Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Models for Assessing the Impact of Family Planning on Fertility

This paper tries to assess the impact of family planning (FP) on fertility in Nepal. Nepal Demographic and Health Survey data 2011 were used. Impact of sterilization was found to be highest (about 33 per cent births averted) followed by the combined effect of injectables, pills, condoms and all other traditional methods. The combined impact of sterilization and injectables was found to be 0.60 births per woman. The expected numbers of future children would be 3.09 (excluding sterilization), 3.27 (excluding sterilization or injectables), 3.36 (excluding sterilization or injectables or pills), 3.51 (excluding sterilization or injectables or pills or condoms) and 3.97 (non-user) for zero parity women. The combined impact of sterilization and injectables would be 0.60 births per woman. Findings may help researchers and policy-makers for designing effective FP policy of a country. Journal of Institute of Science and Technology, 2015, 20(2): 67-72
On the Concrete-Efficiency Threshold of Probabilistically-Checkable Proofs

Probabilistically-Checkable Proofs (PCPs) form the algorithmic core that enables suc- cinct verification of long proofs/computations in many cryptographic constructions, such as succinct arguments and proof-carrying data. Despite the wonderful asymptotic savings they bring, PCPs are also the infamous compu- tational bottleneck preventing these cryptographic constructions from being used in practice. This reflects a lack of understanding of how to study and improve the concrete (as opposed to asymptotic) efficiency of PCPs. We propose a new efficiency measure for PCPs (and its major component: locally-testable codes and PCPs of proximity). We define a concrete-efficiency thresholdthat indicates the smallest problem size beyond which the PCP becomes "useful", in the sense that using it actually pays off relative to naive verification by simply rerunning the computation; our definition takes into account both the prover's and verifier's complexity. We then show that there exists a PCP with a finite concrete-efficiency threshold. This does not follow from existing works on PCPs with succinct verifiers. We provide a PCP con- struction where the prover and verifier are efficient enough toachieve a finite threshold, and further show that this PCP has the requisite properties for being used in the cryptographic applications mentioned above. Moreover, we extend and improve the Reed-Solomon PCPs of proximity over fields of characteristic 2, which constitute the main component in the quasilinear-size construction of (Ben-Sasson and Sudan, STOC '05) as well as our construction. Our improvements reduce the concrete-efficiency threshold for testing proximity to Reed-Solomon codes from 2 572 in their work to 2 35 , which is tantalizingly close to practicality. We hope this will motivate the search for even better constructions, ultimately leading to practical PCPs for succinct verification of long computations.
Feed-Forward Artificial Neural Network Basics

The class of adaptive systems known as Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) was motivated by the amazing parallel processing capabilities of biological brains (especially the human brain). The main driving force was to re-create these abilities by constructing artificial models of the biological neuron. The power of biological neural structures stems from the enormous number of highly interconnected simple units. The simplicity comes from the fact that, once the complex electro-chemical processes are abstracted, the resulting computation turns out to be conceptually very simple. These artificial neurons have nowadays little in common with their biological counterpart in the ANN paradigm. Rather, they are primarily used as computational devices, clearly intended to problem solving: optimization, function approximation, classification, time-series prediction and others. In practice few elements are connected and their connectivity is low. This chapter is focused to supervised feed-forward networks. The field has become so vast that a complete and clearcut description of all the approaches is an enormous undertaking; we refer the reader to (Fiesler & Beale, 1997) for a comprehensive exposition.
Çine Köftelerinin Mikrobiyolojik Kalitelerinin İncelenmesi

Bu arastirma, Aydin ili Cine ilcesinde satisa sunulan Cine koftelerinin hijyenik kalitesini saptamak, Turk Gida Kodeksi ve cig kirmizi et ve hazirlanmis kirmizi et karisimlari tebligine uygunlugunu arastirmak amaciyla yapilmistir. Bu amacla 100 Cine koftesi mikrobiyolojik olarak incelendi. Arastirma sonucunda 100 Cine koftesinde aerob genel canli sayisi 2.8 x 104-3.4 x 107 kob/g, maya ve kuf sayisi 9.0 x 102-4.4 x 105 kob/g, stafilokok-mikrokok sayisi 1.8 x 1031.4 x 106 kob/g, koliform grubu bakteri sayisi 5.5 x 10-2.1 x 106 kob/g, Staphylococcus aureus sayisi 1.6 x 103-4.3 x 105 kob/g ve 18 ornekte (% 18) ise Salmonella spp. rastlanmistir. Sonuc olarak, Cine koftelerinin mikrobiyolojik kalitesinin Turk gida kodeksi hazirlanmis et karisimlari tebligine uygun olmadigi gozlenmistir
Public policy for the agro-food industry and economic performances: evidences from Piedmont, Italy

