Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
COPD_A_211854 2121..2129

Antoni Sicras Mainar Alicia Huerta Ruth Navarro Artieda Eduard Monsó Sarah H Landis Afisi S Ismaila 1Scientific Direction, Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) Department, Real Life Data, Madrid, Spain; 2Market Access Department, GlaxoSmithKline SA, Madrid, Spain; 3Medical Documentation Department, Hospital Germans Trias I Pujol, Badalona, Spain; 4Pulmonology Service, Hospital Parc Taulí, Barcelona, Spain; 5CIBERES – Ciber De Enfermedades Respiratorias, Madrid, Spain; 6Real World Evidence and Epidemiology Department, GlaxoSmithKline, Uxbridge, UK; 7Value Evidence and Outcomes Department, GlaxoSmithKline, Collegeville, PA, USA; 8Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada Purpose: Guidelines recommend the use of triple therapy with an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), a long-acting β2 agonist (LABA) and a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) to reduce the risk of future exacerbations in symptomatic COPD patients with a history of exacerbations. This study aimed to estimate COPD-related healthcare resource use and costs, and subsequent exacerbation rates, for patients initiating multiple-inhaler triple therapy (MITT) early (≤30 days) versus late (31–180 days) following an exacerbation, in a real-world clinical setting. Patients and methods: This was an observational, longitudinal, retrospective study using electronic medical records from the Spanish database of the Red de Investigación en Servicios Sanitarios Foundation. Patients ≥40 years old with a confirmed COPD diagnosis who were newly prescribed MITT up to 180 days after an exacerbation between January 2013 and December 2015 were included. Patients were followed from the date of MITT initiation for up to 12 months to assess COPD-related health care resource use (routine and emergency visits, hospitalizations, pharmacologic treatment), exacerbation rate, and costs (€2017); these endpoints were compared between early versus late groups. Results: The study included 1280 patients who met selection criteria: mean age 73 years, 78% male, and 41% had severe/very severe lung function impairment. The proportion of patients initiating MITT early versus late was 61.6% versus 38.4%, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in baseline characteristics between groups. During follow-up, health care resource consumption was lower in the early versus late group, especially primary care and ED visits, leading to lower total costs (€1861 versus €1935; P<0.05). In the follow-up period, 28.0% of the patients in the early group experienced ≥1 exacerbation versus 36.4% in the late group (P=0.002), with an exacerbation rate of 0.5 versus 0.6 per person per year (P=0.022), respectively. Conclusion: Initiating MITT early (≤30 days after an exacerbation) may reduce health care costs and exacerbation rate compared with late MITT initiation.
ASSESSING THE BIOACCUMULATIVE IMPACT OF FOUR HEAVY METALS ON THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM OF TILAPIA RENDALLI IN THE KAFUE RIVER

i Acknowledgements . ii List of Tables. v List of Figures . vi List of Abbreviations and Acronyms . vii Dedication . ix Chapter 1 Introduction . 10 1.1 Effects of Heavy Metal Pollution on the Environment . 11 1.2 Rationale and Problem Statement . 12 1.2.1 Research Question . 14 1.2.2 Main objective . 14 1.2.3 Specific Objectives. 14 Chapter 2 Literature Review . 15 2.1 Bioaccumulation . 18 2.2 Biochemical Mechanisms of Heavy Metal Toxicity . 21 2.3 Metallothionein (MT) ’s protective mechanisms in fish bodies . 22 2.4 Effects of heavy metal pollution on metabolism in fish . 24 2.5 Other Toxic Effects of Heavy Metals in Mammals . 26 2.5. 1 Nickel (Ni) . 26 2.5. 2 Cadmium (Cd) and Lead (Pb) . 27 2.6 Steroidogenesis . 29 2.6. 1. Regulation of Testicular Steroidogenesis. 29 2.6. 2. Ovarian steroidogenesis . 31 2.7 Sex Steroid Hormone Levels in Fish . 31 Chapter 3 Materials and Methodology . 33 3.1 Materials and Reagents . 33 3.2 Study Design . 33 3.3 Study Area and Field sampling . 33 3.4 Sample Size Calculation . 33 3.5 Inclusion criteria and Exclusion Criteria. 34 3.6 Ethical Consideration . 34 3.7 Methodology of Study . 34
Genetic evaluation for functional longevity in Polish Simmental cattle

