Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Industrial Time Series of Nigeria, 1970-2009: Evolution and Unit Root Testing in the Presence of Multiple Endogenous Structural Breaks

This paper examines the time series properties of eighteen (18) Nigeria industrial variables using annual data from 1970 to 2009. Along with traditional Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillip –Perron (PP) unit root tests, we use the Lee and Strazicich (2003) minimum Lagrange multiplier (LM) approach to test the null hypothesis of unit root against the break-stationary alternative. ADF and PP tests provide evidence against the unit root null in only 6 (ADF) and 5 (PP) of the variables that challenge these findings. Lee and Strazicich results reveal that contrary to ADF and PP conclusions, all the industrial time series data except one are stationary at the level at 10 percent level of significance. At the same time the Lee and Strazicich LM test identifies endogenously the two most significant structural breaks in the data impacting on both intercept and trend in each and every time series examined. Specifically Lee and Strazicich unit root tests provide evidence against the unit root null in fifteen (15) out of the eighteen (18) industrial time series data at the 5 percent level of significance and seventeen (17) at the 10 percent level during the period under investigation. Thus, failure to account for structural breaks in unit root tests may lead to spurious results and conclusions. We found that the dates of the structural breaks in most cases correspond to (i) the fall in the price of oil in 1981 and the revision of the Fourth National Development Plan 1981-85 as well as the promulgation of the economic stabilization Act or Austerity measures in 1982, (ii) the adoption of structural adjustment programme 1986-88, (iii) the 1988-1994 tariff policy reforms, and (iv) the 1995-2001 policy shift towards measures to promote capacity utilization, increase manufacturing output and grant tax concessions to exporters The policy implications of the results for business cycle theories, econometric modelling, and accurate evaluation of programmes to bring about structural changes are highlighted.
N ω -Nitro-L-Arginine Methyl Ester (L-NAME) Ampliﬁes the Pulmonary Hypertensive Response to Microparticle Injections in Broilers 1

We tested the hypothesis that microparticles entrapped within the pulmonary vasculature elicit the production of nitric oxide (NO) in quantities sufﬁcient to modulate the combined impact of physical occlusion plus contemporaneously released vasoconstrictors. In experiment 1, male broilers were given an injection of the NO synthase (NOS) inhibitor N ω -nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), followed by an intravenous injection of cellulose microparticles while the pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and cardiac output (CO) were recorded. When L-NAME was used to block NO synthesis induced by the microparticles, an early peak of pulmonary hypertension was revealed that rarely developed in the absence of L-NAME. The subsequent more prolonged increases in PAP and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) were greater in amplitude and duration in broilers pretreated with L-NAME than in broilers in the control group. These ampliﬁed responses occurred in spite of a simultaneous reduction in CO, thereby conclusively demonstrating that inhibiting NOS permitted the development of a much more profound increase in the PVR. In experiment 2 the mortality triggered within 48 h after injecting micropar-(
Weakly well posed hyperbolic initial-boundary value problems with non characteristic boundary

We study the mixed initial-boundary value problem for a linear hyperbolic system with non characteristic boundary. We assume the problem to be “weakly” well posed, in the sense that a unique L2-solution exists, for sufficiently smooth data, and obeys an a priori energy estimate with a finite loss of regularity. This is the case of problems that do not satisfy the uniform KreissLopatinskĭı condition. Under the assumption of the loss of one tangential derivative, we obtain the Sobolev regularity of solutions, provided the data are sufficiently smooth.
The Role of Vitamin K in Renal Osteodystrophy in Haemodialysis Patients