The European Union has a common rural development policy, motivated by the fact that more than 90% of the entire European territory can be classified as rural and 56% of European citizens live in rural areas. Each Member State sets out a Rural Development Programme (RDP) focused on three main axes: economic development, environment protection and quality of life. Within the first axis, several measures are finalized to stimulate the investments for diversifying the agricultural activities; increasing the competitiveness of the businesses; improving the production and transformation processes and the commercialization towards a more sustainable direction. The measure 123 "Adding value to agricultural and forestry products" is one of the most important in terms of public resources spent. It aims at increasing the competitiveness of the agro-food industry and the value of products and it supports the investments in technological and organizational innovations in the transformation process. The policy is managed at regional level and every Italian Region is responsible for allocating the founds, selecting the enterprises that would benefit from the economic support and evaluating the impact of its financing. This paper presents the results of a research carried out to measure the impact of the 123 RDP measure in the Piedmont region, in Italy. The economic performances (ROI, ROE, ROA) of two different groups of firms ? beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the public support ? from the entire population of industrial agro-food enterprises of Piedmont, during the period 2005-2012, were compared. Despite the economic crises affected negatively all the firms analyzed in that period, those that benefited from the public funds showed better growth rates and profitability indexes. The authors propose different explanations for the results. From one hand, the RPD funds can be really determinant in sustaining the investments and improving the competitiveness of the firms involved in the programme. From the other hand, the beneficiaries are already the best performing firms of the territory and for this reason they are more competitive in the process of applying for the subsidy and selection of the beneficiaries, with a "picking the winners" effect. From a methodological point of view, the research demonstrates that the measurement of the economic performance indexes in a counterfactual analysis between a group of firms beneficiaries of public funds and a control group of firms that did not benefited from the aid is an efficient method to evaluate the impact of development policy in a systematic way.
Adaptation to sensory loss.

The human brain has the remarkable ability to adapt to changes in its environment by benefiting from its ‘plastic’ properties. Following brain injury, the amputation of a limb, or the loss of a sensory input such as peripheral blindness, brain circuitry often seems to be able to reorganize itself in order to compensate for the handicap by being recruited to carry out tasks not associated with their prior ‘default’ functioning. The purpose of this review is to illustrate the brain’s remarkable ability to adapt to changes in its environment, particularly when it is faced with a sensory loss. Two excellent models to study this phenomenon are provided by blind and deaf individuals. In both cases, studies have shown that they appear to compensate for the loss of sensory input with enhanced abilities in their remaining senses. These behavioral modifications are often coupled with changes in cerebral processing, generally in the form of crossmodal recruitment of deaffarented primary and secondary sensory areas. We will also discuss the possible mechanisms underlying these changes and whether the functional topography of these regions present in unimpaired individuals is preserved in blindness and deafness. The notion of a critical period for plastic changes will also be discussed and its importance will be shown to be twofold. On the one hand, the functional relevance of crossmodal processing appears to decrease as a function of the age of onset of the deficiency. On the other hand, the more cortical reorganization takes place, the less likely brain areas will be able to process input from its original sensory modality. This is especially important for deaf individuals as auditory input can now be restored thanks to cochlear implants.  2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. WIREs Cogn Sci 2010 1 308–328 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.13
Jamming of soft particles: geometry, mechanics, scaling and isostaticity

Amorphous materials as diverse as foams, emulsions, colloidal suspensions and granular media can jam into a rigid, disordered state where they withstand finite shear stresses before yielding. Here we review the current understanding of the transition to jamming and the nature of the jammed state for disordered packings of particles that act through repulsive contact interactions and are at zero temperature and zero shear stress. We first discuss the breakdown of affine assumptions that underlies the rich mechanics near jamming. We then extensively discuss jamming of frictionless soft spheres. At the jamming point, these systems are marginally stable (isostatic) in the sense of constraint counting, and many geometric and mechanical properties scale with distance to this jamming point. Finally, we discuss current explorations of jamming of frictional and non-spherical (ellipsoidal) particles. Both friction and asphericity tune the contact number at jamming away from the isostatic limit, but in opposite directions. This allows one to disentangle the distance to jamming and the distance to isostaticity. The picture that emerges is that most quantities are governed by the contact number and scale with the distance to isostaticity, while the contact number itself scales with the distance to jamming.
Talent Management by Capacity Development of the Employees

