Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Crescentic IgA nephropathy; a brief communication to the current evidences

Abstract Crescentic immunoglobulin A nephropathy, described as >50% crescentic glomeruli on renal biopsy, is one of the causes of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. However, few investigations have considered this condition. It is well known that, if crescentic immunoglobulin A nephropathy is not treated, there will almost predictably be rapid progression to end-stage kidney failure. While, there has been much controversy about the role of extracapillary proliferation as a significant prognostic factor in IgA nephropathy, hence, it is important to re-evaluate extracapillary proliferation in IgA nephropathy patients. Therefore, we suggest further studies on this aspect of IgA nephropathy patients. Key point While, there has been much controversy about the role of extracapillary proliferation as a significant prognostic factor in IgA nephropathy, hence, it is important to re-evaluate extracapillary proliferation in IgA nephropathy patients. Therefore, we suggest further studies on this aspect of IgA nephropathy patients. Citation Nasri H. Crescentic IgA nephropathy; a brief communication to the current evidences. Immunopathol Persa. 2016;2(1):e07.
The Information Role of Advisors in Mergers and Acquisitions: Evidence from Acquirers Hiring Targets’ Ex-Advisors

We examine the information role of financial advisors by focusing on mergers and acquisitions in which acquiring firms hire target firms’ ex-advisors. We document that by employing targets’ ex-advisors, acquirers pay lower takeover premiums and secure a larger proportion of merger synergies. The corresponding targets exhibit lower announcement returns and are less likely to be propositioned by competing bidders. These results indicate that acquirers take advantage of value-relevant information about targets through targets’ ex-advisors, and achieve bargaining advantages in deal negotiations. In contrast, we document no discernible value effects when targets hire acquirers’ ex-advisors, suggesting that the information role of acquirers’ ex-advisors hired by targets is weaker than that of targets’ ex-advisors hired by acquirers.
VHRM-3339-Fixed combination of amlodipine and atorvastatin i

Correspondence: Sripal Bangalore Division of Cardiology, Brigham and women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA-02115, USA Tel +1 617 525 7160 email sbangalore@partners.org Abstract: Hypertension and dyslipidemia are two of the most commonly co-occurring cardiovascular risk factors which together cause an increase in coronary heart disease-related events that is more than simply additive for anticipated event rates with each condition. Data have shown that even relatively small reductions in both blood pressure and cholesterol levels can lead to large reductions in the risk for cardiovascular events. However, though there are robust data on the beneficial effect of concomitant reduction in these risk factors, the reality is that this is achieved in ,10% of patients. There is nonadherence with prescribed therapies with up to 50% of patients stopping their medications of their own volition for a variety of reasons. There is a reasonable evidence base to suggest that simplifying drug regimens and reducing pill burden will enhance patient adherence. The fixed-dose combination containing the antihypertensive agent amlodipine besylate and the statin atorvastatin is the first combination of its kind, which is both efficacious and safe and could potentially improve medication compliance, thereby improving the outcomes in these patients.
Data analysis and creation of epigenetics database

This thesis is aimed at creating a pipeline for analyzing DNA methylation epigenetics data and creating a data model structured well enough to store the analysis results of the pipeline. In addition to storing the results, the model is also designed to hold information which will help researchers to decipher a meaningful epigenetics sense from the results made available. Current major epigenetics resources such as PubMeth, MethyCancer, MethDB and NCBI’s Epigenomics database fail to provide holistic view of epigenetics. They provide datasets produced from different analysis techniques which raises an important issue of data integration. The resources also fail to include numerous factors defining the epigenetic nature of a gene. Some of the resources are also struggling to keep the data stored in their databases up-to-date. This has diminished their validity and coverage of epigenetics data. In this thesis we have tackled a major branch of epigenetics: DNA methylation. As a case study to prove the effectiveness of our pipeline, we have used stage-wise DNA methylation and expression raw data for Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) from TCGA data repository. The pipeline helped us to identify progressive methylation patterns across different stages of LUAD. It also identified some key targets which have a potential for being a drug target. Along with the results from methylation data analysis pipeline we combined data from various online data reserves such as KEGG database, GO database, UCSC database and BioGRID database which helped us to overcome the shortcomings of existing data collections and present a resource as complete solution for studying DNA methylation
Synthesis of Enantiomerically Pure N-Boc-Protected 1,2,3-Triaminopropylphosphonates and 1,2-Diamino-3-Hydroxypropylphosphonates

