Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alfalfa mosaic virus: Occurrence and variation among isolates from forage legumes in Ethiopia

Field samples and seedlings of 51 leguminous forage species were tested for alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) in routine monitoring of seed multiplication fields of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Ethiopia. The virus was detected in 24 species and a solanaceous weed Solanum nigrum . Of these, the following 17 species are being reported for the first time as hosts of the virus in world literature: Aeschynomene falcata, Centrosema pascuorum, Chamaecrista rotundifolia, Desmanthus virgatus, Desmodium intortum, Leucaena leucocephala, Macroptilium atropurpureum, Macroptilium lathyroides, Macrotyloma axillare, Medicago truncatula, Neonotonia wightii, Sesbania sesban, Stylosanthes scabra, Trifolium calocephala, T. steudneri, T. tembense and Vigna parkeri. The solanaceous weed S. nigrum was suspected to play a role in the virus epidemiology. The level of seed infection varied from 0.00% to about 13.00%. Infectivity studies on 5 isolates of the virus revealed heterogeneity in prevalent AMV isolates. Two major strains were identified, based on the development of necrotic local lesions on Vigna unguiculata accessions. One of the isolates which failed to incite local necrotic lesions on V. unguiculata infected Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Top Crop systemically. Differences among isolates were also noticed in their concentration in different hosts as indicated by ELISA absorbance values.
eview ealth , economic crisis , and austerity : A comparison of reece , Finland and Iceland osé

Reports have attributed a public health tragedy in Greece to the Great Recession and the subsequent application of austerity programs. It is also claimed that the comparison of Greece with Iceland and Finland—where austerity policies were not applied—reveals the harmful effect of austerity on health and that by protecting spending in health and social budgets, governments can offset the harmful effects of economic crises on health. We use data on life expectancy, mortality rates, incidence of infectious diseases, rates of vaccination, self-reported health and other measures to examine the evolution of population health and health services performance in Greece, Finland and Iceland since 1990–2011 or 2012—the most recent years for which data are available. We find that in the three countries most indicators of population health continued improving after the Great Recession started. In terms of population health and performance of the health care system, in the period after 2007 for which data are available, Greece did as good as Iceland and Finland. The evidence does not support the claim that there is a health crisis in Greece. On the basis of the extant evidence, claims of a public health tragedy in Greece seem overly exaggerated. © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
The Value of Lending Relationships When Creditors are in Control

Research has shown that relationship banking matters for borrowers. In this article I utilize a regression discontinuity design to provide evidence that a concrete channel, the reallocation of control rights to creditors following a covenant violation, explains some positive effects relationship lending has on borrowers. Investment experiences a smaller reduction and the likelihood of a company exit increases less dramatically when there are well developed relationships. Exploring which exact lender actions are responsible for these results, I find that relationship banks are more willing to renegotiate loans, extend maturities, ramp up volumes and grant covenant waivers upon violations.
Whole-grain and blood lipid changes in apparently healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies.

BACKGROUND Whole grains are recognized for their potential role in preventing cardiovascular diseases; however, results from randomized controlled studies on blood lipids are inconsistent, potentially because of compositional differences between individual grain types for some nutrients, including dietary fiber. OBJECTIVE Using a meta-analytic approach, we assessed the effect of whole-grain compared with non-whole-grain foods on changes in total cholesterol (TC), LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. DESIGN We conducted a systematic literature search in selected databases. Studies were included if they were randomized controlled comparisons between whole-grain foods and a non-whole-grain control in adults. A total of 6069 articles were screened for eligibility, and data were extracted from 24 studies. Weighted mean differences were calculated, and meta-regression analyses were performed for whole-grain dose, study duration, and baseline TC concentration. RESULTS Overall, whole-grain intake lowered LDL cholesterol (weighted difference: -0.09 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.15, -0.03 mmol/L; P < 0.01) and TC (weighted difference: -0.12 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.19, -0.05 mmol/L; P < 0.001) compared with the control. Whole-grain oat had the greatest effect on TC (weighted difference: -0.17 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.10, -0.25 mmol/L; P < 0.001). No effect of whole-grain foods on HDL cholesterol was seen, whereas whole-grain foods tended to lower triglycerides compared with the control (weighted difference: -0.04 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.08, 0.01; P = 0.10). No association was found between whole-grain dose or baseline TC concentration and any of the outcomes, whereas study duration was positively associated with changes in TC and LDL cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS Consumption of whole-grain diets lowers LDL cholesterol and TC, but not HDL cholesterol or triglycerides, compared with consumption of non-whole-grain control diets. Whole-grain oat appears to be the most effective whole grain for lowering cholesterol.
Designing a Security Awareness Program: Part 1

