Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Viability of bull semen extended with commercial semen extender and two culture media stored at 24 °C

The aim of this study was to evaluate the viability of bull spermatozoa diluted with commercial semen extender and two culture media stored at controlled room temperature (24 °C) for 72 hours. Two Nguni bulls were used for semen collection with the aid of an electro-ejaculator. After macroscopic evaluation, semen was pooled and aliquoted randomly into Triladyl, modified Ham’s F10, and TCM-199 culture media, and then stored at 24 °C. Sperm motility parameters, morphology, and viability were analysed with computer aided sperm analysis (CASA) after 0, 24, 48 and 72 hours. The study was replicated four times, and data were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Triladyl had significantly higher sperm viability rate (41.3%) and total motility rate (96.3%) for 72 hours than modified Ham’s F10 (86.8%; 26.5%) and TCM-199 (76.7%; 25.0%) culture media. Ham’s F10 had higher progressive motility rate (37.8%) than the other extenders TCM-199 (31.7%) and Triladyl (23.4%). There was no significant difference in viability rate between Ham’s F10 (26.5%) and TCM-199 (25.0 %) after 72 hours’ storage at 24 °C. Furthermore, no significant difference was observed in total sperm abnormalities, except for reacted acrosomes and absent tails, between the two Nguni bulls. Nguni semen can be preserved in Triladyl or modified Ham’s F10 and TCM-199 culture media, stored at 24 °C, and stay viable for 72 hours. Keywords : Ham’s F10, TCM-199, Triladyl, sperm motility, viability
Production of microbial iron chelators (siderophores) by fluorescent Pseudomonads

Two fluorescent pseudomonads, Pseudomonas fluorescens NCIM 5096 and P. putida NCIM 2847 produced maximum yield of hydroxamate type of siderophore (87 & 83% units, respectively) in modified succinic acid medium (SM). (NH4)2SO4 and amino acids were found to stimulate bacterial growth as well as siderophore production. However, optimum siderophore yield was obtained with urea. Increase in iron concentration up to 100 µM favoured growth but drastically affected siderophore production in both the strains. Threshold level of iron (FeCl3), which repressed siderophore production in both the strains, was 30 µM. Sunflower oil proved to be suitable and cost effective defoaming agent for siderphore production in bioreactors. The results of shake flask level were found reproducible at scaled up conditions in bioreactors. Moreover, P. fluorescens NCIM 5096 inoculation enhanced seed germination, root length and shoot length of wheat (Triticum aestivum) under pot culture conditions.
Budesonide and mesalazine in active Crohn's disease: a comparison of the effects on quality of life

OBJECTIVES:Controlled ileal release budesonide and slow release mesalazine are both used to treat mild to moderate active Crohn's disease, although data show that budesonide is more effective in inducing remission. When comparing different treatment options, the effects of agents on health-related quality of life must be considered as well as efficacy. In this study, we sought to compare the effects of budesonide and mesalazine on the health-related quality of life of patients with active Crohn's disease.METHODS:The study included 182 patients with Crohn's Disease Activity Index scores between 200 and 400. Patients were randomized in a double blind, double dummy, multicenter study to receive 9 mg of budesonide, once daily (n = 93), or 2 g of mesalazine, b.i. d. (n = 89), for 16 wk. Quality of life was assessed at baseline and after 2, 4, 8, 12, and 16 wk of treatment using the Psychological General Well-Being index. In addition, a physician's global evaluation was used to assess how symptoms affected patients’ normal activities.RESULTS:Patients treated with budesonide experienced significantly greater improvement in Psychological General Well-Being scores than the group treated with mesalazine after 2, 8, 12, and 16 wk. All components of this index showed greater improvements in the budesonide-treated group than in the mesalazine group at 12 and 16 wk. The physician's global evaluation showed significantly greater improvements in the budesonide group than in the mesalazine group at all visits.CONCLUSION:Budesonide (9 mg once daily) improves health-related quality of life to a greater extent than mesalazine (2 g b.i.d.) in patients with mild to moderate active Crohn's disease.
Angry reactions to failure on a cooperative computer game: The effect of trait hostility, behavioural inhibition, and behavioural activation