All possible isomers of 1,2,3-tri(N-tert-butoxycarbonylamino)propylphosphonate 6 were synthesized from the respective diethyl [N-(1-phenylethyl)]-1-benzylamino-2,3-epiiminopropylphosphonates 5 via opening the aziridine ring with trimethylsilyl azide (TMSN3) followed by hydrogenolysis in the presence of di-tert-butyl dicarbonate (Boc2O). [N-(1-phenylethyl)]-1-benzylamino-2,3-epiiminopropylphosphonates (1R,2R,1′S)-5a and (1S,2S,1′R)-5c were smoothly transformed into diethyl 3-acetoxy-1-benzylamino-2-[N-(1-phenylethyl)amino]propylphosphonates (1R,2R,1′S)-9a and (1S,2S,1′R)-9c, respectively by the opening of the aziridine ring with acetic acid. Transformations of [N-(1-phenylethyl)]-1-benzylamino-2,3-epiiminopropylphosphonates (1S,2R,1′S)-5b and (1R,2S,1′R)-5d into diethyl 3-acetoxy-1-benzylamino-2-[(1-phenylethyl)amino]propylphosphonates (1S,2R,1′S)-9b and (1R,2S,1′R)-9d were accompanied by the formation of ethyl {1-(N-benzylacetamido)-3-hydroxy-2-[(1-phenylethyl)amino]propyl}phosphonate (1S,2R,1′S)-10b and (1R,2S,1′R)-10d and 3-(N-benzylacetamido)-4-[N-(1-phenylethyl)]amino-1,2-oxaphospholane (3S,4R,1′S)-11b and (3R,4S,1′R)-11d as side products. Diethyl (1R,2R)-, (1S,2S)-, (1S,2R)- and (1R,2S)-3-acetoxy-1,2-di(N-tert-butoxycarbonylamino)propylphosphonates 7a–7d were obtained from the respective 3-acetoxy-1-benzylamino-2-[N-(1-phenylethyl)amino]propylphosphonates 9a–9d by hydrogenolysis in the presence of Boc2O.
A concept analysis of positive action in health and education

Although the overall equality and diversity agenda receives high-profile media coverage and continues to be well debated in academic circles, there is significantly less conceptual analysis of the nature of the anti-discriminatory tools that employers can call upon. This paper provides an analysis of the anti-discriminatory measure known as positive action as currently employed within the health and social care arenas in the UK. Emphasis is placed on employment in further education (FE), higher education (HE) and the National Health Service (NHS), paying particular regard to the equality strands of disability, ethnicity and gender. A modified concept analysis framework has been adopted using an inclusive literature review approach. Positive action has three significant conceptual dimensions – the legislative, the practical and the political. We can see this in operation at various levels: so that statutory equality bodies such as the Commission for Racial Equality, or the new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights will explain the application of the legislative concept, managers in their workplaces expand the concept of positive action into practical workforce diversity measures, and then this positive action is communicated through a variety of media, often reflecting the perceptions of those involved in the political agenda and priorities of their constituencies. This analysis of the concepts of positive action should be considered as groundwork, and could be extended to incorporate the equality strands of age, religion and belief and sexual orientation, or used to discuss applications within the wider public and private sectors and provide further international comparative analysis.
Cooling of Northwest Atlantic slope waters during the Holocene

Climate of the last 11,000 years, the Holocene, is usually described as warm and stable. Benchmark temperature records from central Greenland ice cores show none of the large, abrupt variations that characterized the prior 100,000 years of glacial climate. Nor do they show any substantial trend, indicating at most 1°–3°C of cooling. Here we show that the slope waters east of the United States and Canada cooled 4°–10°C during the Holocene. Declining insolation, increasing convection in the Labrador Sea, and equatorward shifting of the Gulf Stream path may have caused the cooling.
Evaluation of the Impact of Payments for Environmental Services on Land Use Change in Quindío, Colombia

