Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Service Learning and Faith Integration in Accounting

In this paper, we describe a graduate level tax course that we added to our curriculum that was devoted entirely to service learning. Specifically, the major requirement of the course was for our students to participate as volunteer tax return preparers in the Internal Revenue Service’s Voluntary Income Tax Assistance program at a local air force base. The purpose of this paper is to describe how our students grew intellectually, personally, and especially spiritually as a result of their participation in this service learning tax course.
Incidence trends of cervical cancer in Puerto Rico, 1987-2004.

OBJECTIVE Cervical cancer was the leading malignancy among women in Puerto Rico when the Central Cancer Registry was first established by law in 1950. The screening program for cervical cancer in PR was initiated in 1961 when cytological laboratories were established in regional hospitals throughout the island, reaching its peak in 1973. In 2004, invasive cervical cancer ranked fifth among the top cancers in women in PR, representing 4% of all newly diagnosed cancers and 2% of all cancer-related deaths among women. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence trends of cervical cancer by histology type in PR. METHODS Cervical cancer cases (n = 3,516) diagnosed from 1987-2004 were obtained from the Puerto Rico Central Cancer Registry. Age-adjusted and age-specific incidence rates by histological type were calculated. Annual percent changes were estimated to evaluate the incidence trends from 1987 to 2004. RESULTS From 1987 to 2004, the incidence of cervical cancer showed a downward trend (APC = -2.1%). Seventy-six percent (76.3%) of invasive cervical cancer cases were squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 15.4% were adenocarcinoma (ADC), and 8.3% had other histologies. When histology was considered, a decreasing trend was observed for the incidence rates of SCC (APC = -3.2%, p < 0.05), with the greatest decrease being seen in women aged 60-74 (APC = -6.6%, p < 0.05). While the overall incidence rate of ADC remained stable (APC = 0.8%, p > 0.05), it increased in women aged 30-44 (APC = 3.8%, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION Overall, the incidence rates for cervical cancer (SCC in particular), have decreased in PR. However, ADC does not present a similar decreasing trend. This trend, which is similar with other populations, could be explained, in part, by a decreasing prevalence of risk factors. Nevertheless, analysis by specific age group shows variations in the risk, which need careful consideration since they could imply changes in factors associated with each of the histological types.
Health services utilization and cost for at-risk drinkers: rural and urban comparisons.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to examine differences between healthcare use and associated costs in rural and urban at-risk drinkers. METHOD Primary healthcare utilization and cost data were collected from 1995 to 1998 on rural (n = 215) and urban (n = 228) cohorts of drinkers residing in six southeastern states who met criteria for at-risk drinking. Data were obtained through subject interview and from abstracts of medical and pharmacy records. RESULTS Overall healthcare costs were not significantly different between the rural and urban cohorts. For subjects who incurred any hospital costs (including emergency room [ER] visits), however, costs were significantly greater (p < .01) for rural patients (median = dollars 2,561) than for urban patients (median = dollars 865). Hospital costs associated with patients' ER visits and any subsequent admissions were also greater (p < .01) for rural patients (median = dollars 1,004) than for urban patients (median = dollars 512). Use of healthcare services was significantly more likely to occur among women (p < .0001), individuals with lower overall self-reported physical health (p < .01) and individuals with health insurance (p < .0001). Among subjects who used healthcare services, greater costs were significantly associated with older age (p < .05), being female (p <.0001), having lower overall physical health (p < .0001) and having health insurance (p < .01). CONCLUSIONS While overall healthcare costs are not significantly different between rural and urban residents in this sample of at-risk drinkers, there are some notable differences in the costs associated with inpatient and ER services.
Postural threat influences vestibular-evoked muscular responses.

