Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endoscopic Endonasal Surgery—Concepts in Treatment of Recurring Rhinosinusitis. Part I. Anatomic and Pathophysiologic Considerations

Many years of endoscopic investigation and observation proved that most infections of the paranasal sinus are rhinogenic, spreading from the nose into the sinuses. The common focus of infection in cases of recurring sinusitis is the stenotic areas of the anterior ethmoid, with infection recurring in the larger sinuses. The anterior ethmoid, especially its infundibulum, is thus a key location for infection or cure, and maxillary as well as frontal sinuses are fully dependent on the pathophysiologic conditions there. Histologic examination demonstrates that massive changes of the nasal glands are the reason for permanent mucosal thickening. Retention cysts, highly viscous mucus, mucus extravasations, and metaplastic epithelial changes add to the vicious cycle of blockage of the ostium-meatus unit.
Collaboration as a Strategy for Auto-service Busine ss at Supermarkets

The paper is to establish collaboration as a strate gy for auto-service business at supermarkets. Secon dary market study has been made on the retail sector, especiall y in supermarket segment and on auto sector in Indi a to assess the potential and growth. The drivers of possible colla boration of auto-service sector and supermarkets ha ve been identified. From literature it is established that collaboration gives competitive advantage. A case s tudy of collaborative auto-service at a supermarket reveals customer confidence on such set up. The idling of vehicles at supermarkets and growing demand of auto-services could be a strategic solution to tap this business po tential.
Potential anti‐cancer activity of N‐hydroxy‐7‐(2‐naphthylthio) heptanomide (HNHA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, against breast cancer both in vitro and in vivo

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) is an attractive target for cancer therapy because it plays a key role in gene expression and carcinogenesis. N‐hydroxy‐7‐(2‐naphthylthio) heptanomide (HNHA) is a novel synthetic HDAC inhibitor (HDACI) that shows better pharmacological properties than a known HDACI present in the human fibrosarcoma cell: suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA). Here, we investigate the anti‐cancer activity of HNHA against breast cancer both in vitro and in vivo. HNHA arrested the cell cycle at the G1/S phase via p21 induction, which led to profound inhibition of cancer cell growth in vitro. In addition, HNHA‐treated cells showed markedly decreased levels of VEGF and HIF‐1α than SAHA and fumagillin (FUMA) when accompanied by increased histone acetylation. HNHA significantly inhibited tumor growth in an in vivo mouse xenograft model. HNHA‐treated mice survived significantly longer than SAHA‐ and FUMA‐treated mice. Dynamic MRI showed significantly decreased blood flow in the HNHA‐treated mice, implying that HNHA inhibits tumor neovascularization. This finding was accompanied by marked reductions of proangiogenic factors and significant induction of angiogenesis inhibitors in tumor tissues. We have shown that HNHA is an effective anti‐tumor agent in breast cancer cells in vitro and in breast cancer xenografts in vivo. Collectively, these findings indicate that HNHA may be a potent anti‐cancer agent against breast cancer due to its multi‐faceted inhibition of HDAC activity, as well as anti‐angiogenesis activity. (Cancer Sci 2011; 102: 343–350)
An ECG Segmentation Model Used for Signal Generator

An ECG segmentation model and modeling method used for ECG signal generator is addressed in this paper. With the model, the ECG signal is divided into several pieces and each piece has an adjustable sampling time interval. According to this segmentation model, extending the ECG signal is achieved by adjusting the different sampling time intervals and interpolating the signal. There are two contrastive interpolating methods in this paper. One is interpolating the signal with zeroes between two consecutive sampling points, the other is interpolating the signal with piecewise linear interpolation. The second method, which can avoid the ill-conditioned characters in high order interpolation, approximates the quondam curve by the fold line through the interpolating points. And the result of spectrum analysis shows that the modeling method and piecewise linear interpolation could keep the ECG information without distortion.
Understanding Employees’ Organizational Citizenship Behaviors through the Mediating Role of Corporate Social Responsibility

Leader-member exchange (LMX) and employer-employee guanxi (personal connections) have received increasing amounts of attention in the workings of Chinese management and organization. The purpose of this study seeks to examine the impacts of LMX and employer-employee personal guanxi on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), and test empirically whether this relationship is mediated by the emerging field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in financial service personnel. Using a sample of two hundred and twenty-eight financial service employees, we tested several causal hypotheses pertaining to the antecedents and impacts of organizational citizenship behaviors by means of structural equation modeling to measure the relationship among these constructs. Research findings indicate that LMX and employer-employee guanxi positively affect organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), mediated by corporate social responsibility (CSR). The empirical results and managerial implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.
Model‐Based Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction for detecting epistasis in case–control data in the presence of noise

