Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is Community Conversation Associated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Voluntary Counseling and Testing Service Uptake in Rural Communities in Ethiopia? A Comparative Cross-sectional Study

Background: Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) is a cost-effective tool to prevent and control human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immodeficiency syndrome. Community conversation (CC) is a community-based strategy meant to enhance the community utilization of VCT. However, the role of CC in VCT service uptake has not yet been evaluated. Aims: This study was conducted to compare VCT service utilization between rural communities with well CC performance and rural communities with poor CC performance in Shebedino woreda. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional comparative community-based study was conducted in 2010 among 462 selected adults in the age bracket of 15-59 years. VCT service uptake was compared between well CC performing communities and poor CC performing communities using two sample test of proportion. Predictors of VCT service uptake were determined using logistic regression model. Results: Uptake of VCT service and the related VCT knowledge were statistically higher in well CC performing communities than poor CC performing communities; [73.0% vs. 54.1%, P < 0.001) vs. 97.8% vs. 93.8%, P = 0.034]. CC, VCT knowledge, and knowledge on HIV transmission were independent predictors of VCT service utilization. Conclusion: Uptake of VCT service is higher in well CC performing communities. Emphasis should be given to strengthen CC performance.
Determinants of Corporate Profitability: An Empirical Study of Indian Drugs and Pharmaceutical Industry

This paper provides on empirical evidence about the determinants of profitability of selected companies in drugs and pharmaceutical industry in Indio. It is based on a sample of fifty firms in drugs and pharmaceutical industry drawn from PROWESS database developed by CMIE. It covers a period of ten years from 1995-6 to 2004-5. The profitability of firms has been measured in terms of overage return on capital employed. In order to study the determinants of profitability, ten explanatory variables, i.e., size (total assets), post profitability (OPR, NPR), age, advertising intensity, retention ratio, liquidity, efficiency ratios (inventory turnover ratio, debtor turnover ratio, asset turnover ratio), long term finance, market shore, and research and development intensity were chosen for empirical investigation. Multiple regression analysis was used to develop a model to identify the determinants of profitability of firms in this industry. The results revealed that age, efficiency ratio, post profitability, and research and development intensity ore statistically significant in determining the profitability of firms in drugs and pharmaceutical industry.
Chemical composition of human milk in poor Indian women.

Results of a comprehensive investigation on the chemical composition of milk in a series of mothers living in and around Coonoor India is presented. Of low socioeconomic status all of the mothers were apparently normal at the time of investigation. The mothers were divided into 5 groups depending upon the stage of lactation as follows: group 1--within 1 month after delivery; group 2--2nd to end of 6th month; group 3--7th to end of 12th month; group 4--13th to end of 18th month; and group 5--beyond 18 months. The composition of milk in 12 pregnant women in different trimesters of pregnancy who were still feeding their infants was also investigated. Although the women did not exhibit specific clinical signs of malnutrition their body weights were subnormal and their diets were inadequate according to generally accepted standards. Milk samples from 191 mothers in different stages of lactation were analyzed for total solids fat protein lactose vitamins A thiamine riboflavin ascorbic acid total mineral matter calcium phosphorus sodium potassium magnesium iron copper and zinc. The concentration of all the constituents studied except thiamine was higher in the 1st month after delivery than in the later stages of lactation. The proximate values compared well with the reported values from countries with better diets but the vitamins were lower. After the 1st month of lactation neither the stage of lactation nor the parity of the mother appeared to affect the chemical composition of milk significantly. There was no correlation between the milks iron content and the hemoglobin levels. Samples of milk from pregnant women showed a marked increase in the protein concentration and a relative fall in calcium concentration.
Seat belt use by adult rear seat passengers in private passenger, taxi, and rideshare vehicles

Using seat belts reduces traffic injuries and fatalities. There are no observational studies comparing use of seat belts by front and rear seat adult passengers in the United States (U.S.), and no comparisons of rear seat belt use by adult passengers in private, taxi, and rideshare vehicles. This observational study of drivers and adult passengers in two cities, one with a primary and the other with a secondary seat belt enforcement law, found the laws affected seat belt use by drivers but not by rear seat passengers, and that rear seat passengers wore seat belts more in private vehicles than in taxis. The latter result was not because of lack of seat belt availability in taxis. Results also showed that modeling of seat belt use by drivers had little effect on seat belt use by rear seat passengers. Results from rideshare vehicles was mixed. Implications for future research and countermeasures are discussed.
Process of Care for Medicaid-Enrolled Children With Asthma: Served by Community Health Centers and Other Providers

