Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ANTHROPOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS OF HUMAN EAR LOBULE IN ADULT STUDENT POPULATION

Address for Correspondence: Dr Sangeetha S, No 21, Flat No 104, Comfort Residency 2, 16th A Main Road, Jayanagar 3rd Block East, Bangalore – 11, Karnataka, India. Mobile-9632470171 E-Mail: sangeethavenkat33@gmail.com Background: The ear is an important component of the facial complex. Its size, shape and spatial location on the face are important from an aesthetic point of view. The ear lobule morphometry gives information on age and sex and plays a valuable role in forensic investigation. Ear lobule parameters are studied for the surgical treatment of congenital or acquired deformities, reconstruction and in otomorphology for identification. Aim: To study the morphometric measurements of ear lobules among student population. Materials and Methods: Measurements were taken from 392 healthy medical students aged 17 – 20 years, from JSS Medical college Mysore, using a standard vernier callipers. The parameters measured were ,lobule height and lobule width of both ears. Results: In our study we found that lobule width is more in males than females on both sides whereas no such difference was seen in lobule height . Males have a wider lobule than females and the right lobule is wider than the left in both and this difference is statistically significant Discussion: Knowledge of normal ear dimensions is important in the diagnosis of congenital malformations and acquired deformities, and in planning of treatment. The data presented in this study would help the clinician to produce an anatomically correct ear during its reconstruction.
Matter and Information - Objectivity and Subjectivity

Quantum phenomena seem to blur the distinction between matter and information, and objectivity and subjectivity. A quantum particle cannot be observed directly and needs to be 'observed' in a suitably designed measurement experiment. Even in such an experiment, what we actually observe (by means of senses) is the measuring device, which is said to be ‘classical’. The position and other 'observable' properties of a quantum particle (QP) are only inferred from the devices’ readings. Quantum Mechanics tells us that a QP is a packet of de Broglie's phase waves, each of which carries no energy and goes faster than light. Clearly, the phase wave is a mathematical abstraction, an idea in physicists' minds; it cannot be observed for example, like light, or heard like a wave of an oscillating string. However, the phase wave’s wavelength can be measured in a suitably designed experiment. So, one may call the de Broglie phase wave as a piece of ‘objective information’! Since classical matter, i.e., matter which is observable directly by senses is supposed to be made of numerous QPs also, it seems that all matter is made of ‘objective information’, i.e., information, which is not observable directly but some of whose properties can be measured and verified in some way and agreed upon by a group of people. Considering the brain to be a quantum system, we will explain why a sensory experience is both objective and subjective at the same time whereas other conscious experiences such as those of emotions and judgments are subjective but not objective. For this purpose, we note the neuroscience finding that it is necessary and sufficient that one’s brain (a quantum system) builds a neural record which is a faithful representation of the sensory input it receives from the outside world, for one to have the corresponding conscious sensory experience.
THE EFFECTS OF BOARD CHARACTERISTICS ON EARNINGS MANAGEMENT

This paper examines the relationship between board characteristics and earnings management. Management of a firm may engage in earnings management for his own benefit. However, under proper corporate governance mechanism, the board of directors might be able to monitor the firm and prevent the management from engaging in earnings management. We find that when the board size is large, the higher the extent of earnings management. However, when there are more outside directors in the board, the extent of earnings management is lower. The effects of board characteristics on earnings management are significant only for group affiliation firms or non-electronic firms.
Seasonality and epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus in Qatar

