Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Short- and long-term results of chordal reconstruction using artificial suture material (polytetrafluoroethylene and polypropylene) in the dog

No previous reports have compared the suitability of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) and polypropylene as artificial suture materials for chordal reconstruction in mitral valve plasty (MVP) in the dog. Twelve normal dogs were subjected to MVP using surfaceinduced deep hypothermia. In the short-term group (1.5-4 months after surgery), all ePTFE sutures were covered by a tissue sheath including the paired suture arms, which gave the appearance of native chordae from 2 months after surgery. In contrast, all polypropylene sutures were not covered by tissue, and appeared the same as the paired polypropylene suture arms at the operation. In the long-term group (12 months after surgery), all ePTFE sutures were covered by a tissue sheath, which appeared the same as that in the short-term group, and had flexibility without increased thickness with time. In contrast, although the polypropylene suture was covered completely by a tissue sheath in 1 dog, all the other polypropylene sutures were exposed except for both ends of the suture. ePTFE may be superior to polypropylene as an artificial suture material for chordal reconstruction in MVP.
neuRosim: An R Package for Generating fMRI Data

Studies that validate statistical methods for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data often use simulated data to ensure that the ground truth is known. However, simulated fMRI data are almost always generated using in-house procedures because a well-accepted simulation method is lacking. In this article we describe the R package neuRosim, which is a collection of data generation functions for neuroimaging data. We will demonstrate the possibilities to generate data from simple time series to complete 4D images and the possibilities for the user to create her own data generation method.
The Flower Workshop: A social self-organizing practice in mental health nursing

Aims: We depart from the theory of Self-Organizing Systems applied to the practice of mental health nursing in open, public health care services. The present study aimed at understanding how the participants evaluate the importance of the Flower Workshop for their lives. Methods: It is an investigation of qualitative nature that took place in two units of the Brazilian Family Health Strategy service, using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Results: The subjects valued the workshop as a facilitating event, promoting the feeling of belonging, enhancement of interpersonal relations and integration of emotional, ideative and corporal experiences in a psychosocial rehabilitation context. Conclusion: We analysed the reports of participants in three categories, which indicate that the workshop provided: a) An extended care and search for meaning; b) Changes in conduct; and c) An augmented social network.
Super Intensity Laser Fields Interacted with Atomic System in Multiphoton Processes: Non-Dipole and Non-Relativistic Effects

Bu calismada, guclu alan ile etkilesen bir elektronlu atomik sistemlerde yuksek mertebeden harmonik uretim sureclerine, kuantum mekaniksel ve analitik cozumler sunulacaktir. Guclu lazer alani varligindaki hesaplamalarda, goreli olmayan Schrodinger dalga denklemi ve dipol yaklasikligin bozuldugu multifoton sureclerin, basit tanimlari irdelenmistir. Manyetik alan bilesenin 1/c mertebesinde oldugu icin dipol olmayan etkilerin yuksek mertebeden harmonik uretime katkilari tartisilmistir. Bunun ardindan guclu alan yaklasikliginin tanimi ile tek elektronlu atomik sistemler icin yuksek mertebeden harmonik uretimin yari klasik modeli ve tamamen kuantum mekaniksel nicelikleri ele alinmistir. Guclu alanda geleneksel olarak ‘saddlepoint’ yaklasimi altinda uzunluk ayar donusumu ile harmonik spektrum icin cozumler analiz edilmistir. Son yillarda yuksek harmonik uretim icin kaynak olan attosaniye atimlar (10 -18 saniye), elektronlarin dinamigi icin guncel arastirma konusu olmustur. Gunumuzde, yuksek mertebeden harmonik uretim tarafindan sentezlenen attosaniye atimlari bircok bilimsel calismada kaynak olarak kullanilmistir. Bu derleme calisma ve sonuclari, atomik fizik teknikleriyle incelenmeye baslanan yuksek mertebeden harmonik uretim, optik ve enerji alanlarinda oldukca heyecan verici sonuclar elde edilen genis bir uygulama alanina isik tutmustur.
Comparative Assessment and Evaluation of Jitter Control Methods

Most control systems involve the execution of periodic activities, which are automatically activated by the operating system at the specified rates. When the application consists of many concurrent tasks, each control activity may experience delay and jitter, which depend on several factors, including the scheduling algorithm running in the kernel, the overall workload, the task parameters, and the task interactions. If not properly taken into account, delays and jitter may degrade the performance of the system and even jeopardize its stability. In this paper, we evaluate three methodologies for reducing the jitter in control tasks: the first one consists of forcing the execution of inputs and outputs at the period boundaries, so trading jitter with delay; the second method reduces jitter and delay by assigning tasks shorter deadlines; whereas, the third method relies on non preemptive execution. We compare these techniques by illustrating examples, pointing out advantages and disadvantages, and evaluating their effects in control applications by simulation. It is found that the deadline advancement method gives the better control performance for most configurations. (Less)
A new formulation for load flow solution of power systems with series FACTS devices

