Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intestinal Spirochetosis and Giardiasis in a Beagle Pup with Diarrhea

This report describes the light microscopic and ultrastructural changes in a 3-month-old dog with naturally acquired intestinal spirochetosis and giardiasis. It was concluded that the pathogenetic characteristics of weakly β-hemolytic spirochetes associated with colitis in this pup were similar to those associated with human and porcine spirochetal diarrhea.
Single‐fiber electromyography shows terminal axon dysfunction in Miller Fisher syndrome: A case report

We studied a patient with ophthalmoparesis and pupillary areflexia 2 weeks after a viral syndrome. Miller Fisher syndrome was suspected but GQ1b antibodies were not detected. To define neuromuscular involvement we performed electrodiagnostic studies. Single‐fiber electromyography (SFEMG) in the extensor digitorum communis (EDC) showed abnormal jitter and axonal blocking, suggesting terminal axon dysfunction. Subsequent GQ1b antibody titers were elevated to borderline levels. Clinical symptoms gradually resolved. SFEMG may help characterize neuropathies associated with antibodies to neuronal ganglioside and identify involvement of the terminal axon and neuromuscular junction. Muscle Nerve 2006
A Global Perspective on External Positions

This paper highlights the increased dispersion in net external positions in recent years, particularly among industrial countries. It provides a simple accounting framework that disentangles the factors driving the accumulation of external assets and liabilities (such as trade imbalances, investment income flows, and capital gains) for major external creditors and debtors. It also examines the factors driving the foreign asset portfolio of international investors, with a special focus on the weight of U.S. liabilities in the rest of the world's stock of external assets. Finally, it relates the empirical evidence to the current debate about the roles of portfolio balance effects and exchange rate adjustment in shaping the external adjustment process.
Sleep patterns and insomnia among adolescents: a population‐based study

The aim of the current study was to examine sleep patterns and rates of insomnia in a population‐based study of adolescents aged 16–19 years. Gender differences in sleep patterns and insomnia, as well as a comparison of insomnia rates according to DSM‐IV, DSM‐V and quantitative criteria for insomnia (Behav. Res. Ther., 41, 2003, 427), were explored. We used a large population‐based study in Hordaland county in Norway, conducted in 2012. The sample included 10 220 adolescents aged 16–18 years (54% girls). Self‐reported sleep measurements included bedtime, rise time, time in bed, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, rate and frequency and duration of difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep and rate and frequency of tiredness and sleepiness. The adolescents reported short sleep duration on weekdays (mean 6:25 hours), resulting in a sleep deficiency of about 2 h. A majority of the adolescents (65%) reported sleep onset latency exceeding 30 min. Girls reported longer sleep onset latency and a higher rate of insomnia than boys, while boys reported later bedtimes and a larger weekday–weekend discrepancy on several sleep parameters. Insomnia prevalence rates ranged from a total prevalence of 23.8 (DSM‐IV criteria), 18.5 (DSM‐V criteria) and 13.6% (quantitative criteria for insomnia). We conclude that short sleep duration, long sleep onset latency and insomnia were prevalent in adolescents. This warrants attention as a public health concern in this age group.
Development and Validation of the Brand Superiority Scale

The branding literature usually considers the brand as an independent variable comprised of a central construct with a variety of elements attached to it. This paper argues that more emphasis needs to be placed on the consumer perspective. However, research on the use of brands in the consumer decision making process is scant. The core objective of this study is to develop and test a multi item scale, the Brand Superiority Scale (BSP), which uses consumer’s use of brand names as guidance tools. The test results indicate that BSP has adequate internal reliability and a sound construct validity. Application of the scale in further consumer preference studies is reccommended.
Why Research in Sustainable Supply Chain Management Should Have No Future

In the last two decades, the topic of sustainability has moved from the fringes of supply chain management research to the mainstream and is now an area of significant research activity. In this paper, we argue that while this increase in acceptance and activity is welcome and has lead to a greater understanding of sustainability, our present knowledge is not sufficient to create truly sustainable supply chains. We build on this insight to identify five main issues that future research needs to address. We argue that when it comes to the theory of sustainable supply chain management, previous research has focused on the synergistic and familiar while overlooking trade-offs and radical innovation. These theoretical issues are compounded by measures that do not truly capture a supply chain's impacts and methods that are better at looking backwards than forwards. The paper concludes by proposing a series of recommendations that address these issues to help in the development of truly sustainable supply chains.
An exact management method for demand driven, industrial operations