The changing trends have clearly indicated that the transformation of management from regular routine recruitment process to focus towards intangible capital management. In knowledge oriented society human capital is a strategic resource in attainment of competitive advantage. Talent Management by capacity development of the employees is striking for numerous reasons as it is the best remedy to achieve the entire organizational goal with few employees who are the key players and best performers. The workforce development is necessary for upcoming challenges like again economy being hit by recession, Talent Management by capacity development of the employees makes it more enhanced wherein the worker’s potential grows manifold.Capacity development is a process of change and it is about managing transformations. People's capacities and institutional capacity and a society’s capacity change over time. My research basically focuses on the capacity development of the employee’s aspect by observational research method. Talent management is basically constituent of five elements such as attracting, selecting, engaging, developing and retaining employees and it is generally concerned with identifying the talent gaps, succession planning, retaining talented employees by variety of initiatives as well as implementing different strategies.
Leptomeningeal Metastasis in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Report of Two Cases and Short Rewiev of Literature

Central Nervous System (CNS) metastasis cause serious clinical deterioration in patient with NonSmall Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). Systemic cytotoxic agents, Whole Brain Irradiation (WBRT), oral targeted therapies and Intrathecal Chemotherapy (IC) are well known treatment options. In first case we aim to share two lung cancer patients at young ages with Leptomeningeal Metastasis (LM) treated with oral targeted therapies combined with WBRT.
Developing Combined Forecasting Models in Oil Industry - A Case Study in OPEC Oil Demand

The purpose of this research is to study the combined forecasting methods in energy section. This method is a new approach which leads to considerable reduction of error in forecasting results. In this study, forecasting has been done through using individual methods (these methods consist of exponential smoothing methods, trend analysis, box-Jenkins, causal analysis, and neural network models) and also combining methods. In next step, the Results of these individual forecasting methods have been combined and compared with artificial neural networks, and multiple regression models. The data we used in this study are: dependent variable: OPEC oil demands from 1960 to 2005, and independent variables: oil price, GDP, other energy demands, population, and added-value in industry (in OECD countries. Computed indexes of errors are: MSE, MAPE, and GAPE which show considerable reductions in the errors of forecasting when using combining models. Therefore, it is suggested that the designed models could be applied for oil demand forecasting.
Effect of Service Quality & Customer Satisfaction on Customer Loyalty of Cellular Service Providers in Ahmedabad

It refers to a favorable attitude towards a particular brand in addition to purchasing it repeatedly. A B S TR A C T As the current market place becomes more competitive, consumers tend to become more and more demanding. Mobile telecommunication service sector in India has been experiencing the highest growth rate in terms of subscribers and revenues. With the increasing competition in cellular services, the consumers are demanding more. The main condition for protecting the subscriber base is to win the customer loyalty. This study attempts to examine the effect of service quality and customer satisfaction on customer loyalty in mobile telecommunication services. As many as 200 users of GSM services were surveyed. The data was analysed by regression analysis. The study shows that the service quality and customer satisfaction have positive association with customer loyalty. However, the customer satisfaction was fond to be best predictor if customer loyalty.
Body dysmorphic disorder in a facial plastic and reconstructive surgery clinic: measuring prevalence, assessing comorbidities, and validating a feasible screening instrument.

IMPORTANCE Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is underrecognized and underdetected among patients undergoing facial plastic and reconstructive surgery. Patients with BDD require psychiatric care, not cosmetic surgery. OBJECTIVES To measure the prevalence of BDD in a facial plastic and reconstructive surgery clinic, to validate the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Questionnaire (BDDQ) in that setting, to assess the feasibility of implementing a standardized process for identifying patients with BDD accurately in a busy clinical practice, and to assess the comorbidity of BDD, depression, and anxiety in our patient population. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS We performed a prospective prevalence and instrument validation study in an academic facial plastic and reconstructive surgery clinic. We included 234 consecutive patients 18 years or older presenting to the clinic from March 3 to June 30, 2014. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Prevalence of BDD as determined by the BDDQ and the criterion-standard BDD Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (BDD SCID). The BDD SCID and a defect severity scale were used to confirm the BDD diagnosis and to validate the BDDQ finding. We also assessed demographic characteristics, depression, and anxiety in all patients. RESULTS As confirmed by the BDD SCID, 13.1% of patients undergoing cosmetic surgery and 1.8% of those undergoing reconstructive surgery had BDD. We found the BDDQ to be an accurate (91.7%), sensitive (100%), and specific (90.3%) screening instrument for BDD. Patients with a positive BDD finding were most commonly concerned with their nose (10 of 18 [56%]), skin (5 of 18 [28%]), hair (1 of 18 [6%]), chin (1 of 18 [6%]), and ears (1 of 18 [6%]), that is, areas commonly addressed by facial plastic surgeons. Furthermore, compared with patients who did not have BDD, patients with BDD had elevated depression scores (mean [SD], 12.6 [10.8] vs 3.2 [4.2]). In the non-BDD population, mean (SD) state and trait anxiety scores resembled the norm (30.0 [7.7] and 30.3 [7.7], respectively, for men; 31.7 [10.0] and 32.1 [8.7], respectively, for women); in the BDD population, these scores were elevated (53.8 [23.4] and 50.4 [19.5], respectively, for men; 47.8 [12.7] and 49.0 [11.6], respectively, for women). Depression and anxiety scores were highly correlated in patients with BDD (r = 0.84 for patients with a BDDQ-positive screen result; r = 0.94 for patients with a positive BDD SCID finding) compared with those who did not have BDD (r = 0.51). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Patients with BDD often seek cosmetic treatment. Given the documented risks and harms of surgery for patients with BDD, a systematic process for identifying such patients who seek cosmetic surgery is imperative. We found a BDD screening instrument (BDDQ) followed by the BDD SCID for patients with a BDDQ-positive screen result to be a feasible and effective way to identify patients with BDD. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE NA.
Hyperactivation of Stallion Sperm Is Required for Successful In Vitro Fertilization of Equine Oocytes1

