Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence Of Service Branding Perception Oncustomer Satisfaction Of Low Cost Airlines: Air Asia And Malindo Air

The main challenge of low cost airline such as Air Asia and Malindo Air is to make the brand of the airline echoes with quality. Both airlines are perceived differently even though they are in the same industry due to their branding efforts. Thus, this study aims to understand the relationships of service branding (amenities, word-of-mouth, employee, feelings, reliability and publicity) with customer satisfaction amongst Air Asia and Malindo Air customers. A total of 270 questionnaires were distributed to the customers in the airport through a convenience sampling. The multiple regression analysis indicated only three variables of service branding have significant relationships with customer satisfaction namely amenities, word of mouth and employee. Low cost airlines in general will find this data or information helpful particularly in their endeavour to best serve their customers through service branding efforts which in the long run will help them to sustain and expand their business to another level.
Increased Circulating Inflammatory Proteins Predict a Worse Prognosis with Valvular Calcification in End-Stage Renal Disease: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: It remains unknown whether inflammation may predict a worse prognosis with valvular calcification (VC) in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Method: We prospectively performed echocardiography in 231 ESRD patients receiving chronic peritoneal dialysis treatment to detect VC and then followed them for 3 years or until death. Results: Patients with VC had higher C-reactive protein (CRP; p = 0.001), higher interleukin-6 (IL-6; p = 0.002) and lower fetuin-A (p = 0.004). Stratifying patients into 4 groups on the basis of VC, CRP, IL-6 and fetuin-A, respectively, those with VC and CRP in the upper tertile had 3.68-fold (95% confidence intervals [CI], 1.72–7.88; p = 0.001) and 3.13-fold (95% CI, 1.57–6.24; p = 0.001) respective increases in the adjusted risk of mortality and major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) than those with no VC and CRP in the lower/middle tertiles. The adjusted hazard ratios (HR) in relation to mortality and MACE were 3.56 (95% CI, 1.53–8.26; p = 0.003) and 2.51 (95% CI, 1.24–5.11; p = 0.011), respectively, for patients with VC and IL-6 in the upper tertile compared to those with no VC and IL-6 in the lower/middle tertiles. The adjusted HR in relation to mortality and MACE were 3.56 (95% CI, 1.53–8.26; p = 0.003) and 2.51 (95% CI, 1.24–5.11; p = 0.011), respectively, for patients with VC and fetuin-A in the lower tertile compared to those with no VC and fetuin-A in the middle/upper tertiles. Conclusions: Increased circulating inflammatory proteins predict a worse prognosis of VC in chronic peritoneal dialysis patients.
Regime-dependent linkages between securitized real estate market and major financial markets: some international evidence

ABSTRACT We employ Markov regime-switching approach to explore the regime-dependent linkages between securitized real estate market and stock, money, bond and foreign exchange markets for 10 economies. During high-volatility periods in securitized property markets, stock market return, and to some extent, changes to foreign exchange market rates impose stronger and positive impact on securitized real estate market returns. Moreover, stock and bond market risks are linked negatively to securitized real estate market risk. Although the asymmetrical regime-dependent influences of the financial market performance indicators on the SRE market do vary across the 10 economies studied in terms of direction and significance, the results highlight the risk of increased exposure of securitized property markets to financial markets during high-volatility market conditions which the investors and policymakers should be alerted to.
Corneal Biomechanics, Optic Disc Morphology, and Macular Ganglion Cell Complex in Myopia

