Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What we know about gastroesophageal reflux disease and obstructive sleep apnea

Objectives: The primary objective of this systematic review is assessing whether treatment of gastroesophageal disease (GERD) may reduce the apnea and hypopnea index (HAI) and the secondary objective of assessing whether there is a correlation between the HAI and gastroesophageal acid reflux. Methods: Using a systematic review of clinical studies that investigated the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea and GERD. The search included all cited publications up to April 22, 2012, using the keywords “sleep apnea, obstructive” AND “gastroesophageal reflux/diagnosis” OR “gastroesophageal reflux/drug therapy” OR “gastroesophageal reflux/therapy” AND “randomized controlled trial”. The following electronic databases were used: PubMed, EMBASE, LILACS, MedLine, SCISEARCH, WEB of Science, CINAHL, BIREMI, SCOPUS, and the database of controlled clinical trials of the COCHANE collaboration. The total sample size was 60 patients (55% males). All patients in the eligible studies were submitted to both polysomnography and esophageal pH measurements before and after treatment. Results: Initially, 24 articles were selected. Of these, only three met the criteria for this study All the 3 studies found in this analysis were “before and after” clinical trials. Through the grouping of patients in our systematic review, we found a statistically significant decline in the average time of GERD after treatment, and a trend for reduction in the rate of HAI. Conclusion: The studies examined demonstrate that medical treatment of GERD may reduce apnea and hypopnea. Nevertheless, more controlled clinical trials are needed to confirm the benefits of drug therapy for GERD in the context of obstructive sleep apnea.
Relational and Attributive Activity in Virtual Communities-Working Paper-October 2004

Although Virtual Communities (ViCs) have been considered as an important e-commerce instrument, little is known about their evolution and the changes in the communication activity of its users. A frequent finding is that a small number of the participants is responsible for the majority of messages and, in contrast, a large portion of the users only write one or a few message(s). This discrepancy deserves more attention. In this paper, the heterogeneity of the communication activity is examined longitudinally on the basis of the graph-theoretical models “Random Network Theory” and “Scale-free Networks”. The fusion of these two models allows operationalization of the heterogeneity of the relational as well as the attributive communication activity in ViCs. The adjustment of the empirical distribution functions of the examined ViCs to this model shows a predominance of preferential over uniform binding. This “rich get richer phenomenon” proves temporally stable and leads to the emergence of heterogeneity of the member’s activities. We conclude that instead of stimulating all participants, it appears to be more promising to address the lead users as a main target. Their attachments to other users may be utilized in a positive and amplifying way in order increase a community’s communication activity. References: virtual communities, social network analysis, graph theory, heterogeneity of communication activity, “Degree”-distribution, preferential binding, uniform binding, “Scalefree Networks“.
The structure of the deferred income tax and its influence on indicators describing the economic performance of commercial insurance companies

The main objective of this paper is presentation of findings gathered through an analysis of items that cause deferred income tax in commercial insurance companies in the Czech insurance market. The evaluation of the subject is focused in accordance with the concept of the presented paper as regards structure analysis of the deferred tax, working with a selection of insurers – members of the Czech Insurance Association. We study, document and evaluate the influence of the deferred income tax being related with the given available income, as well as related to the effective income tax rate in a commercial insurance company. This analysis concerns the evaluation of the present-day degree of transformation and approximation of the Czech system of insurance in the process of harmonization with the European insurance system.
Intimations on the Tertiary vegetation of southern Africa

Fossil pollen sequences from the Cape Peninsula and the Saldanha region indicate that sub tropical vegetation and climates existed in these regions during the Miocene. The pollen record from the Cape Peninsula may point to the extinction of some taxa by the terminal Miocene/Early Pliocene with the subsequent strong development of macchia. This major change can probably be related to the maximum build-up of the Antarctic ice-cap in the latest Miocene and the accompanying profound palaeoceanographic changes such as the major cooling of the Benguela current with its effect on the aridification of the Namib desert, and the global glacio-eustatic sea level drop.Parallel palynological and lithological studies in the Saldanha region show that prominent Miocene vegetation shifts were linked to profound local changes in the palaeoenvironment associated with the northward migration of the Miocene Berg River. Such studies are of paramount importance for the possible assessment of the causes of changes in the palaeoenvironment and should first be carried out at many more sites over a wide region. It is to some extent premature to draw firm conclusions as to the origin and migration of some taxa in southern Africa. The record of very primitive angiosperms such as the ClavatipolleniteslAscarina complex and Winteraceae is of considerable phytogeographic interest.
Fiscal-Monetary-Financial Stability Interactions in a Data-Rich Environment

