Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variance analysis of photoplethysmography for blood pressure measurement

The emergence of photoplethysmography for blood pressure estimation is offering a more convenient method. The elements of photoplethysmography waveform is crucial for blood pressure measurement. Several photoplethysmography elements are still not completely understood. The purpose of this study was to investigated corelation of photoplethysmography elements with blood pressure using statistical approach. Analysis of variance test (ANOVA) was conducted to see if there are any correlation between elements of photoplethysmography with blood pressure. This study used 10 volunteers without an ethical clearance. Photoplethysmography waveform and blood pressure measurements were taken through the patient monitor equipment Datascope™. As the result, value factor from the arithmetic is 35.67 and value factor from the table is 3.14. The value of F arithmetic (35.67) > F table (3.14). The correlation of diastolic time (Td) is negative with systolic arterial pressure (SAP) and the correlation of systolic amplitude (As) is positive with diastolic arterial pressure (DAP). The results showed elements of photoplethysmography can be used to estimation blood pressure.
PENGARUH KEPUASAN TERHADAP LOYALITAS PELANGGAN (SEBUAH KAJIAN TERHADAP BISNIS MAKANAN

Food business will never shrink. During 1997 monetary crisis it proved its resistance and remained undevastated. To succeed in food business, an entrepreneur can not rely solely on the product offered and its quality, but it must also consider the services. Food business is increasingly growing, yet only few survive in the long run. Nowadays the companiesâ€™ goal in marketing has shifted from customer acquisition to customer retention or customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is the main target marketers work out to achieve. With loyalty of customers at hand, companies will get benefit as expected. As such, companies will be able to maintain their business. However, it takes customersâ€™ satisfaction in order to get their loyalty. In fact customer satisfaction depends on some factors such as quality of customer service, customer value and product advantages. These four factors are closely related and essential to bring benefits to the companies which in turn affect the sustainability of food business. Key word : customer loyality, customer expectasyk, eksis Bisnis makanan tidak akan pernah meredup. Pada saat krisis moneter tahun 1997, bisnis makanan tidak terkena imbasnya. Dalam mengembangkan bisnis makanan, pengusaha tidak cukup hanya mengandalkan barang dan mutu produk yang dijual, tetapi juga harus disertai dengan jasa (servis). Semakin banyaknya bisnis makanan yang berkembang, tidak semuanya mampu bertahan lama. Dalam terminologi pemasaran dapat dikatakan bahwa tujuan perusahaan terkait dengan pemasaran saat ini telah bergeser dari akuisisi pembeli (customer acquisition) kepada kesetiaan pelanggan (customer retention or customer loyalty). Loyalitas pelanggan merupakan tujuan inti yang diupayakan pemasar. Hal ini dikarenakan dengan adanya loyalitas pelanggan sesuai dengan yang diharapkan, dapat dipastikan perusahaan akan meraih keuntungan. Dampak lainnya adalah perusahaan mampu mempertahankan bisnisnya (eksistensi). Untuk mendapatkan loyalitas diperlukan kepuasaan pelanggan. Dan untuk mendapatkan kepuasaan pelanggan, perlu adanya faktor pendukung, antara lain kualitas pelayanan terhadap pelanggan, nilai pelanggan (customer value) dan keunggulan produk (product advantage). Keempat faktor tersebut saling berkaitan erat dan mampu memciptakan keuntungan usaha yang juga berdampak terhadap eksistensi bisnis makanan Kata kunci : loyalitas pelanggan, kepuasaan pelanggan, eksistensi
General Equilibrium Effects of Land Market Restrictions on Labor Market: Evidence from Wages in Sri Lanka

Taking advantage of a historical quasi-experiment in Sri Lanka, this paper provides evidence on the effects of land market restrictions on wages and its spatial pattern. The empirical specification is derived from a general equilibrium model that predicts that the adverse effects of land market restrictions on wages will be less in remote locations. For identification, the study exploits the effects of historical malaria prevalence on the incidence of land restrictions through its effects on"crown land". During the 16th to early 20th centuries, areas severely affected by malaria were abandoned by households and the land was taken over by the government. These lands that were later distributed through resettlement programs are subject to sales, rental, and mortgage restrictions. The variations in the amount of crown land resulting from different intensity of historical malaria provide a source of exogenous variations in the incidence of land restrictions in a sub-district. The results show that land restrictions reduce wages substantially, and this effect is smaller in remote locations. A 1 percent increase in land restrictions reduces wages by about 6.6 percent at the median travel time from an urban center, and the effect becomes effectively zero after 6 hours of travel time.
A prognostic model for 6-month mortality in elderly survivors of critical illness.

