Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Retina Ultrasound-Based Quantification of Vitreous Floaters Correlates with Contrast Sensitivity and Quality of Life

Citation: Mamou J, Wa CA, Yee KMP, et al. Ultrasound-based quantification of vitreous floaters correlates with contrast sensitivity and quality of life. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2015;56:1611–1617. DOI:10.1167/ iovs.14-15414 PURPOSE. Clinical evaluation of floaters lacks quantitative assessment of vitreous structure. This study used quantitative ultrasound (QUS) to measure vitreous opacities. Since floaters reduce contrast sensitivity (CS) and quality of life (Visual Function Questionnaire [VFQ]), it is hypothesized that QUS will correlate with CS and VFQ in patients with floaters. METHODS. Twenty-two eyes (22 subjects; age 1⁄4 57 6 19 years) with floaters were evaluated with Freiburg acuity contrast testing (FrACT; %Weber) and VFQ. Ultrasonography used a customized probe (15-MHz center frequency, 20-mm focal length, 7-mm aperture) with longitudinal and transverse scans taken in primary gaze and a horizontal longitudinal scan through premacular vitreous in temporal gaze. Each scan set had 100 frames of logcompressed envelope data. Within each frame, two regions of interest (ROIs) were analyzed (whole-central and posterior vitreous) to yield three parameters (energy, E; mean amplitude, M; and percentage of vitreous filled by echodensities, P50) averaged over the entire 100-frame dataset. Statistical analyses evaluated E, M, and P50 correlations with CS and VFQ.
The Two Faces of Technical Knowledge : Information Commodity and Human Capital

Economists often assume that the cost of communicating technical knowledge is exogenous, sometimes small (patent theory) and sometimes large (human capital and technology diffusion). In this paper, inventors/entrepreneurs can choose to reduce marginal communication costs by investing in “formalizing” knowledge. Technical productivity affects this decision and also the nature of market competition, giving rise to distinct stages. Growing productivity changes how knowledge is acquired, shared and protected, with implications for patent policy, geographic localization of innovation, firm organization and strategy. Some evidence suggests that systematic changes in the cost of communicating technical knowledge are empirically important. JEL Codes: O3, D83, L1
Effect of Coptic Orthodox Christian church fasting on healthy and diabetic subjects

Background and Aim: Coptic Orthodox Christian (COC) diet is unique in that it regularly interchanges between an omnivorous to a vegetarian type of diet, through four fasting periods over the course of the ecclesiastical year. Several studies have described its dietary regulations, however, its possible involvement in health is lacking. The aim of the present study is to detect the metabolic changes during COC fasting. Subjects and Methods: Seventy two devout Orthodox Christian fasters, 25 of whom were diabetics and 40 matched controls, of whom 10 were diabetics, voluntarily participated in this study. A total of 240 blood samples were taken after at least 2 weeks before and during the different fasting periods. The fasting schedule was identified as either vegan (no sea food) or vegetarian (with sea food). Serum glucose (Glu), lipid profile, renal markers and hepatic enzymes, were measured and their within-subject biological variation was calculated. Results: The within-subject biological change due to fasting differed among subjects of the same group, gender and diet. Still, generally healthy subjects showed a decrease in Glu, triglycerides (TG) and TG/ high-density lipoprotein while the diabetics had a decline in blood urea nitrogen (BUN), BUN/creatinine ratio and uric acid. Conclusion: The effect of fasting differs among subjects and we cannot generalize its effect on all people. The strong individuality observed supports the preferential use of within-subjects biological variations and the reference change values rather than population-based reference intervals.
The MUC1 Cytoplasmic Tail and Tandem Repeat Domains Contribute to Mammary Oncogenesis in FVB Mice

Background Though the importance of the transmembrane mucin MUC1 in mammary oncogenesis has long been recognized, the relative contributions of the cytoplasmic tail and tandem repeat domains are poorly understood. Methods To address this, mouse models of mammary carcinogenesis were created expressing full-length cytoplasmic tail-deleted, or tandem repeat-deleted MUC1 constructs. Results Overexpression of full-length MUC1 resulted in tumor formation in young mice (≤ 12 months); however, loss of either the cytoplasmic tail or the tandem repeat domain abrogated this oncogenic capacity. Aged mice in all strains developed late-onset mammary tumors similar to those previously described for the FVB background. Conclusions This study is the first spontaneous cancer model to address the relative importance of the cytoplasmic tail and tandem repeat domains to MUC1-driven mammary oncogenesis, and suggests that both of these domains are essential for tumor formation.
Perception and adoption of soil testing of the farmers with respect their socio-economic character : A study in Cooch

