Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Studies of the phylogeny, systematics and pathogenicity of Acanthamoeba using ribosomal and transfer RNA gene sequences

The use of ribosomal RNA gene sequences (rDNA) for the study of the phylogeny, systematics and pathogenicity of Acanthamoeba has been increasing steadily in recent years. Our laboratory has been actively involved in sequencing nuclear and mitochondria! rDNA in collaboration with investigators around the world. In progress to date, we have identified 12 discrete typing units (rDNA genotypes T1 to T12) which include 20 of 25 named species. The genotypes were revealed by phylogenetic analyses of nuclear 18S rDNA and mitochondrial 16S rDNA sequences. Six named species have distinctive genotypes. The rest of the species that have been examined belong to paraphyletic clusters, the largest of which is genotype T4. Mitochondrial tRNA sequence data have been used to further examine these clusters. Improved PCR and sequencing strategies using rDNA have been developed for genus-specific detection of Acanthamoeba and genotype identification of clinical and environmental isolates. Analysis of 61 strains isolated from Acanthamoeba keratitis indicate that 97% of these infections are caused by genotype T4 strains.
Noninvasive Ventilation in the Neonate

One of the most common and concerning complications seen in low-birth-weight infants is chronic lung disease. A variety of factors have been implicated in the etiology of chronic lung disease including lung inflammation and injury. Noninvasive ventilation (NIV), a term applied to a variety of devices capable of supporting neonatal ventilation without the use of an endotracheal tube, is receiving increasing attention as means to reduce damage often incurred with mechanical ventilation. This article will review the history of continuous positive pressure ventilation and will provide an overview of some of the other types of NIV being used in neonates. The literature supporting the use of NIV is reviewed, and nursing care of the infant receiving NIV is examined.
Does shareholder activism limit real earnings management: Evidence of financial misreporting in family and foreign-owned business

This study examines the effects of the Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group (MSWG) on real earnings management practices of family-owned and foreign-owned businesses listed on Bursa Malaysia. In particular, we analyze how shareholder activism by MSWG affects the level of real earnings management of Malaysian listed firms. Using a sample of 1,180 firm-year observations from 2008 to 2014, this study finds that MSWG has a significantly negative association with all proxies of real earnings management namely abnormal cash flow from operations, abnormal production costs, and abnormal discretionary expenses in both family-owned and foreign-owned businesses. The findings support the alignment hypothesis, which argues that the MSWG is a monitoring mechanism in limiting unethical corporate behaviour including real earnings management practices. JEL Classification: D19, G30, F20
Are renewable energy (green) companies outperforming non-green companies?

Beyond the popular notion that companies are going ' green' due largely to pressures from environmental groups and in order to meet regulatory requirements, this research project examines ' what is in it' for the green companies. Are green companies actually worse off than their non-green peers considering the traditional or conventional belief that the additional costs involved with being environmentally compliant, negatively impacts the bottom line? Our research's focus is on whether or not renewable energy companies have been out-performing non-green companies. Thus far, published works have shown conflicting results on the financial performance of investments that have set environmental compliance as their major criteria. While some have been able to prove that it pays to be green, others have reported that green investors are worse off. Unlike previous studies that examined green performance at the portfolio or aggregate level with mutual funds, our study examines performance at the firm level. We examined companies in the alternative energy sector and created a match for them with non-green companies and found that their operational and stock performance were not any worse off, but they also outperformed their traditional energy peers. In terms of raising finance, our findings further revealed that the green companies were better able to raise capital via equity. Thus we are of the opinion that investment in the renewable energy sector is a worthwhile venture. --P. ii.
Patients' experiences of living with varicose veins and management of the disease in daily life.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The aim was to describe the experience of living with varicose veins classified according CEAP (clinical class, aetiology, anatomy, pathophysiology) as C4 (eczema or thrombophlebitis) and management of the disease in daily life. BACKGROUND Primary chronic venous insufficiencies with varicose veins are a relatively common condition among both men and women. Several studies have shown that quality of life improved after treatment of varicose veins compared to before treatment. This suggests that patients with a milder form of varicose veins such as C4 experience a negative influence on their quality of life before treatment. DESIGN This is an explorative qualitative study with a phenomenological approach. METHOD A purposive sample was used, and 12 in-depth interviews were conducted with persons having superficial venous insufficiency classified C4. A descriptive phenomenological analysis was performed. RESULTS The essence of the phenomenon of living with varicose veins classified C4 and management of the disease in daily life meant adapting to a life with varicose veins and relieve discomfort from legs with an unfavourable appearance. Coping with discomfort involved dealing with the disease emotionally and finding strategies that helped to relieve symptoms; however, living with 'repulsive' legs was seen as embarrassing, and many found the need to hide their condition. CONCLUSION Patients with varicose veins classified C4 had notable symptoms of the disease that affected daily living. This in turn required the use of different coping strategies to manage symptoms, and significant adjustments related to activities and social life were made. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE It seems desirable that patients with varicose veins receive treatment at an earlier stage of the disease and are familiar with the tools and solutions available to alleviate symptoms and avoid a negative impact on daily life.
Empirical Evaluation of Open Government Data Visualisations

