Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hydraulics of the Developing Flow Region of Stepped Spillways. II: Pressure and Velocity Fields

AbstractIn skimming flow on a stepped spillway, the upstream flow motion is nonaerated and a turbulent boundary layer develops until the outer edge of the boundary layer interacts with the free surface; that is, at the inception point of air entrainment. Herein, new experiments were performed in the developing flow region on a large 1 V∶1 H stepped spillway model with step height h=0.10 m. The flow properties in the developing flow region were carefully documented. In the developing boundary layer, the velocity distributions followed a 1/4.5th power law at the step edges. Detailed velocity and pressure measurements showed some rapid flow redistribution between step edges and above step cavities. The application of the momentum integral equation indicated an average friction factor of 0.18, which is close to the observed air-water-flow friction factor of 0.23, suggesting that the spatially averaged dimensionless shear stress was comparable in the developing flow and fully aerated flow regions.
Circulating U2 small nuclear RNA fragments as a novel diagnostic biomarker for primary central nervous system lymphoma.

BACKGROUND Primary central nervous system lymphomas (PCNSLs) are highly aggressive tumors. Chemotherapy has improved prognosis significantly; however, early diagnosis is crucial for effective treatment. Presently, the diagnosis of PCNSL depends on histopathology of tumor biopsies. We have previously demonstrated differential expression of microRNAs in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with PCNSL. Based on promising findings about circulating U2 small nuclear RNA fragments (RNU2-1f) as novel blood-based biomarkers for pancreatic, colorectal, and lung cancer, we investigated RNU2-1f in the CSF of PCNSL patients. METHODS CSF was collected from patients with PCNSL (n = 72) and control patients with various neurologic disorders (n = 47). Sequential CSF samples were collected from 9 PCNSL patients. RNU2-1f levels were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS Measurement of RNU2-1f levels in CSF enabled the differentiation of patients with PCNSL from controls with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.909 with a sensitivity of 68.1% and a specificity of 91.4%. The diagnostic accuracy was further improved by combined determination of RNU2-1f and miR-21, resulting in AUC of 0.987 with a sensitivity of 91.7% and a specificity of 95.7%. In consecutive measurements of RNU2-1f, which were performed in 9 patients at different stages of the disease course, RNU2-1f CSF levels paralleled the course of the disease. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that the measurement of RNU2-1f detected in CSF can be used as a diagnostic marker and also as a possible marker for treatment monitoring. These promising results need to be evaluated within a larger patient cohort.
Impact of Gender Diversity on Voluntary Disclosure in Annual Reports

This study examines the impact of the firm directorâ€™s gender on corporate voluntary disclosures in company annual reports. The study uses data for the fiscal years 2005-2007 of companies listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange during the year 2008 and particularly focuses on the gender of Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers and board of directors. The results indicate that firms with female Chief Financial Officers are associated with higher voluntary disclosures in annual reports. The findings also reveal that female Chief Executive Officers and proportion of female board members have no significant impact on voluntary disclosure in company annual reports.
LTBP2 gene analysis in the GLC3C-linked family and 94 CYP1B1-negative cases with primary congenital glaucoma

Purpose: Primary congenital glaucoma (isolated trabeculodysgensis, PCG) generally presents between birth and 3 years of age. Recently, mutations in Latent Transforming Growth Factor (TGF)-beta Binding Protein 2 (LTBP2) have been reported in several families that were diagnosed with PCG, who actually had a more complex ocular phenotype with ectopia lentis and Marfanoid features. We screened this gene for mutations in the original Turkish GLC3C-linked PCG family and in a group of CYP1B1-negative British PCG cases and their matched normal control subjects. Methods: The 36-coding exons of the LTBP2 gene were sequenced in 94 familial or sporadic CYP1B1-negative PCG cases and 96 matched normal control subjects. Results: No disease-causing mutations were identified in the original GLC3C-linked family. Screening of LTBP2 in 94 PCG and 96 control subjects identified three novel synonymous variations (L429L, P680P, S1031S) in 12 PCG and seven control subjects. A novel heterozygous missense mutation (R538W) was also identified in 1 of 90 PCG cases that is unlikely to be disease-causative. Conclusions: LTBP2 mutations were not found in the Turkish GLC3C-linked PCG family or in 94 British CYP1B1-negative PCG cases. Our data suggest that LTBP2 mutations are not a significant cause for isolated trabeculodysgenesis.
Revision and Validation of a Scale to Assess Pregnancy Stress

