Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Learning Outcomes of Students Meeting Their International Dimension Requirement through Courses Offered in a College of Agriculture: Did Student Learning Differ Depending on Mode of Instruction Delivery?.

Many online courses have been developed in an effort to meet the needs of students who are either unable or less inclined to attend face-to-face classes. The College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR) at Oklahoma State University has been preparing its students to attain international awareness and become globally competent citizens through online and face-to-face international dimension (ID) undergraduate courses. However, little was known about whether significant differences existed in students’ learning outcomes depending on the mode of instruction delivery. This investigation was a census study and the target population consisted of all undergraduate students (N = 147) enrolled in three ID undergraduate courses offered by CASNR during the Fall semester of 2010. No statistically significant differences existed in the attitude and knowledge scores of students for traditional, face-toface instruction delivery and online instruction delivery. Regardless of the ongoing controversy surrounding which of the two modes of learning is more effective, the findings of this study supported the use of either for the purpose of improving students' international awareness and general global knowledge.
Repeatability of Placido-Based Corneal Topography in Keratoconus

Purpose To determine and compare the repeatability of a Placido-based corneal topography (Oculus Keratograph) in a sample of healthy and keratoconus eyes. Methods The corneal topography, determined using the Oculus Keratograph, of 25 healthy and 25 keratoconus eyes was assessed three consecutive times. A single randomized eye was included per patient. Coefficient of variation (CV) of the eccentricity, corneal diameter, index of surface variance, index of vertical asymmetry, keratoconus index (KI), smallest sagittal curvature radius (Rmin), aberration coefficient, and maximum corneal power and minimum corneal power (diopters) in the 3.0-mm zone in addition to the maximum corneal power point (MCPP) (diopters) were calculated and compared between healthy and keratoconus eyes. Results Healthy eyes showed lower topographic values (p < 0.05) than keratoconus eyes, except with regard to the Rmin value. Corneal diameter (p = 0.45) was similar in both groups. All variables showed good CVs in healthy and keratoconus eyes (maximum corneal power [0.21 and 0.47%, respectively], minimum corneal power [0.19 and 0.36%], MCPP [0.22 and 0.77%], corneal diameter [0.27 and 0.33%], index of surface variance [4.82 and 3.10%], index of vertical asymmetry [7.05 and 3.80%], KI [0.29 and 0.72%], Rmin [0.53 and 0.78%], and aberration coefficient [0 and 4.00%]) except for the eccentricity CV (5.79 and 14.53%, respectively). Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) between healthy and keratoconus groups were found for all variables, except with respect to the MCPP, eccentricity, corneal diameter, KI, and Rmin (p > 0.07). Conclusions The Oculus Keratograph provides repeatable measurements of corneal topography in healthy and keratoconus eyes. These results could improve the topographical diagnosis of keratoconus, thus aiding in patient management.
Modular DC/DC converter with improved efficiency for electric vehicles applications

A modular approach for DC/DC converters to obtain desired voltages and currents is presented in this paper. A high efficiency low switch count isolated push-pull DC/DC converter is used as a unit module. The converters are connected in input series or parallel and output series, or parallel configuration to meet the desired power level. The aim is to obtain a flexible DC/DC converter block which can be used to cover a wide power range as well as a wide input and output voltage range. The converters and the communication topologies are designed in such a way that the numbers of unit modules can be connected in several different configurations to achieve the desired requirements with a minimum effort. The experimental details of a configuration with two converters, and with four converters, are considered in this work.
Recursive estimation of parameters in Markov-modulated Poisson processes

A hidden Markov regime is a Markov process that governs the time or space dependent distributions of an observed stochastic process. Recursive algorithms can be used to estimate parameters in mixed distributions governed by a Markov regime. The authors derive a recursive algorithm for estimation of parameters in a Markov-modulated Poisson process also called a Cox point process. By this the authors mean a doubly stochastic Poisson process with a time dependent intensity that can take on a finite number of different values. The intensity switches randomly between the possible values according to a Markov process. The authors consider two different ways to observe the Markov-modulated Poisson process: in the first model the observations consist of the observed time intervals between events, and in the second model they use the total number of events in successive intervals of fixed length. They derive an algorithm for recursive estimation of the Poisson intensities and the switch intensities between the two states and illustrate the algorithm in a simulation study. The estimates of the switch intensities are based on the observed conditional switch probabilities.
Current concepts: diffuse axonal injury-associated traumatic brain injury.

