Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FSH in the ewe: effects of season, live weight and plane of nutrition on plasma FSH and ovulation rate.

The effect of season live weight (LW) and nutrition on plasma levels of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and ovulation rates was studied in the ewe. The diet provided was either 1/3 1 or 2 times that of the maintenance requirement (MR). The mean LW reflected the differences in nutrition 7 weeks after initiation of the study. The ovulation rate was significantly (p less than .05) higher in the 2MR group though there were no marked differences in FSH levels among the 3 groups. The variations in FSH levels were attributable to individual differences (75%) and the day (16%) and hour (9%) of sampling. The concentrations of FSH did not correlate with LW or ovulation rate. The metabolic clearance rate of FSH was not significantly (p greater than .05) different between 7 ewes with 1 ovulation and 8 ewes with 2 ovulations on Days 10-12 of the estrous cycle. The administration of gonadotropin-releasing hormone resulted in an inverse relation between FSH levels and the number of corpora lutea (.05 less than p less than .1). FSH concentrations were significantly (p less than .05) higher in ewes during the breeding season than in lactating or nonlactating anestrous ewes.
The study on key distribution and management mechanisms in Wireless Sensor Networks

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is constructed by a group of sensor nodes with characteristics of tiny shape, low-energy consumption and cheap cost. In general, sensor nodes are distributed in a certain area. In this paper, we find the root of a finite field polynomial to achieve the implicit security. We partition the key and distribute to the nodes of network. We can use these key partitions to revert to the original key.
Low Renal Papillary Plasma Flow in Both Dahl and Kyoto Rats with Spontaneous Hypertension

Abnormally low plasma flow to renal papilla characterizes Dahl hypertension. When eating a normal Na diet (0.3% NaCl) both hypertension-seiisitive (S) rats and hypertension-resistant (R) rats, 16 weeks old, have fairly normal blood pressure (BP), averaging 144 and 129 mm Hg, respectively. However, even in this barely hypertensive state, 18 S rats bad a 31% lower papillary plasma flow (LilienTield method) than 22 R rats, 19.2 ml/100 g of papilla per min compared to 25.6 (P < 0.001). When a high (8%) NaCl diet was fed for 7 days, R rats increased papillary plasma flow from 25.6 on 0.3% NaCl to 33.8 on 8% NaCl, a 32% rise (P < 0.001). S rats increased papillary flow from 20.4 to 24.8, a 22% rise (P < 0.05). When a high (8%) NaCl diet was fed for 4 weeks, R rats increased papillary plasma flow from 25.7 ml/100 g per min on 0.3% NaCl to 29.5 ml/100 g per min on 8% NaCl, a 15% rise (P < 0.025). S rats increased papillary flow from 17.7 to 20.0 ml/100 g per min (not significant). S rats on 8% NaCl had a papillary flow 32% lower than R rats on 8% NaCl (P < 0.001). BP of S rats rose to 162 mm Hg after 4 weeks on 8% NaCl; in R rats, BP did not rise at all. S rats on 0.3% NaCl hare a low papillary flow even in a borderline hypertensive slate. When challenged with 8% NaCl, R rats increased papillary flow, an adaptation possibly important for the natriuresis. S rats failed to achieve this same high papillary flow. Lacking this adaptation, hypertension may then conceivably occur in S rats to accomplish natriuresis through a "pressure natriuresis" mechanism. Papillary flow also decreased by 11% in 26 Kyoto 17-week-old spontaneously hypertensives (BP, 182 mm Hg) compared to 24 Kyoto nonnotensives (BP, 118 mm Hg), 29.5 vs. 33.2 ml/100 g per min (P < 0.001). Thus, low papillary flow exists in both hypertensions.
Explaining Behavioral Intention on Information Technology: A Case Study of CIMB Niaga Internet Banking in Surabaya

-Information technology development is a great opportunity for companies to creatively innovate their product in order to develop their business. One of the information technology-based products that grow quite rapidly at this time is Internet banking. Internet banking is one of the information technology that give option to their customers for bypassing the time-consuming, paper-based aspects of traditional banking in order to manage their finances more quickly and efficiently. This opportunity has been seen by CIMB Niaga as one of the largest bank in Indonesia. Our study is to analyze the effect of perceived credibility, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use on behavioral intention to use as the propose of an extended framework to re-examine behavioral intention of technology. This study uses a quantitative approach using regression techniques (multiple regression) through the program SPSS 16. The samples were 150 respondents with non probability sampling technique. The sampling method was purposive sampling.
Safety of latex urinary catheters for the short time drainage