The Open Government Data (OGD) movement has seen governments around the world embrace the concept of opening their data. However, the large amounts of data released have not resulted in wide acceptance of the data by end-users. This is partly due to the emphasis on machinereadability rather than human-usability. Recently, some data portals have included visualization techniques to make the portals more usable. In this work, we report on user studies conducted to evaluate different OGD visualization techniques. The techniques were evaluated both quantitatively, through recorded tasks, and qualitatively, through a post study survey. We found that geographic map visualizations were reported by users to provide the highest level of qualitative satisfaction, which correlates with the quantitative results requiring the shortest time to complete the tasks. This study provides insights into empirical evaluation of visualization techniques to aid OGD providers in making decisions about the best way to present data in their portals.
A new microstrip diplexer using open-loop resonators

In this paper, a new microstrip diplexer using open loop resonators with compact size and high isolation is designed and fabricated for the WLANs (IEEE 802.11b/g at 2.4 GHz and IEEE 802.11a at 5.2 GHz) applications. The diplexer is formed by two dual-mode band pass filters (BPFs) using an asymmetric fork-form feed line and two open loop resonators. The diplexer has less than 3 dB insertion loss and the isolation between the two channels is more than 25 dB. Furthermore, the proposed diplexer shows several transmission zeros beside the pass bands which improves the selectivity of the BPFs and thus improves the isolation between lower and upper channel filters and achieves a significant attenuation of the undesired harmonics. The electrical performances of the diplexer are investigated numerically by using Momentum integrated in ADS Agilent and CST microwave software. Good agreement between the simulation and measurement results is achieved.
Grey Water Treatment Systems under Controlled Laboratory Conditions

A comparison of chemical versus biological package grey water treatment systems was undertaken using a new laboratory based protocol that included a synthetic grey water formulation that mimics average bathroom and laundry grey water in Australia. The results for chemical, nutrient and metals removal showed that the treatment systems behaved very differently under the test conditions. The chemical system was able to remove most of the components of grey water that could be detrimental to the environment and produced high quality product water. The biological system was only able to remove some of the components of the grey water, and did not produce the same quality of product water. However, the product water quality was found to improve continually over the duration of testing. It was concluded that for the current composition of Indian grey water the chemical based technology produced the highest quality product but that other environmental costs, such as chemical use and energy also need to be assessed. If grey water compositions change with the use of more biodegradable, low environmental impact personal care and cleaning products, biological treatment systems may be better suited to treating grey water in the future.
Handwritten Character Classification using the Hotspot Feature Extraction Technique

Feature extraction techniques can be important in character recognition, because they can enhance the efficacy of recognition in comparison to featureless or pixel-based approaches. This study aims to investigate the novel feature extraction technique called the hotspot technique in order to use it for representing handwritten characters and digits. In the hotspot technique, the distance values between the closest black pixels and the hotspots in each direction are used as representation for a character. The hotspot technique is applied to three data sets including Thai handwritten characters (65 classes), Bangla numeric (10 classes), and MNIST (10 classes). The hotspot technique consists of two parameters including the number of hotspots and the number of chain code directions. The data sets are then classified by the k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm using the Euclidean distance as function for computing distances between data points. In this study, the classification rates obtained from the hotspot, mark direction, and direction of chain code techniques are compared. The results revealed that the hotspot technique provides the largest average classification rates.
Temporomandibular Joint Pain is Negatively Correlated to TNF Alpha and Osteoprotegrin Content in Synovial Fluid in Patients with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Objective: Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) involvement occurs in up to 80% of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Little is known with regard to the complexity of the protein profile in synovial fluid (SF) from JIA arthritis during growth as compared to both JIA and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of adults. Design: Synovial fluid was collected from 54 joints/30 patients with TMJ arthritis (JIA 35 joints/20 patients, JIA adults 9 joints/5 patients, RA 10 joints/5 patients). Three cytokines and seven bone markers were quantified using Luminex multiplex assays and compared to demographic and clinical data of function and pain. Results: Pain (spontaneous and upon palpation) and duration of pain were all negatively correlated with the TMJ SF content of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. The level of Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) was negatively correlated to TMJ pain upon palpation and post-treatment pain and function. The concentration of ACTH was significantly lower in SF in JIA (1.4 ± 2.8 pg/ml) compared to adults with JIA (4.7 ± 12.2 pg/ml) and significantly higher compared to adults with RA (0.8 ± 1.5 pg/ml). Osteoprotegerin (OPG) was negatively correlated to spontaneous pain. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the local concentrations of TNF-α, ACTH and OPG in TMJ fluid may not contribute to TMJ pain and tissue destruction in JIA/RA patients.
Probability and frequency of damage of electrical and electronic systems due to indirect lightning flashes

