Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparison of Swedish and Vietnamese dividend policies : -During 2005 to 2012

The dividend payout policy is a very debated topic, in this thesis the differences between Sweden and Vietnam will be examined. By examine two different countries with more or less the same landmass, but regarding economic, culture and politics they differ highly. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were a difference between the countries in dividend payout ratios, to see if the countries payout a high or a low dividend during the years 2005 to 2012. The second purpose was to examine if there was a significant differences in the movements in the markets. The third purpose was to examine how the two countries acted during the financial crisis, if the dividend payout ratio changed. This may tell how the policies in the two countries differ and how long term or short term the firms within the countries were planning and which kind of investors they are attracting. The data being used is collected historical data from firms with in each of the countries.The thesis follows a quantitative research method based on a deductive and an inductive approach. The research design is comparative for examination of two the countries data samples and for the purposes descriptive and explanatory studies have been done. In order to determine whether there is a relationship between the countries dividend payout ratio, the normality of the data sample have been examined, showing that the data were not normal distributed. Therefor the data were examined with a Mann- Whitney test and by a Kruskal- Wallis test. The result indicates that there is a difference between the countries in dividend payout ratios in the case of Vietnam and Sweden under the years 2005 to 2012. Comparing countries together between the years to determine possible differences, the dividend payout ratio was insignificant in 2005 to 2008, but significant in the years 2009 to 2012. The examination of Vietnam and Sweden separately with years as factors the dividend payouts in Vietnam showed a significant difference but an insignificant result in Sweden during the year 2005 to 2008. Further, the results showed that there is a difference between the years in Sweden between 2009 to 2012 but no differences in Vietnam under the same years.
Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c): old dogmas, a new perspective?

Abstract The hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) assay provides a reliable measure of chronic glycemia and correlates well with the risk of long-term diabetes complications, so that it is currently considered the test of choice for monitoring and chronic management of diabetes. Recently, HbA1c testing has been included within the diagnostic criteria recommended for diagnosis of diabetes in nonpregnant individuals by the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The emerging concept that HbA1c can be used rather than blood glucose in the diagnosis of diabetes is highly appealing for a variety of reasons, including less sensitivity to preanalytical variables, lower within subject biological variablity, little to null interference from diurnal variations, acute stress and common drugs which are known to influence glucose metabolism, as well as the fact that one single measurement might provide information for both diagnosing diabetes and tracking glycemic control. On the other hand, the use of HbA1c for screening and diagnosing diabetes also carries some limitations, including the worse diagnostic performance in different populations (i.e., pregnancy, elderly and non-Hispanic blacks), the risk of overdiagnosis in subjects with iron deficiency anemia, in subjects genetically predisposed to hyperglycation, and in those with increased red blood cell turnover. There is also a higher risk of misdiagnosis in patients with end-stage renal disease and heavy alcohol consumption. Finally, HbA1c testing might be biased due to the interference from several hemoglobin variants, is characterized by a higher imprecision than blood glucose measurement, and is more expensive. This paper will critically summarize the potential advantages and limitations of HbA1c as a recommended test for diagnosing diabetes. Clin Chem Lab Med 2010;48:609–14.
Charts for weight loss to detect hypernatremic dehydration and prevent formula supplementing.

BACKGROUND Most breast-fed newborns get the milk they need. However, very rarely milk intake is insufficient mostly as a result of poor breastfeeding techniques. Dramatic weight loss and hypernatremic dehydration may occur. Our aim was to construct charts for weight loss. METHODS A case-control study was performed. Charts with standard deviation score (SDS) lines for weight loss in the first month were constructed for 2,359 healthy breast-fed term newborns and 271 cases with breastfeeding-associated hypernatremic dehydration with serum sodium level > 149 mEq/L. Day 0 was defined as the day of birth. RESULTS Many cases with (or who will develop) hypernatremic dehydration (84%; +1 SDS line) fell below the -1 SDS line at day 3, the -2 SDS line at day 4, and the -2.5 SDS line at day 5 in the chart of the healthy breast-fed newborns. Weight loss of cases with permanent residual symptoms was far below the -2.5 SDS. CONCLUSIONS Already at an early age, weight loss differs between healthy breast-fed newborns and those with hypernatremic dehydration. Charts for weight loss are, therefore, useful tools to detect early, or prevent newborns from developing, breastfeeding-associated hypernatremic dehydration, and also to prevent unnecessary formula supplementing.
Tightly bound soil water introduces isotopic memory effects on mobile and extractable soil water pools