Background: Pregnancy is a potentially stressful event. Prenatal stress alters maternal endocrine and immune systems, has been implicated in the etiology of prenatal complications or postnatal psychiatric disorders, and may adversely affect fetal health. The 30-item Pregnancy Stress Rating Scale (PSRS), initially developed in 1983 by Chen and colleagues, is the only measure to date designed specifically to evaluate prenatal stress. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to reconsider and revise the 30-item PSRS and validate the new PSRS. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. Adding new items of pregnancy stress generated from clinical experience and expert recommendations resulted in a 40-item revised PSRS that was more reflective of current social conditions. Three hundred pregnant women, recruited from the antenatal clinic of a medical center in southern Taiwan, completed the revised PSRS to assess its internal consistency, test–retest reliability, construct validity, and convergent and discriminate validity. Results: The final 36-item PSRS (PSRS36) was derived by deleting four items with relatively low item–total correlation coefficients or factor loadings. The resultant 36-item scale showed good internal consistency (&agr; = .92) and 2-week test–retest reliability (r = .82). Factor analysis confirmed construct validity and suggested five prenatal stress dimensions, which explained 52.17% of the total variance. Convergent and discriminate validities were indicated by significant correlations among the PSRS36, Perceived Stress Scale, and Interpersonal Support Evaluation List. Conclusions: The PSRS36 is a psychometrically sound and practical tool for nurses and other healthcare providers to assess prenatal stress and to examine intervention protocols in Taiwanese prenatal women. More research is recommended to determine whether the PSRS36 may be used in other racial-ethnic groups.
The pricing of earnings : essays on the post-earnings announcement drift and earnings quality risk

This dissertation is concerned with the relationship between accounting earnings and stock prices. It consists of three empirical papers, all using a sample of firms listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (1990-2008). The first paper documents the existence of a drift in stock prices subsequent to quarterly earnings announcements. Two interesting empirical observations are that the drift is only significant for longer holding periods and that the drift on the short position, i.e. after bad earnings news, is negligible. The lack of downward drift on the short position is interpreted as an indication of the post-earnings announcement drift, at least partly, being explained by investors demanding a compensation for a risk factor that is omitted in the test design. The second paper illustrates under what conditions information risk in the earnings signal might explain a low announcement reaction and a price drift in the post-announcement period. It is hypothesized that two earnings signals – based either on GAAP earnings or core earnings – have different levels of information uncertainty with respect to how they depict the value creation of the firm. In the empirical sections, it is concluded that the low immediate announcement reaction and high post-announcement drift for the GAAP earnings signal is due to this signal being perceived by investors as containing more uncertainty than the core earnings signal. It is argued that this uncertainty might be due to GAAP earnings encompassing items that prior research has shown more likely to be manipulated and/or to contain estimation error. The positive association between information risk and expected return is further investigated in the third paper, where information risk is measured by earnings quality metrics. Using a new approach to estimate the implied cost of capital, it is found that Swedish investors demand a higher expected return for firms with poor earnings quality, i.e. firms associated with higher information risk.
Internal Marketing for Customer Satisfaction in Retail Sector

In addition to the external customers, the internal customers too are increasingly seen as the key to the organizational success. Unfortunately, many retail organizations do not think in these terms and, as a result, have not developed the orientation necessary to produce outstanding customer contact employees. This paper presents an empirical study on the relationship among internal marketing factors and job motivation and job satisfaction in the retail stores in Visakhapatnam city. Findings show significant correlations and suggest that the retail stores should concentrate on internal marketing to have the satisfied employees to deliver customer satisfaction.
High circulating levels of cytokines (IL-6 and TNFa), adhesion molecules (VCAM-1 and ICAM-1) and selectins in patients with peripheral arterial disease at rest and after a treadmill test

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a common manifestation of atherosclerosis that is associated with systemic inflammation. The aim of our study was to assess whether plasma markers of inflammation increased after exercise in patients with PAD. The study was conducted on two groups of 20 subjects each: one group (mean age 68.4 6 5.09 years) was affected by PAD with claudication, while the other group consisted of healthy controls (66.9 6 6.1 years). Concentrations of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFa) were determined in plasma, in supernatants and in cells stimulated with 1 mg lipopolysaccharide in all patients. E-selectin (ES), L-selectin (LS) and P-selectin (PS) concentrations and plasma concentrations of VCAM-1 and ICAM-I were also determined. All determinations were performed in patients at rest and after the treadmill exercise. Resting values of soluble mediators were greater in PAD patients than in controls. They increased in both groups after the treadmill test, even if post-treadmill concentrations were signifi cantly higher in PAD patients (PAD p < 0.001 or 0.0001, controls p < 0.05 or 0.001). These results confi rm that white blood cell activation is characteristic of systemic atherosclerosis and that these inflammation markers increase in conditions of hemodynamic stress.
Formative Evaluation of Job Clubs Operated by Faith- and Community-Based Organizations: Findings From Site Visits and Options for Future Evaluation