OBJECTIVES To review the probable physical, physiologic mechanisms that result in the medical and neuropsychologic complications of diffuse axonal injury (DAI)-associated traumatic brain injury (TBI). DATA SOURCES Various materials were accessed: MEDLINE, textbooks, scientific presentations, and current ongoing research that has been recently reported. STUDY SELECTION Included were scientific studies involving TBI, particularly direct injury to the axons and glia of the central nervous system (CNS) in both in vitro and in vivo models. These studies include pathologic findings in humans as well as the medical complications and behavioral outcomes of DAI. Studies that addressed animal models of DAI as well as cellular and/or tissue models of neuronal injury were emphasized. The review also covered work on the physical properties of materials involved in the transmission of energy associated with prolonged acceleration-deceleration injuries. DATA EXTRACTION Studies were selected with regard to those that addressed the mechanism of TBI associated with DAI and direct injury to the axon within the CNS. The material was generally the emphasis of the article and was extracted by multiple observers. Studies that correlate the above findings with the clinical picture of DAI were included. DATA SYNTHESIS Concepts were developed by the authors based on the current scientific findings and theories of DAI. The synthesis of these concepts involves expertise in physical science, basic science concepts of cellular injury to the CNS, acute medical indicators of DAI, neuropsychologic indicators of DAI, and rehabilitation outcomes from TBI. CONCLUSIONS The term DAI is a misnomer. It is not a diffuse injury to the whole brain, rather it is predominant in discrete regions of the brain following high-speed, long-duration deceleration injuries. DAI is a consistent feature of TBI from transportation-related injuries as well as some sports injuries. The pathology of DAI in humans is characterized histologically by widespread damage to the axons of the brainstem, parasagittal white matter of the cerebral cortex, corpus callosum, and the gray-white matter junctions of the cerebral cortex. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans taken initially after injury are often normal. The deformation of the brain due to plastic flow of the neural structures associated with DAI explains the micropathologic findings, radiologic findings, and medical and neuropsychologic complications from this type of injury mechanism. There is evidence that the types of cellular injury in TBI (DAI, anoxic, contusion, hemorrhagic, perfusion-reperfusion) should be differentiated, as all may involve different receptors and biochemical pathways that impact recovery. These differing mechanisms of cellular injury involving specific biochemical pathways and locations of injury may, in part, explain the lack of success in drug trials to ameliorate TBI.
Inverse Tangent Based Adaptive IIR Notch Filter

The inverse tangent based second-order adaptive IIR notch filter (ITANF) is presented in this paper. It is well known that the gradient-based adaptive IIR notch filter (ANF) has inherent low convergence speed due to the flattened error function. Moreover, the magnitude of error function depends on magnitude of sinusoid which implies that the speed of convergence of the gradient-based adaptive algorithm also depends on the magnitude of an input signal. To improve such drawback, the new inverse tangent based adaptive algorithm for a second order IIR notch filter is therefore proposed. The proposed algorithm employs the ratio of output to input signals as an error criterion where the inverse tangent value of the ratio is employed to adapt the filter parameter. It is found that the proposed algorithm provides not only high speed convergence but also high impulse noise robustness. The simulation results confirm that the performance of the proposed algorithm has been improved over the conventional ANF
Satisfaction with HR Practices and Employee Engagement: A Social Exchange Perspective

