Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variation in Platelet Activation State in Pre-Donation Whole Blood: Effect of Time of Day and ABO Blood Group

Background Whilst there has been investigation into the effect of time of the day on platelet activation and function in healthy individuals, there is a lack of studies in the literature to examine this relationship among platelet donors. Methods We assessed the extent of platelet activation by percentage of platelets with surface-expressed P-selectin and flow cytometry in samples of whole blood from a group of qualified platelet donors (n = 84). Results The mean (SD) percentage of activated platelets in the pre-donation blood samples was 1.85 ± 1.57% (range 0.2–7.5%). In univariate analyses, the percentage of activated platelets was significantly and inversely correlated with the collection time (ie, the time of day blood samples were collected) (r = –0.35, p = 0.001) and positively correlated to mean platelet volume (MPV) (r = 0.29, p = 0.008). A weaker positive correlation was also observed with ABO blood group (r = 0.228, p = 0.036). Analysis of the collection time as a categorical variable showed a greater degree of activated platelets in samples collected between 8:00 h and 10:00 h than in samples collected during the hours of >10:00 h ≤14:00 h (2.5 ± 1.8 versus 1.1 ± 0.74, p < 0.001). In the adjusted linear regression model, collection time was a significant independent predictor of platelet activation state in whole blood (β = –0.26; p < 0.001), as did ABO blood group (β = 0.55; p = 0.019). Conclusion Our results show that collection time is the most important predictor of platelet activation state in pre-donation whole blood among platelet donors. This work may have implications for optimizing the timing of platelet donation.
Large-Scale Surveys of Pulsating Stars for Studying Stellar Populations in the Inner Galaxy

Abstract Surveys of pulsating stars in the inner Galaxy have been very limited, but recent large-scale surveys are rapidly bringing us new samples of various kinds of variable stars and new insights into stellar populations therein. Because of the severe interstellar extinction along the Galactic disc, the stellar populations in the inner Galaxy are more easily observed in the infrared, but even in the infrared the interstellar extinction may cause a serious problem in revealing their accurate characteristics. Here we review recent discoveries of Cepheids and Miras, two kinds of luminous pulsating stars with period–luminosity relation, in the inner Galaxy.
An Empirical Analysis of Stock Markets Integration in Selected African Countries

This study employs cointegration technique to determine the co-movement of ten national stock markets indexes in Africa. Using monthly indexes spanning February, 1997 to October, 2011, results demonstrate less than full cointegrating vectors, which suggest African stock markets are not fully integrated. Further findings indicate that big African stock markets indexes tend to influence fluctuations in small African markets indexes. Generally, these imply limited benefits accrue from portfolio diversification within African stock markets.
History, Micro Data, and Endogenous Growth

Economic growth is concerned with long-run changes, and therefore historical data should be especially influential in informing the development of new theories. In this paper we draw on the recent literature to highlight areas in which history has played a particularly prominent role in improving our understanding of growth dynamics. Research at the intersection of historical data, theory and empirics has the potential to re-frame how we think about economic growth in much the same way that historical perspectives helped to shape the first generation of endogenous growth theories.
Multistage Financing: Milestone Bonuses or Deferred Compensation

We develop a dynamic principal-agent model for financing a multistage project. The optimal contract displays the following unique features: (i) There is a pecking order between milestone bonuses and deferred compensation: when an intermediate stage succeeds, principal prefers to use deferred compensation as much as possible to reward agent before using milestone bonuses; and (ii) the agent’s equity stake in the project is positively related to performance and is also smaller in later stages than in early ones. Moreover, when the principal observes a signal about the agent’s action, the incentive provided by monitoring and reward dynamically complement each other: When negative (positive) evidence about the agent’s effort accumulates, the principal increases (decreases) contract sensitivity on the signal, monitors the agent more closely (loosely), and reduces (increases) the reward for success. We relate our model predictions to the empirical literature on venture capital financing and provide new empirical tests.
A Conceptual Framework for Consumer Information Systems Development

Consumer information systems (CIS) are an emerging area of inquiry for information systems researchers. IS researchers have traditionally emphasized efficiency and effectiveness of organizational processes and system use. However, design for consumer information systems requires more attention to be paid to processes of value creation embedded in the consumer experience. This shift in focus demands a reconsideration of current information systems development approaches. In this paper we propose a conceptual framework for consumer information systems development. The framework includes six elements of co-creation of consumer value. The framework is illustrated by reviewing the findings from three case studies.
The circadian immune system