Purpose:To determine the association between corneal biomechanical properties and optic disc morphology, to verify the relationship between corneal biomechanical properties and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness in myopia, and to investigate the association between axial length (AL) and pRNFL and macular inner retinal layer (MIRL) thickness in myopia. Methods:An observational cohort study was conducted. Corneal hysteresis (CH), corneal resistance factor, central corneal thickness (CCT), AL, MIRL thickness, and pRNFL thicknesses were measured. Results:This study examined 100 eyes from 50 patients, age 33.48±8.32 years (mean±SD), with spherical equivalent ⩽3 D. A multivariable mixed-model analysis adjusted by age and sex showed that CCT correlated negatively with disc area (P=0.002), rim area (P=0.007), cup area (P=0.01), cup/disc ratio (P=0.02), and cup volume (P=0.01). CH correlated negatively with disc area (P=0.03) and cup area (P=0.04). Neither CCT nor CH was correlated with pRNFL or MIRL. AL correlated negatively with the mean pRNFL (P=0.003), superior pRNFL (P=0.018), superiortemporal pRNFL (P=0.02), inferior pRNFL (P=0.033), and inferiornasal pRNFL (P=0.02), but not with MIRL. Conclusions:CCT and CH varied with optic disc morphology, but not with pRNFL or MIRL, in myopia. This relationship may relate to glaucoma risk in myopia. AL varied with pRNFL, primarily at the superior and inferior poles, but not with MIRL in myopia.
Na-dependent pHi regulatory mechanisms in native human retinal pigment epithelium.

This study provides the first information about pHi regulatory mechanisms in human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). The experiments were carried out on fresh explant tissues from adult donor and fetal eyes, and pHi was measured using fluorescence microscopy techniques and the pH-sensitive dye 2',7'-bis(carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein. In adult donor RPE, the resting pHi is 7.30 +/- 0.14 (mean +/- standard deviation; n = 6) in HCO3 Ringer's solution. In HCO3 Ringer's solution, apical Na removal caused rapid cell acidification with an initial rate of 0.40 +/- 0.10 pH U/min (n = 4). This Na-dependent acidification was partially inhibited by apical amiloride (n = 1) and DIDS (n = 1). In HCO3 Ringer's solution, pHi recovery from an acid load (NH4 prepulse) also was blocked by apical Na removal. In nominally HCO3-free Ringer's solution, apical amiloride (1 mmol/l) acidified the cells. These results suggest that the apical membrane of adult human RPE contains an Na/H exchanger and possibly a Na-dependent, DIDS-inhibitable pH regulatory mechanism, perhaps a NaHCO3 cotransporter. For the fetal RPE, the resting pHi was 7.16 +/- 0.10 (n = 9) and 7.19 +/- 0.10 (n = 20) in HCO3 and HCO3-free Ringer's solution, respectively. In HCO3 and HCO3-free Ringer's solution, apical amiloride (1 mmol/l) acidified the cells and the removal of apical Na caused cell acidification with an initial rate of 0.30 +/- 0.08 (n = 32) and 0.58 +/- 0.29 (n = 6) pH U/min, respectively. The pHi recovery from an acid load also was blocked by apical amiloride and apical Na removal. These results suggest that the apical membrane Na/H exchanger is the dominant acid extrusion mechanism in human fetal RPE. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Teacher Retention and Attrition: Views of Early Career Teachers

The provision and maintenance of quality teachers in the profession is a pressing issue. Concerns have been raised that teacher experience and knowledge may be lost to the profession through attrition and retirement (Ramsey, 2000; Ingersoll, 2001; Williams, 2002; McGaw, 2003; Lonsdale and Ingvarson, 2003; Skilbeck and Connell, 2003, 2004). Teacher attrition comes at a cost to individual teachers and to the community (Korthagen, 2004; Connell, 2007; Rinke, 2007; Buchanan, 2009; 2010; Schuck, Aubusson, Buchanan and Russell, 2012). Hence there is a need to investigate the experiences of early career teachers (ECTs) to consider how these experiences influence ECTs' decisions about staying in or leaving the profession. For teacher educators, knowing about ECTs' experiences provides insights that enable them to enhance teacher education programs and better prepare teachers for their first years of teaching. This paper reports on an aspect of a large-scale longitudinal study on early career teachers' decisions to remain in or leave the profession. The overarching research question was: Why do some early career teachers choose to remain in the profession and why do others choose to leave? This paper describes and analyses the experiences of teachers participating in the study and highlights implications for teacher retention.
Photoreceptor maintenance and degeneration in the norpA (no receptor potential-A) mutant of Drosophila melanogaster.