Abstract In this paper, we shed some light on the mutual interplay of economic policy and the financial stability objective. We contribute to the intense discussion regarding the influence of fiscal and monetary policy measures on the real economy and the financial sector. We apply a factor-augmented vector autoregression model to Czech macroeconomic data and model the policy interactions in a data-rich environment. Our findings can be summarized in three main points: First, loose economic policies (especially monetary policy) may translate into a more stable financial sector, albeit only in the short term. In the medium term, an expansion-focused mix of monetary and fiscal policy may contribute to systemic risk accumulation, by substantially increasing credit dynamics and house prices. Second, we find that fiscal and monetary policy impact the financial sector in differential magnitudes and time horizons. And third, we confirm that systemic risk materialization might cause significant output losses and deterioration of public finances, trigger deflationary pressures, and increase the debt service ratio. Overall, our findings provide some empirical support for countercyclical fiscal and monetary policies.
Influence of Organic Mulches on Soil Physico-Chemical Properties and Maize (Zea Mays L.) Crop Performance.

Application of organic mulching is soil management practice that seeks to improve soil moisture conservation, increase soil fertility and improve crop production. The study was carried out to quantify the effect of different organic mulches on some soil properties at three crop stages and maize production under coastal savanna condition. Four treatments of mulch; maize stover (MS), dry grass straw (GS), palm frond (PF) mulches at 3 Mg ha-1 each and no-mulch (NM) (control) with three replications were laid out in a complete randomized block design. After two consecutive cropping seasons, different organic mulches had no significant effect on the examined soil properties at the seed emergence stage. However, at both tasseling and harvest stages, the differences of bulk density, total porosity, organic carbon content and macro-nutrients (NPK) among the treatments were significant and were in the order of GS > MS > PF > NM. The germination rate was in the order of NM (91.0%) > MS (89.9%) > GS (87.9%) > PF (86.8%). The effect of mulches on both the plant height and the LAI was in the order of GS > MS > PF > NM. The increase in grain yield over the control were GS= 23 %, MS= 16 % and PF =15 % while that of the WUE relative to the control were 155 %, 122 % and 58 % for GS, MS and PF respectively. Dry grass mulch could be used to improve soil properties and achieve higher maize production in the study area.
SOCIALISATION AND COMMUNICATION OF WOMEN SCHOOL MANAGERS: A RURAL PERSPECTIVE

This article is based on the findings of a qualitative study that was conducted at a rural secondary school in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The aim of the study was to explore the communication strategies of a woman principal given that socialisation into gender positions is considered a major influential factor. The school was identified by means of reputational sampling. The article endeavours to show through the findings of the study that rural women educational managers’ communication relationship with the teachers can be largely marked by "respect" grounded in their traditional customs. Although socialised into a particular style of communication, their communicative behaviours also result from the context in which they grew and in which they find themselves, one common to all principals, males or females. They are able to use both feminine and masculine styles of communication and succeed in their management. Therefore, communication can be improved by combining both feminine and masculine styles of talking.
Mid-term load forecasting using recursive time series prediction strategy with support vector machines

Mediumterm load forecasting, using recursive time - series prediction strategy with Support Vector Machines (SVMs) is presented in this paper. The forecasting is performed for electrical maximum daily load for the period of one month. The data considered for forecasting consist of half hour daily loads and daily average temperatures for period of one year. An analysis of available data was performed and the most adequate set of features for our model are chosen. For evaluation of prediction accuracy we used data obtained from electricity load forecasting competition on the EUNITE network. Some drawn conclusions from the results are that the temperature significantly affects on load demand, but absence of future temperature information can be overcome with time - series concept. Also, it was shown that size and structure of the training set for SVM may significantly affect the accuracy of load forecasting.
Do Human Arts Really Offer a Lower Return to Education

Using Danish micro data on high school education, tertiary education, and wages, this paper investigates the importance of the field of study for the returns to education. Our OLS results suggest that a degree within the human arts seems considerably less valuable (in terms of earnings) than a degree within other fields, echoing previous result for the UK and US. However, since the choice of which type of education to pursue is likely non-random, these results may reflect selection rather than the causal impact of the field of study on wages. To examine this issue we adopt an instrumental variable approach to the issue at hand. Our identification strategy consists of using observed characteristics of the peer group the individual student were exposed to during high school. In particular, we document that the fraction of female students in a high school impacts on individuals’ choice of education. Similarly, the educational choices of high school seniors and freshmen are highly related. Conditional on high school fixed effects, and a large number of individual specific student characteristics (e.g., family background, high school test performance etc.), these characteristics should not affect wages directly. We therefore employ them as instruments for the choice of field of study at the tertiary level. In contrast to our OLS results, our 2SLS results reveal that the return to a degree within the humanities is the same as that of other fields of study. Hence, the OLS results appears to be attributable to selection. This result is in stark contrast to existing findings in the literature, where human arts students typically are found to do far worse in terms of earnings than students of other disciplines.
How Much Did Speculation Contribute to Recent Food Price Inflation

