Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of acepromazine and butorphanol on positive-contrast upper gastrointestinal tract examination in dogs.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether acepromazine (ACE) and butorphanol (BUT) combination can be used for restraint of dogs during positive-contrast upper gastrointestinal tract (UGIT) examination. ANIMALS 6 healthy dogs. PROCEDURE In a randomized crossover design study, weekly UGIT examinations were performed on each dog for 5 weeks after administration of normal saline solution (0.5 ml), xylazine (1.0 mg/kg of body weight), or a combination of ACE (0.1 mg/kg) and 1 of 3 doses of BUT (0.05, 0.2, 1.0 mg/kg). Gastrointestinal tract emptying time, GI motility, pulse, respiratory rate, and quality of restraint were assessed. RESULTS Total gastric emptying time was significantly prolonged by use of an ACE and BUT (0.05 mg/kg) combination. Xylazine and higher dosages of BUT significantly prolonged gastric and intestinal emptying times. All anesthetic protocols significantly decreased motility and facilitated nonmanual restraint. Xylazine and BUT (1.0 mg/kg) significantly decreased pulse and respiratory rate. CONCLUSION The ACE and BUT combination prolonged GI tract emptying times, decreased GI motility, and facilitated nonmanual restraint for duration of the examination. Although GI motility was decreased and total gastric emptying time was prolonged, administration of ACE (0.1 mg/kg) plus BUT (0.05 mg/kg) allowed morphologic examination of the GI tract within 5 hours. Xylazine prolonged GI tract emptying, decreased GI motility, and provided good to excellent initial restraint. Clinical Relevance-The ACE and BUT combination prohibits functional examination of the GI tract; however, morphologic examination is possible when low dosages of BUT (0.05 mg/kg) are used.
Developing a validated instrument to measure preservice teachers' ICT competencies: Meeting the demands of the 21st century

The main objective of this study is to develop a self-report instrument to measure preservice teachers' ICT competencies in education. The questionnaire items of this instrument are based on an existing comprehensive framework and were created with input from experts in the field. The data were collected from a sample of 931 final-year preservice teachers in Flanders ( Belgium). A first subsample was used for an exploratory factor analysis, and a second one to verify the identified factor structure via confirmatory factor analysis. A two-factor structure of ICT competencies was identified: (1) competencies to support pupils for ICT use in class and (2) competencies to use ICT for instructional design. This two-factor structure was confirmed in the confirmatory factor analysis. Recommendations are made on how this reliable instrument can help assess the level and progress of preservice teachers' ICT competencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Analysis of Entrepreneurship Policy for Small and Medium Scale Enterprise in Aba, Abia State Nigeria.

The analysis of entrepreneurship policy for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Aba was carried out to know how entrepreneurship policies can help grow small and medium scale enterprise in Aba. The specific objectives are to analyze the socio economic characteristics of the work force of the performance in the selected SMEs, to find out the perception of entrepreneurship polices to find for small and medium scale enterprise, to find out the benefit of a favorable entrepreneurship polices to small and medium enterprises and find out the problem militating against the growth of small and medium enterprises. Cross-section entrepreneurs were randomly selected from the commercial town of Aba, Abia State, Nigeria. Questionnaires were used to elicit the required data and some statistical tools were used for the data analysis. The major problems militating against the growth of SMEs in Aba in particular is finance. If the issue of financing is addressed, government can be rest assured that there will be more room for creation, survival and growth of SMEs. From the results obtained in the course of the study, it is observe that entrepreneurship policies such as education, promotion, access to finance and development of SMEs in Aba, Abia State – Nigeria is challenged with poor implementation and corruption. Despite the problems militating against the growth of SMEs in Nigeria, there is still enormous room for the growth and development of SMEs in Nigeria. Governments’ judicious implementation its entrepreneurial policies will help in sustainable development of SMEs .
Buyback Behaviour and the Anti-Dilution of Dilutive Stock Options

We study how dilutive board-level stock options impact anti-dilutive daily buybacks in the UK. We show that buyback behaviour and stock option holdings positively influence cumulative post-buyback returns. Buybacks, however, have anti-dilutive implications and are thus linked to the level and nature of dilutive stock options outstanding. We find increases in aggregate stock options to escalate buyback implementation. This is driven largely by unvested stock options that significantly enhance anti-dilutive benefits. Robustness tests using “overconfident” board classification and treasury share regulation confirm the anti-dilutive motive behind buybacks when stock options are unvested.
Case analysis of information security risk perceptions