The norpA (no receptor potential) mutant of Drosophila melanogaster has a visual transduction deficit. This study determines whether lack of function leads to structural repercussions in photoreceptor cells of the compound eye and their synapses. For this purpose, we examined thin sections and freeze fracture replicas of norpA using transmission electron microscopy. Ultrastructurally, retinula cells in the compound eye and all aspects of the first optic neuropil (lamina ganglionaris) are essentially normal in newly emerged flies. However, as expected, intraretinular pigment granules fail to show their light elicited aggregation; further, the P face particle density is somewhat lower than in wild type. We confirm that there are unusual membrane specializations on the plasmalemma of the retinula cell dubbed "zippers. " Zippers appear to increase with age and can cause a distorted geometry of ommatidia. Only a few retinula cells ultimately degenerate in norpA, and the proportion may not differ from that of wild type. Despite the absence of the receptor potential in norpA, many aspects of the turnover of rhabdomeric membrane appear to be as in wild type.
The Prevalence of Ulcerative Colitis in Israel: A Twenty-year Survey

Objectives This is the third survey we perform in the kibbutz population of Israel. The previous 2 surveys were 10 years apart, in 1987 and 1997, demonstrating an increase in ulcerative colitis (UC) prevalence. The aim of the present study was to confirm the trend for increasing UC prevalence in Israel. Methods There are 269 kibbutz settlements in Israel, with a total of 117,700 people, accounting for 2.4% of the Jewish Israeli population. The local physician for each kibbutz was contacted by mail, e-mail, telephone, and fax to obtain information on UC patients. Data were retrieved and updated to December 31, 2007, the point prevalence date. Details of sex, age, origin, clinical spectrum of the disease, therapy, and complications were recorded. Results There are 255 confirmed cases of UC, 138 women and 117 men (female: male ratio, 1.2:1). The prevalence rate rose from 121.08/100,000 in 1987 to 167.20/100,000 in 1997 and then to 216.65/100,000 in 2007 (P<0.0001). The rise in the second period was less than in the first period: 29% and 38%, respectively. The prevalence rate was higher in women than men, and in European/American-born>Asian/African-born>Israeli-born individuals. Conclusions We observed an increase in the prevalence and mean annual incidence of UC in Israel, in men and women, with a decreasing gap between different ethnic groups. We believe that strong environmental influence is responsible for our observation.
Joint Semantic and Motion Segmentation for Enhanced Scene Understanding

The thesis presents end-to-end frameworks for joint semantic and motion segmentation in outdoor dynamic scenes in both monocular and stereo setup. Dynamic scene understanding is a challenging problem and motion segmentation plays a crucial role in solving it. Incorporating semantics and motion enhances the overall perception of the dynamic scene. For applications of outdoor robotic navigation, joint learning methods have not been extensively used for extracting spatio-temporal features or adding different priors into the formulation. The task becomes even more challenging without stereo information being incorporated. The thesis proposes an approach to fuse semantic features and motion clues using CNNs, to address the problem of monocular semantic motion segmentation. We deduce semantic and motion labels by integrating optical flow as a constraint with semantic features into dilated convolution network. The pipeline consists of three main stages i.e Feature extraction, Feature amplification and Multi Scale Context Aggregation to fuse the semantics and flow features. Our joint formulation shows significant improvements in monocular motion segmentation over the state of the art methods on challenging KITTI tracking dataset. The focus in the second part of the thesis is temporally consistent joint semantic and motion segmentation. Segmenting moving objects in a video sequence has been a challenging problem and critical to outdoor robotic navigation. While recent literature have laid focus on regularizing object labels over a sequence of frames, exploiting the spatio-temporal features for motion segmentation has been scarce. Particularly in real world dynamic scenes, existing approaches tend to fail in segmenting moving objects with large camera motion. In this thesis, we present an approach for exploiting semantic information and temporal constraints in a joint framework for motion segmentation in a video. We propose a formulation for inferring per-frame joint semantic and motion labels using semantic potentials from dilated CNN framework and motion potentials from depth and geometric constraints. We integrate the potentials obtained into a 3D(spacetime) fully connected CRF framework with overlapping/connected blocks. We solve for a feature space embedding in the spatio-temporal space by enforcing temporal constraints using optical flow and long term tracks as a least-squares problem. We evaluate our approach on KITTI Tracking benchmark and demonstrate results superior to the state-of-the-art in motion segmentation.
Measuring (In)Attention to Mutual Fund Fees: Evidence from Experiments

