Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
When do general practitioners request urine specimens for microbiology analysis? The applicability of antibiotic resistance surveillance based on routinely collected data.

OBJECTIVES We do not know how representative reported levels of resistance to antibiotics in urinary tract infections (UTIs) are as there is wide variation in the rate of urine specimens submitted to microbiology laboratories by general practices. We used a questionnaire to investigate variation in sampling for patients with suspected UTI to explore any systematic bias that may influence interpretation of surveillance data based on routine data. METHODS We sent a questionnaire to a stratified random sample of general practitioners (GPs) in Wales for self-completion. The GPs were presented with six clinical scenarios and asked about their proposed clinical management. RESULTS We found that nearly all of the GPs indicated they would request a specimen for scenarios representing a probable UTI in a female child and a probable asymptomatic UTI in pregnancy. There was some variation between the GPs about sampling in a situation of treatment failure in an older woman and recurrent UTI in a male diabetic, with 90% and 81%, respectively, indicating they would request a specimen for these scenarios. The greatest variation was in relation to scenarios concerning the management of a probable uncomplicated UTI, and early patient symptoms with pressure to prescribe, with 56% and 33% of GPs, respectively, indicating they would request a urine specimen for laboratory analysis. CONCLUSIONS In the light of this reported sampling behaviour, it is likely that there is a systematic bias in surveillance data based on routinely collected data, with samples from cases of uncomplicated UTI being under represented, potentially leading to an overestimation of true resistance rates.
Earnings Management by Non‐profit Organisations: Evidence from UK Charities

Informed by stakeholder theory and resource dependence theory, this paper investigates whether United Kingdom (UK) charities are engaged in earnings management practices. Based on a sample of 1414 charities over a five-year period (2008–2012) this study firstly finds that UK charities use discretionary accruals to drive their financial results toward a zero surplus/deficit; this result also reveals that the distribution of reported earnings around zero is prevalent amongst UK charities. In addition, in contrast to prior findings, the empirical results point to a significant association between leverage and earnings management behaviour by charities. Lastly, this study also finds that the practice of earnings management is influenced by non-profit organizational size.
Do higher education institutes communicate trust well?

The relationship between trust and information sources for new purchasers of higher education is discussed. A range of sources is evaluated by potential entrants into UK higher education, and indicates that universities tend to be regarded as the most trustworthy when information is directly associated with them and social networks, and friends and student-derived sources the least, along with Key Information Set data.
The non-linear feedback shift-register as a built-in self-test (BIST) resource

Properties of nonlinear-feedback shift registers (NLFSRs), are studied and their suitability as built-in self-test (BIST) components in VLSI circuits is investigated. The feasibility is discussed of mapping fault-free circuit-under-test response to one of the least frequently occurring signatures within the signature space of the n-stage NLFSR. A number of illustrations are offered that justify the serious consideration of NLFSRs as components for use in BIST applications. <<ETX>>
Multicenter evaluation of a broth macrodilution antifungal susceptibility test for yeasts

Thirteen laboratories collaborated to optimize interlaboratory agreement of results of a broth macrodilution procedure for testing three classes of antifungal drugs against pathogenic yeasts. The activities of amphotericin B, flucytosine, and ketoconazole were tested against 100 coded isolates of Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis, Candida lusitaniae, Torulopsis (Candida) glabrata, and Cryptococcus neoformans. Two starting yeast inoculum sizes (5 x 10(4) and 2.5 x 10(3) cells per ml) were compared, and readings were taken after 24 and 48 h of incubation. All other test conditions were standardized. The resultant turbidities in all tubes were estimated visually on a scale from 0 to 4+ turbidity, and MIC-0, MIC-1, and MIC-2 were defined as the lowest drug concentrations that reduced growth to 0, 1+, or 2+ turbidity, respectively. For flucytosine, agreement among laboratories varied between 57 and 87% for different inocula, times of incubation, and end point criteria. Agreement was maximized (85%) when the lower inoculum was incubated for 2 days and the MICs were defined as 1+ turbidity or less. For amphotericin B, variations in test conditions produced much smaller differences in interlaboratory agreement. For ketoconazole, interlaboratory agreement was poorer by all end point criteria. However, MIC-2 endpoints distinguished T. glabrata as resistant compared with the other species. Overall, the studies indicated that readings from the lower inoculum obtained on the second day of reading result in the greatest interlaboratory agreement. In combination with data from previous multicenter studies (National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards, Antifungal Susceptibility Testing: Committee Report, Vol. 5, No. 17, 1988; M. A. Pfaller, L. Burmeister, M. S. Bartlett, and M. G. Rinaldi, J. Clin. Microbiol. 26:1437-1441, 1988; M. A. Pfaller, M. G. Rinaldi, J. N. Galgiani, M. S. Bartlett, B.A. Body, A. Espinel-Ingroff, R.A. Fromtling, G.S. Hall, C.E. Hughes, F. C. Odds, and A. M. SUgar, J. Clin. Microbiol. 34:1648-1654, 1990), these findings will be used by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards to develop a standardized method for in vitro antifungal susceptibility testing for yeasts.
Comparison of low attenuation areas on computed tomographic scans between inner and outer segments of the lung in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: incidence and contribution to lung function