The scientific rationality used by experts towards risk evaluation is expressed as the product of its likelihood of occurrence with its consequences or impacts (ENISA, 2006a). This directly opposes the subjective nature of risk perception, often appearing as inconsistent if not completely irrational (Byrne, 2003). Risk perception theories are a pathway to explain the subjective nature of risk and a deeper insight into the human's cognitive system. Those theories may help to explain why people see, act and plan for risks in the way that they do, the weaknesses that exist in the human decision mechanisms and their impact on risk perceptions and decisions. By questioning the existence of risk perception in the information security field of study, this research acknowledges those risk perception theories and provides a measure of their influence when rating information security risks. The research measures the existence of risk perception issues by asking a participating sample of people to rate the likelihood of ten information security risks that carried previously measured statistics. In order to archive this, an online survey was designed to capture riskrating information from an informed sample as well as a measure of their self-assessed information security knowledge. By measuring the gaps between the participants' answers and the known occurrences of those risks, the research highlighted a number of disparities revealing the existence of risk perception divergence. A statistical analysis of the results was performed with the intent of highlighting gaps in the perception of the given risks. This analysis also allowed the research to narrow down the scope of risks that may or may not have been perceived with higher or lower gaps than other risks. Further analysis specifically identified the risks affected by those gaps, their statistical significance, strength and direction. The areas displaying the highest perception gaps resided with risks that were generally rare, new and unfamiliar or were being publicised in the popular media. Finally, this research investigated whether or not the self-assessed respondents' knowledge is a factor influencing people's risk ratings in the online survey and thereby a factor in the way those risks are perceived. A correlation analysis was used to determine the degree of association between the pmiicipants' risk ratings and their perceived and self-rated information security knowledge.
Human Depth Sensors-Based Activity Recognition Using Spatiotemporal Features and Hidden Markov Model for Smart Environments

Nowadays, advancements in depth imaging technologies have made human activity recognition HAR reliable without attaching optical markers or any other motion sensors to human body parts. This study presents a depth imaging-based HAR system to monitor and recognize human activities. In this work, we proposed spatiotemporal features approach to detect, track, and recognize human silhouettes using a sequence of RGB-D images. Under our proposed HAR framework, the required procedure includes detection of human depth silhouettes from the raw depth image sequence, removing background noise, and tracking of human silhouettes using frame differentiation constraints of human motion information. These depth silhouettes extract the spatiotemporal features based on depth sequential history, motion identification, optical flow, and joints information. Then, these features are processed by principal component analysis for dimension reduction and better feature representation. Finally, these optimal features are trained and they recognized activity using hidden Markov model. During experimental results, we demonstrate our proposed approach on three challenging depth videos datasets including IM-DailyDepthActivity, MSRAction3D, and MSRDailyActivity3D. All experimental results show the superiority of the proposed approach over the state-of-the-art methods.
Carbon dioxide emissions from the tropical Dowleiswaram Reservoir on the Godavari River, Southeast of India

Time-series observations were conducted in the Dowleiswaram dam reservoir that was constructed on the largest monsoonal river in India to understand the source of inorganic carbon, and fluxes to the atmosphere. The reservoir stores water during dry period of six months and water increases during the period when Indian subcontinent receives significant rainfall. Significant modification of organic matter was noticed during storage period indicated by decrease in pH from 7.5 to 6.4 and oxygen saturation from ~95% to 65%. The relationship of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) with oxygen saturation, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and isotopic ratios of DIC suggests that heterotrophic activities are the major source of inorganic carbon to the reservoir. In addition to this, ground water exchange also contributes significantly to the inorganic carbon pool in the reservoir. Nutrients released due to decomposition of organic matter in the reservoir supports both autotrophic and heterotrophic activities. The pCO2 levels in the reservoir varied between 3944 and 16,042 μatm and higher pCO2 levels were noticed during peak discharge period. The annual mean CO2 fluxes from the reservoir amounted to 112 ± 126 mmolC m-2·d-1 and ~6 times higher fluxes were noticed during discharge period compared to dry period and such high fluxes during discharge period were contributed by both high pCO2 levels and winds. It was further noticed that dam reservoir is a strong source of pCO2 to the estuary wherein 2 during dry period and >15,000 μatm during discharge period were observed. Our study also indicates that Dowleiswaram dam reservoir is a strong source of CO2 to atmosphere, even though it is much smaller than Brazilian (tropical) reservoir but higher than European reservoirs.
Psychological measures of prenatal stress as predictors of infant temperament.