Background: In this study, we attempt to identify the most appropriate catheter (silicone vs. latex) for short-term urinary catheterization. We compared the post-operative clinico-pathological complications between latex and silicone for short term catheterization in rabbits with hypospadias. Materials and Methods: Forty rabbits were used in our study to compare complications of catheterization. They were divided in two groups. Hypospadias like defect was created by a 1 cm long excision of the ventral urethra. For urethroplasty, we used tubularized incised plate technique. Latex and silicon catheters were used in groups 1 and 2, respectively. Post-operatively, routine laboratory urine test and complications (allergy, infection, bleeding) were compared in groups. Results: A total of 40 rabbits underwent hypospadias repair. Findings showed that there were no significant differences between groups based on urine test indices (P = NS). Urinary tract infection rate was 10% (2 rabbits) in latex and 0% in silicone groups (P = NS). There were no significant differences between groups regarding of cystitis grades between study groups (P = NS). Conclusion: It seems that urinary tract catheterization with latex catheters is a safe, feasible, and in-expensive procedure for short-term post-operative course in hypospadias surgery in patients without latex hypersensitivity.
A Japanese Encephalitis Virus Genotype 5 Molecular Clone Is Highly Neuropathogenic in a Mouse Model: Impact of the Structural Protein Region on Virulence

ABSTRACT Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) strains can be separated into 5 genotypes (g1 to g5) based on sequence similarity. JEV g5 strains have been rarely isolated and are poorly characterized. We report here the full characterization of a g5 virus generated using a cDNA-based technology and its comparison with a widely studied g3 strain. We did not observe any major differences between those viruses when their infectious cycles were studied in various cell lines in vitro. Interestingly, the JEV g5 strain was highly pathogenic when inoculated to BALB/c mice, which are known to be largely resistant to JEV g3 infection. The study of chimeric viruses between JEV g3 and g5 showed that there was a poor viral clearance of viruses that express JEV g5 structural proteins in BALB/c mice blood, which correlated with viral invasion of the central nervous system and encephalitis. In addition, using an in vitro model of the blood-brain barrier, we were able to show that JEV g5 does not have an enhanced capacity for entering the central nervous system, compared to JEV g3. Overall, in addition to providing a first characterization of the understudied JEV g5, our work highlights the importance of sustaining an early viremia in the development of JEV encephalitis. IMPORTANCE Genotype 5 viruses are genetically and serologically distinct from other JEV genotypes and can been associated with human encephalitis, which warrants the need for their characterization. In this study, we characterized the in vitro and in vivo properties of a JEV g5 strain and showed that it was more neuropathogenic in a mouse model than a well-characterized JEV g3 strain. The enhanced virulence of JEV g5 was associated with poor viral clearance but not with enhanced crossing of the blood-brain barrier, thus providing new insights into JEV pathogenesis.
Effects of supplementary iodine on the performance and egg traits of laying hens

1. This experiment was carried out to determine the effects of dietary iodine supplementation on the performance and egg traits of laying hens. A total of 600 SHSY type brown layers aged 21 weeks of age were chosen at random from a large flock. They were randomly distributed into 30 pens at 20 hens per pen. Each treatment comprised 6 replicates of 20 layers in groups of 5 birds. The diets were supplemented with 0, 3, 6, 12 and 24 mg/kg iodine as calcium iodate. The experimental period lasted 30 weeks. 2. There were no significant differences among the groups in body weight, food consumption, egg production, food consumption per kg eggs, eggshell index, eggshell breaking strength, shell thickness or egg yolk index. 3. Supplementation of the diet with 12 mg/kg iodine increased food consumption per dozen eggs compared to the groups fed on diets supplemented with 0 and 6 mg/kg iodine. 4. Egg weight was less in groups fed on diets supplemented with 12 and 24 mg/kg iodine than in the group receiving no iodine supplementation. 5. Iodine supplementation to provide 12 and 24 mg/kg reduced egg albumen index and egg Haugh units. 6. There were no significant differences among the groups in egg cholesterol and egg yolk cholesterol contents. 7. The iodine concentrations in egg yolk, egg albumen and whole egg increased with increased iodine supplementation. 8. As a result, the 3 and 6 mg/kg iodine supplementation of diet could be used to enrich the eggs with iodine without any adverse effect on performance and egg traits.
VEMP responses are not affected in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients with or without polyneuropathy