The immune system is highly time-of-day dependent. Pioneering studies in the 1960s were the first to identify immune responses to be under a circadian control. Only in the last decade, however, have the molecular factors governing circadian immune rhythms been identified. These studies have revealed a highly complex picture of the interconnectivity of rhythmicity within immune cells with that of their environment. Here, we provide a global overview of the circadian immune system, focusing on recent advances in the rapidly expanding field of circadian immunology. Description The immune system exhibits circadian, ~24-hour oscillations, which affects the strength of both innate and adaptive immune responses.
Detection of Diabetes Mellitus With Deep Learning and Data Augmentation Techniques on Foot Thermography

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by increased blood glucose. The pathology can manifest itself with different conditions, including neuropathy, the main consequence of diabetic disease. Statistics show worrying figures worldwide, diagnosed an estimated 1.6 million people with DM by 2025. In this sense, alternative and automated methods are necessary to detect DM, allowing it to take the pertinent measures in its treatment and avoid critical complications, such as the diabetic foot. On the other hand, foot thermography is a promising tool that allows visualization of thermal patterns, patterns that are altered as a consequence of shear and friction associated with lower limb neuropathy. Based on these considerations, we explored different strategies to detect patients with DM from foot thermography in this research. Initially, the study focused on finding a classification index like Thermal Change Index (TCI). Subsequently, we used the deep convolutional neural networks paradigm, implementing 12 different data augmentation methods, of which four are conventional, and 8 are newly proposed methods. The results showed that the proposed and the conventional methods increased the network’s performance, where a 100% detection was achieved by weighting the DM probability percentages for both images of the feet. Finally, it was also possible to demonstrate the importance of transfer learning, which does not depend on the type of database, but on the data corpus with which the transfer was trained.
Direct Numerical Simulation of rotor-stator flows in an annular cavity

The stability of the flow enclosed between a stationary and a rotating disk with a central hub is revisited by experimental visualizations and direct numerical simulations in the case of unmerged boundary layers. The first instability appears as circular rolls, denoted CR (type 2 instability), which propagate along the stator before vanishing in the vicinity of the hub. The calculations highlight the convective nature of these rolls, which is in agreement with previous experimental results [1]. It proves in particular that the CR instability observed in the experiment under permanent conditions is noise sustained. Above a second threshold, spiral rolls, denoted SR1 (type 1 instability), appear at the periphery and can coexist with the circular rolls. The DNS shows that they appear through a supercritical Hopf bifurcation.
Title Sacral agenesis : a pilot whole exome sequencing and copynumber study

Background: Caudal regression syndrome (CRS) or sacral agenesis is a rare congenital disorder characterized by a constellation of congenital caudal anomalies affecting the caudal spine and spinal cord, the hindgut, the urogenital system, and the lower limbs. CRS is a complex condition, attributed to an abnormal development of the caudal mesoderm, likely caused by the effect of interacting genetic and environmental factors. A well-known risk factor is maternal type 1 diabetes. Method: Whole exome sequencing and copy number variation (CNV) analyses were conducted on 4 Caucasian trios to identify de novo and inherited rare mutations. Results: In this pilot study, exome sequencing and copy number variation (CNV) analyses implicate a number of candidate genes, including SPTBN5, MORN1, ZNF330, CLTCL1 and PDZD2. De novo mutations were found in SPTBN5, MORN1 and ZNF330 and inherited predicted damaging mutations in PDZD2 (homozygous) and CLTCL1 (compound heterozygous). Importantly, predicted damaging mutations in PTEN (heterozygous), in its direct regulator GLTSCR2 (compound heterozygous) and in VANGL1 (heterozygous) were identified. These genes had previously been linked with the CRS phenotype. Two CNV deletions, one de novo (chr3q13.13) and one homozygous (chr8p23.2), were detected in one of our CRS patients. These deletions overlapped with CNVs previously reported in patients with similar phenotype. Conclusion: Despite the genetic diversity and the complexity of the phenotype, this pilot study identified genetic features common across CRS patients.
Levels of Lactase dehydrogenase , Gamma-glutamyl transferase , Glycogen , Bilrubin and Evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of ethanol Extract of Mimosa pudica

Plants that were used for therapeutic purposes in the ancient era are being used in present day as well. The Sox Halation procedure is used in order to obtain the extracts that were undiluted. These extracts were examined by implementing the Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrophotometry (GCMS) to distinguish the biochemical elements. The present study was conducted to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of ethanol extract of Mimosa pudica against alcohol induced albino rats. This was evident from significant levels of Lactate dehyrogenase-LDH, Gamma-glutamyl transferase-GGT, Glycogen, bilirubin, Protein and Cholesterol. Mimosa pudica, may be responsible for the significant hepatoprotective activity and the results justify the use of Mimosa pudica as a hepatoprotective agent.
Equivalence of some subcritical properties in continuum percolation

We consider the Boolean model on $\R^d$. We prove some equivalences between subcritical percolation properties. Let us introduce some notations to state one of these equivalences. Let $C$ denote the connected component of the origin in the Boolean model. Let $|C|$ denotes its volume. Let $\ell$ denote the maximal length of a chain of random balls from the origin. Under optimal integrability conditions on the radii, we prove that $E(|C|)$ is finite if and only if there exists $A,B >0$ such that $\P(\ell \ge n) \le Ae^{-Bn}$ for all $n \ge 1$.
Connecting the Points: Cognitive Conflict and Decimal Magnitude.

