Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Longevity of Patients Born with Myelomeningocele

There are limited data concerning the life expectancy for individuals born with myelomeningocele (MM), with and without hydrocephalus. To ascertain such data was our first purpose. We have selected all patients with MM in our computer database, The Patient Data Management System (PDMS/fx). Data were transferred to Excel for primary and SPSS/PC for final analysis by Kaplan-Meier life survival curves. Of the 1,054 patients with MM in the Birth Defects Clinic and the University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) of Seattle, 505 are now over the age of 21 (391) or have died (114). Follow-up information was available since 1994 for 132, 62% of whom we have had contact within the past 2 years. The second purpose was to identify potential health factors associated with long-term outcome of patients with MM. Patient variables chosen as relevant to survival included hydrocephalus, treatment before or after 1975, and health maintenance determined by outcome for those receiving care within the last 5 years or those last seen before. Age at last appointment and reason for visit were determined in order to identify age-specific health care needs of the adult population. Survival and medical needs were obtained from the UWMC's computer database, Mindscape, and by telephone survey for adult patients not seen in the last 2 years. Death is more frequent earlier in life for those MM patients with hydrocephalus. Ordinary degenerative disorders affect MM patients earlier in life than normals. Our data extend life expectancy for patients with MM and hydrocephalus to age 40 years with some reliability for those treated from 1957 to 1974, but only 24 years for those treated with modern techniques after 1974. More data is needed to determine long-term survival.
EXPLORING THE FINANCIAL DIMENSIONS OF LEBANESE SMES: COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN FAMILY AND NON-FAMILY BUSINESS

This study investigates the financial dimensions of family and non-family SMEs in Lebanon from 2005 to 2016. Based on 81 family SMEs and 45 non-family SMEs, the results reveal that family SMEs have outperform the non-family SMEs during economical and political instability period. In addition, the results show that family SMEs rely on long term debts (LTD) more than non-family SMEs. Oppositely to non-family SMEs, when the level of risk increased with local and regional instability in the period between 2005 and 2011, the results reveal that family SMEs enhanced their needs of financial resources by developing their LTD and lowering their short term debts. Finally, the results show that family SMEs have more capacity than non-family SMEs to preserve their performance and increase their effort by selecting an overinvesting strategy during instability periods.
Psychological Effects of Hazardous Materials Exposures

Objective To study psychological outcomes after hazardous materials incidents. Methods Individuals exposed to hazardous materials were contacted to complete a telephone questionnaire within 8 to 40 days of the incident. The Brief Symptoms Inventory was used for psychological assessment. General severity index, depression, anxiety, hostility, and somatization were analyzed. Positive findings were defined as two standard deviations above a normative mean. Results A total of 202 (60%) of the 339 subjects in 87 incidents were surveyed. For 159 adults with valid Brief Symptoms Inventory scores, all dimensions were within normal ranges of elevation, with 1% to 5% of the subject pool having elevation, except for somatization. Twenty-four (14%) of 160 subjects had elevated somatization scores. Based on logistic regression analysis, prior medical therapy for a psychological condition and transport to a health care facility were predictors of elevated somatization scores. Conclusions Somatization was the most frequently elevated score after exposure to hazardous materials incidents. Further research is needed to determine whether specific risk factors are useful in identifying individuals for intervention after hazardous materials incidents.
Development and Application of Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs) for Chemical Warfare Nerve and Sulfur Mustard Agents

Acute exposure guideline levels (AEGLs) have been developed for the chemical warfare agents GB, GA, GD, GF, VX, and sulfur mustard. These AEGLs were approved by the National Advisory Committee for Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances after Federal Register publication and comment, and judged as scientifically valid by the National Research Council Committee on Toxicology Subcommittee on AEGLs. AEGLs represent general public exposure limits for durations ranging from 10 min to 8 h, and for three levels of severity (AEGL-1, AEGL-2, AEGL-3). Mild effects are possible at concentrations greater than AEGL-1, while life-threatening effects are expected at concentrations greater than AEGL-3. AEGLs can be applied to various civilian and national defense purposes, including evacuation and shelter-in-place protocols, reentry levels, protective clothing specifications, and analytical monitoring requirements. This report documents development and derivation of AEGL values for six key chemical warfare agents, and makes recommendations for their application to various potential exposure scenarios. This submission was sponsored by a contractor of the U.S. government under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. Accordingly, the U.S. government retains a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to publish or reproduce these documents, or to allow others to do so, for U.S. government purposes. These documents may be freely distributed and used for noncommercial, scientific and educational purposes.
Optimal Advertisement Spending in a Duopoly with Incomplete Information

