Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elite controllers and long-term nonprogressors: models for HIV vaccine development?

Elite controllers and Long-term nonprogressors (LTNP) are uncommon subgroups of HIV-infected individuals that are typically associated with improved clinical outcomes compared to other members of the HIV-infected population. These groups have particularly desirable characteristics for developing a therapeutic vaccine for HIV infection, namely spontaneous virologic suppression in elite controllers and prolonged elevation in CD4 cell counts in LTNP. Despite these favorable characteristics, some individuals in these groups experience HIV disease progression including virologic escape, CD4 decline, and the development of AIDS and serious non-AIDS events. Due to the heterogeneity observed in these populations, it is essential to select individuals with durable virologic control and/or CD4 cell count trajectories when considering elite controllers and LTNP as models for development of therapeutic vaccines.
The current status of paragonimiasis in Japan

Paragonimiasis was considered a disease of the past in Japan in the 1970s. However, new cases began to emerge from the late 1980s. During the years 1986 to 2002, we experienced over 200 cases. Although most of patients were Japanese, sporadic cases have been seen among immigrants living in Japan. To elucidate the clinical features of current paragonimiasis patients in Japan, we analyzed the relationship between parasite-specific IgM and IgG antibodies and the stage of disease. The results showed that the majority of Japanese patients had light grade infections and were diagnosed at a relatively early stage. On the other hand, immigrants had heavy infections, diagnosed at a late stage.
Fiscal Consolidation and the New Flat Rate Individual Income Tax in Hungary

In the last two years the Hungarian people have witnessed several new measures in government's fiscal policy. To respond to global crisis that hit Hungary hard, the Bajnai government enacted a series of economic reforms and spending cuts in 2009. The Orban government elected in 2010 launched economic programs designed to promote growth by reducing administrative burdens on businesses and lowering the tax burdens on small businesses. The plan also includes strict control of budgetary expenditures, and a "crises-tax" on different sectors which would remain in effect for minimum 2 years. One of the most popular plans seems to be the launch of a "flat-rate" individual tax replacing the existing progressive tax aiming to increase supply of labor and so tax base, to improve tax compliance and the reduce cost of taxation. The paper analyses the recent changes from theoretical and practical views focusing on expected effects of the new flat rate individual income tax system. At first glance it seems to be that this new fiscal measure has just basically anti-consolidation effects on government budgetary position loosing significant revenues from income taxes. From international lessons it is expected that that there will be no Laffer-type behavioral responses generating revenue increases from the tax cut elements of the reform. The impact of the flat tax on work incentives might be expected only in short run. The flat rate reduces the flexibility of government to use tax rates as one of the "strong" weapons in budgetary policy when it becomes unavoidable. In many developed countries a wide range of tax expenditure is still applied in a more or less progressive personal income tax system. In a system where tax expenditures are widely used tax compliance may systematically improved if burdens and benefits are linked.
Relationship between patient presentation and morphology of coronary atherosclerosis by quantitative multidetector computed tomography.

Aims Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) allows assessment of morphological features of coronary atherosclerosis. We aimed to test the hypothesis that clinical patient presentation is associated with distinct morphological features of coronary atherosclerosis. Methods and results A total of 1652 participants, representing a spectrum of clinical risk profiles [787 asymptomatic individuals from the general population, 468 patients with acute chest pain without acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and 397 patients with acute chest pain and ACS], underwent multidetector computed tomography. Of these, 274 asymptomatic individuals, 254 patients with acute chest pain without ACS, and 327 patients with acute chest pain and ACS underwent QCT to assess coronary plaque volumes and proportions of dense calcium (DC), fibrous, fibro fatty (FF), and necrotic core (NC) tissue. Furthermore, the presence of vulnerable plaques, defined by plaque volume and tissue composition, was examined. Coronary plaque volume increased significantly with worsening clinical risk profile [geometric mean (95% confidence interval): 148 (129-166) mm3, 257 (224-295) mm3, and 407 (363-457) mm3, respectively, P < 0.001]. Plaque composition differed significantly across cohorts, P < 0.0001. The proportion of DC decreased, whereas FF and NC increased with worsening clinical risk profile (mean proportions DC: 33%, 23%, 23%; FF: 50%, 61%, 57%; and NC: 17%, 17%, 20%, respectively). Significant differences in plaque composition persisted after multivariable adjustment for age, gender, body surface area, hypertension, statin use at baseline, diabetes, smoking, family history of ischaemic heart disease, total plaque volume, and tube voltage, P < 0.01. Conclusion Coronary atherosclerotic plaque volume and composition are strongly associated to clinical presentation.
Changes in activity and object manipulation before tail damage in finisher pigs as an early detector of tail biting.

