Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Investigation of Vehicle Ownership and the Effects of Income and Vehicle Expenses in Mid-Sized City of Thailand

This paper investigates the fundamental features and relationships of vehicle ownership, vehicle expenses and household socio-economic attributes in a mid-sized city in Thailand, using household vehicle ownership data recently collected. In this study, private vehicle dependency is explored. Based on a broad analysis, household income is found to be an important factor associated with both car and motorcycle ownerships, but perform in different manners. An analysis of household vehicle expense shows that the amount of car expense is considerably larger than motorcycle’s, while total vehicle expense also takes a significant portion within the household income. Moreover, over three quarters of total vehicle expense in the study area is on fuel. At the end of discussion, several predictions and suggestions on vehicle ownership situation in the study area, including a debate regarding feasibility of introducing price mechanisms for controlling vehicle ownership and usage in the study area, are concluded.
Preoperative Factors Affecting Footprint Coverage in Rotator Cuff Repair

Background: One of the goals of rotator cuff repair is to restore the torn tendon to its original insertion anatomically. However, it is sometimes difficult to restore the entire footprint. Purpose: This study was undertaken to evaluate the variables affecting this repair coverage and to discern the differences in retear rate and clinical results between complete and incomplete footprint coverage in rotator cuff surgery. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: From 2007 to 2009, a total of 85 consecutive repairs for medium-to-large rotator cuff tears were identified as having complete or incomplete coverage of their original footprints. We defined the complete footprint coverage (CC) group as patients who had >50% of their footprint covered during repair and the incomplete (IC) group as <50% of their footprint. Factors affecting the amount of footprint coverage were evaluated, and multivariable analysis was conducted to identify independent factors. To assess the final outcome according to the amount of footprint coverage, retear and clinical outcomes were compared between the CC and IC groups. Results: Fifty-seven repairs were defined in the CC group and 28 repairs in the IC group. Preoperatively, age, tear size in coronal oblique and sagittal oblique planes, Goutallier fatty infiltration, and atrophy of the supraspinatus affected the amount of footprint coverage in univariate analysis. In multivariable analysis, however, tear size in the coronal plane was the only independent factor affecting footprint coverage in rotator cuff repair. On postoperative MRI, 45.6% of the CC group had an intact tendon, 45.6% had a delaminated partial retear, and 8.8% had a full-thickness retear; in the IC group, 17.9% had an intact tendon, 60.7% had a delaminated partial retear, and 21.4% had a full-thickness retear. There was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of tendon integrity between groups (P = .028). Clinical scores and range of motion at final follow-up showed no difference between the 2 groups. Conclusion: Tear size in the coronal plane was the only independent factor affecting the amount of footprint coverage. Repair quality based on retear classification was different between the 2 groups. However, both complete and incomplete footprint coverage in rotator cuff repair showed no differences in clinical scores and range of motion at short-term follow-up.
Adding Value to the Meat of Spent Laying Hens Manufacturing Sausages with a Healthy Appeal

The aim of this study was to evaluate the viability of the use of spent laying hens’ meat in the manufacturing of mortadella-type sausages with healthy appeal by using vegetable oil instead of animal fat. 120 Hy-line ® layer hens were distributed in a completely randomized design into two treatments of six replicates with ten birds each. The treatments were birds from light Hy-line ® W36 and semi-heavy Hy-line ® Brown lines. Cold carcass, wing, breast and leg fillets yields were determined. Dry matter, protein, and lipid contents were determined in breast and leg fillets. The breast and legg fillets of three replicates per treatment were used to manufacture mortadella. After processing, sausages were evaluated for proximal composition, objective color, microbiological parameters, fatty acid profile and sensory acceptance. The meat of light and semi-heavy spent hens presented good yield and composition, allowing it to be used as raw material for the manufacture of processed products. Mortadellas were safe from microbiological point of view, and those made with semi-heavy hens fillets were redder and better accepted by consumers. Values for all sensory attributes were evaluated over score 5 (neither liked nor disliked). Both products presented high polyunsaturated fatty acid contents and good polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acid ratio. The excellent potential for the use of meat from spent layer hens of both varieties in the manufacturing of healthier mortadella-type sausage was demonstrated.
Investigating potential exogenous tumor initiating and promoting factors for Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphomas (CTCL), a rare skin malignancy

