Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF “THE BEST AFRICAN BANKS”: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS THROUGH CAMEL RATING

This study analyzed the financial performance of the African banks. Only seven banks were observed among the 30 African best banks as identified by the Global Finance Magazine. These banks have complete and consolidated financial statements for a period of the recent three fiscal years (i.e. 2012 to 2014). It has applied the CAMEL composite and component rating. The study found that the banks are rated as strong and satisfactory when rated in terms of capital adequacy ratio and earnings ability. Conversely, they were rated as less satisfactory, deficient and critically deficient when rated in terms of asset quality, management quality and liquidity. All the banks were aggregately rated as composite 3 (i.e. Fair). Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd. (South Africa) ranked last among the banks under study, but it was selected as the winner best regional bank by the Global Finance Magazine in 2015. The banks are recommended to employ the CAMEL composite and component rating on a periodic basis in order to withstand business fluctuations and vulnerability to outside influences. Similarly, institutions like the Global Finance Magazine are recommended to apply the CAMEL composite and component rating while ranking best banks. Finally, further research is worth pursuing for constructing a complete ratio’s rating scale and weight for all ratios that constitute the composite CAMEL components.
High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels and its relationship with components of polycystic ovary syndrome in Indian adolescent women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

Abstract C-reactive protein (CRP) is a risk marker for type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. In polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), limited data are available on high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels and its relationship with components of PCOS especially in Indian women. The objective was to determine serum hs-CRP concentration in adolescent women with and without PCOS and to assess possible correlations of serum hs-CRP levels with components of PCOS in Indian women. One hundred and sixty women with PCOS and sixty non-PCOS women having normal menstrual cycles were included. Clinical assessment included anthropometry, Ferriman–Gallwey (FG) score and blood pressure (BP) measurement. Laboratory evaluation included estimation of T4, TSH, LH, FSH, total testosterone, prolactin, cortisol, 17OHP, hs-CRP, lipid profile, and insulin, and glucose after 2-h oral glucose tolerance test. Homeostasis Model Assessment Insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) and Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index (QUICKI) and glucose intolerance was calculated. FG score, LH, FSH, total Testosterone, HOMA-IR and QUICKI were significantly different among women with or without PCOS (p < 0.01). Although hs-CRP levels showed a higher trend in women having PCOS, there was no significant difference between the groups (p > 0.05). A significant and positive correlation was found between hs-CRP and body mass index (BMI) (r = 0.308, p < 0.01) among PCOS group. The results in Indian adolescent women suggest that hs-CRP levels may not per se be associated with PCOS, rather can be related to fat mass in this subset of subjects. Chinese abstract C反应蛋白（CRP）是2型糖尿病和心血管疾病的危险因素。 对于多囊卵巢综合征（PCOS），尤其是印度女性，在高敏C反应蛋白（hs-CRP）水平及其与PCOS的各项组分的关系方面，可查到的数据很有限。 本研究的目的是监测患或不患PCOS的青春期女性的血清hs-CRP浓度，评估印度女性的血清hs-CRP浓度与PCOS指标间可能的相关性。 160名PCOS患者和60名有正常月经周期的非PCOS女性参与了本试验。 临床评价包括人体测量，Ferriman–Gallwey（FG）评分和血压（BP）测量。 实验室测定指标包括T4，TSH， LH,，FSH，总睾酮，催乳素，皮质醇，17-OHP，hs-CRP，血脂，胰岛素的测量和2h口服葡萄糖耐量试验。 同时测量稳态模式评估胰岛素抵抗指数（HOMA-IR），定量胰岛素敏感性检测指数（QUICKI）以及葡萄糖耐量。 PCOS患者与正常女性的FG得分，LH,，FSH，HOMA-IR，QUICKI存在显著不同（p<0.01），尽管PCOS患者的hs-CRP水平有增高的趋势，但两组并无显著差别（p>0.05)。 在PCOS组还发现hs-CRP与体重指数（BMI）有显著正相关（r=0.308, p<0.01）。 该结果表明，hs-CRP水平与PCOS也许无关联性，而可能与该课题中的子项目即体重相关。
Allostatic load as a predictor of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the general population: Evidence from the Scottish Health Survey