Tail damage within the production of finisher pigs is an animal welfare problem. Recent research suggests that removal of known risk factors may not be enough to eliminate tail biting, especially in undocked pigs, thus a different strategy is worth investigating. This could be early detection of tail biting, using behavioural changes observed before tail damage. If these early stages of tail biting can be detected before tail damage occurs, then tail damage could be prevented by early interventions. The first step in developing such a strategy is to identify the types of behaviour changes that emerge during early stages of tail biting. Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate whether pen level activity and object manipulation evolved differently during the last 7 days before the scoring of tail damage (day 0) for pens scored with tail damage (tail damage pens) and pens not scored with tail damage (matched control pens). The study included video recordings for twenty-four tail damage pens and thirty-two matched control pens. Activity level and object manipulation were observed the last 7 days before day 0 during the morning (0600 to 0800 h), afternoon (1600 to 1800 h) and evening (2200 to 2400 h, only activity level). Both activity level and object manipulation were analysed using generalised linear mixed effects models with a binomial distribution for activity level and a negative binomial distribution for object manipulation. The probability of being active was higher in tail damage pens compared to control pens during the afternoon the last 5 days before day 0 (P<0.001). This was seen due to a decrease in activity level in the control pens, which makes it difficult to identify future tail damage pens from this difference. Object manipulation was lower in tail damage pens compared to the control pens on all 7 days before day 0, but only in pens with undocked pigs (P<0.01). Thus, it is still unknown when this difference in object manipulation initiated. It was concluded that both activity level and object manipulation seemed related to ongoing tail biting and should be investigated through more detailed observations and for a longer time to establish the normal behaviour pattern for a particular pen. Thus, it is suggested that future research focusses on developing automatic monitoring methods for pen level activity and object manipulation and applies algorithms that establish and detect deviations from the normal behaviour pattern of the pen before tail damage.
Joint Mode Selection and Power Control Scheme for Interference Alleviation in Device-to-Device Communications

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication fulfils the requirements of 5th generation (5G) communication networks such as: low end-to-end latency, higher spectral efficiency, higher data rate and large number of connected devices. But enabling D2D communication in the present cellular network (CN) induces cross-tier interference for cellular user equipment (CUE). This paper proposes a scheme of joint mode selection and power control of D2D user equipment (DUE) to mitigate the cross-tier interference under the assumption that the instantaneous channel gains of user equipments (UEs) and receiver sensitivity of D2D receivers are known to the enhanced-Node B (eNB). Furthermore, it is also assumed that, UEs are in slow fading environment and moving slowly. Mode selection is done on the basis of the instantaneous channel gains, that is, whether UE operates in cellular mode or D2D mode (reuse mode or dedicated mode). Power control of D2D transmitter is done on the basis of D2D receiver sensitivity. The proposed scheme enables more reliable D2D communication with the limited interference to the CN. The proposed scheme uses METIS-2020 channel model for performance evaluation. Simulation results show that the cell sum-rate is significantly increased compared to the conventional CN infrastructure without any major reduction in signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SINR) performance of the cellular users.
A Comparative Study on Psychosocial Problems of Adolescents between Selected Rural and Urban Schools of Mangalore

