Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relation Between Adropin Levels and Hyperhomocysteinemia in Relation Between Adropin Levels and Hyperhomocysteinemia in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Background and aim : Homocysteine and adropin effects on endothelial function are antagonistic. The current study aimed to evaluate the association between serum levels of adropin and homocysteine and the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD). Patients and methods : This cross-sectional study included 86 patients subjected to coronary angiography with more than or equal to 50% stenosis in one or more coronary arteries. Serum adropin and homocysteine levels were estimated. The anatomical synergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with taxus and cardiac surgery (SYNTAX) score was used to assess the severity of CAD. Results : According to serum homocysteine levels, they were classi ﬁ ed into patients with normal homocysteine levels (GI; n ¼ 54) and patients with hyperhomocysteinemia (GII; n ¼ 32). Comparison between the studied groups regarding clinical and laboratory ﬁ ndings revealed that GI patients had signi ﬁ cantly shorter duration of diabetes (3.8 ± 5.3 vs. 8.2 ± 7.5 years, P ¼ 0.009), higher serum triglycerides levels (204.7 ± 99.6 vs. 142.9 ± 55.6 mg/dl, P ¼ 0.002), lower glycated hemoglobin levels (7.2 ± 1.6 vs. 8.2 ± 2.0%; P ¼ 0.013), and signi ﬁ cantly higher adropin levels (7.4 ± 2.5 vs. 1.6 ± 1.0, P < 0.001). Correlation analysis identi ﬁ ed signi ﬁ cant inverse correlation between adropin and homocysteine levels ( r ¼ ¡ 0.89, P < 0.001), synergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with taxus and cardiac surgery (SYNTAX) score ( r ¼ ¡ 0.97, P < 0.001), and number of affected vessels. Conclusions : Our ﬁ ndings suggest that adropin and homocysteine levels strongly correlate with the severity of CAD. Opposite to homocysteine, adropin may provide a protective effect against CAD.
Amorcage et propagation de fissures de fatigue sous conditions de fretting : Approches theorique et experimentale

Ce travail a ete consacre a la comprehension et la modelisation a l'echelle macroscopique des mecanismes de fissuration sous un chargement de Fretting Fatigue Statique (FFS). Les fissures sont sollicitees en mode mixte sous Conditions Non Proportionnelles (CNP). Les concepts classiques de la Mecanique Elastique Lineaire de la Rupture ne permettant pas de considerer ces differentes conditions, il etait necessaire de proposer une nouvelle approche. Pour cela nous avons mene conjointement une etude experimentale et une etude theorique. Deux campagnes d'essais complementaires ont ete menees afin d'etudier la fissuration sous FFS. La premiere etude a ete conduite sur trois alliages d'aluminium aeronautiques. Toutes les observations ont ete realisees apres essai de facon destructive. La reponse des materiaux a ete analysee en termes de degradations. Nous avons ensuite defini les sites d'amorcage et les directions de propagation au cours des stades I et II. La seconde campagne a ete conduite sur un materiau photoelastique. La visualisation en temps reel de l'evolution des isochromes le long des faces de fissures nous indique le comportement des fissures. L'amorcage et la propagation des fissures ont ete observes en temps reel. L'etude de l'evolution des vitesses de propagation couplee aux observations des facies de fissures nous a permis de definir differentes periodes de propagation. L'objectif de l'etude theorique etait d'identifier les parametres macroscopiques gouvernant les differentes periodes de propagation sous FFS. Tout d'abord, nous avons analyse les mecanismes d'amorcage et de propagation au cours du stade I. Notre approche s'est inscrite dans le cadre de la MMC. Elle nous a permis de prevoir les sites d'amorcage pres et dans l'aire de contact ainsi que les premieres directions de propagation, sous differentes conditions de fretting. Nous avons ensuite defini les conditions gouvernant la transition du stade I au stade II. Enfin, nous avons determine les directions et modes de propagation au cours du stade II. Afin de prendre en compte les CNP en pointe de fissures, un critere adapte a notre chargement et au materiau a ete selectionne. Pour completer cette analyse, une etude plus detaillee des champs de contraintes en pointe de fissure nous a permis de definir plus clairement le mode de propagation des fissures.
Effect of rafted microstructure and its temperature dependency on fatigue crack propagation in a single-crystal Ni-base superalloy

