the distribution of forest products consumption across countries had become more similar to the distribution of population. The rate of convergence had tended to accelerate during the last 10 years of observation: countries had become more similar in their use of all forest products except sawnwood. The rate of convergence was most rapid for fiberboard, veneer and plywood, and paper and paper board excluding newsprint and other printing and writing paper. The convergence of per-capita consumption of forest products stemmed in large part from lower rates of growth of consumption at higher levels of per-capita consumption, and not from a convergence of per-capita income.
Intestinal mast cells and eosinophils in relation to Strongyloides ratti adult expulsion from the small and large intestines of rats

SUMMARY Mucosal mast cells (MMC) play a crucial role in the expulsion of Strongyloides ratti adults from the small intestine of mice. We reported the large intestinal parasitism of S. ratti in rats, and there has been no report on MMC in the large intestine of the natural host. We studied kinetics of MMC, together with eosinophils, in the upper and lower small intestines, caecum and colon of infected rats. Two distinct phases of mastocytosis were revealed: one in the upper small intestine triggered by stimulation of ‘ordinary’ adults, and the other in the colon stimulated by ‘immune-resistant’ adults that started parasitizing the colon around 19 days post-infection. In all 4 intestinal sites, the MMC peaks were observed 5–7 days after the number of adult worms became the maximum and the height of MMC peaks appeared to be dependent on the number of parasitic adults, suggesting an important role played by worms themselves in the MMC buildup.