Background: Renal Osteodystrophy (ROD) is a collective term describing the mixture of pathophysiological conditions that affect the skeletal system of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). It is most evident in patients on hemodialysis (HD), but usually starts early in the course of CKD. Aim of the work: The current work was designed to clarify the role of vitamin k in renal osteodystrophy in hemodialysis patients with and without liver cirrhosis. Patients and methods: This study included 60 patients of chronic renal failure (CRF) on regular hemodialysis with renal osteodystrophy subdivided into two groups according to presence or absence of liver cirrhosis: Group 1: included thirty (30) patients with liver cirrhosis, group 2: included thirty (30) patients without liver cirrhosis. Both groups were selected from Nephrology Units in New Damietta hospital, Al-Azhar University, Kafr Saad and Elzarka General Hospitals, All patients subjected to the following: Full medical history, clinical examination and investigation includes: liver and renal function tests, s calcium, s phosphorus, PTH and s vitamin k, radiological examination include DEXA scan and Abdominal ultrasonography. Results: osteoporosis in group 1 were 21 patients (70%) and group 2 (19 patients (63.3%) there was statistically non-significant difference. osteopenia in group 1 (9 patients (30%) and group 2 (11 patients (36.7%) there was statistically non-significant difference. patients with osteoporosis increased in group 1 than group 2, PTH in group 1 77 ranged from (35 – 550) and group 2 (175 ranged from (40 – 620) there was statistically non-significant difference. PIVKA_II in group 1 (0.27 ranged from (0.10 –3.99) and in group 2 (0.14 ranged from (0.11 –2.99) there was statistically non-significant difference. Conclusion: Patients suffering from renal Osteodystrophy showing deficiency in vitamin K, as revealed by elevated PIVKA-II levels. Vitamin K deficiency is a risk factor for many consequences including osteoporosis, osteopenia and bone fracture so vitamin K status may be a modifiable risk factor. Vitamin K should be assessed in CKD patients to avoid complications. [Ezzat Abd El-Rahman El-Etreby, El-Sayed El-Meghawry El-Sayed, Osama Mohamad Ahmad, Mekky Abd Elmonem Ali 3, Mohammed Aly El Ashry. The Role of Vitamin K in Renal Osteodystrophy in Haemodialysis Patients. Life Sci J 2019;16(6):64-68]. ISSN: 1097-8135 (Print) / ISSN: 2372-613X (Online). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 10. doi:10.7537/marslsj160619.10.
Analysis of Scenarios for Potential Power System Interconnections in Northeast Asia

The paper addresses scenarios for potential power system interconnections (PSIs) in Northeast Asia (NEA) region. Two hierarchical levels of PSIs are considered. The first one is PSI of three countries including Russia, DPRK and ROK. This PSI was proved to be the most economically beneficial in the region. On the second hierarchical level is PSI of all NEA countries comprising in addition to the above noted countries also China, Japan and Mongolia. NEA-wide PSI is shaped as several joint circles. The Mainland NEA circle covers NEA mainland five countries. The East Sea NEA circle encompasses East Sea four countries. The Large NEA circle incorporates two previous ones. Uncertain conditions, which affect potential PSI, are analyzed in the paper. Based on these conditions three-country and NEA-wide region scenarios for PSI are shaped. Index terms – Capacity, interstate electric tie, maximum load, power system interconnection, scenario.
Financial Distress Risk in Initial Public Offerings: How Much Do Venture Capitalists Matter?

Using a sample of 1,593 US firms that go public between 1990 and 2007, we find that VC-backed IPOs experience less financial distress risk post-offering than do comparable non-VC-backed IPOs. After controlling for endogeneity, we find this is related to the screening done by VC-investors, who select firms with lower risk of financial distress and by VCs reducing risks when they finance portfolio firms. We find companies backed by more reputable VCs exhibit higher levels of financial distress risk even when they show superior operating performance, due their highly levered capital structure and investment in relatively illiquid assets.
Heritage as a motivation for four-wheel-drive tourism in desert Australia

