Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lysine Fortification of Wheat Flour Improves Selected Indices of the Nutritional Status of Predominantly Cereal-Eating Families in Pakistan

Wheat provides more than 50% of the protein and calorie intake of the population of Pakistan. Legumes and animal protein that could complement the amino acid pattern of wheat, in which lysine is the first limiting amino acid for utilization of protein, are not affordable by members of lower socioeconomic groups in developing countries. The purpose of the study was to determine whether lysine fortification of wheat flour would have a positive impact on populations consuming a predominantly wheat-based diet. A double-blind study was carried out for three months on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan. Forty families received wheat flour fortified with lysine, and 40 families received wheat flour without lysine. Wheat provided 59% of the protein for men, 65% for women, and 58% for children. The weight and height of the children in both groups increased during the study, but the increase was significantly greater in the lysine group. Hemoglobin increased significantly in the women receiving lysine-fortified flour. Transferrin levels increased significantly in men, women, and children in the lysine group as compared with those in the control group. Prealbumin increased significantly in adults receiving additional lysine but decreased in children. Men, women, and children in the lysine-supplemented families had significant increases in CD4, CD8, and complement C3 as compared with controls. These results indicate that lysine fortification of wheat flour can significantly improve sensitive indicators of nutritional status in a population consuming a diet in which 58% to 65% of the protein, depending on age and sex, is supplied by wheat.
The 1990 Zimbabwe elections: a post‐mortem

The recent presidential and general elections held in Zimbabwe saw a bitterly contested struggle between the Zimbabwe African National Union‐Patriotic Front (ZANU‐PF) and the Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM). This article reviews the election manifestos and electioneering practices of each side against the background of Zimbabwe's post‐independence development and its class/ethnic relations. It considers the question of whether ZANU‐PF's victory by a huge majority makes Zimbabwe de facto a one‐party state.
Measuring the contribution of filter bank layer to performance of convolutional neural networks

Object identification is essential in diverse automated applications such as in health, business, and national security. It relies on the ability of the image processing scheme to detect visual features under a wide variety of conditions such as the object rotation, translation and geometric transformation. Machine learning methods, in this case, play an important role in improving the object identification performance by resolving whether the extracted visual patterns are from the possibly distorted target object or not. In recent works, systems that employ a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) as the primary pattern recognition scheme demonstrate superior performance over other object identification systems based on handpicked shape-based features. Several studies credit this to the invariance of CNN to small distortion and spatial translation which in turn is attributed to its filter bank layer or the convolution layer. However, there has been no study to carefully test this claim. Towards studying the source of CNN’s superior performance, a methodology is designed that tracks the CNN performance when spatial information for visual features (e.g. edges, corners and end points) are gradually removed. Using the MNIST dataset, results show that as the spatial correlation information among pixels is slowly decreased, the performance of the CNN in recognizing handwritten digits also correspondingly decreases. The drop in accuracy continues until the accuracy approximates the performance of the classifier that was obtained without the filter bank. Conducted using a more complex dataset consisting of images of land vehicles, a similar set of experiments show the same drop in classification performance as spatial information among pixels is slowly removed.
Visitor segmentation for a park system using research and managerial judgement

Visitors to parks and protected areas are not a homogeneous group. Therefore, it is important for managers of such areas to have an understanding of the diversity of these visitors. One technique applied to understanding the diversity of visitors is segmentation whereby visitors are clustered based on variables of interest. Through a partnership of university-based and protected area agency researchers, this study segmented visitors to 33 parks across the Western Australian protected area estate. Using both psychographic and behavioural variables, four clusters were identified and these were subsequently discussed and validated with agency staff. These discussions identified opportunities for using the segmentation results to inform park and site planning and for marketing and potential re-distribution of supply and demand across the park system to better match visitor needs and the management resources available. Collaborative research efforts such as these, including validation by managers, can contribute to robust findings with a greater chance of being adopted by protected area agencies.
The Technology Payoff: How to Profit with Empowered Workers in the Information Age

From the Publisher: A guide to action for senior executives faced with important technology decisions. What every executive and manager should know about information technology Increased competition has compelled organizations to flatten hierarchies, redesign business processes, empower workers, and rely upon other forms of change to improve performance. Information technology, used strategically, can facilitate these inevitable changes by enabling improvements in flexibility, efficiency, and most important, profitability. The Technology Payoff explores the expanded needs and opportunities for information systems, showing how and why organizations should integrate technology into their business strategies. Gerald Hoffman goes beyond traditional, large-scale information systems to introduce innovative approaches used within business environments of all sizes and disciplines. Free of technical jargon and complex explanations, this guide offers a well-rounded, uncluttered view of information technology, addressing its managerial, organizational, and technological impacts. End of chapter sections labeled "What You Must Know" and "What You Must Do" reinforce key issues and provide a mandate for improvement through information technology. Change is now a defining characteristic of business and a prerequisite for success in any industry. With The Technology Payoff, you'll understand the kinds of information systems you need to manage change and remain competitive in today's fast paced, dynamic business environment, and learn how to get them.
Childhood vitamin A status and the risk of otitis media.