Standing balance is significantly influenced by postural threat. While this effect has been well established, the underlying mechanisms of the effect are less understood. The involvement of the vestibular system is under current debate, and recent studies that investigated the effects of height-induced postural threat on vestibular-evoked responses provide conflicting results based on kinetic (Horslen BC, Dakin CJ, Inglis JT, Blouin JS, Carpenter MG. J Physiol 592: 3671-3685, 2014) and kinematic (Osler CJ, Tersteeg MC, Reynolds RF, Loram ID. Eur J Neurosci 38: 3239-3247, 2013) data. We examined the effect of threat of perturbation, a different form of postural threat, on coupling (cross-correlation, coherence, and gain) of the vestibulo-muscular relationship in 25 participants who maintained standing balance. In the "No-Threat" conditions, participants stood quietly on a stable surface. In the "Threat" condition, participants' balance was threatened with unpredictable mediolateral support surface tilts. Quiet standing immediately before the surface tilts was compared to an equivalent time from the No-Threat conditions. Surface EMG was recorded from bilateral trunk, hip, and leg muscles. Hip and leg muscles exhibited significant increases in peak cross-correlation amplitudes, coherence, and gain (1.23-2.66×) in the Threat condition compared with No-Threat conditions, and significant correlations were observed between threat-related changes in physiological arousal and medium-latency peak cross-correlation amplitude in medial gastrocnemius (r = 0.408) muscles. These findings show a clear threat effect on vestibular-evoked responses in muscles in the lower body, with less robust effects of threat on trunk muscles. Combined with previous work, the present results can provide insight into observed changes during balance control in threatening situations. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first study to show increases in vestibular-evoked responses of the lower body muscles under conditions of increased threat of postural perturbation. While robust findings were observed in hip and leg muscles, less consistent results were found in muscles of the trunk. The present findings provide further support in the ongoing debate for arguments that vestibular-evoked balance responses are influenced by fear and anxiety and explain previous threat-related changes in balance.
Season-Long Variation in Expression of Cry1Ac Gene and Efficacy of Bacillus thuringiensis Toxin in Transgenic Cotton Against Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Abstract The insertion of genes encoding insecticidal Cry1A δ-endotoxins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner variety kurstaki (Bt) into varieties of cotton (Gossypium spp.) was undertaken to assist in the control of a range of lepidopteran pests. In Australia, where Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) and Helicoverpa punctigera (Wallengren) are major pests, the level of control is useful, but not complete, because efficacy declines as the crop matures. Fluctuations in the efficacy of Bt cotton, to the extent that some insects survive, provide opportunities for H. armigera to develop resistance to the Bt toxin. Therefore, variations in the efficacy of Bt cotton need to be understood if we are to plan rational resistance management strategies to retard the rate of the development of resistance. We measured the changes in efficacy associated with plant development over the growing season, in the field and glasshouse. In addition, the levels of Cry1Ac protein toxin and cry1Ac RNA were determined. In this first demonstration of the relationship between these three factors, we found that the developmental decline in bioefficacy in field-grown plants was associated with reduced cry1Ac transcript levels and Bt toxin levels in postsquaring cotton. In addition, changes in plant chemistry associated with the maturation of the cotton plant were observed to contribute to changes in the efficacy of Bt toxin. Results from the field and glasshouse suggested that variations in efficacy within the growing season and between seasons also may be influenced by environmental factors.
NOGO mRNA Expression in Adult and Fetal Human and Rat Nervous Tissue and in Weight Drop Injury