BACKGROUND Although 1.4 million elderly Americans survive hospitalization involving intensive care annually, many are at risk for early mortality following discharge. No models that predict the likelihood of death after discharge exist explicitly for this population. Therefore, we derived and externally validated a 6-month postdischarge mortality prediction model for elderly ICU survivors. METHODS We derived the model from medical record and claims data for 1,526 consecutive patients aged ≥ 65 years who had their first medical ICU admission in 2006 to 2009 at a tertiary-care hospital and survived to discharge (excluding those patients discharged to hospice). We then validated the model in 1,010 patients from a different tertiary-care hospital. RESULTS Six-month mortality was 27.3% and 30.2% in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. Independent predictors of mortality (in descending order of contribution to the model's predictive power) were a do-not-resuscitate order, older age, burden of comorbidity, admission from or discharge to a skilled-care facility, hospital length of stay, principal diagnoses of sepsis and hematologic malignancy, and male sex. For the derivation and external validation cohorts, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.80 (SE, 0.01) and 0.71 (SE, 0.02), respectively, with good calibration for both (P = 0.31 and 0.43). CONCLUSIONS Clinical variables available at hospital discharge can help predict 6-month mortality for elderly ICU survivors. Variables that capture elements of frailty, disability, the burden of comorbidity, and patient preferences regarding resuscitation during the hospitalization contribute most to this model's predictive power. The model could aid providers in counseling elderly ICU survivors at high risk of death and their families.
Using Short Tests and Questionnaires for Making Decisions about Individuals: When is Short too Short?

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The strategic management of regional airports in the UK : a case study approach

The aim of the research reported in this thesis is to investigate and understand the strategic management of airports. More specifically, the research focuses on regional airports in the UK; it charts the ways in which their strategic management capacities have changed in recent decades with regard to external pressures associated with increasing commercialisation and government policy on the ownership and control of airports. The significance of those external pressures is discussed, especially in the light of privatisation. Within this context, key concepts of strategic management are presented and the application of the cultural web model is discussed, in order to explore the links between strategic management, organisational behaviour and the external operating environment of regional airports. Using a case study approach and qualitative research methods, two regional airports have been selected for an in-depth comparative investigation: Inverness (which remains in public ownership) and East Midlands (which is in private ownership). The conclusions which emerge from the case study evidence suggests that there are significant differences in the strategic management capacities of regional airports in the UK, and these differences reflect their ownership and control. Although there is much evidence that differences between public and private airports are reducing - mainly due to the heightened commercial awareness of the former - it is clear that, unlike publicly owned airports, the transfer of ownership from public to private does indicate a transformation in organisational culture. Unlike their publicly owned counterparts, strategic objectives are clear and well established; minimising costs is a well focused strategic priority; and the pursuit of efficiency is a key strategic driver of change. The thesis concludes with sorne critical. reflections on the research undertaken and suggests areas for future investigation.
An electromagnetic cervical range-of-motion system and its sensitivity to environmental metal.

A three-dimensional cervical spine range-of-motion system was developed using an electromagnetic tracking system for data collection and a personal computer for analysis and graphic representation of the data. A test was designed to investigate the sensitivity of the electromagnetic device to the proximity of metal. It was found that position errors could be kept below 0.5 cm, and rotation errors could be kept below 1.3 degrees , if all metal was at least 33 cm from the source and sensor. The sensitivity of the system to metal should not cause serious problems in the typical clinical environment if simple precautions are taken.
REPLY TO COMMENTS MADE BY R . GRAVE DE PERALTA MENENDEZ AND

c) My Reply: The principles of linearity and superposition for localization are illustrated in Figure 1. These results (and their generalization) can be replicated by the interested reader, using software that has been available upon request to the author since June 1998 (http://www.keyinst.unizh.ch/loreta.htm). Figures 1a and 1b show LORETA point spread functions for two sources at different depths. The deep source is more blurred than the shallow source. The only way LORETA can resolve both simultaneously active sources is by increasing the strength of the deep source, as shown in Figure 1c (which is the same as Figure 4 in [1]). In general, LORETA can resolve two sources if they are sufficiently separated, and if their estimated strengths are comparable. This is the essence and main property of Low Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA): it will always produce a blurred (approximate) image of reality. Blurring will not always allow resolving all maxima. There was never any pompous claim of “high” or “optimum” resolution in LORETA. The main property of LORETA holds.
Optimal and suboptimal broad-band source location estimation

