Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Altered taste perception in oral submucous fibrosis: A research

The sense of taste is among the regulatory mechanism for acceptance or rejection of foods. In oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) patients, impairment of taste sensation has not received much attention, owing to limited research work in the field. This study was conducted to analyze the taste impairment in OSMF patients by using four basic tastes: Sweet, sour, salty and bitter, among a group of 30 subjects by using physiological taste stimuli tastants. In OSMF, significant taste alteration was found with sweet followed by salt, bitter and sour.
Study on Magnetic Circuit Structure of Magnetic Valve Controllable Reactor Based on ANSYS

The core cross section area of magnetic valve controllable reactor has a reduced section. By changing the saturation degree of the cross section area, the capacity of the reactor can be changed. In this paper, focusing on a new type of magnetic valve controllable reactor prototype, the precise 2-D field-circuit coupling model of the prototype is established in the finite element analysis software ANSYS. Based on this model, the magnetic state within the core is studied under the combined effects of AC and DC. The theoretical analyses and simulation results show that the analyzed 2-D field-circuit coupling model can reflects the actual reactor transient electromagnetic process accurately.
Automatic composition of Web service workflows using a semantic agent

We present a way to automatically compose Web service workflow that uses component Web services. The Web services workflows are described using our transactional workflow ontology. The workflow ontology can be used to describe both component Web service workflows and master Web service workflows. We have also implemented a workflow engine that runs the workflow instances. Here we analyze using our ontology and some workflow instances with a reasoning agent to automatically find a composed workflow that fulfills all given constraints. The result from the inference is a workflow instance that can be executed using our workflow engine. We see that this kind of dynamic composition is needed in dynamic heterogeneous environments with loosely coupled Web services.
Recurrent and Sustained Viral Infections in Primary Immunodeficiencies

Viral infections are commonplace and often innocuous. Nevertheless, within the population of patients with primary immunodeficiencies (PIDDs), viral infections can be the feature that drives a diagnostic evaluation or can be the most significant morbidity for the patient. This review is focused on the viral complications of PIDDs. It will focus on respiratory viruses, the most common type of viral infection in the general population. Children and adults with an increased frequency or severity of respiratory viral infections are often referred for an immunologic evaluation. The classic teaching is to investigate humoral function in people with recurrent sinopulmonary infections, but this is often interpreted to mean recurrent bacterial infections. Recurrent or very severe viral infections may also be a harbinger of a primary immunodeficiency as well. This review will also cover persistent cutaneous viral infections, systemic infections, central nervous system infections, and gastrointestinal infections. In each case, the specific viral infections may drive a diagnostic evaluation that is specific for that type of virus. This review also discusses the management of these infections, which can become problematic in patients with PIDDs.
Pari-Mutuel Information Aggregation Mechanisms with Public Knowledge

A number of experimental studies have found that pari-mutuel markets possess the ability to aggregate information privately held by individuals and therefore act as prediction markets. However, all previous studies have assumed that information is privately and independently distributed. In real world environments the distribution of information is unlikely to take this form. This paper investigates, experimentally, an information structure in which there is both private and public information. It is found that this structure induces a 'public knowledge bias' which limits the market's ability to aggregate information to the extent that the public information reduces the market's predictive performance.
Scanning Electron Microscopy of Invasion of Apple Leaves and Blossoms by Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae

Scanning electron microscopy indicated that Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae L795 entered leaves through stomata and multiplied in the substomatal chambers. Strain L195 applied to blossoms colonized stigmas and also occurred in intercellular spaces of styles. Nonpathogenic strain L796 failed to colonize blossoms. This study suggests that inoculum of pathogenic P. syringae pv. syringae builds up on apple leaves and blossoms.
Who is Using Cannabis as a Medicine and Why: An Exploratory Study

Abstract This article reports on an exploratory study of medical cannabis users. Interviews were completed with 50 self-identified medical cannabis users recruited through notices in newspapers and on bulletin boards. They reported using cannabis for a variety of conditions including HIVAIDS-related problems, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, menstrual cramps, migraine. narcotic addiction as well as everyday aches, pains, stresses and sleeping difficulties. A majority also used cannabis for recreational purposes, and many were longer-term cannabis users. However, there were some notable exceptions. Almost all smoked cannabis and many did so two to three times a day. Few admitted negative experiences with cannabis, although some problems evident to the researchers were not clearly admitted. Those who told their doctors about their medical cannabis use found doctors noncommittal or supportive. The results raise questions about the definition of medical cannabis use and about policies that might be developed to accommodate such use. Limitations of the study are noted and further research suggested. Research priorities include population surveys, studies involving larger, more representative samples of medical cannabis users and studies of medical cannabis use among people with HIV-AIDS.
Using path‐based approaches to examine the dynamic structure of discipline‐level citation networks: 1997–2011

