Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Absolute Lymphocyte Count as a Surrogate marker for CD4+ cell count for the Initiation of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in Resource-limited Settings

Background: In resource-limited settings, laboratory assessment of HIV-infected individuals requires the consideration of simple markers for the initiation and monitoring of HAART. Absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) could serve as a simple cost-effective tool for determining when to initiate ART in resource-constrained settings. Objective: To determine the possibility of using absolute lymphocyte count as a surrogate marker for CD4+ cell count for the initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource-limited settings. Methods: Blood samples from 273 symptomatic HIV-positive individuals aged 18 to 57 years (33.3% males, 66.7% females) who presented for assessment for ART-eligibility were analyzed for CD4 count by flow-cytometry and ALC by automated haematology cell counter. Spearman rank correlation between CD4 count and ALC was assessed and positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), sensitivity and specificity of varying ALC cutoffs were computed for CD4 counts <200 cells/µL and <350 cells/µL. Results: High degree of correlation was noted between CD4 and ALC counts (r = 0.71, p<0.0001). PPV, NPV, sensitivity, and specificity maximally aggregated at ALC <1400 cells/µL for CD4 <200 cells/µL and ALC <2300 cells/µL for CD4 <350 cells/µL. ALC <1400 cells/µL had a 90% PPV, 87% NPV, 86% sensitivity and 90% specificity for CD4 counts <200 cells/µL. ALC <2300 cells/µL had 89% PPV, 51% NPV, 83% sensitivity and 62% specificity for CD4 counts <350 cells/µL. Conclusion: Our results have demonstrated the capability of absolute lymphocyte count to serve as a surrogate marker for CD4+ cell count for the initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource-limited settings.
A modeling methodology in predicting the leakage tightness of a pressure containment vessel without liner

The purpose of this paper is to present a complete analysis tool and numerical modeling methodology developed to help engineers studying the behavior of a prestressed concrete pressure containment vessel (PCCV) without liner of a nuclear power plant (NPP). Here the quantity of gas flow through concrete wall is separated in three parts: leakage through natural porosity of concrete; accelerated flow through micro-cracks and macro-cracks. Transport through the unsaturated sound and micro-cracked concrete is calculated by Darcy's law. In presence of macro-cracks, it is with Poiseuille-flow equation that leakage is represented. Gas transfer equations are solved by analogy to thermal equations. Gas permeability in each zone is determined as a function of the thermo-hydric and mechanical states of concrete; which require primary uncoupled thermo-hydric and mechanical analyses. Calculations including moisture and heat transfer, concrete creep, shrinkage, damage and cracking. Finally, this uncoupled thermo-hydro-mechanical methodology has been developed in Code_Aster finite elements code (EDF) to study the leakage tightness behavior of full scale PCCV. Different experimental elementary tests are studied to check the validity of mechanical, thermal, moisture flow and hydraulic models individually and when coupled together. A large-scale structural application is also presented here in order to assess the model's ability to simulate a full scale structure with all its complexity. The reasonable computation time, the stability of the numerical model and the quality of results, which follow the expected trends, constitute the assets of this tool and methodology to perform industrial studies.
CHAID Decision Tree: Methodological Frame and Application

Abstract Technological advancement across human activities has brought about accelerated generation of huge amounts of data. Consequently, researchers are faced with the problem how to determine adequate ways of turning the available data mass into useful knowledge. Data analysis adapted to these changes when data mining was developed as an approach to data analysis from different perspectives which reveals significant hidden regularities. This paper presents conceptual characteristics of decision tree, an important data mining method which is, due to its explorative nature, exceptionally suitable for detection of data structure when analysing various problem situations. The empirical section of the paper demonstrates applicative characteristics of this method using CHAID algorithm in leadership studies: an interdependence of selected personal characteristics and the manager’s leadership style has been investigated. The aim of the paper is to develop a classification model for identification of the dominant leadership style. The study was conducted on the sample of 417 managers of privately owned small-sized enterprises in Serbia, using a specially designed questionnaire. The classification model identified the set of six statistically significant personal characteristics as predictors of dominant leadership style.
The Casual Approach to Teacher Education: What Effect Does Casualisation Have for Australian University Teaching?