Analyzing the combined effects of genes and/or environmental factors on the development of complex diseases is a great challenge from both the statistical and computational perspective, even using a relatively small number of genetic and nongenetic exposures. Several data‐mining methods have been proposed for interaction analysis, among them, the Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction Method (MDR) has proven its utility in a variety of theoretical and practical settings. Model‐Based Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction (MB‐MDR), a relatively new MDR‐based technique that is able to unify the best of both nonparametric and parametric worlds, was developed to address some of the remaining concerns that go along with an MDR analysis. These include the restriction to univariate, dichotomous traits, the absence of flexible ways to adjust for lower order effects and important confounders, and the difficulty in highlighting epistatic effects when too many multilocus genotype cells are pooled into two new genotype groups. We investigate the empirical power of MB‐MDR to detect gene–gene interactions in the absence of any noise and in the presence of genotyping error, missing data, phenocopy, and genetic heterogeneity. Power is generally higher for MB‐MDR than for MDR, in particular in the presence of genetic heterogeneity, phenocopy, or low minor allele frequencies.
Aortic stenosis at young adult age

Aortic stenosis at young adult age is usually the result of a stenotic bicuspid aortic valve, which is the most common cardiac congenital anomaly. In clinical practice, exercise and pregnancy are important topics. Furthermore, the timing of intervention is under debate, as little information is available on the natural history and outcome after aortic valve replacement in these young adults. In older patients, there is a trend towards earlier intervention. With the increased knowledge of the pathophysiology of aortic stenosis, studies have focused on the dilatation of the ascending aorta with risk of dissection. Recently, it has been suggested that pharmacologic treatment of aortic stenosis could be beneficial for these young adults.
The Extent of Applying the Balanced Scorecard in the Jordanian Banks, and its Effects on Performance

This study aimed to identify the difference between the Jordanian banks in their use and application of the Balanced Scorecard measures represented by its four dimensions, and the effect of the use and application of these dimensions on measuring the performance of the these banks, and the effect of using these measures on the real performance of these banks measured by the return on assets (ROA) and the return on equity (ROE). A questionnaire was designed for this purpose. The results indicated that the Jordanian banks used a set of financial and non-financial performance measures which are similar and consistent with the Balanced Scorecard dimensions. The most used dimensions were the financial dimensions, followed by the internal operations dimensions, then the learning and growth dimensions, and finally the dimensions related to receipt of the service. The results shows statistically significant differences in the use of every performance measurement, and the results indicated also that the banks which highly used the previous mentioned measures achieved a higher return on assets and a higher return on equity compared to other banks.
Ageing affects conceptual but not perceptual memory processes

Whereas age effects commonly occur in tests of explicit memory, tests of implicit memory often show age invariance. In two experiments, the traditional confound between test type (implicit vs explicit) and retrieval process (conceptually driven vs perceptually driven) was removed by using conceptually driven and perceptually driven tests of both implicit and explicit memory. Experiment 1 revealed a significant age effect for conceptually driven retrieval and no age effect for perceptually driven retrieval, regardless of the type of memory being measured. Experiment 2 highlighted a difference between the two age groups in their ability to utilise semantic encoding in a nominally perceptually driven explicit memory test. The paper concludes that although perceptually driven processing is stable over age, particular care must be taken to minimise contamination from conceptually driven retrieval processes in such investigations.
Essais sur l'essor des services financiers sur mobile dans les pays en développement et à son impact sur le comportement financier des individus

This dissertation investigates determinants of mobile financial technology adoption and its consequences on individual financial behaviors in developing countries. It is structured around three chapters/self-contained papers. The first chapter explores the growing adoption of mobile financial technology in developing countries by distinguishing mobile money (use of a mobile phone to access financial services) from mobile banking (access of banking services using a mobile phone) and setting Sub-Saharan Africa against other developing countries. The results show that mobile money adoption dominates mobile banking in developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Determinants of its adoption include macroeconomic factors, outreach of financial services, banking sector intermediation activities and especially remittances. The second chapter analyzes the impact of mobile money adoption on individual saving behavior by using individual-level survey data that we designed and conducted in 2014 in Burkina Faso. By distinguishing saving for predictable events from that for unpredictable events, the findings show that mobile money has a positive impact only on saving for unpredictable events especially saving for health emergencies. Precisely, the results show that disadvantaged groups who use mobile money are likely to save for health emergencies, and that safety and the availability of money transfers within the sub-region appear as factors that may explain the use of mobile money to save for health emergencies. The third chapter exploits the same survey data to analyze the impact of mobile money adoption on the usage of traditional (formal and informal) financial services. The results show that mobile money is preferred for deposits over traditional financial services because of the convenience that it provides in terms of relative access, risk, liquidity and privacy. Interestingly, the results reveal that the use of mobile money brings participants in informal deposit mechanisms and disadvantaged groups toward banks and credit unions.
Vibration Sensor Based on the Resonance Power Leakage in a Tapered Capillary Fiber