ABSTRACT Cryogenic vacuum extraction is the well-established method of extracting water from soil for isotopic analyses of waters moving through the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum. We investigate if soils can alter the isotopic composition of water through isotope memory effects, and determined which mechanisms are responsible for it. Soils with differing physicochemical properties were re-wetted with reference water and subsequently extracted by cryogenic water distillation. Results suggest some reference waters bind tightly to the soil and not all of this tightly bound water is removed during cryogenic vacuum extraction. Kinetic isotopic fractionation occurring when reference water binds to the soil is likely responsible for the 18O-depletion of re-extracted reference water, suggesting an enrichment of the tightly bound soil water pool. Further re-wetting of cryogenically extracted soils indicates an isotopic memory effect of tightly bound soil water on water added to the soil. The data suggest tightly bound soil water can influence the isotopic composition of mobile soil water. Findings show that soils influence the isotope composition of soil water by (i) kinetic fractionation when water is bound to the soil and (ii) equilibrium fractionation between different soil water pools. These findings could be relevant for plant water uptake investigations and complicate ecohydrological and paleohydrological studies.
A Postnatal Diet Containing Phospholipids, Processed to Yield Large, Phospholipid-Coated Lipid Droplets, Affects Specific Cognitive Behaviors in Healthy Male Mice.

BACKGROUND Infant cognitive development can be positively influenced by breastfeeding rather than formula feeding. The composition of breast milk, especially lipid quality, and the duration of breastfeeding have been linked to this effect. OBJECTIVE We investigated whether the physical properties and composition of lipid droplets in milk may contribute to cognitive development. METHODS From postnatal day (P) 16 to P44, healthy male C57BL/6JOlaHsd mice were fed either a control or a concept rodent diet, in which the dietary lipid droplets were large and coated with milk phospholipids, resembling more closely the physical properties and composition of breast milk lipids. Thereafter, all mice were fed an AIN-93M semisynthetic rodent diet. The mice were subjected to various cognitive tests during adolescence (P35-P44) and adulthood (P70-P101). On P102, mice were killed and brain phospholipids were analyzed. RESULTS The concept diet improved performance in short-term memory tasks that rely on novelty exploration during adolescence (T-maze; spontaneous alternation 87% in concept-fed mice compared with 74% in mice fed control diet; P < 0.05) and adulthood (novel object recognition; preference index 0.48 in concept-fed mice compared with 0.05 in control-fed mice; P < 0.05). Cognitive performance in long-term memory tasks, however, was unaffected by diet. Brain phospholipid composition at P102 was not different between diet groups. CONCLUSIONS Exposure to a diet with lipids mimicking more closely the structure and composition of lipids in breast milk improved specific cognitive behaviors in mice. These data suggest that lipid structure should be considered as a relevant target to improve dietary lipid quality in infant milk formulas.
Direct observation of ultrafast collective motions in CO myoglobin upon ligand dissociation

Observing ultrafast myoglobin dynamics The oxygen-storage protein myoglobin was the first to have its three-dimensional structure determined and remains a workhorse for understanding how protein structure relates to function. Barends et al. used x-ray free-electron lasers with femtosecond short pulses to directly observe motions that occur within half a picosecond of CO dissociation (see the Perspective by Neutze). Combining the experiments with simulations shows that ultrafast motions of the heme couple to subpicosecond protein motions, which in turn couple to large-scale motions. Science, this issue p. 445, see also p. 381 Time-resolved crystallography at an x-ray laser reveals ultrafast structural changes in myoglobin upon ligand dissociation. [Also see Perspective by Neutze] The hemoprotein myoglobin is a model system for the study of protein dynamics. We used time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography at an x-ray free-electron laser to resolve the ultrafast structural changes in the carbonmonoxy myoglobin complex upon photolysis of the Fe-CO bond. Structural changes appear throughout the protein within 500 femtoseconds, with the C, F, and H helices moving away from the heme cofactor and the E and A helices moving toward it. These collective movements are predicted by hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics simulations. Together with the observed oscillations of residues contacting the heme, our calculations support the prediction that an immediate collective response of the protein occurs upon ligand dissociation, as a result of heme vibrational modes coupling to global modes of the protein.
Effects of ovarian structures identified at Ovsynch™ enrolment, disease history and lactation variables on odds of pregnancy to a fixed‐time artificial insemination after Ovsynch™

OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of ovarian structures present at Ovsynch™ enrolment, disease history, lactation variables and times bred on pregnancy per fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI) following fixed-time insemination after Ovsynch and to determine the relationship between the size of ovarian follicular structures and concurrent presence of a corpus luteum (CL). METHODS The study was conducted in a 3000-cow Holstein dairy herd. Over a 6-month period, 886 non-pregnant cows were examined by transrectal ultrasound and enrolled into 1132 Ovsynch events. Enrolled cows were synchronised using an Ovsynch-56 protocol. At enrolment, both ovaries were scanned by transrectal ultrasound to identify and record the presence and size of ovarian structures. Cows that did not return to oestrus were pregnancy tested 32-38 days post-insemination. Univariable and multivariable generalised linear mixed models (GLMMs) were used to determine the effect of each variable on pregnancy per FTAI. A univariable GLMM was also used to analyse the relationship between size of the dominant follicular structure and concurrent presence of a CL. RESULTS CL size (P = 0.039) and presence of a luteal cyst (P = 0.002) at Ovsynch enrolment significantly increased the odds of pregnancy. Occurrence of lameness (P = 0.035) or mastitis (P = 0.008) between calving and enrolment significantly decreased the odds of pregnancy. Neither the presence nor size of a follicular structure significantly affected the odds of pregnancy, although cows with larger follicular structures were less likely to have a concurrent CL (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Presence of luteal tissue at Ovsynch enrolment and recent disease events affected pregnancy per FTAI in cows inseminated after Ovsynch.
Analog and RF analysis of gate all around silicon nanowire MOSFETs

Gate all around (GAA) nanowire MOSFETs with gate length of 130 nm were fabricated on SOI wafers. The analog performance was analyzed in terms of transconductance, output conductance, voltage gain, Early voltage and transconductance efficiency. The RF characterization showed relatively low cutoff frequency and maximum oscillation frequency. Small-signal parameters are extracted using cold FET method combined with an optimization procedure called Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) method. It proves that large parasitic capacitance and high RF output conductance are the main reasons for the degraded RF performance.
Nutrition and Alcoholic Liver Disease

Malnutrition is a common finding in chronic alcoholics, and protein calorie malnutrition (PCM) is universal and predictive of survival in patients with established alcoholic liver disease (ALD). These patients also demonstrate frequent deficiencies of folate, thiamine, pyridoxine, and vitamin A, which enhance the likelihood of anemia, altered cognitive states, and night blindness. The etiologies of malnutrition in ALD patients are multiple and interactive and include anorexia with inadequate dietary intake, abnormal digestion of macronutrients and absorption of several micronutrients, increased skeletal and visceral protein catabolism, and abnormal interactions of ethanol and lipid metabolism. Numerous, and mostly inadequately controlled, studies have evaluated the potential efficacies of oral, enteral, and parenteral nutrition approaches to treatment of ALD, with mixed results on liver function, clinical improvements, and short- or long-term survival. Targeted metabolic treatments include supplementation with S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) or phosphatidylcholine derivatives, each with promising experimental bases but inconclusive clinical trials.
Inactivation of Macrophage Rab7 by Burkholderia cenocepacia

Strains of the Burkholderia cepacia complex can survive within macrophages by arresting the maturation of phagocytic vacuoles. The bacteria preclude fusion of the phagosome with lysosomes by a process that is poorly understood. Using murine macrophages, we investigated the stage at which maturation is arrested and analyzed the underlying mechanism. Vacuoles containing B. cenocepacia strain J2315, an isolate of the transmissible ET12 clone, recruited Rab5 and synthesized phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate, indicating progression to the early phagosomal stage. Despite the fact that the B. cenocepacia-containing vacuoles rarely fused with lysosomes, they could nevertheless acquire the late phagosomal markers CD63 and Rab7. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching and use of a probe that detects Rab7-guanosine triphosphate indicated that activation of Rab7 was impaired by B. cenocepacia, accounting at least in part for the inability of the vacuole to merge with lysosomes. The Rab7 defect was not due to excessive cholesterol accumulation and was confined to the infected vacuoles. Jointly, these experiments indicate that B. cenocepacia express virulence factors capable of interfering with Rab7 function and thereby with membrane traffic.
Health needs of Hong Kong Chinese pregnant adolescents.

