Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Organic- and Animal Welfare-labelled Eggs: Competing for the Same Consumers?

To understand the market for sustainable foods, it is important to allow for heterogeneous preferences. However, most studies of consumer preferences for sustainable foods only investigate average consumer preferences. They do not take into account that some consumer segments attempt to purchase as much sustainable food as possible, others are almost indifferent to the notion of sustainable food, and still others consider sustainable food a complete hoax. The aim of this study is to explore the preferences for various types of premium eggs across three consumer segments. We conduct a choice experiment including 900 Norwegian consumers and perform a behavioural segmentation based on the frequency of organic food purchase. We find that the segment purchasing the most organic food is, as expected, willing to pay a significant premium for organic eggs over eggs displaying only enhanced animal welfare. However, most consumers, who only occasionally purchase organic products, are unwilling to pay more for organic eggs than for enhanced animal welfare eggs, suggesting diminishing marginal utility for additional attributes. We find that a third consumer segment attempts to avoid organic eggs, even when they cost the same as other eggs. Our findings suggest that organic products will be unsuccessful in acquiring a larger share of the market as long as most consumers are unwilling to pay a premium for organic products with all their cost increasing sustainable attributes over products that have only a single sustainable attribute, in our case enhanced animal welfare.
Validity of birth certificate data for the outcome of the previous pregnancy, Georgia, 1980-1995.

The author evaluated the validity of four historically based variables collected on Georgia birth certificates: outcome of preceding pregnancy, history of delivery of a low- (<2,500 g) or high- (>4,000 g) birth-weight infant, and death of the baby resulting from the preceding pregnancy. Data were derived from birth and fetal death certificates that were linked for the first and second deliveries of 231,075 women in Georgia from 1980 through 1995. Deaths that occurred during the infant's first year of life were also linked to the birth certificate. For all but the survival variable, the outcome of the first birth as reported on the certificate for the second birth was compared with the outcome recorded on the certificate for the first birth, which was assumed to be correct. Except for ascertainment of death of the firstborn infant, sensitivities for the history of poor outcomes were low. Furthermore, sensitivities were higher when an extremely adverse outcome occurred in the first pregnancy or an adverse outcome recurred. The only high sensitivity was for past infant death (85.4%). These results suggest caution when using these variables to identify high-risk subsets for further research or control for confounding.
Intestinal blood flow is controlled by both feed arteries and microcirculatory resistance vessels in freely moving rats.

1. In freely moving rats, intestinal blood flow, aortic blood pressure and blood pressure at the base of mesenteric arcades were measured simultaneously so as to determine the role of feed arteries and of the microcirculation in the control of intestinal vascular resistance. Segmental resistances of feed arteries (Rfeed) and of microcirculatory vessels (Rmicro) were calculated. 2. At rest, Rfeed and Rmicro were 32 and 68%, respectively, of the total intestinal vascular resistance. 3. Injection of noradrenaline (2 micrograms i.v,) increased Rfeed by 151% and Rmicro by 243%. Angiotensin II (400 ng i.v.) did not increase Rfeed significantly, but increased Rmicro by 239%. Conversely, serotonin (15 micrograms i.v.) increased Rfeed by 414% but did not affect Rmicro significantly. 4. Spontaneous physical activity increased Rfeed by 29% and Rmicro by 39%, while sudden environmental stress increased Rfeed by 116% and Rmicro by 129%. Infused noradrenaline (1 microgram min‐1 i.v.) or adrenaline (0.8 microgram min‐1 i.v.) reduced intestinal flow by 21 and 16% respectively, while noradrenaline, but not adrenaline, increased intestinal resistances. 5. alpha 1‐Blockade with prazosin (0.1 mg i.v.) reduced Rfeed and Rmicro by 43 and 16%, respectively. Thereafter, environmental stress decreased Rfeed by 24% while Rmicro was unaffected. Intravenous noradrenaline and adrenaline responses were attenuated. 6. We conclude that in freely moving rats, mesenteric feed arteries, as well as microcirculatory vessels, are true resistance vessels, and that both participate in the control of intestinal blood flow.
Designing a constellation for AIS mission based on data acquisition of LAPAN-A2 and LAPAN-A3 satellites