Recent increases in commodity prices have led to calls for the regulation of speculators. These calls have come from many reputable quarters including leading agricultural and food policy institutions such as International Food Policy Research Institute as well as different members of the U.S. Congress. They are based on an assumption that speculative activities are a primary or major source of the volatility in the markets and that controlling these activities through regulations would bring more stability to the market. The paper tests this hypothesis and assesses the contribution of speculative activities in the commodity markets over the past decade to price inflation. The paper argues that government regulatory policies to control speculation in commodity markets is a second best solution that would probably yield neutral or negative benefits to the very people the policy aims to protect.
Experimental Study on the Effect of High Pressure Micro-jet Parameters on Homogeneity Performance

High-pressure micro-jet homogenization technology is one of the commonly used methods in the preparation of liquid chemicals. The study on the influence of the parameters of high pressure micro jet on the homogeneity of the agential is helpful to improve the efficacy and safety of the agential. In this paper, using high pressure homogenizer as experimental platform, the oil-water emulsion as homogeneous material, the variation law of homogeneous particle size under the conditions of homogeneous pressure, initial temperature and oil / water ratio was studied. The experimental results show that the particle size of oil droplets decreases with the increase of homogenization pressure; the particle size of oil droplets increases with the increase of initial temperature; and the particle size of oil droplets decreases with the decrease of oil/water ratio. The experimental basis is provided to improve the homogeneity of high pressure micro jet homogenizer.
Psycho Educational Approaches to Adolescent's Perception of Gender Influence on Life Satisfaction

Research investigating optimal well-being and life satisfaction of adolescents in relation to gender and self- efficacy perception has been scant. This study reports on the relationship between gender factor and optimal adolescent functioning, as indexed by a sense of satisfaction with life overall and with specific domains (e.g. self-esteem, self-efficacy and emotions). The sample is made up of 180 participants comprising (90) females and (90) males randomly selected from SS II students in (9) secondary schools in Lagos State. The selected schools were made up of ‘three co-educational’, ‘three all boys’, and ‘three all girls’ schools respectively while each of the three experimental groups consist a set of the three school types respectively. Three hypotheses were raised and data were generated and analyzed with statistical tools of Pearson correlation coefficient for hypothesis 1, and analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) with LSD post hoc test for hypotheses 2 and 3 at 0.05 level of significance. Results from the study revealed that there was improvement in self-efficacy/self-esteem perception of participants with the treatment models. It also shows that a statistical significant difference exists in perception to life satisfaction due to gender factor across the experimental conditions. Since each individual has a purpose in life there is the need to strive towards the fulfillment of his or her unique potentials for life satisfaction.
Acquisition of French as a Second Language: Do developmental stages correlate with CEFR levels?

The paper examines the relationship between the Common European Framework of Reference levels and the developmental stages in the acquisition of French as L2. On the basis of an empirical study of written data produced by learners rated at B1 and B2 level by the Test de Connaissances du francais (TCF), the paper claims that it is difficult to find grammatical, albeit lexical means, that characterize specific levels of CEFR for languages.
Association Between Circulating Early Endothelial Progenitors and CD4+CD25+ Regulatory T Cells: A Possible Cross-talk between Immunity and Angiogenesis?

Regulatory T-cells (Treg) are a recently defined subset of CD4+ cells that can suppress inflammation and induce tolerance. Phenotypically, T-regs are characterized by a high level of expression of the IL-2 receptor alpha chain, CD25. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) can transform into mature endothelial cells and promote vessel formation by inducing postnatal angiogenesis and vasculogenesis. Herein, we tested the hypothesis that an association exists between circulating EPC and Tregs that could potentially allude to cross talk between immunity and angiogenesis. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll density-gradient centrifugation from 28 subjects. Circulating number of EPCs at various developmental stages (CD133+CD34+, CD133+VEGFR2+, CD34+VEGFR2+), total CD4+ and Treg CD4+CD25high) numbers were determined by FACS analysis. We found a positive correlation between early progenitor cell (CD133+CD34+) number and Tregs, but no correlation between differentiated EPCs and Tregs, or between CD4+ and any of the EPCs sampled. Early EPCs (CD133+CD34+) did not correlate with CD34+/KDR or with CD133/KDR cells. Circulating numbers of early but not ‘mature’ EPC correlate with Tregs but not CD4 numbers. This finding may suggest a novel role for Tregs in promoting EPC recruitment or delaying EPC maturation.
Glycation of Plant Proteins under Environmental Stress — Methodological Approaches, Potential Mechanisms and Biological Role