Abstract Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections in early childhood. Annual epidemics occur which are well documented in developed countries during winter months, placing considerable pressure on the provision of health care. Little is known about the epidemiology of RSV infections in the Middle East and other desert climate regions of the world. The objective of this study was to determine the infection rate and seasonality of RSV among children 2 years old or younger and its correlation with meteorological data in Qatar. A retrospective descriptive hospital-based population study was conducted. Data of RSV infection detected from children at Pediatric Emergency Centre in the Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, State of Qatar from January 2002 to September 2007, were collected. Meteorological data from Department of Civil Aviation were collected during the period of January 2002 – September 2007 and were used to determine the mean monthly temperature, relative humidity, evaporation, rainfall and wind speed. A total of 3121 children below 2 years of age were screened for a possible infection for RSV during the study period. 26.3% of the total children screened tested positive for RSV (infection rate) with the highest annual rate of 35.3% in 2003 and the lowest rate of 13.2% in 2007. RSV was found to be a major cause of hospital admission in children during the winter months of November – January every year. The peak of mean relative humidity significantly coincided with the peak of RSV infection rate (P = 0.0039 and r = 0.7682), and there was a significant inverse correlation between the monthly mean temperature and RSV infection (P = 0.0061 and r = −0.7384). The pattern of RSV infections showed a clear seasonality in that infections were mostly encountered during winter and after rainfall. Further studies should focus on the significance of RSV infections in other age groups or in other infections with other respiratory viruses.
Educational Performance, ‘Clicker’ Engagement and Ethnicity: Evidence from Finance 101

We explore the nexus between academic performance, ethnicity and student engagement via learning technologies. We do so in the context of an introductory, high volume, finance course at a leading Australasian university. More specifically, we explore three research questions (1) What factors determine student ‘clicker’ based engagement? (2) Does engagement improve academic performance? (3) Do Māori and Pacific Island (MPI) students underperform their peers and do the determinants of performance differ to those of their peers? Our results support several important findings. First, male students in the early stages of their degree and living in a residential college attend lectures more often than other students. Second, Non-MPI students who attend lectures as measured by engagement through clicker participation achieve higher marks on both the formative (Quizzes) and summative assessments (a Midterm exam). Third, MPI students have lower average attainment in the Midterm compared to other Finance 101 students. Finally, this research highlights that drivers of success for MPI students are different and not well captured by our model. In particular, unlike other students, attendance did not prove to be an important determinant in attainment.
Signal Delay in General RC Networks with Application to Timing Simulation of Digital Integrated Circuits

Modeling digital MOS circuits by RC networks has become a well accepted practice for estimating delays. In 1981, Penfield and Rubinstein proposed a method to bound the delays of the nodes in an RC tree network. In this paper, we address the problem of dynamic timing simulation under RC-based models. Based upon the delay of Elmore, a single value of delay is derived for any node in a general RC network. The effects of parallel connections and stored charges are properly taken into consideration. The algorithm can be used either as a stand-alone simulator, or as a front end for producing initial waveforms for waveform-relaxation based circuit simulators. An experimental simulator called SDS (Signal Delay Simulator) has been developed. For all the examples tested so far, this simulator runs about two to three orders of magnitude faster than SPICE, and detects all transitions and glitches at approximately the correct time.
Effects of Different Salinities on Growth, Feeding Performance and Plasma Cortisol Level in Hybrid TGGG (Tiger Grouper, Epinephelus fuscoguttatusx Giant Grouper, Epinephelus lanceolatus) Juveniles