ABSTRACT Most skin malignancies are caused by external and often preventable environmental agents. Multiple reports demonstrated that cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCL) can occur in married couples and cluster in families. Furthermore, recent studies document geographic clustering of this malignancy in Texas as well as in other areas of the United States. Multiple infectious, occupational, and medication causes have been proposed as triggers or promoters of this malignancy including hydrochlorothiazide diuretics, Staphylococcus aureus, dermatophytes, Mycobacterium leprae, Chlamydia pneumoniae, human T-Cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV1), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and herpes simplex virus (HSV). In this report, we review recent evidence evaluating the involvement of these agents in cancer initiation/progression. Most importantly, recent molecular experimental evidence documented for the first time that S. aureus can activate oncogenic STAT3 signaling in malignant T cells. Specifically, S. aureus Enterotoxin type A (SEA) was recently shown to trigger non-malignant infiltrating T cells to release IL-2 and other cytokines. These signals upon binging to their cognate receptors on malignant T cells are then able to activate STAT3 and STAT5 oncogenic signaling and promote cancer progression and IL-17 secretion. In light of these findings, it might be important for patients with exacerbation of their CTCL symptoms to maintain high index of suspicion and treat these individuals for S. aureus colonization and/or sepsis with topical and systemic antibiotics.
Rare congenital anomaly of the portal vein

Une enfant de 10 ans, traitee avec succes a l'âge de 3 ans pour coarctation aortique et persistance du canal arteriel, presente des douleurs abdominales et des vomissements. Les examens et l'exploration chirugicale revelent une masse hepatique, excisee completement. Histologiquement il s'agit d'un hepatome. Les explorations ulterieures revelent des anomalies congenitales de la veine porte, et l'absence d'encephalopathie (meme 4 ans plus tard)
Chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis: towards an empirical case definition

Current case definitions of myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have been based on consensus methods, but empirical methods could be used to identify core symptoms and thereby improve the reliability. In the present study, several methods (i.e. continuous scores of symptoms, theoretically and empirically derived cut off scores of symptoms) were used to identify core symptoms best differentiating patients from controls. In addition, data mining with decision trees was conducted. Our study found a small number of core symptoms that have good sensitivity and specificity, and these included fatigue, post-exertional malaise, a neurocognitive symptom, and unrefreshing sleep. Outcomes from these analyses suggest that using empirically selected symptoms can help guide the creation of a more reliable case definition.
Employee Motivation and Organizational Culture- A Study with Special Reference to Software Industry

Organizational culture and organizational climate sets a frame work within individual and group behavior takes place. The internal working environment of every organisation has certain commonly perceived psychological characteristics or traits which are collectively called its climate, culture or milieu. Thus culture and climate are held to influence attitudes in the workplace. This paper examines the influence of organizational culture and climate in employee motivation.
Electricity Supply Reliability: Evaluation of Improvement Solutions for Existing Electricity Networks

Regulation of the electricity network business is continuously under development in many countries. This is a reaction of an increasingly electricity dependent society, which demands electricity supplies at acceptable quality levels and at reasonable tariffs. Thus, electric network companies are facing new requirements that change the conditions for exercising network activities. Generally, incentives are given to the network companies to maintain the present level of reliability in a cost-efficient way. In Norway, however, incentives are given to the network companies to plan, operate and maintain the networks in a socio-economically optimal way, taking into account the supply-interruption cost to the customers. Therefore, in Norway, electricity network companies strive to identify and implement the most cost-efficient reliability improvement projects, i.e., the projects that yield the greatest overall reduction in supply-interruption cost to the customers for the invested money. In this thesis, implementations of reliability improvement solutions on a test system have been evaluated from a socio-economical point of view. For each of the alternative solutions implemented on the test system, the average annual supply-interruption cost to the customers supplied from the test system has been estimated. Furthermore, the maximum annual capital cost associated with the implementation of each solution has been estimated. Then, a reliability improvement solution is considered justified socioeconomically if the capital cost associated with its implementation is less than the resulting reduction in the interruption cost to the customers. The general conclusion from this thesis work is that the supply-interruption cost to the customers supplied from a test system can be reduced significantly by implementing reliability improvement solutions that are justified socioeconomically. Even if the uncertainty of the input data is taken into account, it is obvious from the results that the interruption cost to the test system customers can be reduced to at least half the initial value. (Less)
Abdominal obesity, weight gain during adulthood and risk of liver and biliary tract cancer in a European cohort