The growing use of Payments for Environmental Services (PES) for conservation has fostered a debate on its effectiveness, but the few efforts to date to assess the impact of PES programs have been hampered by lack of data, leading to very divergent results. This paper uses data from a PES mechanism implemented in Quindio, Colombia, to examine the impact of PES on land use change. Alone among all early PES initiatives, the Silvopastoral Project included a control group of nonparticipants, whose land use changes were monitored throughout the project period, as well as detailed baseline data on both PES recipients and control group members. By comparing the land use changes undertaken by PES recipients to those undertaken by control group members, we can distinguish the impact of PES from that of other factors. The results show that payments had a positive and highly significant impact on land use change, under a variety of model formulations. PES recipients converted over 40 percent of their farms to environmentally-friendly land uses over 4 years, increasing environmental service provision by almost 50 percent. In contrast, control group members converted less than 20 percent of their farms, increasing environmental service provision by only 7 percent.
Cauchy Aperture and Perfect Reconstruction Filters for Extending Depth-of-Field from Focal Stack

A pupil function of aperture in image capturing systems is theoretically derived such that one can perfectly reconstruct all-in-focus image through linear filtering of the focal stack. The perfect reconstruction filters are also designed based on the derived pupil function. The designed filters are space-invariant; hence the presented method does not require region segmentation. Simulation results using synthetic scenes shows effectiveness of the derived pupil function and the filters. key words: extended depth-of-field, focal stack, aperture, perfect reconstruction filters, image fusion
Will climate change affect terrapin (Pelusios subniger paritalis and P. castanoides intergularis) conservation in Seychelles

We report a modeling study on habitat suitability and predicted distribution shifts of two species of Seychelles's freshwater turtles (Pelusios castanoides and Pelusios subniger) under a climate change scenario. We utilized data from the entire species distribution for modeling habitat suitability of the two species under current and future climate conditions, by using the MAXENT algorithm. At the continental scale, it appeared that P castanoides will shift its range towards more coastal areas, whereas P. subniger will move towards more southern sites. In the Seychelles archipelago scale, habitat suitability for P. castanoides will decrease significantly, mainly in the interior areas of Mahe Island. On the contrary, the climatic conditions are predicted to remain suitable for P. subniger, which will enjoy a significantly increased habitat suitability in Seychelles.
Mapping the resonant frequencies of upper geological layers in the vicinity of abandoned mining pit at the Zlate Hory locality, Northern Moravia

Determination of resonant frequencies of sedimentary layers using measurement of seismic noise has been a widely used technique in the last years. Together with the data from geophysical measurement, borehole documentation and geotechnical properties of soils, it can help to understand geological formation at investigated localities. Mapping resonant frequencies of upper geological layers in the locality of Zlaté Hory is presented in this paper. This study follows from the results of seismological measurement performed in the locality during a winding tower demolition in the year 2011. Significant harmonic vibrations were recorded in the vicinity of the tower during the demolition and a new question arose: “What is the source of those harmonic vibrations? ” Although there are not any typical sedimentary layers in the locality, based on the results of seismic noise measurements, resonant frequencies of upper geological structures were determined and analysed together with the results of geophysical measurements and borehole documentation. ARTICLE INFO
ASSOCIATION FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH

Brand alliances are becoming more frequent in a wide variety of industries, especially in the airline industry. In contrast to the positive effects of brand alliances on individual brands, effects of entry or even exit of brand alliance members on the brand alliance itself seem to be under researched. Against this background, the main objective of our experimental study is to gain an insight into the effects of network entry/exit on the perception of both airline brands and network brands. Our results indicate that withdrawing from an alliance can have negative effects on the consumers’ perceptions both of the airline brand and the network brand.
Low-carrier density and fragile magnetism in a Kondo lattice system.