The objective of this paper is to identify the dynamic structure of several time‐dependent, discipline‐level citation networks through a path‐based method. A network data set is prepared that comprises 27 subjects and their citations aggregated from more than 27,000 journals and proceedings indexed in the Scopus database. A maximum spanning tree method is employed to extract paths in the weighted, directed, and cyclic networks. This paper finds that subjects such as Medicine, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Materials Science, Physics, and Social Sciences are the ones with multiple branches in the spanning tree. This paper also finds that most paths connect science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields; 2 critical paths connecting STEM and non‐STEM fields are the one from Mathematics to Decision Sciences and the one from Medicine to Social Sciences.
The Archaeoglobus fulgidusd-Lactate Dehydrogenase Is a Zn2+Flavoprotein

ABSTRACT Archaeoglobus fulgidus, a hyperthermophilic, archaeal sulfate reducer, is one of the few organisms that can utilized-lactate as a sole source for both carbon and electrons. The A. fulgidus open reading frame, AF0394, which is predicted to encode a d-(−)-lactate dehydrogenase (Dld), was cloned, and its product was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion with the maltose binding protein (MBP). The 90-kDa MBP-Dld fusion protein was more efficiently expressed inE. coli when coexpressed with the E. coli dnaYgene, encoding the arginyl tRNA for the codons AGA and AGG. When cleaved from the fusion protein by treatment with factor Xa, the recombinant Dld (rDld) has an apparent molecular mass of 50 kDa, similar to that of the native A. fulgidus Dld enzyme. Both the purified MBP-Dld fusion protein and its rDld cleavage fragment have lactate dehydrogenase activities specific for d-lactate, are stable at 80°C, and retain activity after exposure to oxygen. The flavin cofactor FAD, which binds rDld apoprotein with a 1:1 stoichiometry, is essential for activity.
CloudMon: Monitoring Virtual Machines in Clouds

In the cloud platform, the startup security of guest virtual machines (VMs) can be guaranteed by existing techniques such as TBoot, however, how to monitor and guarantee their runtime security seems to be a non-trivial challenge, when they are exposed to the Internet. For a practical cloud system, security and performance are two important issues. In this paper, we propose a dynamic framework called CloudMon to detect kernel rootkits and guarantee the runtime security of guest VMs. CloudMon is transparent to a guest VM, neither requires its specific system information, nor has to one-on-one run with it. Meanwhile, CloudMon detects kernel rootkits through self-adjusting monitoring on memory with an acceptable overhead. A working prototype of CloudMon is implemented based on Xen. The case studies on security show that CloudMon is effective to detect kernel rootkits in guest VMs, while the performance experiments demonstrate that it brings a low performance overhead.
Goodwill Accounting: A Review of the Literature

In this paper we provide a review of the empirical literature on the accounting for goodwill. We focus on research undertaken since the introduction of the "impairment-only approach" of SFAS 141/142 and IFRS 3/IAS 36 (rev. 2004). We distinguish three areas of work. The first area comprises studies on purchase price allocations and the determination of goodwill. The second comprises studies that analyze whether goodwill should be interpreted as an asset, especially value relevance studies and studies on the predictive value of goodwill. The third area of research is the subsequent measurement of goodwill. Here, we discuss, inter alia, studies on the determinants and on the timeliness of goodwill impairments. Finally, we summarize findings on the influence of earnings management on goodwill accounting. Despite the multitude of studies, the available evidence does not allow for an unambiguous answer to the question whether the decision-usefulness of goodwill information has improved or deteriorated following the introduction of the impairment-only approach. One reason for this is that direct comparisons of the situations before and after the introduction are problematic because in the early period companies under US GAAP could apply the pooling-of-interests method, and in many European countries companies could set off goodwill to reserves. The paper closes with look at avenues for future research on goodwill accounting.
Assessing energy expenditure in cancer patients: a pilot validation of a new wearable device.

