Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors affecting postoperative leakage complications in rectal tumour resection

The low anterior resection (LAR) of the rectum performed by the total mesorectal excision (TME) method is, from an oncologic point of view, a sufficiently radical surgical procedure in rectal carcinoma treat- ment. Its advantage is also the reasonable life standard of the patient without permanent colostomy. A serious problem of this operation can be the fact that the possible dehiscence of the anastomosis suture may appear. Aim of the study: Statistical evaluation of the influence of various factors on the anastomosis dehiscence occur- rence in the patients in the test group. Patients and methods: In our test group there were 69 patients, 36 males and 33 females, average age 62 years (45 - 78). The localisation of the tumour in the rectum is on average 8 cm (5 - 14) from the anal verge. The TME method was applied during the resection. Several aspects were monitored: the relationship between anastomo- sis dehiscence occurrence on one side and the sex of the patients, their age, the intercurrent diseases, neoad- juvant therapy, the localisation of the tumour in rectum, the stage of malignant disease and the stage T of the tumour on the other side. The Fisher's exact test was used for the statistical evaluation of the four-polar table evaluation and standard methods of descriptive statistics were also applied. Results: The total number of postoperative anastomosis dehiscence in the tested group of patients was 7, i.e. 10.1 %. The relation between BMI, preoperative radiotherapy and tumour localisation in the rectum was not proven. The frequency of anastomosis dehiscence was statistically significant in males of a higher age group. There was a statistically significant difference in the age of operated patients; the females were operated at a higher age than males. In two cases the anastomosis dehiscence was complicated by occurrence of rectovaginal fistulas. Conclusions: The total number of postoperative anastomosis dehiscence in the tested group of patients was 7, i.e. 10.1 % (CI 0.95 = 4.7; 19.6). The higher age of male patients seems to represent a risk factor for the occur-
Immune-diagnosis of latent toxoplasmosis in childbearing age women in rural areas in EL Geizera State, Sudan

The current study is aimed to evaluate the prevalence rate of latent toxoplasmosis among childbearing women in rural areas in EL Geizera State. A total of 255 plasma samples were collected from two villages; AL Nuba and EL Massoudia in EL Geizera State, Sudan. and tested for Toxoplasma gondii antibodies using three different screening tests (Latex Agglutination Test LAT,-Enzyme Link Immunosorbent Assay IgG, and Complement Fixation test (CFT) and one standard technique (Indirect Immunofluorescent Test (IIFT). The overall seroprevalence rate in the two villages was found 73.1%, using the standard method (IIFT). The prevalence rate was 60.7% in EL Nuba and 87.3% in EL Massoudia. The seroprevalence rate were found to be 62.3, 73.1, and 72.3% using the other three screening tests LAT, ELISA IgG, and CFT respectively. The prevalence rate was found increasing with age (p<0.001). Infection rate was higher in EL Massoudia village (p<0.001). This study indicated that there is a considerable rate of Toxoplasma infection among rural women and supported the concern that rural women in Sudan may be vulnerable to that infection. Key words: Prevalence, toxoplasma, childbearing, Sudan.
Real Term Structure Forecasts of Consumption Growth

This paper employs an empirically tractable affine term structure model of real interest rates to examine the predictive ability of the real short-term interest rate and its term spread with a longer-term interest rate to predict future real consumption growth. The estimates of the model provide support of the consumption smoothing hypothesis. The paper shows that the real term structure is spanned by two mean-reverting state variables. The mean-reverting property of these variables can consistently explain the forecasting ability of the short-term real rate and term spread to forecast future consumption growth rate, over different horizons ahead. Although the risks associated with changes in these variables are both priced in the market, they are not volatile enough to obscure the information of the real term structure about future real consumption growth.
Capital Taxes, Trade Costs, and the Irish Miracle

This paper uses detailed international trade data to examine whether the rapid growth of Ireland in the 1990s and its accompanying substantial increase in trade in goods and services might have been spurred by an interaction of low taxation of capital and declining international trade costs. Both tariffs and other trade costs for an important class of goods and services have declined to very low levels in the 1990s, while the expansion of foreign direct investment worldwide in that period suggests a great drop in technological and policy barriers to managing international production. The decline in trade costs has profound effects on small economies that also levy low levels of capital taxation. Such economies exhibit a great increase in the production and export of products that have high capital intensity. This implication receives strong support in detailed trade data. The expansion of such modern, high labor-productivity sectors has been identified as an important recent feature of Irish growth. (JEL: F12, F14, F21, F43, H25) (c) 2007 by the European Economic Association.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT OF PART-TIME ACADEMIC STAFF IN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NAIROBI AND MOMBASA CITIES IN KENYA