General obesity has been positively associated with risk of liver and probably with biliary tract cancer, but little is known about abdominal obesity or weight gain during adulthood. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to investigate associations between weight, body mass index, waist and hip circumference, waist‐to‐hip and waist‐to‐height ratio (WHtR), weight change during adulthood and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), intrahepatic (IBDC) and extrahepatic bile duct system cancer [EBDSC including gallbladder cancer (GBC)] among 359,525 men and women in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. Hepatitis B and C virus status was measured in a nested case–control subset. During a mean follow‐up of 8.6 years, 177 cases of HCC, 58 cases of IBDC and 210 cases of EBDSC, including 76 cases of GBC, occurred. All anthropometric measures were positively associated with risk of HCC and GBC. WHtR showed the strongest association with HCC [relative risk (RR) comparing extreme tertiles 3.51, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 2.09–5.87; ptrend < 0.0001] and with GBC (RR: 1.56, 95% CI: 1.12–2.16 for an increment of one unit in WHtR). Weight gain during adulthood was also positively associated with HCC when comparing extreme tertiles (RR: 2.48, 95% CI: 1.49–4.13; <0.001). No statistically significant association was observed between obesity and risk of IBDC and EBDSC. Our results provide evidence of an association between obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, and risk of HCC and GBC. Our findings support public health recommendations to reduce the prevalence of obesity and weight gain in adulthood for HCC and GBC prevention in Western populations.
Sickle Cell Disease Complications

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited, lifelong condition. The sickle mutation consists a single nucleotide change (GAT->GTT) in the sixth codon of exon 1 of the β-globin gene coding for the β-globin polypeptide of hemoglobin (Hb) (a2β2). This change results in replacement of the wild type glutamic acid residue by a valine residue in β-globin chain and the formation of the sickle Hb (HbS) in homozygotes for this mutation. Heterozygotes live a normal life. In SCD patients, sickle erythrocytes are rigid with decreased deformability and reduced life span resulting in hemolysis, vaso-occlusive disease, vasculopathy and subsequent inflammation and end organ damage. Sickle cell disease affects millions of people worldwide. Today, with proper health care, many SCD patients have a good quality of life (QoL) and are in fairly good health most of the time. These people can live up to their forties or fifties, or longer. Despite the ‘common’ underlying genetic basis and a similar pathophysiology, patients with SCD present a highly variable clinical phenotype due to Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) variability throughout the genome. Patients with SCD are at high risk for developing multisystem acute and chronic complications associated with significant morbidity and mortality.
Knockdown of Hoxa11 In Vivo in the Uterosacral Ligament and Uterus of Mice Results in Altered Collagen and Matrix Metalloproteinase Activity1

ABSTRACT Homeobox (HOX) genes are evolutionarily conserved genes encoding transcription factors that regulate mammalian embryonic growth and development of the urogenital tract. In both humans and mice, HOXA11 persists in the adult reproductive tract and is thought to play an important role in maintaining tissue developmental plasticity by regulating the expression of genes involved in extracellular matrix metabolism in the reproductive organs. Previously, we have shown that HOXA11 is necessary for development of the uterosacral ligaments in mice and is deficient in women with pelvic organ prolapse. Therefore, we hypothesized that Hoxa11 regulates the synthesis and/or metabolism of collagens in the uterosacral ligaments and uterus, and tested this by establishing an in utero and peritoneal Hoxa11 gene knockdown system in C57/BL6 mice using vectors bearing Hoxa11 short hairpin RNA. Specific knockdown of Hoxa11 transcripts and protein levels were confirmed versus control vectors. Protein and mRNA expression of collagen types I and III exhibited significant decreases following Hoxa11 knockdown according to Western blot analysis and real-time PCR. Tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP1) expression also exhibited a significant decrease. Gelatinase zymography confirmed increases in pro-MMP2 and MMP9, as well as activated MMP2, following Hoxa11 knockdown. These results reveal that Hoxa11 knockdown in the uterosacral ligaments and uterus increases extracellular matrix degradation. More importantly, it suggests a mechanism in the weakening of the pelvic floor support in women, because decreased HOXA11 gene expression has been reported to be associated with decreased collagen and increased MMP2 expression in the uterosacral ligaments of women with pelvic organ prolapse.
The SRI advantage : why socially responsible investing has outperformed financially

Foreword Introduction The Case for SRI Out-performance SRI Indexes, Risk, and Volatility SRI Mutual Funds 30 Years of Studies: SRI Performance and Market History Why SRI Has Outperformed Pension Funds and Fiduciary Responsibility: The SRI Imperative Socially Responsible Investing for the Individual Investor Socially Responsible Investing in the US Socially Responsible Investing: From the Margins to the Mainstream Seeing Stars: SRI Mutual Fund Performance Factoring Out Sector Bets Can Universal Owners Be Socially Responsible Investors? "Crossing the Black Waters": The International Dimension of Socially Responsible Investing SRI and Energy: Scenes from a Revolution Foundations and Mission-Related Investing The World of Community Investing Strategies.
Political Economy of Crop Insurance Risk Subsidies under Imperfect Information

