Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Subclinical left ventricular systolic dysfunction in patients with mild-to-moderate rheumatic mitral stenosis and normal left ventricular ejection fraction: an observational study.

OBJECTIVE Mitral valve stenosis (MS) remains as an important cause of morbidity despite evolution in diagnosis and treatment. Generally, left ventricular (LV) systolic functions are well preserved in patients with MS. However, there are some studies showing impaired LV systolic functions in patients with pure MS. The purpose of this study was to evaluate subclinical LV systolic dysfunction in a cohort of isolated mild-to-moderate MS patients with normal LV ejection fraction (EF) by using tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and velocity vector imaging (VVI) techniques. METHODS Fifty patients with isolated mild-to-moderate MS (84% female, mean age 49.1±10.0 years) and 60 healthy subjects (76.7% female, mean age 49.1±10.5) were included in this cross-sectional observational study. Conventional echocardiography, TDI, strain (S) and strain rate (SRs) analysis were performed in all patients. RESULTS Transmitral mean pressure gradient was 6.4±3.0 mmHg and mean mitral valve area was 1.45±0.36 cm² in patients with MS. Both longitudinal and circumferential S and SRs were significantly reduced in patients with MS (p<0.001). TDI-derived parameters myocardial acceleration during isovolumic contraction (IVA) and peak velocity during systolic ejection (Sa) were also significantly decreased in patients with isolated MS (p<0.001). LV ejection fraction (EF) was not correlated with deformation indices. Deformation parameters were not correlated with transmitral gradient or mitral valve area. CONCLUSION VVI-derived deformation parameters may identify subclinical systolic dysfunction in patients with isolated MS with normal EF. These findings may give way to optimal timing for mitral valve surgery.
THE NIGERIAN AGRICULTURE AND POVERTY INCIDENCE: THE NEED FOR PRIVATE SECTOR EMPOWERMENT

Poverty in Nigeria is concentrated in rural areas. Low resource or resource-poor farmers characterized by preponderance of small farm units, fragile soils, rain-dependent, minimum inputs and poor yield dominate the agricultural sector. The incidence of poverty is highest among households in which the head is engaged in agriculture as the main source of income. Agricultural growth is therefore important to the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger in Nigeria. Conscious policy efforts by government towards poverty alleviation began during the SAP era. Some companies like Shell and certain State Governments have shown real interest in alleviating poverty through their agricultural programmes and policy statements. Nigeria’s current vision for agricultural development is expressed in the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), the New Agricultural Policy (NAP), and the Rural Sector Development Strategy (RSDS). This paper posits that provision of electricity, potable water, health centres and formal schools will facilitate the sustainability of any impact of poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria. Encouraging community development projects evolved by the communities themselves will minimize poverty incidence. Increasing the access of the poor to land and other productive resources will reduce poverty and generate employment. Development of infrastructural facilities in the rural areas has the two pronged approach of reducing poverty and developing the rural areas. Encouraging processing through adequate incentives to SMEs will also further empower the private sector.
Amplify-and-Forward Gateway With Zero-Forcing in Multiuser Environments

In this paper, we investigate and analyze the performance of amplify-and-forward (AF) gateways employing zero-forcing (ZF) beamforming techniques in a space division multiple access (SDMA) scenario. A random number of users are isolated from their destination(s), and the only means to communicate with their destination(s) is through the AF gateway equipped with multiple antennas and employing the ZF beamforming technique. All forward and backward channels experience small- and large-scale fading. New exact analytical expressions are derived for the overall spectral efficiency in the collaborative and noncollaborative SDMA scenarios. In the latter case, ZF is implemented at the gateway only, whereas with regard to the collaborative scenario, ZF is applied at both the sources and the destinations. The new results are used to investigate the impact of different system parameters on the overall efficiency of ZF AF gateways. The accuracy of the new results is confirmed through Monte Carlo simulations.
Biodegradation of Crude Oil and Distillation Products by Biosurfactant-Producing Bacteria