This study describes the use of a "cooperative" computer game in which the subject has to follow directions, supposedly sent from a partner, and steer a tank to avoid invisible mines. The tank is lost if it hits a mine or does not reach base within a set time limit. The game was designed so that the majority of trials would be lost. Affective (mood self-ratings), cognitive (attribution of blame questionnaire), and behavioural (feedback sent to the "partner") outcomes were assessed. The game significantly in- creased ratings of discontentedness and anger. Self-blame for task failure was corre- lated with the Guilt subscale of the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI), and blaming the partner was correlated positively with the Motor Aggression subscale and negatively with the empathy scale of the I7, supporting the notion of hostile attributional bias in adults. The importance of individual differences in the strength of the behavioural inhibition system (BIS) and behavioural activation system (BAS) were explored using the BIS/BAS scales developed by Carver and White (1994). Sending negative feedback to the partner was negatively correlated with scores on the BIS. Scores on BAS drive were positively correlated with increases in discontentedness and with sending negative feedback on trials when the tank was lost due to lack of time. These results are discussed in relation to Berkowitz's (1993) model of affective aggres- sion. Aggr. Behav. 24:27-36, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The Significance of Market Transaction Costs, Technical Efficiency and Risk in Agriculture: An Empirical Analysis for Tatarstan Republic

The paper investigates the significance of risk, external and internal transaction costs in the agriculture of the Tatarstan Republic. The analysis is conducted for two categories of organ-isational forms, independent farms and members of agroholdings. Although average prices do not differ among organisational forms, the results indicate that external transaction costs are more pronounced in independent farms, whereas agroholding membership entails higher in-ternal transaction costs, thereby making agroholdings more vulnerable to inefficiency than independent farms. In addition, the estimation suggests that this higher inefficiency results from the more enhanced risk management in agroholding members. Since this strategy leads to a more intensive factor use, members of business groups are able to allocate inputs so as to increase production at the same time.
Students' Choice of a Business Major and Career: A Qualitative Case Study of Motivation to Study Finance and Banking

Little is known about how or why Cambodian university students choose a major and a future career. The decision regarding a major is important for a student’s life and future career. The Cambodian labour market has a shortage of graduates in science, technology, engineering, maths and agriculture and a predicted oversupply of business graduates. In recognition of the mismatch between the supply of business graduates and the demands of the labour market, the current study was designed to explore why and how Cambodian students choose a business major and a future career. This qualitative study employed a multiple case study design. The study utilized semistructured interviews to collect data from five male and five female students enrolled in finance and banking majors, who volunteered to participate in the research. Data analysis was mainly inductive with consideration given to the expectancy-value theory (Eccles, 2009) using a within-case and cross-case analysis within a thematic approach. The findings were that value beliefs were important in students’ choice of a major. Students chose a finance and banking major because they believed that this major would have good employment prospects and lead to a worthwhile career. Other reasons included the interest value related to the subject and to a career, their beliefs in their ability to earn a business degree, and usefulness to the long-term plans of business ownership. In some cases, students chose the business major over a preferred major for diverse reasons including: not wanting to move away from family; a family’s desire to provide security for female offspring; the prohibitive costs of the preferred major; and doubts about their ability to succeed in the preferred major. The extended family was influential in decisions around choice of major and career. Participants listened to the advice of older siblings. The financial support of parents was also pivotal. Farmers did not want their children to work in agriculture and saw business as offering a better life.
ACTIVE OROGENY OF THE SOUTH-CENTRAL ANDES STUDIED WITH GPS GEODESY