Objective. To compare the process of care received by Medicaid-enrolled children with asthma served by community health centers (CHCs) and other Medicaid providers. Design. Retrospective cohort study. Setting. Five provider types serving Massachusetts Medicaid enrollees: three provider groups—CHCs, hospital outpatient departments (OPDs), and solo/group physicians—participating in the statewide Primary Care Clinician Plan; a staff model health maintenance organization (HMO); and fee-for-service (FFS) providers. Study Population. Six thousand three hundred twenty-one Medicaid-enrolled children (age 2–18) with asthma assigned to one of the above provider types in 1994. Data. Person-level files were constructed by linking Medicaid claims, demographic and enrollment files with HMO encounter data. Methods. Five claims-based process of care measures reflecting aspects of care recommended in national guidelines were developed and used to analyze patterns of care across provider types, controlling for case-mix and other covariates. Results. Children served by CHCs and the HMO had significantly higher asthma visit rates compared with those served by OPDs, solo/group physicians and FFS providers. CHCs emergency department (ED) visit rates for asthma were lower than those of OPDs (P <0.001) and similar to other providers. However, CHC patients averaged more asthma hospitalizations relative to solo/group physicians or the HMO (P <0.0001). In multivariate analyses, children served by CHCs were 2.2 times as likely (95% CI, 1.02–4.91) as those served by solo/group physicians to receive a follow-up visit within 5 days of an asthma ED visit and 4.3 times as likely (95% CI, 1.45–12.68) to receive a follow-up visit within 5 days of hospital discharge. CHC patients with utilization suggestive of persistent asthma were less likely (OR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.13–0.59) than those served by solo/group physicians to be seen by an asthma specialist. There were no significant differences in measures of asthma pharmacotherapy across providers types. Conclusion. These data suggest that CHCs provide more timely follow-up care after an asthma ED visit or hospitalization relative to solo/group physicians, but diminished access to asthma specialists. There were no differences in asthma pharmacology across providers. Relatively low access to asthma specialists among children served by CHCs warrants further investigation.
Schedule Optimization of Hydroxyurea and 1-/ ?-D-Arabinofuranosylcytosine in Sarcoma 180 in Wfro 1

The lethal and sublethal effects of 1-/? -D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (ara-C) were studied in Sarcoma 180 in vitro in relation to drug concentration and drug exposure duration. Drug le thality was found to be dependent on both drug concentration and drug exposure duration. These studies confirmed that radioautographic grain counts reflect relative rates of DMA synthesis in individual cells. When the radioautographic data and flow cytometry data are considered together, it is apparent that ara-C blocked cells at multiple points in the cell cycle. However, blockade was not complete; low levels of DNA syn thesis persisted, even during prolonged drug exposure. The time course of recovery of rapid DNA synthesis following ex posure to ara-C was delayed in comparison with that observed following exposure to hydroxyurea. The optimal time interval between two split 1-hr exposures to ara-C or two split 1-hr exposures to hydroxyurea coincided with the time that cells recruited into rapid cycle by the first dose were passing through mid-S and synthesizing DNA at high rates. These findings suggest that the concept of graded DNA synthesis rate-de pendent drug lethality may be preferable to the all-or-none concept of S-phase specificity. The optimum interval between split doses of ara-C was not related to intracellular levels of 1jÃŸ-o-arabinofuranosylcytosine 5'-triphosphate as a function of time after exposure to the first dose. Overall, the dependence of ara-C lethality on drug concentration, drug exposure dura tion, and the rate of cellular DNA synthesis are most consistent with the premise that the amount of ara-CTP incorporated into DNA is a major determinant of drug lethality.
Deep Recurrent Convolutional Neural Networks for Classifying P300 BCI signals

We develop and test three deep-learning recurrent convolutional architectures for learning to recognize single trial EEG event related potentials for P300 brain-computer interfaces (BCI)s. One advantage of the neural network solution is that it provides a natural way to share a lower-level feature space between subjects while adapting the classifier that works on that feature space. We compare the deep neural networks with the standard methods for P300 BCI classification.
Identification of the Site in the Substance P (NK-1) Receptor for Modulation of Peptide Binding by Sulfhydryl Reagents (*)

Substance P (SP) is a peptide neurotransmitter that is involved in multiple responses in both the central and the peripheral nervous systems through a G-protein-coupled receptor. The primary structure of the rat SP receptor contains a number of conserved cysteine residues. To localize and identify the cysteine residues that participate in receptor binding, intact Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing the SP receptor were treated with various sulfhydryl reagents and the effect of these reagents on radioiodinated SP binding affinity and dissociation rate was determined. We used a series of amphiphilic maleimide derivatives in which the reactive maleimide group penetrates to different depths within the plane of membrane. Only the maleimide derivatives with intermediate chain lengths modified receptor binding properties, indicating that the reactive sulfhydryl group is located within a transmembrane domain of the receptor close (within 1.7 nm) to the extracellular border. Since peptide binding to a mutant receptor C199S, in which Cys-199 was replaced by a serine, was found to be insensitive to modulation by sulfhydryl reagents, this reactive sulfhydryl group is on Cys-199 of the receptor. Receptor occupancy by SP protects Cys-199 from modification and thus this residue is either located at or conformationally linked to the SP binding site.
PETS2009: Dataset and challenge

This paper describes the crowd image analysis challenge that forms part of the PETS 2009 workshop. The aim of this challenge is to use new or existing systems for i) crowd count and density estimation, ii) tracking of individual(s) within a crowd, and iii) detection of separate flows and specific crowd events, in a real-world environment. The dataset scenarios were filmed from multiple cameras and involve multiple actors.
Talbot interferometry with increased shear.