Morek-Kopeć M. , Zarnecki A. (2017): Genetic evaluation for functional longevity in Polish Simmental cattle. Czech J. Anim. Sci., 62, 276–286. The Weibull proportional hazards model was applied for genetic evaluation of functional longevity in Polish Simmentals. Data consisted of production and disposal records for 12 527 Simmental cows, daughters of 294 sires, calving for the first time from 1995 to 2014 in 286 herds. Length of productive life of cows was calculated as number of days from the first calving to culling or censoring. Average length of productive life of 4462 cows with complete (uncensored) survival records was 1198 days (39.3 months); mean censoring time for the remaining 8065 cows was 1093 days (35.8 months). Functional longevity was defined as length of productive life corrected for production. The model included time-independent fixed effect of age at first calving, time-dependent fixed effects of year-season, parity-stage of lactation, annual change in herd size, relative fat yield and protein yield, and random herd-year-season and sire effects. Likelihood ratio tests showed a highly significant impact of all fixed effects on longevity, except for relative fat yield. Estimated sire variance was 0.069, resulting in the equivalent (accounting for censoring level) heritability of 0.09. Standardized relative breeding values (RBV) ranged from 71 to 139 (mean 101.4, SD 9.12). Average reliability of RBVs was 0.47. Moderate heritability supports the possibility of effective selection for functional longevity, which will be included in the total selection index for Polish Simmentals.
Outcome of a Structured Diabetes Self-Management Education Program at a Tertiary Care Hospital

The purpose of this study was to identify the deficiencies in Diabetes Self-Management (DSM) by a modified Diabetes self-care activities (SDSCA) questionnaire, Implementation of a structured DSME program and study its impact on self-care behaviors, diabetes control, lipids and physical parameters. In this prospective cohort study, 102 patients of Type 1 and Type 2 DM were given a modified SDSCA questionnaire and their baseline physical and biochemical parameters were recorded. A structured DSME program including individual and group therapy was implemented by our team. 3 months later they were reassessed for effect on self-care behaviors, physical and biochemical parameters in the Pre Intervention and Post Intervention period. The SDSCA parameters before intervention revealed a low score for all items i.e. diet, exercise, glucose monitoring and foot care. The SDSCA scores for diet, exercise and foot care improved significantly after the DSME program (p 7%. Dyslipidemia was present in 60% of patients. 37.3% had total cholesterol > 200 mg/dl, 45.1% had Triglycerides > 150, 56.8% had LDL > 100 mg/dl and 43.1% patients had HDL < 40. Except for weight and BMI, all these parameters improved significantly after DSME program. A structured DSME program suited to the needs of the patients helps in improvement of DSM and achievement of better diabetes and lipid control. The study also emphasizes the role of diabetes educators.
Bismuth Iridium Oxide Oxygen Evolution Catalyst from Hydrothermal Synthesis

We present a detailed characterization of the pyrochlore Bi2Ir2O7 prepared by a one-step hydrothermal synthesis route from aqueous sodium hydroxide solution of NaBiO3·2H2O and IrCl3·5H2O in the presence of Na2O2 at 240 °C. Using 5 M NaOH solution as the reaction medium, a fine powder of polycrystalline Bi2Ir2O7 with an average crystal size of 10 nm and surface area of ∼46 m2 g–1 is produced. Structure refinement against powder neutron diffraction reveals a stoichiometric pyrochlore with no evidence for significant oxide-ion defects. X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra recorded at both metal LIII-edges show that, although Bi is present solely as Bi3+, there is evidence for the oxidation of iridium slightly beyond +4. This would suggest some surface oxidation of iridium, which is also shown by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. Magnetization data, as a function of temperature, show that the system is paramagnetic down to a temperature of 2 K, while the electrical conductiv.
Relationship between Career Anchors and Organizational Commitment among Faculty Members