Abstract: Universities in many countries are struggling to adapt to the competing forces of globalisation, new managerialism, entrepreneurialism and new technologies and quality agenda demands. Diminishing resources caused by restricted funding and an aging and diminishing academic workforce pose barriers. One solution to staffing shortages is the casualisation of academic teachers increasing causal or sessional teaching staff who take on significantly increased teaching responsibilities. This article explores the casualisation of university academics and reports on preliminary findings of a small scale sessional teacher development program that used data from a questionnaire on demographics of a small group of 22 sessional teaching staff employed at an Australian university. Results indicated that sessional staff believed they were effective university teachers yet their ongoing development was hampered by heavy teaching workloads, other employment and lack of time. The article concludes that universities, to provide quality outcomes for students, must address these factors.
Industrial competition as a limit to banking market power

In this paper, I propose a new characterization of the relevant economic market for commercial lending. This definition takes into account an oftenoverlooked characteristic of the credit markets: the competitive nature of the borrowers’ own business. As a result, I submit that the limit to how much rent can concentrated financiers extract from a particular borrower is determined by the strength of competition on both banking and industrial markets. Using data from the Survey of Small Business Finances in a difference-indifferences test design, I find that in areas where banks are concentrated, firms that compete mostly within the banks’ area of influence (and only those firms) face systematically higher interest rates than their peers. This effect is strong (60–70 basis points), but is restricted to a subset of the firm population. I interpret this empirical result as support for the claim that banks can only successfully exercise market (pricing) power over entire marketplaces, and not geographical areas or individual firms per se.
HLA Genomic Diversity of India and its Implications in HIV Pandemic

Abstract Both culturally and biologically, India is one of the mega diversity countries of the world. This pertains to Human Genome Diversity as well. Although little explored so far, HLA is no exception to this. HLA profile varies based on regional, linguistic and caste profiles. HLA alleles identified as common in HIV non progressors in other parts of the world are the commonest in the Vellala related communities of southern India. Migration and selection might be responsible for this. In the context of the well established MHC restriction phenomenon and the role of CTL in controlling HIV viral replication, it has become essential to revisit these areas and better understand the underlying phenomena so that better experiments are designed in future research. The article highlights these aspects in the context of HIV pandemic in India.
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): formation and growth of elliptical galaxies in the group environment

There are many proposed mechanisms driving themorphological transformation of disc galaxies to elliptical galaxies. In this paper, we determine if the observed transformation in low-mass groups can be explained by the merger histories of galaxies. We measured the group massmorphology relation for groups from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly group catalogue with masses from 10(11) to 10(15) M-circle dot. Contrary to previous studies, the fraction of elliptical galaxies in our more complete group sample increases significantly with group mass across the full range of group mass. The elliptical fraction increases at a rate of 0.163 +/- 0.012 per dex of group mass for groups more massive than 10(12.5) M-circle dot. If we allow for uncertainties in the observed group masses, our results are consistent with a continuous increase in elliptical fraction from group masses as low as 10(11) M-circle dot. We tested if this observed relation is consistent with the merger activity using a GADGET-2 dark matter simulation of the galaxy groups. We specified that a simulated galaxy would be transformed to an elliptical morphology either if it experienced a major merger or if its cumulative mass gained from minor mergers exceeded 30 per cent of its final mass. We then calculated a group mass-morphology relation for the simulations. The position and slope of the simulated relation were consistent with the observational relation, with a gradient of 0.184 +/- 0.010 per dex of group mass. These results demonstrate a strong correlation between the frequency of merger events and disc-to-elliptical galaxy transformation in galaxy group environments.
CONSTRUCTION OF A VECTOR CONTAINING HYGROMYCIN (HPT) GENE DRIVEN BY DOUBLE 35S (2XCAMV35S) PROMOTER FOR OIL PALM TRANSFORMATION

Transformation vector construction is one of the important disciplines for plant genetic transformation studies. A series of vector consisting of hygromycin phosphotransferase (hpt) gene as the selective marker and green fluorescent protein (GFP) as the visual reporter gene, under the control of double cauliflower mosaic virus 35S (2XCaMV35S) promoter has been engineered for transformation into oil palm cells. These genes were cloned into different types of cloning and expression vectors. The cloning was carried out by using restriction enzyme digestion and ligation method. Five intermediate vectors have been created for insertion of 2XCaMV35S-HPT-35ST and 2XCaMV35S-GFP-35ST into modified pBINPLUS backbone vector for particle bombardment and Agrobacterium-based transformation protocols. All vectors were sequenced to confirm the integrity of DNA region. The vectors were later transformed into oil palm embryogenic calli using biolistic device. The viability of the vectors was initially evaluated by transient GFP fluorescence expression observed under fluorescence microscope. It was demonstrated that the 2XCaMV35S promoter was able to drive the expression of gfp as gene in oil palm calli.
Solar Energetic Particle Transport Near a Heliospheric Current Sheet