BACKGROUND It has been suggested that vitamin A deficiency may predispose to otitis media. METHODS We conducted a prospective, observational study of 200 children, ages 3 to 5 years, on the island of Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Baseline measurements of serum retinol concentrations were obtained from the children, and incidence of otitis media was determined during the following year by review of medical records. The sera were also tested for concentration of other carotenoids (beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene), and alpha-tocopherol and baseline concentrations of these compounds were also examined for relationship to incidence of otitis media. RESULTS Serum retinol concentrations of the children ranged from 13 to 58 microg/dl. Episodes of otitis media occurred in 22% of children during the follow-up period. Children with low serum retinol concentrations did not have an excess of episodes of otitis media (chi square for trend, 0.438; P = 0.508 for children grouped by serum retinol concentration; mean serum retinol concentrations were 29.1 and 28.6 microg/dl, respectively, for children who had and did not have a subsequent episode of otitis media). Controlling for potential confounding variables (duration of breast feeding, smoking in the household, illness or live virus vaccination in the 2 weeks before serum collection, day-care attendance) did not substantially alter this finding. Baseline serum concentrations of the other carotenoids and alpha-tocopherol also demonstrated no relation to incidence of otitis media. CONCLUSION In the range of serum vitamin concentrations found in this population, the status of vitamin A and related compounds in children appeared to have no effect on the incidence of otitis media.
Multiple System Collaborative Planning and Sensing for Autonomous Platforms with Shared and Distributed Situational Awareness

Autonomo to gain routine and permanent access to the underwater environment. However, their uses remain constrained to very specific tasks with little real autonomy. Mission plans are generally static and scripts based and adaptation to the environment or components failure is very limited. This is particularly problematic in the case of multiple vehicles where knowledge discovery is rarely shared, responses to sensor or platform failure rarely dealt with and architectures for collaborative planning in the presence of low communications bandwidth is a real challenge. Finally, as these platforms get more widely used by increasingly operational military personnel, there is a real need to move from script based planning to goal based planning based on a clear description of each platform capabilities and requirements which can be used by an automated or human planner to achieve complex missions. The challenges related to this domain require the development and integration of more evolved embedded tools that can raise the platform's autonomy levels while maintaining the trust of the operator. This paper shows how knowledge representation including world models, reasoning, planning tools and mission executive can provide the required interoperability between embedded agents to achieve high-level mission goals described by the operator.
Real Estate Returns and the Macroeconomy: Some Empirical Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trust

This paper explores the relationship between the macroeconomy and real estate returns. Equity REIT data are used as a proxy for real estate returns; however, the equity REIT returns are regressed against returns from the Standard and Poor's 500 Stock Index, saving the residuals. These residuals, known as extra-market covariance, are used in the analysis since this technique controls for the covariance between equity REIT returns and the overall stock market. Thus, the residuals represent pure industry effects. The residuals are then employed in an unrestricted vector autoregressive model with the macroeconomic variables to test for relationships. The results show that prices, nominal rates, output, and investment all directly influence the real estate series. Nominal interest rates, moreover, explain the majority of the variation in the real estate series.
Jitter floor elimination for blind feedforward/feedback symbol‐timing recovery exploiting the extended zero‐crossing property

Carrier‐blind and non‐data‐aided recovery of the symbol timing is of paramount importance in digital receivers, that is, detailed knowledge about carrier frequency and phase or any pilot sequence is not necessary for proper operation. In this context, feedforward algorithms are particularly helpful in packet‐oriented systems, where rapid and stable acquisition of the major transmission parameters is essential for subsequent processing stages. On the other hand, feedback algorithms are typically used to track small deviations from the stable equilibrium point. In the current paper, we propose a new approach for blind feedforward and feedback recovery of the symbol timing, which needs just one or two samples per symbol. The method is characterized by a second filter operated in parallel to the receiver‐matched filter. Under Nyquist conditions, exemplified by baseband pulses having a square‐root raised cosine spectrum, this filter exhibits an impulse response satisfying the extended zero‐crossing property, that is, it vanishes for all integer multiples of the symbol period including the origin. Using this idea for symbol‐timing recovery, it is shown that the annoying jitter floor – typical for most timing recovery schemes and caused by inter‐symbol interference – can be avoided irrespective of the selected modulation scheme. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Teams, Incentive Pay, and Productive Efficiency: Evidence from a Food-Processing Plant