Purpose- the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between career anchors and organizational commitment among faculty members at the University of Urmia. Design/methodology/approach - the empirical analysis is based on a sample of 70 faculty members of University of Urmia. The data were gathered through two standard questionnaires of career anchors according to Schein model and of organizational commitment according to Meyer and Allen model. Findings- findings from this study indicate that there is a positive significant relationship between career anchor components and organizational commitment components and also technical functional competence, general managerial competence, autonomy- independence, pure challenge and life style are significant predicators’ of organizational commitment. Practical implications - career anchors are based on this logic that relatin between individuals career orientations and workplace leads to job satisfaction, high commitment and performance while lack of relation leads to dissatisfaction and turnover. Originality, value - This paper presents original estimates of relationship between career anchors and organizational commitment with a sample of faculty members.
Intrinsic Motivation of the High and Low Academic Achievers

Present study was conducted to analyze the differences in the intrinsic motivation of the high and low academic achievers. Sample (n = 600) of the study was comprised of high academic achievers (n= 300; male=150, female= 150) and low academic achievers (n= 300; male= 150, female= 150). Age range of the participants was 17-19 years. Sample of the high and low academic achievers was collected through purposive sampling technique from different male and female colleges of Hyderabad city of Pakistan. Intrinsic Motivation Inventory was used for data collection. t-tests were computed to measure the differences in the intrinsic motivation of the high and low academic achievers and gender differences in the motivation of high and low achievers. Findings revealed significant differences in the intrinsic motivation of the high and low academic achievers and more tension in the low academic achievers. High achiever females found more competent, consider studies more useful and take some more pressure of completing academic tasks than the male high achievers.
Characterization of Nutrient Disorders of Cannabis sativa

Essential plant nutrients are needed at crop-specific concentrations to obtain optimum growth or yield. Plant tissue (foliar) analysis is the standard method for measuring those levels in crops. Symptoms of nutrient deficiency occur when those tissue concentrations fall to a level where growth or yield is negatively impacted and can serve as a visual diagnostic tool for growers and researchers. Both nutrient deficiency symptoms and their corresponding plant tissue concentrations have not been established for cannabis. To establish nutrient concentrations when deficiency or toxicity symptoms are expressed, Cannabis sativa ‘T1’ plants were grown in silica sand culture, and control plants received a complete modified Hoagland’s all-nitrate solution, whereas nutrient-deficient treatments were induced with a complete nutrient formula withholding a single nutrient. Toxicity treatments were induced by increasing the element tenfold higher than the complete nutrient formula. Plants were monitored daily and, once symptoms manifested, plant tissue analysis of all essential elements was performed by most recent mature leaf (MRML) tissue analysis, and descriptions and photographs of nutrient disorder symptomology were taken. Symptoms and progressions were tracked through initial, intermediate, and advanced stages. Information in this study can be used to diagnose nutrient disorders in Cannabis sativa.
FOR APPLIED MACRO – AND PETROLEUM ECONOMICS ( CAMP ) CAMP Working Paper Series No 7 / 2016 Commodity Futures and Forecasting Commodity Currencies

This paper analyzes the extent to which information in commodity futures markets is useful for out-of-sample forecasting of commodity currencies. In the earlier literature, commodity price changes are documented to be weak out-of-sample predictors of commodity currency return. In contrast, we find that the basis of several commodities may contain useful information, but the usefulness of any particular commodity basis varies over time and depends on the nature of the commodity. In particular, it seems the basis of commodities with relatively high storage costs tend to be more useful. We argue that high storage costs will tend to make the basis more prone to fluctuations in commodity risk and therefore provide information about the risk premium for commodity currencies. We implement forecast combination strategies that take full advantage of the properties of the different bases and find large predictive gains. JEL codes : C22, C52, C53, F31.
Processing of Interstellar Dust Grains in Galaxies