Allostatic load is a multiple biomarker measure of physiological ‘wear and tear’ that has shown some promise as marker of overall physiological health, but its power as a risk predictor for mortality and morbidity is less well known. This study has used data from the 2003 Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) (nationally representative sample of Scottish population) linked to mortality records to assess how well allostatic load predicts all-cause and cause-specific mortality. From the sample, data from 4,488 men and women were available with mortality status at 5 and 9.5 (rounded to 10) years after sampling in 2003. Cox proportional hazard models estimated the risk of death (all-cause and the five major causes of death in the population) according to allostatic load score. Multiple imputation was used to address missing values in the dataset. Analyses were also adjusted for potential confounders (sex, age and deprivation). There were 258 and 618 deaths over the 5-year and 10-year follow-up period, respectively. In the fully-adjusted model, higher allostatic load (poorer physiological ‘health’) was not associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality after 5 years (HR = 1.07, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.22; p = 0.269), but it was after 10 years (HR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.16; p = 0.026). Allostatic load was not associated with specific causes of death over the same follow-up period. In conclusions, greater physiological wear and tear across multiple physiological systems, as measured by allostatic load, is associated with an increased risk of death, but may not be as useful as a predictor for specific causes of death.
A Contingent Model of Project Organization and Management

There is a presumption in project management research and practice that project management follows a “one size fits all” model. This is manifested in the introduction of many prescriptive models by project management bodies such as the Project Management Institute and the Association of Project Management, to name a few. These generic models steer away from the differences across projects and focus only on the common aspects of projects. However, in many circumstances, the generic nature of such models renders them poorly equipped to deal with the challenges of organizing and managing complex projects. In this paper we present a contingent model that has the potential to deal with environmental variability and constraints. This model is based on two contingent factors: location of work and project complexity. It develops four types of projects based on two contingent dimensions and proposes a few related hypotheses.
Results from a web impact factor crawler

Web impact factors, the proposed web equivalent of impact factors for journals, can be calculated by using search engines. It has been found that the results are problematic because of the variable coverage of search engines as well as their ability to give significantly different results over short periods of time. The fundamental problem is that although some search engines provide a functionality that is capable of being used for impact calculations, this is not their primary task and therefore they do not give guarantees as to performance in this respect. In this paper, a bespoke web crawler designed specifically for the calculation of reliable WIFs is presented. This crawler was used to calculate WIFs for a number of UK universities, and the results of these calculations are discussed. The principal findings were that with certain restrictions, WIFs can be calculated reliably, but do not correlate with accepted research rankings owing to the variety of material hosted on university servers. Changes to the calculations to improve the fit of the results to research rankings are proposed, but there are still inherent problems undermining the reliability of the calculation. These problems still apply if the WIF scores are taken on their own as indicators of the general impact of any area of the Internet, but with care would not apply to online journals.
Methods of Monitoring Training Load and Their Relationships to Changes in Fitness and Performance in Competitive Road Cyclists.

PURPOSE To assess the dose-response relationships between different training-load methods and aerobic fitness and performance in competitive road cyclists. METHODS Training data from 15 well-trained competitive cyclists were collected during a 10-wk (December-March) preseason training period. Before and after the training period, participants underwent a laboratory incremental exercise test with gas-exchange and lactate measures and a performance assessment using an 8-min time trial (8MT). Internal training load was calculated using Banister TRIMP, Edwards TRIMP, individualized TRIMP (iTRIMP), Lucia TRIMP (luTRIMP), and session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE). External load was measured using Training Stress Score (TSS). RESULTS Large to very large relationships (r = .54-.81) between training load and changes in submaximal fitness variables (power at 2 and 4 mmol/L) were observed for all training-load calculation methods. The strongest relationships with changes in aerobic fitness variables were observed for iTRIMP (r = .81 [95% CI .51-.93, r = .77 [95% CI .43-.92]) and TSS (r = .75 [95% CI .31-.93], r = .79 [95% CI .40-.94]). The strongest dose-response relationships with changes in the 8MT test were observed for iTRIMP (r = .63 [95% CI .17-.86]) and luTRIMP (r = .70 [95% CI .29-.89). CONCLUSIONS Training-load quantification methods that integrate individual physiological characteristics have the strongest dose-response relationships, suggesting this to be an essential factor in the quantification of training load in cycling.
Bootstrapped synthetic likelihood