Nogo is a myelin-associated protein known to inhibit growth of neurites. In order to understand possible physiological roles of Nogo, we performed in situ hybridization using rat and human probes complementary to a Nogo-A-specific sequence and a sequence shared by all known Nogo transcripts recognizing nogo-A, -B, and -C. We studied the cellular distribution of nogo-mRNA in fetal and adult human and rat tissues, with a focus on the spinal cord and ganglia. Rat mRNA expression was also studied in a spinal cord weight-drop model and in animals exposed to kainic acid. In human fetal tissue, nogo-A was strongly expressed in the ventral two-thirds of the spinal cord, the dorsal root ganglia, and autonomic ganglia. Similarly, nogo-A mRNA expression was observed in the adult human spinal cord and ganglia. High levels of nogo-A message were observed in neurons, such as motor neurons and sensory ganglia neurons. The distribution of nogo message in rats resembled that seen in human tissues. Thus, nogo mRNA was expressed in neurons and oligodendrocytes, but not astrocytes or Schwann cells. In addition, expression of nogo-A mRNA was observed in human and rat developing muscle tissue. High level of nogo-mRNA were also expressed in the rat trigeminal ganglion and trigeminal pontine nucleus. In fetal rats the adrenal gland and cell clusters in the liver were positive for the nogo-ABC pan-probe, but negative for the nogo-A probe. While neurons in the adult rat brain were generally positive, very prominent nogo-A mRNA and nogo-ABC mRNA signals were obtained from neurons of the hippocampus, piriform cortex, the red nucleus, and the oculomotor nucleus. Nogo-A mRNA expression was markedly reduced in the epicenter of a lesion in the spinal cord of adult rats 6 and 24 h after a weight-drop injury, while no perifocal upregulation of nogo mRNA was seen. No obvious change of nogo expression was detected in kainic acid exposed animals. In conclusion our in situ hybridization study has demonstrated widespread expression of nogo mRNA in the fetal, developing and adult nervous system of rat and man. In addition to oligodendroglial cells, high levels of nogo-A mRNA expression were found in neurons, raising important questions about the function of neuronal nogo mRNA. No obvious regulation of nogo was detected following injury.
The Beneficial Effect of Cape Gooseberry Juice on Carbon Tetrachloride- Induced Neuronal Damage.

OBJECTIVE Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) belongs to the Solanaceae family. Physalis has many medicinal properties however, the beneficial effect of physalis in protecting against neurotoxins has not yet been evaluated. This experimental study investigated the protective effect of physalis juice against the oxidative damage induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in the rat brain. METHODS The degrees of protection by physalis in brain tissues were evaluated by determining the brain levels of lipid peroxidation, nitric oxide, glutathione content and antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione-S-transferase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase), after CCl4) induction in the presence or absence of physalis. Adult male albino Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups, Group I served as the control group, Group II was intraperitoneally treated with 2 ml CCl4)/kg bwt for 12 weeks, Group III was supplemented with physalis juice via the drinking water for 12 weeks, Group IV was supplemented with physalis juice and was intraperitoneally injected weekly with CCl4). RESULTS Treatment with CCl4) was significantly associated with a disturbance in the oxidative status in the brain tissues; this was marked by a significant (p<0.05) elevation in the lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide levels with a concomitant reduction in glutathione content compared to the control, along with a remarkable reduction in antioxidant enzymes. The administration of physalis along with CCl4) juice significantly (p<0.05) alleviated the changes in enzymatic antioxidant activity when compared to the CCl4) treated group. Furthermore, physalis juice supplemention inhibited apoptosis, as indicated by the increase of Bcl-2 immunoreactivity in brain tissue. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that physalis juice could be effective in preventing neurotoxicity and the neuroprotective effect of physalis might be mediated via antioxidant and anti-apoptosis activities.
Cascading crises, resilience and social support within the onset and development of multiple chronic conditions

Objective: To describe and better understand adults' responses to the onset, accrual and influence of multiple chronic conditions and to social support in adapting to consequent difficulties. Methods: Qualitative study of 33 adults with multiple chronic illnesses randomly sampled from an urban primary care clinic. Semi-structured interviews targeted retrospective accounts of illness onset, consequent loss, as well as current accounts of social support and adaptation. All interviews were audio-recorded, professionally transcribed and analysed according to established phenomenological procedures. Results: Participants' responses revealed illness onset as a virtual cascade of medical, emotional and social hardships, leading to loss and subsequent adaptation through personal resilience and particularly, available social support. Participants also described patterns of adaptation punctuated by the felt need and rewards of providing care to others. Discussion: The experience of multiple chronic illnesses has a distinct pattern of development and consequence, involving challenges to personal identity and the benefits of social support from and to others. Our results suggest that programmes addressing the needs of persons with multiple chronic conditions might tailor interventions in ways that maximally address their unique challenges.
A new methodology for identifying external convection coefficients in electric machines

This paper presents a new methodology for identifying, by means of inverse methods, the convective heat exchange coefficients between an electric machine and ambient air. The inverse method that we use involves minimizing the residual between the machine's internal losses and the total amount of heat extracted to ambient air in a thermal steady-state condition. First, we start by establishing the initial conditions for the optimization algorithm. Then, we introduce an optimal law of variation of heat exchange coefficients for different thermal phenomena. Finally, this approach is tested for different operating conditions to certify its validity using data extracted from tests performed on an internal permanent magnet synchronous machine.
Kingdom protozoa and its 18 phyla.