Conclusion. Vestibular evoked myogenic responses (VEMPs) are not affected in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients with or without polyneuropathy. Objective. To compare VEMP responses of NIDDM patients and healthy subjects. Subjects and methods. VEMP responses were collected from 25 NIDDM patients with polyneuropathy (PNP), 13 NIDDM patients without PNP and 21 healthy subjects using click stimulation. After excluding ears with hearing loss (HL) (worse than 25 dB) the VEMP responses (p13 and n21 latencies and amplitude) recorded in 105 dB stimulus intensity were compared. Results. There was no statistically significant difference between groups. VEMP responses were found to be normal in NIDDM patients with or without PNP.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT AND LOYALTY INHEALTHCARE SECTOR: A STUDY OF SELECTED PRIVATEHOSPITALS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Sequel to the emergence of the service economy, marketing, which was known for only physical goods has now widened its scope to cover all areas of services. As a result of the frantic efforts made by service marketers to ensure that services are not merely delivered, but experienced by the consumers, the world economy has witnessed a metamorphosis from a service economy to an experience economy. The healthcare sector is following suit. It is on this premise that this study examined customer experience management and loyalty in the healthcare sector using private hospitals in Lagos State, Nigeria. The primary objectives of this study were to determine the roles of functional, mechanic and humanic clues as well as how customer experience relates to customer satisfaction. The secondary objective was to assess the moderating impact of buyers’ psychological characteristics in the relationship between customer experience management and loyalty. In order to achieve these objectives, five hypotheses were formulated from the research questions raised to guide the study. The study employed survey research design and the data were generated via the combination of structured and unstructured questionnaire. A total of 489 copies of the questionnaire (365 for customers and 124 for healthcare service providers) were retrieved from the selected four private hospitals in Lagos State. Multi-stage sampling techniques were employed in the study. Using the Categorical Regression CATREG analysis, the study found that functional clues have positive influence on repeat purchase actions of customers. Mechanic clues have positive effect on brand insistence, while humanic clues have significant positive effect on switching restraint. Perfect positive relationships exist between customer experience and customer satisfaction and lastly buyers’ psychological characteristics moderate the relationship between customer experience and customer loyalty. Based on these findings, the study recommended, among other things, that health care managers must concentrate on understanding their patients’ needs, desires, cultural attitudes and then design tailored, reliable products, services that will enable them to satisfy those needs and wants. Healthcare managers must ensure that the environment of the healthcare organization is conducive for the patients always; and finally, healthcare managers should have a good grasp of consumer behaviour, so as to help them know their customers, their perceptions, motivations, learning and beliefs/attitudes and how all these will influence their buying behaviour
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE POTENTIAL QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is the evaluation of the effects likely to arise from a major project significantly affecting the environment. It is a systematic process for considering possible impacts prior to a decision being taken on whether or not a proposal should be given approval to proceed. It is a good example of the precautionary principle – prevention is better than cure. Knowledge has long been recognised as a major asset to an organisation. Superior performance and competitive advantage can result from processes that create and use knowledge efficiently; this is due to a greater awareness of the role and importance of intangible assets, intellectual capital, expertise, knowledge systems, business intelligence and ability to innovate. Managing knowledge successfully, therefore, is a core strategic capability, requiring appropriately skilled managers and organisational leadership. This practice has come to be known as knowledge management (KM). A number of weaknesses in EIA practice have been acknowledged throughout EIA literature. This study was undertaken to determine if KM techniques can help to improve some of these weaknesses. A questionnaire was developed, and interviews held with EIA consultants as major facilitators in EIA practice to ascertain: how much of the knowledge generated in EIAs is currently being ‘managed’; how KM can be used to manage more EIA knowledge; and, how this can lead to an improvement in the effectiveness of EIA. The results showed there is definitely scope for KM practice to improve the effectiveness of EIA processes, but its success will be governed by practitioner commitment to improve EIA practice.
Report of a CS1 Course for Computer Engineering Majors Based on PBL

This innovative practice full paper presents a report that describes an active learning experience with undergraduate freshmen from a Computer Engineering program in an introductory programming course using a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach. Programming is complex for many students and solutions such as the use of active learning methodologies have been addressed over the years. Since its creation, our Computer Engineering program uses PBL as a fundamental building block of its curriculum, and the CS1 course fully adopts this approach. This paper reports the planning, execution and analysis of our experience of teaching programming in CS1 using PBL. The main lessons learned were: building step-by-step examples helps the learning process; student participation happens in different ways in lectures and in the PBL sessions; the PBL tutorial brings relevance to the lectures; there must be a careful design of the PBL problems; the PBL approach works on technical, personal and interpersonal skills; and the lectures should be one step behind the PBL sessions.
Predicting medical and surgical complications of carotid endarterectomy: comparing the risk indexes.