The development of approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) and synthetic likelihood (SL) techniques has enabled the use of Bayesian inference for models that may be simulated, but for which the likelihood is not available to evaluate pointwise at values of an unknown parameter $\theta$. The main idea in ABC and SL is to, for different values of $\theta$ (usually chosen using a Monte Carlo algorithm), build estimates of the likelihood based on simulations from the model conditional on $\theta$. The quality of these estimates determines the efficiency of an ABC/SL algorithm. In standard ABC/SL, the only means to improve an estimated likelihood at $\theta$ is to simulate more times from the model conditional on $\theta$, which is infeasible in cases where the simulator is computationally expensive. In this paper we describe how to use bootstrapping as a means for improving synthetic likelihood estimates whilst using fewer simulations from the model, and also investigate its use in ABC. Further, we investigate the use of the bag of little bootstraps as a means for applying this approach to large datasets, yielding to Monte Carlo algorithms that accurately approximate posterior distributions whilst only simulating subsamples of the full data. Examples of the approach applied to i.i. d. , temporal and spatial data are given.
Predictive value of transcranial sonography in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease

Transcanial sonography (TCS) is increasingly applied in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD), but investigator bias may influence the results of examination. Blinding the sonographer to the clinical diagnosis of 42 PD patients and 35 controls, we obtained a positive predictive value of 85.7% and a negative predictive value of 82.9% in the diagnosis of PD solely by interpreting the results of TCS, indicating that TCS is a valuable additional tool in the diagnosis of PD. © 2006 Movement Disorder Society
Mystical techniques, mental processes, and states of consciousness in Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah: A reassessment

This article reevaluates the mystical techniques and experiences peculiar to Abraham Abulafia’s Kabbalah and attempts to offer an alternative approach to their dominant understanding, which largely depends on Moshe Idel’s work. Current scholars of Jewish mysticism have a habit of highlighting the “unique character” of Abulafia’s mystical practices while asserting that they cannot be compared with the induction techniques and the psychophysical phenomena typical of hypnosis. While generally agreeing with the scholars discussed that the hyperactivation of the mind found in Abulafian Kabbalah contrasts sharply with the mental relaxation attained through the mystical practices of other religious traditions, the present study takes issue with the current view of Abulafian Kabbalah’s relation to hypnotic procedures, processes, and states. This work addresses the issues present with the current view and offers a more inclusive model for interpreting Abulafia’s Kabbalah, drawing from psychiatrist Roland Fischer.
Multi-agent rotating consensus using only local position information in three-dimensional space

