Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LEHTO Anal Incontinence Occurrence , Management and Long-term Outcome

Anal incontinence (AI) is a disorder in which the individual cannot control the passage of gas, fluid or solid stool. Operations to the anorectal area, a traumatic delivery and neurological disorders are the most common reasons for AI. In case of idiopathic faecal incontinence (FI), rectal prolapse and intussusception often associate with it. The initial treatment of AI is always conservative. If it does not relieve symptoms sufficiently, surgical treatment is considered. This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of AI and to estimate the effect of its management, with a special focus on anterior sphincter repair and the left-sided PEG colostomy tube. The special aim was to find out the long-term outcome, including quality of life (QoL). The results were based on questionnaires or phone calls to the subjects. The occurrence of FI in this cross-sectional study was 10.6%, and 5.2% suffered from it at least twice a month. Women suffered significantly more than men did. The occurrence of urinary incontinence (UI) and FI were strongly correlated with each other. After a long-term follow-up, 58% of the individuals remained incontinent and 83% of them were women. UI was present in 63% of subjects suffering also from FI and in 20% of subjects who did not suffer from FI. It is notable that in this cross-sectional study, only 27.2% had discussed the FI with their physician. However, 66% felt that they needed treatment but only 10% had received it. After 10 years of follow-up, as many as 57% of the subjects suffering from incontinence felt that they needed help for the disorder but only 46% had received it. Operative management, that is, anterior sphincteroplasty, was rather disappointing in the long term, as fewer than 30% of the patients in both age groups got any benefit from it. Elderly people are not likely to have any long-term value out of it. In the future, it is important to detect those patients more exactly for whom operative treatment is an alternative. Failures in the PEG tube colostomy are common, but 33% got benefit from it. AI is a common disorder, but the subjects are reluctant to discuss their problems with the physicians. The health care staff should be more aware of the problem and encourage their patients to talk about AI. The detection and management of AI should be improved, especially in primary health care. In specialised centres more attention should be paid to the selection of the treatment for each individual suffering from AI, and the decision should be based on improving QoL.
A RapidMethod of Assessing the Photocatalytic Activity of Thin TiO 2 Films Using an Ink Based on the Redox Dye

An indicator ink based on the redox dye 2,6-dichloroindophenol (DCIP) is described, which allows the rapid assessment of the activity of thin, commercial photocatalytic films, such as Activ. The ink works via a photoreductive mechanism, DCIP being reduced to dihydro-DCIP within ca. 7.5 minutes exposure to UVA irradiation of moderate intensity (ca. 4.8 mW cm−2). The kinetics of photoreduction are found to be independent of the level of dye present in the ink formulation, but are highly sensitive to the level of glycerol. This latter observation may be associated with a solvatochromic effect, whereby the microenvironment in which the dye finds itself and, as a consequence, its reactivity is altered significantly by small changes in the glycerol content. The kinetics of photoreduction also appear linearly dependent on the UVA light intensity with an observed quantum efficiency of ca. 1.8× 10−3.
Adoption and Use of Information Communication Technologies in Zimbabwean Supermarkets

The use of computers and technology has become vital for any organisation to survive in this digital era. The adoption and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in supermarkets has been accepted, particularly, in developed countries. However, there has been little information on the adoption and use of ICTs in supermarkets in Zimbabwe as a whole. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to explore the rate of adoption and use of ICTs in Zimbabwean supermarkets and to measure their impact. The study also sought to suggest measures that supermarkets could take in an effort to overcome the challenges faced in the use of ICTs in grocery shopping in Zimbabwe. The results were interpreted using the Keynesian Theory of Money and they revealed that all supermarkets had adopted Point of Sale (POS) and few of them had adopted mobile money. The majority of the customers however still preferred to transact using cash. The study also showed that the greatest benefits of online transactions were convenience, high customer retention, and increased efficiency whereas the greatest challenges were network connection problems and poor adoption by customers. The study urged customers to adopt and use online ICTs in supermarkets in order to take advantage of their benefits. The study also recommended supermarkets and the government to take heed of the measures suggested by the respondents in order to avert the adverse consequences of the challenges faced in the use of ICTs.
Ju l 2 01 3 Nucleon form factors and moments of generalized parton distributions using N f = 2 + 1 + 1 twisted mass fermions