Indonesia requires a maritime surveillance system that's capable to monitor its extensive waters territorial. One of the maritime standard navigation systems named AIS (Automatic Identification System), which is based on GPS and VHF digital communication, have enabled the ship monitoring in a real-time. By placing AIS receiver on the satellite, its coverage will be larger compared to the one usually placed on the seashore by maritime authority. Orbiting the AIS receiver prompted appearing the limitation of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology so the probability of ship detection would decrease drastically due to a huge number of heard ship signal simultaneously. This paper describes the design of satellite constellation for Indonesian maritime surveillance based on the result of the AIS data acquisition by LAPAN-A2 and LAPAN-A3 satellites that operate in both equatorial and polar orbit.
Distribution of Candida species among HIV-positive patients with oropharyngeal candidiasis in Accra, Ghana.

INTRODUCTION Oropharyngeal candidiasis is a common occurrence in the course of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease progression. Changes in the clinical severity of oropharyngeal candidiasis and type of Candida species profile may be a reflection of immunological changes in patients. The aim of this study was to undertake a baseline Candida species identification for future reference. METHODOLOGY Oral swabs of 267 HIV-infected patients with oropharyngeal candidiasis were cultured and Candida species were identified by API 32 C. RESULTS A total of 201 (75.3%) Candida species and 10 (3.7%) non candida fungi were identified. Twenty different Candida species were isolated. Candida albicans was the most prevalent species (68.5%) followed by C. tropicalis (7.4%), C. krusei (6.4%), C. parapsilosis (3.0%) and C. sake (2.5%). Other species ranged from 0.5% to 1.5%. Positive culture was independent of whether patients were on anti-retroviral therapy or not. CONCLUSION Of all Candida isolates, 68.5% were identified as C. albicans. Since other uncommon species were also isolated, it may be necessary in this group of patients to identify Candida species causing severe infections.
Human ear structure from motion

This paper proposes a simple automatic 3D ear reconstruction method using a video selfie while having no knowledge about the scene. First we use the EXIF data stored within the images to estimate the intrinsic matrix. Then, standard structure from motion techniques are applied to obtain a reconstruction for every couple of images which will be merged into one reconstruction that represents the whole scene using an original procedure. Finally, the quasi-dense model is obtained by using the ASIFT and ZNCC descriptors. Our approach is simple to implement and only requires the use of a smart-phone camera. Also, the experimental results showed that this approach is very promising compared to the other methods used to solve this problem.
Fragmentation characteristics and isomeric differentiation of flavonol O-rhamnosides using negative ion electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.

RATIONALE Flavonoids exhibit a wide range of biological activities. The differentiation and structural characterization of the flavonol O-rhamnosides and their isomers are important research topics. Electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS(n) ) is an indispensable tool and has become an efficient method for the identification of bioactive natural products. METHODS Negative ion ESI-MS(n) was used to characterize and differentiate flavonol O-rhamnosides and their isomeric compounds. The collision energies in collision-induced dissociation were varied to optimize the structural information. RESULTS Flavonol 7-O-rhamnosides containing either a hydroxyl or a methoxyl group at the C-8 position clearly differed from their isomeric compounds, such as the flavonol 3-O-rhamnosides, in the product ion spectra of the [M-H](-) ions. The differences in the locations of the glycosyl group and OCH(3) group resulted in a significant change in the relative abundances of the Y(0)(-) and [Y(0) -H](-•) ions, and the formation of some characteristic ions, such as (1,3)A(0)(-) and [(1,3)A(0)-CH(3)](-•). CONCLUSIONS An efficient ESI-MS(n) method for the structural identification and isomeric differentiation of flavonol O-rhamnosides was developed. The differences in the glycosyl type, and the glycosylation and methoxylation positions in the structures of isomeric flavonoids, can be determined using (-)ESI-MS(n) spectra. The formation and relative abundances of [Y(0)-H](-•) and Y(0) (-) ions, as well as the comparison of some diagnostic ions, are vital in the differentiation of isomeric flavonoids. These results have practical applications in the rapid identification of flavonol O-rhamnosides present in crude bioactive extracts.
Designing Cell-Compatible Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