OBJECTIVE To examine, in a prospective study, whether maternal stress during pregnancy is related to infant temperament. METHOD Self-report data on various aspects of prenatal stress were collected from nulliparous women in early pregnancy. Infant temperament was measured at 3 and 8 months by direct observation and by parent report. RESULTS Complete data were available for 170 term-born infants. Pregnancy-specific anxiety explained 3.3% of the variance of attention regulation at 3 months. Perceived stress and pregnancy anxiety taken together explained 5% of the variance of attention regulation at 8 months. Perceived stress accounted for 8.2% of the variance of difficult behavior of the 3-month-old infant. All results were adjusted for covariates. CONCLUSIONS Increased maternal prenatal stress seems to be associated with temperamental variation of young infants and may be a risk factor for psychopathology later in life.
A Wnt-planar polarity pathway instructs neurite branching by restricting F-actin assembly through endosomal signaling

Spatial arrangement of neurite branching is instructed by both attractive and repulsive cues. Here we show that in C. elegans, the Wnt family of secreted glycoproteins specify neurite branching sites in the PLM mechanosensory neurons. Wnts function through MIG-1/Frizzled and the planar cell polarity protein (PCP) VANG-1/Strabismus/Vangl2 to restrict the formation of F-actin patches, which mark branching sites in nascent neurites. We find that VANG-1 promotes Wnt signaling by facilitating Frizzled endocytosis and genetically acts in a common pathway with arr-1/β-arrestin, whose mutation results in defective PLM branching and F-actin patterns similar to those in the Wnt, mig-1 or vang-1 mutants. On the other hand, the UNC-6/Netrin pathway intersects orthogonally with Wnt-PCP signaling to guide PLM branch growth along the dorsal-ventral axis. Our study provides insights for how attractive and repulsive signals coordinate to sculpt neurite branching patterns, which are critical for circuit connectivity.
Pharmacist-managed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease screening in a community setting.

OBJECTIVES To implement a spirometry-based chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) screening in a community pharmacy chain, determine whether pharmacists can accurately perform spirometry screenings and interpret results, and determine whether performing screenings improved enrollment in smoking cessation programs. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING Kroger pharmacies in the Cincinnati-Dayton Kroger Marketing Area and off-site screening events in Cincinnati, OH, from March to December 2010. PATIENTS Consenting individuals older than 35 years who met inclusion and exclusion criteria. INTERVENTION Specially trained community pharmacists administered a validated COPD screening questionnaire and performed spirometry. The results were interpreted, given to the patient, and faxed to the primary care physician. Any patient who was currently smoking was offered smoking cessation counseling. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Spirometry technical quality and interpretation accuracy, screening questionnaire scores in relationship to spirometry results, number of patients enrolled in smoking cessation programs. RESULTS Of the 185 patients, 10 were excluded due to inability to perform spirometry. After review, 174 (99%) of the spirometries were judged acceptable and 157 (90%) demonstrated reproducible results. The mean (+/-SD) score on the COPD Population Screener questionnaire was 2.3 ± 1.6 (range 0-8). Airflow limitation (defined as forced expiratory volume in 1 second/forced vital capacity < lower limit of normal) was detected in 16 (9%) of the patients. Although 12 (75%) of these patients were former or current smokers, only 3 (19%) were at increased risk for COPD based on their screening questionnaire scores. Of the nine current smokers who participated in a follow-up interview, two had successfully abstained from smoking for 6 months after the screening and five others had made an attempt to quit. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated that pharmacists are able to perform accurate and reproducible spirometry in a community pharmacy setting.
Assessment of the Adoption of Agroforestry Technologies by Limited-Resource Farmers in North Carolina

Agroforestry is a natural resource management system that integrates trees, forages, and livestock. The study reported here was conducted to determine farmers' knowledge about and willingness to adopt agroforestry technologies in North Carolina. The study reported participants were primarily older, male farmers, suggesting the need to attract more females and younger individuals to adopt agroforestry technologies. The increasing number of diversified farm operators presents a new audience for Extension educators to offer programs to improve limited-resource farmers' livelihood. The study recommends Extension training programs and information centers for farmers who need skills and knowledge to manage agroforestry technologies.
Gestational Diabetes: A Challenge For The Future

It is well established that pregnancy is associated with temporary changes in maternal metabolism which include a decrease in maternal insulin sensitivity to values similar to those associated with Type 2 diabetes. Fasting glucose concentrations fall throughout pregnancy, postprandial values rise. The maintenance of glucose tolerance in pregnancy requires a two‐ to three‐fold increase in postprandial maternal insulin secretion. Glucose intolerance develops in women unable to compensate for the metabolic changes incurred by pregnancy. Increasing maternal hyperglycaemia is associated with increasing pregnancy morbidity and an increased likelihood of subsequent diabetes in the mother. In addition, maternal hyperglycaemia has a direct effect on the development of the fetal pancreas and is associated with an increased susceptibility to future diabetes in the infant, an effect which is independent of genetic factors. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is defined as glucose intolerance first recognized in pregnancy, and by definition includes a small number of women with previously unrecognized diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Figures on the prevalence of GDM vary between maternity units, depending on screening methods and the ethnic distribution of the populations. However, in a comprehensive study of a multi‐ethnic antenatal population in inner London, UK it was found that only 2% of pregnant women develop significant glucose intolerance. Obstetricians and physicians debate the importance of identifying this 2% of women. The lack of agreed criteria for diagnosing gestational diabetes and the questionable obstetric benefits of treating all women with mild disturbances of glucose tolerance in pregnancy has resulted in few UK centres undertaking universal screening for GDM. This review examines the potential benefits arising from the diagnosis of gestational diabetes, both for pregnancy outcome in the short term and for the health of the mother and child in the long term.
Investment Based Valuation