In this paper, we study distributed rotating consensus in networks of second-order agents using only local position information in three-dimensional (3-D) space. We propose a protocol to make the multi-agent system to finally move together around a common point and present corresponding conditions for rotating consensus of the system. Finally, a numerical example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.
Estimation of blood loss during Caesarean section: an audit.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the blood ordering practice and blood transfusion for Caesarean sections at our institution and to compare the estimated blood loss between anaesthetists and obstetricians. METHODS A review of 126 patients undergoing both elective and emergency Caesarean section was undertaken in 2002. Information collected included the number of blood units cross-matched preoperatively, type of surgery (emergency or elective), type of anaesthesia, parity of the patient, estimated blood loss by both anaesthetists and obstetricians, intraoperative and postoperative transfusion within 48 hours and pre and post operative haemoglobin (Hb) and haemocrit (Hct). RESULTS A total of 215 units were cross-matched for 126 patients undergoing Caesarean section delivery. A small amount (9.5%) were transfused intraoperatively and 5.5% postoperatively. The average blood loss estimated by anaesthetists was 498 +/- 176 ml and that by obstetricians was 592 +/- 222 ml. The calculated blood loss based on patients blood volume and drop in Hct was 787 +/- 519 ml. The cross-match transfusion ratio was 9.7. CONCLUSION Only 13% of our patients needed blood transfusion. The mean blood loss was estimated to be more by the obstetricians as compared to the anaesthetists. We recommend that the practice of routine cross-match practice prior to Caesarean section should be re-looked by institutions practicing obstetric anaesthesia.
Complementary or controversial care? The opinions of professionals on complementary and alternative interventions for Autistic Spectrum Disorder

The use of complementary and alternative interventions is growing and gaining popularity, both in the UK and internationally, with significant financial and emotional implications. Complementary and alternative interventions are often utilised by parents of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and research has investigated parental beliefs. There is, however, limited understanding regarding what professionals believe about the use of alternative treatments. In this paper we explore the opinions of a range of different professionals about alternative treatments and found that while some have an open-minded opinion, there was a tendency to hold beliefs that these treatments are ineffective, that they give false hope and have potential to harm the child. We discuss the implications for this in terms of the importance of an open dialogue between professionals and families and consider the importance of this in relation to the popularity of these interventions.
A PASSIVE CONDITION FOR RAPID ADAPTATION TO DISPLACED VISUAL DIRECTION.

The work to be reported is part of a series of studies devoted to the discovery of examples of perceptual learning rapid enough to make detailed investigation possible. It deals with the adaptation to a displaced visual direction caused by a wedge-prism fixed in front of the eye. With one of its faces in the frontal-parallel plane and with its edge vertical, such a prism displaces the visual field laterally, toward the side of the prism's edge, and thus alters the direction in which objects are seen. With Os wearing a 20-diopter prism in front of each eye, Held and Bossom obtained such an adaptation in 1 hr. with 10 out of 15 Os; the mean adaptation for the 10 Os amounted to 17% of the prismatic displacement of the visual field.1 The same authors obtained complete adaptation with 8 Os by having them wear these prisms for several longer periods, distributed over 2, 3, or 4 days and totaling from 11-21 hr. Our attempt to obtain reliable and rapid adaptation to displaced visual direction under controlled conditions is based on a scheme which had
Iron Deficiency as a Risk Factor for Simple Febrile Seizures

Objectives: To determine the association between iron status and febrile seizure. Patients and Methods: This case-control study was conducted among 120 children of age group 6 months to 3 years and hospitalized for the first episode of Febrile Seizures (FS). The case group was compared to a group of 80 ageand sexmatched controls admitted with the same diagnosis of infection but without seizure. The control and case groups were matched based on family history of FS, age, sex and temperature. Venous blood samples were examined for erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), serum iron, serum ferritin, total iron-binding capacity and complete blood count (CBC). The CBC included measurements of red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), WBC, and platelets. Results: Non significant differences between the cases and the control group in terms of age, temperature, sex, ESR, WBC, RBC, MCV, MCHC and platelets. The mean Hb, HCT, serum ferritin, serum iron, and MCH were significantly low in children with first febrile seizures as compared to controls. Conclusions: Low levels of serum ferritin and iron might play a role in the pathogenesis of simple febrile seizure.
Adenovirus Late-Phase Infection Is Controlled by a Novel L4 Promoter