We estimate investors’ attention level to mutual fund fees based on a parsimonious asset allocation model with limited attention in an experimental setting. We find that, on average, investors allocate 62.5% of their full attention to mutual fund fees. We also find that cognitive ability is an important factor in determining investors’ attention to the fees. The estimated attention level implies investors in the U.S. mutual funds market pay $16 billion more fees per year than the level they recognize. We evaluate policy options to increase attention to fees and find that the policy effectiveness may depend on one’s cognitive ability.
Factors Considered by Food Industry Retailers and Wholesalers in Purchase Intent for Foreign Products

Supply chain management is a key challenge for many major enterprises due to the complex relationship between buyers (intermediary) and sellers (supplier) (Autry & Golicic, 2010). The combined, messy, intertwined effects of increasing product/service complexity, outsourcing globalization, and e-business have caused supply networks to become increasingly complex and dynamic (Croom, Romano, & Giannakis, 2000). However, efficient management of a supply chain can represent a competitive advantage (Emberson & Storey, 2006). Many factors drive the need for greater supply chain competence. Globalization, the availability of new technologies, the amount of available information, customers’ level of knowledge, and the sheer quantity and variety of products available worldwide are predominant factors. To maintain stability in supply chain management despite an often-dynamic business environment, supply chain participants have adopted a partnership strategy with other members of the supply chain, including competitors (Choi, 2010; Krolikowski & Yuan, 2017). An intermediary role can also develop in response to changes in a collaborative model. The various factors that influence decisions to buy from a given supplier, particularly a foreign supplier, are of interest (Powers & Reagan, 2007), and the identification of these factors for food industry enterprises in Puerto Rico forms the basis of the current study. The relationship between the buyer (intermediary) and seller (supplier) becomes more complex if their activities occur in a country (island territory) where most (e.g. 85% in Puerto Rico) of the food and beverages is imported, and 42.79% of island population benefits from US food stamps assistance program for buying food and non-alcoholic beverages. Food imports by intermediaries of Puerto Rican Food Supply Chain have to comply with US FDA sanitary and phytosanitary regulations. As non-incorporated territory of the US, island trade activities (import/export) are subjected to USDA regulations, including free trade and protection policies. Any domestic protectionist or preferential policies must be aligned with US trade regulations.
Immunohistochemistry and scoring of Ki-67 proliferative index and p53 expression in gastric B cell lymphoma from Northern African population: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to clarify the Ki-67 distribution, p53 expression and their relationship with clinico-pathologic features of gastric B cell lymphoma from Northern African population. METHODS Twenty paraffin blocks of gastric lymphoma were retrieved from the archival materials of Department of Pathology, Central University Hospital of Sidi Bel Abbes (Western Algeria) from 2007 to 2013. Four µm section specimens were stained by immunohistochemical (IHC) technique with Ki-67 and p53 tumor markers. P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS Expression of p53 proteins and the mean proliferative index (PI) were compared between high grade gastric B cell lymphomas (DLBCL) and low grade gastric B cell lymphomas (gastric MALTs). p53 overexpression (P=0.007) and a high proliferation index Ki-67 (P=0.001) were significantly associated with gastric DLBCL. We found also a statistically significant correlation between p53 and Ki-67 (P=0.007) but no obvious relationships were found between Ki-67 PI and p53 expression as well as clinico-pathological features (age, sex, location, macroscopic type). CONCLUSIONS The IHC studies of Ki-67 and p53 expression in gastric B cell lymphoma can help in monitoring of patients at risk, and to give suitable treatment and management of patients.
Performance of a Large-Scale Medical Waste Incinerator in a Referral Hospital