This article presents the relationship between a firm's advertisement spending and sales in a duopoly when information about the competitors' advertisement spending is unavailable. The competitive interaction between the firms has been modeled as imperfect information Cournot and Stackelberg games and the conditions for subgame perfect Bayesian Nash equilibrium are presented. The results suggest that when the firms are similar in size and advertisement effectiveness, both firms are better off sharing their advertising plans with each other. On the other hand, when one of the firms is a market leader, the follower may profit from the leader's advertisement spending and so is better off keeping the leader guessing. A practical approach to estimate the optimum advertisement budget based on the expected values of the competitors' historic advertising spending is presented as well.
Estimation of Human Foot Motion During Normal Walking Using Inertial and Magnetic Sensor Measurements

A foot motion filtering algorithm is presented for estimating foot kinematics relative to an earth-fixed reference frame during normal walking motion. Algorithm input data are obtained from a foot-mounted inertial/magnetic measurement unit. The sensor unit contains a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis angular rate sensor, and a three-axis magnetometer. The algorithm outputs are the foot kinematic parameters, which include foot orientation, position, velocity, acceleration, and gait phase. The foot motion filtering algorithm incorporates novel methods for orientation estimation, gait detection, and position estimation. Accurate foot orientation estimates are obtained during both static and dynamic motion using an adaptive-gain complementary filter. Reliable gait detection is accomplished using a simple finite state machine that transitions between states based on angular rate measurements. Accurate position estimates are obtained by integrating acceleration data, which has been corrected for drift using zero velocity updates. Algorithm performance is examined using both simulations and real-world experiments. The simulations include a simple but effective model of the human gait cycle. The simulation and experimental results indicate that a position estimation error of less than 1% of the total distance traveled is achievable using commonly available commercial sensor modules.
Capital Structure and Firm Performance: Evidence From Food Processing Industry in Malaysia

Despite numerous debates on the relationship between the capital structure and the firm performance, there is still lack of study focusing on the food processing industry, which is considered a nation contributor towards the economic growth especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study attempt to obtain empirical findings on the relationship between the capital structure and the firm performance among the food-producing firms in Malaysia for the year 2007 to 2016. The panel data analysis in this study has found that all variables in this study have a significant relationship towards firm performance. This study could contributes in such a way to fill the gap in the literature with regard to the study on capital structure and performance by highlighting such issue to the processing firm in Malaysia.
Quelques aspects de l'étude quantitative de la fonction de comptage et des valeurs propres de matrices aléatoires

Cette these est consacree a l'etude quantitative de la fonction de comptage et des valeurs propres de matrices aleatoires. Initialement introduites dans le cadre de la physique statistique, ces matrices servent de modeles pour des operateurs de dimension infinie. Leurs proprietes asymptotiques ont donc ete particulierement etudiees. Devenues populaires grâce au phenomene d'universalite, i.e. le fait que ces proprietes asymptotiques ne dependent pas de la loi des coefficients de la matrice, leur etude a interesse de nombreux domaines pour lesquels les proprietes a taille de matrice fixee sont plus exploitables que les proprietes asymptotiques. Nous nous sommes interesses a ce pan de l'etude des matrices aleatoires par le biais de la fonction de comptage des valeurs propres, c'est-a-dire du nombre de valeurs propres d'une matrice presentes dans un intervalle I. Apres avoir introduit les modeles de matrices aleatoires que nous etudions dans cette these, les matrices de Wigner et de covariance, nous presentons les principaux resultats asymptotiques en lien avec la fonction de comptage et plus globalement avec les valeurs propres de ces matrices. Les outils permettant d'etablir ces resultats d'universalite sont ensuite detailles. L'accent est mis sur ceux qui peuvent etre utilises dans le cadre de l'etude quantitative, notamment les resultats recents de Erdos et al. d'une part et de Tao et Vu d'autre part, qui ont permis une avancee spectaculaire des etudes asymptotiques et non asymptotiques. Nous discutons ensuite les enjeux de l'etude non asymptotique et presentons les travaux effectues durant cette these. Dans une premiere etude, nous etablissons un theoreme central limite pour la fonction de comptage des valeurs propres de matrices de Wigner et de covariance et nous obtenons des estimees quantitatives sur l'esperance et la variance de cette fonction de comptage. Ces resultats se basent sur les resultats precedemment etablis par Gustavsson et Su dans le cas de matrices gaussiennes et sont etendus a des familles plus generales de matrices de Wigner et de covariance par le biais de travaux recents de Erdos, Yau et Yin, Pillai et Yin et de Tao et Vu. Dans une seconde etude, nous etablissons des bornes quantitatives sur la variance des valeurs propres de matrices de Wigner. En s'appuyant sur les proprietes de la fonction de comptage, nous montrons d'abord une inegalite de deviation pour les valeurs propres individuelles a l'interieur du spectre dans le cas de matrices gaussiennes et nous en deduisons les bornes dans ce cas. Afin d'etendre ces bornes au cas des matrices de Wigner plus generales, nous combinons de nouveau les outils de Erdos, Yau et Yin et de Tao et Vu. Nous etablissons egalement des resultats analogues pour les matrices de covariance, en utilisant la meme demarche.
Do Alcohol and Marijuana Use Decrease the Probability of Condom Use for College Women?