Effects of rafted microstructure and its temperature dependency on fatigue crack propagation (FCP) in a single-crystal Ni-base superalloy are experimentally investigated. FCP tests are conducted at room temperature, 450 (cid:1) C, and 700 (cid:1) C for two types of pre-rafted specimens, and their FCP behaviors are compared with that of a specimen with cuboidal γ 0 precipitates. It is found in the experiments that there is no significant influence of rafted microstructures on FCP rate at room temperature, while a clear influence is pronounced at 450 and 700 (cid:1) C depending on the coarsening direction of rafted microstructures and the level of stress intensity factor range. The temperature dependency in the effect of rafted microstructure is discussed with special considerations on the microscopic FCP behavior affected by the morphology of γ 0 precipitates, the coherency of the γ / γ 0 interface, and temperature-dependent slip characteristics of γ and γ 0 phases.
Lung Restriction in Patients With Breast Cancer After Hypofractionated and Conventional Radiation Therapy

Purpose: Previous studies in breast cancer patients have shown acute radiotherapy-induced reductions of pulmonary diffusing capacity, essentially due to lung volume restriction. We aimed to assess the long-term effect of two radiotherapy regimens that differed in terms of radiation technique and dose fractionation, on lung function. Methods and Materials: From a randomized controlled trial comparing conventional 3D conformal radiotherapy (CR) and hypofractionated tomotherapy (TT), 84 breast cancer patients (age at inclusion 54+10(SD) years) could be assessed at baseline, after 3 months, 1, 2, 3 and 10 years. Measurements included forced vital capacity (FVC), total lung capacity (TLC) and diffusing capacity (TLco). Results: Radiotherapy-induced lung function changes over 10 years (  ) were similar for both treatment arms, and in a patient subgroup with negligible history of respiratory disease or smoking (n=57) these averaged:  FVC= -13 (+9)%predicted;  TLco= -14 (+12)%predicted;  TLC= -11 (+9)%predicted; the only significant correlation was between V20 and  TLco (rho=- 0.36;p=0.007). In this subgroup as well as in the entire patient cohort, the incurred pulmonary restriction in terms of TLC and TLco showed a greater decline at 3 months for CR vs TT. However, at 10 years, no significant difference could be detected between CR and TT (P=0.9 for TLC and P=0.2 for TLco in the entire patient cohort). Of the patients with normal TLC and TLco at baseline (i.e., above lower limits of normal), respectively 94% and 96% were still normal 10 years later. Conclusions:
Financial Profile of Leveraged Buyout Targets: Some French Evidence NB: la version publiée (après révisions) peut présenter quelques différences avec cette version (avant révisions)

This paper investigates whether firms, which are taken over on the French market through Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), possess characteristics prior to the change which differentiate them from firms which are not acquired through LBOs. Contrasting 175 LBO targets on the French market with an industry-matched comparison group, we first run univariate analysis and then multivariate analysis (logit regression). Beyond the underscoring of the LBO targets‟ financial features, we conclude that subdividing our sample according to the vendor and bidder type is beneficial. We thus notice that the so-called outperformance of LBO targets prior to the deal hides in fact different cases. *Authors are from CREM (Centre de Recherche en Economie et Management, UMR CNRS 6211). Anne-Laure Le Nadant is from the University of Caen and Frédéric Perdreau is from the University of Rennes I. Address for correspondence: Anne-Laure Le Nadant, UFR de Sciences Economiques et de Gestion, 14032 Caen Cedex, France. e-mail: lenadant@econ.unicaen. fr ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors are particularly grateful to Laurent Vilanova and also to participants at the 2003 AFFI-French Finance Association Annual Meeting and the 2004 AFFIFrench Finance Association International Conference for all the helpful comments received. ha ls hs -0 05 22 62 4, v er si on 1 4 O ct 2 01 0 Author manuscript, published in "Review of Accounting and Finance 5, 4 (2006) 370-392"
The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa

We explore the consequences of ethnic partitioning, a neglected aspect of the Scramble for Africa, and uncover the following. First, apart from the land mass and water bodies, split and non-split groups are similar across several dimensions. Second, the incidence, severity, and duration of political violence are all higher for partitioned homelands which also experience frequent military interventions from neighboring countries. Third, split groups are often entangled in a vicious circle of government-led discrimination and ethnic wars. Fourth, respondents from survey data identifying with split ethnicities are economically disadvantaged. The evidence highlights the detrimental repercussions of the colonial border design.
Quality, Trade, and Exchange Rate Pass-Through

This paper investigates theoretically and empirically the heterogeneous response of exporters to real exchange rate fluctuations due to product quality. Our model shows that the elasticity of demand perceived by exporters decreases with a real depreciation and with quality, leading to more pricing-to-market and to a smaller response of export volumes to a real depreciation for higher quality goods. We test the proposed theory using a highly disaggregated Argentinean firm-level wine export dataset between 2002 and 2009 combined with experts wine rankings as a measure of quality. The model predictions find strong support in the data and the results are robust to different measures of quality, samples, specifications, and to the potential endogeneity of quality.
Revealing inflow and wake conditions of a 6 MW floating turbine

Abstract. We investigate the characteristics of the inflow and the wake of a 6 MW floating wind turbine from the Hywind Scotland offshore wind farm, the world's first floating wind farm. We use two commercial nacelle-mounted lidars to measure the up- and downwind conditions with a fixed and a scanning measuring geometry, respectively. In the analysis, the effect of the pitch and roll angles of the nacelle on the lidar measuring location is taken into account. The upwind conditions are parameterized in terms of the mean horizontal wind vector at hub height, the shear and veer of the wind profile along the upper part of the rotor, and the induction of the wind turbine rotor. The wake characteristics are studied in two narrow wind speed intervals between 8.5–9.5 and 12.5–13.5 m s−1, corresponding to below and above rotor rated speeds, respectively, and for turbulence intensity values between 3.3 %–6.4 %. The wake flow is measured along a horizontal plane by a wind lidar scanning in a plan position indicator mode, which reaches 10 D downwind. This study focuses on the downstream area between 3 and 8 D. In this region, our observations show that the transverse profile of the wake can be adequately described by a self-similar wind speed deficit that follows a Gaussian distribution. We find that even small variations (∼1 %–2 %) in the ambient turbulence intensity can result in an up to 10 % faster wake recovery. Furthermore, we do not observe any additional spread of the wake due to the motion of the floating wind turbine examined in this study.
High Efficiency Silicon Module Degradation - From Atoms to Systems

: For photovoltaics (PV) to be cost competitive with traditional energy sources, reliability is of critical importance. Historically, PV reliability has focused on the module packaging because degradation and failure modes were directly linked to the packaging. Today, in addition to module packaging, cell related reliability issues can increasingly be observed. We have investigated PV systems of high-efficiency modules such as silicon heterojunction (HJ) and passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC). System degradation of these technologies is found to be no worse than systems using conventional cell technologies. Module performance loss, for HJ and PERC technologies, shows open-circuit voltage reduction indicative of cell level changes. For HJ modules, possible hydrogen concentration changes and a rougher interface between the amorphous silicon and the silicon is observed, although more samples are needed to confirm these findings. The PERC modules show hydrogen changes in the front and rear of the cell with more changes pronounced at the front. Importantly, these two case studies demonstrate that cell level understanding is required to accurately predict module and system performance for high-efficiency technologies.
Using local and historical data to enhance understanding of spatial and temporal rainfall patterns