We present results on the axial and the electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon, as well as, on the first moments of the nucleon generalized parton distributions using maximally twisted mass fermions. We analyze two Nf=2+1+1 ensembles having pion masses of 213 MeV and 373 MeV each at a different value of the lattice spacing. The lattice scale is determined using the nucleon mass computed on a total of 17 Nf=2+1+1 ensembles generated at three values of the lattice spacing, a. The renormalization constants are evaluated non-perturbatively with a perturbative subtraction of O(a)-terms. The moments of the generalized parton distributions are given in the MS scheme at a scale of μ = 2 GeV. We compare with recent results obtained using different discretization schemes. The implications on the spin content of the nucleon are also discussed.
The 1.0 Megaparsec Galaxy Pair Sample in Low-Density Regions

Using complete redshift catalogs, we have compiled a list of galaxy pairs based solely on a pair's projected separation, rp, and velocity difference, ΔV. We have made high-velocity precision H I observations of each galaxy in the sample and have reported these in the literature. Due to the nature of the redshift catalogs, we are able to quantitatively evaluate the effects of isolation and number density of surrounding galaxies on each pair in the sample. For the close galaxy pairs (rp < 100 kpc), the degree of isolation (a measure of the number of near neighbors) has little effect on the median ΔV. This median is about 55 km s-1 for the 25 close pairs (if medium-density close pairs are omitted ΔV is even smaller, but the difference is not statistically significant). The effect of isolation is strong for the entire sample of galaxy pairs with separations as large as 1.0 Mpc. For these larger separation pairs, relaxation of strict isolation requirements introduces small groups into the sample, which dramatically increases the median ΔV. We find little evidence of an increase in the median ΔV with decreasing rp, nor with increasing total luminosity. For our isolated pairs in low-density regions, the overall median ΔV is only 30 km s-1. For similar separations and isolation criteria, galaxy satellites with larger luminosity ratios (i.e., less dynamical friction) in higher density regions have ΔV approximately twice as large. We conjecture that our orbits are highly eccentric, so that the indirect effect of dynamical friction leads to predominantly small ΔV. However, the halos of our galaxies may also be of low density (although highly extended).
Working Paper Series

In U.S. data 1981–2012, unsecured firm credit moves procyclically and tends to lead GDP, while secured firm credit is acyclical; similarly, shocks to unsecured firm credit explain a far larger fraction of output fluctuations than shocks to secured credit. In this paper we develop a tractable dynamic general equilibrium model in which unsecured firm credit arises from self-enforcing borrowing constraints, preventing an efficient capital allocation among heterogeneous firms. Unsecured credit rests on the value that borrowers attach to a good credit reputation which is a forward-looking variable. We argue that self-fulfilling beliefs over future credit conditions naturally generate endogenously persistent business cycle dynamics. A dynamic complementarity between current and future borrowing limits permits uncorrelated sunspot shocks to unsecured debt to trigger persistent aggregate fluctuations in both secured and unsecured debt, factor productivity and output. We show that these sunspot shocks are quantitatively important, accounting for around half of output volatility. JEL classification: D92, E32
The threat of Centaurs for terrestrial planets and their orbital evolution as impactors

Centaurs are solar system objects with orbits situated among the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune. Centaurs represent one of the sources of Near-Earth Objects. Thus, it is crucial to understand their orbital evolution which in some cases might end in collision with terrestrial planets and produce catastrophic events. We study the orbital evolution of the Centaurs toward the inner solar system, and estimate the number of close encounters and impacts with the terrestrial planets after the Late Heavy Bombardment assuming a steady state population of Centaurs. We also estimate the possible crater sizes. We compute the approximate amount of water released: on the Earth, which is about 0.00001 the total water present now. We also found sub-regions of the Centaurs where the possible impactors originate from. While crater sizes could extend up to hundreds of kilometers in diameter given the presently known population of Centaurs the majority of the craters would be less than about 10 km. For all the planets and an average impactor size of 12 km in diameter, the average impact frequency since the Late Heavy Bombardment is one every 1.9 Gyr for the Earth and 2.1 Gyr for Venus. For smaller bodies (e.g. > 1 km), the impact frequency is one every 14.4 Myr for the Earth, 13.1 Myr for Venus and, 46.3 for Mars, in the recent solar system. Only 53% of the Centaurs can enter into the terrestrial planet region and 7% can interact with terrestrial planets.
Employer ’ s moral hazard and wage rigidity marina albanese and cecilia navarra and