Abstract This article represents the first of a two-part series on the importance of providing both security awareness and information systems security training to all employees, regardless of their job responsibilities. In this first article, the focus is on the first step of providing computer and information system security—developing and implementing an effective security awareness program. Readers may ask why security awareness is not considered the same as training. The simple answer is because the desired outcome of each is different.
Decreased blood pressure response to infused noradrenaline in normotensive as compared to hypertensive patients with primary hypothyroidism

OBJECTIVE AND PATIENTS To further explore the difference in plasma noradrenaline in normotensive and hypertensive hypothyroid patients we have investigated the pressor response to exogenous noradrenaline in 11 normotensive and five hypertensive patients with primary hypothyroidism before and after thyroxine replacement. Seven healthy subjects served as controls.
Major Challenges of Voice Command Recognition Technique

Human listeners are capable of identifying a speaker, over the telephone or an entryway out of sight, by listening to the voice of the speaker. Achieving this intrinsic human specific capability is a major challenge for Voice Biometrics. Like human listeners, voice biometrics uses the features of a person's voice to ascertain the speaker's identity. The best-known commercialized form of voice biometrics is Speech Recognition System (SRS). Speech recognition is the computing task of validating a user's claimed identity using characteristics extracted from their voice. This paper gives a brief introduction of SRS describing how the technology works, and then discusses the general architecture of SRS, methodologies, merits of using this system, major technological perspective and appreciation of the fundamental progress of speech recognition. It gives an approach to the recognition of speech signal using frequency spectral information with Mel frequency for the improvement of speech feature representation in a HMM based recognition approach and also gives overview of techniques developed in each stage of speech recognition along with the current and future researches on the same. This paper describes the major challenges for SRS system which have been came across by users feedback and various researches which has to be resolved as soon as possible for better performance outcome. Index Terms— SRS (Speech recognition system), ASR (automatic speech recognition), MFCC (Mel frequency cepstral coefficient), DTW (dynamic time wrap), HMM (hidden markov models), WER (word error rate), WRR (word recognition rate). ——————————  ——————————
Shoulder Coordination During Full-Can and Empty-Can Rehabilitation Exercises.

CONTEXT Supraspinatus tear is a common rotator cuff injury. During rehabilitation, debate persists regarding the most appropriate exercises. Whereas shoulder coordination is part of normal arm function, it has been infrequently considered in the context of exercise selection. OBJECTIVE To assess shoulder-motion coordination during 2 common supraspinatus rehabilitation exercises and to characterize load and motion-direction influences on shoulder coordination. DESIGN Descriptive laboratory study. SETTING Motion-analysis laboratory. Patient or Other Participants : Fifteen asymptomatic right-hand-dominant men (age = 26 ± 4 years, height = 1.77 ± 0.06 m, mass = 74.3 ± 7.7 kg). INTERVENTION(S) Full-can and empty-can exercises with and without a 2.27-kg load. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) We recorded motion with an optoelectronic system. Scapulohumeral rhythm and complete shoulder joint kinematics were calculated to quantify shoulder coordination. The effects of exercise type, load, motion direction, and humerothoracic-elevation angle on the scapulohumeral rhythm and shoulder-joint angles were assessed. RESULTS We observed multivariate interactions between exercise type and humerothoracic elevation and between load and humerothoracic elevation. Scapulohumeral rhythm increased by a mean ratio of 0.44 ± 0.22 during the full-can exercise, whereas the addition of load increased mean glenohumeral elevation by 4° ± 1°. CONCLUSIONS The full-can exercise increased the glenohumeral contribution, as hypothesized, and showed normal shoulder coordination. During the empty-can exercise, the increased scapulothoracic contribution was associated with a compensatory pattern that limits the glenohumeral contribution. Using loads during shoulder rehabilitation seems justified because the scapulohumeral rhythm is similar to that of unloaded arm elevation. Finally, motion direction showed a limited effect during the exercises in healthy individuals.
Perceived Control as an Antidote to the Negative Effects of Layoffs on Survivors' Organizational Commitment and Job Performance

Two field studies tested the hypothesis that high perceived control may serve as an antidote to the negative effects of layoffs on the employees who are not laid off (survivors). In Study 1, some participants witnessed the layoffs of fellow employees, but others did not. In Study 2, all participants survived a layoff, but they varied in the extent to which they experienced the post-layoff environment as threatening to their well-being. Conceptually analogous results emerged across the two studies. Study 1 showed that the negative impact of layoffs on survivors' organizational commitment was reduced when perceived control was relatively high. Study 2 showed that the tendency for survivors' job performance to be adversely affected by high threat to their well-being was reduced when perceived control was relatively high. In other words, perceived control was more strongly related to employees' organizational commitment in the presence than in the absence of layoffs and to survivors' job performance when they experienced the post-layoff environment as more threatening. These findings account for additional variance in the reactions of layoff survivors and identify when perceived control will be more versus less strongly related to employees' work attitudes and behaviors. Practical implications for the management of organizational downsizings are discussed.
Can we turn down autonomous wishes to donate anonymously?