In the present paper data collected from the field related to the damage statistics of electrical and electronic systems due to lightning overvoltages are reported. These damages were registered by German insurance companies in 2005 and 2006 in different structures and installations. With the use of stochastical methods it is possible to reassess the collected data and to define cases, which are with high probability caused by lightning overvoltages. The results of the stochastic model are compared with the probability of damage distributions obtained by using the analytical method, which is the basis for the IEC Standard rules.
Management accounting change in the Portuguese telecommunications industry

This paper sought to study the reasons that explain why has a telecommunications operator (called Marconi) changed its traditional management accounting systems (MAS) and replaced it with activity-based costing (ABC). The paper relied on qualitative data collected through a longitudinal and in-depth case study in the telecommunications sector. The investigation was informed by new institutional sociology (NIS) insights. The study evidenced that Marconi adopted ABC in order to fulfil its constituencies’ expectations of efficiency created with the reorganisation of the Portuguese telecommunications sector and the introduction of competition in the market. Furthermore, the paper contests the managerial emphasis that ABC has been subject to and claims that social accounting theories, such as institutionalism, should be adopted by management accounting researchers in order to achieve a deeper understanding of the ‘ABC phenomenon’.
Model checking for improved adaptive behaviour

Closed loop systems are traditionally analysed using simulation. We show how a formal approach, namely model checking, can be used to enhance and inform this analysis. Specifically, model checking can be used to verify properties for any execution of a system, not just a single experimental path. We describe how model checking has been used to investigate a system consisting of a robot navigating around an environment, avoiding obstacles using sequence learning. We illustrate the power of this approach by showing how a previous assumption about the system, gained though vigorous simulation, was demonstrated to be incorrect, using the formal approach. (6 pages)
A Biomechanical Comparison between Salter Innominate Osteotomy and Pemberton Pericapsular Osteotomy.

OBJECTIVE This study aims to compare the pelvic biomechanics of patients who underwent Salter innominate osteotomy (SIO) for one hip and Pemberton pericapsular osteotomy (PPO) for the other hip. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fifty-seven of 126 patients who received a one-stage procedure involving SIO for one hip and PPO for the other hip were included in this series. Preoperative x-rays, archived reports and patient recall were obtained and retrospectively analyzed for these 57 patients. Pelvic biomechanics of the two osteotomy techniques were compared on x-rays and computerized tomography imaging. RESULTS Based on x-rays, three hips with SIO and 1 hip with PPO had changes that could reflect unstable pelvic biomechanics. SIO caused an average lower limb discrepancy of 0.47 cm in all patients. Positive results were found in 5 patients at their most recent clinical examination. CONCLUSION PPO affects the biomechanics of the pelvis much less than SIO. PPO demonstrated ideal biomechanical results compared with SIO, with fewer changes to the pelvic ring and the hip joints.
Isolation of monocytes from human peripheral blood using immuno‐affinity expanded‐bed adsorption

A novel technique for the separation of monocytes from human peripheral blood preparations has been developed. The technique is based on the use of expanded‐bed adsorption and a solid perfluorocarbon derivatized with avidin or streptavidin for the indirect positive or negative capture of cells labeled with biotinylated monoclonal antibodies. The perfluorocarbon support was prepared and characterized and the contactor design and operating conditions, that enable cells to be selectively isolated, were investigated. Experiments consisted of applying an immunolabeled pulse of 1 × 108 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), isolated by density gradient centrifugation, directly onto a refrigerated expanded bed. The major cell types remaining were T‐lymphocytes, B‐lymphocytes, and monocytes. Monocytes could be positively adsorbed, following labeling with anti‐CD14 mAb, with a clearance of up to 89% and a depletion factor of 7.6. They could also be “eluted” using mechanical shear, with a 77% yield of the applied cells at a purity of 90% and ≥ 65% viability. Negative isolation of monocytes, following labeling of the other cells present with anti‐CD2, CD7, CD16, CD19, and CD56 mAbs, resulted in lymphocyte depletions of up to 81% with a monocyte enrichment factor of 3.8 and purity of 71%. The monocyte viability in the flowthrough was assessed to be > 95%. This combination of expanded‐bed adsorption and fluidizable affinity supports shows significant potential for the intensification of cell separations. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 83: 554–566, 2003.
Probabilistic Models of Partial Order Enforcement in Distributed Systems. (Modèles probabilistes d'ordonnancement partiel pour les systèmes distribués)

