Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Financing Reproductive and Child Health Services at the Local Government Level in Tanzania

The paper analyzes the financial resources for reproductive and child health related interventions in Tanzania. It shows that the government and its partners are committed to improve reproductive and child health services as articulated in various government policies and strategies. However, despite these commitments, there is considerable financing gap. Estimates show that only 23% of the national budget was allocated to reproductive health interventions in 2009/10 which is short of what is stipulated in the health sector strategic plan III (34%). Shortfall of resources puts households at risk of financial catastrophe as portrayed by out of pocket payment for accessing reproductive health services (47% in 2009/10). Inadequate resources to address supply side factors of the health system coupled with socio-economic conditions of households have resulted to poor maternal health outcomes as portrayed by high maternal mortality ratio (454 deaths per 100,000 live births) and a significant proportion of rural households which do not have access to assisted birth (60%). The paper argues for considerable additional funding and tapping innovative approaches needed to achieve universal coverage of the full package of interventions.
High frequency non-intrusive electric device detection and diagnosis

The number of electronic devices in households as well as in industrial workplaces is continuously growing because of progress in automation. Identifying unusual operating behavior, detecting device failures in advance, and recognizing energy saving potentials are key features to improve the reliability, safety, and profitability of those systems. Facing these tasks, todays research is focused inter alia on a non-intrusive load monitoring approach, where the electrical signal is measured at a central point with modern hardware and processed by pattern recognition algorithms. Thus, we developed a smart meter prototype with a high sampling frequency, which allows for continuous measurement of the current and voltage from three-phase power lines. Besides this, in this paper we describe the usage of current-only measurement data (simple and safe installation using current transformers) with which we were able to classify state changes of a mobile air-conditioner with the help of Fourier descriptors as well as with additional voltage measurement.
The Predictive Performance of Morningstar's Mutual Fund Ratings

With currently more than 17,000 mutual funds available, many investors are looking for tools to identify the best performing mutual funds. The most well-known fund rating system is provided by Morningstar Inc. This study investigates in a thorough empirical analysis the predictive performance of mutual fund ratings given by Morningstar over the course of a 10 year period beginning March 1995. From this analysis it becomes clear that the predictive performances of the different rating systems used by Morningstar do not beat a random walk. Furthermore, our results show that the latest amendment to the rating system, the introduction of 64 categories over four different asset classes, has reduced the predictive performance of the rating system as a whole.
A comprehensive and effective mechanism for DDoS detection in SDN

DDoS attack is one of the major concerns for network and cloud service providers, due to its substantial impact on revenue/cost and especially on their reputation. Also, network administrators are looking for solutions to manage voluminous data traffic. SDN is an emerging networking paradigm that provides a flexible network management. Hence, SDN is being widely adopted for wired, wireless, and mobile networks. Apart from a single point of failure (the controller), an attacker can target SDN at various levels by DDoS attacks. Existing solutions either focus on a particular attack type or require cumbersome alterations in SDN infrastructure. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive, yet effective and lightweight approach to detect various fundamentally different DDoS attacks in SDN. Our approach relies on sequential analysis. We employ a non-parametric change point detection technique called Cumulative Sum (CuSum). Our framework also includes an adaptive threshold scheme that adapts with the changing traffic pattern. Additionally, our framework can be tuned to suffice critical security requirements such as high detection rate and low false alarm rate. We evaluated the effectiveness of our solution using CAIDA Internet traces as well as DARPA intrusion detection evaluation dataset. Our results confirm the effectiveness of our mechanism. In particular, average false alarm rate in our experiments was under 11.64%. On average, our method is able to detect DDoS attacks within 4.15 seconds.
Detoxification and antioxidant effects of curcumin in rats experimentally exposed to mercury

Curcumin, a safe nutritional component and a highly promising natural antioxidant with a wide spectrum of biological functions, has been examined in several metal toxicity studies, but its role in protection against mercury toxicity has not been investigated. Therefore, the detoxification and antioxidant effects of curcumin were examined to determine its prophylactic/therapeutic role in rats experimentally exposed to mercury (in the from of mercuric chloride‐HgCl2, 12 µmol kg−1 b.w. single intraperitoneal injection). Curcumin treatment (80 mg kg−1 b.w. daily for 3 days, orally) was found to have a protective effect on mercury‐induced oxidative stress parameters, namely, lipid peroxidation and glutathione levels and superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities in the liver, kidney and brain. Curcumin treatment was also effective for reversing mercury‐induced serum biochemical changes, which are the markers of liver and kidney injury. Mercury concentration in the tissues was also decreased by the pre/post‐treatment with curcumin. However, histopathological alterations in the liver and kidney were not reversed by curcumin treatment. Mercury exposure resulted in the induction of metallothionein (MT) mRNA expressions in the liver and kidney. Metallothionein mRNA expression levels were found to decrease after the pre‐treatment with curcumin, whereas post‐treatment with curcumin further increased MT mRNA expression levels. Our findings suggest that curcumin pretreatment has a protective effect and that curcumin can be used as a therapeutic agent in mercury intoxication. The study indicates that curcumin, an effective antioxidant, may have a protective effect through its routine dietary intake against mercury exposure.
Electric self-inductance of quasi-two-dimensional magnetic-dipolar-mode ferrite disks

