Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measuring Abnormal Performance in Event Studies: An Application with Bonus Issue Announcements in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE)

This paper examines the stock price performance on and around bonus issue announcements in CSE over the period 1991 to 2007 using three return generating models; Market Adjusted, Constant Mean Adjusted and Risk Adjusted, with the intention of providing a methodological triangulation in the context of event studies. Despite the mere ceremonial nature of bonus issues, all three models suggest that the market responds significantly on bonus issues with a large price appreciation on the announcement day itself. Positive sentiments start well prior to the event and continue up to about further 6 market days creating both statistically and financially significant arbitrage opportunities. In compression to the other two models, abnormal returns calculated with the Market Adjusted Model are somewhat inflated probably due to the fact that stocks go on bonus issues are the stocks already performed well compared to the market for a reasonable period. Despite the marginal bias of the event towards the Market Adjusted Model, findings based on all three models almost lead to the same conclusion
The Seed Repair Response during Germination: Disclosing Correlations between DNA Repair, Antioxidant Response, and Chromatin Remodeling in Medicago truncatula

This work provides novel insights into the effects caused by the histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) during Medicago truncatula seed germination, with emphasis on the seed repair response. Seeds treated with H2O and TSA (10 and 20 μM) were collected during imbibition (8 h) and at the radicle protrusion phase. Biometric data showed delayed germination and impaired seedling growth in TSA-treated samples. Comet assay, performed on radicles at the protrusion phase and 4-days old M. truncatula seedlings, revealed accumulation of DNA strand breaks upon exposure to TSA. Activation of DNA repair toward TSA-mediated genotoxic damage was evidenced by the up-regulation of MtOGG1(8-OXOGUANINE GLYCOSYLASE/LYASE) gene involved in the removal of oxidative DNA lesions, MtLIGIV(LIGASE IV) gene, a key determinant of seed quality, required for the rejoining of DNA double strand breaks and TDP(TYROSYL-DNA PHOSPHODIESTERASE) genes encoding the multipurpose DNA repair enzymes tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterases. Since radical scavenging can prevent DNA damage, the specific antioxidant activity (SAA) was measured by DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) and Folin-Ciocalteu reagent assays. Fluctuations of SAA were observed in TSA-treated seeds/seedlings concomitant with the up-regulation of antioxidant genes MtSOD(SUPEROXIDE DISMUTASE, MtAPX(ASCORBATE PEROXIDASE) and MtMT2(TYPE 2 METALLOTHIONEIN). Chromatin remodeling, required to facilitate the access of DNA repair enzymes at the damaged sites, is also part of the multifaceted seed repair response. To address this aspect, still poorly explored in plants, the MtTRRAP(TRANSFORMATION/TRANSACTIVATION DOMAIN-ASSOCIATED PROTEIN) gene was analyzed. TRRAP is a transcriptional adaptor, so far characterized only in human cells where it is needed for the recruitment of histone acetyltransferase complexes to chromatin during DNA repair. The MtTRRAP gene and the predicted interacting partners MtHAM2 (HISTONE ACETYLTRANSFERASE OF THE MYST FAMILY) and MtADA2A (TRANSCRIPTIONAL ADAPTOR) showed tissue- and dose-dependent fluctuations in transcript levels. PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and correlation analyses suggest for a new putative link between DNA repair and chromatin remodeling that involves MtOGG1 and MtTRRAP genes, in the context of seed germination. Interesting correlations also connect DNA repair and chromatin remodeling with antioxidant players and proliferation markers.
The Formation of Cooperative Relationships