A cross sectional, descriptive comparative study was conducted in selected rural and urban secondary schools of Mangalore using stratified random sampling technique among 120 adolescents. The data were obtained using baseline characteristics performa and self reported scale regarding psychosocial problems with the reliability of r= 0.757. Data was analyzed using SPSS.16. The mean ±SD of psychosocial problem score of the adolescents of rural schools was 28.8±12.90and the mean ±SD of psychosocial problem score of the adolescents of urban schools was 23.22±8.39. Mean psychosocial problem score was comparatively higher in the adolescents of the rural schools than the urban schools (t118= 2.81, p<0.05). Most of the both rural and urban adolescents had internalizing psychosocial problems (27.15%, 22.27%) including anxiety (31.74%, 24.93%), depression (20.14%, 17.57%) and intrapersonal distress (29.58%, 24.31%) whereas least percentage of both rural and urban adolescents had problem of substance abuse (0.58%, 0.12%). Significant association was found between mother’s educational status and psychosocial problems among urban adolescents (χ= 4.949). Psychosocial problems are more prevalent among rural adolescents as compared to urban adolescents. Further internalizing problems are most common among both rural and urban adolescents.
SAFETY-BASED GUIDELINES FOR LEFT-TURN PHASING DECISIONS WITH NEGATIVE BINOMIAL REGRESSION

OF THESIS SAFETY-BASED GUIDELINES FOR LEFT-TURN PHASING DECISIONS WITH NEGATIVE BINOMIAL REGRESSION The efficient and safe movement of traffic at signalized intersections is the primary objective of any signal phasing and timing plan. Accommodation of left turns is more critical due to the higher need for balancing operations and safety. The objective of this study is to develop models to estimate the safety impacts of the use of left-turn phasing schemes. The models are based on data from 200 intersections in urban areas in Kentucky. For each intersection, approaches with a left-turn lane were isolated and considered with their opposing through approach in order to examine the left-turn related crashes. This combination of movements is considered to be one of the most dangerous in terms of intersection safety. Hourly traffic volumes and crash data were used in the modeling approach along with the geometry of the intersection. The models allow for the determination of the most effective type of left-turn signalization based on the specific characteristics of an intersection approach. The accompanying nomographs provide an improvement over the existing methods and warrants and allow for a systematic and quick evaluation of the left-turn phase to be selected. The models utilize the most common variables that are already known during the design phase and can be used to determine whether a permitted or protected-only phase will suit the intersection when considering safety performance.
CORRELATION COEFFICIENT ANALYSIS IN IVY GOURD

Thirty six genotypes of ivy gourd ( (RBD) with three replications at Horticulture Farm, Department of Horticulture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur (C.G.) during the summer-kharif season 2014 attributing characters namely vine length (cm), internodal length (cm), petiole length (cm), leaf length (cm), leaf width (cm), fruit length (cm), fruit diameter (cm), average fruit weight (g), number of fruits per plant, yield per plant (kg), TSS (Brix), fruit volume (cc), specific gravity (cc) for identification analysis revealed that fruit yield highly significant positive correlation with vine length, fruit diameter, and average frui weight, number of fruits per plant and fruit volume at phenotypic and genotypic levels at both genotypic and phenotypic levels, hence selection based on these characters would be more rewarding.
The Real costs of Industry Contagion

In this paper I analyze whether the higher financing costs following the distress or bankruptcy of one firm affect the real investment decisions of non-distressed industry competitors. To achieve identification of the causal effect of contagion on investment, I use a difference-in-differences approach that compares within-firm changes in investment around the industry distress for non-distressed competitors with large proportions of their debt maturing immediately after the industry distress, relative to other non-distressed competitors in the same industry but that did not have debt maturing immediately after the industry distress. Results suggest that the former firms, which are more affected by the higher costs of financing due to contagion, reduce their capital expenditures to capital ratio by around 10% more than the less-sensitive firms. Further results show that contagion effects are milder in concentrated and low-leveraged industries, as well as in industries that do not rely too heavily on external financing.
Individual differences in verbal short-term memory and reading aloud: Semantic compensation for weak phonological processing across tasks.