We have performed a systematic study of interstellar dust grains in various environments of galaxies. AKARI has revealed the detailed properties of dust grains not only in star-forming regions but also in regions not relevant to star formation, some of which are found not to follow our old empirical knowledge. Because of its unique capabilities, AKARI has provided new knowledge on the processing of large grains and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). For example, we detect PAHs from elliptical galaxies, which show unusual spectral features and spatial distributions, demonstrating importance of material processing in the interstellar space. We find that copious amounts of large grains and PAHs are flowing out of starburst galaxies by galactic superwinds, which are being shattered and destroyed in galactic haloes. We discover evidence for graphitization of carbonaceous grains near the center of our Galaxy, providing a clue to understanding the activity of the Galactic center. We review the results obtained from our AKARI program, focusing on the processing of carbonaceous grains in various environments of galaxies.
EVOLUTION OF GALAXY STELLAR MASS FUNCTIONS, MASS DENSITIES, AND MASS-TO-LIGHT RATIOS FROM z ∼ 7 TO z ∼ 4

We derive stellar masses from spectral energy distribution fitting to rest-frame optical and UV fluxes for 401 star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 4, 5, and 6 from Hubble-WFC3/IR camera observations of the Early Release Science field combined with the deep GOODS-S Spitzer/IRAC data (and include a previously published z ∼ 7 sample). A mass–luminosity relation with strongly luminosity-dependent ratios is found for the largest sample (299 galaxies) at z ∼ 4. The relation has a well-determined intrinsic sample variance of 0.5 dex. This relation is also consistent with the more limited samples at z ∼ 5–7. This z ∼ 4 mass–luminosity relation, and the well-established faint UV-luminosity functions at z ∼ 4–7, are used to derive galaxy mass functions (MFs) to masses at z ∼ 4–7. A bootstrap approach is used to derive the MFs to account for the large scatter in the relation and the luminosity function uncertainties, along with an analytical cross-check. The MFs are also corrected for the effects of incompleteness. The incompleteness-corrected MFs are steeper than previously found, with slopes αM ∼ −1.4 to −1.6 at low masses. These slopes are, however, still substantially flatter than the MFs obtained from recent hydrodynamical simulations. We use these MFs to estimate the stellar mass density (SMD) of the universe to a fixed MUV, AB < − 18 as a function of redshift and find an SMD growth ∝(1 + z)−3.4 ± 0.8 from z ∼ 7 to z ∼ 4. We also derive the SMD from the completeness-corrected MFs to a mass limit M☉. Such completeness-corrected MFs and the derived SMDs will be particularly important for comparisons as future MFs reach to lower masses.
Population dynamics and marriage payments: an analysis of the long run equilibrium in India

Abstract Why do scarce Indian women pay dowry to secure grooms even as the sex-ratio of offspring is manipulated by parents? We develop a dynamic general equilibrium model of demographic and marriage market outcomes with endogenous gender preference. We find, that under a calibration of parameters suggested by Indian marriage market indicators, any long run steady state equilibrium must have both dowry and a masculine sex ratio. The key assumption that generates this result is the asymmetric marital preferences of men and women regarding own and spouse’s ideal age at marriage.
SYMMETRY OF SHOCKS AND TRADE INTEGRATION IN THE ENLARGED EUROPEAN UNION(a)

This paper explores the relationship between trade flows and symmetry of aggregate supply and aggregate demand shocks across national economies using data from the EU-27 countries. Demand and supply shocks are identified from real-output-growth and GDP-deflator-growth data using the Blanchard-Quah structural VARs methodology. Overall trade intensity is found to have a positive impact on the correlation of both demand and supply shocks across the EU economies. Intra-industry trade is found to be positively linked to the correlation of supply-side shocks but negatively linked to the correlation of aggregate demand shocks. Our results thus provide support for the argument that aggregate demand spillovers and intra-industry trade, rather than specialization, dominate in the process through which trade flows affect the cross-country transmission of shocks in Europe.
Students’ Behaviour Problems are Rooted in the Family–Parents to be Held Liable