This article investigates how individuals forge and maintain cooperative relationships when there is always the possibility of starting again with a new partner. The analysis shows that an ever-present opportunity to form new relationships need not destroy cooperation. Simple strategies achieve the (constrained) optimal level of cooperation. These strategies involve a "bond" in the form of reduced utility at the beginning of a relationship. Two newly matched agents may have an incentive to forgo paying this bond, given that everyone else in the population requires payment of a bond to start a new relationship. This incentive disappears, however, if there is enough initial uncertainty about a new partner's valuation of future utility. Accounts from the sociological and anthropological literature indicate that individuals may indeed pay bonds to form cooperative relationships. Copyright 1996 by Oxford University Press.
Characterization of the attachment of Treponema pallidum (Nichols strain) to cultured mammalian cells and the potential relationship of attachment to pathogenicity

The interaction of Treponema pallidum (Nichols strain) with 19 different cultured mammalian cell types was examined. These types included cells derived from testis, kidney, spleen, lung, epidermis, cervix, urethra, and nerve tissue of human, rabbit, or rat origins. They represented normal and malignant cells, epithelial and fibroblastic morphology, cell lines, and cell strains, Large numbers of organisms attached to the cultured cells; this attachment prolonged the time of retention of active treponemal motility. Attachment was examined in terms of the number of treponemes inoculated, cultured cells present, and actively growing versus stationary cultured cells; the motility of the treponemes; the viability of the cultured cells; and the different cell passages. In sharp contrast to the attachment of T. pallidum, 11 nonpathogenic treponemes failed to attach to cultured cells. Immune syphilitic rabbit serum prevented the attachment of T. pallidum to cultured cells, as indicated by phase contrast microscopy and rabbit inoculations. This blockage of attachment by immune serum occurred without interfering with active motility of the organisms. Results are discussed in terms of the potential relationship of attachment to the pathogenicity of T pallidum.
The Impact of Age on Utilization of Intensive Care Resources

The impact of age on admission practices and pattern of care were examined in 599 admissions to a medical intensive care unit (MICU) and 290 patients on the conventional medical care divisions of the same hospital. Four age groups were compared: under 55, 55 to 64, 65 to 74, and 75 years of age and over. Severity of illness and prior health were assessed using the Acute Physiology Score (APS) and the Chronic Health Evaluation (CHE) instruments. Resource utilization was assessed using the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS) and hospital charges.
Infection with multi-resistant agents in the ICU: how to escape?

Infecções causadas por patógenos potencialmente resistentes são um problema crescente e as unidades de cuidado intensivo (UTIs) constituem o carro-chefe na prevalência deste tipo de infecção no sistema hospitalar, seja pela complexidade dos pacientes críticos ou pelo alto consumo de antimicrobianos nestas unidades. (1,2) Mais de 70% dos pacientes críticamente doentes internados em UTIs receberão algum antimicrobiano durante seu período de permanencia. (1) Além disso, as infecções tem um peso importante na morbi-mortalidade dentro das unidades, e a prevalencia de infecções causadas por patógenos cujo tratamento é cada vez mais complexo tem aumentado progressivamente ao longo dos últimos anos. (1-3) Somado a isso existe o fato de os microorganismos multirresistentes, mesmo sendo um problema de âmbito mundial, apresentarem comportamento distinto quanto aos mecanismos de resistência e padrões de sensibilidade nas diversas regiões do mundo, di! cultando generalizações. (4) A emergência de resistência tem se tornado um desa! o no sistema hospitalar nos últimos anos. (2) A exposição aos antimicrobianos e, consequentemente, seu uso inadequado, se constitui no principal fator associado ao risco de desenvolvimento de resistência. Dentro deste cenário, os principais patógenos associados a infecção nosocomial e que, ao mesmo tempo, representam os maiores riscos em relação a padrões de resistência que limitem nossas alternativas terapêuticas, foram agrupados em um acrônimo e são conhecidos como patógenos ESKAPE (Quadro 1). (2) Apesar de não compartilharem os mesmos mecanismos de indução de resistência, todos tem em comum uma prevalência que vem crescendo progressivamente em virtude da pressão seletiva exercida pelas políticas (ou ausência delas) de uso de antimicrobianos, principalmente nas UTIs. Por outro lado, o desenvolvimento de novas drogas que pudessem ampliar nosso arsenal terapêutico, minimizando assim o impacto clínico do aumento da resistência, é extremamente restrito, não havendo neste momento drogas em desenvolvimento para a maioria dos patógenos incluídos no conceito ESKAPE, especialmente gram-negativos. (5)
Elevated Plasma Factor IXa Activity in Premenopausal Women on Hormonal Contraception