The framing into demand driven operations is because of the operations research modelling approach. The modelling approach requires continuous regressors and an independent response factor. The demand as an operating factor is considered as independent response factor in relation to the continuous regressors. The method validation is made along several longitudinal case studies to cover local, global and international industrial operations. The examined operational scope is from continuous operations to one-off production. Concerning scheduling, these examined demand driven, industrial operations are considered as open and dynamic, flow shop or job-shop operations. The examined managerial scope is from local work management to global industrial operations management. The theoretical framework of this study is based on operations management, productivity and controllability engineering. The strategical target is to improve productivity. The operational target setting is based on linear goal programming, streamlined demand driven material flow and specified operating factors according to this study, Forrester effect diagnostics and replenishment models. The engineering of strategical target into exact operational schedule as a task target is hard to accomplish, because of the combinatorial dynamic job-shop problem. The purpose of this study is to simplify this managerial task. These study operating factors are the heart in constructing a Decision Support System for the examined operations, alongside the method’s product flow diagnostics. This operations management method consists of the operating factors, specified in this study and these specified factors’ use in constructing a Decision Support System, by engineering current operations management system. The construct consist two parts. Firstly, the exact operational target alignment along this method diagnostics and secondly, the control mechanism according to this operational linear target. The expected managerial benefit is in productivity improvement. The practical benefits are in savings in logistics costs and improvement in customer service, due to shorten lead time and exacting delivery.
Selection of 3PL service suppliers using a fuzzy analytic network process

The use of logistics outsourcing or third-party logistics (3PL) is becoming a global trend. For suiting the needs of outsourcing companies, here raises a critical issue of how companies can evaluate and select a favorable logistics service provider. However, choosing a proper logistics service provider is a kind of multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, which requires considering a large number of complex factors. The analytic network process (ANP) is a relative new MCDM theory of measurement used to deal with complex decision issues with dependence and feedback However, the approach is incapable of capturing the vagueness and fuzziness during value judgment elicitation. In view of this, a method to select a proper 3PL provider is proposed by applying an fuzzy ANP (FANP). The merits of the FANP lie in, not only could it handle the complexity of the problem structure, but also it may soundly deal with the judgments derived from intrinsically imprecise information. Finally, a real case application is given to validate the feasibility of the proposed approach.
On-pump/beating-heart myocardial protection for isolated or combined coronary artery bypass grafting in patients with severe left ventricle dysfunction: assessment of myocardial function and clinical outcome.

BACKGROUND Myocardial protection in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with severe left ventricular (LV) dysfunction is still a surgical dilemma. Preoperative myocardial infarction (MI) and postoperative low output syndrome are serious complications in cases of inadequate protection of the heart, which has limited myocardial reserve. The aim of this study was to evaluate myocardial function and clinical outcome after on-pump/beating-heart CABG in patients with severe LV dysfunction. METHODS Between March 2001 and March 2004, clinical, operative, and postoperative data were prospectively collected from patients with LV ejection fraction (EF) < 30% who underwent on-pump/beating-heart CABG and associated procedures. RESULTS There were 46 patients and the mean patient age was 58.38 +/- 9.23. The mean EF was 25.6 +/- 2.8%. Operating time was 275 +/- 63 minutes. The frequency of distal anastomosis was 3.06 +/- 1.04. Twenty-four patients required aneurysmectomy in addition to CABG, and 2 of the 24 required mitral repairs. Inotropic support was required in 14 patients (30%) and 5 of them (10.9%) also required IABP. The LV EF improved significantly after the operation when compared to preoperative measurements (25.6 +/- 2.8 versus 33.64 +/- 4.69, P < .05). Hospital mortality rate was 4.3% (2 of the 46 patients). No mortality was observed at a mean followup of 16 months after discharge from the hospital. CONCLUSIONS On-pump/beating-heart CABG technique is effective in protecting myocardial functions in patients with severe LV dysfunction. The main advantage of the on-pump/beating-heart technique is the ability it provides one to perform complete revascularization, and intracavitary procedures with low morbidity and mortality even in impaired LV function.
The Grand Challenge – Managing End-Staged Joint Osteoarthritis