Designer Hydrogels Hydrogels, which consist of highly water swollen cross-linked polymer networks, can now be made with a range of chemistries and a combination of physical and chemical cross-links. They can also be designed to degrade gradually when exposed to chemical or biological signals and are thus finding use in a wide range of applications, including tissue engineering and drug delivery. Seliktar (p. 1124) reviews recent advances in tailoring hydrogels with specific properties and their applications to biology and medicine. Hydrogels are polymeric materials distinguished by high water content and diverse physical properties. They can be engineered to resemble the extracellular environment of the body’s tissues in ways that enable their use in medical implants, biosensors, and drug-delivery devices. Cell-compatible hydrogels are designed by using a strategy of coordinated control over physical properties and bioactivity to influence specific interactions with cellular systems, including spatial and temporal patterns of biochemical and biomechanical cues known to modulate cell behavior. Important new discoveries in stem cell research, cancer biology, and cellular morphogenesis have been realized with model hydrogel systems premised on these designs. Basic and clinical applications for hydrogels in cell therapy, tissue engineering, and biomedical research continue to drive design improvements using performance-based materials engineering paradigms.
Creating more accurate acquisition valuations

Managers often must make decisions about complex strategic issues, and they are expected to make choices carefully and objectively. The psychology of judgment and decision making predicts that the way executives frame their deals partly determines their acquisition choices under uncertainty. This research draws on the marriage of behavioral economics and corporate finance to develop ways of improving acquisition decision making under uncertainty. In the field of behavioral economics, we conducted experimental and archival research. The work implies that acquisition strategy is vulnerable to the way managers perceive risk and losses, judgment biases in their strategy, the bidding behavior of rivals and mispricing in financial markets
What does enrollment in a MOOC mean?

In 2012, when MOOCs became largely known, media reports were fascinated with the big number of enrollments. The number 150,000 students was mentioned for both Stanford's Artificial Intelligence course and MIT's Circuits and Electronics, to be later followed by the underwhelming completion rates, that often are in the single digit percentages. But what kind of enrollment do these large numbers really show? We try to answer this question by breaking this number into its components, while comparing two successive iterations of the same MOOC offered on the edX platform.
Design of Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna using Varactor Diode

In this paper, a frequency reconfigurable microstrip patch antenna is designed with microstrip feeding technique. The reconfigurable antenna is designed with one square patch and four truncated corners in order to tune for different frequencies. Varactor diode is used for switching operation in the proposed antenna. By changing the capacitance of the diode, the antenna can be reconfigured between various frequencies. The proposed antenna has been designed and simulated using Agilent Advanced Design System (ADS) EM simulator. The designed antenna exhibits a continuously tunable band from 1.3 to 1.7 GHz. This proposed antenna gives low return loss at all operating frequencies. The gain achieved by the proposed reconfigurable antenna is 52% more compared to the existing design. Keywords—Square patch, varactor diode, return loss, gain
Response to temperature stress in rhizobia

It is well established that soil is a challenging environment for bacteria, where conditions may change rapidly and bacteria have to acclimate and adapt in order to survive. Rhizobia are an important group of soil bacteria due to their ability to establish atmospheric nitrogen-fixing symbioses with many legume species. Some of these legumes are used to feed either humans or cattle and therefore the use of rhizobia can reduce the need for synthetic N-fertilizers. Several environmental factors shape the composition and the activity of rhizobia populations in the rhizosphere. Soil pH and temperature are often considered to be the major abiotic factors in determining the bacterial community diversity. The present review focuses on the current knowledge on the molecular bases of temperature stress response in rhizobia. The effects of temperature stress in the legume-rhizobia symbioses are also addressed.
Contribution of toxin A and elastase to virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in chronic lung infections of rats