Objective— Combined oral contraceptives induce a reversible hypercoagulable state with an enhanced risk of venous thromboembolism, but the underlying mechanism(s) remain unclear. Subjects on combined oral contraceptives also demonstrate a characteristic resistance to APC (activated protein C) in the thrombin generation assay. Here, we report the potential role of plasma factor IXa (FIXa) as a mechanism for hormone-induced systemic hypercoagulability. Approach and Results— A novel assay was used to determine FIXa activity in plasma samples from volunteer blood donors. Plasma from 36 premenopausal females on hormonal contraception and 35 not on hormonal contraception, 35 postmenopausal females, and 10 males were analyzed for FIXa activity, total PS (protein S), total tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), and TFPI-&agr; antigen. Premenopausal females on hormonal contraception demonstrated significantly increased FIXa activity and decreased TFPI-&agr; compared with the other groups. Remarkably, FIXa values were not normally distributed in the hormonal contraception group, but skewed toward the high end. Plasma FIXa activity inversely correlated with both TFPI-&agr; and total PS antigen. Ex vivo determination of TF-dependent FIX activation in FV-deficient plasma demonstrated that inhibitory anti-TFPI antibodies enhanced FIXa generation by 2- to 3-fold, whereas addition of 75 nmol/L PS reduced FIXa generation by ≈2-fold. Further, increasing FIXa concentration enhanced APC resistance during TF-triggered plasma thrombin generation. Conclusions— Elevation of plasma FIXa activity in association with reductions in TFPI-&agr; and PS is a potential mechanism for systemic hypercoagulability and resistance to APC in premenopausal females on hormonal contraception.
Alterations in white matter pathways in Angelman syndrome

Aim Angelman syndrome is a neurogenetic disorder characterized by severe intellectual disability, absent speech, seizures, and outbursts of laughter. The aim of this study was to utilize diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to examine alterations in white matter pathways in Angelman syndrome, with an emphasis on correlations with clinical severity.
The pros and cons of inclusive education from the perceptions of teachers in the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates has always been keen to integrate students with special needs in mainstream classrooms. This study explores teachers’ attitudes toward the inclusion of children with disabilities in the UAE mainstream schools. It also provides a basic background about the present types of programs and services offered within the UAE schools with respect to individuals with special needs. The main findings of this study which targeted 56 teachers who are involved in teaching students with disabilities in UAE private and public inclusive schools indicated that the participating teachers agreed in principle with the goals of inclusion, however, they were generally unsatisfied about the current practices of inclusion in their schools. These teachers reported that their schools have insufficient allowance for special equipment, resources and services; a limited number of certified special education personnel; a lack of proper training for teachers in mainstream classrooms, and a lack of clear guiding policies available in schools to deal with inclusion issues, even the senior-level administrators are not sufficiently knowledgeable with inclusion practices. Further, these teachers expressed common concerns such as teachers’ time taken away from the rest of the students, class size, and safety of children with special needs. Such teachers’ concerns might be justified as inclusion is relatively a new educational philosophy practiced in the country.
Comparison of the Efficacy and Safety of Morphine and Fentanyl as Adjuvants to Bupivacaine in Providing Operative Anesthesia and Postoperative Analgesia in Subumblical Surgeries Using Combined Spinal Epidural Technique