Soil testing is essential part of every farmer. Different government organisation took initiative to aware the farmer about soil testing. Farmers were perceived and Adopting soil test. But still a problem was found by Cooch Behar Krishi Vigyan Kendra that farmer adoption and perception of soil testing were not homogeneous. So a study was conducted at Gopalpur village in Coochbehar district, West Bengal to know the farmer perception and adoption of soil testing with their socio-economic variable. The data were collected during February, 2016. The research design was followed in the study was survey research method. The sample size of the study was 100.The dependent variables of this study were perception and adoption and independent variables were age, gender, number of family member, caste, land holding, education and annual income. The descriptive statistics like frequency, percentage, range were used for the investigation. This study had shown the relation of the perception and adoption of soil testing with the different independent variable.
MISANDRIC MISCHARACTERIZATIONS OF BLACK MALES

Black males have been characterized as violent, misogynist, predatory rapists by gender theorists dating back to mid-nineteenth–century ethnologists to contemporary intersectional feminists. These caricatures of Black men and boys are not rooted in any actual studies or empirical findings, but the stereotypes found throughout various racist social scientific literatures that held Black males to be effeminate while nonetheless hyper-masculine and delinquent. This paper argues that contemporary gender theories not only deny the peculiar sexual oppression of racialized outgroup males under patriarchy, but theories like intersectional invisibility actually perpetuates the idea that racialized males are disposable. To remedy the imperceptibility of sexual oppression and violence under the male category, the author gives an historical account of the development of racist (anti-Black) misandry throughout the centuries and proposes a theory of phallicism to describe the seemingly contradictory constructions of Black men as sexually predatory as in the case of the rapist, but nonetheless sexually vulnerable and raped under patriarchy.
USE OF BIOMETEOROLOGICAL INDICES IN ASSESSING HEAT WAVE-RELATED MORTALITY IN VIGO, SPAIN

In the current context of climate change, heat waves have become a significant problem for human health. The lack of a standardised biometeorological index to assess the intensity of heat waves and their effects on mortality has proved to have a strong effect on Public Health planning. This paper assesses the effects of heat wave days on the human population in Vigo, Spain, during the period between 1980 and 2014. To this end, two indices have been used; the maximum apparent temperature and the Excess Heat Factor (EHF). A total of 534 days meeting the EHF criteria have been identified during that period. The dependence shows a non-linear U-shaped relationship between mortality and maximum apparent temperature. In the case of the EHF, a non-linear J-shaped relationship between mortality and the EHF was found. This study found that the EHF is a more specific indicator for heat-related mortality than maximum apparent temperature. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that heat wave periods do not present the same degree of severity over a period of days. Thus, the intensity of a heat wave is an important mortality risk indicator during heat wave days. As far as human vulnerability to heat is concerned, pre-existing respiratory and cardiovascular conditions account for the highest rates of mortality.
TWO-TEMPERATURE CHEMICAL-NONEQUILIBRIUM MODELLING OF THE HYDROGEN PLASMA FLOW IN A LOW-POWER ARCJET THRUSTER

A numerical simulation has been performed of a high-velocity hydrogen plasma arc flow in a low power arcjet including a finite-rate chemical kinetic model. Modelling results are found to compare favourably with available experimental data for the arcjet thrusters. The distributions of temperature and mole fraction of each species along the axis under three different working conditions have been calculated to investigate the effects of the arc current and the mass flow rate on the thermal and chemical nonequilibrium. The results show that the smaller arc current and larger mass flow rate increase the differences between the temperatures of electron and heavyspecies and the degree of ionization and dissociation usually lags behind the values that would correspond to the rising or decreasing electron temperature.
Examination of Rater Training Effect and Rater Eligibility in L2 Performance Assessment

The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of rater training in an L2 performance assessment and to examine the eligibility of L2 users of English as raters in L2 performance assessment. Rater training was conducted in order for raters to clearly understand the criteria, the evaluation items, and the evaluation procedure.In this evaluation, the rater training was conducted based on Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). In the training, the raters watched the videos (North and Hughes, 2003), and discussed the learners' characteristics at each level. The analyses of the evaluations were done before and after the rater training based on Generalizability (G-Theory) and Multifaceted Rasch Analysis (MFRA). In the analyses based on G-Theory, the variance related to the items was reduced to about one sixth after the training, though no difference was found in the rater characteristics before and after the training in the analysis based on MFRA. Comparing the results of Kim (2009) with those of the present study, the raters are equally self-consistent with the raters of native speakers of English in Kim (ibid). Furthermore, it is legitimate to adopt L2 users as the raters, because, in countries where English is a foreign or second language, the non-native users teach and learn English. In this situation, teachers of L2 users are the most appropriate in L2 performance assessment if they are self-consistent in their ratings.
When lexical statistics and the grammar conflict: learning and repairing weight effects on stress