The standard explanation of wage rigidity in principal agent and in efficiency wage models is related to worker risk-aversion. However, these explanations do not consider at least two important classes of empirical evidence: (1) In worker cooperatives workers appear to behave in a less risk averse way than in for profit firms and to accept fluctuating wages; (2) The emerging experimental evidence on the employment contract shows that most workers prefer higher but more uncertain wages to lower fixed wages. Workers do not appear to express a preference for fixed wages in all situations and different ownership forms, in our case worker cooperatives and for-profit firms, behave in different ways when dealing with the trade-off between wage rigidity and employment fluctuations. More specifically, worker cooperatives are characterized, in relative terms, by fixed employment levels and fluctuating wages, while for-profit firms are characterized by fixed wages and fluctuating employment. Our paper reinterprets these stylized facts by focusing on the relationship between wage rigidity and worker risk aversion in light of the presence of employer post contractual opportunism. Contractual incompleteness and private information on the side of the employer can compound in favouring the pursuit of the employer’s objectives, when they diverge from the employee’s ones. The idea of employer moral hazard is able to disentangle the observed behavioural differences in different ownership forms. By resorting to the standard efficiency wage framework, we show that, in the presence of employer moral hazard, employees in capitalistic firms generally prefer fixed wage, accepting this way a positive risk of lay-off. On the contrary, one of the main functions of fluctuating wages in worker cooperatives is to minimize the risk of lay-off.
Constant entropy hybrid stars: a first approximation of cooling evolution

We aim to study the possibility of a hadron-quark phase transition in the interior of neutron stars, taking into account different schematic evolutionary stages at finite temperature. We also discuss the strange quark matter stability in the quark matter phase. Furthermore, we aim to analyze the astrophysical properties of hot and cold hybrid stars, considering the constraint on maximum mass given by the pulsars J1614-2230 and J0348+0432. We have developed a computational code to construct semi-analytical hybrid equations of state at fixed entropy per baryon and to obtain different families of hybrid stars. An analytical approximation of the Field Correlator Method is developed for the quark matter equation of state. For the hadronic equation of state we use a table based on the relativistic mean field theory, without hyperons. We solved the relativistic structure equations of hydrostatic equilibrium and mass conservation for hybrid star configurations. For the different equations of state obtained, we calculated the stability window for the strange quark matter, lepton abundances, temperature profiles and contours profiles for the maximum mass star depending on the parameters of the Field Correlator Method. We also computed the mass-radius and gravitational mass-baryonic mass relationships for different hybrid star families. We have analyzed different stages of hot hybrid stars as a first approximation of the cooling evolution of neutron stars with quark matter cores. We obtain cold hybrid stars with maximum masses $\geq 2 M_\odot$ for different combinations of the Field Correlator Method parameters. In addition, our study based on the gravitational mass - baryonic mass plane shows a late phase transition between hadronic and quark matter during the proto-hybrid star evolution, in contrast with previous studies of proto-neutron stars.
Evaluación de extractos de plantas nativas yucatecas contra Alternaria chrysanthemi y espectro de actividad antifúngica de Acalypha gaumeri

Un total de 24 extractos (acuosos y etanolicos) de nueve especies de plantas se evaluaron contra Alternaria chrysanthemi, el agente causal del tizon foliar en crisantemo. La mayor actividad antifungica se detecto con los extractos etanolico y acuoso de la raiz de Acalypha gaumeri (inhibicion del crecimiento, IC=75 y 69%, respectivamente), y los acuosos del tallo y hoja de Bonellia flammea (IC= 63 y 50%, respectivamente). Estos extractos activos subsecuentemente se evaluaron en el bioensayo de dilucion en agar, donde el extracto etanolico (EE) de la raiz de A. gaumeri causo una alta inhibicion del crecimiento micelial y esporulacion, con una Concentracion Inhibitoria media (CI50) de 0.53 mg/mL contra la IC de A. chrysanthemi. Este extracto se particiono y la mayor actividad se observo en la fraccion de mediana polaridad (ACR-1E) con una CI50=0.13 mg/mL. Esta fraccion completamente inhibe la infeccion causada por A. chrysanthemi en las hojas de crisantemo a una concentracion de 85μg/cm2. Tambien el EE de A. gaumeri inhibe el crecimiento de las cepas fungicas Alternaria sp. (ITC02), Colletotrichum capsici, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Corynespora cassiicola, Curvularia sp. (ITC10), y Helminthosporium sp. (ITC04). El EE de la raiz de A. gaumeri puede ser un fungicida botanico potencial para el control de fitopatogenos
Finite element prediction of elastic strains in beryllium compact tension specimens

Three-dimensional finite element (FE) calculations using ABAQUS version 5.5. 9 were compared to neutron diffraction measurements of a loaded, pre-cracked beryllium compact tension (CT) specimens. The objective was to validate the FE results with the experimental {open_quotes}elastic strain{close_quotes} measurements. Then the FE calculations could be used to study residual stress and other aspects of these problems in the unloaded state and the crack tip stress in the loaded state which is hard to measure experimentally. A graded FE mesh was focused on the regions containing high strain gradients, the smallest elements were approximately 0.5 mm x 0.5 mm x 0.4 mm. A standard 20-node brick element model was complemented by a model with 1/4-point elements at the crack tip. Since the neutron diffraction measurements provided a volume average of approximately a cube of edge 3.0 mm, various averaging (or integrating) techniques were used on the FE results. Several integration schemes showed good agreement with the experimental results.
Experimental study of radiative shocks at PALS facility