An electric current flowing around a loop produces a magnetic field and hence a magnetic flux through the loop. The ratio of the magnetic flux to the electric current is called the (magnetic) self-inductance. Can there be a dual situation with a magnetic current flowing around a loop and producing an electric field and hence an electric flux through the loop? Following the classical electrodynamics laws an answer to this question should be negative. Nevertheless, special spectral properties of magnetic-dipolar modes in a quasi-two-dimensional ferrite disk show that there are the double-valued-function loop magnetic currents which may produce eigenelectric fields and hence eigenelectric fluxes through the loop. In this case one can definitely introduce a notion of an electric self-inductance as the ratio of the electric flux to the magnetic current. In this paper we show experimentally that in the magnetic-dipolar-mode ferrite disks there exist eigenelectric fluxes. These fluxes are very sensitive to the permittivity parameters of materials abutting to a ferrite disk. Dielectric samples above a ferrite disk with a higher permittivity than air confine the electric field closely outside the ferrite, thereby changing the loop magnetic currents and thus transforming the magnetic-dipolar-mode oscillating spectrum.
The renegotiation cost of public transport services contracts

The renegotiation of regulatory contracts is known to prevent regulators from achieving the full commitment efficient outcome in dynamic contexts. However, assessing the cost of such renegotiation remains an open issue from an empirical viewpoint. To address this question, we fit a structural principal-agent model with renegotiation on a set of urban transport service contracts. The model captures two important features of the industry. First, only two types of contracts are used in practice (fixed-price and cost-plus). Second, subsidies increase over time. We compare a scenario with renegotiation and a hypothetical situation with full commitment. We conclude that the welfare gains from improving commitment would be significant but would accrue mostly to operators.
Probing RNA Structures with Hydroxyl Radicals

Fe(II)‐EDTA can be used to conveniently generate hydroxyl radicals to promote cleavage of RNA at nucleotide resolution. Two procedures are described, involving the generation of free radicals from solvated molecular oxygen and from hydrogen peroxide added to the RNA solution. Unlike other footprinting reagents, hydroxyl radicals cleave the sugar‐phosphate backbone at every residue and thus provide uniform cleavage in a given RNA secondary structure. Because some positions become protected by tertiary folding, this reagent is useful for monitoring the global folding of RNA at equilibrium.
Sept6 Is Required for Ciliogenesis in Kupffer's Vesicle, the Pronephros, and the Neural Tube during Early Embryonic Development

ABSTRACT Septins are conserved filament-forming GTP-binding proteins that act as cellular scaffolds or diffusion barriers in a number of cellular processes. However, the role of septins in vertebrate development remains relatively obscure. Here, we show that zebrafish septin 6 (sept6) is first expressed in the notochord and then in nearly all of the ciliary organs, including Kupffer's vesicle (KV), the pronephros, eye, olfactory bulb, and neural tube. Knockdown of sept6 in zebrafish embryos results in reduced numbers and length of cilia in KV. Consequently, cilium-related functions, such as the left-right patterning of internal organs and nodal/spaw signaling, are compromised. Knockdown of sept6 also results in aberrant cilium formation in the pronephros and neural tube, leading to cilium-related defects in pronephros development and Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling. We further demonstrate that SEPT6 associates with acetylated α-tubulin in vivo and localizes along the axoneme in the cilia of zebrafish pronephric duct cells as well as cultured ZF4 cells. Our study reveals a novel role of sept6 in ciliogenesis during early embryonic development in zebrafish.
New screening test to determine the acceptability of 0.45-micron membrane filters for analysis of water

During routine membrane filter (MF) quality control testing, irregularities such as partial or complete inhibition of microbial growth at grid lines, abnormal spreading of colonies, growth in or along the grid lines, nonwetting areas, poor colony sheen and metallic sheen on the MF surface with mEndo agar, brittleness, decreased recovery, and severe wrinkling were observed with several lots of filters. To study these effects and to develop a more sensitive screening test for MF quality, we compared five different MFs with various types and degrees of defects by using five stock coliform cultures and five different media. Results showed that the Enterobacter aerogenes-tryptic soy agar test system detected more MF defects than any other combination did and was superior to the Escherichia coli-mFC agar American Society for Testing and Materials method for grid line inhibition. Filtered natural samples grown on the same media showed the same effects as were observed with the pure cultures. Poor colony sheen and sheen on the MF surface were best detected with Enterobacter aerogenes on mEndo agar. The use of tryptic soy agar and mEndo agar with this organism permitted the maximum detection of MF irregularities. Of the 142 MF lots tested by this method, 30% were acceptable, 10% were marginally acceptable, and 61% were unacceptable. This method provides a valuable screening test for determining the acceptability of 0.45-microm-pore-size MFs used for coliform and heterotroph analysis and may also be useful in conjunction with other methods.
CeBR: Cost-efficient Industrial Positioning using Hybrid Bluetooth and RFID