Over the past several decades, job search support groups, commonly referred to as “job clubs,” have evolved into one of several important activities used by the public workforce system and faithand community-based organizations to enhance worker readiness and employability, as well as to provide ongoing support to unemployed and underemployed individuals as they search for jobs. The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) contracted in September 2012 with Capital Research Corporation, Inc. and George Washington University to conduct an assessment of job clubs sponsored by faith-based and community-based organizations (FBOs/CBOs). The overall purpose of this evaluation effort was to systematically describe the key characteristics of job clubs being offered by a range of faithand communitybased organizations, document how they differ from and are similar to the job clubs operated by publiclyfunded workforce agencies (such as at American Job Centers [AJCs]), and identify potential approaches that might be used for more rigorous formal evaluation of impacts and effectiveness. Findings from the telephone interviews with stakeholders and in-person interviews with facilitators during the site visits indicate that job clubs operated by FBOs, CBOs and public workforce agencies are alike in many ways, with all of them emphasizing the critical importance of: (1) networking during the job search; (2) offering ongoing peer support and sharing of similar experiences among participants; and (3) providing instruction and guidance on the basics of the job search process (e.g., elevator pitches, resume development, job interview practice). Noteworthy differences between the FBO/CBO job clubs and those operated by public workforce agencies are related to staffing patterns and available resources for program operations and services. While public workforce agency job clubs are led by paid professional staff, supported by the full complement of workshops, activities, and other services typically available through AJCs/One-Stop Centers, FBO/CBO job clubs, in most cases, operate with limited budgets or no funding whatsoever. Additionally, compared with public sector agencies, FBOs/CBOs typically collect little in the way of participant-level data, such as participant identifiers, demographic characteristics, service receipt, or outcomes. Finally, although this report suggests several approaches to future rigorous experimental/non-experimental and process/ implementation evaluation of FBO/CBO-sponsored job clubs, there are likely to be formidable challenges to implementation of rigorous evaluation methods because these job clubs rarely collect identifying information on participants, such as Social Security numbers, and are generally opposed to random assignment for their programs.
Simultaneous Blockade of Two Glutamate Receptor Subtypes (NMDA and AMPA) Results in Stressor-Specific Inhibition of Prolactin and Corticotropin Release

Many neurons express simultaneously two or more isotypes of glutamate receptors, so that pharmacological modulation of more than one receptor may be necessary to reveal the role of glutamate in mediating physiological processes. The present studies were aimed at evaluating involvement of endogenous glutamate in triggering plasma prolactin (PRL) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels in response to three different stress stimuli (footshock, immobilization and ether stress). Blockade of glutamate receptor subtypes was achieved by the administration of the NMDA antagonist dizocilpine (MK-801, 0.2 mg/kg) and the selective AMPA antagonist GYKI 52466 (10 mg/kg). Rats were pretreated for 4–5 days and then exposed to stressful stimulation. Basal hormone levels were not affected by the antagonists. In male rats, combined, but not separate blockade of NMDA and AMPA/kainate subtypes of glutamate receptors prevented the rise in plasma PRL in response to footshock stress. In female rats, footshock-induced PRL release was inhibited even by separate blockade of NMDA receptors by dizocilpine, suggesting that the PRL system of females is more sensitive to the effect of NMDA antagonists than that of males. None of the treatments affected PRL release during immobilization or ether stress. Simultaneous blockade of NMDA and AMPA receptor subtypes resulted in a mild inhibition of immobilization-induced ACTH release without any effect on ACTH response to footshock or ether stress. The data suggest that involvement of glutamatergic pathways in neuroendocrine response during stress is selective for discrete stress stimuli and stress hormones. In addition a concerted action of glutamate on both NMDA and non-NMDA receptor subtypes is involved in the control of PRL release during footshock stress.
R&D Tax Policy During the Eighties: Success or Failure?