Introduction: The combined spinal epidural (CSE) technique involves intentional subarachnoid blockade and epidural catheter placement during the same procedure to combine their individual best features, to reduce the total drug dosage and avoid their respective disadvantages. The addition of opioids to local anesthetics (bupivacaine) for CSE anesthesia (CSEA) is increasingly common to enhance the block. Neuraxial fentanyl is more potent and has shorter duration of action than morphine which provides prolonged anesthesia and analgesia, however at the cost of increased incidence of adverse effects like delayed respiratory depression. Aims and Objectives: The aim is to compare the efficacy and safety of morphine and fentanyl as adjuvants to bupivacaine in subumblical surgeries using CSE technique. The characteristics of sensory and motor block, intergroup variations in pain, cardiorespiratory parameters, and adverse effects were compared between the two groups. Materials and Methods: A total of 60 patients belonging to physical status American Society of Anesthesiologists Classes I and II, aged 18–60 years were randomized into two groups: Group A (n = 30) received intrathecal 0.5% heavy bupivacaine 12.5 mg and morphine 2.85 μg/kg; Epidural Anesthetic bolus (when required/T11Regression) 8 ml 0.25% isobaric bupivacaine and 0.04 mg/kg morphine; Epidural Analgesic bolus (postoperative visual analog scale [VAS] score >30) 5 ml 0.125% isobaric bupivacaine and 0.04 mg/kg morphine and Group B (n = 30) received intrathecal 0.5% heavy bupivacaine 12.5 mg and fentanyl 0.35 μg/kg; Epidural Anesthetic bolus (when required/T11Regression) 8 ml 0.25% isobaric bupivacaine and 0.7 μg/kg fentanyl; Epidural Analgesic bolus (postoperative VAS score >30) 5 ml 0.125% isobaric bupivacaine and 0.7 μg/kg fentanyl. Results and Conclusion: Group A had significantly prolonged two segment regression time, T11 regression time, lower mean VAS score, prolonged effective analgesia, and required lesser number of epidural boluses in 24 h as compared to Group B (P < 0.001). There were no significant differences between the groups considering onset of sensory block, duration of motor block, median maximum sensory block level achieved after spinal component (T6), median highest sensory block level achieved after epidural anesthetic bolus (T7-4seg enhancement after regression to T11), cardiorespiratory parameters and adverse effects. None of the patients had respiratory depression nor was there any failure of spinal/epidural component of CSEA. Thus, addition of morphine to bupivacaine in CSEA produced prolonged effective anesthesia and postoperative analgesia compared to addition of fentanyl to bupivacaine without producing undue adverse effects.
The graduates : low-income central Texas students' transitions to college and work in the great recession

The Graduates: Low-Income Central Texas Students’ Transitions to College and Work in the Great Recession Alejandra Teresa Cerna Ríos, M.P.Aff. , M.S.S.W. The University of Texas at Austin, 2014 Supervisor: Edwin Dorn This report explores the extent, trends, and consequences of academic undermatch, defined as students enrolling at an institution of relatively less selectivity than what their academic qualifications grant them access to, including non-enrollment. Using a sample of two cohorts of Central Texas high school graduates, this report finds that undermatch occurs among all students, but that it was more extensive for low-income students and among students with average qualification levels. Low-income students were found to undermatchmatch at 65.1 percent and non low-income students at 53.9 percent of those who enroll. Between 2008 and 2009, undermatch increased among all students; among the highest qualified low-income students it increased by 10 percentage points. The majority of undermatched students were found to be enrolled at two-year over four-year institutions. A negative relationship between qualification level and annual earnings was found in the earnings of students who did not enroll. This report provides a set of recommendations to address undermatch and college access among low-income students in Central Texas.
Semantic Segmentation of Aerial Images With Shuffling Convolutional Neural Networks