Industrial positioning with low cost is an important proposal in IoT system. Most existing approaches pursue good accuracy regardless of high cost, which significantly affects practical use. In this paper, we propose a cooperative positioning scheme called CeBR, which is based on hybrid Bluetooth and RFID. We find such a hybrid system obtains high accuracy and achieves good recognition for missing objects occurring in consecutive readings. In our work, we have implemented CeBR with lower error distance benefiting from deployment policy and Radial Basis Function (RBF) based error model. We evaluate our proposals in the experiment. CeBR achieves excellent cost efficiency in the results, which is seen to bring benefits including cost savings and implementation simplicity to industry.
Batch fabricated thin-film electrodes for stimulation of the central auditory system

Silicon micromachining and thin-film technology were used to fabricate iridium stimulating arrays which can be used to excite discrete volumes of the central nervous system. Silicon multichannel probes with thicknesses ranging from 1 to 40 mu m and arbitrary two-dimensional shape can be fabricated using a high-yield, circuit-compatible process. Iridium stimulating sites are shown to have similar characteristics to iridium wire electrodes. Accelerated pulse testing with over eight million 100 mu A biphasic current pulses on 8000 mu m/sup 2/ sites demonstrated the long-term stability of iridium and activated iridium sites. In vivo tests were performed in the central auditory pathways to demonstrate neural activation using the devices. These tests show a selective activation both as a function of site separation and site size. <<ETX>>
Reconstruction and recognition of boundary representations from range images in SOMBRERO

The automatic segmentation of scattered 3D points into few, meaningful surfaces is a key step in range image processing, both in matching a scene with stored model objects and in reconstructing model objects from sensor data. Few segmentation algorithms exist for range images that are sufficiently robust, predictable, general, and efficiently parallelizable. The main contribution of the paper is a new split-and-merge approach with dynamic top-down triangulation that supports hierarchical resolution and backtracking. Feedback from model driven matching to data driven segmentation is provided in order to meet the recognition goal in a joint effort. Border control, quality criteria for surfaces and for partition points as well as unsupervised clustering help to achieve robustness and independence of image content. Results from a simple, high-noise range image are presented. <<ETX>>
Protein Hit 1 , a novel box C / D snoRNP assembly factor , controls cellular concentration of the scaffolding protein Rsa 1 by direct interaction

Biogenesis of eukaryotic box C/D small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein particles (C/D snoRNPs) involves conserved trans-acting factors, which are proposed to facilitate the assembly of the core proteins Snu13p/15.5K, Nop58p/NOP58, Nop56p/NOP56 and Nop1p/Fibrillarin on box C/D small nucleolar RNAs (C/D snoRNAs). In yeast, protein Rsa1 acts as a platform, interacting with both the RNA-binding core protein Snu13 and protein Pih1 of the Hsp82–R2TP chaperone complex. In this work, a proteomic approach coupled with functional and structural studies identifies protein Hit1 as a novel Rsa1p-interacting partner involved in C/D snoRNP assembly. Hit1p contributes to in vivo C/D snoRNA stability and pre-RNA maturation kinetics. It associates with U3 snoRNA precursors and influences its 3′-end processing. Remarkably, Hit1p is required to maintain steady-state levels of Rsa1p. This stabilizing activity is likely to be general across eukaryotic species, as the human protein ZNHIT3(TRIP3) showing sequence homology with Hit1p regulates the abundance of NUFIP1, the Rsa1p functional homolog. The nuclear magnetic resonance solution structure of the Rsa1p317–352– Hit1p70–164 complex reveals a novel mode of protein– protein association explaining the strong stability of the Rsa1p–Hit1p complex. Our biochemical data show that C/D snoRNAs and the core protein Nop58 can interact with the purified Snu13p–Rsa1p–Hit1p
The Effects of Information Differences Among Investors on the Role of Earnings Quality in Facilitating Corporate Investment

We examine whether the presence of privately informed traders, and information asymmetries between these traders and the rest of investors, undermine the role of accounting information in mitigating financing constraints and reducing under-investment problems. In line with prior research, we show that among firms prone to under-investment, those with better quality earnings invest more. We also show that this relation disappears whenever trading by informed investors generates additional information asymmetries that managers cannot reduce through improved accounting information.
Fuzzy Rules Interpolation for Sparse Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems Based on Interval Type-2 Gaussian Fuzzy Sets and Genetic Algorithms

