Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of hemi-castration on testicular growth and seminal characteristics of Iraqi male goats.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of hemi-castration on testicular size and semen characteristics of Iraqi local bucks. Eighteen adult bucks aged 1.5-2.5 years, weighing 36.9-43.7 kg were used. Animals were randomly divided into three groups (6 in each); groups 1 control group. Animals in groups 2 and 3 were subjected to hemi-castration in left and right testicles, respectively. Testicular circumference was measured two weeks before hemi-castration and ten weeks after. Semen samples were collected using electro-ejaculator two weeks after hemi-castration. Volume, color, mass motility, individual motility, percentage of live sperm, percentage of abnormal sperm and sperm concentration were analyzed immediately after collection. Results of the present study showed a significant (P<0.05) increase in testicular circumference after hemi-castration. Testicular circumference in left hemi-castration was higher than that in right hemi-castration. Result also showed a significant (P<0.05) increase in semen volume, mass motility individual motility and percentage of live sperm in semen of animal without any differences between left and right hemi-castrated animals comparing with control groups. The study concluded that hemi-castration leading to improve semen characteristics due to compensatory mechanism of the remaining testis.
On the Simplification of Statistical Mechanics for Space Plasmas

Space plasmas are frequently described by kappa distributions. Non-extensive statistical mechanics involves the maximization of the Tsallis entropic form under the constraints of canonical ensemble, considering also a dyadic formalism between the ordinary and escort probability distributions. This paper addresses the statistical origin of kappa distributions, and shows that they can be connected with non-extensive statistical mechanics without considering the dyadic formalism of ordinary/escort distributions. While this concept does significantly simplify the usage of the theory, it costs the definition of a dyadic entropic formulation, in order to preserve the consistency between statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. Therefore, the simplification of the theory by means of avoiding dyadic formalism is impossible within the framework of non-extensive statistical mechanics.
Resection of glioma in an fMRI-defined “split” Broca’s area

Gross total resection of gliomas can be limited by the involvement of tumor in eloquent areas. Moreover, lesions can impart cortical reorganization and make the precise determination of hemispheric dominance and localization of language function even more difficult. Preoperative mapping with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), intraoperative imaging modalities, and intraoperative direct cortical stimulation enable surgeons to map the functional topography of the brain in relation to the tumor and perform a safe maximal resection. In this report, we present a patient with left frontal glioma of complex morphology, wherein the tumor was enveloped by Broca’s area on fMRI. Intraoperative mapping and intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) allowed gross total resection of the tumor with preservation of language function and illustrate the utility of multiple contemporary modalities in the surgical management of low-grade gliomas located in eloquent cortices.
Visibility Sampling on GPU and Applications

In this paper, we show how recent GPUs can be used to very efficiently and conveniently sample the visibility between two surfaces, given a set of occluding triangles. We use bitwise arithmetics to evaluate, encode, and combine the samples blocked by each triangle. In particular, the number of operations is almost independent of the number of samples. Our method requires no CPU/GPU transfers, is fully implemented as geometric, vertex and fragment shaders, and thus does not impose to modify the way the geometry is sent to the graphics card. We finally present applications to soft shadows, and visibility analysis for level design.
Privacy Leakage in Fitness Equipment Communication

The technology is constantly evolving with use of personal data as a central component of new applications and services. At the same time, physical activity has become an important part of the modern society. This has led to an increased use of wearable fitness devices, as a common accessory for both professional athletes and regular people. These devices help people track their health and activity progression, as well as it serves as a motivational factor. The wearable fitness devices are usually connected to a smartphone through an application provided by the manufacturer. Through these apps, a user can review historical activity data and plan future sessions. The data is also often made available through the manufacturer’s website, but this requires login. When using these devices and services, one may ask whether users accept the terms of use without knowing the details of how the personal information is handled. This thesis investigates privacy leakage by identifying where data is shared from the applications to other destinations on the Internet. It also examines the active tracking mechanisms used on the manufacturer’s websites. The study evaluates three major manufacturers of wearable fitness devices. The test results are discussed with respect to the privacy policies of the companies. I have defined the following research questions for the thesis: 1. Is the information provided by the manufacturers sufficient for the users to fully understand the extent of the data sharing? 2. Are there any undisclosed parties that receive information about the users? 3. What incentives do the manufacturers have for collecting user data? 4. How is the distribution of responsibility for handling the personal data in question? The result shows that multiple third parties receives data from both the applications and the websites. Further, their privacy policies do not give sufficient information about who is receiving the data or for what purpose. In general, the policies are vague and hard to understand for a regular user. This shows that there is a need for better regulation in the future, to ensure that all parties responsible for processing of personal data are forced to improve their operations.
Characterizing the Asymmetric Dependence Premium