The demarcation of protist kingdoms is reviewed, a complete revised classification down to the level of subclass is provided for the kingdoms Protozoa, Archezoa, and Chromista, and the phylogenetic basis of the revised classification is outlined. Removal of Archezoa because of their ancestral absence of mitochondria, peroxisomes, and Golgi dictyosomes makes the kingdom Protozoa much more homogeneous: they all either have mitochondria and peroxisomes or have secondarily lost them. Predominantly phagotrophic, Protozoa are distinguished from the mainly photosynthetic kingdom Chromista (Chlorarachniophyta, Cryptista, Heterokonta, and Haptophyta) by the absence of epiciliary retronemes (rigid thrust-reversing tubular ciliary hairs) and by the lack of two additional membranes outside their chloroplast envelopes. The kingdom Protozoa has two subkingdoms: Adictyozoa, without Golgi dictyosomes, containing only the phylum Percolozoa (flagellates and amoeboflagellates); and Dictyozoa, made up of 17 phyla with Golgi dictyosomes. Dictyozoa are divided into two branches: (i) Parabasalia, a single phylum with hydrogenosomes and 70S ribosomes but no mitochondria, Golgi dictyosomes associated with striated roots, and a kinetid of four or five cilia; and (ii) Bikonta (16 unicellular or plasmodial phyla with mitochondria and bikinetids and in which Golgi dictyosomes are not associated with striated ciliary roots), which are divided into two infrakingdoms: Euglenozoa (flagellates with discoid mitochondrial cristae and trans-splicing of miniexons for all nuclear genes) and Neozoa (15 phyla of more advanced protozoa with tubular or flat [usually nondiscoid] mitochondrial cristae and cis-spliced spliceosomal introns). Neozoa are divided into seven parvkingdoms: (i) Ciliomyxa (three predominantly ciliated phyla with tubular mitochondrial cristae but no cortical alveoli, i.e., Opalozoa [flagellates with tubular cristae], Mycetozoa [slime molds], and Choanozoa [choanoflagellates, with flattened cristae]); (ii) Alveolata (three phyla with cortical alveoli and tubular mitochondrial cristae, i.e., Dinozoa [Dinoflagellata and Protalveolata], Apicomplexa, and Ciliophora); (iii) Neosarcodina (phyla Rhizopoda [lobose and filose amoebae] and Reticulosa [foraminifera; reticulopodial amoebae], usually with tubular cristae); (iv) Actinopoda (two phyla with axopodia: Heliozoa and Radiozoa [Radiolaria, Acantharia]); (v) Entamoebia (a single phylum of amoebae with no mitochondria, peroxisomes, hydrogenosomes, or cilia and with transient intranuclear centrosomes); (vi) Myxozoa (three endoparasitic phyla with multicellular spores, mitochondria, and no cilia: Myxosporidia, Haplosporidia, and Paramyxia); and (vii) Mesozoa (multicells with tubular mitochondrial cristae, included in Protozoa because, unlike animals, they lack collagenous connective tissue).
Single-bundle versus double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE This meta-analysis study compares the treatment outcomes between single bundle (SB) and double bundle (DB) anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions (ACLR) including manual laxity tests, KT-1000 measurements and functional knee scores including International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) and Lysholm scores. DATA SOURCES Medline, Scopus, Web of Science and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (January 1985 to March 2008). MATERIAL AND METHOD All randomized controlled trials reporting one or more outcomes related to single bundle versus double bundle ACLR were recruited in the present study. Random effect models were used to pool the data. Heterogeneity in the effect of treatment was tested on the basis of study quality, randomization status and type of ACLR. RESULTS There were 2,119 studies initially identified, 7 studies met our inclusion criteria. Four hundred and eighty two patients (238 in SB group and 244 in DB group) were included in the present study. The results of KT 1,000 arthrometry in 7 studies favor DB-ACLR with statistical significance (p < 0.05). Pivot shift test were available for 374 patients from 6 studies, 183 and 191 patients in SB group and DB group respectively. The results favor DB-ACLR with statistical significance (p < 0.001). IKDC scores were available for 257 patients from 4 studies. The results trend to favor DB-ACLR but not statistically significant (p = 0.17). Lysholm scores were available for 174 patients from 3 studies. The results trend to favor DB-ACLR without statistical significance (p = 0.10). CONCLUSION The present study shows that DB-ACLR provides better AP and rotational stability than SB-ACLR. There is no difference in the results of functional scores. DB-ACLR should be considered in patients who particularly require rotational stability of the knee. In the future, the interesting issue is to develop the functional knee score that is more specific to rotational stability evaluation.
Performance bounds for two-way amplify-and-forward relaying