The phenomenon of employee engagement is a major concern in the management circles across the globe. The concept is gaining increasing significance among managers and academic circles in India. In spite of its apparent importance, little research has been hitherto undertaken for identifying the antecedents of employee engagement. On the basis of existing literature, this conceptual paper attempts to define an 'engaged employee' as the one who is optimistic, highly focused on his work, enthusiastic and willing to go an extra mile to contribute to sustainable organizational success on a long term basis. The article proposes a relationship between employees' satisfaction with human resource practices and their level of engagement in the organization. This relationship is explained based on social exchange theory. The article also discusses the importance of employee engagement and its declining levels across the globe. Finally, the present study also notices a dearth of research literature in this domain of human resource management, in Indian context and beyond, and hence it exhorts researchers to carry out relevant studies in this field.
Speculative Prices as Random Walks: An Analysis of Ten Time Series of Flexible Exchange Rates

There is a growing body of work on the behavior of prices in speculative markets,' much of which is concerned with the random walk hypothesis of price behavior. In Section II of this paper, following a brief sketch of the random walk hypothesis, tests of this hypothesis are conducted on a new set of data consisting of ten flexible exchange rate time series. In sum, significant departures from the random walk hypothesis are found in three different tests for serial dependence. These departures appear to be substantially larger than those that have been found in other markets. In Section III it is argued that the random walk hypothesis can be derived from the theory of rational speculative behavior only if transactions costs and inventory-carrying costs are zero. When these costs are considered, we no longer expect prices to follow a random walk. Evidence is then presented to support the contention that at least some of the dependence in the flexible exchange rate time series is a result of transactions costs. Finally, in Section IV there is a summary of the findings and a discussion of their implications for the random walk hypothesis and for the hypothesis of rational speculative behavior.
From Surprise to Shock: A Reflection on Luke 4:16-30 and the Implications for Seventh-day Adventist Mission

Luke 4:16-30 is a summary of Luke’s entire Gospel (Kodell 1983:16-18). Often referred to as the Gospel to the Gentiles, Luke’s synagogue pericope demonstrates the radical inclusiveness of God’s in-breaking Kingdom inaugurated by Jesus. The story provides a rich biblical and theological framework for our missional activities, giving us a manifesto for Christian mission, and in our particular context, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This article offers a study of Luke 4:16-30 in an attempt to encourage Seventh-day Adventists engaged with the church’s mission toward a more inclusive approach in their efforts. As the study of the text will reveal, no one should ever become comfortable with their understanding of where God is at work in the world. The Spirit of Jesus is always out ahead us, waiting to reveal his Kingdom to us in new places and new ways with new faces.
Carcinoembryonic antigen expression, antibody localisation and immunophotodetection of human colon cancer liver metastases in nude mice: A model for radioimmunotherapy

Colorectal cancer frequently disseminates through the portal vein into the liver. In this study, outbred Swiss nude mice were adapted to facilitate the induction of liver metastases by a pre‐grafting treatment with 6 Gy total body irradiation and i.v. injection of anti‐asialo GMI antibody. One day later, cultured LS 174T human colon cancer cells were injected into the surgically exposed spleen, which was resected 3 min later. In 48 of 65 mice, a few to several hundred liver metastases were macroscopically observed at dissection 3 to 4 weeks after transplantation. Ten of 10 mice, followed‐up for survival, died with multiple large confluent liver metastases. By reducing the radiation dose to 4 or 0 Gy, or omitting the anti‐asialo GMI antibody injection, only 60%, 37% or 50% of mice, respectively, had visible metastases 3 weeks after transplantation. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) measured in tumour extracts was in the mean 25.6 μg/g in liver metastases compared with 9.2 μg/g in s.c. tumours. Uptake of radiolabelled anti‐CEA monoclonal antibody (MAb) in the metastases 12, 24 and 48 hr after injection gave a mean value of 39% of the injected dose per gram of tissue (ID/g). In comparison, MAb uptake in s.c. and intrasplenic tumours or lung metastases gave a mean percentage ID/g of 20, 18 and 15, respectively. Laser‐induced fluorescence after injection of Indocyanin‐MAb conjugate allowed direct visual detection of small liver metastases, including some that were not visible under normal light. Preliminary results showed that mice, pre‐treated with 4 Gy irradiation and the anti‐asialo GMI injection, were tolerant to radioimmunotherapy with a total dose of 500 μCi 131I labeled anti‐CEA intact MAbs given in 3 injections. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Wideband low-cost hybrid coupler for mm-wave frequencies