Biodegradation of crude oil and 7 different distillation products by Ralstonia picketti SRS and Alcali- genes piechaudii SrS was investigated. Crude oil degradation was above 80% after incubation of 20 days for both strains and their mixture. removal of short/long alkanes and BteX investigated was different, from 97% (for hexane degraded by the mixture of the isolates) to 22% (for tridecane degraded by Alcali- genes piechaudii SrS). hexadecane, pristane and cyclohexane were degraded with high efficiency between 72-91%. Among BteX, toluene was degraded very well by both strains and their mixture. Benzene and m+p-xylenes were efficiently degraded by the mixture of the isolates, 78% and 87%, respectively. Degradation of light boiling fractions achieved 80-100%. on the other hand, degradation removal of heavy, high boiling fractions was lower, and reached between 10-81%. the mixture of the isolates enhanced slightly the degradation efficiency of crude oil and its distillation products. Changes in crude oil toxicity as a function of biodegradation activity were also undertaken. Slight lumi - nescence inhibition as a measure of toxicity was found during the experiment time. the samples were not found to be toxic to Vibrio fisheri during the crude oil biodegradation. The luminescence inhibition could be due to the presence of toxic intermediates produced during biodegradation.
Late spring characterization of different coastal areas of the Adriatic Sea

The objective of this study is to analyze the physical and chemical characteristics of three coastal zones of the Adriatic Sea during late spring, and to identify similarities and differences among the zones. The trophic status of the Southeastern Adriatic-Sea, dominated by the discharge from the Buna/Bojana river delta watersheds, is compared with two other Adriatic regions: the Northwestern Adriatic Sea and the Southwestern Adriatic Sea (Gulf of Manfredonia); the first is dominated by the Po River freshwater discharge and the second is one of the most productive areas of the Southwestern Adriatic. The areas are influenced by two main Adriatic surface currents: the Eastern Adriatic Current (EAC) that flows north-westward, and the Western Adriatic Current (WAC) that flows south-eastward. The measurements of temperature, salinity, fluorescence, oxygen, nutrients and chlorophyll a in the three areas were collected and compared. The areas showed similar physical and bio-chemical characteristics, despite the Northern Adriatic is impacted by the Po River runoff and the WAC carries out along the Western Adriatic water rich of nutrients from the northern Italian rivers. The area affected by the Po River discharge showed maximum chlorophyll and nitrogen concentrations within the river plume. Moreover, the Southwestern Adriatic Sea showed a load of nutrients and organic matter connected to substances coming from the northern Italian rivers (mainly the Po River). Similarly, in the Southeastern Adriatic-Sea, the Buna/Bojana River discharge contained relatively high values in the regional chlorophyll distribution. The three areas are directly or indirectly linked to river plume dynamics and the associated inorganic and organic inputs determine the trophic state of the areas. In particular, the Southeastern Adriatic Sea was a meso-eutrophic area; despite the most eastern side of the Adriatic was an oligotrophic basin. ISSN: 0001-5113 AADRAY ACTA ADRIAT. , 56(1): 27 46, 2015
Potential Biomarker Panel for Predicting Organ Dysfunction and Acute Coagulopathy in a Polytrauma Porcine Model

ABSTRACT Traumatic injury remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and patients who survived the initial insult are susceptible to an overwhelming inflammatory dysfunction that will lead to acute coagulopathy of trauma (ACOT) and subsequently multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome–related scoring systems, although they measure organ dysfunction, present clinical markers, and single-cytokine estimates are unable to predict accurately the events of MODS in the clinical setting to aid risk stratification. In this study, a pig model comprising the lethal triad of trauma was used to determine prognostic patterns of early circulating trauma markers so as to predict the development of MODS and ACOT. We measured early expression of several biomarkers (neutrophil gelatinase–associated protein, high-mobility group box 1, C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-&agr;, heart-type fatty acid binding protein, and D-dimers) and clinical parameters for various organ injuries and abnormalities (creatinine, creatine kinase myocardial band, aspartate aminotransferase, and maximum clot firmness) at later time points. The strength of association between the early expression of several biomarkers to the development of MODS and ACOT in polytraumatized pigs was tested using the Spearman correlation coefficient. These biomarkers were found useful to predict the onset of renal, cardiac, hepatic, and hemostatic abnormalities. The findings show that these biomarkers could help to identify, guide, and streamline damage control surgery and earlier intervention to reverse the detrimental outcomes of MODS and ACOT.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY ANALYSIS OF EUROPEAN UNION AND EASTERN REGIONS