Past studies provide evidence to show that organizational commitment has been a topic of increasing public and professional concern, both inside and outside Human Resource Management domains. The expansion of university education in Kenya coupled with reduced direct government funding for higher education has left the local public universities with little choices but to resort to use of part-time academics. The objective of the study was to find out whether personal characteristics affect organizational commitment of part-time academic staff in HEIs in Kenya. The quantitative study design by use of survey was used for the study. The sampling frame was developed through capture-recature method. The sampling technique used was muti-stage consisting of sevral stages of stratified and simple random sampling and time-location sampling. Data was collected using questionnaires from 227 parttime academic staff from selected HEIs in Nairobi and Mombasa cities in Kenya, with a response rate of 85%; and also using interviews with 12 academic heads of departments representing 63% response rate. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The relationship between variables was analysed using Spearman’s Rho correlation analysis while the test of factors predicting independent variable was done through stepwise regression analysis. The results show that age is a negative predictor of affective commitment while sibling status and ages of children are positive predictors of the same, ages of children is a predictor of all the 3 dimensions of commitment. The study recommndents that education managers in HEIs should make deliberate attempts to develop and implement explicit policies relating to the management of part-time academic staff. It also recommends that line managers and human resource managers should focus more on age and family responsibilities among many other previously used criteria in the recruitment of part-time academic faculty.
The Impact of Education on Recommended Weight Gain and Selected Prenatal Outcomes in Low Income Pregnant Women

The study aims were to educate pregnant women about appropriate nutrition during pregnancy, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) weight gain guidelines and obesity risks; to determine the relationship between education and actual maternal weight gain; to determine the relat ionship between education and selected prenatal outcomes.A two-group design compared outcome measures of maternal weight, blood pressure, pre-pregnant BMI, and fundal height measurements post-education intervention among 40 low inco me wo men. The intervention group was a convenience sample of prenatal care patients. Intervention participants received indiv idualized education about nutrition during pregnancy, obesity risks, and IOM weight gain guidelines. Weight gain was p lotted on pre-determined BMI weight gain graphs during 4 visits post-intervention for two months. The control group, derived fro m a sequential retrospective chart review was matched with intervention participants on four variab les. Results indicated no statistical significance between education and study variables except education and first visit b lood pressure @ p = 0.04. Knowledge about nutrition, IOM weight gain guidelines and obesity risks did not result in expected pregnancy weight gain.
An exploratory study of employee turnover indicators as predictors of customer satisfaction

Purpose – The service profit chain postulates that higher employee satisfaction levels lead to high customer satisfaction, and ultimately affect consumer loyalty and profitability. One construct that has largely been ignored in most of this research has been the role of employee turnover. This paper proposes that employee turnover can also be a powerful predictor of employee sentiment and resulting customer satisfaction levels.Design/methodology/approach – The relationship between employee satisfaction, employee turnover and customer satisfaction ratings is explored using an extensive data set from a chain of convenience stores. Employee perceptions were obtained from a survey which developed and administered to all store personnel. Turnover data were obtained from archival data. The data are analyzed using path analysis.Findings – The test of various turnover indicators suggests that certain employee turnover indicators can perform as effectively as single‐item employee satisfaction ratings do in predict.
Writing Groups, Change and Academic Identity: Research development as local practice

The development of the research potential of university staff has been given less attention than many other aspects of professional development, particularly teaching development. Yet there is an important need for the development of staff in the research role in the light of growth of higher education and changes to the organisation of the sector in many countries. This article examines one strategy for research development: the use of writing groups. It argues that writing is best seen as a starting point, rather than an endpoint, of the research process and hence that fostering academic writing is a useful place to do research development work. The article provides details of the use of a number of writing groups over three years in a particular faculty and explores the responses of leaders and participants. It identifies factors important in the use of this strategy and focuses on the contextual conditions required for initiatives of this kind to be effectively implemented.
Tilburg University Population Monotonic Path Schemes for Simple Games

A path scheme for a simple game is composed of a path, i.e., a sequence of coalitions that is formed during the coalition formation process and a scheme, i.e., a payoff vector for each coalition in the path. A path scheme is called population monotonic if a player’s payoff does not decrease as the path coalition grows. In this study, we focus on Shapley path schemes of simple games in which for every path coalition the Shapley value of the associated subgame provides the allocation at hand. We show that a simple game allows for population monotonic Shapley path schemes if and only if the game is balanced. Moreover, the Shapley path scheme of a specific path is population monotonic if and only if the first winning coalition that is formed along the path contains every minimal winning coalition. Extensions of these results to other probabilistic values are discussed.
Comparison of in vitro pharmacodynamics equivalence of generic and branded antimicrobials