The hybrid TGGG, tiger grouper Epinephelus fuscoguttatusx giant grouper, Epinephelus lanceolatus has a high resistance towards extreme conditions due to its genetic improvement. This study investigated the effects of different salinities on growth, feeding performance and plasma cortisol level in TGGG juveniles. The TGGG juveniles were acclimatized and subjected to 7 different water salinities at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 part per thousand (ppt) for 30 days. The survival rate, growth rate and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated at 10-day intervals. The optimum salinity is 10 to 20 ppt based on higher growth performance in terms of the final weight (g= gram), average daily growth (ADG= g/f/d,gram/fish/day), and specific growth rate (SGR=%/d ,percentage/day) observed at 10 ppt (19.20±0.63 g, 0.32±0.01 g/f/d and 2.69±0.06%/d), 15 ppt (18.52±1.55 g, 0.31±0.04 g/f/d and 2.80±0.22%/d) and 20 ppt (18.17±1.04 g, 0.30±0.03 g/f/d and 2.74±0.23%/d). Besides, the optimum salinity was also determined based on the lower feed conversion ratio value at 10 ppt (1.24±0.04), 20 ppt (1.26±0.14) and 15 ppt (1.30±0.20). This study shows that high salinity at 35 ppt, (14.38±2.11 g, 0.19±0.02 g/f/d and 1.95±0.40%/d) and 30 ppt, (15.31±0.68 g, 0.21±0.02 g/f/d and 2.06±0.17%/d) leads to poor growth performance of TGGG juveniles. Plasma cortisol levels in 5 ppt (56.50 nmol/L), 15 ppt (19.31 nmol/L) and 35 ppt (33.54 nmol/L) were significantly higher compared to those in 10, 20, 25 and 30 ppt. On a broad scale, this study is very significant in providing useful information for the TGGG to increase mass production and promote economic growth.
STABILITE DES AMES SOUMISES A UNE CHARGE CONCENTREE ET A UNE FLEXION GLOBALE

Le present article constitue un large resume du rapport concernant les essais entrepris pour determiner l'interaction entre la resistance d'une ame elancee soumise a une charge concentree - simple, double ou quadruple - et le moment de flexion global. L'echelle adoptee pour les pieces d'essais est de 1:3 a 1:4, avec des ames fortes de 4 ou 5 mm. Apres avoir presente le dispositif experimental, on donne les resultats des essais entrepris tant sur les poutres non raidies que sur des poutres raidies longitudinalement et on les compare aux regles de dimensionnement existantes. L'expose est complete par un modele theorique pour le comportement a la ruine et par une comparaison avec des simulations par elements finis non-lineaires. Pour terminer, on propose une formule simple permettant de tenir compte de l'interaction etudiee. (Titres en anglais et en allemand : Stability of webs submitted to a concentrated load and a global bending; Traegsicherheit von auf eine konzentrierte Last und einen globalen Biegungsmoment beanspruchten Stegen).
Why We Need to Install Exciters in Rotating Machines? - Benefits and Prospects

Exciter or actuator is emerging as a new machine element in modern rotating machinery, because of its cost effectiveness, i.e. extra benefits acquired by such a new installment. In fact, there are a few special commercially available products equipped with exciters such as the dynamically tuned gyroscope and the active magnetic bearing spindle. Some of the obvious benefits are: an exciter can be used as an active bearing, an active balancer, and an actuator for in-situ identification and scenario (planned diagnostic) tests. This work extensively discusses the benefits that can be gained by introducing exciter(s) in rotating machinery. There is always a trade-off between the cost and the benefits with any new installments. However, if the benefits earned at the expense of installation of new exciters in a machine may even out the cost, such exciters will be considered as an important element of the machine.
Studies of needling depth in acupuncture treatment.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate safety and De-qi (obtaining of needling sensation) depth of acupoint and their relation to therapeutic effect, and to electric resistance. METHODS: 1) We plotted the graph to compare the differences of each acupoint depth between modern and ancient acupuncture writings; 2) 80 cadavers, and 240 subjects with computer tomography of chest to study the safety depth of acupoint were used, and their correlation to the length of the second phalanx of middle finger as Tong Shen Cun's standard; 3) 300 subjects were divided according to their body height and weight into normal-weight, over-weight and under-weight groups of 100 subjects to study the De-qi depth of acupoint; 4) using the 120 subjects which accepted acupuncture treatment due to pain symptom to study the relation between De-qi depth and therapeutic effect; 5) 107 subjects of different sizes were used to study the relation between De-qi depth and thickness of body, and electric resistance. RESULTS: Acupoint depth was greater in modern acupuncture writings than in ancient writings. The safety depth of each acupoint in chest and in back was different, and they had high correlation to Tong Shen Cun's standard in adults, but not in newborns. The safety depths in chest acupoints were greater in female than in male, but not in back, and they related to body size. The De-qi depth was correlated with their therapeutic effects, corresponding to body thickness, but not related to their electric resistance. CONCLUSIONS: Safety and De-qi depth of acupoint are related to body thickness. The length of the second phalanx of middle finger may be used as Tong Shen Cun's standard in adults, but not in newborns.
Operations Research Meets Constraint Programming: Some Achievements So Far