Abstract This article argues that a child’s behaviour is influenced mainly by its family background and as such the parent should take full responsibility and accountability for the child’s behaviour at school. The proposition to involve and make the parent more accountable should be legislated so that the courts should take action against parents who fail to do so. This argument is made following general concerns that parents are unduly relinquishing their pastoral roles to schools, thus making schools ‘dumping grounds’ for problem children. Proposals on how parental full participation in students’ behaviour can be achieved end the paper.
Corporate branding and consumer loyalty in the telecommunication industry: A case study of MTN Ghana

In a fiercely competitive business environment such as the mobile services industry, it is a marketplace reality that the ability of firms to attract and retain customers ultimately determines their growth and survival prospects. This study, therefore, investigates how corporate branding in the form of brand name, brand logo, brand color, customer satisfaction and the size of customer base of MTN determine customer loyalty in the telecommunication industry of Ghana. A total of 250 valid respondents completed a questionnaire survey in the ten regional capitals of Ghana during the Spring break. The questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS and Pearson correlation was used to establish the relationship between the dependent variable (customer loyalty) and independent variables (brand name, brand logo, brand color, customer satisfaction and size of customer base). The results of the empirical study reveal that brand name had the greatest impact on loyalty. Brand color and brand logo also have a positive correlation on customer loyalty, while size of customer base had lower correlation on customer loyalty. The results also show that customer satisfaction is a direct antecedent of customer loyalty. We suggest that managers of MTN should pay much attention on the color, logo and customer satisfaction as their marketing strategy weapons, whiles consolidating the market size to prevent customer switching to other competitors.
Sewage sludge ash characteristics and its potential applications

This study investigated the characteristics of SSA in Taiwan area. The potential applications of SSA reuse were also evaluated. Four major characteristics of SSA, including chemical compositions, pozzolanic properties, physical properties, and surface properties were analyzed. Experimental results found that SSA was a complex mixture of burnt residues of sludge biomass and minerals. The major chemical compositions of SSA were silicon oxide, aluminium oxide, and iron oxide. The most predominant silicon oxide occupied 41.3 to 56.1% of overall SSA weight and approximately 60% weight of silicon oxide in SSA was amorphous type. Due to the effect of amorphous silicon oxide, the SSA exerted pozzolanic activity. The strength activity index (SAI) value of SSA was between 53.6 and 74.3%. The SSA particles were also the agglomeration of finer grains between 0.1 and 1μm of size. Therefore the SSA was porous with irregular particles with significant pore surface area. Additionally, the SSA exerted negative surface charge and cation-exchange capacity in neutral aqueous phase. Based on the SSA characteristics found in this study, four potential applications of SSA reuse were evaluated. These technologies included reusing as fine aggregate, reusing as pozzolanic material, melting or vitrification treatment, and reusing as adsorbent. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of the above potential applications of SSA were discussed.
Can Learners be Earners? Investigating a Design to Enable MOOC Learners to Apply their Skills and Earn Money in an Online Market Place

—Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) aim to educate the world . More often than not, however, MOOCs fall short of this goal — a majority of learners are already highly educated (with a Bachelor degree or more) and come from speciﬁc parts of the (developed) world. Learners from developing countries without a higher degree are underrepresented, though desired, in MOOCs. One reason for those learners to drop out of a course can be found in their ﬁnancial realities and the subsequent limited amount of time they can dedicate to a course besides earning a living. If we could pay learners to take a MOOC, this hurdle would largely disappear. With MOOCS, this leads to the following fundamental challenge: How can learners be paid at scale ? Ultimately, we envision a recommendation engine that recommends tasks from online market places such as Upwork or witmart to learners, that are relevant to the course content of the MOOC. In this manner, the learners learn and earn money. To investigate the feasibility of this vision, in this paper we explored to what extent (1) online market places contain tasks relevant to a speciﬁc MOOC, and (2) learners are able to solve real-world tasks correctly and with sufﬁcient quality. Finally, based on our experimental design, we were also able to investigate the impact of real-world bonus tasks in a MOOC on the general learner population.