We report on the investigation of strong radiative shocks generated with the high energy, sub-nanosecond iodine laser at PALS. These shock waves are characterized by a developed radiative precursor and their dynamics is analyzed over long time scales (~50 ns), approaching a quasi-stationary limit. We present the first preliminary results on the rear side XUV spectroscopy. These studies are relevant to the understanding of the spectroscopic signatures of accretion shocks in Classical T Tauri Stars.
Intra-Industry FDI , Uneven Development and Globalisation : the Legacy of Stephen Hymer

This paper revisits the issue of intra-industry foreign direct investment. This issue was considered in Stephen Hymer’s early work, but was not subsequently developed, and was largely ignored in the literature for some time. Using the example of the UK, this paper traces the patterns of intra-industry FDI, both across countries and industries, for both the manufacturing and service sectors. Despite the undoubted increase in the integration of goods and factor markets since the time of Hymer's writing, the analysis presented here shows that the pattern has changed little in the last forty years. The paper then goes on to discuss the motives for intraindustry FDI, relating it to technology flows and factor cost differentials. Finally, we present some analysis relating intra-industry FDI to uneven development, both between developed and developing countries, and between regions of a developed country. It is clear that intra-industry FDI is still very much a developed country phenomenon, as Hymer suggested, with both developing countries and poorer regions of developed countries unlikely to reap any of the benefits. In this context, one-way and two-way FDI must be seen as different phenomena within the debate on globalisation. Acknowledgement The authors are grateful for the comments of David Bailey, Christos Pitelis and three anonymous referees. Nigel Driffield acknowledges the support of the ESRC under award RES-000-22-0468.
One Size Does Not Fit All: Impact Of Varied Freshman Design Experiences On Engineering Self Efficacy

This paper presents results of a two year pilot program in freshman design. The program’s goal was to create a variety of project-based learning, or PBL, freshman experiences in design and complex problem solving as a means of energizing a fundamentals-focused math and science freshman curriculum. A second goal was to develop students’ self-efficacy in a range of abilities associated with engineering including design, problem solving, innovation, communication, teamwork, application of fundamental engineering and math concepts, teamwork, and being able to consider social impacts in technology in design. A third goal was to examine impact of different types of subjects by gender. The final goal was to discern if any gains in self-efficacy were sustained over time. An engineering self efficacy survey tool was developed for this study, with an expanded set of engineering self efficacy measures, that permit a more nuanced portrait of the impact of different types of engineering curricular experiences on student self efficacy. While preliminary, student responses to the survey showed that hands on, rigorous, engineering design experiences leading to original design prototyping led to greater impact on men students’ self efficacy than other types of design subjects. Student responses also showed that, while women students were energized by participation in PBL subjects, with more choosing engineering as a major compared to non-PBL women, the impact of women’s self efficacy was only in design-innovation, compared to PBL men whose self efficacy was impacted in nearly all areas. Perhaps most interesting of all were the changes in student self efficacy by midsophomore year for all students whether they participated in freshman design subjects or not. By mid-sophomore year, student self efficacy decreased from end of freshman year levels for all students, regardless of gender, for all ability measures. By taking a longitudinal approach to the study, and implementing the survey tool over 3 periods (pre freshman, post freshman, and mid sophomore year) with the same student groups, the results also illustrate that gains in self efficacy, after an engaging freshman experience, are not permanent, nor do gains only increase over time. Rather, the value of self efficacy measures of engineering students, if implemented over several periods, is that they can reveal the roller coaster ride of students’ engineering self confidence in response to positive and negative curricular experiences.
Shona culture of Zimbabwe’s views of giftedness

In an exploratory study designed to investigate Shona culture of Zimbabwe’s views of giftedness, data were collected from sixteen Zimbabwean academics of Shona cultural background. Using questionnaire narratives, the study established that Shona culture views giftedness as an unusual ability blessed in an individual through ancestry which enables him/her to perform with unparalleled expertise even in challenging domains. The hallmarks of Shona culture’s views of giftedness are ability to succeed, solve problems, creativity, interpersonal relationships and spirituality. When values are held constant, Shona culture’s views of giftedness do not differ from views in contemporary psychology. The study recommends fusing together cultural and modern views of giftedness in the school curriculum in order to develop a diversity of talents in students.