Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prediction of high risk socio-demographic characteristics of patients who underwent Laparotomy in Mulago National Referral Hospital (Uganda), using POSSUM scoring system.

Risk management in surgery is very essential. The socio-demographic characteristics of patients who underwent Laparotomy were studied using (POSSUM) scoring systems. The objective of this study was to describe socio-demographic characteristics of patients who underwent Laparotomy in Mulago Hospital and predict the high risk socio-demographic characteristics to mortality. Consecutive patients, who underwent Laparotomy in Mulago Hospital, were studied. The patients were interviewed to obtain their socio-demographic characteristics and this information was entered in to a coded questionnaire designed for management and follow up of patients using POSSUM scoring system. When the patient died, a request was issued and a senior pathologist conducted a postmortem. Gross abnormalities and histology results were made. Any complications observed were investigated, treated and followed up. Phone contacts and surgical review once a week at the Hospital was used to obtain and record data of each patient. Most socio-demographic characteristics did not significantly determine the outcomes (morbidity and mortality) except for the occupation (civil servant) and the Cormorbid condition (Diabetes Mellitus) which significantly determined the risk of mortality in the study population. Occupation (Civil service) and comorbidity (Diabetes Mellitus) increased the risk of mortality.
Relationship between auditors’ fees and earnings management

espanolEn este trabajo se investiga la relacion entre la remuneracion de los auditores y los resultados de la gestion en el mercado brasileno. Para responder a la pregunta de investigacion se utilizo una muestra de 300 empresas que figuran en la BM & F Bovespa, en el que se identifican la cantidad pagada a los auditores, con datos de Economatica® y el sitio de la Comision de Valores Mobiliarios (Comissao Brasileira de Valores Mobiliarios [CVM]). Analizamos las regresiones con el fin de confirmar o refutar la hipotesis de que las sociedades de auditoria que cobran menos de lo esperado por el servicio, tienden a ser mas perjudicial en relacion con la gestion de los ingresos de sus clientes. Los resultados confirman esta hipotesis. La principal contribucion es decir que la gestion de los ingresos agresiva se produce predominantemente entre las empresas que pagan menos de lo esperado por servicios de auditoria. Este estudio muestra la percepcion de riesgo por parte de las empresas de auditoria y como esto se refleja en la remuneracion de los auditores. EnglishThis study investigates the relationship between audit fees and earnings management in theBrazilian market. In response to the research question, we used a sample of 300 firms listed onthe BM&FBovespa for which it was possible to identify the amount paid to the auditors, using data gathered from the Economatica® database and the website of the Brazilian Securities Commission (Comissao Brasileira de Valores Mobiliarios [CVM]). We analyzed the regressions with the aim of supporting or refuting the hypothesis that audit firms that charge less for their service tend to be more relaxed regarding earnings management by their client companies. The results support this hypothesis. The main contribution of this study is the possibility of stating that more aggressive earnings management occurs predominantly among firms that pay less than expected for audit services. This study evidences the perception of risk by audit firms and how this is reflected in the audit fees charged. portuguesEste artigo investiga a relacao entre a remuneracao dos auditores e o gerenciamento de resultados no mercado brasileiro. Para responder a pergunta de pesquisa usamos uma amostra de 300 empresas listadas na BM&FBovespa, nas quais se identificou o valor pago para os auditores, usando dados da Economatica® e do site da Comissao Brasileira de Valores Mobiliarios (CVM). Analisamos as regressoes com o objetivo de confirmar ou refutar a hipotese de que as empresas de auditoria que cobram menos que o esperado pelo servico, tendem a ser mais perniciosas em relacao ao gerenciamento de resultados de seus clientes. Os resultados confirmam esta hipotese. A principal contribuicao e afirmar que o gerenciamento de resultados agressivo ocorre predominantemente entre as empresas que pagam menos do que o esperado pelos servicos de auditoria. Este estudo evidencia a percepcao do risco pelas empresas de auditoria e como isso se reflete na remuneracao dos auditores.
Executive Pay and Firm Performance: Methodological Considerations and Future Directions

This paper is an investigation of the pay-for-performance link in executive compensation. In particular, we document main issues in the pay–performance debate and explain practical issues in setting pay as well as data issues including how pay is disclosed and how that has changed over time. We also provide a summary of the state of CEO pay levels and pay mix in 2009 using a sample of over 2,000 companies and describe main data sources for researchers. We also investigate what we believe to be at the root of fundamental confusion in the literature across disciplines – methodological issues. In exploring methodological issues, we focus on empirical specifications, causality, fixed-effects, first-differencing, and instrumental variable issues. We then discuss two important but not yet well-explored areas, international issues, and compensation in non-profits. We conclude by examining a series of research areas where further work can be done, within and across disciplines.
Opportunities and challenges of honey production in Gomma district of Jimma zone, South-west Ethiopia