A chronic pulmonary infection model in rats was employed to assess the role of individual Pseudomonas aeruginosa exoproducts in disease due to this organism. Groups of rats were inoculated transtracheally with agar beads in which were embedded approximately 10(4) colony-forming units of P. aerugijnosa PAO and the PAO derivatives PR1, T1, E64, and a mixture of T1 and E64 in equal numbers (10(4)). Eight animals from each group were sacrificed at 3, 9, and 30 days after challenge, and their lungs were examined for histopathological changes, bacterial numbers, and the presence of P. aeruginosa exoproducts. The Tox- mutant T1 and the PR1 mutant, which produces enzymatically inactive toxin A, were both found to be less virulent in the rat lung model than was the toxigenic parental strain PAO. Pathological changes seen in animals infected with these mutants were restricted to intra- and peribronchial inflammation, whereas the toxigenic parental strain caused parenchymal changes, including a dense mononuclear-cell infiltration in the alveolar spaces in addition to intra- and peribronchial inflammation. Additionally, mutant E64, which produces a temperature-sensitive elastase, was also found to be less virulent in the rat lung model than was the parental strain. These data demonstrate that both active toxin A and elastase are required for maximum virulence of P. aeruginosa in this model.
Health Coverage in Kentucky's Community Newspapers: Toward a More Informed Populace

This study explores the role that Kentucky community newspapers play in providing information about health behaviors and their related outcomes. Through content analysis of sixteen newspapers, the researcher examines the amount of health behavior coverage, the most prevalent topics of the articles, and the article sources. The resulting data point to challenges related to 1) a lack of health coverage, 2) a need for better source attribution, and 3) a blurring of the lines between editorial and advertising content. Implications and future research directions are discussed.
An Adaptive Shuttering Scheme for Speed-Artifact-Free Swipe Fingerprint Sensor

This paper proposes an adaptive shuttering scheme to overcome the speed dependent distortion in swipe-type fingerprint sensor. Adaptive shuttering is achieved by displacement measurement based on pattern matching for two line images obtained from two rows of pixels. A compact, low-power pattern matching circuit is proposed as well. The proposed adaptive scheme was adopted to optical swipe-type fingerprint sensor to verify. The sensor was fabricated with 90nm CMOS process. The total area of the prototype sensor is only 3200μm×160μm and consumes 3.2mW. Experimental results demonstrate that the prototype chip produces speed-artifact-free image with 40μm×40μm resolution despite of irregular finger motion.
UbiSoc 2005: first international workshop on social implications of ubiquitous computing

MOTIVATION Over the last few years, ubiquitous computing has shifted more and more out of laboratories and into everyday applications, such as toll ways or navigation systems. Consequently, ubiquitous computing has also entered the conscience of an ever increasing part of the general public, as the latest discussions about consumer privacy with respect to the commercial use of tracking technologies have shown.
Model-driven engineering of supramolecular buffering by multivalency