Environmental stress is one of the major factors reducing crop productivity. Due to the oncoming climate changes, the effects of drought and high light on plants play an increasing role in modern agriculture. These changes are accompanied with a pro‐ gressing contamination of soils with heavy metals. Independent of their nature, envi‐ ronmental alterations result in development of oxidative stress, i.e. increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS) contents, and metabolic adjustment, i.e. accumulation of soluble primary metabolites (amino acids and sugars). However, a simultaneous in‐ crease of ROS and sugar concentrations ultimately results in protein glycation, i.e. non-enzymatic interaction of reducing sugars or their degradation products (α-dicar‐ bonyls) with proteins. The eventually resulting advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are known to be toxic and pro-inflammatory in mammals. Recently, their presence was unambiguously demonstrated in vivo in stressed Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Currently, information on protein targets, modification sites therein, mediators and mechanisms of plant glycation are being intensively studied. In this chapter, we comprehensively review the methodological approaches for plant glycation research and discuss potential mechanisms of AGE formation under stress conditions. On the basis of these patterns and additional in vitro experiments, the pathways and mecha‐ nisms of plant glycation can be proposed.
War Trauma, Anxiety, and Resilience among University Students in the Gaza Strip

The aims of this study were to identify the types of the traumatic experiences, to find the type of resilience factors, anxiety trait and state occurrence, and to determine the relationship between exposure to the traumatic experiences, resilience and trait and state among university students. It is a descriptive analytical study; the sample consisted of randomly selected 399 university students enrolled in the main four universities in Gaza Strip (Al-Aqsa, Al-Azhar, Al-Quds Open and Islamic University) at the second semester of the academic year 2012-2013. We used five questionnaires to collect the data; a predesigned Sociodemographic sheet, Gaza Traumatic Events Checklist, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale. This study showed that the most commonly reported traumatic events were watching mutilated bodies on TV (92.7%), witnessing the shelling and destruction of another's home (47.37%), witnessing firing by tanks and heavy artillery at neighbors’ homes (47.12%), and being forced to move from home to a safer place during the war (42.86%). Mean total traumatic events was 4.72. Anxiety state mean was 46.62 and anxiety trait mean was 36.22. The most common resilience concepts (most of the time/all the time) were: God can help (91.7%), things happen for a reason (90.3%), and I am proud of my achievements (85.2%). Male students had significantly more total resilience, more personal competence and more trust in one’s instincts than female students. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between total traumatic events and anxiety state and trait. The results showed that there was no significant correlation between total traumatic events and total resilience, but there was a positive significant correlation between total traumatic events and trust in one's instincts, tolerance of negative affect and strengthening effects. On the other hand, there was a significant correlation between total traumatic events and spiritual domain. There was a significant correlation between anxiety state and total resilience and its subscales except in spiritual dimension. Our conclusion was exposure to previous traumatic events due to Gaza war had long-term negative effects on Palestinian university students which increased their mental health problems. We recommend that students affair should show brief students the nature of the course, the institutional ethos, the subjects that they will be taught and aspects relating to assignments, examinations, evaluation and other academic requirements, and should also provide therapeutic interventions for university students who suffer from anxiety.
Innovation success of non-R&D-performers: substituting technology by management in SMEs

This paper investigates the impact of in-house R&D and innovation management practices on innovation success in small and medium-sized firms (SMEs). While there is little doubt about the significance of technology competence for generating successful innovations, in-house R&D activities may be a particular challenge for SMEs due to high risk exposure, high fixed costs, high minimum investment and severe financial constraints. SMEs may thus opt for refraining from R&D and relying more on innovation management tools in order to achieve innovation success. We analyse whether such a strategy can pay off. Based on data from the German CIS, we find that R&D activities are a main driver for innovation success if combined with external R&D, using external innovation sources or by entering into co-operation agreements. SMEs without in-house R&D can yield a similar innovation success if they effectively apply human resource management tools or team work to facilitate innovation processes.