Semantic segmentation of aerial images refers to assigning one land cover category to each pixel. This is a challenging task due to the great differences in the appearances of ground objects. Many attempts have been made during the past decades. In recent years, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been introduced in the remote sensing field, and various solutions have been proposed to realize dense semantic labeling with CNNs. In this letter, we propose shuffling CNNs to realize semantic segmentation of aerial images in a periodic shuffling manner. This approach is a supplement to current methods for semantic segmentation of aerial images. We propose a naive version and a deeper version of this method, and both are adept at detecting small objects. Additionally, we propose a method called field-of-view (FoV) enhancement that can enhance the predictions. This method can be applied to various networks, and our experiments verify its effectiveness. The final results are further improved through an ensemble method that averages the score maps generated by the models at different checkpoints of the same network. We evaluate our models using the ISPRS Vaihingen and Potsdam data sets, and we acquire promising results using these two data sets.
Tissue Doppler imaging assessment of long axis left ventricular function in hypertensive patients with concentric left ventricular hypertrophy: differential diagnosis with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND The differential diagnosis between hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and hypertensive heart disease has clinical, therapeutic and prognostic implications, but is not always easy with conventional echocardiography. Tissue Doppler imaging of the mitral annulus allows the detailed study of long axis left ventricular function in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and may be useful in the differential diagnosis. METHODS 23 patients with non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and 25 hypertensive patients with concentric left ventricular hypertrophy with similar age, body surface and heart rate were studied with pulsed tissue Doppler imaging of the 4 sides of the mitral annulus (septal, lateral, inferior, anterior) in 4 and 2 chamber views. In each wave (systolic-s, rapid filling-e, atrial contraction-a) we analyzed velocities, time intervals and velocity-time integrals, as well as heterogeneity and asynchrony. Data were compared among the different sides in each group, between groups and with conventional Doppler data. RESULTS In contrast to hypertensive patients, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients showed: 1--Systolic function: lower "s" wave velocities and integrals, higher systolic heterogeneity, longer isovolumic relaxation time and higher PEP/LVET (pre ejection period/left ventricular ejection time). 2--Diastolic function: lower "e" and "a" wave, higher "a" and "e/a" heterogeneity index, higher percentage of annular sides with e/a > or = l, longer isovolumic relaxation time and time to peak e, and higher diastolic asynchrony. Some of these abnormalities occurred in annular sides adjacent to non-hypertrophied walls. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that: 1--Long axis systolic and diastolic left ventricular function are significantly different between hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients and hypertensive patients with concentric left ventricular hypertrophy. 2--These functional differences occur in the velocity domain (with heterogeneity), in the time domain (with asynchrony) and also in velocity time integrals. 3--Long axis systolic and diastolic dysfunction occur in annular sides contiguous to hypertrophied and non-hypertrophied walls, enhancing the role of tissue Doppler imaging in the differential diagnosis between these diseases.
Spectral diagnosis of plasma jet at atmospheric pressure

A new approach to surface modification of materials using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma jet at atmospheric pressure is presented in this paper. The emission spectral lines of argon plasma jet at atmospheric pressure were recorded by the grating spectrograph HR2000 and computer software. The argon plasma emission spectra, whose range is from 300nm to 1000nm, were measured at different applied voltage. Comparing to air plasma emission spectra under the same circumstance, it is shown that all of the spectral lines are attributed to neutral argon atoms. The spectral line 763.51mn and 772.42nm are chosen to estimate the electron excitation temperature. The purpose of the study is to research the relationship between the applied voltage and temperature to control the process of materials' surface modification promptly. The results show that electron excitation temperature is in the range of 0.1eV-0.5eV and it increases with increasing applied voltage. In the process of surface modification under the plasma jet, the infrared radiation thermometer was used to measure the material surface temperature under the plasma jet. The results show that the material surface temperature is in the range of 50~100 degrees centigrade and it also increases with increasing applied voltage. Because the material surface was under the plasma jet and its temperature was decided by the plasma, the material surface temperature increases with increasing the macro-temperature of plasma jet, the relationship of the surface temperature and applied voltage indicates the relationship of the macro-temperature of the plasma jet and the applied voltage approximately. The experimental results indicate that DBD plasma jet at atmospheric pressure is a new approach to improve the quality of materials' surface modification, and spectral diagnose is proved to be a kind of workable method by choosing suitable applied voltage.