Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physical property evaluation of four composite materials.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the physical properties of current formulations of composite resins for polymerization shrinkage, surface hardness, and flexural strength. In addition, a comparison of Knoop and Vickers hardness tests was made to determine if there was a correlation in the precision between the two tests. MATERIALS AND METHODS Four composite resin materials were used: Filtek LS (3M-ESPE), Aelite LS (Bisco), Kalore (GC America), and Empress Direct (Ivoclar). Ten samples of each composite (shade Vita A2) were used. Polymerization shrinkage was measured with the Kaman linometer using 2-mm-thick samples, cured for 40 seconds and measured with digital calipers for sample thickness. Surface microhardness samples were prepared (2-mm thick × 12-mm diameter) and sequentially polished using 600-grit silicone carbide paper, 9 μm and 1 μm diamond polishing solutions. After 24 hours of dry storage, Knoop (200 g load, 15 seconds dwell time) and Vickers (500 g load, 15 seconds dwell time) hardness tests were conducted. Flexural strength test samples (25 × 2 × 2 mm) were stored in 100% relative humidity and analyzed using a three-point bending test with an Instron Universal Testing Machine (Instron 5565, Instron Corp) applied at a crosshead speed of 0.75 ± 0.25 mm/min. Maximum load at fracture was recorded. One-way analysis of variance and Tukey multiple comparison tests were used to determine significant differences in physical properties among materials. RESULTS Filtek LS had significantly lower shrinkage (0.45 [0.39] vol%). Aelite LS demonstrated the greatest Knoop surface hardness (114.55 [8.67] KHN), followed by Filtek LS, Kalore, and Empress Direct (36.59 [1.75] KHN). Vickers surface hardness was significantly greater for Aelite LS (126.88 [6.58] VH), followed by Filtek LS, Kalore, and Empress Direct (44.14 [1.02] VH). Flexural strength (MPa) was significantly higher for Aelite LS and Filtek LS (135.75 [17.35]; 129.42 [9.48]) than for Kalore and Empress Direct (86.84 [9.04]; 92.96 [9.27]). There is a strong correlation between results obtained using Knoop and Vickers hardness tests (r=0.99), although Vickers values were significantly greater for each material. CONCLUSION Results suggest that Aelite LS possesses superior hardness and flexural strength, while Filtek LS has significantly less shrinkage compared with the other composites tested.
Factors affecting the demand for health services in the Philippines

Are the economic factors that affect demand for health care services as significant as the non-economic factors? How responsive is demand for health care services to changes in the price of health care. How does this responsiveness vary across income classes? Utilizing regression analyses, these are the three main questions this paper attempts to address. Some policy implications are also provided.
Three Yugoslav herpes simplex viruses: biologic and antigenic properties and formation of giant cells in vitro by a cervical isolate.

The properties of three herpes simplex viruses isolated in Yugoslavia were studied. The first, a virus isolated from a recurrent herpetic eruption of the thigh, antigenically most closely resembled a laboratory variant and was not typical of human genital isolates. The second was isolated directly from a cervix free of active herpetic infection. It differed from previously isolated type 2 strains in its ability to cause cell fusion and to induce formation of polykaryocytes in tissue culture. In neutralization tests it behaved as a type 2 virus, but it is not identical to isolates from the United States. The third virus, isolated from a recurrent herpetic lesion of the lip of the previous patient, is antigenically a type 1 virus. The possible significance of these findings in providing an explanation for the variability in the biologic properties of herpes simplex viruses was considered.
Novel Frequency-Agile Bandpass Filter With Wide Tuning Range and Spurious Suppression

A new frequency-agile scheme for the loaded stepped-impedance resonator (SIR) is introduced, which can be employed for designing a wideband tunable bandpass filter (BPF). Two identical capacitors are added to the two open ends, and a capacitor is added to the center of the SIR. By properly controlling their respective values, the even-mode resonant frequency (feven) can be bidirectionally tuned, resulting in a wideband tuning range (approximately double those of the traditional tunable resonators). However, in such frequency range, the odd-mode resonant frequency (fodd) functions as a spurious resonance would appear. To overcome this, the feed line is attached to the center of the SIR where it is always short-circuited for fodd and its odd-order harmonics, which cannot be excited accordingly. Thus, the wideband tuning range of the passband (feven) in the proposed BPF is validated to be meaningful, and the selectivity of the passband is improved due to the suppression of odd-mode spurious near the passband. For demonstration, a wideband tunable BPF is designed, and the simulated and measured results are presented, showing good agreement. The results showcase that the tuning range of passband reaches 84.4%, i.e., from 0.77 to 1.42 GHz with insertion loss from 3.1 to 1 dB.
Improving smoking cessation counseling by family practice residents.