Alcohol and marijuana use are thought to increase sexual risk taking, but event-level studies conflict in their findings and often depend on reports from a limited number of people or on a limited number of sexual events per person. With event-level data from 1,856 sexual intercourse events provided by 297 college women (M age = 18 years; 71% White), we used multilevel modeling to examine associations between alcohol and marijuana use and condom use as well as interactions involving sexual partner type and alcohol-sexual risk expectancies. Controlling for alternative contraception use, partner type, regular levels of substance use, impulsivity and sensation seeking, and demographics, women were no more or less likely to use condoms during events involving drinking or heavy episodic drinking than during those without drinking. However, for drinking events, there was a negative association between number of drinks consumed and condom use; in addition, women with stronger alcohol-sexual risk expectancies were marginally less likely to use condoms when drinking. Although there was no main effect of marijuana use on condom use, these data suggest marijuana use with established romantic partners may increase risk of unprotected sex. Intervention efforts should target expectancies and emphasize the dose-response relationship of drinks to condom use.
Internal Capital Market in Emerging Markets: Expropriation and Mitigating Financing Constraints

This paper studies internal capital market in emerging market business groups using Chinese data. We focus on two aspects of the internal capital market that are less prominent in the developed markets: a cross-financing to get over severe financing constraints that are often prevalent in emerging market economies, and the rampant expropriation of minority shareholders under the weak corporate governance environment. We document the existence and interaction of both in China and discuss the implication of the efficiency of internal capital markets in emerging market. We found that the internal capital market is the least inefficient when weak corporate governance induce more tunneling activities and there is no big need for mitigating financing constraints. On the other hand, when the corporate governance is relatively stronger and firms have a pressing need to use the internal capital market to mitigate financing constraints, the efficiency of the internal capital market is the highest.
Effect of Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurial Intention

As a result of global economic problems and technological innovations, education is no longer a guarantee for employment. Consequently, most governments have introduced entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning with the aim of creating entrepreneurial intention among students. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention of students in Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions in Kenya. The findings suggest a significant but low correlation between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention. Given the importance of entrepreneurship education it is desirable to realign the entrepreneurship education curriculum to reflect a competence based outfit that incorporates practical approaches to imparting entrepreneurial knowledge and skills. Key words : Entrepreneurship education; Entrepreneurial intention, competence based
Generation XYZ’s Perception on Zakat Mal and Tax: The Planned Behavior Perspective

The research aims to apply the theory of planned behavior to predict respondents’ intention of offering zakat mal (wealth) and tax payment. The research brings questionnaires, aiming to generate a descriptive research. Technique of analysis being applied is the Partial Least Square (PLS) with SmartPLS software. The descriptive statistics shows that respondents have deep understanding between zakat mal and tax. In addition, the analysis using PLS reveals that attitude, subjective norm, and behavioral control influence one’s intention to pay zakat mal and tax, while behavioral intention affects actual behavior in paying the two. Keywords: zakat mal, tax, planned behavior
Aversiveness of sounds in phocid seals: psycho-physiological factors, learning processes and motivation