A compact all-fibre vibration sensor based on power leakage at resonance wavelengths of a tapered capillary fiber is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. A section of the capillary fiber was selectively etched by using hydrofluoricacid, which formed a tapered region in the capillary fiber. Two Fabry-Pérot resonators are formed in the same capillary fiber due to the differences in cladding between the tapered region and original cladding. The leaky mode of the guided light can be achieved at resonant wavelengths of two Fabry-Pérot resonators, which results in lossy dips in the transmission spectrum of the capillary fiber. The tapered region in the capillary fiber is supposed to be slightly bent due to the vibration, which results in a change of the resonance condition for one Fabry-Pérot resonator due to the photoelastic effect. The experimental results show that a signal-to-noise ratio of 60 dB is achieved, and the fibre vibration sensor has a wide frequency response from 5 to 10 kHz. The tapered capillary fibre possesses high sensitivity and low temperature cross sensitivity.
Social Capital and the Health Services Utilization of Immigrants in Canada

Social capital can be defined as a resource found in the relationships between individuals and within the community that facilitates access to resources. Social capital may have an effect on health services utilization. Few studies have explored the impact of social capital on the propensity and frequency of general practitioner visits for immigrants. The relationship between social capital and health services use by immigrants was analyzed using a dataset consisting of socio-demographic data from the 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey linked to physician claims from the Ontario Health Insurance Program for fiscal year
Emergence of a novel drug resistant H7N9 influenza virus: evidence based clinical potential of a natural IFN-α for infection control and treatment

The novel avian H7N9 influenza virus has caused more than 130 human infections with 43 deaths (as of September, 2013) in China. Because of the lack of existing immunity against H7 subtype influenza viruses in the human population and the absence of a licensed commercial vaccine, antiviral drugs are critical tools for the treatment of infection with this novel H7N9. Both M2-ion channel blockers and neuraminidase inhibitors are used as antiviral drugs for influenza infections of humans. The emerging H7N9 viruses are resistant to the M2-ion channel blockers because of a S31N mutation in the M2 protein; additionally, some H7N9 isolates have gained neuraminidase R292K substitution resulting in broad resistance to neuraminidase inhibitors. In this study we report that Alferon N can inhibit wild type and 292K H7N9 viruses replication in vitro. Since Alferon N is approved for clinical use, this would allow a rapid regulatory approval process for this drug under pandemic threat.
Molecular Fingerprinting of the Fecal Microbiota of Children Raised According to Different Lifestyles

ABSTRACT In this population-based study, 90 children from three European countries were examined to determine the impact of lifestyle on the fecal microbiota. The study was designed to assess the impact of two extreme lifestyles that we hypothesized could impact the microbial composition in the gut: i.e., an anthroposophic lifestyle (restricted use of antibiotics, greater consumption of fermented vegetables, etc.) versus living on a farm (greater consumption of farm milk, contact with animals, etc.). In previous studies, these lifestyles correlated with lower prevalence of allergies. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) was used to assess the bacterial composition in fecal samples since recent studies have shown that the majority of this community cannot be cultivated. The T-RFLP data were used to calculate richness and evenness of the fecal microbiota. Children that were attending Steiner schools (anthroposophic children) had a significantly higher diversity of microbes in their feces than farm children, who in turn also had lower diversity than the control groups. Specific primers were also used to focus on the Lactobacillus-like community (lactic acid bacteria [LAB]). Large differences were found in the LAB subpopulations in the sampled groups. In some children, the LAB subpopulation was dominated by a species that has not yet been cultivated.
Prediction of neuropsychological performance by neurological signs in schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE The major purposes of this study were 1) to examine whether neurological signs predict cognitive performance in both schizophrenic patients and healthy subjects and 2) to determine the ability of neurological signs and neuropsychological tests to discriminate schizophrenic patients from healthy subjects. METHOD Eighty-five patients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia and 36 normal comparison subjects were included in the study. All subjects were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery, and neurological signs were assessed with the Neurological Evaluation Scale. Stepwise regression analyses were used to predict neuropsychological test performance from the subscale scores on the Neurological Evaluation Scale. Forward stepwise linear discriminant function analyses were used to examine the discriminative ability of neurological subscale scores, neuropsychological test scores, and the two combined. RESULTS Scores on the Neurological Evaluation Scale predicted the neuropsychological test performance of both patients and comparison subjects. The sensory integration subscale score was the most frequent predictor of neuropsychological test performance. In contrast, the "others" subscale, which includes frontal release signs, abnormalities in eye movements, and short-term memory, was the most highly discriminating subscale, correctly classifying 78.5% of the total study group. The best predictors from the neuropsychological battery (category fluency and Trail Making Test, part A, time test) correctly classified 81.8%. When both sets of variables were used, the Neurological Evaluation Scale "others" subscale entered the discriminant function first. CONCLUSIONS Neurological signs are reliably related to measures of neuropsychological performance and also reliably discriminate between patients and healthy subjects. However, some neurological signs may be more sensitive to the presence of schizophrenia, while others may be more predictive of neuropsychological performance.
The Influence of the EU Common Agricultural Policy on Agricultural Land Prices