BACKGROUND While programs to train residents in smoking cessation counseling skills have been devised, few have assessed trainee behavioral changes in practice settings where residents were blind to the evaluation of their behavior. This study assessed the effectiveness of a training program in smoking cessation counseling and chart-prompting system in increasing the frequency and quality of counseling by residents at three clinic sites. METHODS Twenty-eight residents participated in a training program that included epidemiology, discussion of attitudes, counseling techniques, videotaped examples, and small group role play. The chart-prompting system was implemented at two clinics 1 month after training. Patient exit interviews, during which information on resident counseling on smoking cessation was obtained, were conducted before training, after training, at 3-month follow-up, and at 6-month follow-up. Questionnaires assessing knowledge, attitudes, and self-perceived counseling behaviors were completed by residents at pretraining, posttraining, and 6-month follow-up periods. RESULTS Interviews with 517 smokers were analyzed. Results showed an increase in counseling at 3-month follow-up but a regression toward baseline at 6 months. Counseling improved at clinics where chart prompting was initiated. The number of counseling behaviors decreased when the number of patients seen increased. Whether a patient received counseling was positively associated with prior contact with the physician. There was no correlation between resident self-perception and patient report. CONCLUSIONS A training program in smoking cessation counseling and a chart-prompting system did not result in a lasting change in resident behavior. System factors may play an important role in long-term behavior change.
How firms innovate: exploring the role of language in organizational innovation

While innovation is largely considered an organizational activity, a handful of studies in the organizational literature illustrate that it is individuals who innovate. Despite this, we are still left wondering: What role do individuals play in producing innovation outcomes in organizations? In this dissertation I divided this overarching question into three sub-questions: 1) How do individuals innovate and why do they produce different types of innovation outcomes? ; 2) Why do individuals engage in innovation? ; 3) Why and how are some ideas shared and developed into innovation outcomes, while others are not? To answer these questions I followed an inductive process; analyzing the interview transcripts of 32 individuals from three high-technology organizations, looking for patterns in the data first before I sought explanations for my findings from the literature. I addressed one question in each of the chapters of my dissertation. I repeatedly found that the individuals in my study fell into two distinct and mutually exclusive groups based on the different words and phrases they employed to talk about innovating. Individuals’ language indicated that each group of individuals approached innovating differently, and thus had different ‘innovation orientations’. I found that each group of individuals was motivated to pursue a different set of goals, which led them to engage in different types of innovation practices and produce different types of innovation outcomes. My findings add to the current conceptualization of innovation as I did not find that individuals’ innovation orientations, the goals they pursued, the innovation practices they engaged in or the innovation outcomes they produced were related to the roles individuals played in the organization or to their training. Furthermore, I found that the nature of the organizational innovation outcome was related to the orientation of the idea’s initiator, and to the initiator’s ability to successfully share the idea with others. My findings suggest that aligning individuals’ roles, tasks and job requirements to their innovation orientations may enable organizational leaders to successfully produce the types of innovation they desire and increase the production of innovation outcomes in the organization.
Metadata Clean Sweep: A Digital Library Audit Project

As digital library collections grow in size, metadata issues such as inconsistencies, incompleteness and quality become increasingly difficult to manage over time. Unfortunately, successful user search and discoverability of digital collections relies almost entirely on the accuracy and robustness of metadata. This paper discusses the pilot of an ongoing digital library metadata audit project that was collaboratively launched by library school interns and full-time staff to alleviate poor recall, poor precision and metadata inconsistencies across digital collections currently published in the University of Houston Digital Library. Interns and staff designed a multi-step project that included metadata review of sample items from each collection, systematic revision of previously published metadata and recommendations for future metadata procedures and ongoing metadata audit initiatives. No such metadata audit efforts had been conducted on the UH Digital Library and the project yielded data that provided staff with the opportunity to significantly improve the overall quality and consistency of metadata for collections published over the nearly three year life of the repository. This article also contains lessons learned and suggestions on how a similar metadata audit project could be implemented in other libraries hosting digital collections.
A ROLE FOR CONJOINT ANALYSIS IN TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT IN HEALTH CARE?

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the use of conjoint analysis (CA) in health services research. Conjoint analysis is first explained, with emphasis on the history of the technique, followed by an explanation of how to carry out such a study and how the results from such a study can be used. The technique is demonstrated with reference to a study that looks at the benefits of in vitro fertilization. It is shown how CA can be used to estimate the relative importance of attributes, the trade-offs individuals make between these attributes, willingness to pay if cost is included as an attribute, and utility or benefit scores for different ways of providing a service. The paper then considers the potential advantages of CA over other, more commonly used benefit assessment instruments. Finally, there is discussion of the issues raised in the design and analysis of CA studies. It is concluded that these issues must be addressed before the technique becomes an established instrument for technology assessment.
Novel Cyanobacterial Biosensor for Detection of Herbicides