Farmers face uncertainty in their businesses from many factors, but rainfall is a key determinant of both the nature of the production system and variation in financial returns. Currently, various weather forecasting services are available from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) based on about 7000 stations covering all of Australia. Seasonal Climate Forecasts are seen as another tool that can help to improve farm productivity. It is well known that many farmers keep their own rainfall records, and likely that the farmers have a high degree of confidence in their own records. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures indicate that there were possibly 7000 grain related ‘agricultural businesses’ in NSW alone in 2009/10 indicating that there is the potential to increase data density by up to an order of magnitude. This project is part of a broader study to improve rainfall predictions for grain farmers using data collected locally to the users (crowd sourcing). The data is collected directly on farm, and from other sources which may be available. The focus is on the historical data, its collection and analysis, in terms of discerning patterns in time and space which may help provide a local framework, within which coarser scale forecasts can be interpreted and understood. Data will be stored on secure database systems at the University of Sydney. Results indicate that farm data does provide more local detail, temporally and spatially. Deficit and surplus analysis demonstrates the predictive capacity of the local temporal data, despite limited data precluding the definition of ideal criteria and parameters for predictive ‘similar year’ selection. The spatial data demonstrates quantifiable site specific differences from institutional data. Testing across more climate types may allow these differences to be defined within and across regions. Tests for an indicator time period show that farm rainfall in the early part of the growing season (April and May) may indeed be indicative of seasonal condtions, while more data is needed to confirm this. The use of southern oscillation life cycle information to select appropriate years considerably improved the relationships revealed, with a doubling of relationship strength across all climatic types, although the strength of the relationships differed across the climatic types, and the strongest relationships were split between the months of April and May. More extensive analysis, with more data across more BoM districts (and therefore climate classes) will be required to confirm this conclusion, but it appears that farm rainfall records and SOI information can provide an indicator time period to help farmers interpret, refine and utilise seasonal forecasts.
The Impacts of Microcredit: Evidence from Ethiopia †

We use data from a randomized controlled trial conducted in 2003–2006 in rural Amhara and Oromiya (Ethiopia) to study the impacts of increasing access to microfinance on a number of socioeconomic outcomes, including income from agriculture, animal husbandry, nonfarm self-employment, labor supply, schooling and indicators of women’s empowerment. We document that despite substantial increases in borrowing in areas assigned to treatment the null of no impact cannot be rejected for a large majority of outcomes.
Bauran Pemasaran Terhadap Keputusan Mahasiswa Memilih Perguruan Tinggi Swasta di kota Palembang

Tujuan penelitian – Penelitian ini membahas tentang Bauran Pemasaran Terhadap Keputusan Mahasiswa Memilih Perguruan Tinggi Swasta di Kota Palembang. Dengan tujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh bauran pemasaran yang terdiri dari Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Personal traits, Process, dan Physical Evidence terhadap keputusan mahasiswa dalam memilih Perguruan Tinggi Swasta di Kota Palembang.Desain/Metodologi/Pendekatan – Populasi yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah mahasiswa yang kuliah di lima perguruan tinggi swasta di Kota Palembang. Sampel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini sebanyak 110 mahasiswa yang dijadikan sebagai responden. Teknik analisa data yang digunakan adalah Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Temuan – Hasil pengujian membuktikan bahwa: 1). Secara parsial didapatkan hasil bahwa ada pengaruh yang signifikan dan positif Product, dan Promotion terhadap keputusan mahasiswa dalam memilih Perguruan Tinggi Swasta di Kota Palembang, sedangkan Price, Place, Personal traits, Process, dan Physical Evidence tidak berpengaruh secara segnifikan terhadap keputusan mahasiswa dalam memilih Perguruan Tinggi Swasta di Kota Palembang. 2) Secara simultan didapatkan hasil bahwa ada pengaruh yang signifikan dan positif terhadap keputusan mahasiswa dalam memilih Perguruan Tinggi Swasta di Kota Palembang.Keterbatasan penelitian – Penelitian ini fokus meneliti tentang faktor bauran pemasaran yang mempengaruhi keputusan mahasiswa, terdapat faktor-faktor lain yang dapat dikembangkan untuk penelitian lanjutan seperti branding, jasa maupun faktor perilaku konsumen lainnya.Originality/value – Penelitian ini membandingkan bauran pemasaran dari organisasi yang sejenis yaitu perguruan tinggi swasta di kota Palembang.
A reconfigurable architecture for real-time image compression on-board satellites