The aim of the study was to analyze the performance of large scale incinerator installed in a referral hospital. The study involved weighing and loading infectious waste of different composition (sharps and other waste), recording temperatures in the primary and secondary chamber with time, fuel used and collecting and weighing the bottom ash for 65 days. The analysis shows that the incinerator on average uses 362 L/day (45 L/h) to incinerate 945 kg of medical waste (40.8 kg/day of sharps waste and 904 kg/day of other waste), generating 51.2 kg of ash daily. The observed fuel consumption rate was too high necessitating corrective action. The average weight reduction was 94.6%. The study shows that the average sharps waste composition for medical waste incinerated was 4.3% and other waste was 95.7%. The incinerator capacity ranged between 100 and 130 kg/h. The fuel effectiveness ranged between 2.0 and 3.0 liters of diesel per kg of waste incinerated. The fuel effectiveness increased linearly with total waste incinerated and incinerator capacity, respectively, depending on the fuel consumption rate.
THE NEURO-OPHTHALMOLOGY OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the quintessential neurologic disorder from which to understand the principles of afferent and efferent neuro-ophthalmology. Perhaps with the exception of stroke, no other disorder is associated with nearly every sign and symptom of abnormalities targeting the visual system and the ocular motor apparatus. This focused review will underscore the most common syndromes and their derivative signs and symptoms that affect vision as a consequence of MS.
Partition of unity-based discontinuous finite elements: GFEM, PUFEM, XFEM

ABSTRACT In this paper we review some basic notions of partition of unity-based discontinuous finite elements showing their relation to the Generalized Finite Element Method. A minimal one-dimensional example illustrates some of the issues related to the computer implementation of the method and highlights the relative simplicity of the approach. The ability of the approach in describing displacement discontinuities independently of the finite element mesh is shown in a classical crack propagation problem in an elastic medium. We also illustrate some limitations of this method when used in conjunction with the dummy stiffness approach.
Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present a sampling method using virtual networks to study “hard‐to‐reach” populations. In the ambit of social research, the use of new technologies is still questioned because the selection bias is an obstacle to carry on scientific research on the Internet. In this regard, the authors' hypothesis is that the use of social networking sites (Web 2.0) can be effective for the study of “hard‐to‐reach” populations. The main advantages of this technique are that it can expand the geographical scope and facilitates the identification of individuals with barriers to access. Therefore, the use of virtual networks in non‐probabilistic samples can increase the sample size and its representativeness.Design/methodology/approach – To test this hypothesis, a virtual method was designed using Facebook to identify Argentinean immigrant entrepreneurs in Spain (214 cases). A characteristic of this population is that some individuals are administratively invisible in national statistics.
The Effect of an Entrainment Protocol on Ouabain‐Induced Ventricular Tachycardia

Overdrive stimulation of reentrant ventricular tachycardias (VT) may result in entrainment and/or termination of these arrhythmias. We investigated whether surface ECG criteria of entrainment can also be observed in nonreentrant VT. For this purpose ouabain‐induced tachycardias were used that are considered to be based on delayed afterdepolarizations. In nine conscious dogs, having surgically induced complete AV block, pacing was performed using trains of 20 stimuli from a site distant to the origin of the VT. The pacing intervals were shortened in steps of 5–10 msec, until complete capture from the pacing site or termination of the VT was obtained. During stimulation variable fusion was seen and complete capture of the ventricles from the pacing site occurred just after a slight decrease in pacing cycle length (20 ± 10 msec). Overdrive stimulation resulted only in 1 out of 58 stimulation trains in termination of VT. Following stimulation it was observed that: (1) The length of the first postpacing interval was significantly longer (P < 0.001) than both the mean prepacing VT cycle length and interstimulus interval; (2) A change in QRS configuration occurred after 57% of the stimulation trains; (3) The VT accelerated slightly in comparison to the prepacing rate (P < 0.05); and (4) The length of the first postpacing interval and the mean R‐R interval of the VT postpacing were directly related to the interstimulus interval (r = 0.82 and 0.97, respectively). In conclusion, overdrive stimulation of ouabain‐induced arrhythmias did not result in entrainment or in termination of the tachycardia. Instead, other responses were seen that may be of help in differentiating between arrhythmias caused by delayed after depolarizations and reentry.