Imagine a Samaritan living kidney donor, who some time ago has anonymously donated one of his kidneys to a patient on top of the waiting list. He now contacts the transplantation centre once again, to donate part of his liver. The Centre, startled by this idea, refers him to the regular screening procedure for all Samaritan donations. It turns out that his wish is well‐informed, voluntarily made and that he is competent to decide. We acknowledge that a donor’s wish should not be followed in all cases, even though this wish is a clear expression of his own free will. However, a refusal must be based on sound moral reasons and it is less clear what reasons these might be. We outline the most common arguments for refusal, assess these arguments in terms of strengths and weaknesses, and show which arguments, if any at all, are most promising. We conclude, firstly, that we should only assess risks (which include motivations), not judge relationships, and secondly, that it is not a transplant centre’s mission to carry out a donor’s life project.
Structural Assessment via Ground Penetrating Radar at the Consoli Palace of Gubbio (Italy)

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a flexible and cost-effective tool for performing structural integrity assessment and quick damage evaluation of manmade structures, including cultural heritage (CH) assets. In this context, this paper deals with the usefulness of GPR surveys enhanced by the use of a Microwave Tomographic data processing approach as a methodology for the diagnosis and monitoring of CH exposed to climate events and natural hazards. Specifically, the paper reports on the results of a measurement campaign carried out at the Loggia of the Consoli Palace of Gubbio (Italy). These results allowed us to increase our knowledge of the architecture of the surveyed zones and their structural hazards.
Three Easy Pieces on Schema Mappings for Tree-structured Data

Schema mappings specify how data organized under a source schema should be reorganized under a target schema. For tree-structured data, the interplay between these speciﬁcations and the complex struc-tural conditions imposed by the schemas, makes schema mappings a very rich formalism. Classical data management tasks, well-understood in the relational model, once again become challenging theoretical problems. Recent results on non-mixing integrity constraints help to push the decidability frontier further for three such problems: consistency of mappings, membership in the composition of mappings, and query answering.
A Method for Evaluating Head-Controlled Computer Input Devices Using Fitts' Law

The discrete movement task employed in this study consisted of moving a cursor from the center of a computer display screen to circular targets located 24.4 and 110.9 mm in eight radial directions. The target diameters were 2.7, 8.1, and 24.2 mm. Performance measures included movement time, cursor path distance, and root-mean-square cursor deviation. Ten subjects with no movement disabilities were studied using a conventional mouse and a lightweight ultrasonic headcontrolled computer input pointing device. Average movement time was 306 ms greater (63%) for the head-controlled pointer than for the mouse. The effect of direction on movement time for the mouse was relatively small compared with the head-controlled pointer, which was lowest at 90 and 270 deg, corresponding to head extension and head flexion, respectively. Average path distance and root mean square displacement was lowest at off-diagonal directions (0, 90, 180, and 270 deg). This methodology was also shown to be useful for evaluating performance using an alternative head-controlled input device for two subjects having cerebral palsy, and measured subtle performance improvements after providing a disabled subject with lateral torso support.
EXPLOITING POSITIVE RISK THROUGH ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND PROACTIVE IDENTIFICATION

Risk management is commonly accepted as a foundational management process to increase the likelihood of project success. Risks can be categorized as either threats (negative events or conditions) or opportunities (positive). This qualitative study explored the positive side of risk management to examine if opportunity management is still underutilized by practitioners, as has been reported in previous studies and standards. Recommendations from this study for improved use of opportunity management include development of: (a) specific training on opportunity management (b) catalog of opportunity examples, and (c) template for the business case for opportunity management. This research provides greater insight to improve the efficacy for current and future project, program, and portfolio managers.
Insulin receptor activation in solitary fibrous tumours

Solitary fibrous tumours (SFTs) are known to overexpress insulin‐like growth factor 2 (IGF‐2). The down‐stream oncogenic pathways of IGF‐2, however, are not clear. Here we report uniform activation of the insulin receptor (IR) pathway in SFTs, which are mesenchymal tumours frequently associated with hypoglycaemia. Whereas the IR and its downstream signalling pathways were constitutively activated in SFTs, insulin‐like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF‐1R) was not expressed in these tumours. We also find that SFT cells secrete IGF‐2 and proliferate in serum‐free medium, consistent with an IGF‐2/IR autocrine loop. The aetiological relevance of IGF‐2 is supported by expression of IR‐A, the IR isoform with high affinity for IGF‐2, in all SFTs. Our studies suggest that IR activation plays an oncogenic role in SFTs. Copyright © 2007 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Sales Promotion Activities – Effective Tool of Marketing Communication Mix