Desert Australia is a vast, largely unpopulated area serviced by few roads. In recent years, tourism has been identified as an industry that has some potential to generate employment and investment opportunities in the region. Because of the distances involved and the largely unsealed road network that radiates off the main north-south highway much of the region is inaccessible to conventional vehicles. As a consequence, interest in four-wheel-drive (4WD) tourism has grown and a number of desert regions have identified this group as a potential market that could be further developed. One of the experiences that is associated with parts of desert Australia is its heritage values, both natural and built. This paper explores the role of heritage as a motivation to travel to desert Australia by four-wheel-drivers and the subsequent proportion of visitor expenditure that can be attributed to heritage tourism consumption. It concludes that while heritage is just one of many components of a 4WD trip, there may be substantial potential for increasing its economic contribution.
COMPREHENSION OF WRITTEN SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES BY GOOD iiupzps AND SLOW RPATIES

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of ninth grade slow readers with ninth-grade good waders and with sixth grade ders on a test of syntactic comprehension. The significant diff ence between the ninth-grade good readers' and the ninth-grade slow . eaders' performance on A Test of Sentence or Meaning (ATSM), developed by-Albert D. Marcus, clearly shows that comprehension of syntactic structure is an element in total reading comprehension. The low correlation between the total reading scores and the ATSM score would see o . dicate that it is not an important factor in reading at this 1 vel. The correlation of . 7n between reading and the ATSM indicates that comprehension ofsyntactic structures is an importan reading faptor for sixth grade readers even on a survey reading test. It is suggested that the great difference in the correlations between the sixth-grads readers and the ninth-grade readers indicates that although these two groups measure on The Nelson Reading Test to be very similar with the same range and almost the same means, they must differ in at least one important respect. (LL)
The Value of Oral Sildenafil in the Treatment of Female Infertility: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Sildenafil citrate leads to smooth muscle relaxation and vasodilation. This may enhance endometrial development. The aim of this work isto study the effect of oral sildenafil citrate on pregnancy rate, endometrial thickness and number of follicles in women undergoing induction of ovulation with clomiphene citrate (CC). Patients and methods: this study included 70 infertile patients who were randomly divided into 2 groups. After ovulation induction with CC, patients in the treatment group received oral sildenafil citrate 25 mg 3 times daily from day 8-13 of the cycle and patients in control group received placebo. Results: the pregnancy rate, endometrial thickness and number of follicles were significantly higher in the treatment group. Side effects were significantly more in the treatment group compared to the placebo group (p=0.003). Among patients in the treatment group, the most common side effect was headache which was found in 7 patients (20%) versus non in the placebo group. Conclusion: sildenafil citrate increased pregnancy rate in females undergoing induction of ovulation by CC 50 mg which may be attributed to the increase in endometrial thickness and number of follicles. (Ahmed AbdelKader Fahmy; Mohamed ElSokkary and Sherihan Sayed. The Value of Oral Sildenafil in the Treatment of Female Infertility: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Life Sci J 2015;12(4):78-82). (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com . 9
Improving Accuracy of Contactless Respiratory Rate 
Estimation by Enhancing Thermal Sequences with 
Deep Neural Networks

Estimation of vital signs using image processing techniques have already been proved tohave a potential for supporting remote medical diagnostics and replacing traditional measurementsthat usually require special hardware and electrodes placed on a body. In this paper, we furtherextend studies on contactless Respiratory Rate (RR) estimation from extremely low resolution thermalimagery by enhancing acquired sequences using Deep Neural Networks (DNN). To perform extensivebenchmark evaluation, we acquired two thermal datasets using FLIR® cameras with a spatialresolution of 80 × 60 and 320 × 240 from 71 volunteers in total. In-depth analysis of the proposedConvolutional-based Super Resolution model showed that for images downscaled with a factor of 2and then super-resolved using Deep Learning (DL) can lead to better RR estimation accuracy thanfrom original high-resolution sequences. In addition, if an estimator based on a dominating peakin the frequency domain is used, SR can outperform original data for a down-scale factor of 4 andimages as small as 20 × 15 pixels. Our study also showed that RR estimation accuracy is betterfor super-resolved data than for images with color changes magnified using algorithms previouslyapplied in the literature for enhancing vital signs patterns.
Measurement reliability of endotracheal tubes cuff pressure between industrial and handmade devices