Musculoskeletal disease is a common con-dition that affects up to one-quarter of thepopulation over 65years in many devel-oped countries. Over 6 million Australians(1) and 27 million Americans (2) areaffected by some type of musculoskeletaldisorder of which osteoarthritis (OA) isthe most common. Musculoskeletal disor-ders account for one-ﬁfth of all consul-tations with general practitioners (3) inAustralia. The total treatment cost of OAand other musculoskeletal conditions inAustralia was estimated as $55.1 billionin 2012, and the burden of disease costwas estimated to be $34.2 billion, basedon a loss of 182,135 disability adjusted lifeyears (DALYs) (4). In the United States,thepersonal and community cost of muscu-loskeletal diseases including those throughlost wages now approaches $950 billion(5). The 2010 Global Burden of DiseaseStudy demonstrates the worldwide scale ofthis problem, identifying musculoskeletaldisorders as the second largest contrib-utor to life lost through disability afterCancer (6). OA has the highest trajectoryof increasing prevalence across all mus-culoskeletal conditions (4) and in Aus-tralia is forecast to become the leadingcause of disability (7). Total joint replace-ment (TJR), which is not only effective forimproving the quality of life of people withend-stage OA (8), is also a cost-effectivesolution (9).
A Mixed Culture Recovery Method Indicates that Enteric Bacteria Do Not Enter the Viable but Nonculturable State

ABSTRACT A new method, called the mixed culture recovery (MCR) method, has been developed to determine whether recovery of culturable bacterial cells from a population of largely nonculturable cells is due to resuscitation of the nonculturable cells from a viable but nonculturable state or simply to growth of residual culturable cells. The MCR method addresses this issue in that it involves the mixing of two easily distinguishable strains (e.g., lactose positive and negative) in such a way that large numbers of nonculturable cells of both strains are present together with a small number of culturable cells of only one strain, performing a nutrient addition resuscitation procedure, and then plating the cells to determine whether both cell types are recoverable. In repeated experiments with strains ofEscherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae,Enterococcus faecalis, Enterobacter aerogenes, and Salmonella choleraesuis, only cells of the culturable strain were recovered after application of various resuscitation techniques. These results suggest that the nonculturable cells were dead and that the apparent resuscitation was merely due to the growth of the remaining culturable cells.
Using Surveys of Investment Intentions

Business investment is an important component of aggregate demand in the UK economy. But it is volatile and difficult to predict. Surveys of investment intentions provide a timely and useful source of information on future investment plans, and can be used to forecast changes in business investment. This article describes a model that uses surveys of investment intentions to forecast business investment, and compares its forecast performance with the business investment equation in the Bank of England's macroeconometric model.
Surgical bleeding and calcium antagonists

EDITOR,—L E Wagenknecht and colleagues have reported the use of nimodipine, a dihydropyridine calcium antagonist, in 149 patients undergoing replacement of a cardiac valve.1 In a randomised, placebo controlled, double blind clinical trial nimodipine (30 mg started 12 hours before surgery and given four times a day for five days) increased major bleeding. Although patients scheduled for cardiac surgery commonly receive calcium antagonists until the operation as part of their long term cardiovascular treatment,2 Wagenknecht and colleagues' finding raises the possibility that …
The candidate tumor suppressor gene, RASSF1A, from human chromosome 3p21.3 is involved in kidney tumorigenesis

Clear cell-type renal cell carcinomas (clear RCC) are characterized almost universally by loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 3p, which usually involves any combination of three regions: 3p25-p26 (harboring the VHL gene), 3p12-p14.2 (containing the FHIT gene), and 3p21-p22, implying inactivation of the resident tumor-suppressor genes (TSGs). For the 3p21-p22 region, the affected TSGs remain, at present, unknown. Recently, the RAS association family 1 gene (isoform RASSF1A), located at 3p21.3, has been identified as a candidate lung and breast TSG. In this report, we demonstrate aberrant silencing by hypermethylation of RASSF1A in both VHL-caused clear RCC tumors and clear RCC without VHL inactivation. We found hypermethylation of RASSF1A's GC-rich putative promoter region in most of analyzed samples, including 39 of 43 primary tumors (91%). The promoter was methylated partially or completely in all 18 RCC cell lines analyzed. Methylation of the GC-rich putative RASSF1A promoter region and loss of transcription of the corresponding mRNA were related causally. RASSF1A expression was reactivated after treatment with 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine. Forced expression of RASSF1A transcripts in KRC/Y, a renal carcinoma cell line containing a normal and expressed VHL gene, suppressed growth on plastic dishes and anchorage-independent colony formation in soft agar. Mutant RASSF1A had reduced growth suppression activity significantly. These data suggest that RASSF1A is the candidate renal TSG gene for the 3p21.3 region.
A scalable and efficient storage allocator on shared-memory multiprocessors

