Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The decline in business profitability: a disaggregated analysis

The rate of return earned by U.S. businesses has been relatively low for the past several years. The depressed profit rate partly reflects recession or near-recession conditions in the economy over much of the last decade. Some economists have argued, however, that the low profit rate of recent years also reflects a longer run downward trend related to conditions other than the business cycle. Determining the magnitude, duration, and causes of the decline of profitability is important for at least two reasons. First, if the decline is due primarily to cyclical factors, the profit rate could be expected to rebound as the economy recovers from the 1981-82 recession. However, to the extent that declining profit rates are a continuation of longer run trends, a substantial rise in profitability in the near future is much less certain. Second, the desirability and effectiveness of policies to raise the profit rate may depend on the causes and pervasiveness of the decline. One way to analyze the causes of the declining profit rate is to examine its components.
Existence of solutions for a class of semilinear polyharmonic equations with critical exponential growth

The author considers the semilinear elliptic equation (−)mu = g(x, u), subject to Dirichlet boundary conditions u = Du = · · · = Dm−1u = 0, on a bounded domain R2m. The notion of nonlinearity of critical growth for this problem is introduced. It turns out that the critical growth rate is of exponential type and the problem is closely related to the Trudinger embedding and Moser type inequalities. The main result is the existence of non trivial weak solutions to the problem.
Seals, sandeels and salmon : diet of harbour seals in St. Andrews Bay and the Tay Estuary, southeast Scotland

Harbour seal populations have declined by up to 40% around northern and eastern Britain since 2000 due to unknown causes; prey availability is one important factor that could be con- tributing to the decline. We estimate the diet and prey consumption of a population of harbour seals in southeast Scotland, using analysis of hard prey remains recovered from scats, to investigate change in the importance of sandeels over 6 yr spanning the local sandeel fishery closure. The study site includes Special Areas of Conservation for harbour seals as well as vulnerable salmon stocks. We estimate the extent of harbour seal predation on salmon in the area. In St. Andrews Bay, harbour seal diet was heavily dominated by sandeels, especially in winter and spring. Gadoids (whiting, cod) and flatfish (dab, plaice, flounder) were the other main prey. The proportion of sandeels in the diet was remarkably consistent over time (71 to 77%), but the average size of sandeels consumed increased following the closure of the fishery. In the Firth of Tay, sandeels were prevalent in winter, but the diet in the rest of the year was dominated by salmonids: salmon comprised 64% of the diet in summer and sea trout comprised 40% of the diet in autumn. Thus marked differences in diet were evident at a fine spatial scale. The effects of the sandeel fishery closure on harbour seals were equivocal, but harbour seals that haul out in SE Scotland are clearly dependent on sandeels; re-opening the fishery could thus have a negative impact and be inadvisable. We found evidence that local harbour seal predation could be impacting salmon stocks but the high uncertainty in estimates of seal diet and salmon stock size preclude the provision of management advice at this time.
Making Knowledge in Synthetic Biology: Design Meets Kludge

Synthetic biology is an umbrella term that covers a range of aims, approaches, and techniques. They are all brought together by common practices of analogizing, synthesizing, mechanicizing, and kludging. With a focus on kludging as the connection point between biology, engineering, and evolution, I show how synthetic biology’s successes depend on custom-built kludges and a creative, “make-it-work” attitude to the construction of biological systems. Such practices do not fit neatly, however, into synthetic biology’s celebration of rational design. Nor do they straightforwardly embody Richard Feynman’s “last blackboard” statement (1988) that without creating something it cannot be understood. Reflecting further on the relationship between synthetic construction and knowledge making gives philosophy of science new avenues of insight into scientific practice.
Galectin-3: A Heart Failure Biomarker as Sign of Active Coronary Heart Disease

Atherosclerosis is characterized by the accumulation of cholesterol esters, macrophages and fibrous elements on the inner artery wall. This process begins with accumulation of plasma lipoproteins on the inner wall of the artery, which leads to changes in the passage and elasticity of the blood vessels. Monocytes penetrating the arterial wall transforms into macrophages which digest cholesterol and form foam cells which is one of the first steps in atherosclerotic process. Activation of macrophages is affected by galectin-3, a β-galactoside-binding lectin which is also involved in cardiac remodeling. Cardiac matrix remodeling is the ultimate result of macrophages proliferation and chemotaxis, neutrophil extravasation, oxidative stress, apoptosis, angiogenesis, fibroblast proliferation and deposition of collagen. Studies show that elevated levels of galectin 3 within atherosclerotic lesions in humans are closely related to the development of a disease itself. With this review, we want to demonstrate the correlation between galectin-3 which is precipitated in atherosclerotic plaque and has an influence on the development of cardiovascular diseases and its role in the prognosis of recovery in cardiac patients.
FIRST ESTIMATES OF VAQUITA ABUNDANCE