In this paper, the average sum rate of two-way amplify-and-forward (AF) half-duplex relaying system is analyzed. To this end, we first derive the harmonic mean of two independent gamma distributed random variables which have the same shape parameter but different scale parameters. By deriving tight upper and lower bounds for the average sum rate of two-way relaying, we verify that two-way relaying can significantly recover the spectrum efficiency loss of one-way relaying. We also extend the two-way AF half-duplex relaying to the case where source and destination terminals both transmit Alamouti's orthogonal space time block code (OSTBC) utilizing two antennas and the relay has only one antenna. By deriving both upper and lower bounds for the average sum rate as well as an upper bound for the pairwise error probability (PEP) for the proposed two-way OSTBC scheme, we show that the average sum rate is further improved compared to the single antenna case and a diversity order of two is also achieved. Furthermore, optimal power allocations under a global power constraint for two-way relaying with single antenna and the proposed two-way OSTBC scheme are derived analytically.
A novel approach to the enhancement of lane estimator by using Kalman filter

Recently vision sensor based lane detection technology is being magnified as automated driving service get into the acceleration step. However, lane detection is not used lateral risk assessment or lateral control alone but also used front target vehicle selection for the longitudinal control system. Ego lane detected from vision sensor is a good assumption as an ego vehicle's driving path and would be useful to front target vehicle decision. In this sense, the importance of curvature and curvature-rate which have been relatively devaluated then lateral offset and heading angle is getting higher. In this study, a novel approach of lane estimator for more robust curvature information is proposed with Kalman filter. The lane estimator is designed with clothoid road model and an assumption based on lane width. To verify the performance of proposed lane estimator, real-car test in the public road is carried out. The test result shows that robustness of the proposed lane estimator even in failure situation of front camera. Furthermore, the result also showed that accuracy and usefulness of lane estimation based target selection. Through the test result analysis, filtered only two coefficients which related clothoid curvature parameters could make lane information more accurately.
A model to estimate performances of multi-tier shuttle warehousing system

The rise of the network economy and E-commerce has pushed the rapid development of logistics market. The Multi-tier Shuttle Warehousing System (MSWS) as a new autonomous unit load storage/retrieval system, which flexibility and work efficiency is much-improved compared with the conventional AS/RS, has attracted more and more attention of logistics enterprises both at home and abroad. MSWS is composed of shuttles that control the movement in the horizontal dimension and a lift that manages the movement in the vertical dimension. In this paper, a two-stage open queuing network model is proposed to estimate performances (the transaction cycle time and the lift waiting time) of MSWS under the “tier captive” configuration. By means of hypothesis test method, a batch of retrieval operation conducted from a real-world enterprise according to Poisson distribution has been diagnosed. At last, a simulation was made to verify the efficiency of the model and the percentage deviation is less than 5%.