Distributed systems have managed to extend technology to a broader audience, in both terms of location and numbers. However these geo-replicated systems need to be scalable in order to meet the ever growing demands. Moreover, the system has to be able to process messages in an equivalent order that they were created to avoid unwanted side effects. Partial order enforcement provides an ordering of events that all nodes will follow therefore processing the messages in an adequate order. A system that enforces a partial order simplifies the challenge of developing distributed applications, and ensures that the end-user will not observe causality defying behaviors. In this thesis we present models for different partial order enforcements, using different latency model distributions. While a latency model, which yields the time it takes for a message to go from one node to another, our model builds on it to give the additional time that it takes to enforce a given partial order. We have proposed the following models. First, in a one to many nodes communication, the probability for the message to be delivered in all the nodes before a given time. Second, in a one to many nodes communication from the receivers, the probability that all the other nodes have delivered the message after a given time of him receiving it. Third, in a one to many nodes communication, the probability that the message has arrived to at least a subset of them before a given time. Fourth, applying either FIFO or Causal ordering determining if a message is ready for being delivered, in one node or many. All of this furthers the understanding of how distributed systems with partial orders behave. Furthermore using this knowledge we have built an algorithm that uses the insight of network behavior to provide a reliable causal delivery system. In order to validate our models, we developed a simulation tool that allows to run scenarios tailored to our needs. We can define the different parameters of the latency model, the number of clients, and the clients workloads. This simulation allows us to compare the randomly generated values for each specific configuration with the predicted outcome from our model. One of the applications that can take advantage of our model, is a reliable causal delivery algorithm. It uses causal information to detect missing elements and removes the need of message acknowledgment by contacting other replicas only when the message is assumed missing. This information is provided by our model, that defines waiting timers according to the network statistics and resource consumption. Finally this application has been both tested in the same simulator as the models, with promising results, and then evaluated in a real-life experiment using Amazon EC2 for the platform
Design and Optimization of High‐Temperature Superconducting Racetrack Magnet for the Rotor of a 100‐kW Generator

Concept design and optimization for a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) rotor of a 100-kW generator is studied in this paper. The rotor has eight HTS magnets constructed by air-cored racetrack coils. The HTS magnets with a unique circular cross-sectional shape can produce a gap field over 2.0 T. The present design is based on a new graphical method developed to estimate the maximum operating current of an HTS magnet that takes both Ic-B characteristics and angular dependence into consideration. The optimized stepped shape design saved more than 8% of the HTS material compared with the rectangular one without sacrificing the gap field.
International Journal of Management Sciences and Business Research, Dec-2016 ISSN (2226-8235) Vol-5, Issue 12

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether different facets of job satisfaction exist and if yes, then their existence determine employees’ total job satisfaction in Pakistani public and private sector organizations, and whether cultural dimension Power distance moderates between ‘job satisfaction facets’ and ‘total job satisfaction’. From one perspective, findings of the current study support all nine hypotheses that claim nine facets of job satisfaction determine overall job satisfaction. But on other hand findings of current study do not support that power distance moderates relationship between job satisfaction facets and employees overall job satisfaction.Management of organizations, whether public or private sector, should take note of the fact that almost all nine facets of job satisfaction have been found statistically significant factors of determining of job satisfaction among employees; hence these factors should be considered and used as primary movers for motivating employees for hard work, greater productivity and improved efficiency.
A Class Core Extraction Method for Text Categorization

Text categorization is an important research field within text mining. A document, actually, is often full of class-independent “general” words which many documents and classes share. These “general” words do harm to text categorization rather than contribute to the task. Inspired by human cognitive procedure in text classification task, we propose a novel approach called Class Core Extraction (CCE) method to extract“core” terms from each class. The “core” terms, which include not only the single-words but also the combinations of words just like a simple description of context, must be those terms with strong distinguishing power. In testing phase, a suitable algorithm what we called “lottery” algorithm is also proposed, which use weighted matching strategy to make final categorization decision. The comparative experimenton two datasets shows that the accuracy of our approach outperforms the k-nearest-neighbor (kNN)based classifier, as well as outstanding efficiency compare with the Support Vector Machine (SVM)based classifier.