Kondo-based semimetals and semiconductors are of extensive current interest as a viable platform for strongly correlated states in the dilute carrier limit. It is thus important to explore the routes to understand such systems. One established pathway is through the Kondo effect in metallic nonmagnetic analogs, in the so called half-filling case of one conduction electron and one 4f electron per site. Here, we demonstrate that Kondo-based semimetals develop out of conduction electrons with a low-carrier density in the presence of an even number of rare-earth sites. We do so by studying the Kondo material Yb3Ir4Ge13 along with its closed-4f -shell counterpart, Lu3Ir4Ge13. Through magnetotransport, optical conductivity, and thermodynamic measurements, we establish that the correlated semimetallic state of Yb3Ir4Ge13 below its Kondo temperature originates from the Kondo effect of a low-carrier conduction-electron background. In addition, it displays fragile magnetism at very low temperatures, which in turn, can be tuned to a Griffiths-phase-like regime through Lu-for-Yb substitution. These findings are connected with recent theoretical studies in simplified models. Our results can pave the way to exploring strong correlation physics in a semimetallic environment.
Evaluation of Local Features for Near-Uniform Scene Images

Image stitching requires accurate matching of visual features to achieve good alignment. However, feature-based matching often has poor result particularly when image content is fairly near-uniform and thus it remains a challenging problem to be addressed. When the current state-of-the-art feature detectors unable to detect sufficient reliable corresponding keypoints, the output stitched images often suffer from misalignment, projective distortion and visible artefact. This paper presents a new experimental evaluation using especially near-uniform images for the performance of some well-known feature detectors, such as Harris, SIFT, SURF, BRISK and KAZE. In addition, we have also introduced RC/So score to compare spatial distribution of the correct matched keypoints in overlapping region between images. The results show that the best performed local feature detector is KAZE. However, none of the tested feature detectors can reach more than 50% spread of the overlapping region.
Journal of Anatolian Medical Research 2019; 4(2):1-21

Purpose: In this study we aimed to demonstrate the effects of zinc and/or CoQ10 supplementation on physical performance and muscular injury parameters in young boxers which use both aerobic and anaerobic energy pathways. Journal of Anatolian Medical Research 2019; 4(2):1-21 Orijinal Araştırma 2 Methods: The study included 64 healthy male amateur competitive boxers aged between 1214 years, who were randomly allocated into four groups after the baseline exercise session. Boys were supplemented with zinc or CoQ10 or both or with placebo (Zn-SUP, CoQ10-SUP, ZnCoQ10 SUP and control groups respectively) for eight weeks. Physical fitness parameters such as endurance, velocity, VO2max, anaerobic power capacity and muscular injury parameters such as CK, CK-MB, LDH and ALP were measured. Results: Serum CK, CK-MB and LDH activities increased in all groups after fatigue according to resting, however increases were significant for CK and CK-MB in control and Q10-Zn-SUP groups (p < 0.001). Zinc and CoQ10 both improved different physical fitness parameters. ALP levels significantly increased only in control group (p <0.01). Conclusions: These results show that both CoQ10 and zinc supplementation reduces muscular injury when used separately.
Measuring Sand Dune Migration Rates with COSI-Corr and Landsat: Opportunities and Challenges

It has been over a decade since COSI-Corr, the Co-Registration of Optically Sensed Images and Correlation, was first used to produce a raster map of sand dune movement, however, no studies have yet applied it to the full Landsat archive. The orthorectified and geolocated Landsat Level-1 Precision Terrain (L1TP) products offer the opportunity to simplify the COSI-Corr pre-processing steps, allowing an automated workflow to be devised. In the Bodélé Depression, Chad, this automated workflow has calculated average dune speeds of 15.83 m/year and an increase in dune movement of 2.56 m/year ±12.58 m/year from 1987 to 2009. However, this increase does not stem from a systematic increase in dune mobility. The fastest 25% of dunes from 1987 to 1998 reduced their speed by 18.16%. The overall increase stems from the acceleration of features previously moving under 13.30 m/year. While successfully applied to the Bodélé Depression, the automated workflow produces highly variable outputs when applied to the Grand Erg Oriental, Algeria. Variations within path/row scene pairings are caused by the use of mobile features, such as dune crests, as ground control points (GCPs). This has the potential to warp Landsat scenes during the L1TP processing, potentially obfuscating dune migration. Two factors appear to be crucial in determining whether a Landsat scene is suitable for COSI-Corr analysis. Firstly, dune mobility must exceed the misregistration criteria. Secondly, GPCs should be located on static features such as bedrock outcrops.
Farm-level investment analysis: what discount rate to use?