ABSTRACT The aim of this work was to generate a cyanobacterial biosensor that could be used to detect herbicides and other environmental pollutants. A representative freshwater cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803, was chromosomally marked with the luciferase gene luc (from the firefly Photinus pyralis) to create a novel bioluminescent cyanobacterial strain. Successful expression of the luc gene during growth of Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803 cultures was characterized by measuring optical density and bioluminescence. Bioluminescence was optimized with regard to uptake of the luciferase substrate, luciferin, and the physiology of the cyanobacterium. Bioassays demonstrated that a novel luminescent cyanobacterial biosensor has been developed which responded to a range of compounds including different herbicide types and other toxins. This biosensor is expected to provide new opportunities for the rapid screening of environmental samples or for the investigation of potential environmental damage.
Multiple Roles for the Twin Arginine Leader Sequence of Dimethyl Sulfoxide Reductase of Escherichia coli*

Dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO) reductase of Escherichia coli is a terminal electron transport chain enzyme that is expressed under anaerobic growth conditions and is required for anaerobic growth with Me2SO as the terminal electron acceptor. The trimeric enzyme is composed of a membrane extrinsic catalytic dimer (DmsAB) and a membrane intrinsic anchor (DmsC). The amino terminus of DmsA has a leader sequence with a twin arginine motif that targets DmsAB to the membrane via a novel Sec-independent mechanism termed MTT for membrane targeting and translocation. We demonstrate that the Met-1 present upstream of the twin arginine motif serves as the correct translational start site. The leader is essential for the expression of DmsA, stability of the DmsAB dimer, and membrane targeting of the reductase holoenzyme. Mutation of arginine 17 to aspartate abolished membrane targeting. The reductase was labile in the leader sequence mutants. These mutants failed to support growth on glycerol-Me2SO minimal medium. Replacing the DmsA leader with the TorA leader of trimethylamineN-oxide reductase produced a membrane-bound DmsABC with greatly reduced enzyme activity and inefficient anaerobic respiration indicating that the twin arginine leaders may play specific roles in the assembly of redox enzymes.
Effects of a Partial Lag on the Achievable Performance of the H&#8734;Fixed-Lag Smoothing

The fixed-lag smoothing problem with a partial lag is the problem in which the presence of the smoothing lag is allowed only in a part of estimation channels. This paper studies the effect of a partial smoothing lag on the achievable H∞performance in the continuous-time case. In particular, the limit of the achievable performance is established and the saturation of the achievable performance for a finite smoothing lag is analyzed.
Effects of deletions in the N-terminal basic arm of brome mosaic virus coat protein on RNA packaging and systemic infection

The first 25 amino acids of brome mosaic virus (BMV) coat protein include 8 basic and no acidic residues and are implicated in binding the encapsidated RNA. Using infectious transcripts from BMV RNA3 cDNA clones, we modified this region of the coat gene. A coat protein mutant with the first 25 amino acids deleted failed to direct either packaging of viral RNA in protoplasts or systemic infection of whole barley plants. Neither symptoms, virions, nor viral RNA was detectable in plants inoculated with this mutant or a mutant with a frameshift mutation in the coat gene. Mutants with the normal start codon changed to AAG or with the first eight codons deleted allowed translation to start at a downstream AUG, resulting in a deletion of the first 7 amino acids of the mature wild-type coat protein. These mutants not only packaged viral RNA in protoplasts but directed symptomatic, systemic infections that developed with normal speed and degree of spread within the host. The AUG-to-AAG point substitution did not revert to the wild type after long-term culture in planta. Wild-type BMV virions were also found to contain small amounts of a protein that coelectrophoresed with the truncated coat protein produced by the viable AAG and eight-codon-deletion mutants. This minor coat protein species presumably arose by infrequent translation initiation at the second AUG in the wild-type coat protein gene. Absence of encapsidation-competent coat protein appeared to stimulate production of nonstructural proteins in protoplast infections.
Financial Liberalisation in Nepal

ABSTRACT xii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1 - 8 1.1 Orientation 1 1.2 Objectives of Financial Liberalisation in Nepal 2 1.3 Objectives of the Study 7 1.4 Structure of the Thesis 7 Chapter 2. SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE 9 - 57 2.1 Role of Financial System in Economic Growth 9 2.2 Financial Repression 17 2.3 Financial Liberalisation 24 2.4 Sequencing of Financial Liberalisation Process 43 2.5 Financial Liberalisation and Welfare 47 2.6 Financial Liberalisation and Financial Fragility 51 2.7 Summary and Concluding Remarks 55 Chapter 3. LIBERALISATION PROCESS IN NEPAL 58 - 82 3.1 An Overview of the Nepalese Economy 58 3.2 Nepalese Financial System Before Liberalisation 68 3.3 Financial Liberalisation Measures 75 3.4 Concluding Remarks 81
COTTON IMPROVEMENT Evaluation of Near Infrared Reflectance for Oil Content of Cottonseed