The abundance of the only population of vaquitas, Gulf of California harbor porpoise (Phocoena sinus), is estimated from four surveys conducted in Mexico between 1986 and 1993, using a variety of methods. A line-transect approach was applied, using some parameters estimated from a related species, the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Vaquita abundance is estimated as 503 (CV = 0.63) from 1986-1988 boat surveys, 885 (CV = 0.50) from 19881989 aerial surveys, 572 (CV = 1.43) from a 1991 aerial survey, and 224 (CV = 0.39) from a 1993 ship survey. A weighted log-linear regression in dicates a rate of population change (decline) of - 17.7% per year (95% CI =: -43.2% to +19.3%) between 1986 and 1993. All of these estimates of vaquita abundance indicate that the species is at a critically low level.
Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing Performance: The Mediating Effect of Customer Value and Corporate Image

Although Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Value, Corporate Image and Marketing Performance have become attractive research topics in the business literature, not much is known about their interrelationships. Hence Prior research has examined the relationships within subsets of these concepts. Therefore, this study aims to address this gap by developing a causal model incorporating these concepts to investigate the relationships among them in the context of hospitals. However, main objective of the study is to investigate the mediating effect of Customer Value and Corporate Image on the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing Performance. The proposed model was tested on data were obtain through survey conducted on managers and consultant physicians of private Jordanian hospitals in Amman. A structural equation model analysis was conducted using AMOS 22.0 and PLS 7.0 to verify the reliability and validity of the multi-item scales and to test the hypothesized relationships. However, the results indicate a positive direct effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customer Value, Corporate Image and Marketing Performance. Result also indicates a positive directs effect of Customer Value on Corporate Image as well as Marketing Performance. Findings also indicate that Corporate Image has positive direct effects on Marketing Performance. Furthermore, result indicates a partial mediation effect of corporate image and customer value. However, Findings indicate that Corporate Social Responsibility did enhance hospital performance, yet this effect was direct and indirect . Thus, the result positions customer value and corporate image as the primary mechanism through which the beneficial effects of Corporate Social Responsibility are realized. The study concludes with a discussion of the research and managerial implications of these findings.
Phylogeny, Evolution and Biogeography of Gall-Forming Aphids (Insecta: Homoptera) : A Case Study from the Eriosomatini

Gall-forming aphids are highly specific to their host plants, and speciation in galling aphids has proceeded in association with a single species or species group of host plants (primary host). This study firstly aims to revise the associations between galling aphids and their host plants by focusing on historical changes in the distribution of host plants. Aphids of the Eriosomatinae are typically associated with the primary and secondary host plants and alternate host plants seasonally, with sexual reproduction on the primary host plant. However, some species are not host-alternating and are wholly parthenogenetic on the secondary host plant. This study secondly aims to test the possibility of long-term persistence of an aphid species by means of parthenogenesis (relict hypothesis). The eriosomatine genus Colopha is a small aphid group represented by three sexual and three asexual species. The sexual species are associated with two Ulmus sister species distributed disjunctly in Europe and eastern North America. In East Asia, an asexual species, Colopha kansugei, is distributed widely on the secondary host. This study tested whether the relict hypothesis is applicable to C. kansugei by comparing DNA sequences. A high rate of substitution (3.4% at the maximum) was found in the mitochondrial COI sequence between local populations. Available evidence suggests that Colopha kansugei has persisted on the secondary host plant through parthenogenesis, probably following the local extinction of the primary host. Use of molecular techniques might possibly detect much more ancient species among parthenogenetic aphids with disjunct distributions.
Optimal Malicious Agreement in a Virtual Subnet-based Cloud Computing Environment

Fault-tolerance is an important research topic in the context of distributed systems. In a distributed system, the cooperative tasks must achieve agreement before performing certain tasks. Nowadays, there are a lot of application services on the cloud computing environment. However, mobile cloud computing is widely accepted as a concept which can significantly improve a user’s experience when accessing mobile services. The Byzantine agreement (BA) problem is a fundamental problem in fault-tolerance with regard to distributed systems. In previous studies, the BA algorithm is designed using traditional network topology. However, these do not perform well in the context of mobile cloud computing. In order to increase the capability of faulty tolerance and ensure network security, it is necessary to provide a stable mobile cloud service environment. To enhance the reliability of a virtual subnet-based cloud computing environment, a new protocol known as an optimal malicious agreement (OMA) is proposed to solve the BA problem in this study. OMA uses the minimum number of message exchanges to make all correct nodes agree on a common value and can tolerate the maximum number of faulty components. Keywords-Byzantine Agreement; Fault tolerant; Distributed system; Mobile cloud-computing; Virtual subnet
Numerical derivation of the drag force coefficient in bubble swarms using a front tracking model