We present GPS measurements of the crustal velocity field in the southern Central Andes between the Santa Cruz corner and the Malargue fold and thrust belt, and model this interseismic velocity field as the combination of an ephemeral, elastic signal associated with locking of the main plate boundary, and a steady and non-reversing component of displacement associated with localized backarc convergence and growth of the mountain belt. We find that this second component, i.e. the ongoing and permanent displacement of the forearc and the high Andes relative to the craton, can be modeled very well as a steady clockwise rotation of an Andean microplate about a pole located in southern Argentina. Near the Malargue Basin, this microplate (or block) is moving nearly parallel to the strike of the orogen, transporting material towards the bend in the central Andes. Farther north, in the southern limb of the Central Andes, the motion of this same crustal block is directed nearly perpendicular to the strike of the mountain belt. Our results suggest that permanent deformation rates in the backarc range from a maximum of ~ 6-7 mm/yr in the Bolivian Subandes to less than ~ 3 mm/yr in the Argentine Precordillera and Malargue fold and thrust belt. It is likely that most active backarc deformation is accruing in a narrow zone (~ 50 km wide) associated with the backarc boundary (usually defined as the thrust front) though at this stage it is impossible to distinguish whether specific backarc structures are actively accruing strain.
Etiological diagnosis of undervirilized male/XY disorder of sex development.

OBJECTIVE To do clinical, hormonal and chromosomal analysis in undervirilized male / XY disorder of sex development and to make presumptive etiological diagnosis according to the new Disorder of Sex Development (DSD) classification system. STUDY DESIGN Case series. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Endocrine Unit at National Institute of Child Health, Karachi, Pakistan, from January 2007 to December 2012. METHODOLOGY Patients of suspected XY DSD / undervirilized male visiting endocrine clinic were enrolled in the study. Criteria suggested XY DSD include overt genital ambiguity, apparent female/male genitalia with inguinal/labial mass, apparent male genitalia with unilateral or bilateral non-palpable testes, micropenis and isolated hypospadias or with undescended testis. The older children who had delayed puberty were also evaluated with respect to DSD. As a part of evaluation of XY DSD, abdominopelvic ultrasound, karyotype, hormone measurement (testosterone, FSH, LH), FISH analysis with SRY probing, genitogram, laparoscopy, gonadal biopsy and HCG stimulation test were performed. Frequencies and percentages applied on categorical data whereas mean, median, standard deviation were calculated for continuous data. RESULTS A total of 187 patients met the criteria of XY DSD. Age ranged from 1 month to 15 years, 55 (29.4%) presented in infancy, 104 (55.6%) between 1 and 10 years and 28 (15%) older than 10 years. Twenty five (13.4%) were raised as female and 162 as (86.6%) male. The main complaints were ambiguous genitalia, unilateral cryptorchidism, bilateral cryptorchidism, micropenis, delayed puberty, hypospadias, female like genitalia with gonads, inguinal mass. The karyotype was 46 XY in 183 (97.9%), 46 XX in 2 (1.1%), 47 XXY in 1 (0.5%), 45 X/46 XY in 1 (0.5%) patient. HCG stimulation test showed low testosterone response in 43 (23 %), high testosterone response in 62 (33.2%), partial testosterone response in 32 (17.1%) and normal testosterone response in 50 (26.7%). Genitogram was carried out in 86 (45.98%) patients. Presumptive etiological diagnosis of androgen sensitivity syndrome/ 5-alpha reductase deficiency, testicular biosynthetic defect/ leydig cell hypoplasia, partial gonadal dysgenesis, ovotesticular DSD, XX testicular DSD, mixed gonadal dysgenesis, testicular vanishing syndrome, klinefelter syndrome, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, isolated hypospadias and isolated micropenis was made. CONCLUSION Clinical, chromosomal and hormonal assessment may help in making the presumptive etiological diagnosis. Further molecular genetics analysis are needed in differentiating these abnormalities and to make a final diagnosis.
Angelman syndrome.