We consider a political economy where government cares about risk-averse farmers’ loss of income and yet incurs political cost if it provides monetary support to farmers. Government evaluates three options: 1) ex-post disaster aid; 2) ex-ante insurance option with perfect information; 3) ex-ante insurance with imperfect information (farmers are over-confident about their risk). It is assumed that marginal political cost is high enough so that the possibility of monetary support to farmers in the absence of economic loss is ruled out. In comparing 1) and 2), we find that government prefers farmers manage their risks through fairly priced insurance In comparing 1) and 3), if the information problems prevent risk-averse farmers to take up full insurance under actuarially fair rates, government prefers to subsidize farmers’ insurance ex-ante rather than providing disaster aid ex-post (subject to political cost) for a wide range of parameter values.
Muscular and cardiorespiratory effects of pseudoephedrine in human athletes.

AIMS Pseudoephedrine (PSE) is a readily available over-the-counter nasal decongestant which is structurally similar to amphetamine and is included on the International Olympic Committee's list of banned substances. However to date, little research has supported its putative ergogenic effect. This study investigated whether a 180 mg dose of PSE ingested 45 min prior to exercise enhanced short-term maximal exercise performance and/or altered related physiological variables. METHODS A randomised, double-blind, crossover study in 22 healthy male athletes. RESULTS Maximum torque (mean +/- s.d., n = 22) produced in an isometric knee extension exercise was 321.1+/-62.0 Nm (PSE) and 295.7+/-72.4 Nm (placebo), and peak power obtained on the 'all-out' 30 s cycle test was 1262.5+/-48.5 W (PSE) and 1228.4+/-47.1 W (placebo) (P<0.01, P<0.03, respectively). Subjects were estimated to be producing 96.9+/-2.4% of their maximal possible isometric leg extension force after PSE ingestion, but only 95.3+/-2.4% when PSE was not ingested. Bench press tasks and total work during the cycle test were not affected by the ingestion of PSE. Lung function was altered following ingestion of PSE (P<0.05) with FEV1 and FVC significantly increased (P<0.02, P<0.01, respectively) although the FEV1/FVC ratio was not altered. Heart rate was significantly elevated by the ingestion of PSE immediately following the 30 s cycle sprint (P<0.01) however, lactate concentration was not altered by the ingestion of PSE. CONCLUSIONS The administration of a 180 mg dose of PSE increased maximum torque, produced in an isometric knee extension and produced an improvement in peak power during maximal cycle performance, as well as improving lung function.
Paying for Inland Seaport Infrastructure

This Master thesis represents the last stage of the study Economics & Business with specialization in Urban, Port & Transport Economics in Erasmus University Rotterdam. The paper tries to answer the question who must and who will pay in the future for the inland transport infrastructure connecting the Port of Rotterdam to the mainland. On a larger scale this thesis represents an explorative, qualitative and critical study on the topic of inland transport infrastructure of seaports. The focus is reduced to road and railway infrastructure in particular and the point of view is kept close to the interests of the Port of Rotterdam. A solid conceptual framework and an interview-based research are the pillars for the analysis of the data. Examples of provision of inland transport infrastructure from various countries are explored, including the Netherlands. It is argued that procurement of inland transport infrastructure cannot be fully and completely examined unless both variables of such procurement are taken into consideration: financing and funding. Benefits and issues related to public and private financing are explored. Attention is given to private financing through institutional investors which is becoming a viable alternative to long-term traditional bank financing. The funding schemes investigated in this paper are general taxation, user charging from specific taxation, user charging from public and private tolls, donor funding from the European Union, land developers and specific businesses contributions, including ports. The performed analysis shows that the traditional public financing with public funding approach and the rising private financing with public funding approach are the most viable scenarios for the future of inland transport infrastructure in the Netherlands. On the financing side, institutional investors are a “natural” match for infrastructure procurement and maybe even crucial in a time when long-term bank borrowing is stagnating. Projects deriving from public financing with private funding approaches are possible but only when the business case of the project needs to be supported by private tolls revenue. Pure private financing and funding is a very unlikely scenario, just as schemes where full ownership of the infrastructure is assumed by the private sector. The role of the port as investor in inland transport infrastructure is presented.
Enhancements to the BIS Debt Securities Statistics

The BIS has revised its debt securities statistics to enhance their comparability across different markets. This feature by Branimir Gruic and Philip Wooldridge (BIS) sketches the main changes and the reasoning behind them. International issues have been redefined as debt securities issued outside the market where the borrower resides, and statistics combining international and domestic issues are being released for the first time. The revised statistics highlight the growing size and internationalisation of bond markets.