We examine the price of asymmetric dependence (AD) in the cross section of US equities. Using a β-invariant AD metric, we demonstrate that the return premium for AD is approximately 47% of the premium for β. The premium for lower-tail AD is equivalent to 26% of the market risk premium and has been relatively constant through time. The discount associated with upper-tail AD is 29% of the market risk premium and has been increasing markedly in recent years. Our findings have substantial implications for the cost of capital, investor expectations, portfolio management, and performance assessment.
Cognitive decline in early Parkinson's disease

Data on the prevalence and severity of cognitive impairment among patients with newly diagnosed idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) is limited. Using a prospectively collected clinical database, we studied the longitudinal trend of mini‐mental state examination (MMSE) change and baseline factors predictive for MMSE decline. One hundred six patients with mean age of 61.2 years and mean baseline MMSE of 27.8 ± 2.3 were studied. MMSE increased by 0.4 points/year among patients without cognitive decline (n = 73) and decreased by 2.39 points/year among patients with cognitive decline (n = 33). Univariate analysis demonstrated education, age of diagnosis, depression, and diabetes mellitus to be associated with cognitive decline. Motor scores and hallucination were not associated with cognitive decline. Multivariate analysis demonstrated higher level of education to be protective (HR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.82–0.99, P = 0.047) and depression having borderline significance in predicting cognitive decline (HR = 2.00, 95% CI 0.97–4.15, P = 0.061). We found that 31% of newly diagnosed idiopathic PD patients have measurable cognitive decline at an early stage of disease. Higher education is protective while depression may be predictive of cognitive decline. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society
An Efficiency Comparison of Regional Employment Offices Operating under Different Exogenous Conditions

SummaryThis paper investigates the technical efficiency differences of a sample of regional employment offices (REOs) across Swiss cantons. Regular job-search assistance, registration and matching of unemployed workers with job vacancies performed by employment offices are all important active labour market policies (ALMPs) which are often ignored in the literature evaluating the impact of active measures. The analysis is carried out by means of a stochastic production frontier model estimated on a panel of employment offices observed over the period between November 2000 and December 2001. The results show that the specific exogenous conditions exercise influence over the technical efficiency of each employment office. Even though these conditions affect significantly the relative performance of regional employment offices, the managerial efficiency component does remain important. Finally, the job placement process is characterised by decreasing returns to scale.
KWAZO, a new instrument to assess the quality of service delivery in assistive technology provision

Purpose. Currently no well validated instrument exists to assess the quality of the assistive technology delivery from the client's perspective. An instrument was developed called KWAZO, consisting of seven questions related to accessibility, knowledge, coordination, efficiency, flexibility and influence of the user. KWAZO, meaning “quality of care”, can be completed by the clients without any assistance. In this study, the feasibility, internal consistency and convergent validity of KWAZO were examined. Method. The data stem from a large monitoring study into non-use of and satisfaction with assistive technology (n = 4637) using a mailed questionnaire. Feasibility was tested by studying the rate of non response for each of the questions. To test convergent validity the KWAZO total score was compared to answers on a question about overall satisfaction with service delivery of D-QUEST. Results. Only few missing values were seen (3.1 – 7.5%). Cronbach's alpha was good (0.89), indicating that KWAZO reliably measures one concept. Convergent validity was shown by a moderately strong correlation between KWAZO and the D-QUEST question (0.54; p < 0.001). A difference of about 2.5 points seems to reflect a relevant difference in user satisfaction. Conclusions. KWAZO is a new questionnaire to assess the quality of an assistive technology provision process from a client's perspective. KWAZO has decent measurement properties and its self-report format makes it an easy-to-use tool for assessment of the quality of assistive technology provision.
A level set method for the extraction of roads from multispectral imagery

With the advances in remote sensing technologies, the extraction of roads and other linear features from satellite and aerial imagery has gained substantial interest in recent years. The introduction of satellite imagery characterized by high spectral and spatial resolutions has made possible the development of new viable approaches for the accurate, and cost-effective extraction of linear features with minimal human intervention. This paper presents a semi-automated method for the extraction of roads from high resolution (1 meter) pan-sharpened multispectral IKONOS imagery. An operator provides an initial seed point on the road of interest, then the region is grown using a level set method. Further analysis through iterative smoothing refines the extracted region to accurately estimate the road centerline despite the presence of cars on the road, changes in the pavement or surface properties of the road, or obstruction resulting from foliage or shadows cast on the road by neighboring trees. Initial results have demonstrated the utility of the algorithm in efficiently extracting roads from high resolution satellite imagery with minimal human interaction. Over 97 % delineation accuracy was achieved on manually ground truthed IKONOS image samples overlooking both urban and rural locations.
A physical characterization of GAP A3 hybridoma cells: Morphology, geometry, and mechanical properties