In 1965, Harry Angelman, a general paediatrician from Warrington, Cheshire, England, reported three children with a similar pattern of mental retardation, seizures, ataxia, easily provoked laughter, absent speech, and dysmorphic facial features. ' He called them 'puppet children'. In subsequent reports by other authors, this name was altered to 'happy puppet syndrome'2 and this term continued in popular use for many years. It is, however, considered derogatory by the majority of parents and many professionals and the name 'Angelman syndrome' (AS) is now the preferred one. In the first 20 years after its description, Angelman syndrome was reported only rarely. Over the last five years, however, the phenotype has been more widely reported owing to both increasing interest in the cytogenetic3 and molecular genetic4 abnormalities on chromosome 15 and to the report by Boyd et al5 of the characteristic EEG findings in this condition. This has led to an increase in the number of Angelman patients diagnosed and to diagnosis at a younger age. The incidence of Angelman syndrome is estimated to be around 1 in 20 000.
Shelf Registrations and Offerings: Intra-Industry Effects

This study examines the intra-industry transfer of information inferred from the announcements of shelf registrations and offerings. The results show that intra-industry effects exist. Specifically, the announcement of a shelf registration conveys new information that has shareholder wealth implications to investors about rival firms. The major determinant of the rival firms’ response is the market condition. The stock price of rival firms is significantly positively affected during a bull market and significantly negatively impacted when the market is bearish. In contrast, we find that a shelf offering is a firm specific event.
Cre‐dependent DREADD (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs) mice

DREADDs, designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs, are engineered G protein‐coupled receptors (GPCR) which can precisely control GPCR signaling pathways (for example, Gq, Gs, and Gi). This chemogenetic technology for control of GPCR signaling has been successfully applied in a variety of in vivo studies, including in mice, to remotely control GPCR signaling, for example, in neurons, glia cells, pancreatic β‐cells, or cancer cells. In order to fully explore the in vivo applications of the DREADD technology, we generated hM3Dq and hM4Di strains of mice which allow for Cre recombinase‐mediated restricted expression of these pathway‐selective DREADDs. With the many Cre driver lines now available, these DREADD lines will be applicable to studying a wide array of research and preclinical questions. genesis 54:439–446, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Range-resolving shallow water acoustic tomography by ensemble Kalman filtering

In the context of the recent Maritime Rapid Environmental Assessment sea trial (MREA/BP'07), this paper presents a range-resolving tomography method based on the ensemble Kalman filtering (EnKF) of full-field acoustic measurements on a vertical array. The measurements are assimilated in a Gauss-Markov model of the sound-speed field time variations with known statistics. The reformulation of the inverse problem in an ocean data assimilation framework enables the sequential tracking of time- and space-varying environmental parameters. The tracking scheme is here applied to a realistic simulation of a vertical slice in a shallow water environment. Sea-surface sound-speed measurements are augmented to the measurement vector to constrain the range-dependent structure. Known bottom and subbottom properties are taken into account in the propagation model. When compared to the extended Kalman filter, the EnKF is shown to properly cope with the nonlinearity introduced by the full-field approach.
Thyroglobulin measurement in fine‐needle aspiration biopsy of metastatic lymph nodes after rhTSH stimulation

Thyroglobulin measurement in the washout of the needle used in fine‐needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) has been proposed for the early detection of lymph node metastasis both in patients with or without serum thyroglobulin antibodies; however, up to now, there have been no reports that recombinant human thyrotropin (rhTSH) stimulation modifies thyroglobulin measurement in lymph node aspirates.
Environmental disclosure in annual reports: A legitimacy theory perspective