The study was conducted in Gomma district South west Ethiopia to assess the various opportunities and its constraints of beekeeping in the area. For this study, 6 Peasant Associations (PAs) were selected using systematic random sampling technique and interviewed using pre-tested structured questionnaires. The opportunities for beekeeping in the study areas were the existence and abundance of honeybee, availability of potential flowering plants, ample sources of water for bees, beekeepers' experience and practices and socio-economic value of honey. In addition to this study, it was observed that the major challenges of beekeeping were lack of knowledge, presence of pests and predators, lack of bee forage, pesticide poisoning, absconding, lack of beekeeping equipment and materials. More study is also required to characterize the honey bees of the area and major pests and diseases of economic importance. Key words: Challenges and opportunities in beekeeping, honey production, predators and disease, poisonous plants.
Study of genomic fingerprints profile of Magnaporthe grisea from finger millet (Eleusine coracona) by random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR).

Finger millet ( Eleusine coracana (L) Gaertn (FM) is a major food for resource poor farmers in several parts of India as well as the world. Blast caused by heterothallic ascomycete Magnaporthe grisea (Hebert) Barr. (Anamorph: Pyricularia grisea ) is the most important constraint to finger millet production in most finger millet growing environments. The pathogen also causes the catastrophic blast disease in rice as well as 50 other graminaceous hosts, but is considered host specific. M. grisea is notorious for its diversity and genetic variability. This study was done to generate genomic finger prints using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers as well as to find out genetic diversity in M. grisea isolates collected from three different geographical regions (hilly area) of Uttarakhand. A total of forty five isolates and fifteen RAPD primers were used to generate genomic fingerprint profile which depicted about 25 to 40% linkage distance and resulted in formation of two major groups. Polymorphism range shown by RAPD primers was 71.40 to 90%, while the range of total loci scored was from 07 to 10. The molecular weight of scorable loci ranged from 150 to 2500 bp. The results obtained confirmed the genetic diversity and virulence complexity of rice blast fungus among samples under study . Keywords : Magnaporthe grisea , ragi blast, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), genetic lineage, dendrogram, polymorphism
Contaminant source localization via Bayesian global optimization

Abstract. Contaminant source localization problems require efficient and robust methods that can account for geological heterogeneities and accommodate relatively small data sets of noisy observations. As realism commands hi-fidelity simulations, computation costs call for global optimization algorithms under parsimonious evaluation budgets. Bayesian optimization approaches are well adapted to such settings as they allow the exploration of parameter spaces in a principled way so as to iteratively locate the point(s) of global optimum while maintaining an approximation of the objective function with an instrumental quantification of prediction uncertainty. Here, we adapt a Bayesian optimization approach to localize a contaminant source in a discretized spatial domain. We thus demonstrate the potential of such a method for hydrogeological applications and also provide test cases for the optimization community. The localization problem is illustrated for cases where the geology is assumed to be perfectly known. Two 2-D synthetic cases that display sharp hydraulic conductivity contrasts and specific connectivity patterns are investigated. These cases generate highly nonlinear objective functions that present multiple local minima. A derivative-free global optimization algorithm relying on a Gaussian process model and on the expected improvement criterion is used to efficiently localize the point of minimum of the objective functions, which corresponds to the contaminant source location. Even though concentration measurements contain a significant level of proportional noise, the algorithm efficiently localizes the contaminant source location. The variations of the objective function are essentially driven by the geology, followed by the design of the monitoring well network. The data and scripts used to generate objective functions are shared to favor reproducible research. This contribution is important because the functions present multiple local minima and are inspired from a practical field application. Sharing these complex objective functions provides a source of test cases for global optimization benchmarks and should help with designing new and efficient methods to solve this type of problem.
The short-term influence of a Mediterranean-type diet and mild exercise with and without red wine on patients with the metabolic syndrome.

The metabolic syndrome is a target for the dietary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The effect of adding red wine to the diet has not been fully investigated. This study examined whether a Mediterranean-type diet complemented with red wine and mild exercise had an impact on patients with the metabolic syndrome in the short term. Twelve patients with the metabolic syndrome consumed a Mediterranean-type diet for four weeks without and with red wine respectively and performed mild exercise. We implemented the diagnostic criteria for the metabolic syndrome as formulated by the Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) in 2001. The patients were also screened for multiple genetic markers implicated in cardiovascular disease. Weight, body mass index, abdominal circumference and blood pressure were measured, as well as various biochemical, haematological and inflammatory markers. There was a significant decrease in the body weight (p = 0.04) and an increase in ORAC value (p = 0.035) after the dietary intervention. A significant decrease in systolic blood pressure (p = 0.045) was observed. Red wine had no additional benefits. Although diet reduced weight and blood pressure, the lipoprotein and pro-coagulant profiles of patients with the metabolic syndrome were not affected in this study. These findings may be explained partly by the diverse genetic profile identified among the study participants, as 50% had mutations involved in lipid metabolism that may influence the response to dietary intervention and alcohol consumption.
Tropical Intraseasonal Oscillation Appearing in Operational Analyses and in a Family of General Circulation Models