There has been an enormous increase in the clinical use of generic drugs. However, this has not been accompanied by frequent and systematic evaluations of their therapeutic efficacy compared with branded products. Although essential to reduce health budget costs and to promote pharmaceutical competition, generic drugs remain a topic of intense controversy. Generics are usually intended to be inter-changeable with branded products; however, there have been allegations that some have a lower therapeutic equivalence than their branded counterparts The main objective of this study was to compare the in vitro potency of generic and branded antibiotics on E. coli and S. aureus. A sample of generic and corresponding branded Ciprofloxacin, Ceftriazone, Gentamicin and Doxycycline were used to prepare antibiotic disk for Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion susceptibility antimicrobial assay on E. coli ATCC 25922 and S. aureus ATCC 25923. The inhibition zones were measured and relative potencies were calculated. Antimicrobial activity against S. aureus ATCC 25923 ranged from 92.50 to 100% for generic agents; and 96.89% to 100% for branded drugs. The potency range for E. coli ATCC 25922 were 86.61 to 104.35% for generics and 83.33 to 103.23% for branded antimicrobials. There was no significant difference between the potency of the generic and the branded antimicrobial agents on the bacterial strains in the study. Each generic antimicrobial agent presented relative potency that was within the 80-125% acceptable range. The in vitro pharmacodynamics potency of generic antimicrobials from health facilities and legal distributors are equivalent to their corresponding branded agents.
Do Voluntary Associations Show Their Bright or Dark Side Under Adverse Societal Shocks? Evidence From 9/11

In this article, we reassess the relation between association membership and individuals’ feelings about immigrants, thereby focusing on possible shifts in this relation in the wake of negative societal shocks (i.e., the 9/11 terrorist attacks). That is, do such events tighten or loosen the connection between association membership and immigrant intolerance? Using repeated survey data from Flanders (Belgium), our results indicate that there is at best a weak overall connection between association membership and immigrant intolerance. The exception lies with members of socially embedded (or “connected”) associations, which tend to be significantly more tolerant toward immigrants. Interestingly, we find no significant change in the relationship between voluntary association membership and immigrant intolerance in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. This suggests that negative societal shocks have little direct impact on the membership-attitudes relation. The analysis contributes to discussions on the potential “bright” and “dark” sides of civic engagement.
Blood pressure and interactions between the angiotensin polymorphism AGT M 235 T and sodium intake : a cross-sectional population study 1 – 3

Background: Intervention studies have indicated an interaction between the blood pressure response to a low-sodium or a low-fat and high-fruit and -vegetable diet and the angiotensinogen gene (AGT) polymorphisms G-6A and M235T. Objective: We investigated whether this interaction is also present in a large free-living population. Design: Urinary sodium, potassium as biomarkers of intake, and blood pressure were measured in 11 384 men and women aged 45–79 y participating in the Norfolk arm of the European Prospective Investigation of Nutrition and Cancer (EPIC). The M235T polymorphism was assessed by pyrosequencing. Results: Highly significant associations between sodium and blood pressure were shown for all genotypes (P 0.001), but the regression coefficient for systolic blood pressure associated with each unit of sodium for each of the MT and TT genotypes was approximately double that for the MM homozygotes (P 0.001 for heterogeneity between genotypes). Differences were evident at high exposures to sodium but not at low exposures. There were no significant associations between blood pressure and dietary or urinary potassium. Conclusions: This large cross-sectional study supports public health recommendations to reduce salt consumption in the population as a whole, and it confirms intervention trial data showing the greatest response to intervention in persons with the AA and TT genotype in the AGT G-6A and M235T polymorphisms. Genotype effects in populations at low exposure to sodium are not likely to be seen. Am J Clin Nutr 2008;88:392–7.
An Occupancy Based Cyber-Physical System Design for Intelligent Building Automation

Cyber-physical system (CPS) includes the class of Intelligent Building Automation System (IBAS) which increasingly utilizes advanced technologies for long term stability, economy, longevity, and user comfort. However, there are diverse issues associated with wireless interconnection of the sensors, controllers, and power consuming physical end devices. In this paper, a novel architecture of CPS for wireless networked IBAS with priority-based access mechanism is proposed for zones in a large building with dynamically varying occupancy. Priority status of zones based on occupancy is determined using fuzzy inference engine. Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) is used to solve the optimization problem involving conflicting demands of minimizing total energy consumption and maximizing occupant comfort levels in building. An algorithm is proposed for power scheduling in sensor nodes to reduce their energy consumption. Wi-Fi with Elimination-Yield Nonpreemptive Multiple Access (EY-NPMA) scheme is used for assigning priority among nodes for wireless channel access. Controller design techniques are also proposed for ensuring the stability of the closed loop control of IBAS in the presence of packet dropouts due to unreliable network links.
The rheological transition in plagioclase‐bearing magmas