ABSTRACT During human adenovirus 5 infection, a temporal cascade of gene expression leads ultimately to the production of large amounts of the proteins needed to construct progeny virions. However, the mechanism for the activation of the major late gene that encodes these viral structural proteins has not been well understood. We show here that two key positive regulators of the major late gene, L4-22K and L4-33K, previously thought to be expressed under the control of the major late promoter itself, initially are expressed from a novel promoter that is embedded within the major late gene and dedicated to their expression. This L4 promoter is required for late gene expression and is activated by a combination of viral protein activators produced during the infection, including E1A, E4 Orf3, and the intermediate-phase protein IVa2, and also by viral genome replication. This new understanding redraws the long-established view of how adenoviral gene expression patterns are controlled and offers new ways to manipulate that gene expression cascade for adenovirus vector applications.
Title Prevalence and risk factors of human papillomavirus ( hpv ) infection in southern chinese women-a population-based study

Background: Persistent high-risk type Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is recognized as a necessary cause of cervical cancer. This study aimed to compare the HPV prevalence and risk factors between women residing in Hong Kong (HK) and Guangzhou (GZ) region of China. Methodology/Principal Findings: A total of 1,570 and 1,369 women were recruited from HK and GZ, respectively. The cytology samples were collected and tested for HPV infection. The overall and type-specific HPV prevalence and the potential risk factors for acquisition of HPV infection were studied. Women with normal cytology in the GZ cohort had significantly higher HPV prevalence (10%) than those in the HK cohort (6.2%, p,0.001). The patterns of the age-specific HPV prevalence were also different between the two cohorts. In the HK cohort, women at the age of 20–29 years old had the highest prevalence and a second peak was observed in the age of $60 years old. In the GZ cohort, the highest HPV prevalence was also observed in 20–29 years old but declined as the age increased and a second peak was not seen. HPV16 and HPV52 were the most common high-risk types found in the HK and GZ cohorts, respectively. Age was the most consistently observed independent risk factor for HPV infection in the HK, while the number of sexual partners had association in the GZ cohort. Conclusions/Significance: Our study provides the current status and the epidemiological characteristics of HPV prevalence in Southern Chinese women. The results strongly suggested that population education and the effective cervical cancer screening would be vital in the prevention of cervical cancer. Citation: Liu SS, Chan KYK, Leung RCY, Chan KKL, Tam KF, et al. (2011) Prevalence and Risk Factors of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infection in Southern Chinese Women – A Population-Based Study. PLoS ONE 6(5): e19244. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0019244 Editor: Torbjorn Ramqvist, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden Received November 9, 2010; Accepted March 29, 2011; Published May 3, 2011 Copyright: 2011 Liu et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This study was supported by a grant from Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Disease Grant, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (RFCID: 05050052). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: hysngan@hkusua.hku. hk (HYSN); lin-zhongqiu@163.com (ZQL)
Can lifestyle modification slow progression of Parkinson disease?

Parkinson disease (PD), similar to other neurodegenerative conditions, is characterized by relentless clinical progression with gradual worsening of both motor and nonmotor features. Potential neuroprotective therapies focusing on aspects of neurodegeneration in PD such as impaired mitochondrial function with abnormalities of oxidative phosphorylation, increased oxidative stress, and suppressed neuroinflammation, have failed to alter the clinical course of PD.1,2 New insights into PD pathophysiology have identified potential molecular targets, including accumulation and potential prion-like spreading of aggregates containing misfolded α-synuclein protein.3 These therapies are only approaching clinical testing, and their true therapeutic potential remains unknown. Even if successful, they are many years away from clinical availability. Thus, at present, we do not have any proven pharmacologic options to modify the progressive decline of patients with PD.
Building and Road Extraction on Urban VHR Images using SVM Combinations and Mean Shift Segmentation

A method is proposed for building and road detection on very high spatial resolution multispectral aerial image of dense urban areas. First, objects are extracted with a segmentation algorithm in order to use both spectral and spatial information. Second, a spectral-spatial object-level pattern is formed, and then classification is performed using a 3-class SVM classifier, followed by a post-processing using contextual information to handle conflicts. However, in the particular case where many building roofs are grey like the roads and have similar geometry, classification accuracy is inevitably limited. In order to overcome this limitation, different classifiers are combined and different patterns used, improving the accuracy of 10%.