By using weekly records on efficiency for four production lines in a Finnish food-processing plant during the period 1999–2005, the authors investigate the effects on production line performance once changes in Human Resource Management (HRM) practices were instituted. Using time-series methods to estimate structural change models, the authors were able to determine the extent to which specific HR policies—the introduction of teams, company-wide profit-sharing, and a group system of performance-related pay (PRP)—affected workers' efficiency, even though production technology remained the same. As predicted, the authors found that in three of the four production lines, when PRP was added to teams, productivity increased from between 9 and 20%, highlighting the importance of the complementarity between employee participation and incentive pay.
Some Notes on Historical, Theoretical, and Empirical Background of DSGE Models

Abstract In this paper I present the historical, theoretical and empirical background of DSGE models. I show that the fundament of these models lies in optimizing agents framework and argue which impulses fueled the development of DSGE models. I demonstrate the evolution of DSGE models with an accent on the role and effects of the monetary policy, using distinction between RBC models and New Keynesian models. I explain the paradigm shift from the RBC models to the New Keynesian models by pointing out the main pitfalls of the RBC models and showing how adding nominal rigidities to the otherwise standard RBC models enhances empirical properties of these models. I also discuss how nominal rigidities are modeled in New Keynesian DSGE models and what the pros and cons of different approaches are. Finally, I review the most important New Keynesian theories of nominal rigidities and some of the empirical evidence on price and wage rigidities
Contribution of pH‐dependent group II phospholipase A2 to chemical hypoxic injury in rat hepatocytes

Numerous studies have suggested that enhanced membrane phospholipid degradation contributes to hypoxic and ischemic injury. Recently, acidosis has been found to potently protect against hypoxic and ischemic injury. To investigate the interrelationships of these two events in hypoxic injury, we studied the role of a pH‐dependent group II phospholipase A2 (PLA2, E.C. 3.1.1.4) in chemical hypoxic injury in rat hepatocytes. Northern blot analysis of RNA extracted from normoxic and hypoxic rat hepatocytes with group II rat liver PLA2‐specific oligonucleotide cDNA probes revealed a 0.9 kb transcript whose abundance was significantly increased in rat hepatocytes within 15 min after initiation of chemical hypoxia and remained high until cells lost viability. Immunofluorescence staining of hepatocytes with polyclonal antibodies that recognize group II PLA2 demonstrated a substantial increase in the level of PLA2 protein in hypoxic rat hepatocytes within 30 min of initiation of hypoxic injury. Treatment of hepatocytes with group II PLA2‐specific anti‐sense DNA oligonucleotides: 1) abolished accumulation of PLA2 protein in hypoxic rat hepatocytes as assessed by immunofluorescence staining with anti‐PLA2 antibodies; 2) decreased the enzymatic activity of PLA2 manifested as decreased arachidonic acid release in hypoxic hepatocytes; and 3) significantly delayed cell death evoked by chemical hypoxia as indicated by a decrease in propidium iodide uptake. These findings suggest that pH‐dependent group II PLA2 plays an important role in chemical hypoxic injury of rat hepatocytes.
Voting for Women in the “Year of the Woman”

Рассматривается влияние гендерных и психологических факторов на электоральное поведение американских избирателей на выборах в Конгресс США в 1992 г. , объявленном ООН “годом женщины”. Показано, что на выборах в Палату представителей Конгресса США избиратели-женщины чаще, чем избиратели-мужчины, поддерживали кандидатов-женщин. Отмечено, что на электоральное поведение женщин большее влияние оказывали позиции кандидатов по гендерным аспектам общественной жизни. На выборах в Сенат влияние гендерных факторов на электоральное поведение избирателей-женщин обнаружилось еще более отчетливо.
Stock Market Reactions to US Hotel Firms' Strategic Alliances

Despite the extensive research on strategic alliances in the mainstream management literature and the hospitality industry's long history of strategic alliances, research on strategic alliances in the hospitality industry has been lacking, especially research focusing on the relationship between strategic alliances and firm performance. Given this limited coverage, the current study empirically examines Chathoth and Olsen's (2003) conceptual framework of hospitality strategic alliances: moving from joint ventures, a traditional form of alliance, to collaborative alliances, such as the competitor-alliance, a newer form. The paper investigates strategic alliances in which US public hotel companies engaged during 2000–2008 and finds that collaborative alliances were more common in the hotel industry than joint ventures. The paper also investigates, through an event study methodology, how the stock market perceives the hotel alliances as they evolve from joint ventures to collaborative alliances. The authors find that the stock market perceives joint ventures positively. In the case of collaborative alliances, the market reacts positively after the initial announcement, though negatively prior to the announcement.
Competitive Tendering In Local Government: A Review Of Theory And Evidence