Summary form only given. This paper addresses the solution of load flow equations for a power system with series FACTS devices. A novel formulation of equations using dual state variables (current magnitude and angle) and dual control variables (series injected real power and series voltage in quadrature with current) for series devices is proposed. These specifications can be related to transmission line loading and device limits. Specifications like power flow through a series device can also be handled using this formulation. The load flow equations are solved using Newton Raphson technique. A decoupled formulation is also proposed. Case studies are carried out on IEEE test systems with several types of specifications to validate the method.
USING QFD TO ASSURE QS-9000 COMPLIANCE

International trade and commerce is under tremendous pressure to improve quality and customer satisfaction regardless of where the product is made or where it is sold. In the past ten years, various standards and quality systems have arisen to improve the products and services in our lives. However, it is widely known that many organizations, once receiving their certific ation, find it more difficult to maintain such intense levels of activities throughout all levels and across all divisions. This paper will show how QFD can be used to deploy the responsibilities and measurements of quality to all operational activities in order to assure long term compliance.
Peer Groups, Employment Status and Mental Well-Being Among Older Adults in Ireland

Research has shown that employment status, such as being unemployed or retired, can be related to well-being. In addition, the direction and size of these relationships can be influenced by the employment status of one's peer group. For example, it has been shown that the well-being of the unemployed tends to be higher for those living in high-unemployment areas compared to the unemployed living in low-unemployment areas. In this paper, we explore whether such employment peer effects impact upon the well-being of older workers. This is an important issue in the context of promoting longer working lives. If the well-being of older people in employment is lowered by low employment levels in their peer group, then sustaining high employment among older workers will be more difficult. We use data from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) which is a nationally representative sample of people aged fifty and over and living in Ireland, collected between 2009 and 2011. Employment peer effects are proxied using the peer group non-employment rate where a peer is defined as someone in the same age-group and region and of the same gender. We find that for the employed, an increase in peer non-employment is associated with an increase in reported depressive symptoms, whereas for those not employed such an increase is associated with a decrease in reported depressive symptoms. However, these findings hold mainly for men.
Borrowing locally , operating globally ? Financing and trading patterns of firms during the economic crisis

The theory of relationship lending is based on the idea that close ties between borrowers and banks may be economically beneficial. Information asymmetries on the part of the bank introduce adverse selection and moral hazard problems into the lending process and may lead to a lengthy decision process and/or reduce the availability of credit for firms. The recent financial and economic crisis, which has been marked by increased uncertainty about the creditworthiness of firms, has reduced the quantity of available credit or raised its costs. Being able to turn to a main bank might reduce the problem of information asymmetries and enable firms to maintain access to credit in times of economic hardship. This paper investigates whether relationship lending has played a role in explaining crisis-related trade reductions at the firm level. We find no consistent impact of relationship lending on export reductions: Only in Italy, local banks have clearly shielded firms from trade reductions. Overall, factors such as the age, employment, and financial dependence of the firm are more robust determinants of export changes.
The Five Stages of Small Business Growth

Develops a model relevant to small and growing businesses that delineates five stages of firm development. These stages are: (1) existence--concerned with garnering customers and delivering the product or service contracted for; (2) survival--firms have demonstrated that they are workable business entities, but the key question becomes whether there is enough money for the firm to break even and stay in business; (3) success--here the decision facing owners is whether to exploit the company's accomplishments and expand or keep the company stable and profitable, providing a base for alternative owner activities; (4) take-off--concerned with how to make the firm grow rapidly and how to finance this growth; and (5) resource maturity--companies have the advantages of size, financial resources, and managerial talent and will be a formidable force in the market if they retain their entrepreneurial spirit. Each stage is characterized by an index of size, diversity, and complexity and described by five management factors: managerial style, organizational structure, extent of formal systems, major strategic goals, and the owner's involvement in the business. In addition, this research identifies eight factors prominent in determining firm success or failure. They include: financial, personnel, systems and business resources and the owner's goals for him/herself, operational abilities in doing important jobs, managerial ability and willingness to delegate, and strategic ability for looking to the future. Knowing which development stage the firm is in will help managers, consultants, and investors make more informed choices and prepare the company for later challenges. (SFL)
Polynomial chaos for the computation of annual energy production in wind farm layout optimization