According to contemporary accounts, linguistic behavior reflects the interaction of distinct representations supporting word meaning and phonology. However, there is controversy about the extent to which this interaction occurs within task-specific systems, specialized for reading and short-term memory (STM), as opposed to between components that support the full range of linguistic tasks. We examined whether individual differences in the efficiency of phonological processing would relate to the application of lexical-semantic knowledge to support verbal STM, single word reading and repetition. In a sample of 83 participants, we related nonword performance in each task (as a marker of phonological capacity in the absence of meaning) to the effects of word imageability (a lexical-semantic variable). We found stronger reliance on lexical-semantic knowledge in participants with weaker phonological processing. This relationship held across tasks, suggesting that lexical-semantic processing can compensate for phonological weakness which would otherwise give rise to poor performance. Our results are consistent with separable yet interacting primary systems for phonology and semantics, with lexical-semantic knowledge supporting pattern completion within the phonological system in a similar way across STM and reading tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
Improvement in properties of cotton fabric through synthesized nano-chitosan application

In this paper, the study on synthesis, characterization and application of nano-chitosan on cotton fabric has been reported. The nano-chitosan treated fabrics are then tested for appearance, tensile, absorbency, stiffness, dyeing behaviour, wrinkle recovery and antibacterial properties. Low molecular weight chitosans are prepared by nitrous acid hydrolysis method; the molecular weights are determined viscometrically. Nano-chitosans are synthesized by ionic gelation of pentasodium tripolyphosphate and chitosan, and then characterized by particle size determination. The fabric samples are pretreated with normal and nano-chitosan solutions by pad-dry-cure technique. The surface morphology of treated cotton fabric has been studied by SEM analysis. The treated fabrics have also been dyed and their whiteness, yellowness and brightness indices are evaluated. It is found that the particle size and polydispersity of chitosan in solution are affected by the variation in molecular weight. The dye uptake and wash fastness of nano-chitosan treated fabrics are found to be improved. An enhanced antibacterial property is observed with the reduction of nano-chitosan particles and when coupled with nano silver colloid.
At the Expense of Quality?

Many organizations use employee referral programs to incentivize employees to refer potential applicants from their social networks. Employers frequently offer a monetary bonus to employees who refer an applicant, and this is often contingent on whether the person is then hired and retained for a given length of time. In deciding whether to refer someone, referrers face a potential role conflict, as they need to balance their motivations for helping connections find job opportunities with concerns regarding their reputations with their employers. To the extent that monetary incentives shift an employee's considerations away from finding the best matches for the employer, referral bonuses may increase the chances that lower-quality candidates are referred. Using a survey vignette experiment, we find that even a small referral bonus increases the likelihood that referrers will refer lower-quality candidates, and they are more likely to refer people they do not know well. We further discuss theoretical and practical implications regarding the efficiency of incentivized referral programs in producing quality applicant pools for employers.
Centrifuge modelling of a laterally cyclic loaded pile

: A total number of 9 monotonic and 6 cyclic centrifuge tests on laterally loaded piles in very dense, dry sand was performed. The prototype dimensions of the piles were 1 meter in diameter and penetration depths varying from 6 to 10 meters. The static tests were used to investigate the initial subgrade reaction modulus and as a reference for cyclic tests. For the cyclic tests the accumulation of deflections and the change in secant stiffness of the soil from repetitive loading were investigated. From all the tests carried out accumulations of deflections were seen. From the centrifuge tests it was seen that no reduction occurs of the overall bearing capacity and that deflections accumulate due to cyclic loading. This paper presents test results and discusses the effects from load eccentricity and effects from cyclic loading with focus on accumulations of the deflection and the change in secant stiffness.
Assessment of Profile Variations Amongst Provenances of Neem Using Single-Primer-Amplification Reaction (SPAR) Techniques #