BACKGROUND Nutrition problems are common in cancer patients and are frequently due to metabolic derangements. Thus, accurately assessing energy expenditure (EE) is important in planning adequate nutrition support. Indirect calorimetry (IC) represents the gold standard method but is not always available or applicable to all settings. The purpose of this study was to preliminary compare a new wearable device, the SenseWear armband (SWA), to IC in cancer patients. METHODS Ten (6 M, 4 F) subjects (mean +/- SD: 56.6 +/- 13.3 years) affected by newly diagnosed acute myelogenous leukemia, undergoing induction chemotherapy, were prospectively enrolled. Resting EE (REE) was measured simultaneously by SWA and IC on admission (day 0) and at discharge (end). Total daily EE (TDEE) was determined by SWA 4 times during the stay (days 0, 7, 14, and end) and predicted values were calculated according to IC REE estimates (TDEE = IC x correction factor 1.2). RESULTS Mean length of stay was 27.1 +/- 6.2 days. Bland-Altman plots revealed no significant differences between overall REE estimates (day 0 + end) performed by IC and SWA (mean +/- SD; 1645 +/- 282 vs 1705 +/- 278 kcal/d) and the correlation was high (r = 0.84; p < .0001). SWA TDEE showed a progressive reduction during the stay. No bias was detected between overall SWA TDEE (1799 +/- 153 kcal/d) and IC predicted TDEE (1974 +/- 176 kcal/d), but there was a wide 95% confidence interval (-672; +321 kcal/d). Moreover, the correlation between these values was significant (r = 0.68; p = .001). CONCLUSIONS SWA seems to provide accurate and reliable estimation of REE and useful information on TDEE also in cancer patients. Its use appears promising. Validation studies on larger samples and different cancer types should be considered.
Putting Democracy to Work: A Practical Guide for Starting and Managing Worker-Owned Businesses

The number of worker-owned businesses has been growing steadily over the last twenty years. These businesses have shown that worker cooperatives can prosper in a competitive business environment. Moreover, they can be highly successful at providing jobs, giving workers more control over their own working conditions, and fostering creativity. The net result is greater pride among workers for their work. Based on years of experience in creating worker-owned companies, "Putting Democracy to Work" provides detailed instructions for actually giving a start-up or existing company a democratic form. The authors discuss legal requirements, methods of financing worker buyouts, management patterns, and the efforts necessary to educate all those who will be participating. They also provide examples of the actual paperwork needed to create a worker-owned business: a model business plan, feasibility study, model by-laws, and much more. This book is a comprehensive "how to" guide for setting up a worker owned business. It gives the nuts and bolts of organising, managing, and financing a cooperative venture. Newly revised, it is updated throughout and co-published with Hulogosi Communications.
The usefulness of annual reports to Australian private investors

In this thesis the extent private shareholders read and use information contained within company annual reports is examined. More specifically the thesis will be concerned with gathering information to establish the following: 1. the extent to which shareholders read the various sections contained in the annual report; 2. the reason why shareholders fail to read sections contained in the annual report; 3. the sections in the annual report investors have difficulty understanding; 4. the extent to which annual reports are found useful by shareholders for investment decision making; 5. the respondents personal characteristics; 6. whether any significant relationship exists between the shareholder's personal characteristics and the extent to which they read and use certain sections of the annual report.
The past decade in malaria synthetic peptide vaccine clinical trials

Over the past decade (2000 – 2009), there have been nine clinical trials of synthetic malaria peptide vaccines designed to target the pre-erythrocytic and erythrocytic stages of the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Recent advances in parasite immunology and cell biology have been utilized to improve peptide design and adjuvant formulations. The clinical trials demonstrated the potential of second generation peptide vaccines to elicit antibodies that can neutralize sporozoite infectivity and cooperate with monocytes in ADCI to inhibit blood stage parasites. In addition, the peptide-induced malaria-specific human CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were shown in vitro to have similar fine specificity and function as parasite-induced T cells. The results of these clinical trials, while encouraging, have emphasized the critical roles of immunological assays, in particular functional assays, for the evaluation of potential vaccine candidates. Additional challenges include the need for potent adjuvants for the development of synthetic peptide vaccines that can effectively target multiple stages of the Plasmodium parasite.
Managing Without Profit: The Art Of Managing Third Sector Organizations

A guide to management in what is now becoming known as the third sector: non-profit making organizations, which are not yet run by the government. Examples include charities, the Royal Opera, the AA and the Hedgehog Preservation Society. This is an area which has grown rapidly in the last 20 years and which, though it represents less than 5% of gross domestic product, is one which wields a great deal of power and influence. This book is designed to be of interest to chief executives and senior managers in the area, though it will also be of interest to academics and consultants.
Loyalty Among Government Employees