Careful management of wake interference is essential to further improve Annual Energy Production (AEP) of wind farms. Wake effects can be minimized through optimization of turbine layout, wind farm control, and turbine design. Realistic wind farm optimization is challenging because it has numerous design degrees of freedom and must account for the stochastic nature of wind. In this paper we provide a framework for calculating AEP for any relevant uncertain (stochastic) variable of interest. We use Polynomial Chaos (PC) to efficiently quantify the effect of the stochastic variables—wind direction and wind speed—on the statistical outputs of interest (AEP) for wind farm layout optimization. When the stochastic variable includes the wind direction, polynomial chaos is one order of magnitude more accurate in computing the AEP when compared to commonly used simplistic integration techniques (rectangle rule), especially for non grid-like wind farm layouts. Furthermore, PC requires less simulations for the same accuracy. This allows for more efficient optimization and uncertainty quantification of wind farm energy production.
ON (E,1)(C,1) SUMMABILITY OF FOURIER SERIES AND ITS CONJUGATE SERIES

Abstract: Several researchers like Singh [7], Khare [3], Mittal and Kumar [5], singh and singh [8], Pandey [6] and Jadia [2] have studied (N, pn) , (N, p, q), almost (N, p, q) and matrix summability methods of Fourier series and its conjugate series using different conditions. But nothing seems to have been done so far to study (E, 1)(C, 1) product summability of Fourier series and its conjugate series. Therefore, in this paper, two theorems on (E, 1)(C, 1) summability of Fourier series and its conjugate series under a general condition have been proved.
Review of ”Correction of CCI cloud data over the Swiss Alps using ground-based radiation measurements”

The validation of long term cloud datasets retrieved from satellites is challenging due to their worldwide coverage going back as far as the 1980s, among others. A trustworthy reference cannot be found easily at every location and every time. Mountainous regions represent especially a :::::: present :: a :::::::: particular problem since ground-based measurements are sparser ::::: sparse. Moreover, as retrievals from passive satellite radiometers are difficult in winter due to the presence of snow on the ground, it is particularly important to develop new ways to evaluate and to correct satellite datasets over elevated areas. 5 In winter for ground levels above 1000m (a.s.l.) in Switzerland, the cloud occurrence of the newly-released cloud property datasets of the ESA Climate Change Initiative Cloud_cci project (AVHRR-PM and MODIS-Aqua series) is 132 % to 217 % that of SYNOP observations, corresponding to between 24 % and 54 % of false cloud detections. Furthermore, the overestimations increase with the altitude of the sites and are associated with particular retrieved cloud properties. In this study, a novel post-processing approach is proposed to reduce the amount of false cloud detections in the satellite 10 datasets. A combination of ground-based downwelling longwave and shortwave radiation and temperature measurements is used to obtain a mask for :::::: provide ::::::::::: independent ::::::::: validation :: of : the cloud cover above :::: over 41 locations in Switzerland. An agreement of 85 % is obtained when the cloud cover is compared to surface synoptic observations (90 % within ± 1 okta difference). The obtained cloud mask has been :::::::: validation :::: data :: is :::: then co-located with the satellite observations and a decision tree ::::: model is trained to automatically detect the overestimations in the satellite ’s cloud masks. Cross-validated results show 15 that 62± 13 % of these overestimations can be identified by the model, reducing the systematic error in the satellite datasets :::: from :::::::::: 14.4± 15.5 :: % : to 4.3± 2.8 %, : . ::: The ::::::: amount :: of ::::: errors :: is :::::: lower, ::: and ::::::::::: importantly, :::: their ::::::::: distribution :: is ::::: more :::::::::::: homogeneous :: as :::: well. :::::: These ::::::::: corrections ::::::: happen : at the cost of an : a ::::: global : increase of 7± 2 % of missed clouds. Using this model, it is hence possible to significantly improve the cloud detection reliability in elevated areas in the Cloud_cci’s AVHRR-PM and MODIS-Aqua products. 20
Cardiac muscle apoptosis: a comparison of myocardium revascularization with and without cardiopulmonary bypass

Objective: Inflammatory response and metabolic disturbances in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and without (OFF-PUMP) have been researched. Apoptosis in ischemic reperfusion and chronic disease models has been shown in recent studies. The objective of this study is to compare the apoptosis intensity detected in cardiac myocytes before and after CABG with and without cardiopulmonary bypass. Method: Eighteen patients undergoing elective CABG were divided in two groups: the first group underwent cardiopulmonary bypasses and the second group did not. Auricle myocardial samples were obtained at the beginning and at the end of the surgery. Specimens were examined for apoptosis using the TUNEL method. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in the surgical, demographic and postoperative data. The number of grafts was statistically different. There was no significant difference between the numbers of cells undergoing apoptosis in the two groups at the beginning of the procedure. There was no significant difference in the number of cells undergoing apoptosis from the beginning to the end of CABG in the OFF-PUMP group. There was a significant difference between the number of cells undergoing apoptosis at the beginning and the end of the CABG in the CPB group (p<0.01). Conclusion: The smaller number of cells undergoing apoptosis in the OFF-PUMP group is in accordance with published data that suggest CPB is capable of promoting cell lesion. Having shown that, another favorable argument can be added to the indication of the CABG without CPB. Descriptors: Apoptosis. Cardiopulmonary bypass.
Prevalence of Risk of Fall in Community Dwelling Pakistani MalePopulation over the Age of 65 years