This research work uses stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) to examine the sources of agricultural productivity growth over time and of productivity differences among countries and regions in European Union over the period 1980-1998. A comparison of the mean productivity scores obtained by the two approaches show that DEA results are higher than in SFA results, because DEA fits a tighter (more flexible) frontier than the translog frontier. This study is a valuable warning for people to be carefully about the effects of the methodology choice upon their results and to use more than one approach if they suspect that it may have some influence.
Changing Perspectives on the Use of Antimicrobial Mouthrinses

Michele Leonardi Darby, RDH, MS is the graduate program director in dental hygiene at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She lectures internationally, is the author of over 50 articles, has published 3 books, and has served on several editorial advisory boards, currently serving as associate editor of the International Journal of Dental Hygiene and as an editorial review board member of the Journal of Dental Hygiene and Dimensions of Dental Hygiene. In 1981, she was a member of the first delegation of dental hygienists to visit the People's Republic of China. She has received many awards, including the Warner Lambert/American Dental Hygienists' Association Award for Excellence in Dental Hygiene and the designation of Eminent Scholar by Old Dominion University.
The new public management and the future public service: push, pull, balance, and beyond

The 1980s and 1990s have seen a plethora of reinventing, rationalizing, reengineering and reframing initiatives designed to improve the operational efficiency and service quality of the public service. Collectively, these initiatives represent a substantial shift away from the traditional bureaucratic paradigm towards a yet-to-be defined post-bureaucratic paradigm. While clearly offering a number of benefits to the public service, these reforms have also contributed to an environment of turmoil, a largely disillusioned and cynical public service, and an almost pervasive strain between competing values and goals. Now as we edge towards a new millennium, the challenges facing the government are many. Consider issues of deficit and debt, a weakened social net, increasing global population, and diminishing hopes for national unity. This raises a number of questions. For example, what will be required to resolve the tensions and turmoil within the public service? Will present reforms adequately prepare the public service for the future? If not, what will be required to effectively meet the challenges of the twenty-first century? Of course, trying to foretell the future is inherently a hazardous endeavour. This point was demonstrated by the president of Digital Equipment, in 1977, when he said, "There is no reason for anyone to have a computer in their home. "' Nevertheless, it is not necessarily the accuracy of such predictions that is important but the thoughtful discussion they evoke. It is in this spirit that this article will undertake an exploration of the future of the public service. The first section highlights the why and what of recent reforms; this is followed by an exploration of how present reforms might evolve in the future. It is then argued that maximizing the benefits of present and future reforms will require striking a balance between comSTUDENT ESSAY COMPETITION -WINNING ENTRY
Governance and Rural Public Expenditures in Latin America. The Impact on Rural Development

In this paper we examine the effects of the composition (between private and public goods) of government expenditures in the rural world, and the effect that corruption has in the political game that determines these allocation decisions. In the first section of this paper we develop a political economy model where corruption and trade openness counteract to determine, within a political equilibrium, the amount of public funds to be devoted to the rural world, and their composition between public and private goods. In the second section we contrast the implications of the political economy model with recently released data on rural public expenditures in Latin America. We find that corruption reduces the amount of public funds that reach the rural world, but not its composition. We also find that after accounting for the endogeneity of public expenditure decisions, the composition of these expenditures significantly determines rural development (as proxied by agricultural GDP).
Heterogeneous Fleets of Active and Passive Floating Sensors for River Studies