A generalized version of the standard neoclassical investment model can explain the relatively high equity prices in the late 1990s and early 2000s in the US corporate nonfinancial and NASDAQ sectors along with the relatively low prices before and after this period. Stock returns predicted by the model are as volatile as the observed stock returns in both sectors. Three key model assumptions are multiple capital goods, investmentspecific technological change and non-quadratic adjustment costs. During the “bubble” period, investment in equipment is relatively high — consistent with high expected cash flows and high prices. Investment rates subsequently fall — consistent with lower expected cash flows and lower prices. On average, managers’ forecasts are correct. Increases in the growth rate of equipment investment coincide with decreases in measured productivity growth. This is consistent with the unobserved diversion of labor from producing output towards accumulating human capital or other intangible assets.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) typing as an adjunct to cervical cancer screening

Many of the risk factors of cervical cancer are closely linked with the biology of this disease. Indeed, understanding of the basic biology of cervical cancer and its precursors is a prerequisite for effective disease control. As established by exhaustive epidemiological studies, several characteristics of sexual behaviour are consistently associated with an increased risk for cervical neoplasia and its precursors, suggesting that cervical neoplasia behaves like an STD. The most consistent ones include: (i) multiple sexual partners, (ii) promiscuous sexual partners, and (iii) early age at onset of sexual activity. It is agreed that these characteristics of sexual behaviour only represent surrogate markers of a sexually transmitted infectious pathogen, which is the proper aetiological agent of cervical cancer. The overwhelming biological, clinical and epidemiological evidence currently implicates HPV as such an agent, the high-risk type HPV16 being recently proclaimed by the IARC task force to be a definite carcinogen in humans. In addition to these STDassociated risk factors, low socioeconomic status, reproductive history, smoking habits, oral and barrier contraceptive use, dietary factors, immunosuppression, and frequency of cervical smears have been implicated as potential risk factors for cervical cancer. The increasing trends in cervical cancer incidence recently reported in many countries can be attributed to changes in any of these key epidemiological risk factors.
Extranets: A Comparison of the U.S. Forest Products Industry and Other U.S. Industries

This paper compares the use of extranets between the forest products industry and other U.S. business sectors. Extranets are secure networks that electronically link companies over the Internet. These linkages are proprietary and allow for commerce and other business transactions to take place electronically. Results indicate that the forest products industry uses extranet-based business applications with less frequency than other industrial sectors, receives fewer benefits and has greater concerns from using this business tool.
How Finnish companies use social media in China, and are cultural differences taken into account?

Markkanen, Sami How Finnish companies use social media in China, and are cultural differences taken into account? Jyvaskyla: University of Jyvaskyla, 2015, 81 p. Information Systems Science, Master‟s Thesis Supervisors: Clements, Kati; Pirkkalainen, Henri This master s thesis focuses on Chinese social media and how Finnish companies are utilizing those social media services available in China. China has restricted the availability of 'western' social media like Facebook and Twitter. But there are similar social media sites available, like Sina Weibo, which is the most popular at the moment and WeChat, which is rapidly increasing popularity among Chinese users. In the current economic situation, when Europe‟s economy is starting to recover from the debt crisis and the growth is still slow in America due to the sub-prime crisis, China offers companies great opportunities. China is still rapidly growing economy as well as society, where more and more people are in the middle class and can afford luxury items such as smartphones, which has increased consumption. Therefore companies should investigate the opportunities to expand to the Chinese markets. Social media offers companies excellent ways for consumer communications and marketing. In China the rapidly increasing number of smartphone owners have opened new ways for consumer communication to companies operating in China. Therefore it is important for companies to know Chinese social media and its restrictions. Finnish company that is starting to operate in China has to keep in mind the cultural differences as well as the social media restrictions, as cultural differences have an impact on the communication in every situation. This thesis offers Finnish companies a good basis on the cultural differences and information what to keep in mind when planning strategies for social media usage in China. The research was conducted by interviewing Finnish companies currently operating in China. The data collected via interviews was used to create few guidelines, which can help companies to increase their performance in Chinese social media