I. BACKGROUNM MOUNTING tensions in our society have brought us to a critical point in the matter of political and civil rights. The stresses are in large measure internal. They grow out of the accelerating movement to effect far-reaching changes in our economic and social structure, a movement which evokes ever-increasing resistance. As the conflicts sharpen, there is rising pressure to discard or undermine the basic principles embodied in the democratic concept of freedom for political opposition. Maintenance of free institutions in a period of deepening crisis would be difficult enough if the struggle were confined to our shores. But the domestic problem is only an element of the world problem. Large areas of the world have abandoned the system of capitalism in favor of socialism. Other areas are far advanced in economic and social change. Everywhere there is struggle, uncertainty, fear and confusion. Protagonists of the more militant economic and social philosophies are organized into political parties which have their offshoots and counterparts in other countries, including our owm. As a result, the preservation of political freedom, the right to hold and express opinions diverging from the opinion of the majority, is often made to appear incompatible with the overriding requirements of "loyalty," "patriotism," "national security" and the like. The danger of "foreign ideologies," "infiltration," "subversion" and "espionage" are invoked to justify the suspension of traditional rights and freedoms. If we look to our basic traditions and attend the counsel of our wisest forbears, the path before us should be reasonably clear. Recognizing that no political organism can survive vithout evolution and change, we must face change with courage and imagination. The journey towards a new destination must be undertaken within the framework of the democratic process. We must seek to plot our course through rational and intelligent discussion. We must encourage the fullest
Pricing of Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities: Evidence from Modern Conduit Issues

The market for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) has matured. After undergoing explosive growth from 1995 through 1998, the market has survived the liquidity crisis of 1998, the recession of 2001 and the fallout of the 9/11 terrorism. In recent years, the CMBS structure has been used by issuers worldwide to facilitate the funding of commercial real estate. Global volume averaged close to $100 billion per year in 2001 and 2002. The CMBS structure has continued to evolve with increased diversification and better prepayment protection for investors. Information about the deals and especially the underlying collateral has increased dramatically since 1997. This paper analyzes the pricing of new CMBS securities from 1997 through 2002. We find that, despite the maturing of the market, CMBS investors still discriminate across deals and price their investments based on an analysis of deal specific factors such as average loan quality, pool diversification, and property type. By utilizing the increased data available for modern CMBS issues and explicitly modeling the joint endogeneity of subordination and pricing, we are able to confirm theoretical predictions that AAA investors should adjust the price they pay based on the level of prepayment protection incorporated into the underlying loans and the diversification of the pool of mortgages, even after controlling for the rating level. In addition to prepayment protection and diversification, we find that loan quality and current economic and market conditions influence pricing.
The association among prematurity, cochlear hyperintensity, and hearing loss

Background Prematurity is a major risk factor for neonatal hearing loss. Recent advancements in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have made it possible to evaluate structural details of the membranous labyrinths in premature infants that have heretofore been inaccessible. Objective We compared the prevalence of abnormal cochlear signal intensity in premature and term neonates and evaluated for a potential link with hearing loss. Materials and methods We retrospectively reviewed 148 consecutive MR exams performed in premature (< 37 weeks’ gestation) and term neonates performed over a 30-month period. Cochlear signal alteration was evaluated on three-dimensional T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) sequences. Each patient’s electronic medical record was reviewed to document demographics, symptomatology, physical exam findings, and potential medical variables that could contribute to cochlear signal alteration. Results Cochlear hyperintensity on T1WI was present in 6.8% patients (n = 10) overall, but was much more common in preterm than term patients (12.2% (9 of 74) vs. 1.4% (1 of 74), respectively; p value < 0.05; Fisher’s exact test). Overall, 14.9% (n = 15) of the patients with hearing test results failed the screening Auditory Brainstem Response exam. However, failure was much more common among patients with cochlear hyperintensity on T1W1 than those with normal findings (56% (5 of 9) vs. 11% (10 of 92), respectively; p value < 0.01; Fisher’s exact test). Conclusion Cochlear hyperintensity on T1WI is more common in preterm than term neonates, and potentially associated with hearing loss. Cochleae should be closely scrutinized in all premature infants; signal alterations should prompt further diagnostic inquiry and possible early otolaryngology referral.
Environmental lead exposure in a population of children in northern France: factors affecting lead burden.

BACKGROUND This study is part of the assessment of a site in northern France polluted by lead from industrial emissions. Our objectives were to look for the factors that influence lead burden in children aged 8-11 years. METHODS A cross-sectional population-based study took place in 1996-97 and included 400 children (200 of whom lived on the metal-polluted site). RESULTS The geometric mean of the blood-lead levels of children living on the polluted site was 39.5 microg/l (95% CI = 36.3-43.1); that of the non-exposed children was 30.6 microg/l (95% CI = 27.8-33.6) (P < 0.0001). Analysis of the variations in the mean blood-lead levels showed associations with: distance from the smelting plants (mean blood-lead level fell by a factor of 1/1.3 (95% CI = 1/1.2-1/1.4) for each km from the smelter over the range of 1-3 km and was constant thereafter) and consumption of tap water (when the water pipes were made of lead, the mean blood-lead level of children who drank tap water was twice as high (95% CI = 1.2-3.4) as that of children who did not). CONCLUSIONS The children's blood-lead levels were essentially linked to two factors: proximity to the smelters and drinking tap rather than bottled water.