Lagrangian sensing for tracing hydrodynamic trajectories is an innovative approach for studying estuarial environments. Actuated Lagrangian sensors are capable of avoiding obstacles and navigating when active and retain a passive hydrodynamic profile that is suited for Lagrangian sensing when passive. A heterogeneous fleet of actuated and passive drifting sensors is presented. Data assimilation using a high‐performance computing (HPC) cluster that runs the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is an essential component of the estuarial state estimation system. The performance of the mixed capability fleet and the data assimilation backend is evaluated in the context of a landmark 96‐unit river study in the Sacramento‐San Joaquin Delta region of California.
A Cross-Domain Survey of Metrics for Modelling and Evaluating Collisions

This paper provides a brief survey of the metrics for measuring probability, degree, and severity of collisions as applied to autonomous and intelligent systems. Though not exhaustive, this survey evaluates the state-of-the-art of collision metrics, and assesses which are likely to aid in the establishment and support of autonomous system collision modelling. The survey includes metrics for 1) robot arms; 2) mobile robot platforms; 3) nonholonomic physical systems such as ground vehicles, aircraft, and naval vessels, and; 4) virtual and mathematical models.
Product matrix minimum storage regenerating codes with flexible number of helpers

In coding for distributed storage systems, efficient data reconstruction and repair through accessing a predefined number of arbitrarily chosen storage nodes is guaranteed by regenerating codes. Traditionally, code parameters, specially the number of helper nodes participating in a repair process, are predetermined. However, depending on the state of the system and network traffic, it is desirable to adapt such parameters accordingly in order to minimize the cost of repair. In this work a class of regenerating codes with minimum storage is introduced that can simultaneously operate at the optimal repair bandwidth, for a wide range of exact repair mechanisms, based on different number of helper nodes.
A weighted feature fusion scheme for multi-behaviometrics

A weighted version of fusion strategy is introduced for multiple biometrics that compensates the limitations impinged on single biometrics. The least intrusive facial biometrics that combines the facial behaviometrics for person identification is a new trend that needs further investigation. The aim of this study is to apply this weighted fusion scheme for our proposed bi-modal framework that uses a facial behaviors database.
Ptch1 is required locally for mammary gland morphogenesis and systemically for ductal elongation

Systemic hormones and local growth factor-mediated tissue interactions are essential for mammary gland development. Using phenotypic and transplantation analyses of mice carrying the mesenchymal dysplasia (mes) allele of patched 1 (Ptch1mes), we found that Ptch1mes homozygosity led to either complete failure of gland development, failure of post-pubertal ductal elongation, or delayed growth with ductal dysplasia. All ductal phenotypes could be present in the same animal. Whole gland and epithelial fragment transplantation each yielded unique morphological defects indicating both epithelial and stromal functions for Ptch1. However, ductal elongation was rescued in all cases, suggesting an additional systemic function. Epithelial function was confirmed using a conditional null Ptch1 allele via MMTV-Cre-mediated disruption. In Ptch1mes homozygotes, failure of ductal elongation correlated with diminished estrogen and progesterone receptor expression, but could not be rescued by exogenous ovarian hormone treatment. By contrast, pituitary isografts were able to rescue the ductal elongation phenotype. Thus, Ptch1 functions in the mammary epithelium and stroma to regulate ductal morphogenesis, and in the pituitary to regulate ductal elongation and ovarian hormone responsiveness.
Quantitative Methods in Psychological Aging Research: A Mini-Review