BACKGROUND Several generic cardiac risk assessment tools predict perioperative cardiac complications, but their ability to predict a broader range of medical, neurologic, and surgical complications is unknown. METHODS A multicenter retrospective observational cohort study of 1998 patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Complications within 30 days of surgery were assessed by medical record review, including death or nonfatal stroke and cardiac, noncardiac medical, minor neurologic, and wound complications. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses assessed the predictive abilities of the Goldman, Detsky, Revised Cardiac Risk, and American Society of Anesthesiologists indexes and of 2 CEA-specific risk models (the Halm and Tu scores). RESULTS Death or stroke occurred in 3.2% of patients, cardiac complications in 4.0%, noncardiac medical complications in 3.2%, minor neurologic complications in 6.9%, and wound complications in 6.0%. All risk models (except the Tu score) significantly predicted cardiac complications equally well (P<.05). All 6 risk models were equivalent in predicting noncardiac medical complications. Only the Revised Cardiac Risk Index and the 2 CEA-specific risk models (Halm and Tu scores) predicted death or stroke and minor neurologic and wound complications. The Halm score was superior in predicting death or stroke compared with the Tu score and the Revised Cardiac Risk Index (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.72 vs 0.62 and 0.61, respectively; P<.05). Patients with cardiac, noncardiac medical, minor neurologic, or wound complications had 3- to 16-fold increased odds of death or stroke. CONCLUSION The Halm score CEA-specific risk model and the generic Revised Cardiac Risk Index predicted a broad range of medical, neurologic, and surgical complications following CEA.
EFFECTS OF WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF TOURIST HOTELS IN MOMBASA COUNTY, KENYA

: The study focused on the effects of working capital management (WCM) practices on the financial performance of tourist hotels based on the tourist hotels at the Kenyan coastal region. Systematic random sampling was applied to select a sample of 22 hotels from the total 44 as per the Ministry of Tourism. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data from the accountants and Managers of the hotels as they were well versed with the data required. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics to determine the mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum of the various variables. Pearson correlation coefficient was also used to analyse the relationship between the dependent variable (financial performance) and the independent variable based on the inventory turnover days, number of days account receivables, number of days accounts payable and the cash conversion cycle. All the independent variables showed a negative correlation to the net operating profit, which meant that the days of converting inventory and receivables into cash together with paying creditors needed to be shortened for increased profits. The study strongly confirmed that the hotels best financial performance strongly relates to the efficient management of working capital components whereby the shareholders’ value can be created through shortening of the cash conversion cycle. Therefore, the management should identify the hotel’s unique working capital drivers and relevant risks and use them to develop their unique working capital management policies and practices that are in line with their business model and the overall hotel corporate strategy.
Work-in-Progress: Towards a Conceptual Framework for Multi-Campus Course Development

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for multi-campus education. The framework is based on the transtheoretical model where the planning and action stages have been extended with course development specific activities. Current research, including our own, has been studied to identify several factors affecting the process of offering multi-campus courses/programs. Factors identified include those related to readiness, planning based on the new context, training and preparation, and delivery, observation and maintenance. The proposed framework will hopefully result in improved multi-campus course development processes in multi-campus universities.
Minority stress and health: Implications for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people

Historically, the pathologization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) orientations shaped research and professional practice, while the impact of stigma was not considered. Within a minority stress conceptualization however, stigma-related prejudice and discrimination experienced by LGBTQ people constitute chronically stressful events that can lead to negative health outcomes. Minority stress has been linked to psychological distress among gay men and lesbians and may contribute to elevated rates of distress frequently observed among LGBTQ youth. This study explored the impact of minority stress on psychological distress among LGBTQ youth in Ireland. Measures assessing three components of minority stress (sexual identity distress, stigma consciousness, and heterosexist experiences) were administered online to LGBTQ youth aged 16–24 years (N = 301). Each minority stressor had a significant independent association with distress. Stepwise regression analyses identified the linear combination of minority stressors as significantly predictive of distress [F(3,201) = 30.80, p ≤ 0.001]. Results suggest that the oppressive social environment created through sexual/transgender identity-related stigma negatively impacts on the well-being of LGBTQ youth. These findings have implications for health professionals and policy makers interested in the concerns of LGBTQ youth experiencing difficulties related to minority status and will facilitate the development and tailoring of interventions aimed at reaching those most at risk.
Information Asymmetries, Managerial Ownership, and the Impact of Layoff Announcements on Shareholder Wealth

This paper tests the impact of layoff announcements on share price returns with respect to the magnitude of the layoff on the total firm workforce, the level of inside ownership, and the firm size; while controlling for the number of employees, the level of institutional ownership, and profitability. We find a statistically significant negative share price response associated with layoff announcements, with layoffs constituting a greater percentage of a firm fs workforce resulting in larger negative share price responses. Using an information asymmetry framework, we discover that firm size significantly explains the cross-sectional distribution of share price responses to layoff announcements. We find no evidence of a relationship between insider ownership and share price response to layoff announcements.
Research on Change Management into Small Family Businesses

In this paper we analyse the impact of family involvement over change into Romanian small family businesses. Accordingly, we have contributed to entrepreneurship generally and family SMEs studies particularly by testing the relationship between family involvements and change. In addition we develop family business theory and entrepreneurship by testing variables as sources of change among family business. Our findings present a broader perspective of Romanian entrepreneurial landscape from family business concepts.