Two maximum-likelihood (ML) estimators are considered for direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation of broadband sources with unknown spectral parameters. One is based on the assumption that the sources radiate stochastic-Gaussian signals and therefore is called the stochastic-Gaussian ML (SGML) estimator; the other, using estimates of the actual signals (not their assumed distribution), is called the conditional ML (CML) estimator. Neither is efficient if the source spectral parameters are completely arbitrary and unknown, but the problem can be avoided for a version of the SGML estimation if the signal and noise spectra are known to satisfy certain smoothness conditions. While this version of the SGML is formally superior to the CML, it is demonstrated that the performance difference is small with underconditions not infrequently encountered in practice. When these are satisfied, the computationally simpler CML can be used without significant loss. The required conditions become more stringent as the source separation decreases or correlation between sources increases. A closed-form analytic expression is obtained for the small-error variance of the CML estimator of the DOA of the nth source in the presence of N-1 other sources. >
Optic Nerve Head Morphology Assessed by Laser Scanning Tomography in Normal Japanese Subjects

PurposeTo study the optic disc characteristics using the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT) II in normal Japanese subjects. MethodsA total of 1060 eyes of 530 normal subjects with reliable HRT images, who participated in the community health checkup in the city of Akita, Japan, were included in the study. Optic disc parameters were obtained using the HRT II. Sex, age, height, weight, blood pressure, ocular perfusion pressure, hemoglobin A1c status, intraocular pressure, and disc area with HRT parameters were assessed using correlation and multiple regression analysis. ResultsDisc area and cup area averaged 2.04±0.44 mm2 (mean±standard deviation) and 0.51±0.34 mm2, respectively. There were no significant differences in parameters between right and left eyes. Males had significantly greater cup area, cup volume, cup/disc ratio than females (P<0.001) and smaller rim area and rim volume. Disc area was strongly correlated with all HRT parameters. Age had moderate correlations with several tomographic parameters in multiple regression analysis, whereas blood pressure, ocular perfusion pressure, intraocular pressure, hemoglobin A1c, height, and weight had weak or no correlations. ConclusionsThis study provided a range of normal HRT II optic disc parameters for Japanese subjects. Compared with data from studies on other races, the mean disc area and cup area of Japanese subjects were between that of African Americans and white subjects. Given the significant differences between males and females, a normative database of HRT II variables should be established by sex.
Distinctive Effects of Glicentin, GLP‐1 and GLP‐2 on Adaptive Response to Massive Distal Small Intestine Resection in Rats

We previously reported the enhancing effect of methionyl-rat glicentin on the intestinal adaptive response to 70 % resection of small intestine in rats. 1 Another intestinal proglucagon derived peptide (PDGP) GLP-2 is now attracting attention as a novel potent growth promoting factor in the intestine. 2 The study reported here aimed at using synthetic peptides to determine the specific features of glicentin, GLP-1, and GLP-2 in terms of their effect on adaptive response to distal small intestinal resection in rats.
Glycosaminoglycans: key players in cancer cell biology and treatment

Glycosaminoglycans are natural heteropolysaccharides that are present in every mammalian tissue. They are composed of repeating disaccharide units that consist of either sulfated or non‐sulfated monosaccharides. Their molecular size and the sulfation type vary depending on the tissue, and their state either as part of proteoglycan or as free chains. In this regard, glycosami‐noglycans play important roles in physiological and pathological conditions. During recent years, cell biology studies have revealed that glycosaminoglycans are among the key macromolecules that affect cell properties and functions, acting directly on cell receptors or via interactions with growth factors. The accumulated knowledge regarding the altered structure of glycosaminoglycans in several diseases indicates their importance as biomarkers for disease diagnosis and progression, as well as pharmacological targets. This review summarizes how the fine structural characteristics of glycosaminoglycans, and enzymes involved in their biosynthesis and degradation, are involved in cell signaling, cell function and cancer progression. Prospects for glycosaminoglycan‐based therapeutic targeting in cancer are also discussed.
Morphological changes of the small-intestinal mucosa of guinea pig and hamster following incubation in vitro and perfusion in vivo with unconjugated bile salts

Incubation in vitro of the intestine of the hamster and guinea pig with 5 mM sodium cholate and with 2 mM sodium deoxycholate and sodium chenodeoxycholate resulted in significant morphological changes compared with control incubations. Generally, no major differences were observed between proximal and distal small intestine or between the species used. Only when guinea pig intestine was incubated with 5 mM cholate was less damage found proximally than distally. Perfusion in vivo of the intestine of the hamster and guinea pig with Krebs-Ringer phosphate results in separation of the epithelium from the lamina propria without excessive shedding of epithelial cells from villous tips. This change was also seen in specimens taken before perfusion and probably represents unavoidable trauma during handling of the intestine. In contrast to studies in vitro, regional differences are readily demonstrable with perfusion of bile salts in vivo. Dihydroxy bile salts produce more marked alterations of both proximal and distal small intestine than the trihydroxy bile salt, sodium cholate. Dihydroxy bile salts result in significantly greater alterations in proximal than in distal mucosa. When 5 mM cholate at pH 6·8 is perfused in the guinea pig, absorption occurs approximately 30 times more rapidly from distal than from proximal segments, while in proximal segments 2 mM chenodeoxycholate is absorbed approximately 15 times more rapidly than 5 mM cholate. A correlation is suggested between the morphological alteration produced in the region of the small intestine by a bile acid and the amount of bile salt passing through the cell. Furthermore, it is proposed that the ileal cells may be damaged to a lesser extent by bile acids normally found in that particular species.
Share Repurchases, Signalling Effect and Implications for Corporate Governance: Evidence from India