As research on psychological aging moves forward, it is increasingly important to accurately assess longitudinal changes in psychological processes and to account for their (often complex) associations with sociodemographic, lifestyle, and health-related variables. Traditional statistical methods, though time tested and well documented, are not always satisfactory for meeting these aims. In this mini-review, we therefore focus the discussion on recent statistical advances that may be of benefit to researchers in psychological aging but that remain novel in our area of study. We first compare two methods for the treatment of incomplete data, a common problem in longitudinal research. We then discuss robust statistics, which address the question of what to do when critical assumptions of a standard statistical test are not met. Next, we discuss two approaches that are promising for accurately describing phenomena that do not unfold linearly over time: nonlinear mixed-effects models and (generalized) additive models. We conclude by discussing recursive partitioning methods, as these are particularly well suited for exploring complex relations among large sets of variables.
Microfinance and Women's Empowerment in Bangladesh: A Study of Competing Logics and Their Implications for Accounting and Accountability Systems

This study explores the issues of microfinance and women’s empowerment in Bangladesh, and their implications for accounting and accountability systems. The topic is politically contentious. There are debates about what ‘women’s empowerment’ means, how it fits with the other stated objectives of microfinance, how the success of microfinance should be evaluated, whether women are actually being empowered through microfinance initiatives, and concerns about the accountability of microfinance institutions (Kilby, 2006; Rahman, 1999). My study examines these controversies, drawing and building on Mayoux (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002) and the work of others on ‘competing logics’ evident in microfinance theory and practice. In particular, it compares and contrasts ‘economic’ and ‘social’ logics and explores their implications for how accounting and accountability systems are conceptualised and operationalised. In recognition of the dominance of economic logics in traditional accounting, it also responds to calls to develop more multi-dimensional accountings and ways of operationalising proposals for greater social accountability (Bebbington et al., 2007; Brown, 2009; Dillard and Roslender, 2011; Kilby, 2006, 2011; Kindon et al., 2007; Molisa et al., 2012). Through a participatory action research case study, my study focuses on the potential of dialogic accounting and accountability systems to address some of the problems and challenges identified in both gender and development studies and accounting literatures.
Inbreeding Depression Accumulation across Life‐History Stages of the Endangered Takahe

Abstract: Studies evaluating the impact of inbreeding depression on population viability of threatened species tend to focus on the effects of inbreeding at a single life‐history stage (e.g., juvenile survival). We examined the effects of inbreeding across the full life‐history continuum, from survival up to adulthood, to subsequent reproductive success, and to the recruitment of second‐generation offspring, in wild Takahe ( Porphyrio hochstetteri ) by analyzing pedigree and fitness data collected over 21 breeding seasons. Although the effect size of inbreeding at individual life‐history stages was small, inbreeding depression accumulated across multiple life‐history stages and ultimately reduced long‐term fitness (i.e., successful recruitment of second‐generation offspring). The estimated total lethal equivalents (2B) summed across all life‐history stages were substantial (16.05, 95% CI 0.08–90.8) and equivalent to an 88% reduction in recruitment of second‐generation offspring for closely related pairs (e.g., sib–sib pairings) relative to unrelated pairs (according to the pedigree). A history of small population size in the Takahe could have contributed to partial purging of the genetic load and the low level of inbreeding depression detected at each single life‐history stage. Nevertheless, our results indicate that such “purged” populations can still exhibit substantial inbreeding depression, especially when small but negative fitness effects accumulate across the species’ life history. Because inbreeding depression can ultimately affect population viability of small, isolated populations, our results illustrate the importance of measuring the effects of inbreeding across the full life‐history continuum.
A Simultaneous Equations Analysis of Analysts' Forecast Bias, Analyst Following, and Institutional Ownership

In this paper we use a simultaneous equations model to examine the relationship between analysts' forecasts, analyst following, and institutions' investment decisions. Estimates of our three equation model using US data indicate that higher institutional demand leads to greater optimism among analysts and lower analyst following. At the same time, institutional demand increases with increasing optimism in analysts' forecasts but decreases with analyst following. We also investigate firm characteristics as determinants of analysts' and institutions' decisions. Empirical estimates of the effects of these characteristics indicate that agency-driven behavioral considerations are significant. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2003.