A discount rate is based on different aspects and differs across regions, economic sectors, investment projects, and decision makers. The choice of a discount rate requires a fundamental analysis and argumentation, in order to avoid an under- or overestimation of investment projects. Having conducted a farm-level experiment in North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW, Germany), we estimated the current discount rates in German agriculture, as well as quantify the effects of different factors on discount rate.
Analysis on the Quantitative Evaluation Method of University Students’ Comprehensive Ability

The quantitative evaluation of university students’ comprehensive ability is an issue pertaining to multi-objective group decision making. Taking into consideration the relative weights of decision-makers’ evaluation level is conducive to eliminate the influence of deviations of such level on the comprehensive evaluation. This paper conducts a comparison analysis on the methods of fuzzy mathematics, grey correlation, set pair analysis and attribute mathematics, which can better realize multi-objective quantitative analysis.
Revealing Greenwashing: A Consumers' Perspective.

A significant problem arising in discursive green marketing practices is the growth of greenwashing; companies providing irrelevant, exaggerated or false information regarding a product’s sustainable qualities. This has given rise to a number of issues yet has so far fallen short of being rigorously investigated. In this study, focus group discussions are used to provide one of the first assessments of the impact of greenwashing on consumers. The aim of the study is to gain an initial understanding of consumers’ evaluation of different corporate green marketing messages both before and after disclosing greenwashing strategies used in the messages, as well as how this affects their perception towards the brands and their purchase intention. The findings from five focus group discussions indicate that the source of the message, eco-labels, brand perception and brand knowledge have a great influence on the perceived credibility of the message. The impact on buying behaviour of disclosing greenwashing strategies is influenced by a number of factors but even in cases where it does not directly result in a change of buying behaviour, consumers felt that being made aware of greenwashing was important to their overall decision making process. More importantly, from a practical tenacity, this research shows evidence that greenwashing influences credibility and opens avenues for further research.
THE INEFFICIENCY OF AFRICAN WATER UTILITIES

The paper analyzes the determinants of the efficiency levels reached by twenty-one African water utilities. Efficiency is assessed through the estimation of a production frontier for the sector in Africa. The efficiency estimates confirm much of the common perceptions from partial productivity indicators. They point to a great heterogeneity in the African water utilities’ performances, the predominance of constant returns to scale and the great rate of technological progress. Moreover, the paper shows that the institutional capacity of the country as well as governance are significant driving factors in the performance of each firm.
Malaysian Journal of Civil Engineering 30(2):296-312 (2018)

Classical analyses of barrette foundation taking into account full interactions between barrette and the surrounding soil leads to a huge barrette stiffness matrix. Consequently, a large system of linear equations must be solved, especially for analyzing barrette group and barrette raft. To overcome this problem, a Composed Coefficient Technique (CCT) is developed for analyzing barrette. In the analysis, the elasticity of the barrette body is considered using the finite element method, while that of the soil elements is considered using flexibility coefficients. The compatibility between the vertical displacements of the barrette and the soil settlements at the soil-barrette interface is taken in the vertical direction only. This assumption is that the external load on the barrette head, which is expected to be heavy load, is applied in the vertical direction. For comparative examinations, the barrette elasticity is determined using either 1D or 3D finite elements. A series of examinations is carried out to verify the application for analyzing barrette by CCT. It was found that, treating the barrette as an elastic body and representing the barrette by either 1D or 3D finite elements, gives nearly the same results.