BACKGROUND The low attenuation areas on computed tomographic (CT) scans have been reported to represent emphysematous changes of the lung. However, the regional distribution of emphysema between the inner and outer segments of the lung has not been adequately studied. In this study the regional distribution of low attenuation areas has been compared by quantitative CT analysis and the contribution of the regional distribution to pulmonary function tests evaluated in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS Chest CT images and the results of pulmonary function tests were obtained from 73 patients with COPD. The lung images were divided into inner and outer segments in the upper (cranial), middle, and lower (caudal) sections. The percentage ratio of low attenuation area to corresponding lung area (LAA%) was then calculated. The LAA% of each segment was also compared with the results of pulmonary function tests. RESULTS The mean (SD) LAA% of the inner segment was 39.1 (18.5) compared with 28.1 (13.2) for the outer segment (p<0.0001). Linear and multiple regression analyses revealed that airflow limitation is closely correlated with the inner segment LAA% of the lower lung. In contrast, the carbon monoxide transfer factor is closely correlated with the inner segment LAA% of the upper lung. CONCLUSION Low attenuation areas on CT scans are more often found in the inner segment of the lung than in the outer segment, and the contribution of the inner segment to pulmonary function tests may be greater than the outer segment.
Essays on financial intermediation

In this dissertation, I analyze behavior of two types of financial intermediaries that play critical roles in capital allocation: ratings agencies and merger advisors. Each type of intermediary survives due to (assumed) informational advantages relative to firms and investors. In the following chapters, I analyze how differences in information between market participants and intermediaries lead to signaling behavior related to privately-observed quality. My results explain some seemingly-anomalous aspects of financial markets, and provide a framework for assessing the impact intermediaries can have on efficient capital allocation.In the first chapter, I examine whether rating agencies strategically manipulate the informativeness of bond ratings in response to competition from private lenders. I model a monopolistic rating agency that caters to a low-quality marginal customer with uninformative ratings. High-quality customers prefer informative ratings but are captive customers of the rating agency in the absence of competition from private lenders. With competition from private lenders, the rating agency uses informative ratings to keep high-quality customers in public markets. The model also suggests that the ratings sector dampens the impact of capital supply shocks, and offers a strategic pricing rationale for the controversial practice of issuing unsolicited credit ratings. In the second chapter, I test predictions of the model using a measure of informativeness based on the impact of unexpected ratings on a debt issuer's borrowing cost. I analyze two events that increased the relative supply of private vs.\ public lending: the temporary shutdown of the high-yield market in 1989 and legislation in 1994 that reduced barriers to interstate bank lending. After each event, I find that the informativeness of ratings increased for issuers whose relative supply of private vs.\ public capital increased most. In the third chapter, I analyze how acquiring firms select and pay advisors. I present a model in which an advisor with privately known quality screens targets (due diligence) and improves negotiation outcomes (bidding). When a transaction involves only bidding, advisors pool by offering fees contingent on a completed transaction. By contrast, a transaction involving due diligence can lead to a separating equilibrium and fixed fees. The model predicts that acquirers use advisor market share instead of stock return-based measures to select advisors when synergies are not observable, and that acquirers with better information about advisor quality pay higher fees. I argue that investors in leveraged buyouts are skilled in acquisitions, and find that they pay higher fees for both mergers and tender offers, controlling for assignment and deal characteristics. They are also less likely to include contingent fees than other acquirers. Results suggest skilled investors use private information about advisor ability to hire advisors, and do so primarily to screen targets rather than to improve negotiation outcomes.
Pragmatic Measures to Obviate Staff Retention Challenges: A Case Study of Perceptions of Selected Human Resources Personnel in Zimbabwe's Public and Private Universities