R&D Tax policy in the United States during the nineteen-eighties is evaluated. with particular emphasis placed on quantifying the impact of the R&D tax credit on the R&D investment of manufacturing firms. Using publicly available data on R&D spending at the firm level, I estimate an average price elasticity for R&D spending which is in the neighborhood of unity in the short run. Although the effective credit rate is small (less than five percent until 1990), this relatively strong price response means that the amount of additional R&D spending thus induced was greater than the cost in foregone tax revenue. The recent evolution of features of the U.S. corporate tax system which affect R&D is also reviewed and my results are compared with those of previous researchers. The conclusion is that R&D tax credit seems to have had the intended effect, although it took several years for firms to fully adjust. I also argue that although high correlation over time of R&D spending at the firm level makes it difficult to estimate long run effects precisely, the same high correlation makes it probable that these effects are large.
Channel Estimation and Data Detection in the Presence of Phase Noise in MIMO-OFDM Systems With Independent Oscillators

In this paper, we propose the mitigating scheme to reduce the effects of phase noise in multi-input multi-output-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system with independent oscillator in each RF chain. Our proposed schemes consist of two stages; channel estimation stage and data decoding stage. In the first stage, we propose the channel estimation algorithm based on maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimator and a method of selecting the training sequence for channel estimation and we provide the mathematical analysis of our proposed scheme. In the second stage, MAP estimators are used to jointly estimate phase noise at TX and RX and detect data symbols. For analysis of mean square error (MSE) performances, we derive Bayesian Cramėr-Rao bound for multi-parameter estimation problem in each stage. At the end of this paper, we demonstrate from our simulation results that our mathematical analysis is accurate and the proposed algorithm improves the bit-error-rate performance and MSE performance compared with existing schemes.
Maximal Aerobic Exercise Following Prolonged Sleep Deprivation

The effect of 60 h without sleep upon maximal oxygen intake was examined in 12 young women, using a cycle ergometer protocol. The arousal of the subjects was maintained by requiring the performance of a sequence of cognitive tasks throughout the experimental period. Well-defined oxygen intake plateaus were obtained both before and after sleep deprivation, and no change of maximal oxygen intake was observed immediately following sleep deprivation. The endurance time for exhausting exercise also remained unchanged, as did such markers of aerobic performance as peak exercise ventilation, peak heart rate, peak respiratory gas exchange ratio, and peak blood lactate. However, as in an earlier study of sleep deprivation with male subjects (in which a decrease of treadmill maximal oxygen intake was observed), the formula of Dill and Costill (4) indicated the development of a substantial (11.6%) increase of estimated plasma volume percentage with corresponding decreases in hematocrit and red cell count. Possible factors sustaining maximal oxygen intake under the conditions of the present experiment include (1) maintained arousal of the subjects with no decrease in peak exercise ventilation or the related respiratory work and (2) use of a cycle ergometer rather than a treadmill test with possible concurrent differences in the impact of hematocrit levels and plasma volume expansion upon peak cardiac output and thus oxygen delivery to the working muscles.
Issues of Country Financial Security Governance

Financial security of a state is one of the fundamental factors of its independence and sovereignty in the context of globalization and the permanent instability of social and economic processes. In this paper, we are going to analyze the factors that determine condition of financial security, aiming to explain dependence on the financial security of the harmonic development components of the financial system. We stress the need for effective financial system governance by regulators for national economy growth and development.
Adoption of Quality Management Practices in Seafood Processing Sector in Cochin Region

The study was conducted in 34 fish processing units in Ernakulam and Alleppey districts of Kerala. Data were collected on the general profile of the seafood processing units, availability of infrastructural facilities and managerial role performance of fish processors. The results revealed that 76.47% of the units were EU approved and 23.53% were Non-EU units. The average quantity handled per day was 11.12 t while the production capacity was 21.51 t day-1. For the availability of infrastructural facilities in the processing units, the adequacy index was more than 90. The overall role performance index of the fish processors was found to be 74.46. The adoption of quality management practices was determined in terms of good hygienic practices (Mean: 99.51%), good manufacturing practices (Mean: 97.65%), standard sanitation operation procedures (Mean: 99.08%) and good laboratory practices (Mean: 96.33%). The significant ‘F’ value in the multiple regression analysis revealed the overall significance of influence of 14 independent variables when taken together in explaining the extent of adoption of good hygienic practices by the fish processing units. Of the fourteen variables, only type of approval and adequacy of infrastructural availability in the processing units positively contributed towards the extent of adoption of quality management practices. The R2 value indicated that the 14 variables selected together explained 67.70% of variation in the adoption level. The major constraints expressed by the processors were also listed out.