SUMMARY Aversiveness of sounds and its underlying physiological mechanisms in mammals are poorly understood. In this study we tested the influence of psychophysical parameters, motivation and learning processes on the aversiveness of anthropogenic underwater noise in phocid seals (Halichoerus grypus and Phoca vitulina). We compared behavioural responses of seals to playbacks of sounds based on a model of sensory unpleasantness for humans, sounds from acoustic deterrent devices and sounds with assumed neutral properties in different contexts of food motivation. In a captive experiment with food presentation, seals habituated quickly to all sound types presented at normalised received levels of 146 dB re. 1 μPa (r.m.s., root mean square). However, the fast habituation of avoidance behaviour was also accompanied by a weak sensitisation process affecting dive times and place preference in the pool. Experiments in the wild testing animals without food presentation revealed differential responses of seals to different sound types. We observed avoidance behaviour at received levels of 135–144 dB re. 1 μPa (sensation levels of 59–79 dB). In this experiment, sounds maximised for ‘roughness’ perceived as unpleasant by humans also caused the strongest avoidance responses in seals, suggesting that sensory pleasantness may be the result of auditory processing that is not restricted to humans. Our results highlight the importance of considering the effects of acoustic parameters other than the received level as well as animal motivation and previous experience when assessing the impacts of anthropogenic noise on animals.
Prophylactic and Empiric Use of Antibiotics in Dermatologic Surgery: A Review of the Literature and Practical Considerations

BACKGROUND Although the risk of postoperative infection and bacteremia from dermatologic procedures remains low, many dermatologic surgeons continue to prescribe antibiotics, pre‐ and postoperatively. This practice can lead to unwanted morbidity and mortality and significantly increases associated healthcare costs and, even more ominously, increases bacterial resistance in the community. OBJECTIVE To provide a comprehensive overview of antibiotic usage in dermatologic surgery and use evidence‐based medicine to provide recommendations for antibiotic usage tailored to microbial pathogens. MATERIALS AND METHODS A literature review was conducted to provide the most current overview of the guidelines for antibiotic use against surgical site infections, infective endocarditis, and hematogenous joint infection. In addition, recommendations for antibiotic use with implantable materials, such as fillers, and for special populations, such as organ transplant recipients, are provided. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION We focused on the most common bacterial pathogens related to surgical sites and effective antibiotics for each. In doing so, we seek to limit the unwarranted use of antibiotics in dermatologic surgery.
No strong association between alleles of tumour necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist and corneal melting associated with systemic vasculitis

AIMS To investigate polymorphism within the tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) promoter region and within the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) gene in a group of patients with vasculitis associated corneal melting. METHODS The polymorphic regions at position –308 on the TNF-α promoter region and in intron 2 of the IL-1Ra gene were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The resultant products were separated by electrophoresis on agarose gels and visualised by ethidium bromide staining. Genotype and allele frequencies for the 20 patients were compared with healthy controls from the same geographical area. RESULTS The allele frequencies in the patient and control groups respectively for the TNF-α and IL-1Ra sites studied were as follows: TNF1, 82.5% and 80.2%; TNF2, 17.5% and 19.8%; IL-1Ra*1, 82.5% and 78.3%; IL-1Ra*2, 15% and 20%; IL-1Ra*3 2.5% and 1.5%. Although there was a trend for the IL1Ra*2 allele to be more common in the control group, no allele was found to have a statistically significantly association with the patient group: TNF1 p = 0.89; TNF2 p = 0.89; IL-1Ra*1 p = 0.65; IL-1Ra*2 p = 0.68; IL-1Ra*3 p= 0.50. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that the polymorphic alleles of TNF-α and IL-1Ra studied play little or no part in the susceptibility to corneal melting among these patients with systemic vasculitis.
An empirical investigation of consumer perceptions of online shopping in an emerging economy

Purpose Emerging markets are showing rapid growth and retaining high potential for the adoption of e-commerce and online shopping. Among the many high potential markets in Asia–Pacific, Vietnam has had a rapid economic development with an average GDP growth rate of 6.19 percent for the last two decades. To tap the growing online market of Vietnam, the purpose of this paper is to draw on adoption theory and the technology acceptance model to investigate the interrelationships among consumer perceptions of web design, reliability, privacy and customer service and their effects on purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected from 221 consumers in Vietnam. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings Empirical findings show that consumer perception of web design is positively related to perceptions of reliability, privacy, customer service and purchase intention. Consumer perception of reliability is positively related to perception of customer service but not to purchase intention. Consumer perception of privacy is also positively related to perception of customer service but not to purchase intention. Finally, consumer perception of customer service is positively related to purchase intention. Originality/value This study provides empirical evidence to understand the consumer perceptions of online shopping in the specific context of Vietnam. Findings of this study will benefit future researchers who will study consumer behavior in the e-commerce B2C industry, particularly those who are interested in the expanding e-commerce market in Vietnam. Furthermore, this study provides empirical evidence to assist business managers of domestic and foreign firms to further understand Vietnamese consumers. Knowledge of consumer behavior from the specific culture of a developing country may assist business managers advance their decision-making quality in developing markets.