Introduction: Falls are very common in elderly population aged above than 65 years due to the physiological changes in the body, which can reduce the health related quality of life and may lead to morbidity and mortality. Aim and objectives of study: 1) To prove that increasing age solely can be a risk factor for individuals in the absence of any major ailment. 2) To measure the overall prevalence of risk of fall in general population to know how big the problem is 3) To categorize the fallers in 3 groups low, medium and high riskier group thus to give specific high risk prevalence rate along with identification of those who specifically have high risk so that they can intervene accordingly in future. Procedure: 77 subjects meeting inclusion criteria were taken. Timed up and go test was used at first to identify subjects who were in general having risk. Then to find out association between incrementing age and increased prevalence of risk of fall, these subjects were then grouped in to three; young old ( 80 years). Elderly fall screening test (EFST) questionnaire was then implemented for risk categorization. Part A of the questionnaire was used which comprised a total of 5 closed ended questions giving a score for each component. Subjects were categorized on the basis of scoring; those between 0-1 as low risk, between 2-3 as medium risk and 4-5 as high risk. Results: Overall, there is a prevalence rate of 44.16% of fall in community dwelling older adults over the age of 65 as measured by TUG. While the high risk prevalence rate which was determined by EFST was 12.04% (27.27/100 × 44.16). Conclusion: Aging solely can be a major risk factor for fall in community dwelling healthy and independent older adults having no major illness. It was confirmed that with incrementing age, most subjects of the very old group tend to lie in high risk category (12/22 subjects). Contrary to that, only few subjects of the young old group lied in the high risk category. They tend to lie mostly (17/25 subjects) in the low risk category.
Design and Simulation of Leg-Exoskeleton Suit for Rehabilitation

In everyday activities, the injuries to lower limb are considered to rehabilitate in urgent priority. The rehabilitation is to restore the patient's physical, sensory, and mental capabilities due to injury, illness, or disease in normal condition. The typical habilitation for lower limb is separated in three types , which ar e active , passiv e and active -assi stive mode. Active mode is one important aspect of rehabilitat ion for increasing or maintaining joint function providing appropriate resistance to the muscles to increase endurance and strength . For passive mode , patients cannot activ ely participate in rehabilitation and no effort is required from them. Patient’s lower limb will be driven by exoskeleton suit. This rehabilitation motion is influenced by bone surfaces within the joint, joint capsule, ligaments, tendons, and muscles acting on the joint. In this paper, the new hardware design is introduced and the possible motions of each joint are simulated. The relative positions of each joint are determined by Denavit- Hartenberg method. In simulation the revolute, speed and acceleration of each joint in left side are studied to construct the real hardware.
Effect of landings data disaggregation on ecological indicators

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Determinants of Bank Lending Behaviour in Ghana

This paper investigates the determinants of bank lending behaviour in Ghana. Using the GMM-System estimator developed by Arellano and Bover (1995) and Blundell and Bond (1998), we find that bank size and capital structure have a statistically significant and positive relationship with bank lending behaviour. We also find evidence of negative and significant impact of some macroeconomic indicators (central bank lending rate and exchange rate) on bank lending behavior. Again, competition in the industry was found to have a positive and significant impact on bank lending behaviour. Finally, relationship banking was found to have a positive correlation with bank lending behaviour in Ghana. Thus, policies aimed at maintaining stable macroeconomic fundamentals would greatly accelerate bank lending decision. Keywords: Banks, lending behaviour, Ghana
JournalOfBasicAndApplied---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Impact of Accounting Standards on Earnings Management in Selected Middle-East Countries

The Middle East accounting standards were reformed to improve the quality of accounting information. The Middle-East countries, to a large extent, have welcomed the International Accounting Standards. The current research addresses the question whether the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is associated with a lower level and magnitude of earnings management. This study uses the level of earnings management as a proxy for earnings quality, and therefore the quality of financial statements. In this way, earnings management has been quantified by discretionary accruals. Francis et al., (2008) model and Modified Jones model (1995) have been used to determine the level and magnitude of earnings management in selected countries. This research employed two-step Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator to investigate the effect of accounting standards reform on earnings, different unbalanced panels were used based on a sample of non – financial public companies (Iran 1996 to 2010, Bahrain 1998 to 2010, UAE 1998 to 2010 and Saudi Arabia 1998 to 2010).