In this paper, we present a new method for fuzzy rules interpolation for sparse fuzzy rule-based systems based on interval type-2 Gaussian fuzzy sets and genetic algorithms. First, we present a method to deal with the interpolation of fuzzy rules based on interval type-2 Gaussian fuzzy sets. We also prove that the proposed method guarantees to produce normal interval type-2 Gaussian fuzzy sets. Then, we present a method to learn optimal interval type-2 Gaussian fuzzy sets for sparse fuzzy rule-based systems based on genetic algorithms. We also apply the proposed fuzzy rules interpolation method and the proposed learning method to deal with multivariate regression problems and time series prediction problems. The experimental results show that the proposed fuzzy rules interpolation method using the optimally learned interval type-2 Gaussian fuzzy sets gets higher average accuracy rates than the existing methods.
Psychological Abuse Perpetration in College Dating Relationships

This study investigated whether gender, stressful problems common among college students, and adult attachment orientations (anxiety and avoidance) contributed to self-reported perpetration of psychological abuse in dating relationships among 127 college students. College men’s stress levels were the strongest predictor of perpetration of emotional abuse against their female romantic partners. Attachment avoidance among college men and women was associated with higher levels of emotional abuse perpetration when self-reported stress levels were high. Recommendations for research and practice are provided.
Platform Strategy Selection Criteria and Application in Mobile Business

In the past, telecommunication business was restricted to voice transmission, a business horizon expanded to data and video, eliminating service barriers between them through development of Internet Protocol (IP) technology. The voice, data and video are applications that run over platform layer, which interfaces network layer and content/ application layer. The platform strategy is engaged in different platform and network externality circumstances to achieve business sustainable growth. Also we concluded that the platform strategy is dynamic and it changes according to evolution of the platform and network externality conditions. In this essay, we aim to justify platform strategy selection criteria based on platform complementary assets creation through a resource-based perspective and network choice through a network value approach, demonstrating and explaining a validity of platform selection criteria utilizing mobile business case study, in telecommunication field.
Serum antibodies to pneumococcal C polysaccharide in children: response to acute pneumococcal otitis media or to vaccination

Immunoglobulin class-specific antibody responses to the pneumococcal C polysaccharide (CPS) and to the capsular polysaccharides of types 3, 6A, 18C and 19F were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in the sera of children ages 6 months to 7 years. Twenty of these children had acute otitis media caused by pneumococci of type/group 3, 6, 18 or 19, whereas 20 received an injection of 14-valent pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide vaccine. Many of the children in both groups had large concentrations of IgG and/or IgM class anti-CPS antibodies in their first serum sample. Both the infection and the vaccine elicited anti-CPS responses in all three immunoglobulin classes, most notably IgA. The pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides used as antigens in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were found to contain CPS in amounts ranging from <1 to 30%. As a result the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay detected both anti-type-specific and anti-CPS antibodies. After elimination of the anti-CPS, type-specific pneumococcal antibodies were found only occasionally and in low concentrations in serum samples obtained in the acute phase of otitis or before vaccination. The infection induced homologous type-specific pneumococcal antibodies to varying degrees depending on the type: regularly to type 3; and fairly regularly to type 18C polysaccharide, but seldom to type 6 or 19. The pneumococcal vaccine induced type-specific antibodies to all four types measured, but the response to type 6A was poor.
The choice between owner's wages and dividends under the dual income tax

Tax-motivated shifting of income between different tax bases erodes tax revenues, confuses income statistics, and makes the effects of tax reforms unpredictable. Few studies have been able to use micro data to investigate this phenomenon. Using a rather unique data set, this study shows that the choice of type of payout from corporations to owners is strongly, but not uniquely, motivated by taxes. There are indications that the personal tax system is more clearly perceived by the owners than is the system of corporate taxes and regulations, and that own wage payments are motivated by rights to social security benefits.
Long-term follow-up of a patient with traumatic brain injury using diffusion tensor imaging

This case report describes a patient who sustained severe head trauma with diffuse axonal injury (DAI). Examination with magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (MR-DTI), 6 days post-injury, showed a severe reduction in fractional anisotropy (FA) in the rostral pons containing the corticospinal tract, which correlated to the patient's severe hemiparesis. By 18 months post-accident, the patient had recovered completely and conventional MRI showed no pathology. However, although her FA values in the rostral pons had increased, they were still not normalized. It seems that a complete normalization of the FA values is not required to achieve clinical recovery, and that MR-DTI seems to be more sensitive to DAI compared to conventional MRI.