The statistics of tropical intraseasonal variability are studied using European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts analyses and several ECHAM General Circulation Model experiments made with different model versions (ECHAM2 and ECHAM3, which have different convection schemes) and different horizontal resolutions (T21, T42, and T106). The study applies the principal oscillation pattern technique to the 200-mb equatorial velocity potential. Associated patterns of tropical outgoing longwave radiation, equatorial zonal wind, and equatorial divergence are also presented. The intercomparison of ECHAM2 and ECHAM3 simulations at low (T21) resolution shows that the improved model physics has a beneficial impact on the simulated Madden‐Julian oscillation (MJO). The MJO produced by the ECHAM2 model has an unrealistic spatial distribution of convection, whereas the MJO simulated by the ECHAM3 model appears to be related to convective activity over the Indian Ocean and the West Pacific, which is consistent with the observed MJO. An increase of the horizontal resolution of the ECHAM3 model seems to actually degrade the results. At T42 and T106, the ECHAM3 MJO exhibits too much convective activity over central and equatorial America, with only a marginal effect of the MJO on the West Pacific‐Indonesian region.
Growth of nucleation mode particles in the summertime Arctic: a case study

The summertime Arctic lower troposphere is a relatively pristine background aerosol environment dominated by nucleation and Aitken mode particles. Understanding the mechanisms that control the formation and growth of aerosol is crucial for our ability to predict cloud properties and therefore radiative balance and climate. We present an analysis of an aerosol growth event observed in the Canadian Arc-tic Archipelago during summer as part of the NETCARE project. Under stable and clean atmospheric conditions, with low inversion heights, carbon monoxide less than 80 ppb v , and black carbon less than 5 ng m −3 , we observe growth of small particles, < 20 nm in diameter, into sizes above 50 nm. Aerosol growth was correlated with the presence of organic species, trimethylamine, and methanesulfonic acid (MSA) in particles ∼ 80 nm and larger, where the organ-ics are similar to those previously observed in marine settings. MSA-to-sulfate ratios as high as 0.15 were observed during aerosol growth, suggesting an important marine influence. The organic-rich aerosol contributes significantly to particles active as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN, su-persaturation = 0.6 %), which are elevated in concentration during aerosol growth above background levels of ∼ 100 to ∼ 220 cm −3. Results from this case study highlight the potential importance of secondary organic aerosol formation and its role in growing nucleation mode aerosol into CCN-active sizes in this remote marine environment.
The decline in arctic sea‐ice thickness: Separating the spatial, annual, and interannual variability in a quarter century of submarine data

[1] Naval submarines have collected operational data of sea-ice draft (93% of thickness) in the Arctic Ocean since 1958. Data from 34 U.S. cruises are publicly archived. They span the years 1975 to 2000, are equally distributed in spring and autumn, and cover roughly half the Arctic Ocean. The data set is strong: we use 2203 values of mean draft, each value averaged over a nominal length of 50 km. These values range from 0 to 6 m with a standard deviation of 0.99 m. Multiple regression is used to separate the interannual change, the annual cycle, and the spatial field. The solution gives a climatology for ice draft as a function of space and time. The residuals of the regression have a standard deviation of 0.46 m, slightly more than the observational error standard deviation of 0.38 m. The overall mean of the solution is 2.97 m. Annual mean ice draft declined from a peak of 3.42 m in 1980 to a minimum of 2.29 m in 2000, a decrease of 1.13 m (1.25 m in thickness). The steepest rate of decrease is −0.08 meters per year (m/a) in 1990. The rate slows to −0.007 m/a at the end of the record. The annual cycle has a maximum on 30 April and a peak-to-trough amplitude of 1.06 m (1.12 m in thickness). The spatial contour map of the temporal mean draft varies from a minimum draft of 2.2 m near Alaska to a maximum just over 4 m at the edge of the data release area 200 miles north of Ellesmere Island.
Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