Solar energetic particles (SEPs), a major component of space weather, propagate through the interplanetary medium strongly guided by the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). In this work, we analyze the implications that a flat Heliospheric Current Sheet (HCS) has on proton propagation from SEP release sites to the Earth. We simulate proton propagation by integrating fully 3D trajectories near an analytically defined flat current sheet, collecting comprehensive statistics into histograms, fluence maps, and virtual observer time profiles within an energy range of 1–800 MeV. We show that protons experience significant current sheet drift to distant longitudes, causing time profiles to exhibit multiple components, which are a potential source of confusing interpretations of observations. We find that variation of the current sheet thickness within a realistic parameter range has little effect on particle propagation. We show that the IMF configuration strongly affects the deceleration of protons. We show that in our model, the presence of a flat equatorial HCS in the inner heliosphere limits the crossing of protons into the opposite hemisphere.
Predictive Modeling of Hip Dislocation: Assessment of Surgical and Patient Factors to Reduce the Occurrence of Hip Instability and Adverse Clinical Outcomes

Instability and dislocation remain leading indications for revision of primary Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA). Many studies have addressed the links between implant design and propensity for dislocation, however a comprehensive review of the ability of modern THA constructs to protect against joint instability is needed. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to provide objective data about THA risks to be considered in the treatment algorithm to protect against adverse joint loading conditions and joint instability. Adverse loading conditions were assessed in a population of activities of daily living using data from telemetric hip implant representation in an FE simulation which included probabilistic representation of clinical implant position variation. Separately, dislocation was assessed using a series of strength-calibrated joint contact and muscle forces for a variety of THA implant designs in subject-specific musculoskeletal models of patients performing activities consistent with posterior and anterior THA dislocation. The resistive moment at the point of dislocation, as well as the overall dislocation rate per construct, provide relevant measures of resistance of the THA construct to dislocation. Based on a range of acetabular implant alignments reported clinically, variation in cup anteversion/retroversion had the largest impact on liner peak loading location of any degree of freedom throughout the prescribed activities. Cup inclination also showed a
On the correspondence between surface UV observations and TOMS determinations of surface UV: a potential method for quality evaluating world surface UV observations

A comparison of erythemally weighted surface UV irradiance observations with similar NASA TOMS surface UV determinations is described. Comparisons are made for two observation periods: the Robertson-Berger (R-B) meter period from 1974 to the late 1980s and the current period from 1996 to the present when more sophisticated UVB-1 instruments were used. The more primitive R-B meter observations that comprised the fi rst U.S. UV network are seen to drift downward with respect to those of the TOMS. While the UVB-1 observations did not appear to drift, a substantial bias is noted to exist between the TOMS and the UVB-1 stations collecting observations; the TOMS estimations tend to be higher. A portion of the bias may be attributed to errors in calibration, total ozone, and cosine response of the surface instrumentation. Unaccounted aerosol effects, although not considered to be large in the TOMS estimations, present another source of error. Comparisons are fi rst done for all sky conditions and then for clear sky conditions. The biases typically agree for all sky conditions within the uncertainties of the surface instruments' calibrations, liberally defi ned as ± 5%, implying that the TOMS cloud correction scheme performs reasonably well. Snow cover severely impacts the TOMS observations, giving considerably higher estimations. The biases for clear sky conditions ranged from 15% to 19% with no obvious drifts between the satellite and surface observations. The variation in the biases among stations is within the calibration uncertainties of the instruments, but the absolute bias is unexpectedly large. The standard deviations of the clear sky comparisons among all stations are steady at 4.8% ± 0.7%. A plot of the TOMS/UVB-1 ratio versus TOMS cloud refl ectivity observations is noisy, but qualitatively suggestive of a possible slight increase (~ 5% or greater) over the range of clear to overcast skies. The results from these comparisons is believed to be relevant to a WMO goal of uniformly assuring the quality of UV observations made by networks in many countries. The results for clear sky comparisons suggest that a satellite observing system such as TOMS, which provides global coverage daily, might partially serve as a fi rst-order check to quality assure UV observations being made by networks worldwide. Future research should concentrate on determining the causes of the large differences seen between the UVB-1 and TOMS and the range of uncertainties, using a larger array of stations.
Frequency Discrimination: Frequency Modulated Difference Limen or Auditory Steady State Response?

methods are usually used to measure frequency discrimination. This research was designed to study frequency discrimination in normal hearing subjects and those with sensorineural hearing loss. Materials and Methods: This research included two groups: control group (GI) which is composed of 30 normal hearing adults. The other is the study group (GII) which included 33 subjects with sensorineural hearing loss. Frequency discrimination was assessed using two different procedures: 80Hz-Auditory steady state response and Frequency Modulated Difference Limen. Results: Auditory steady state response amplitude showed no significant difference between different frequencies in both groups. However, Frequency Modulated Difference Limen test showed gradual increase in the frequency difference required for discrimination as a function of increasing carrier frequency in both groups. Conclusion: Although Auditory steady state response had been suggested as a new tool for assessing frequency discrimination, the psychophysical method such as Frequency Modulated Difference Limen still has a major role for such purpose.
Effects of a Stair-step Growth Pattern on Improvements in Meat Quality and Growth in Hanwoo Steers