In this paper a new realization of a wideband waveguide hybrid coupler is proposed, which can be realized as a low-cost metallized injection-molded component. A key requirement for low costs is a split-block suited design approach. For that reason, the waveguide ports are stacked in the E-plane. The coupling mechanism is explained in a narrowband approach. By expanding the coupling region in the H-plane, the approach is optimized concerning bandwidth. At 160 GHz a measured bandwidth of 23% is achieved with an isolation better than 20 dB and a very low insertion loss.
Contagem de leucócitos e morbimortalidade no infarto do miocárdio

Objetivo: Avaliar a associacao entre maiores niveis da contagem total de leucocitos perifericos e relacao neutrofilos/linfocitos obtidos na admissao hospitalar, bem como a morbimortalidade em pacientes diagnosticados com infarto do miocardio. Metodos: Avaliamos 276 pacientes com infarto agudo do miocardio, entre janeiro de 2014 e novembro de 2015. Os dados clinicos e laboratoriais foram obtidos e relacionados a: internacao, complicacoes intra-hospitalares, readmissoes e mortalidade em 30 dias pos-internacao. Resultados: A idade media foi 61 anos e 66,7% eram homens. Pacientes com complicacoes, comparados ao grupo sem complicacoes, eram mais velhos (60,85 vs. 62,54; p=0,053), tinham niveis de leucocitos (10,23 vs. 11,78; p=0,001) e neutrofilos (7,17 vs. 8,38; p=0,020) aumentados, doenca multiarterial (38,2% vs. 74,5%; p 10,56 e valores superiores de CK-MB (p=0,001) e troponina (p=0,039). Conclusao: Houve associacao entre aumento dos niveis de leucocitos e maior incidencia de complicacoes intra-hospitalares, incluindo morte, ate 1 mes apos alta hospitalar em pacientes com infarto agudo do miocardio. A contagem de leucocitos mostrou relacao mais evidente do que a relacao neutrofilos/linfocitos e sua facil acessibilidade coloca-o como ferramenta util para determinacao do prognostico em pacientes com infarto do miocardio.
TMPRSS4 is a type II transmembrane serine protease involved in cancer and viral infections

Abstract Proteolytic enzymes are involved in almost all biological processes reflecting their importance in health and disease. The human genome contains nearly 600 protease-encoding genes forming more than 2% of the total human proteome. The serine proteases, with about 180 members, built the oldest and second largest family of human proteases. Ten years ago, a novel serine protease family named the type II transmembrane family (TTSP) was identified. This minireview summarizes the up-to-date knowledge about the still growing TTSPs, particularly focusing on the pathophysiological functions of the family member type II transmembrane serine protease (TMPRSS) 4. Recent studies provided important data on TMPRSS4 activity associated with the spreading of influenza viruses, mediated by the cleavage of hemagglutinin. Progression and metastatic potential of several cancers is concordant with an increased expression of TMPRSS4, though being a possible diagnostic marker. However, to benefit from TMPRSS4 as a therapeutic target, more data concerning its physiological relevance are needed, as done by a specific morpholino knockdown in zebrafish embryos.
Comparative performance analysis of Naive Bayes and SVM classifier for oral X-ray images

This paper presents the development of an automatic system for the classification of tooth wear disease diagnosis. Abnormal detection, disease detection and classification of oral images are substantial in the clinical research. Automatic diagnosis of the oral disease helps the medical practitioner to make decisions easily about the diagnosis process. The diagnosis models can be analyzed with the multiclass classification approach. The multiclass Naive Bayes and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier have been used for diagnosing the oral diseases and also their performance has been evaluated and compared. The experimental results are measured in terms of Sensitivity, Specificity, Precision, False Alarm and Accuracy which are considered as the performance parameters of classifier. Furthermore, our analysis proves that the SVM classifier achieves better result.
Nonverbal Amnesia and Asymmetric Cerebral Lesions Following Encephalitis