Background: Toxoplasmosis is one of the most important diseases in humans and animals. Almost one-third of the human population around the world is infected with toxoplasmosis. The agent of this parasitic disease is a protozoan called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) that causes encephalitis in people with suppressed immune systems and abortion, mental retardation and chorioretinitis in the fetus. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most important neurodegenerative disease. Objectives: Due to the high prevalence of toxoplasmosis in Iran and evidence on its impact on neurodegenerative diseases, this study was performed to evaluate the T. gondii infection in patients with AD. PatientsandMethods: In this case-control study, after selection of alzheimer’s patients (APs) referred toImamReza psychiatric hospital of Khorramabad, west of Iran, and healthy controls (each group consisted of 87 individuals), using the convenience sampling method and under the supervision of a neurologist, blood samples were taken during July 2014 and January 2015. The collected samples were transferred to the research laboratory of parasitology under cold chain storage and then, the serum samples were separated by centrifugation and were frozen at -20°C until use. The T. gondii IgM and IgG specific antibodies were assessed in serum samples using commercial Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) kits. Results: The overall prevalence of T. gondii infection in patients with AD and the control group, using ELISA assay, was obtained as 66.6% (58/87) and 56.32% (49/87), respectively (P = 0.99). In this study, there was no significant association between T. gondii infection and AD. On the other hand, no statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of infection with T. gondii (P = 0.99). Conclusions: Higher prevalence of T. gondii in patients with AD compared to controls showed the possible impact of this parasite in AD, which may exacerbate symptoms, and this requires special attention of specialists and patient families.
Non-linear coupled approach for the evaluation of seismic slope displacements

The design procedures to evaluate earthquake-induced sliding displacements typically refer to three different approaches: simplified methods; displacements methods and advanced dynamic methods. In the first class of methods, empirical relationships are used to predict the permanent slope displacement. The second class includes simplified dynamic analysis, by means of the conventional Newmark rigid block model, as well as through its improvements to account for soil deformability. The dynamic site response and the sliding block displacements are computed separately in the “decoupled” approach or simultaneously in the “coupled” analysis (stick-slip model). The advanced dynamic methods are based on finite element (FEM) or finite difference (FDM) formulations, which permit to account for topography and heterogeneity by two or three dimensional analysis. The paper describes the developments of a 1D lumped-mass stick-slip model for a layered subsoil including more generalized assumptions than a previous version (Ausilio et al., 2008). The depth of the sliding surface is considered not necessarily coincident with that of the bedrock, and located in a generic layer. This latter can be identified during the analysis. In the non-linear site response analysis, a recent soil damping formulation was used (Phillips & Hashash, 2009). In this formulation, a reduction factor modifying the extended Masing loading/unloading strainstress relationship was introduced. The predictions of the coupled stick-slip model with non-linear soil behaviour were compared with the results of the equivalent linear approach for ideal slopes to show the effects of non linearity on seismic performance. Besides, the results show that the sliding surface depth, automatically researched, is function of main ground motion parameters.
The nature of carrier localisation in polar and nonpolar InGaN/GaN quantum wells

In this paper, we compare and contrast the experimental data and the theoretical predictions of the low temperature optical properties of polar and nonpolar InGaN/GaN quantum well structures. In both types of structure, the optical properties at low temperatures are governed by the effects of carrier localisation. In polar structures, the effect of the in-built electric field leads to electrons being mainly localised at well width fluctuations, whereas holes are localised at regions within the quantum wells, where the random In distribution leads to local minima in potential energy. This leads to a system of independently localised electrons and holes. In nonpolar quantum wells, the nature of the hole localisation is essentially the same as the polar case but the electrons are now coulombically bound to the holes forming localised excitons. These localisation mechanisms are compatible with the large photoluminescence linewidths of the polar and nonpolar quantum wells as well as the different time scales and form of the radiative recombination decay curves.
The simplest model of galaxy formation – I. A formation history model of galaxy stellar mass growth

We introduce a simple model to self-consistently connect the growth of galaxies to the formation history of their host dark matter haloes. Our model is defined by two simple functions: the "baryonic growth function" which controls the rate at which new baryonic material is made available for star formation, and the "physics function" which controls the efficiency with which this material is converted into stars. Using simple, phenomenologically motivated forms for both functions that depend only on a single halo property, we demonstrate the model's ability to reproduce the z=0 red and blue stellar mass functions. Furthermore, by adding redshift as a second input variable to the physics function we show that the reproduction of the global stellar mass function out to z=3 is improved. We conclude by discussing the general utility of our new model, highlighting its usefulness for creating mock galaxy samples which have a number of key advantages over those generated by other techniques.
Coiling direction in Globigerina bulloides of Middle Miocene age

Detailed analysis of the early evolutionary stage of Globigerina bulloides in Middle Miocene calcareous nannoplankton zones NN5 and NN6 shows no preference for sinistral or dextral coiling patterns despite seawater temperature variations (as inferred from stable isotope analyses of foraminifer shells). Accordingly, coiling direction was proportional or biased to sinistral.