In weight-sensitive languages, stress is inﬂuenced by syllable weight. As a result, heavy syllables should attract, not repel, stress. The Portuguese lexicon, however, presents a case where weight seems to negatively impact stress: antepenultimate stress is more frequent in light antepenultimate syllables than in heavy ones. This pattern is phonologically unexpected, and appears to contradict the typology of weight and stress: it is a case where lexical statistics and the grammar conﬂict. Portuguese also contains gradient, not categorical, weight eﬀects, which weaken as we move away from the right edge of the word. In this paper, I examine how native speakers’ grammars capture these subtle weight eﬀects, and whether the negative antepenultimate weight eﬀect is learned or repaired. I show that speakers learn the gradient weight eﬀects in the language, but do not learn the unnatural negative eﬀect. Instead, speakers repair this pattern, and generalize a positive weight eﬀect to all syllables in the stress domain. This study thus provides empirical evidence that speakers may not only ignore unnatural patterns, but also learn the opposite pattern.
Blood pressure, atherosclerosis, and the incidence of age-related maculopathy : The Rotterdam Study

textabstractPURPOSE: To determine whether blood pressure and subclinical atherosclerosis are associated with incident age-related maculopathy (ARM). METHODS: The study was performed within the Rotterdam Study, a population-based, prospective cohort study in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. A total of 4822 subjects who at baseline were aged 55 years more, were free of ARM, and participated in at least one of two follow-up examinations after a mean of 2 and 6.5 years, were included in the study. At baseline, blood pressure and the presence of atherosclerosis were determined. ARM was assessed according to the International Classification and Grading System and defined as large, soft drusen with pigmentary changes; indistinct drusen; or atrophic or neovascular age-related macular degeneration. RESULTS: After a mean follow-up of 5.2 years, incident ARM was diagnosed in 417 subjects. Increased systolic blood pressure or pulse pressure was associated with a higher risk of ARM. Adjusted for age, gender, smoking, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass index, and diabetes mellitus, odds ratios (OR) per 10-mm Hg increase were 1.08 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.03-1.14) and 1.11 (95% CI: 1.04-1.18), respectively. Moreover, different measures of atherosclerosis were associated with the risk of ARM. An increase in carotid wall thickness (OR per 1 SD, 1.15; 95% CI: 1.03-1.28) increased the risk of ARM. The lowest compared with the highest tertile of ankle-arm index had an OR of 1.32 (95% CI: 1.00-1.75). A weak association was found between aortic calcifications and the risk of ARM. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated systolic blood or pulse pressure or the presence of atherosclerosis may increase the risk of development of ARM.
The impact of a high fidelity simulation-based debriefing course on the Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare (DASH)© score of novice instructors

Introduction: Experiential learning, followed by debriefing, is at the heart of Simulation-Based Medical Education (SBME) and has been proven effective to help master several medical skills. We investigated the impact of an educational intervention, based on high-fidelity SBME, on the debriefing competence of novice simulation instructors. Methods: This is a prospective, randomized, quasi-experimental, pre- and post-test study. Sixty physicians without prior formal debriefing expertise attended a 5-day SBME seminar targeted on debriefing. Prior to the start of the seminar, 15 randomly chosen participants had to debrief a spaghetti and tape team exercise. Thereafter, the members of each team assessed their debriefer’s performance using the Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare (DASH)© score. The debriefing seminar that followed (intervention) consisted of 5 days of teaching that included theoretical and simulation training. Each scenario was followed by a Debriefing of the Debriefing (DOD) session conducted by the expert instructor. At the end of the course, 15 randomly chosen debriefers had to debrief a second tower building exercise and were re-evaluated with the DASH score by their respective team members. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare pre- and post-test scores. Statistical tests were performed using GraphPad Prism 6.0c for Mac. Results: A significant improvement in all items of the DASH score was noted following the seminar. The debriefers significantly improved their performance with regard to “maintaining an engaging learning environment” (Median [IQR]) (4[3-5] after the pre-test vs. 5.5[5-6] after the post-test, p<0.001); “structuring the debriefing in an organized way” (5[4-5] after the pre-test vs. 5[5-6] after the post-test, p=0.002); “provoking engaging discussion” (4[3-5.75] after the pre-test vs. 6[5-6] after the post-test, p<0.001); “identifying and exploring performance gaps” (5[4-6] after the pre-test vs. 6[5-6] after the post-test, p=0.014); and “helping trainees to achieve and sustain good future performance” (4[3-5] after the pre-test vs. 6[5-6] after the post-test, p<0.001). Conclusion: A simulation-based debriefing course, based mainly on DOD sessions, allowed novice simulation instructors to improve their overall debriefing skills including, more specifically, the ability to foster engagement in discussions and maintain an engaging learning environment.
The Effect of Surplus Free Cash Flow and Audit Quality on Earnings Management