Global amnesia after herpes simplex encephalitis has been typically associated with lesions of anterior and medial temporal lobe, inferior and medial frontal lobe, and insula. The neuropathologic correlates of this disease are usually considered to be bilateral and similar across cases. We describe a 27-year-old woman whose chronic amnesia and cerebral lesions after viral encephalitis indicate a different pattern. Two features distinguish her presentation: (1) markedly asymmetric lesions extensively involving the right temporal lobe but sparing almost all of the same structures on the left and (2) severe compromise of nonverbal learning and a nonverbal retrograde amnesia in contrast to disproportionately small impairments of verbal learning and retention. The findings suggest that encephalitis patients cannot be treated as a homogeneous group and that detailed analysis of variability in their anatomic lesions may be an important explanatory factor in neural accounts of these severe human amnesias.
Knowledge Management, European Paradox and Triple Helix

As everybody knows there is no automatic transfer of the results of researches on the economic and social world (business and public administration) despite the high quality of them. That's why the authors suggest the most appropriate and effective modalities to ensure that the results of the research can be absorbed by the economic and social world to become innovations. The aim is to enable companies to become more competitive and to the public administration to become more efficient. Of these perspectives there is increasingly need in Europe (European paradox), but also in China.
Evolution of the New Zealand Voluntary Carbon Market: An Analysis of CarboNZero Client Disclosures

Abstract Climate change has the potential to dramatically change the world as we know, both in terms of the environment and the way in which societies operate. Public policy responses to climate change continue to evolve, with many western economies proposing mechanisms for emission reductions, for example, through a tax on carbon or emissions trading schemes. In the absence of finalised regulation, organisations choosing to offset their carbon emissions are engaging in the voluntary carbon market (VCM). Through an empirical description and analysis of organisations comprising the VCM field in New Zealand, this paper provides evidence of the evolution of the carbon market as well as the level of success of CarboNZero's certification programmes (CarboNZeroCert and CEMARSCert) in reducing organisational emissions. Examination of disclosure documents of clients of CarboNZero indicates that the growth of VCM in New Zealand is slowing down. Furthermore, CarboNZero's programmes were found to be only modestly effective. This research thus finds that incorporation of carbon accounting is not necessarily evidence of organisational action or improvement on climate change abatement.
Scanning Electron Microscopic Study of In Vitro Toxicity of Ethylene Oxide Sterilized Bone Repair Materials.

: Polylactic acid (PLA) and polyglycolic acid (PGA) have been under investigation for use in the management of hard- and soft-tissue wounds. Current research has included the incorporation of osteo-inductive substances into a PLA-PGA copolymer alloplastic implant material for enhancement of the healing of osseous defects. Conventional methods of sterilization--such as dry heat, steam heat, or 60Co--tend either to destroy or attenuate osteo-inductive activity and alter polymer biodegradation. Ethylene oxide (EO) gas sterilization is currently being tested as an alternate method. This study examined the relationship of EO-induced cytotoxicity to the length of time of polymer aeration following EO sterilization. Three groups of copolymer implant discs were studied: (1) 50:50 PLA-PGA copolymer, (2) PLA-PGA polymer with hydroxyapatite (HA), and (3) PLA-PGA with autolyzed, antigen-extracted (AA) bone particles. Polymer discs, as well as particulate HA and AA bone controls, were sterilized with EO for 12 hours. Following periods of two weeks, one week, one day, or no subsequent vacuum aeration, samples were placed into 24-well culture plates. A suspension of human fibroblasts was added to each well. Cell growth and attachment were permitted for 24 hours. Medium was then removed, and solutions for cell fixation, buffer washing, and dehydration were added to each well. SEM examination revealed changes in cell growth with increasing periods of aeration suggestive of increasing cell vitality. Cells growing on discs having no aeration were small, round, and lobulated, whereas those of seven to 14 days' aeration were more numerous, and flattened with many microvilli, pseudopodia, and dendritic processes, features consistent with normal cell morphology. These results suggest that EO-sterilized polymer implants should be aerated for least seven to 14 days prior to surgical use.