This paper reports on an investigation into managing cognitive conflict in the context of student learning about decimal magnitude. The influence of prior constructs is examined through a brief review of the literature. A micro-genetic approach was used to capture detail of the teaching intervention used to facilitate development in student thought. A framework for considering cognitive conflict in lesson design is presented, and a case is made for the use of measurement tasks to generate data.
A high-resolution, dust-selected molecular cloud catalogue of M33, the Triangulum Galaxy

We present a catalogue of Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) in M33, extracted from cold dust continuum emission. Our GMCs are identified by computing dendrograms. We measure the spatial distribution of these clouds, and characterise their dust properties. Combining these measured properties with CO(J=2–1) and 21cm H i data, we calculate the gas-to-dust ratio (GDR) of these clouds, and from this compute a total cloud mass. In total, we find 165 GMCs with cloud masses in the range of 104-107 M⊙. We find that radially, log10(GDR) = −0.043( ± 0.038) R[kpc] + 1.88( ± 0.15), a much lower GDR than found in the Milky Way, and a correspondingly higher αCO factor. The mass function of these clouds follows a slope proportional to M−2.84, steeper than many previous studies of GMCs in local galaxies, implying that M33 is poorer at forming massive clouds than other nearby spirals. Whilst we can rule out interstellar pressure as the major contributing factor, we are unable to disentangle the relative effects of metallicity and H i velocity dispersion. We find a reasonably featureless number density profile with galactocentric radius, and weak correlations between galactocentric radius and dust temperature/mass. These clouds are reasonably consistent with Larson’s scaling relationships, and many of our sources are co-spatial with earlier CO studies. Massive clouds are identified at large galactocentric radius, unlike in these earlier studies, perhaps indicating a population of CO-dark gas dominated clouds at these larger distances.
Abnormal propagation and interface refraction of light in a photonic crystal and their applications

We analyze the abnormal refraction and propagation when a light beam of finite and practical width enters a photonic crystal from a uniform medium. The beam propagation in the photonic crystal is very complex, and in many cases, is beyond the realm of refraction (even with a renormalized refractive index given by photonic band calculation). Generally, light propagation is restricted to a triangular region (or a fan), although the light may not fill the whole triangle, nor is the light intensity uniform in the triangle. It is found beam divergence does not have a definite connection with the fan shape of the region of light propagation, in contrast to dynamic X-ray theory. A new origin of the fan shape is suggested. Also simulations indicate that at microscale, a narrow light beam may zigzag in a photonic crystal with sufficiently high index contrast. An application of this phenomenon is to make a wide angle bend for waveguides. The designed bending structure has low loss and matches the mode size of a typical single-mode waveguide for fiber-optic communications. Our simulations are based on two-dimensional photonic crystals.
Strategic Offsetting Behavior: Evidence from National Collegiate Athletic Association Men's Basketball

Strategic offsetting behavior occurs when a policy is offset by an individual not targeted by the policy. By affecting the payoffs of the target the incentives of a strategic competitor are adjusted, which acts to mitigate the policy. Evidence is presented using data from National Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball. For the 2008–2009 season, the three‐point line was extended. This leads to not only a decrease in three‐point shooting and scoring, but also a decrease in the percentage of two‐point shots made. This evidence is consistent with defenses adjusting their focus away from the more difficult three‐point shot, which strategically offset the policy.
Pension Reform and Demographic Crisis: Why a Funded System is Needed and Why it is Not Needed

Based on explicit present value calculations, the paper criticizes the view that the PAYGO system wastes economic resources. In present value terms, there is nothi ng to be gained from a transition to a funded system even though the latter offers a permanently higher rate of return. The sum of the implicit and explicit tax burdens that result from the need to respect the existing pension claims is the same under all systems and transition strategies. Nevertheless a partial transition to a funded system may be a way to overcome the current demographic crisis because it replaces missing human capital with real capital.
The role of perceived effectiveness on the acceptability of choice architecture