One of the most important management tool is the abuse of free cash flows in those companies with low growth opportunities, companies in which there are lots of free cash flows and moreover there are not much investment opportunities and the corporate governance structure and also the audit quality are not appropriate, rate of using free cash flows increases in order to manage the earnings. So the goal of present investigation is to check the excess effect of free cash flows and audit quality on the earnings management. The period of the present survey is from 2010 to 2014, in which 102 companies have been checked. In this research to test the investigation’s hypothesis, multiple linear regression model and panel data have been used. The analysis results of the first hypothesis free cash flow have positive and significant effect on earnings management. The analysis results of the second hypothesis audit quality have negative and significant effect on the earnings management. The third hypothesis finding, in this research shows that the audit quality has a significant on both surplus free cash flow and earnings management.
EFFECTS OF WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ON PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN KENYA

The manufacturing industry in Kenya contributes 14% to the country’s gross domestic product and employs over two million people (Republic of Kenya (RoK), 2013. The role of the manufacturing sector in the Kenya Vision 2030 is to create employment and wealth. The sector which is dominated by subsidiaries of multi-national corporations, contributed 13% of the GDP in 2004. However, the sector has seen a reduction in its contribution to GDP from 13.6 percent in the early 1990’s to 9.2 percent in 2012. There had been a decline in growth of the sector from 3.4 percent in 2011 to 3.1 percent in 2012. The real growth in the sector averaged 4.1% p.a. during 2006-2013, lower than the average annual growth in overall real GDP of 4.6%. The target population of the study was 455 respondents of the 455 large-scale manufacturing firms based in Nairobi. Stratified random sampling method was applied to come up with the sample size, since the population is considered heterogeneous. The study adopted a descriptive survey which is a method of collecting information by interviewing or administering a questionnaire to a sample of individuals. The data was collected from respondents using self-administered questionnaires. The study established a significant relationship between influence of radio frequency identification (RFID), barcode technology, manufacturing resources planning (MRP-II), distribution requirements planning (DRP) and productivity in manufacturing firms in Kenya β1, β2, β3 and β4=(0.549, 0.673, 0.738 and 0.881) p=(0.001,0.004,0.003 and 0.001)<0.05. The study concluded that WMS provide flexible, automated support in processing all goods movements and in managing stocks in the manufacturing firms. The study recommends that the manufacturing firms in Kenya should employ WMS in order to streamline the operations of the firms and maximize the performance. To adopt the RFID, barcode technology, MRP-II and DRP allows firms to track every unit down to the lowest level of detail for improved order fulfillment and inventory accuracy.
Improving color constancy by selecting suitable set of training images

With very simple implementation, regression-based color constancy (CC) methods have recently obtained very competitive performance by applying a correction matrix to the results of some low level-based CC algorithms. However, most regression-based methods, e.g., Corrected Moment (CM), apply a same correction matrix to all the test images. Considering that the captured image color is usually determined by various factors (e.g., illuminant and surface reflectance), it is obviously not reasonable enough to apply a same correction to different test images without considering the intrinsic difference among images. In this work, we first mathematically analyze the key factors that may influence the performance of regression-based CC, and then we design principled rules to automatically select the suitable training images to learn an optimal correction matrix for each test image. With this strategy, the original regression-based CC (e.g., CM) is clearly improved to obtain more competitive performance on four widely used benchmark datasets. We also show that although this work focuses on improving the regression-based CM method, a noteworthy aspect of the proposed automatic training data selection strategy is its applicability to several representative regression-based approaches for the color constancy problem. © 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement
O ct 2 01 4 Off – Diagonal Deformations of Kerr Black Holes in Einstein and Modified Massive Gravity and Higher Dimensions

We find general parameterizations for generic off–diagonal spacetime metrics and matter sources in general relativity (GR) and modified gravity theories when the field equations decouple with respect to certain types of nonholonomic frames of reference. This allows us to construct various classes of exact solutions when the coefficients of the fundamental geometric/physical objects depend on all spacetime coordinates via corresponding classes of generating and integration functions and/or constants. Such (modified) spacetimes display Killing and non–Killing symmetries, describe nonlinear vacuum configurations and effective polarizations of cosmological and interaction constants. Our method can be extended to higher dimensions which simplifies some proofs for embedded and nonholonomically constrained four-dimensional configurations. We reproduce the Kerr solution and show how to deform it nonholonomically into new classes of generic off– diagonal solutions depending on 3-8 spacetime coordinates. Certain examples of exact solutions are analyzed tamara.gheorghiu@yahoo.com olivia.vacaru@yahoo.com sergiu.vacaru@cern.ch; sergiu.vacaru@uaic.ro visiting researcher