Dispersed gas-liquid flows are often encountered in the chemical process industry. Large scale models which describe the overall behavior of these flows use closure relations to account for the interactions between the phases, such as the drag, lift and virtual mass forces. The closure relations for the drag force on a single rising bubble in an infinite quiescent liquid has been studied in great detail, both by dedicated experiments and detailed numerical simulations. However, the effect of neighboring bubbles on the drag coefficient experienced by a bubble in a bubble swarm is much less studied, despite its strong influence on the hydrodynamics and mass and heat transfer. It is very difficult to measure the drag coefficient on a bubble in a bubble swarm, especially at high gas hold-ups, a.o. because of lack of visual accessibility. Detailed information on the drag force in bubble swarms can however be obtained using Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS). In this work, a fully resolved 3D Front Tracking model (Van Sint Annaland et al., 2006) is used to derive closures for the drag coefficient in mono-disperse bubble swarms, extending the work by Dijkhuizen et al. (2005) on the drag coefficient on a bubble rising in an initially quiescent liquid. First, it was found that for bubble swarms in relatively viscous liquids, a single bubble in a domain with periodic boundary conditions in all three directions can accurately mimic an infinite swarm of equally sized bubbles. The time averaged drag force coefficient on a single bubble in a periodic domain (mimicking a structured array of bubbles) was equal to the time and number averaged drag force coefficient in case several bubbles were positioned in a periodic domain (mimicking a random array of bubbles). For less viscous liquids, such as water, simulations with several bubbles in a periodic domain are required to accurately determine the drag force coefficient. Front Tracking simulations have been performed for air bubble swarms in two different liquids: a water/glycerol mixture with a viscosity of 0.10 Pa·s, and water, where the bubble size and void fraction (up to 15%) were varied. In all cases studied, hindered rise was found (i.e. a higher drag force coefficient of a bubble in a bubble swarm in comparison with the drag force on a single bubble), explained by the increased liquid flow in between the bubbles (see Fig. 1). For bubbles with a larger diameter, the relative increase in experienced drag was lower, which is caused by bubble shape deformation: larger bubbles become more spherical, when they rise in a swarm.
Numerical Reconstruction of the Covariance Matrix of a Spherically Truncated Multinormal Distribution

We relate the matrix of the second moments of a spherically truncated normal multivariate to its full covariance matrix and present an algorithm to invert the relation and reconstruct from . While the eigenvectors of are left invariant by the truncation, its eigenvalues are nonuniformly damped. We show that the eigenvalues of can be reconstructed from their truncated counterparts via a fixed point iteration, whose convergence we prove analytically. The procedure requires the computation of multidimensional Gaussian integrals over an Euclidean ball, for which we extend a numerical technique, originally proposed by Ruben in 1962, based on a series expansion in chi-square distributions. In order to study the feasibility of our approach, we examine the convergence rate of some iterative schemes on suitably chosen ensembles of Wishart matrices. We finally discuss the practical difficulties arising in sample space and outline a regularization of the problem based on perturbation theory.
Étude par microscopie à force atomique en trois dimensions de l’évolution de la rugosité de bord de ligne lors de la fabrication d’une grille de transistor MOS

Ce travail de these s'inscrit dans le contexte de miniaturisation des transistors MOS afin de mener la technologie CMOS a ces dimensions ultimes. Avec les techniques actuelles de fabrication et pour des longueurs de grille de transistor inferieures a 30nm, les variations moyennes de la longueur de grille, appelees rugosite de bord, entrainent des fluctuations electriques dans le transistor inacceptables pour le bon fonctionnement des futures generations de dispositifs. Il convient donc de controler ce parametre afin de le reduire. Pour reussir ce defi technologique, il est essentiel de le mesurer avec precision afin, par la suite, de comprendre ses origines et son evolution apres chaque etape technologique de fabrication. Dans un premier temps, nous nous sommes interesses a la mesure la rugosite de bord, a l'aide d'un nouvel equipement de metrologie : le microscope a force atomique en trois dimensions. Nous avons evalue les capacites de cet outil et determine un protocole de mesure de la rugosite de bord, qui nous a permis ensuite d'etudier ses origines et d'etudier son evolution lors des differentes etapes technologiques de fabrication d'une grille de transistors MOS. Nous avons remarque que la formation de la rugosite de bord est un probleme complexe qui fait intervenir de nombreux facteurs fortement lies entre eux. Par la suite, nous montrons que le bombardement ionique d'un procede de gravure plasma est responsable de la diminution de la rugosite de bord de la resine. Nous avons egalement mis en evidence que la rugosite de bord du masque avant la gravure de la grille est un parametre cle pour le controle de la rugosite de la grille finale.
VALUE OF FECAL CALPROTECTIN AS A NON-INVASIVE MARKER DIFFERENTIATING ORGANIC FROM FUNCTIONAL BOWEL DISEASES Clinical and histopathological study