The introduction of compulsory competitive tendering in UK local government reflected conventional public choice theories of bureaucracy. These theories suggest that competition for service contracts will lead to lower expenditure and higher efficiency. Extensions and criticisms of the classical public choice model yield very different conclusions. First, the problems of bureaucratic supply are less severe than originally assumed, and secondly competition may itself generate new problems such as transaction costs, erosion of trust between principals and agents, and rent seeking. The impact of competition on spending and efficiency is therefore indeterminate, and must be established empirically. However, studies which evaluate the effects of competitive tendering in local government are few in number, cover a limited range of services, and are methodologically flawed. Therefore neither the initial imposition of competitive tendering by the Conservatives, nor its planned abolition by Labour, can be traced to a solid foundation of theoretical or empirical support. Theoretical and methodological problems that need to be resolved by further empirical studies are identified.
The Effects of Housing Prices, Wages, and Commuting Time on Urban-Rural Residential Choice

An empirical model of joint decisions of where to live and where to work demonstrates that individuals make residential and job location choices by trading off wages, housing prices and commuting costs. Wages are higher in metropolitan markets, but housing prices are also higher in urban areas. Consumers can live in lower priced nonmetropolitan houses and still earn urban wages, but they incur commuting costs that increase with distance from the city. Improvements in transportation that lower commuting time will increase nonmetropolitan populations and will increase the number of nonmetropolitan commuters to metropolitan markets. Equal wage growth across labor markets causes a shift in relative population from rural to urban markets, while an equiproportional increase in housing prices causes a population shift toward rural areas.
The effects of salt-induced hypertension on alpha1-adrenoreceptor expression and cardiovascular physiology in the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

Experiments were conducted on rainbow trout to determine the impact of dietary salt on arterial blood pressure. After 4-6 wk, fish fed a salt-enriched diet exhibited a 37% elevation of dorsal aortic pressure (from 23.8 +/- 1.2 to 32.6 +/- 1.4 mmHg) and an 18% increase in ventral aortic pressure (from 33.0 +/- 1.5 to 38.9 +/- 1.3 mmHg). The hypertension presumably reflected the increase in cardiac output (from 31.0 +/- 0.8 to 36.4 +/- 2.2 ml.min(-1). kg(-1)) because systemic and branchial resistances were statistically unaltered by salt feeding. The chronic hypertension was associated with a decrease in the pressor responses of the systemic vasculature to catecholamines and hypercapnia in the salt-fed fish. The reduction in alpha-adrenergic responsiveness of the systemic vasculature is consistent with desensitization or loss of functional alpha-adrenoceptors (alpha-ARs). In support of this idea, the salt-fed fish exhibited significantly decreased levels of alpha(1D)-AR mRNA in the dorsal aorta and the afferent (ABA) and efferent branchial arteries (EBA). In contrast, however, the results obtained from norepinephrine dose-response curves for EBA and ABA vascular rings in vitro did not provide evidence for loss of function of branchial artery alpha(1)-ARs in the salt-fed fish. Indeed, the EC(50) for the EBA norepinephrine dose-response curve was significantly reduced (from 3.75 x 10(-7) to 2.12 x 10(-7) M) in the salt-fed fish, indicating an increase in the binding affinity of the alpha(1)-ARs.
Intellectual capital reporting at UK universities

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the amount and the nature of the voluntary intellectual capital (IC) disclosure of UK universities, the relation between performance and amount of IC disclosed; and the opinion of UK universities on a mandatory disclosure of IC.Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis was used to examine the amount and nature of IC disclosure of the annual reports of 30 UK universities. Directors of Finance were chosen as representatives to submit an online questionnaire about IC statements and the mandatory reporting of IC for universities.Findings – Findings suggest that the amount of IC information disclosed by UK universities in their annual reports is low. UK universities were identified as being over‐regulated and having low awareness of IC.Research limitations/implications – IC framework used for the content analysis was specific to Austrian universities and the online questionnaire responses were limited. Few adaptations were made but it is necessary to perfo.
PRESIDENTIALISATION OF PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEMS? FRONTRUNNER CONCENTRATION IN DANISH LOCAL ELECTIONS

A trend of presidentialisation of non-presidential political systems has been identified and discussed in the literature. However, a central aspect of the process, increasingly leadership-focused voting behaviour, is only rudimentarily studied. We assess whether frontrunners have become more important in elections in a non-presidential multiparty system. We develop three measures to assess the electoral frontrunner concentration and study actual voting behaviour in the 2001, 2005 and 2009 Danish local elections. Contrary to our expectation we find no evidence of presidentialisation.