Abstract Capacitation is a complex and not well-understood process that encompasses all the molecular changes sperm must undergo to successfully fertilize an oocyte. In vitro fertilization has remained elusive in the horse, as evidenced by low in vitro fertilization (IVF) rates (0%–33%); moreover, only two foals have ever been produced using IVF. Incubation of stallion sperm in modified Whittens supplemented with bovine serum albumin and sodium bicarbonate yielded significant rates of time-dependent protein tyrosine phosphorylation and induced acrosomal exocytosis, consistent with capacitation. The objective of this study was to characterize stallion sperm hyperactivation and to test whether hyperactivation of capacitated sperm supported equine IVF. Treatment of sperm with procaine, an anesthetic shown to induce hyperactivation in other mammalian species, resulted in the decrease of three motility variables indicative of hyperactivation: straight line velocity (P = 0.029), straightness (P = 0.001), and linearity (P = 0.002). We demonstrated that procaine-induced hyperactivation was not regulated by changes in protein tyrosine phosphorylation and that it did not induce acrosomal exocytosis in capacitated sperm compared with calcium ionophore (P > 0.05), similar to findings in the bovine. Most notably, by coupling our capacitating conditions with the induction of hyperactivation using procaine, we have achieved the novel result of substantial and reproducible percentages of fertilized mare oocytes (60.7%) in our IVF experiments. Conversely, sperm incubated in capacitating conditions but not treated with procaine did not fertilize (0%). These results support the hypothesis that capacitation and hyperactivation are required for successful IVF in the equine.
Consumer Trust, Value, and Loyalty in Relational Exchanges

The authors develop a framework for understanding the behaviors and practices of service providers that build or deplete consumer trust and the mechanisms that convert consumer trust into value and loyalty in relational exchanges. The proposed framework (1) uses a multidimensional conceptualization for the trustworthiness construct; (2) incorporates two distinct facets of consumer trust, namely, frontline employees and management policies and practices; and (3) specifies value as a key mediator of the trust–loyalty relationship. The authors test the proposed model using data from two service contexts—retail clothing (N = 264) and nonbusiness airline travel (N = 113). The results support a tripartite view of trustworthiness evaluations along operational competence, operational benevolence, and problem-solving orientation dimensions. Moreover, the authors find evidence of contingent asymmetric relationships between trustworthiness dimensions and consumer trust. For frontline employees, benevolent behaviors demonstrate a dominant “negativity” effect (i.e., a unit negative performance has a stronger effect than a unit positive performance), whereas problem-solving orientation has a dominant “positivity” effect (i.e., a unit positive performance has a stronger effect than a unit negative performance). Value completely mediates the effect of frontline employee trust on loyalty in the retailing context and partially mediates the effect of management policies and practices trust on loyalty in the airlines context. The role of frontline employees is more critical in the retailing context, whereas management practices and policies play the dominant role in the airlines context. Overall, the proposed framework successfully models trust and loyalty mechanisms across the two industries examined in the study, while remaining sensitive to essential contextual differences.
Coulomb asymmetry and sub-cycle electron dynamics in multiphoton multiple ionization of H2

We present a systematic study of the molecular-frame photo-electron angular distributions produced by multiphoton double ionization of H2 using circularly polarized 800 nm, femtosecond laser pulses. We compare experimental results to numerical results obtained from a reduced-dimensionality time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) model. In addition, we implement a TDSE-like version of the strong-field approximation to isolate the effect of the parent ion’s Coulomb potential on the continuum electron in our simulations. Thereby we identify the contributions of the parent ion potential, and light induced sub-optical cycle electron dynamics on the observable energy and angular distributions.