Abstract The success of choice architecture, including its adoption in government policy and practice, has prompted questions of whether choice architecture design decisions are sufficiently transparent and publicly acceptable. We examined whether disclosing to decision-makers that a particular choice architecture is in place reduces its effectiveness and whether an understanding of the effectiveness of choice architecture design decisions increases their acceptability. We find that disclosure of the design decision does not reduce its effectiveness and that individuals perceive the effectiveness of specific designs to be higher for others than for themselves. Perceived effectiveness for self increases when individuals have actually experienced the effect of a design decision rather than having it simply described to them. Perceived effectiveness for oneself and others increases the acceptability of the designs. We also find that the intentions of the source matter more than who the source actually is. Important for policy-makers, then, is that disclosure of design decisions does not reduce their effectiveness, and their acceptability depends on their perceived effectiveness and the inferred motivations of the design architect.
Autono m ous Distributed Syste m Based on Behavioral Model of Social Insects

— Social insects are self-organized living organism without a commanding system with a single leader. A model which realizes self-organization of social insects can be constructed using a reaction threshold model based on the concept of Stigmergy. This paper proposes such a model of new autonomous distributed system using a behavioral model of social insects. This model is able to allocate autonomous computation resources and retain fault tolerance without the control of a commanding manager. Our evaluation results show that the proposed model works as an autonomous distributed system and demonstrates its effectiveness for fault tolerance. A problem with respect to unequal resource distribution was found in the experimental model, so we proposed an improved method
The Strength of Cartan's Version of Nevanlinna Theory

In 1933 Henri Cartan proved a fundamental theorem in Nevanlinna theory, namely a generalization of Nevanlinna's second fundamental theorem. Cartan's theorem works very well for certain kinds of problems. Unfortunately, it seems that Cartan's theorem, its proof, and its usefulness, are not as widely known as they deserve to be. To help give wider exposure to Cartan's theorem, the simple and general forms of the theorem are stated here. A proof of the general form is given, as well as several applications of the theorem. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification 30D35.
Linking type solutions for elliptic equations with indefinite nonlinearities up to the critical growth

In this paper we state some existence results for the semilinear elliptic equation $-\Delta u(x)-\lambda u(x) = W(x)f(u)$ where $W(x)$ is a function possibly changing sign, $f$ has a superlinear growth and $\lambda$ is a positive real parameter. We discuss both the cases of subcritical and critical growth for $f$, and prove the existence of Linking type solutions.
Catalase ( CAT ) and glutathione peroxidase ( GPx ) activities were determined by the methods of Abei [ 31 ] and Paglia and Valentine

In the last decade, hydroxycinnamic acids (HCA) have gained increasing attention from researchers due to their antioxidant potential. The aim of this study was to examine in detail the impact of dietary HCA on particular types of P450 and also selected phase II and antioxidant enzymes in Wistar rat. HCA (10 μM/kg/day, i.p.) was administered for ten continuous days. Examination of the activities and mRNA and protein levels revealed that CYP2B, 2C6 and 3A enzyme activities were not altered significantly, with Western blot and qRT-PCR results corroborating this result. While treatment with HCA led to a significant reduction in CYP1A1/CYP1A2-associated enzyme activities, CYP1A1 protein, and mRNA levels were found to be unchanged. Aromatase (CYP19) activity, as well as protein and mRNA levels, were significantly reduced with HCA treatment. On the other hand, the NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) activities were increased significantly. Also, HCA treatment significantly increased the GST-mu and GST-theta mRNA levels. These observations may be of importance given the potential use of HCA as a chemopreventive and as an anticancer agent
Acute pain management in the trauma patient population: are we doing enough? A prospective observational study

Purpose: There is a strong correlation between trauma and pain. Pain increases the rate of depres-sion, posttraumatic stress disorder, and even mortality in trauma patients. Methods: This institution-based, provider-blinded and patient-blinded, observational study was conducted among trauma patients treated at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. Over the course of 3 months, this study included patients who had no prior pain management at other hospitals before presentation, and who presented within 24 hours of the traumatic event. Results: Of the 74 patients evaluated, none of the patients had their pain level scored. The research-er-provided pain scale showed a severe subjective pain score for 79.7% of the patients and a severe functional activity score for 59.5% of the patients. Analgesia was provided at an average of 55.4 minutes after presentation and all patients received either diclofenac or tramadol. Satisfactory pain re-duction after analgesia was 28.8% for patients initially complaining of severe pain, 54.6% for moderate pain, and 66.7% for mild pain, with the difference being statistically significant (P<0.05). Forty percent of patients discharged home received no analgesia after the first dose provided upon presentation. Conclusions: Pain scoring was nonexistent during the course of the study. The poor utilization rate of analgesia combination and opioids led to unsatisfactory pain outcomes in patients evaluated and followed for 24 hours after presentation.