For decades the European Union (EU) has devoted a considerable large share of its budget to support European farmers. In this thesis we analyze the influence of different Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) instruments on agricultural land sales and rental prices. A significant capitalization CAP payments into land prices causes a transmission of a (substantial) share of this support to landlords and questions the effects and efficiency of the policy measures. In contrast to earlier studies on land sales prices, we account for the spatial dimension of land markets and for endogeneity of explanatory variables at the same time. We are the first to consider heterogeneous land quality in our rental price analysis. In its most general form, our results reveal that 1/3 of every Euro of CAP payments ends up in Bavarian land rental prices.
Role of maturity timing in selection procedures and in the specialisation of playing positions in youth basketball

Abstract This study investigated the role of maturity timing in selection procedures and in the specialisation of playing positions in youth male basketball. Forty-three talented Dutch players (14.66 ± 1.09 years) participated in this study. Maturity timing (age at peak height velocity), anthropometric, physiological, and technical characteristics were measured. Maturity timing and height of the basketball players were compared with a matched Dutch population. One-sample t-tests showed that basketball players were taller and experienced their peak height velocity at an earlier age compared to their peers, which indicates the relation between maturity timing and selection procedures. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed that guards experienced their peak height velocity at a later age compared to forwards and centres (P < .01). In addition, positional differences were found for height, sitting height, leg length, body mass, lean body mass, sprint, lower body explosive strength, and dribble (P < .05). Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) (age and age at peak height velocity as covariate) showed only a significant difference regarding the technical characteristic dribbling (P < .05). Coaches and trainers should be aware of the inter-individual differences between boys related to their maturity timing. Since technical characteristics appeared to be least influenced by maturity timing, it is recommended to focus more on technical characteristics rather than anthropometric and physiological characteristics.
Ensuring continuity during dynamic security policy reconfiguration in DTE

Operating system kernels capable of simultaneously enforcing multiple security policies provide economic benefits over those that cannot: they allow a single kernel to concurrently provide its costly or unique resources to a number of projects, each with its own individual security requirements. The additional ability to dynamically reconfigure its policy during run time allows a kernel to take on new projects and their policies and to remove old ones without disturbing those that remain. Unfortunately, the policy added to govern a new project may conflict with the kernel's existing policy components, invalidating their security properties and negating the protection they pro vide. This danger is an obstacle to the practical operation of these kernels. The paper describes how the Domain and Type Enforcement (DTE) prototype kernel implements automatic safeguards to reject policy extensions which would invalidate BLP, Ring, Strict Integrity, Clark-Wilson, and Assured Pipeline security properties of its existing policy.
Human Age Estimation Framework using Bio-Inspired Features for Facial Image

Human age estimation using biometric features has wide range of real-world application in law enforcement, security control, and human computer interaction. However, despite advances in automatic age estimation, it remains a challenging problem. Age estimation is challenging due to age progression, extracting these features accurately are very important for better performance. One of the most successful works is based on biologically inspired features (BIF). In this paper we extend BIF by automatic initialization and extracting fine details of facial features using active appearance model (AAM) and analyzing a more complete facial area by including the forehead details. Besides, we combine regression-based and classification-based models and test them experimentally on standard datasets showing the superiority of our proposed algorithm.