Morphological, geometrical, and rheological properties of the GAP A3 hybridoma cell line have been evaluated as a function of the cell cycle. Interference contrast video microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that a sample of cells taken from the middle of the exponential growht phase displayed a range of cell morphologies, consistent with a heterogeneous growing culture. Micropipet manipulation was used to measure the geometrical (cell volume) and mechanical (cortical tension and apparent cell viscosity) properties of single cells selected at random from a sample in the middle of the exponential growth phase. Consistent with the range of morphologies, cell volumes (1400 to 5700 μm3) and apparent viscosities (430 to 1.2 × 104 P) showed a wide range of values at 37°C, demonstrating that a hybridoma cell line cannot be characterized by a single value for any one property, and that properties must be related to their cycle dependence when considering proliferating cells. Direct, video‐microscopic observation of synchronized cells, and of individual cells that were followed throughout their cell cycle, allowed us to correlated distinct morphologies with phases of the cell cycle. As the cell cycle progresses, an increase in cell volume by a factor of 3 to 4is accompanied by an overall increase in apparent cell viscosity by approximately the same ratio, consistent with an accumulation of more cytoplasmic material in the older cells. Also, a decrease in average apparent viscosity by a factor of 10. These results are important in order to evaluate the possible role of certain structural, cell‐cycle dependent features in shear and abrasion sensitivity. This is a problem of current concern in the bioreactor culture of mammalian cells.
Self Regulatory Organizations in Indian Microfinance Sector

Introduction of Micro Finance Institutions (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2012 is a land mark in the history of Indian Microfinance Industry. This bill aims to provide for the development and regulation of microfinance institutions in India. One of the salient features of this bill is that all NBFC‐MFIs must be members of at least one self‐regulatory organization (SRO) recognized by the RBI and comply with the code of conduct prescribed by the SRO. Even though the introduction of the Microfinance bill is a bit late, all the stakeholders appreciated and welcome the move of the Government. The microfinance industry in India is highly distributed and has many small players. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has limited presence on the ground. As the MFIs have businesses in the hinterland, there is a need for self-regulatory organizations (SROs) to enforce some self-discipline in the sector. An SRO is a voluntary body appointed by the industry participants to monitor the functioning of all players in the industry and bring in some degree of standardization in industry practices. These organizations operate under the overall regulatory supervision of the main regulator and help the main regulators in accomplishing their regulatory objectives. This mechanism provides an effective and efficient form of regulation in the constantly changing business environment because SROs virtually strive to strike an intelligent balance between the interest of its members and their regulatory responsibilities delegated by the main regulators. So, an SRO for microfinance institutions will play a complementary role to the Reserve Bank of India. Normally, this kind of entities knows the industry best and in many ways has the understanding, knowledge and ability to recognize a problem before it becomes too big. The authors made an attempt in this paper to provide a conceptual understanding on self-regulatory organizations (SROs), their functions and benefits, give clarity about SROs in Indian financial system in general and in Micro Finance Sector in particular. This paper also highlights the issues to be handled by RBI, while designing the policy frame work for SROs. Also focuses on contemporary challenges for self-regulatory organizations with a view to enable them to formulate strategies to overcome. Council for Innovative Research Peer Review Research Publishing System Journal: International Journal of Management & Information Technology Vol. 7, No. 1 editor@cirworld.com www.cirworld.com, member.cirworld.com
Comparison of Polyurethane Foam to Nylon Flocked Swabs for Collection of Secretions from the Anterior Nares in Performance of a Rapid Influenza Virus Antigen Test in a Pediatric Emergency Department