This exploration critiqued out pragmatic measures to obviate staff retention challenges faced by purposely sampled Zimbabwe’s two public and two private universities from the Human Resources Personnel perceptions. Two private universities and one public university’s Human Resources personnel were selected by means of stakeholder sampling. Data were generated using open-ended interviews. Data were analysed using NVivo software. The study found out pragmatic measures to obviate staff retention challenges faced by Zimbabwe’s public and private universities called for the need for a concerted approach by all stakeholders in the overall development of the universities if staff retention challenges were to be curtailed. The study’s major conclusion was that engagement of diverse strategic partners is one of the routes to effective staff retention in public and private universities. The study recommends that Government needs to be involved in the funding operations of private universities in the similar manner it does to private schools by paying lecturers’ salaries and giving grants and scholarships because it is the government’s duty to educate its citizens. Further studies in staff retention strategies in universities need to be conducted on a wider scale to establish how universities in the country are managing the retention of their academic staff.
Smoking and inflammatory bowel disease: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE To assess whether there is a true effect of smoking on the 2 most prevalent forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): Crohn disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). METHODS For this meta-analysis, we searched multiple health care databases, including MEDLINE and EMBASE (January 1980 to January 2006), to examine the relationship between smoking and IBD. Keywords searched included smoking, Inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis. Data were abstracted using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. An odds ratio (OR) was recalculated for each study using the random-effects model, and a combined OR was calculated. RESULTS A total of 245 articles were obtained through an electronic search of health care databases. Thirteen studies examined the relationship between UC and smoking, whereas 9 examined the relationship between CD and smoking. We found evidence of an association between current smoking and CD (OR, 1.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.40-2.22) and former smoking and UC (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.37-2.34). Current smoking had a protective effect on the development of UC when compared with controls (OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.45-0.75). CONCLUSION This is the first meta-analysis, to our knowledge, to evaluate the relationship between smoking and IBD using accepted quality standards for meta-analysis reporting. Our meta-analyses confirm that smoking is an important environmental factor in IBD with differing effects in UC and CD. By using predefined inclusion criteria and testing for homogeneity, the current analysis provides an estimate of the effect of smoking on both these forms of IBD.
Efficient Mechanisms to Allocate Assignment Incentives in the Navy

Abstract : In 1973, the United States Navy moved from being a conscription force to being an all-volunteer force. All assignments, however, may not necessarily be voluntary. These assignments (jobs) have been labeled as "hard to fill" by Navy leadership, and the Navy has implemented market-based, cash stipends to attract Sailors to these jobs. An auction has been determined to be the method used for distributing the stipends. The current format of the auction is often described as a first-price sealed-bid, but it is actually a multi-attribute auction, since the lowest bidder for an assignment may not receive it due to other factors considered in the assignment process, such as skills match, timing, moving costs, etc. This report investigates various auction formats with respect to efficiency, suitability, and feasibility.
Stability Analysis of the Labrador Current

Mooring observations and model simulations point to an instability of the Labrador Current (LC) during winter, with enhanced eddy kinetic energy (EKE) at periods between 2 to 5 days, and much less EKE during other seasons. Linear stability analysis using vertical shear and stratification from the model reveals three dominant modes of instability in the LC: - a balanced interior mode with along-flow wavelengths of about 30–45 km, phase velocities of 0.3 m/s, maximal growth rates of 1 d−1 and surface intensified, but deep reaching amplitudes, - a balanced shallow mode with along-flow wavelengths of about 0.3–1.5 km, about three times larger phase speeds and growth rates, but amplitudes confined to the mixed layer (ML), - and an unbalanced symmetric mode with largest growth rates, vanishing phase speeds and along-flow structure, and very small cross-flow wavelengths, also confined to the ML. Both balanced modes are akin to baroclinic instability, but operate at moderate to small Richardson numbers Ri with much larger growth rates as for the quasi-geostrophic limit of Ri ≫ 1. The interior mode is found to be responsible for the instability of the LC during winter. Weak stratification and enhanced vertical shear due to local buoyancy loss and the advection of convective water masses from the interior result in small Ri within the LC, and to three times larger growth rates of the interior mode in March compared to summer and fall conditions. Both the shallow and the symmetric mode are not resolved by the model, but it is suggested that they might also play an important role for the instability in the LC and for lateral mixing.
Perceived poor sleep quality in the absence of polysomnographic sleep disturbance in women with severe premenstrual syndrome

Women with severe premenstrual syndrome report sleep‐related complaints in the late‐luteal phase, but few studies have characterized sleep disturbances prospectively. This study evaluated sleep quality subjectively and objectively using polysomnographic and quantitative electroencephalographic measures in women with severe premenstrual syndrome. Eighteen women with severe premenstrual syndrome (30.5 ± 7.6 years) and 18 women with minimal symptoms (controls, 29.2 ± 7.3 years) had polysomnographic recordings on one night in each of the follicular and late‐luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. Women with premenstrual syndrome reported poorer subjective sleep quality when symptomatic in the late‐luteal phase compared with the follicular phase (P < 0.05). However, there were no corresponding changes in objective sleep quality. Women with premenstrual syndrome had more slow‐wave sleep and slow‐wave activity than controls at both menstrual phases (P < 0.05). They also had higher trait‐anxiety, depression, fatigue and perceived stress levels than controls at both phases (P < 0.05) and mood worsened in the late‐luteal phase. Both groups showed similar menstrual‐phase effects on sleep, with increased spindle frequency activity and shorter rapid eye movement sleep episodes in the late‐luteal phase. In women with premenstrual syndrome, a poorer subjective sleep quality correlated with higher anxiety (r = −0.64, P = 0.005) and more perceived nighttime awakenings (r = −0.50, P = 0.03). Our findings show that women with premenstrual syndrome perceive their sleep quality to be poorer in the absence of polysomnographically defined poor sleep. Anxiety has a strong impact on sleep quality ratings, suggesting that better control of mood symptoms in women with severe premenstrual syndrome may lead to better subjective sleep quality.
Subspace MMSE receiver for multicarrier CDMA