The status of ongoing research to use near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure cottonseed oil content is summarized. A data set of 36 seed samples consisting of a single replication of six entries grown at two locations for 3 yr was used to generate prediction equations for oil content of cottonseed (Gossypium hirsutum L.). The equations were generated with NIRS based on seed-oil contents from continuous wave nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. The results in predicting the remaining four replications in the tests, 144 samples, demonstrate the ability to develop prediction equations capable of identifying differences in seedoil content within specified populations (r 2 = 0.89–0.92). However, these prediction equations were not as successful when tested on the National Cotton Variety Test entries (r 2 = 0.00-0.84). A universal prediction of seed-oil content will require a larger sample base to eliminate spectral variability that might interfere with calibration.
Use of Partial Least Squares as a Theory Testing Tool - an Analysis of Information Systems Papers

Motivated by recent critique toward partial least squares path modeling (PLS), we present a research question if the PLS method, as used currently, is at all an appropriate tool for theory testing. We briefly summarize some of the recent critique of the use of PLS in IS as a theory testing tool. Then we analyze the results of 12 PLS analyzes published in leading IS journals testing if these models would have been rejected in the case that the data used for model testing had very little correspondence with the theorized models. Our Monte Carlo simulation shows that PLS will often provide results that support the tested hypotheses even if the model was not appropriate for the data. We conclude that the current practices of PLS studies have likely resulted in publishing research where the results are likely false and suggest that more attention should be paid on the assumptions of the PLS model or that alternative approached like summed scales and regression or structural equation modeling with estimators that have known statistical properties should be used instead.
The metallogenic evolution of the Greater Antilles

The Greater Antilles host some of the world’s most important deposits of bauxite and lateritic nickel as well as significant resources of gold and silver, copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt and chromium. Beginning in Jurassic time, sedimentary exhalative base metal deposits accumulated in marine sedimentary rift basins as North and South America drifted apart. With the onset of intraoceanic subduction during the Early Cretaceous, a primitive (tholeiitic) island arc formed above a southwesterly-dipping subduction zone. Podiform chromite deposits formed in the mantle portion of the supra-subduction zone, directly above subducted Proto-Caribbean oceanic lithosphere. Within the nascent island arc, bimodal-mafic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits formed in a fore-arc setting; mafic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits formed later in mature back-arc basins. The Pueblo Viejo gold district, with five million ounces in production and twenty million ounces in mineable reserves, formed at 108-112Ma, in an apical rift or back-arc setting. By Late Cretaceous time, calc-alkaline volcanism was well established along the entire length of the Greater Antilles. Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits including shallow submarine deposits characteristic of the primitive island arc gave way to porphyry copper and epithermal precious metal deposits typical of the mature island arc. Oblique collision of the Greater Antilles with North America began in the Late Cretaceous in Cuba and migrated eastward. Orogenic gold and tungsten deposits that formed during the collision event are preserved in ophiolites and in metamorphic core complexes. Since the Eocene, regional tectonism has been dominated by strike-slip motion as the North American continent moved westward relative to the Caribbean Plate. Large nickel-cobalt laterite deposits were formed when serpentinites were exposed to weathering and erosion during the mid-Tertiary. Bauxite deposits were derived from the weathering of volcanic ash within a carbonate platform of Eocene to Miocene age
Chemical reduction of metal-organic framework materials as a method to enhance gas uptake and binding.

A mixed-ligand metal−organic framework (MOF) of the formula Zn2(NDC)2(diPyNI) (NDC = 2,6-dicarboxylate, diPyNI = N,N‘-di-(4-pyridyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxydiimide) has been chemically reduced in the solid state by lithium metal in dimethylformamide (DMF). Striking hysteresis in the N2 adsorption isotherm suggests dynamic framework behavior of the reduced material that is not observed in the neutral MOF. The reduced framework also exhibits significantly enhanced H2 uptake and isosteric heat of adsorption over the entire loading range. Notably, the striking increase in H2 uptake cannot be solely attributed to H2−Li+ interactions and is most likely augmented by increased ligand polarizability and framework displacement effects.
The Prone Position in ARDS Patients *

The gas exchange and hemodynamics were evaluated before, during, and after a two-hour period of prone position in 13 moderate-severe ARDS patients. Lung cornputerized tomography was obtained in both the supine and prone positions in two of these patients. Average arterial oxygenation improved after prone positioning (p<O.Ol). A Pa02 improvement of at least 10 mm Hg after 30 minutes of prone position was used as a criterion to discriminate between responders and nonresponders to the postural change. Eight patients met the “responders” group crite-