ABSTRACT Rapid antigen testing of upper respiratory secretions collected with various swab types is often utilized for laboratory diagnoses of influenza virus infection. There are limited data on the effects of swab composition on test performance. This study compared the performance of the Quidel QuickVue Influenza A+B test on secretions from the anterior nares when a polyurethane foam swab was used for collection to that when a nylon flocked swab was used for collection. One hundred subjects who presented to a pediatric emergency department with symptoms suggestive of an influenza virus infection were recruited for the study. Foam and flocked swabs of the anterior nares were obtained from separate nares of each subject before a posterior nasopharyngeal swab was collected and placed into viral transport medium. The QuickVue test was performed directly on each swab type, and the results were compared to the results of reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR), direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) test, and viral culture performed on the transport medium. RT-PCR alone and DFA combined with culture were utilized as separate gold standards. There were 56 cases of influenza detected by RT-PCR; the QuickVue test was positive for 40 foam and 30 flocked swabs, for sensitivities of 71% and 54%, respectively (P = 0.01). Similarly, there were 49 influenza cases detected by DFA and/or culture; the QuickVue test was positive for 38 foam and 30 flocked swabs, for sensitivities of 78% and 61%, respectively (P = 0.13). This study suggests that polyurethane foam swabs perform better than nylon flocked swabs for the collection of secretions from anterior nares in the Quidel QuickVue Influenza A+B test.
Virtual Memory Constraints in 32-bit Windows: an Update

This paper discusses the signs that indicate a machine is suffering from a virtual memory constraint in 32-bit Windows. Machines configured with 2 GB or more of RAM installed are particularly vulnerable to this condition. It also discusses options to keep this from happening, including (1) changing the way 32-bit virtual address spaces are partitioned into private and shared ranges, (2) settings that govern the size of system memory pools, (3) hardware that supports 37-bit addressing, and (4) hardware that supports 64-bit addressing but can still run 32-bit applications in compatibility mode. Ultimately, the option of running Windows on 64-bit processors is the safest and surest way to relieve the virtual memory constraints associated with 32-bit Windows.
The Changing Role of Sound‐Symbolism for Small Versus Large Vocabularies

Abstract Natural language contains many examples of sound‐symbolism, where the form of the word carries information about its meaning. Such systematicity is more prevalent in the words children acquire first, but arbitrariness dominates during later vocabulary development. Furthermore, systematicity appears to promote learning category distinctions, which may become more important as the vocabulary grows. In this study, we tested the relative costs and benefits of sound‐symbolism for word learning as vocabulary size varies. Participants learned form‐meaning mappings for words which were either congruent or incongruent with regard to sound‐symbolic relations. For the smaller vocabulary, sound‐symbolism facilitated learning individual words, whereas for larger vocabularies sound‐symbolism supported learning category distinctions. The changing properties of form‐meaning mappings according to vocabulary size may reflect the different ways in which language is learned at different stages of development.
Techniques for preventing hypotension during spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section.

BACKGROUND Maternal hypotension is the most frequent complication of spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section. Most workers define hypotension as a maternal systolic blood pressure below 70-80% of baseline recordings and/or an absolute value of < 90 - 100mmHg. Hypotension is often associated with nausea and vomiting and, if severe, poses serious risks to mother (unconsciousness, pulmonary aspiration) and baby (hypoxia, acidosis and neurological injury). Several strategies are currently used to prevent or minimise hypotension but there is no established ideal technique. OBJECTIVES To assess the relative efficacy and side effects of prophylactic interventions for hypotension following spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section. SEARCH STRATEGY The Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group Trials Register (January 2002) and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Cochrane Library, Issue 4, 2001). SELECTION CRITERIA All published or unpublished randomised controlled trials comparing interventions to prevent hypotension with placebo or alternative treatment in women having spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Trials identified from searching are assessed for inclusion by the same two reviewers independently. Studies are excluded from review where: hypotension is not an outcome measure or clearly defined prior to administering a rescue treatment; randomisation is unsatisfactory; the spinal anaesthetic technique or dose of local anaesthetic is not controlled-for; and the intervention is implemented in response to a fall in blood pressure rather than for prevention. Review Manager software is used for calculation of the treatment effect, represented by relative risks and proportional and absolute risk reductions. MAIN RESULTS Twenty-five trials (1477 women) meet our inclusion criteria. Four of fifteen interventions reviewed reduce the incidence of hypotension under spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section: (1) crystalloid versus control, relative risk (RR) 0.78 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63, 0.98); (2) pre-emptive colloid administration versus crystalloid, RR 0.54 (95% CI 0.37, 0.78); (3) ephedrine versus control, RR 0.69 (95% CI 0.57, 0.84); and (4) lower limb compression versus control, RR 0.70 (95% CI 0.59, 0.83). Ephedrine is associated with dose-related maternal hypertension and tachycardia, and fetal acidosis of uncertain clinical significance. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS No intervention reliably prevents hypotension during spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section. No conclusions are drawn regarding rare adverse effects of interventions due to their probable low incidence and the small numbers of women studied. Further trials are recommended, in particular assessing a combination of the beneficial interventions, ie colloid or crystalloid preloading, ephedrine administration and leg compression with bandages, stockings or inflatable boots.