Volcanological processes, such as melt segregation, ascent, and eruption, are directly dependent on the rheological behavior of magmatic suspensions. An increase of the crystal fraction of the suspension leads to the formation of a solid‐particle network, which abruptly increases magma viscosity. The crystal fraction at which this rheological transition occurs depends on parameters such as the strain rate and the size, shape, and sorting of particles. To determine the influence of the crystal shape on the rheological transition, suspensions of plagioclase, a representative anisometric crystal, have been investigated at high temperatures and pressures. Synthetic suspensions with crystal fractions (ϕs) ranging from 0.38 to 0.75 were deformed both in compression and torsion in a Paterson apparatus at 300 MPa, 900°C and 800°C, and for strain rates between 1.0 × 10‐5 and 1.0 × 10‐3 s‐1. All suspensions exhibit a non‐Newtonian shear thinning rheological behavior. The experimental results, coupled with existing data and models at low crystal fractions (ϕs < 0.3), allow several rheological domains to be identified, from steady‐state flow to strain weakening, each characterized by a specific microstructure. In particular, a progressive evolution from a pervasive to a strain partitioning fabric is found when increasing the crystal fraction. Our results highlight the influence of both the strain rate and the shape of crystals on the rheological behavior of magmas. During crystallization, magmatic suspensions of anisometric minerals such as plagioclase would develop a solid‐particle network earlier (ϕs ~ 0.3) than suspensions of isometric minerals (ϕs ~ 0.5). Our study shows that localization of strain early in the crystallization history of mushy zones in the magma chamber, near the conduit margins, and at the base of lava flows would facilitate the mobilization, the transfer, and the final emplacement at the surface of highly viscous, feldspar‐rich magmas.
Biodiversity of major bacterial groups in association with agarwood (Aquilaria crassna) in Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam

Agarwood mainly formed by Aquilaria species is an economically and pharmaceutically important natural product used for the production of incense, perfumes and traditional medicines in Asia. Endophytic bacteria are potentially important in producing pharmaceutical compounds found in the plants. The aim of this research is to isolate, classify and identify major endophytic bacteria groups associated with agarwood of Aquilaria crassna species in Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam. Agarwood samples were collected and surface-sterilized, and total endophytic bacteria were isolated on Tryptic Soy Agar by the spread plate method. Major bacterial groups were classified according to the Bergey’s system. The 16S rRNA gene fragments were amplified using PCR method, and bacterial isolates were identified using this gene sequence similarity based method. The results showed that from 0.121 g of agarwood, total 26 bacterial isolates were purified and divided into 7 separated groups, in which the group II of Gram-positive spore-forming bacteria was the most dominant. Especially, two dominant strains, T14 of group II, and T15 of group VII, were identified as Bacillus pumilus and Alcaligenes faecalis , respectively. To our knowledge, it is the first time that biodiversity of bacterial endophytes associated with agarwood from Aquilaria crassna in Vietnam has been reported, which requires of further study to understand the relationship of endophytic bacteria to agarwood-producing Aquilaria crassna species as well as explore their potential applications towards the development of valuable bioactive compounds.
Schooling and Labor Market Impacts of a Natural Policy Experiment

The authors use a nationally representative household survey to estimate returns to schooling in Venezuela from instrumental variables based on a supply-side intervention in the education market. These estimates apply to a subgroup of liquidity-constrained individuals, in the spirit of the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) literature. Returns to schooling estimates which apply to a subgroup of individuals affected by the policy intervention may be more interesting from a policy perspective than the return to the"average"individual. The authors use an instrument based on the 1980 education reform (the Organic Law of Education) which provided for nine years of compulsory basic education. They also obtain alternative estimates using father's education as an instrument, in an attempt to derive high and low estimates of returns to schooling in Venezuela. The estimates are consistent with recent findings suggesting that the effect of education, at least for certain subgroups affected by a policy intervention, is as large, or larger than what is suggested by OLS estimates.
North-South Trade Agreements and Household Welfare: Mexico under NAFTA

One of the most important shortcomings of trade policy evaluation lies on the difficulty to create an explicit link between changes in tariffs and changes in household welfare. Most of the existing empirical studies assessing the welfare effect of trade liberalization adopted either a before and after approach or made use of cross-country regression at the macro level. Although both strategies are useful to inform us about the possible linkages between changes in trade variables and changes in household welfare, they do not isolate the welfare impact of the policy under evaluation from all other contemporaneous macroeconomic changes taking place.