The Single Primer Amplification Reaction (SPAR) methodology in conjunction with Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR), minisatellite sequences and arbitrary sequence primers are useful techniques for determination and analysis of genetic diversity in plants. These techniques were applied for the first time to our knowledge in case of neem provenances to reveal genetic relatedness between them on the basis of the discrete profiles produced. However, our results indicate that the neem provenances have greater-than- expected similarities in their inter-SSR and inter- minisatellite regions. These conclusions are in fact similar to those we have made earlier in case of neem provenances using only the RAPD profiles. Thus neem appears to have spread in India starting from only a few groups of the original founder neem plants introduced long ago.
HAEMATOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CLARIAS GARIEPINUS (BURCHELL 1822) JUVENILES EXPOSED TO DERRIS ELLIPTICA ROOT POWDER

In Nigeria, fish farmers have traditionally harvested fish by persistently and indiscriminately abusing the use of natural plant piscicides. In particular Derris elliptica , which contains rotenone which is toxic to fish when it is used in higher concentrations than necessary, causing contamination of fresh water bodies and thereby affecting non target organisms. Toxicity studies of Derris elliptica root powder were carried out with juveniles of Clarias gariepinus using sublethal concentrations of the root extracts Derris elliptica in 96 h static bioassay. Estimated numbers of healthy C. gariepinus juveniles were obtained from artisanal fishermen in Ondo State, Nigeria and were transported to the Federal University of Technology, Akure. The 96 h LC50 of Derris elliptica to juveniles of C. gariepinus was observed to be 15.0g/ml. Behavioural activities such as erratic swimming, loss of reflex, hyperventilation, increased surfacing frequency and jerky movements were observed. Values of some haematological parameters of C. gariepinus juveniles were analysed to determine the influence of D. elliptica root powder on the test fish. The range values obtained for the Packed Cell Volume (PCV), Haemoglobin (Hb), Erythrocyte (RBC) for C. gariepinus in higher concentration of D. elliptica root powder were significantly higher; PCV 40.0% - 45.0%, Hb 12.8 – 14.3g /100ml, RBC count 38.5 – 47.4 x 106mm3 than those obtained for Clarias in lower concentrations :PCV 25.0 – 31.2%, Hb 8.3 – 9.8g/100ml, RBC count 21.6 – 32.96 x 106mm2 3 respectively. Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) decreased than those obtained at lower concentrations of the powder. Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) decreased with increase in D. elliptica concentrations. The increase in PCV with increase in D. elliptica concentration indicated positive absorption of Derris solution by the fish while the increase of haemoglobin concentration (Hb) and Erythrocyte count (RBC) in C. gariepinus at higher concentration of D. elliptica may be associated with erythrocytes synthesis.
On the Power and Weakness of Rational Expectations: Logical Fallacies, Periodic Bubbles and Business Cycles

A popular interpretation of the Rational Expectations/Efficient Markets hypothesis states that, if the hypothesis holds, then market valuations must follow a random walk. This postulate has frequently been criticized on the basis of empirical evidence. Yet the assertion itself incurs what we could call 'fallacy of probability diffusion symmetry': although market efficiency does indeed imply that the mean (i.e. expected) path must be a random walk, if the probability diffusion process is asymmetric then the observed path will most closely resemble not the mean but the median, which does not necessarily follow a random walk. To illustrate the implications, this paper develops an efficient markets model where the median path of Tobin's q ratio displays regular cycles of bubbles and crashes reflecting an agency problem between investors and producers. The model is tested against US market data, with results suggesting that such a regular cycle does indeed exist and is statistically significant. The aggregate production function in Gracia (Uncertainty and Capacity Constraints: Reconsidering the Aggregate Production Function, 2011) is then put forward to show how financial fluctuations can drive the business cycle by periodically impacting aggregate productivity and, as a consequence, GDP growth.