Introduction: The cuff pressure is measured in industrial equipment, however, be valid in the craft equipment is still questioned. Objective: To evaluate the reliability of the measurement methods of cuff pressure endotracheal tubes with industrialized and handmade equipment. Method: Were analyzed 40 endotracheal tubes, two brands (Solidor and Ruschelit) and different diameter (8,0 mm and 8,5 mm), inflated 20mL of air in the pilot balloon with plastic syringe and 20 mL, followed by pressure measurement device with industrial (cmH2O) and handmade device (mmHg). After the conversion of cmH2O values for mmHg, the reliability and agreement of measurements were performed by intra-class correlation (ICC) and Bland-Altman tests, respectively, using SPSS (version 15.0) and adopting a significance level of 5% for all comparisons. Results: The data showed similarity between the different pressure equipment, brands and diameter, and demonstrated strong correlation and agreement between the methods. Tube Rus8,0mm industrial versus handmade (28.2±5.8 vs 28.4±6.2 mmHg: ICC=0.998; bias=0.20); Tube Solidor8.0mm industrial versus handmade (75.9±1.1 vs 76.4±1.2 mmHg: ICC=0.878; bias=0.40); Tube Rus8.5mm industrial versus handmade (17.1±8.8 vs 17.8±8.9 mmHg: ICC=0.999; bias=0.67); Tube Sol8.5mm industrial versus handmade (78.7±4.7 vs 78.6±4.6 mmHg: ICC=0.996; bias=-0.1). Conclusion: The high reliability and agreement presented in this study suggest that the cuff pressure gauge handmade can be used safely to evaluate the cuff pressure of the endotracheal tube.
Product Involvement and Self-efficacy on Perceived Value of Co-design

The challenge that firms face today while deciding to engage customers to co-design is in identifying the customers who value co-designed product. The objective of this paper is to find whether the perceived value of buying a co-designed product will be more for a customer with high product involvement and whether this relationship is mediated by co-design self-efficacy. The study used a cross-sectional research design and collected data from 1052 respondents using a survey. The results indicate partial mediation of the relationship between product involvement and perceived value of co-design through co-design self-efficacy. Based on the findings, it is recommended that firms can target consumers with high product involvement when looking to invite customers to take part in the co-design process. Further, firms should share relevant information and devise the co-design process in a way that would increase co-design self-efficacy.
Comparative analyses of thoracic radiographs and bronchoalveolar lavage of dogs and cats with chronic bronchial diseases

There is a high incidence of bronchitis and asthma cases in veterinary medicine. Thoracic radiographs and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) are commonly performed for definitive diagnosis in dogs and cats with suspected bronchitis and asthma. It is believed that a combination of diagnostic tools is the best choice to achieve a diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of thoracic radiographs and BAL in the diagnosis of chronic bronchial disease (CBD) in dogs and cats and whether there is any specific radiographic finding that could influence the indication for bronchoalveolar lavage. It was performed a cross-sectional, prospective, observational study including forty client-owned dogs and cats with lower respiratory tract signs and positive radiographic opacities that were evaluated with BAL followed by cytology and culture. The radiographic results compared with BAL culture showed a sensitivity of 38%, specificity of 95% and accuracy of 65% in detecting patients with pneumonia associated with chronic bronchial disease. Thoracic radiographs were effective in diagnosing 65% of the patients, radiographs plus BAL cytology diagnosed 75% of patients and the combination of radiographs, BAL cytology and culture diagnosed 95% of the patients with chronic bronchial disease. In conclusion, the combination of radiographic examination with BAL followed by cytological and microbiological analyses increases diagnostic success in CBD.
926-943 Hazim O Khalifa.pmd