The modification of Talbot interferometer configuration for obtaining moire fringe shearing interferograms with an increased shear amount is proposed. The problem of decrease of interferogram quality that occurs when using higher frequency gratings is significantly eliminated by rotating the beam splitter grating about the axis perpendicular to the grating lines. The theory of the interferometer and its experimental verification are presented.
Polyurethane scaffold for the treatment of partial meniscal tears. Clinical results with a minimum two-year follow-up

Abstract Purpose: to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the polyurethane meniscal scaffold through clinical examination, MRI and arthroscopic second look, over a minimum two-year follow-up. Methods: between 2009 and 2011, 19 patients underwent meniscal scaffold implantation in our department (medial meniscus in 16 cases lateral meniscus in two cases, and bilateral in one case). All the patients were clinically evaluated preoperatively, and at 6, 12, and 24 months after surgery using Lysholm score, Tegner score, and VAS. Ten patients were studied with MRI, and nine patients were evaluated arthroscopically. Results: no adverse reactions to the implant were observed. The clinical scores showed a significant improvement at 6 months and increased progressively over time. On MRI studies, the implants showed a clear hyperintense signal, sometimes irregular, and the chondral surface was preserved in all cases. At arthroscopic second look in the first months after surgery, the scaffold size was unchanged and the scaffold appeared light yellowish in color and well integrated into the surrounding tissues. At arthroscopic second look at 12 and 24 months the scaffold was found to have an irregular morphology and to be slightly reduced in size. Conclusions: polyurethane meniscal scaffold is a good alternative to a collagen scaffold, but a longer follow-up is needed to evaluate the scaffold degradation and chondral coverage. Level of Evidence: level IV, therapeutic case series.
Effects of Family Psychoeducation on Expressed Emotion and Burden of Care in First-Episode Psychosis: A Prospective Observational Study

The present study aimed to examine the levels and interactions of family burden (FB) and expressed emotion (EE) in first episode psychosis (FEP) patients and, secondly, to observe the potential change after a brief psychoeducational group intervention implemented in a real world clinical setting. Twenty-three key relatives of FEP patients received a brief psychoeducational group intervention. FB and EE were assessed before and after the intervention. EE-change and correlations between variables were examined. Half of the sample of key-relatives showed high levels of EE. No severe family burden was observed. FB and EE did not change after the intervention. Family subjective and objective burden were correlated with emotional overinvolvement, but not with criticism. Brief psychoeducational groups may not be sufficient to reduce FB and EE associated to the experience of caregiving for a family member with a first-episode psychotic disorder. El presente estudio tiene por objetivo examinar los niveles y las interacciones de la sobrecarga familiar (SF) y emoción expresada (EE) en cuidadores de pacientes con un primer episodio de psicosis (PEP) y, secundariamente, observar su potencial cambio después de un grupo psicoeducativo breve implementado en un contexto asistencial rutinario. Veintitrés familiares clave de pacientes con un PEP recibieron una breve intervención grupal de tipo psicoeducativo. SF y EE fueron evaluados antes y después de la intervención. Se examinó tanto el cambio de la SF y la EE como las correlaciones entre ellas. La mitad de la muestra de familiares mostró altos nivel de EE. No se observó una SF grave. Ni la SF ni la EE cambiaron después de la intervención. La sobrecarga familiar objetiva y subjetiva correlacionaron con la sobreimplicación, pero no con los comentarios críticos. Los grupos psicoeducativos breves pueden no ser suficiente para reducir la SF y la EE asociada a la experiencia
16-bit Digital Adder Design in 250nm and 64-bit Digital Comparator Design in 90nm CMOS Technologies