We consider subspace-based MMSE multiuser detection for multicarrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) in Rayleigh fading channels. The knowledge of the fading coefficients for all the carriers and the timing delay of the desired user is needed to construct the MMSE detector. A subspace-based channel estimation technique is developed to obtain the required information. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm is robust to fading and moderate near-far situations.
Relative Consistency of Projective Reconstructions Obtained from the Same Image Pair

This study obtains projective reconstructions of an object or a scene from its image pair and measures relative consistency of these projective reconstructions. 3D points are estimated from an image pair using projective and epipolar geometry. Two measures are presented for verification of projective reconstructions with each other. These measures are based on the equality of ratios between the x-, y- and z-coordinates of 3D reconstructed points which are obtained from the same corresponding points. This information is used for measuring the relative consistency of projective reconstructions obtained from the same image pair.
Making Use of H-index: the Shape of Science at the University of Sarajevo

Introduction: Quantifying science and scientific contribution has become one of the main tasks in evaluating researchers and their impact. How do we value research and science in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH)? Scientific community has mostly agreed upon that one of the best ways to value researchers is through their h-index value. However, there are many databases and services from which h-index can be retrieved. Aim: To describe different databases and services such as Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus and Researchgate in evaluating the researcher. An additional aim of this paper is to present “the shape” of science at the University of Sarajevo and to examine what are the best predictors of h-index. Materials and methods: We analyzed the data from 100 Google Scholar Profiles of researchers from University of Sarajevo. Results: The study showed some benefits and shortcomings of mentioned databases and services. Most researchers in the sample were from natural sciences, in particular from the field of medicine. The mean value of h-index in relation to the researcher’s gender was not statistically significant. We conclude the article with some ideas on how to improve the visibility of researchers from BIH.
Comments on "Stability and absence of overflow oscillations for 2-D discrete-time systems"

In their article Xiao and Hill (see ibid., vol.44, p.2108-10, 1996) show via an example that the conditions of the Theorem 3 in an earlier paper by Tzafestas et al. (1992) may not guarantee stability of 2-D linear systems. The authors incorrectly conclude that the BIBO unstable 2-D linear system may have a stable finite wordlength implementation using saturation arithmetic. The authors comment that this incorrect conclusion is due to an erroneous result in the earlier paper by Tzafestas et al.
Andes and Prospect Hill Hantaviruses Differ in Early Induction of Interferon although Both Can Downregulate Interferon Signaling

ABSTRACT Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a severe respiratory disease which is thought to result from a dysregulated immune response to infection with pathogenic hantaviruses, such as Sin Nombre virus or Andes virus (ANDV). Other New World hantaviruses, such as Prospect Hill virus (PHV), have not been associated with human disease. Activation of an antiviral state and cell signaling in response to hantavirus infection were examined using human primary lung endothelial cells, the main target cell infected in HPS patients. PHV, but not ANDV, was found to induce a robust beta interferon (IFN-β) response early after infection of primary lung endothelial cells. The level of IFN induction correlated with IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3) activation, in that IRF-3 dimerization and nuclear translocation were detected in PHV but not ANDV infection. In addition, phosphorylated Stat-1/2 levels were significantly lower in the ANDV-infected cells relative to PHV. Presumably, this reflects the lower level of IRF-3 activation and initial IFN induced by ANDV relative to PHV. To determine whether, in addition, ANDV interference with IFN signaling also contributed to the low Stat-1/2 activation seen in ANDV infection, the levels of exogenous IFN-β-induced Stat-1/2 activation detectable in uninfected versus ANDV- or PHV-infected Vero-E6 cells were examined. Surprisingly, both viruses were found to downregulate IFN-induced Stat-1/2 activation. Analysis of cells transiently expressing only ANDV or PHV glycoproteins implicated these proteins in this downregulation. In conclusion, while both viruses can interfere with IFN signaling, there is a major difference in the initial interferon induction via IRF-3 activation between ANDV and PHV in infected primary endothelial cells, and this correlates with the reported differences in pathogenicity of these viruses.