Edward P K TsangDepartment of Computer ScienceUniversity of EssexColchester CO4 3SQUnited Kingdomedward@essex.ac. ukChristos VoudourisIntelligent Systems Research GroupAdvanced Research & Technology DeptBT LaboratoriesBritish Telecommunications plc.United Kingdomchrisv@info.bt. co.ukJohn FordDepartment of Computer ScienceUniversity of EssexColchester CO4 3SQUnited Kingdomfordj@essex.ac. ukPatrick MillsDepartment of Computer ScienceUniversity of EssexColchester CO4 3SQUnited Kingdommillph@essex.ac. ukAbstractThis paper reports promising algorithms that have been built on top of both operationsresearch (OR) and constraint programming (CP) research. First we describe Guided LocalSearch (GLS), a penalty-based meta-heuristic algorithm that sits on top of local searchalgorithms and helps them to escape local optima. Then we describe Fast Local Search (FLS),a strategy that reduces the size of the neighbourhood. GLS and FLS have been demonstrated tobe highly successful in a number of non-trivial problems, including commercial applications.We shall also, in this paper, report selected promising research by other groups in combiningOR and CP ideas — namely (a) Lagrangian Method and (b) fine-grain interaction betweenmixed integer programming (MIP) and finite domain constraint propagation. The mainmessage that we want to convey in this paper is: there is no real boundary between OR andCP. In fact, OR has already become an important part of CP and a great deal can be gained bycross-fertilization between these two fields. Hopefully this paper will inspire researchers toapply more OR techniques to CP.Keywords: Combinatorial Optimisation, OR and AI, Search Algorithms
EU housing markets: the role of institutional factors

Using cluster analysis this study reveals significant heterogeneity in the institutional characteristics of European mortgage markets. Distinct clusters are formed which can be related to differences in the mortgage credit system, the relative importance of the owner-occupation and the property specific fiscal system. The paper then tests for multiple structural breaks. We find evidence that structural breaks in European housing markets often coincide with a changes in housing market policy.
Dynamic Climatology of Atmospheric Circulation over East Asia centered in Japa n

The present paper studies ; (i) the relationship between the weather in Japan and the upper-air circulations in East Asia which are classified into six flow types (Part I) (ii) the synoptic processes and causes of the formation of blocking flow pattern in East Asia (part II) (iii) the causes of Baiu in East Asia relating to the atmospheric circulation and the heat source near the Tibetan Plateau (part III) The upper-air flow patterns in East Asia are classified into six kinds. They are high index zonal flow, trough flow, summer flow types (which bring about high temperature in Japan) and low index zonal flow, wave flow, blocking flow types (which bring about low temperature in Japan). In general, high index zonal flow, trough flow and blocking flow types bring about much rain, wave flow and low index zonal flow types little rain in Japan. And abnormal weathers in Japan are generally accompanied with the blocking flow pattern in East Asia. Next, the synoptic processes that form a blocking flow pattern in the Shfirin and winter seasons are analysed. The former is responsible for the rainy season in Japan in early autum and the latter for the cold NWmonsoon. A blocking flow pattern in the Shtirin season is initiated by the deformation of westerly flow which is given by a typhoon invasion into a westerly flow. This deformation is transferred downstream with a group velocity, resulting in the splitting of the westerly flow into two branches when the Shtirin season starts. Another blocking flow type in winter is caused by a large-scale heat exchange which is initiated by the development of a ridge over the Atlantic Ocean. With the development of this ridge, the polar air breaks out to Europe and America, resulting in the reinforcement of the ridges over the Asiatic Continent and the west coast of North America. These two ridges progress toward each other and finally fuse into one strong ridge, forming a blocking flow pattern in East Asia. In early summer, Japan is visited by the Baiu season with a blocking flow pattern. The beginning of this season and the SW monsoon in India have a close parallelism, and the stronger the monsoon low the stronger the Okhotsk sea high. Furthermore, the stronger the anticyclone over the Tibetan Plateau in early summer, the more predominant the blocking flow in East Asia. These statistical relationships are reexamined by a numerical experiment incorporating the effect of the atmospheric heat source and sink in early summer.
Estimation and inference of the three-level intraclass correlation coefficient