Data products of optical remote sensing systems are increasingly used in many areas of our everyday life. The spatial as well as the spectral resolution of satellite image data increases steadily with new missions resulting in a higher precision of known procedures and new application scenarios. While the memory capacity requirements can still be fulfilled, the transmission capacity becomes increasingly problematic. Real-time transmission of high-resolution image data is currently not possible. This thesis presents a new image data compression architecture that can be used for current and future projects at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The architecture has region-of-interest support and offers flexible access to the compressed data based on the CCSDS 122.0-B-1 image data compression standard. Region of interest (ROI) coding can be useful in scenarios where on-board classification, registration, or object or change detection algorithms are used. It is also useful to decrease the amount of data that must be transferred to the ground station. Modifications to the standard have been made to permit a change of compression parameters and the re-organization of the bit-stream after compression. An additional index of the compressed data is created, which makes it possible to locate individual parts of the bit-stream. On request, compressed and stored images can be re-assembled and transmitted according to the application’s needs and as requested by the ground station. The requirements, the design of the architecture, and its implementation based on reconfigurable hardware are presented. The architecture was developed for a spacequalified Xilinx Virtex 5QV, where a single instance of the architecture is capable of compressing images at a rate of up to 200 Mpx/s (or 400 Mbyte/s for 16 bit images). It operates at a clock frequency of 100 MHz and processes two image pixels per clock cycle. A Xilinx Virtex-5QV enables thereby compressing images with a width of up to 4096 pixels without the use of external memory. Without external memory and additional interfaces, the power consumption of the architecture is about 5 W. The proposed architecture is one of the fastest implementations yet reported and sufficient for recent high-resolution systems. Investigations in the resource and power consumption, as well as the availability of external storage have shown that it should be possible to integrate the design directly on a focal plane.
Eicosapentaenoic acid prevents salt sensitivity in diabetic rats decreasing oxidative stress

Background: Salt sensitivity (SS) is associated with increased cardiovascular risk in type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2-DM) patients due to an increase in renal oxidation. ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have shown antioxidant effects, but a typical Western diet has limited content of them. In particular, ω-3 PUFAs are able to activate Nrf-2 (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor) to prevent DM-related complications by mitigating oxidative stress. Therefore, we hypothesized that eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, ω-3) modulates SS in T2-DM rats, by decreasing renal oxidative stress via Nrf-2 activation, and enhancing the anti-inflammatory response via IL-6 modulation. Methods: 3-months-old male rats (n=40) were fed with a normal Na-diet (NNaD) and randomly selected into 4 groups: i. healthy Wistar rats, non-diabetic rats (Wi), ii. diabetic control (eSS), iii. arachidonic acid-treated eSS (ω-6) (AA), iv. EPA-treated eSS (ω-3) (EPA). After one year, rats were placed in metabolic cages for 7 days and fed with a NNaD and followed by a 7 days period with high Na-diet (HNaD). Systolic blood pressure (SBP), body weight (BW), serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were determined at the end of each 7-day period. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), triglycerides (TAG), creatinine and cholesterol (Chol) were determined. ROS levels and Nrf-2 expression in kidney lysates were also assayed. Histological changes were evaluated. T-test or ANOVA were used for statistical analysis. Results: Following HNaD, SBP increased in both control eSS and AA groups, but not in EPA and Wi groups. However, HbA1c remained unchanged by the treatments, suggesting that the beneficial effect observed was independent of HbA1c level. IL-6 levels were higher in eSS and AA, but it remained unaltered in EPA and Wi rats following HNaD diet. Interestingly, EPA protected against serum ROS in rats fed the HNaD, whereas AA did not. In kidney lysates, ROS decreased significantly in EPA compared to eSS, and consistently, Nrf-2 expression was higher compared to AA and eSS. Diabetic rats presented focal segmental sclerosis, adherence to Bowman capsule and mild to moderate interstitial fibrosis. EPA and AA treatment prevented the kidney damage. Conclusion: An adequate ω3:ω6 prevents SS in diabetic rats, by a mechanism independent of glucose metabolism but associated to the prevention of renal oxidative stress generation. These data suggest that EPA antioxidant properties may prevent the development of hypertension or kidney damage.