Boppana, N.V. Vijaya Krishna. M.S.Egr. , Department of Electrical Engineering, Wright State University, 2014. Design of Fast, Low Power and Area Efficient static and dynamic digital designs in 250nm and 90nm CMOS Technologies. High speed, low power, and area efficient adders and comparators continue to play a key role in hardware implementation of digital signal processing applications. Adders based on Complimentary Pass Transistor Logic (CPL) are power and area efficient, but are slower compared to Square Root Carry Select (SQRT-CS) based adders. This thesis demonstrates a unique custom designed 16-bit adder in 250-nm CMOS technology to obtain fast and power/area efficient features by combining CPL and CS logic. Comparing the results obtained for proposed 16-bit Linear CPL/CS adder with the BEC (Binary Excess-1 Code) based low power SQRT-CS adder, the delay is reduced by approximately one thirds, power is reduced by 19.2%, and the number of transistors is reduced by 23.4%. Also, new tree-based 64-bit static and dynamic digital comparators are presented in this thesis to perform high speed and low power operations. This treebased architecture combines a new approach of designing dynamic comparator using a low duty cycle clock to reduce the short circuit power consumption in pre-charge (or predischarge) mode. This work also introduces a new sizing strategy and load balancing techniques to improve self-pipelining tendency of a tree based design. A resource sharing technique is also integrated in both static and dynamic comparator designs. At 1.2V
Regulating False Disclosure

Firms communicate private information about product quality through a combination of pricing and disclosure where disclosure may be deliberately false. In a competitive setting, we examine the effect of regulation penalizing false disclosure. Stronger regulation reduces the reliance on price signaling, thereby lowering market power and consumption distortions; however, it often creates incentives for excessive disclosure. Regulation is suboptimal unless disclosure itself is inexpensive and even in the latter case, only strong regulation is welfare improving. Weak regulation is always worse than no regulation. Even high quality firms suffer due to regulation.
Impact of Business Group Affiliation on Capital Structure Adjustment Speed: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Sector

Abstract Firms’ capital structure dynamics and ownership structure are two extensively studied subjects of research in corporate finance in recent years. This study combines these two branches of research and examines the impact of firms’ ownership structure on capital structure dynamics. More specifically, it examines the asymmetry in adjustment speed between group and stand-alone firms. The study uses data of 1,415 listed Indian manufacturing firms over the period of 2005–2013 (9 years) from ‘Capitaline Plus’ database. It specifies a partial adjustment model and uses the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique to estimate the adjustment speed. The results show that Indian manufacturing firms close about 30 percent of their leverage gap every year. For group firms, the annual speed of adjustment is about 20–29 percent whereas for stand-alone firms, it is about 38–41 percent. Lesser potential benefits or higher costs of adjustments may be responsible for slower adjustment speed of group firms than their stand-alone counterparts.
Assessment of quality-of-life outcomes.

Since 1948, when the World Health Organization defined health as being not only the absence of disease and infirmity but also the presence of physical, mental, and social well-being,1 quality-of-life issues have become steadily more important in health care practice and research. There has been a nearly exponential increase in the use of quality-of-life evaluation as a technique of clinical research since 1973, when only 5 articles listed “quality of life” as a reference key word in the MEDLINE data base; during the subsequent five-year periods, there were 195, 273, 490, and 1252 such articles. The growing fields of outcomes .
A Comparative Study on Hotel Consumers' Online Feedback Behaviors

This paper is intended to analyze the interrelationship between the textual comment and the itemized rating in consumers' online feedback, and to study differentiations among diversified segments of consumers who leave the feedback. The data were collected from both an international top tourism service website which operates hotel booking services internationally and offers online hotel reputation feedback services, and its China host website. Based on the coded comments and itemized ratings from the dataset, our study shows that different customer segments demonstrate varied interrelationship behavioral patterns, and factors like satisfaction and contextual backgrounds will matter. The findings from this research may help hotels to develop varied marketing strategies for different segment of customers, and help online reputation sites to improve their services by distinguishing dissimilar behavioral patterns in different customer segments.
Financial Risk Management of Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefits Embedded in Variable Annuities

A guaranteed minimum income benefit (GMIB) is a long-dated option that can be embedded in a deferred variable annuity. The GMIB is attractive because, for policyholders who plan to annuitize, it offers protection against poor market performance during the accumulation phase, and adverse interest rate experience at annuitization. The GMIB also provides an upside equity guarantee that resembles the benefit provided by a lookback option. We price the GMIB, and determine the fair fee rate that should be charged. Due to the long dated nature of the option, conventional hedging methods, such as delta hedging, will only be partially successful. Therefore, we are motivated to find alternative hedging methods which are practicable for long-dated options. First, we measure the effectiveness of static hedging strategies for the GMIB. Static hedging portfolios are constructed based on minimizing the Conditional Tail Expectation of the hedging loss distribution, or minimizing the mean squared hedging loss. Next, we measure the performance of semi-static hedging strategies for the GMIB. We present a practical method for testing semi-static strategies applied to long term options, which employs nested Monte Carlo simulations and standard optimization methods. The semi-static strategies involve periodically rebalancing the hedging portfolio at certain time intervals during the accumulation phase, such that, at the option maturity date, the hedging portfolio payoff is equal to or exceeds the option value, subject to an acceptable level of risk. While we focus on the GMIB as a case study, the methods we utilize are extendable to other types of long-dated options with similar features.