ESTIMATION AND INFERENCE OF THE THREE-LEVEL INTRACLASS CORRELATION COEFFICIENT Matthew Davis Warren B. Bilker J. Richard Landis Since the early 1900s, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) has been used to quantify the level of agreement among different assessments on the same object. By comparing the level of variability that exists within subjects to the overall error, a measure of the agreement among the different assessments can be calculated. Historically, this has been performed using subject as the only random effect. However, there are many cases where other nested effects, such as site, should be controlled for when calculating the ICC to determine the chance corrected agreement adjusted for other nested factors. We will present a unified framework to estimate both the twolevel and three-level ICC for both binomial and multinomial outcomes. In addition, the corresponding standard errors and confidence intervals for both ICC measurements will be displayed. Finally, an example of the effect that controlling for site can have on ICC measures will be presented for subjects nested within genotyping plates comparing genetically determined race to patient reported race. In addition, when determining agreement on a multinomial response, the question of homogeneity of agreement of individual categories within the multinomial response is raised. One such scenario is the GO project at the University of Pennsylvania where subjects ages 8–21 were asked to rate a series of actors’ faces as happy, sad, v angry, fearful or neutral. Methods exist to quantify overall agreement among the five responses, but only if the ICCs for each item-wise response are homogeneous. We will present a method to determine homogeneity of ICCs of the item-wise responses across a multinomial outcome and provide simulation results that demonstrate strong control of the type I error rate. This method will subsequently be extended to verify the assumptions of homogeneity of ICCs in the multinomial nested-level model to determine if the overall nested-level ICC is sufficient to describe the nested-level agreement.
The Role of Listening Comprehension in Dictation

A cursory look at most students in Kurdistan is ample to show that the role of listening comprehension in dictation, as an integral part of language learning, has often been overlooked in the development of EFL curriculum. To conduct the study 80 students were selected from Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj Branch. They were divided into groups A and B and were taught dictation in two different ways. For group A it was done traditionally while for group B it was in accordance with processing listening comprehension and improving listening. The result of ANCOVA revealed that group B leads to higher performance in dictation.
Depressive Symptoms Lead to Impaired Cellular Immune Response

Background: The association between depression and immune response is not yet clear. The biological mechanisms by which depression alters the immune system is not yet understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the longitudinal relationship between depressive symptoms and cellular immune response. Methods: A cohort study with a baseline measurement and three annual health assessments was set up in a residential home for elderly people in Rome, Italy. A total of 166 residents aged 65 years and older, mean age 81 years, were interviewed and blood samples were collected at each annual assessment. Percentage changes in lymphocytes and T-cell subsets related to depressive symptoms were estimated over a period of 4 years, using regression models for repeated measurements. Results: Elderly people with seven or more symptoms of depression, according to the Geriatric Depression Scale, had a lower percentage of CD4+DR+ T-cells over 4 years [β = –20.2; 95% confidence interval (CI) = –33.0 to –4.9] and CD8+DR+ T-cells (β = –26.9; 95% CI = –42.5 to –7.0) than elderly with less than seven symptoms of depression, after adjusting for confounding factors (sex, age, marital status, education, smoking habit, nutritional status, chronic diseases, disability and the use of benzodiazepines). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest an adverse effect of depressive symptoms on immune response. It remains to be determined whether these depression-associated immune changes are related to the onset or course of physical illness and the increased mortality observed in depressed old people.