It is worth mentioning that a great deal of financial liberalisation, privatisation and internationalisation policies in emerging economies have significantly increased the corporate restructuring activities like mergers, acquisitions, share repurchases and stock splits, among others. Indeed, the activity that is investigated in this article is ‘share repurchases’ and its effect on stock returns and price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. More deeply, this article will answer the research question—does a share repurchase offer abnormal returns around the announcement? Thus, it is performed in one of the Asian emerging markets—India. To do so, we use event-study method to examine abnormal returns and P/E signalling around the announcement of 64 share repurchases, announced during 2008–2009. It is found that stock performance is not adequate and notices lower as well as negative earnings during post-buyback period. Briefly, we conclude that share repurchases assure short-term returns and observe lower P/E compared to pre-buyback period. In addition, we show some interesting results that derived from industrial and services sectors. The outcome of this article would help financial analysts, financial advisors, corporate enterprises and regulatory bodies in designing policies on earnings distribution, managerial incentives, takeovers and so forth of regulatory aspects.
Does Balance Sheet Classification Matter? Evidence from Trust Preferred Stock

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) continues to debate the accounting for financial instruments and the distinction between liabilities and equity. A trend toward shifting items to the liability category is ongoing; for example in 2003 FASB Statement No. 150 required several items, including mandatorily redeemable shares, to be re-classified as liabilities. The AAA Financial Accounting Standards Committee (2001) voiced its concern over the increasing heterogeneity of the liability category and called for quasi-equity categories to improve the representational faithfulness of individual categories. We address the question of whether financial statement categorization of trust preferred stock (TPS) influences its market valuation. We exploit FASB Statement No. 150 as an opportunity for quasi-experimentation. Statement No. 150 required TPS, a mandatorily redeemable financial instrument, to be re-classified from the mezzanine to the liability section of the balance sheet. We empirically test whether the balance sheet label affects market valuation of TPS. Using a sample of 105 firm-year observations from 2001-2004, we find that when TPS is re-classified as a liability the market values TPS more like a liability than when it was reported in the mezzanine. Our evidence adds support to the AAA Committee's contention that financial statement users depend on balances sheet categories, and that additional heterogeneity in the liability section may lead to confusion and miss-interpretation.
The Impact of Venture Capital Investments On Industry Performance

The aggregate amount of venture capital investments in non-publicly traded firms since 1980 is more than $390 billion. We find that lagged VC investments scaled by industry assets are negatively related to subsequent quarterly industry returns after adjusting for other factors. Thus, money invested in non-publicly traded firms appears to lower the subsequent valuations of publicly traded companies in the same industry. The return on assets of an industry is also negatively related to lagged VC funding. It appears that the stock market is slow to incorporate the information of new VC funding into the valuations on publicly traded firms. As more money pours into a hot industry, increased competition and technological innovation dampen subsequent industry stock returns and operating performance.
What Makes Alternative Beta Smart

According to Towers Watson (2013), a leading global investment-consulting firm, “Smart beta is simply about trying to identify good investment ideas that can be structured better. smart beta strategies should be simple, low cost, transparent and systematic. ” This straightforward definition indicates what investors ought to expect of a “Smart Beta. ” Our research suggests that many alternative beta strategies fall short of this definition. Some are overly complex and opaque in the source of their value added. Others will incur unnecessary implementation costs. Many alternative beta strategies don’t seem so smart.
Catalytic Ozonation for Degradation of 2, 4, 6‐Trichloroanisole in Drinking Water in the Presence of γ‐AlOOH

Results show that catalytic ozonation with γ‐AlOOH can substantially enhance the removal effectiveness of 2, 4, 6‐trichloroanisole (TCA) in drinking water. Scavenging of radicals tests reveals that the improved 2, 4, 6‐trichloroanisole degradation is due to the enhanced generation of hydroxyl radicals. The uncharged surface hydroxyl groups on γ‐AlOOH in water can induce aqueous ozone decomposition to generate hydroxyl radicals. The catalytic activity of γ‐AlOOH decreased as thermal treatment temperature increased.