Coccidiosis is one of the most dangerous diseases that affect poultry, resulting in worldwide economic losses. Plant extracts and essential oils have been used as potential alternatives for chemotherapeutics, because they don’t have the negative consequence of creating tissue residue and drug resistance. Therefore, this study had been conducted to determine the efficacy of artemisinin liquid extract, cinnamon essential oil and clove essential oil against Eimeria stiedae in rabbits. Sixty New Zealand white rabbits were divided into six equal groups, where group 1 and group 2 represented the negative and the positive controls, respectively, and groups 3–6 were infected with Eimeria stiedae and received 15 ppm toltrazuril, 200 ppm artemisinin, 100 mg/kg cinnamon oil, and 100 mg/kg clove oil, respectively. The results showed that artemisinin had a significant beneficial role in protection against hepatic coccidiosis: it mitigated the clinical symptoms, reduced the mortality rates, improved body weight and feed conversion, decreased the oocyst output, prevented oxidative stress, improved biochemical parameters, and decreased the lesion formation. Moreover, it has been found that cinnamon and clove essential oils induced partial protection against hepatic coccidiosis. Our findings suggested that artemisinin liquid extract and cinnamon and clove essential oils could be used for protection against hepatic coccidiosis. However, further investigations are needed in order to elucidate the active components, optimal doses, and mode of action of these extracts and essential oils before their clinical applications.
The psychometric properties of the child PTSD checklist in a sample of treatment-seeking children and adolescents from a youth stress clinic in the Western Cape

Exposure to severe trauma and resulting PTSD affects individuals of all ages, cultures and geographical areas. Epidemiological surveys reveal that approximately one third of the general population is exposed to a traumatic event at some point in their lives. From the people exposed to a traumatic event about 10% will develop PTSD. Compelling evidence further suggests that the PTSD prevalence in South Africa is even higher,especially among the youth, and has thus been identified as a significant public health concern. In order to adequately address the diverse effects of PTSD,reliable and valid instruments diagnosing PTSD are required. It is a further imperative that these instruments are adapted to the specific context in which they will be utilized. This study thus focused on assessing the psychometric properties (factorial validity and internal consistency) of the Child PTSD Checklist in a sample of treatment-seeking children adolescents in the Western Cape. For the purpose of this study secondary data from a larger, longitudinal study investigating PTSD in children and adolescents was utilized.The preliminary study employed a quantitative research design in order to obtain data from the participants. The sample comprised of 200 children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and 18 years that were selected from the Youth Stress Clinic. In terms of the psychometric properties the scale demonstrated excellent internal consistency(Cronbach’s alpha = 0.93). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a three factor structure(anxiety and avoidance, anger and dissociation, depressive symptoms) which accounted for 41,96 % of the total variance. In conclusion, the Child PTSD Checklist appears to be a promising tool for assessing PTSD in trauma-exposed youth in clinic settings, however further studies are needed to address its broader utility.
Investigating gravitational grabens related to lateral spreading and evaporite dissolution subsidence by means of detailed mapping, trenching, and electrical resistivity tomography (Spanish Pyrenees)

The active lateral spread of the Peracalc Range (Spanish Pyrenees) has developed on a Cretaceous limestone sequence around 250 m thick, underlain by tectonically thickened (∼2.5 km) Triassic halite-bearing evaporites and clays. Outward expansion of the Triassic sequence by ductile deformation and probably halokinesis toward the debuttressed and unloaded front of the range has been accommodated in the overlying cap rock through the development of a striking horst and graben morphostructure. Fault scarps show anomalously high height to length ratios (aspect ratio; H max / L ) compared to the values reported for tectonic faults. This retrogressive gravitational deformation has aborted a paleodrainage, expressed as wind gaps, hanging valleys, and defeated streams. The significant vertical displacement component in this rock spread is attributed to subsidence caused by interstratal evaporite dissolution, as supported by the dissolution-induced collapse and graben structures mapped at the foot of the range. To our knowledge, the rock spread of Peracalc, covering around 4.5 km 2 and with a minimum volume of 0.9 km 3 , is the largest documented landslide of the Pyrenees. The excavation of trenches and the acquisition of electrical resistivity tomography profiles provided information on the thickness and subsurface structure of the graben fills, the age of the lateral spread (older than 45 ka), an unexpected episodic kinematic behavior of the gravitational faults, and the timing of deformation events, including slumping of lake deposits.