Background: Bowel diseases are very common, most of them are functional not organic in nature but clinicians suffer a lot in differentiating between the two categories especially the management is completely different. The symptoms of functional bowel diseases can be very similar to organic inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis. In many cases the definitive diagnosis needs invasive procedures including lower colonoscopy and biopsy for histopathological documentation. Aim of the work: To evaluate the clinical value of fecal calprotectin as a non invasive marker differentiating organic from functional bowel diseases in correlation with endoscopic and histopathological examinations. Subjects and methods: The study included 40 patients, selected to represent 2 groups: group (I) included 20 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) proved by colonoscopy and histopathology who further subdivided into sub-groups according to activity and site of involvement; and group (II) included 20 patients who had symptoms suggestive of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and in whom colonoscopy was found to be normal served as control. All participants were subjected to thorough history taking, physical examination and routine laboratory investigations. Calprotectin in feces was measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Fecal calprotectin concentration in the patients with UC was significantly higher than in patients with IBS (Mean values ± SD; 201.7 ± 46.7 μg/g vs, 22.3 ± 10.1 μg/g, P < 0.01). A significant difference was also found in the patients with active UC in comparison to UC patients without sign of activity (Mean values ± SD; 220.2 ± 31.1 μg/g vs, 167.3 ± 23.9 μg/g, P<0.05). The sensitivity of fecal calprotectin at cut off value 195.5 μg/g; as activity marker of UC was 82.2 % while its specificity was 85.7 %. , Positive predictive value was 90.1% and negative predictive was 66.6%. Conclusion: Fecal calprotectin can differentiate with great acceptance between organic and functional bowel diseases and can be used as a rational fecal marker for intestinal inflammation in clinical practice. This kind of marker is relatively precise, simple and noninvasive and could give a crude idea about the activity of the lesions. Key words: Fecal calprotectin; Ulcerative colitis; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Creep Behavior of Thick and Thin Walled Structures of a Single Crystal Nickel-Base Superalloy at High Temperatures - Experimental Method and Results

Creep behavior of the single crystal nickel-base superalloy Rene N5 is investigated as a function of material thickness. The results point out that reducing the thickness from 1.0 to 0.2 mm leads to both shorter creep lives and much higher overall creep strain rates of thin specimens. The orientation of the specimen is an important factor too but has a weaker influence on creep behavior under the given test conditions than the specimen thickness.
Étude comparée de la biodisponibilité et de la valeur nutritionnelle des triacylglycérols des lipides de l’athérure africain (Atherurus africanus) et du céphalophe bleu (Cephalophus monticola)

La composition en tri-acylglycerols des lipides d’atherure africain et du cephalophe bleu a ete determinee. Une biodisponibilite des acides gras constitues par les Sn-2- monoacylglycerols, obtenus a partir des isomeres issus des triacylglycerols totaux provenant de l’analyse chromatographique par HPLC des lipides de ces deux especes animales, a ete envisagee afin d’en degager la valeur nutritionnelle. Il ressort de ce travail que les lipides de la viande de l’atherure africain fournissent a l’organisme plus d’acide linoleique suivi de l’acide oleique ; tandis que ceux du cephalophe bleu fournissent plus l’acide oleique suivi de l’acide linoleique. Les acides palmitique et stearique dans les deux cas ne sont fournis qu’en tres faible quantite. De ce fait, sur le plan lipidique, la viande de l’atherure africain et celle du cephalophe seraient tres energetiques et fournisseuses des acides gras polyinsatures de la serie n-6. Par consequent, elles n’auraient aucun effet deletere chez les consommateurs.
Technical Efficiency Analytics for the Public Banks in Argentina

In a context in which the competitive landscape of the Argentinian banking industry continues to mature as a result of phenomena such as globalization, modification of regulations, new technologies, and mergers and acquisitions, the quest for higher revenues has never been more stringent. It becomes relevant, therefore, to perform systematic benchmarking through the measurement of the efficiency of the banks. The present research paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to rank the Argentinian public banks based on their performance over 17 years, between 1998 and 2014. The results reveal that 1999 and 2002 were “black years” for the public banking sector, years during which the country registered political and economic and financial crises, respectively. Furthermore, the trend analysis shows that the Argentinian public banks are converging towards better consistency in their performance over the years. It is hoped that the present paper will provide the concerned authorities a ground to assess the health of the individual public banks.