The present study was conducted to examine the effect of a stair-stepped feed intake pattern on growth, feed efficiency, and meat quality or Hanwoo steers. Twenty-seven 11-month-old Hanwoo steers were randomly divided into mree groups. The control group was fed according to the Korean steer feeding program, and the other two groups were fed according to an alternated feeding schedule of 3-2-4-2 months. During the first three months of the experiment, treatment group 1 (T1) and treatment group 2 (T2) were fed 20% and 30% less than the control group, respectively. For the following two months, the T1 group was fed 20% more than the control group while the T2 group was fed 20% less than the control group. In the third step, T1 and T2 groups were fed 20% and 10% less, respectively, than the control group for four months. In the last two months, T1 and T2 groups were fed 20% more than the control group. After the stair-step feeding trial, steers were fed concentrated feed ad libitum for five months. The altered feed intake pattern did not affect daily body weight gain. However, daily feed intake tended to decrease and growth efficiency tended to increase in the two treatment groups compared to the control group. Altered feed intake also affected blood metabolite levels. The serum glucose and BUN level of the T1 group increased in the first re-fed period compared to the T2 and control groups. The serum cholesterol level of the T2 group decreased in the first restricted-re-fed growth period compared to the T1 and control groups. The serum NEFA levels of the two treatment groups increased from the first restricted period compared to the controls. The serum insulin level of the T2 group increased in the last period compared to the T1 and control groups. Regarding meat yield index, the control group was significantly higher than the T2 group (p<0.05). Regarding meat yield grade, the carcass back fat thickness of the T2 group was significantly higher than the control group (p<0.05). In marbling score, the T1 group was the highest (4.9), followed by the control group (4.1) and the T2 group (4.0). These results indicate that using a stair-stepped growth pattern (T1) can contribute to improvements in growth efficiency and muscle marbling.
A high-resolution spectropolarimetric survey of Herbig Ae/Be stars – I. Observations and measurements

This is the first in a series of papers in which we describe and report the analysis of a large survey of Herbig Ae/Be stars in circular spectropolarimetry. Using the ESPaDOnS and Narval high-resolution spectropolarimeters at the Canada–France–Hawaii and Bernard Lyot Telescopes, respectively, we have acquired 132 circularly polarized spectra of 70 Herbig Ae/Be stars and Herbig candidates. The large majority of these spectra are characterized by a resolving power of about 65 000, and a spectral coverage from about 3700 A to 1 µm. The peak signal-to-noise ratio per CCD pixel ranges from below 100 (for the faintest targets) to over 1000 (for the brightest). The observations were acquired with the primary aim of searching for magnetic fields in these objects. However, our spectra are suitable for a variety of other important measurements, including rotational properties, variability, binarity, chemical abundances, circumstellar environment conditions and structure, etc. In this paper, we describe the sample selection, the observations and their reduction, and the measurements that will comprise the basis of much of our following analysis. We describe the determination of fundamental parameters for each target. We detail the least-squares deconvolution (LSD) that we have applied to each of our spectra, including the selection, editing and tuning of the LSD line masks. We describe the fitting of the LSD Stokes I profiles using a multicomponent model that yields the rotationally broadened photospheric profile (providing the projected rotational velocity and radial velocity for each observation) as well as circumstellar emission and absorption components. Finally, we diagnose the longitudinal Zeeman effect via the measured circular polarization, and report the longitudinal magnetic field and Stokes V Zeeman signature detection probability. As an appendix, we provide a detailed review of each star observed.
Hydroplaning and submarine debris flows

[1] Examination of submarine clastic deposits along the continental margins reveals the remnants of holocenic or older debris flows with run-out distances up to hundreds of kilometers. Laboratory experiments on subaqueous debris flows, where typically one tenth of a cubic meter of material is dropped down a flume, also show high velocities and long run-out distances compared to subaerial debris flows. Moreover, they show the tendency of the head of the flow to run out ahead of the rest of the body. The experiments reveal the possible clue to the mechanism of long run-out. This mechanism, called hydroplaning, begins as the dynamic pressure at the front of the debris flow becomes of the order of the pressure exerted by the weight of the sediment. In such conditions a layer of water can intrude under the sediment with a lubrication effect and a decrease in the resistance forces between the sediment and the seabed. A physical-mathematical model of hydroplaning is presented and investigated numerically. The model is applied to both laboratory- and field-scale debris flows. Agreement with laboratory experiments makes us confident in the extrapolation of our model to natural flows and shows that long run-out distances can be naturally attained.