In recent years, corporations have increasingly used their annual reports to voluntarily disclose information relating to their social actions, particularly those concerning the natural environment. The conventional accounting framework, with its emphasis on decision-usefulness, has largely proved unsatisfactory in explaining this practice, as have various economic theories. This paper uses a legitimacy theory framework to explain why companies engage in this type of voluntary reporting. This research contributes to the accounting literature by advancing legitimacy theory as a framework for examining environmental reporting and applying this in an effort to understand the environmental disclosure practices of two Canadian pulp and paper companies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper stems from the lead author's doctoral thesis at the University of Port Elizabeth. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the 1998 Annual Meeting of the American Accounting Association. We thank Nola Buhr, William Cenker, three anonymous reviewers, and research forum participants at Windsor University, Canada; Oakland University, USA; California State University—Bakersfield, USA; Gonzaga University, USA; Cleveland State University, USA; University of New Brunswick—Saint John, Canada; and University of Port Elizabeth, South Africa for their comments on earlier drafts.
The applicability of the portfolio balance model of exchange rate determination to the Australian dollar

Two issues represent a substantial and continuing challenge to the central bank of a small open economy. The first relates to the correct identification of the 'mix of domestic and external influences on the exchange rate. Correct identification is a first step toward the formulation of a coherent domestic commercial policy: one which provides desired domestic and external policy outcomes. The second requires a clear understanding of the mechanisms of control; the channels of influence open to the central bank if they are able to meet policy targets. In order to address these two issues, the analysis develops a portfolio balance model of exchange rate determination incorporating the role of central bank foreign exchange market intervention behavior. The portfolio balance model is a short term one, restricted to periods of less than one year where the exchange rate is viewed as an asset price influenced by changes in the demand and supply of domestic money, domestic and foreign currency denominated financial assets. Incorporation of central bank behaviour into the model expands a private sector driven view of exchange rate determination into one where there is a role for both private and public sector foreign exchange market behaviour. A further issue, which builds on the first mentioned above, is the impact of public sector behaviour on private sector participants in the exchange rate determination process. The relationship between the two sets of participants in the foreign exchange market - public and private - is reflected in the effects of central bank intervention on the decisions made by private sector investors. The risk premium required by for example, foreign investors holding a domestically denominated asset may alter with central bank action in the foreign exchange market The influence of intervention activity is not confined to the relationship between central bank intervention and the foreign exchange risk premium but also to the more fundamental issue of whether there is a risk premium or not.
Blockholders and Leverage: When Debt Leads to Higher Dividends

This paper focuses on dominant owners’ use of leverage to finance their blocks and its relationship to dividend policy. We postulate that the leverage of blockholders leads to higher dividend payouts and lower investments because dividends are needed to service blockholder debt (Debt Service Hypothesis). We use data for France where blockholders have tax incentives to structure their leverage in pyramidal holding companies. We find strong evidence for our hypothesis: dividend payouts increase in proportion to pyramidal debt of dominant owners. We inspect pyramidal entities individually and find that dividends received are explained by debt obligation needs. Companies dominated by levered blockholders invest significantly less. Alternative explanations for payout policy in pyramids, based on investments or cash preferences, cannot explain the dividend pattern.
Family Law Effects on Divorce, Fertility and Child Investment

In order to assess the child welfare impact of policies governing divorced parenting, such as child support orders, child custody and placement regulations, and marital dissolution standards, one must consider their influence not only on the divorce rate but also on spouses' fertility choices and child investments. We develop a model of marriage, fertility and parenting, with the main goal being the investigation of how policies toward divorce influence outcomes for husbands, wives and children. Estimates of preferences and the technology of child development are disciplined by data on parental time inputs, and simulations based on the model explore the effects of changes in custody allocations and child support standards on outcomes for intact and divided families. Simulations indicate that, while a small decrease in the divorce rate may be induced by a significant child support hike, the major effect of child support levels for both intact and divided households is on the distribution of welfare between parents. Simulated divorce, fertility, test scores and parental welfare all increase with a move toward shared physical placement. Finally, the simulations indicate that children's interests are not necessarily best served by minimizing divorced parenting.