A highly competitive environment is forcing sellers constantly using different marketing tools and strategies to win new clients and thereby increase their profitability. Sales promotion is one of the best tools to attract new customers and retain old ones, including marketing activities by adding more value to the products for a limited period of time in order to stimulate consumer purchases and effectiveness of intermediaries. For the purpose of the study were interviewed 60 men and women, aged 18 to 64 years by detailed a questionnaire. The study confirms that sales promotion is an effective instrument which has a positive direct impact on users purchase behavior. From the answers became clear that all types and instruments of sales promotion performing on consumers as 21% would certainly buy more than 59% of respondents probably would benefit from product promotion. Most frequently used communication channels for achieving information about various promotional activities by the user are the Internet with 82.5% and promotional brochures with 77.2%.
Clothes Make the Fan: The Effect of Team Merchandise Usage on Team Identification, Fan Satisfaction and Team Loyalty

Abstract Why do sport managers invest in merchandising activities and how do those activities affect sport fans’ behavior? In this article, we analyze the relevance of team merchandise usage to fan behavior determinants. We survey fans of the top basketball league in Germany to investigate the effect of merchandise usage on their team identification, fan satisfaction and team loyalty. The results show that, freely adapted from Mark Twain, clothes make the fan. Team merchandise can be a catalyst for team identification and loyalty. This research is the first to analyze the effect of team merchandise usage on fan behavior. It helps to understand better the potential of team merchandise and, therefore, makes a substantial contribution to sport management research. Moreover, sport managers get a deeper understanding of merchandising as tool to influence team identification, fan satisfaction as well as team loyalty.
Primary thrombocythaemia treated with busulphan

Summary. Thirty‐seven patients with primary thrombocythaemia (PT) treated with busulphan have been followed for periods up to 25 years. Reduction of the platelet count to less than 400 × 109/l resolved vascular occlusive symptoms, but haemorrhagic symptoms often remained unaltered. Cox regression analysis indicated that there were only two prognostically important presenting features; age had a strong inverse correlation with survival and vascular occlusive symptoms correlated with a better survival. Median duration ofsurvival on treatment was 9·8 years. The number of deaths was 2·1 times that of a comparable control group, with deaths from myelofibrosis markedly increased. Deaths from thrombosis and malignant diseases, including leukaemia, were not significantly different from the number expected. which emphasizes the efficacy and the relative safety of busulphan for the long‐term treatment of PT. Progression of PT into myelofibrosis occurred in 24% of cases and 9% became polycythaemic. Two additional cases of ‘thrombocythaemia'with a Philadelphia chromosome (and no overt evidence of chronic granulocytic leukaemia) are also presented.
RTOG 0625: A phase II study of bevacizumab with irinotecan in recurrent glioblastoma (GBM).

2011 Background: Angiogenesis is a hallmark of GBM, making the tumor vasculature an attractive therapeutic target. In gliomas, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) promotes both angiogenesis and invasion of tumor cells. Bevacizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against VEGF-A that rapidly reduces the concentration of VEGF in the circulation. Irinotecan may enhance efficacy by synergistic tumor endothelial cell death or improved tumor delivery of the chemotherapy via "normalized" tumor vasculature. Prior studies of this combination demonstrated high radiographic response and 6-month progression free (6-mPFS) rates. This study was designed to determine the efficacy and safety of this regimen in the cooperative group setting. METHODS Eligibility included age ≥ 18, centrally confirmed GBM or gliosarcoma, progressive or recurrent disease. Enzyme-inducing anticonvulsants were not allowed. Treatment was intravenous bevacizumab 10 mg/kg and irinotecan 200 mg/m2 every 2 weeks. Accrual goal was 57 eligible patients. Primary endpoint was 6-mPFS rate where an estimate of ≥ 35% would define efficacy (15% improvement over historical data). RESULTS Full enrollment (57) was achieved, median age was 57, median KPS was 80; all had prior radiation and temozolomide treatment. The 6m-PFS rate was 37% (95% CI: 24-50%), with 21 of 57 patients progression-free at 6 months. Moderate toxicity was noted with 21(37%) grade 3, seven (12%) grade 4, and one (<2%) treatment-related death (intracranial hemorrhage). There were six episodes of venous thrombosis, 14 episodes of grade 3 or 4 hematologic toxicity, predominantly lymphopenia (7), and neutropenia (4), no opportunistic infections or febrile neutropenia were noted. Other toxicities included fatigue (9), diarrhea (2), and hypertension (2). CONCLUSIONS These results, in the cooperative group context, corroborate the efficacy of the bevacizumab and irinotecan combination for recurrent GBM with the 6m-PFS surpassing the predetermined efficacy threshold. Previously described toxicities were confirmed with a moderately high rate of venous thrombosis, one intracranial hemorrhage, and moderate hypertension. Studies to determine the contribution of the cytotoxic agent to efficacy and the role of bevacizumab in newly diagnosed GBM are planned. [Table: see text].