BACKGROUND The outcomes of adolescent pregnancy have been associated with health risks such as obstetric complications and depression, and educational risks such as school dropout and reduced employment opportunities. These outcomes arise from a range of needs including perceived health needs, which are the focus of this paper. AIM This paper reports a study to identify the perceived needs of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents following confirmation of an unintended pregnancy. METHODS An exploratory qualitative approach was used with a purposive sample of 10 Hong Kong Chinese pregnant adolescents. The study was undertaken during their stay in a non-government organization maternal shelter. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore adolescents' perceptions of their psychological, social and health needs and the extent to which each of these needs was met. FINDINGS Six major categories were identified within the context of need, of which three were related to health needs: acceptance of the pregnancy; psychological reactions to the pregnancy; and use of contraception and health advice. CONCLUSIONS The findings contribute to an understanding of the perceived health needs of Chinese adolescents, in particular those that are culturally determined. Implications for nursing practice indicate the significance of comprehensive health assessments and health promotion strategies to help adolescents increase their knowledge about sexual health and contraception.
Distributed link scheduling with constant overhead

This paper proposes a new class of simple, distributed algorithms for scheduling in multihop wireless networks under the primary interference model. The class is parameterized by integers k ≥ 1. We show that algorithm kof our class achieves k/(k + 2) of the capacity region, for every k ≥ 1. The algorithms have small and constant worst-case overheads. In particular, algorithm k generates a new schedule using a) time less than 4k + 2 round-trip times between neighboring nodes in the network and b) at most three control transmissions by any given node for any k. The control signals are explicitly specified and face the same interference effects as normal data transmissions. Our class of distributed wireless scheduling algorithms are the first ones guaranteed to achieve any fixed fraction of the capacity region while using small and constant overheads that do not scale with network size. The parameter k explicitly captures the tradeoff between control overhead and throughput performance and provides a tuning-knob protocol designers can use to harness this tradeoff in practice.
Social Relationships of Dually Diagnosed Homeless Adults Following Enrollment in Housing First or Traditional Treatment Services

Objective: Strong and effective social support is a critical element of mental health recovery, yet social support is often lacking for adults experiencing homelessness. This study examines differences in the social networks of participants newly enrolled in programs that use either a Housing First (HF) approach (i.e., provides immediate access to permanent housing with ongoing consumer-driven support services) or a treatment first (TF) approach (i.e., traditional clinician-driven staircase model that requires temporary or transitional housing and treatment placements before accessing permanent housing). Method: We use a mixed-methods social network analysis approach to assess group differences of 75 individuals based on program type (HF or TF) and program retention. Results: Quantitative results show that compared with TF, HF participants have a greater proportion of staff members in their network. TF participants are more likely than HF participants to maintain mixed-quality relationships (i.e., relationships with elements of support and conflict). As compared with participants who remain in a program, those who disengage from programs have a greater proportion of mixed relationships and relationships that grow distant. Qualitative analyses suggest that HF participants regard housing as providing a stable foundation from which to reconnect or restore broken relationships. However, HF participants are guarded about close relationships for fear of being exploited due to their newly acquired apartments. TF participants report that they are less inclined to develop new relationships with peers or staff members due to the time-limited nature of the TF programs. Conclusions: These findings suggest that HF participants are not more socially isolated than those in traditional care. Implications for practice, policy and future research are discussed.
Firm R&D units and outsourcing partners: A matching story

We present a theory that examines the optimal match between firm R&D units and external partners for projects that involve problem solving. We have a firm selecting an external partner conditional on the learning costs of its internal R&D unit. We show that there exists a matching equilibrium with property that external partners with low learning costs for a project work with R\&D units that also have low learning costs for the same project. Empirically, we use a dataset of Spanish R\&D firms and relate their share of R&D outsourcing to universities to the composition of their R&D units, described by the presence of staff with a PhD. Our main finding is that, controlling for endogeneity, firms that employ R\&D staff with a PhD outsource relatively more to universities than to firms. We interpret this result as evidence that R&D units with relatively low learning costs for basic projects tend to match with external partners, universities, with relatively low learning costs for the same projects.
A 6T SRAM with a carrier-injection scheme to pinpoint and repair fails that achieves 57% faster read and 31% lower read energy

Decreasing operating margins due to random variations is a key issue for voltage scaling in SRAM technology. It is particularly severe for half-select disturb because both write and read occur at the same row. While a wordline (WL) voltage assist technique [1] does not improve half-select disturbs, a negative bitline (BL) scheme [2] or asymmetric pass gate (PG) transistor with higher VTH during read [3] can be effective for mitigating half-select disturbs. While these techniques can increase operating margins, they cannot specifically target cells to correct for random variations.