Significance The ability of chemists to regulate the concentration of molecules is extremely important. However, as reactions are slowly superseded by more complex reaction networks, new ways of regulating molecular concentrations are needed. Recently, we described a system in which the concentration of a monovalent molecule with catalytic activity was buffered over a wide concentration range by its binding to a divalent molecule. Guided by model predictions, we are able to experimentally optimize the system by increasing the valency of the buffer, with even-numbered valencies displaying superior buffering capabilities. These results allow us to understand and gain more control over the activities of molecules in complex molecular systems, thereby obtaining insights into natural systems as well as creating adaptive artificial systems. A supramolecular system in which the concentration of a molecule is buffered over several orders of magnitude is presented. Molecular buffering is achieved as a result of competition in a ring–chain equilibrium of multivalent ureidopyrimidinone monomers and a monovalent naphthyridine molecule which acts as an end-capper. While we previously only considered divalent ureidopyrimidinone monomers we now present a model-driven engineering approach to improve molecular buffering using multivalent ring–chain systems. Our theoretical models reveal an odd–even effect where even-valent molecules show superior buffering capabilities. Furthermore, we predict that supramolecular buffering can be significantly improved using a tetravalent instead of a divalent molecule, since the tetravalent molecule can form two intramolecular rings with different “stabilities” due to statistical effects. Our model predictions are validated against experimental 1H NMR data, demonstrating that model-driven engineering has considerable potential in supramolecular chemistry.
Study of Ultra-shallow Junctions Formed by Flash Lamp Annealing to Reveal Dopant Activation Phenomenon

We studied the characteristics of ultra-shallow junctions (USJ) formed by flash lamp annealing (FLA) to reveal the nature of the dopant activation. A pre-amorphized layer is effective in activating dopants in FLA. End-of-range (EOR) defects remain close to amorphous/crystal (a/c) interface. FLA with low lamp power results in the amorphous layer remaining in the surface. Sb is highly activated, compared to As. These phenomena exhibit a correspondence with the activation during solid-phase epitaxial regrowth (SPER), where dopants are activated in a thermal non-equilibrium condition. Therefore, we conclude that FLA is a form of SPER, employing high temperatures and short (mili-second) times. The high temperature in FLA achieves higher dopant activation than obtained in SPER, whilst eliminating shortcomings found with SPER.
Prevalence of prostatitis-like symptoms in outpatients with four premature ejaculation syndromes: a study in 438 men complaining of ejaculating prematurely.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the incidence of prostatitis-like symptoms (PLS) in men with or without PE, and the differences among the 438 outpatients with the four PE syndromes. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Between January 2012 and January 2013, 438 consecutive heterosexual men complaining of PE and another 493 male healthy subjects without the complaint were included in this study. Each of them completed a detailed face-to-face questionnaire for information of demographics, National Institutes of Health-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI), and International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5). Each patient was classified as one of the four PE subtypes: lifelong PE (LPE), acquired PE (APE), natural variable PE (NVPE), or premature-like ejaculatory dysfunction (PLED). RESULTS There were no significant difference between patients and control subjects regarding demographics. In the PE group, the prevalence of PLS were 32%, showing statistical significance compared with control subjects (15.8%, P<0.001). And the NIH-CPSI score was 10.0±7.9, showing significant difference compared with control subjects (6.0± 5.4, P<0.001). Among the four PE syndromes, patients with PLED had the highest prevalence of PLS (42.3%, P<0.001), but the difference of NIH-CPSI scores among the four PE syndromes was not significant (P=0.055). CONCLUSIONS PLS were more common in patients with PE. Also, patients had worse NIH-CPSI scores than the control subjects. Therefore, patients with PLED had the highest incidence of PLS.
IT strategic alignment maturity and IT governance

Today, IT governance is common because the managers of organizations adopt structures and IT governance frameworks such as COBIT to guide and maintain their organizations business goals. Nevertheless, adopting a governance structure does not mean that the organization has effectively implemented a governance structure aligned with IT, keeping and improving the business. This article, deals with the effect and relation between Business/IT strategic alignment and IT governance (especially IT governance structures). The combination of strategic alignment and IT governance may be an effective strategic initiative allowing organizations to effectively utilize IT and achieve competitive advantage. However, decades of research did not focus on the effects of IT governance on alignment process. On the other hand, present article also examines the relation between the maturity levels of strategic alignment and IT governance. This study has been conducted using the data collected from 124 senior, middle and basic level executives in seven Iranian financial organizations and banks.