An efficient dynamic storage allocator is important for time-critical parallel programs. In this paper, we present a fast and simple parallel allocator for fixed size block on shared-memory multiprocessors. We show both theoretically and empirically that the allocator incurs very low lock contention. The allocator is tested with parallel simulation applications with frequent allocation and release requests. The results confirm that our allocator is highly efficient and is scalable to more processors.
The economics of consumers' gifts and legacies to charitable organisations

Charity organisations in The Netherlands receive over 50 per cent of their total income from private fundraising; only a small part of this, 20 per cent, originates from legacies. The paper introduces some economic models of consumer behaviour in the neo-classical tradition that harmonise with altruistic behaviour. Some models for analysing donations and bequests to charitable organisations are introduced and the hypotheses that follow from these theories are compared with Dutch data from 500 respondents. Most respondents had donated something to a charity during the last six months, but only a few had even thought about naming a charity in their will. Restrictions are felt by individuals due to their limited resources. More important, however, seem to be the restrictions on behaviour due to having children, or other close relatives; individuals feel obliged to leave everything to their children or other close relatives. Although the respondents have a reasonably positive opinion about the work and trustworthiness of the charity organisations, charities are not yet considered as ‘a close friend’. Around 40 per cent of respondents are not particularly happy with the information they receive from charity organisations. Communication about legacy donating is considered acceptable by most respondents, as long as the approach is not too personal. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications.
Fuzzy behavior hierarchies for multi‐robot control

Hierarchical approaches and methodologies are commonly used for control system design and synthesis. Well‐known model‐based techniques are often applied to solve problems of complex and large‐scale control systems. The general philosophy of decomposing control problems into modular and more manageable subsystem control problems applies equally to the growing domain of intelligent and autonomous systems. However, for this class of systems, new techniques for subsystem coordination and overall system control are often required. This article presents an approach to hierarchical control design and synthesis for the case where the collection of subsystems is comprised of fuzzy logic controllers and fuzzy knowledge‐based decision systems. The approach is used to implement hierarchical behavior‐based controllers for autonomous navigation of one or more mobile robots. Theoretical details of the approach are presented, followed by discussions of practical design and implementation issues. Example implementations realized on various physical mobile robots are described to demonstrate how the techniques may be applied in practical applications involving homogeneous and heterogeneous robot teams. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Modeling random projection for tensor objects

In this investigation, we discuss high order data structure (called tensor) for efficient information retrieval and show especially how well reduction techniques of dimensionality goes while preserving Euclid distance between information. High order data structure requires much amount of space. One of the effective approaches comes from dimensionality reduction such as Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) and Random Projection (RP) which allows us to reduce complexity of time and space dramatically. The reduction techniques can be applied to high order data structure. Here we examine High Order Random Projection (HORP) which provides us with efficient information retrieval keeping feasible dimensionality reduction.
Diversity in independent retailing: barriers and benefits – the impact of gender

As part of the European Social Fund‐supported Retail Enterprise Network project, which aims to strengthen and support the work of independent retailers and service providers, this paper explores gender‐based differences related to entrepreneurial activities in the UK. The paper looks at differences in motivating factors, personal variables in the make‐up and background of entrepreneurs, as well as in business and structural variables related to the small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises run by men and women. Findings show clear gender‐related differences in terms of educational background, family support and attitudes and ambitions, as well as related to the availability of start‐up capital, networking opportunities and the related maturational variables of turnover, return on investment and growth rates. Discusses current opportunities particular to female entrepreneurs and evaluates the advice and support services specifically targeted at female business owners. This sets the context for developing an agenda for further research and additional demand‐based support measures aimed at this sector in the context of the Retail Enterprise Network.
Green Marketing and the Concern over the Environment: Measuring Environmental Consciousness of Jordanian Consumers

SUMMARY The purpose of this article is to explore the attitudes of Jordanian consumers regarding both their current environmental consciousness and their willingness to adopt environmentally friendly consumption behavior. The article is based on an empirical investigation of consumer attitudes for a sample of 303 university students drawn from Jordanian universities, using a drop-off method. The article concludes that Jordanian consumers were, generally, concerned about the environment, as they demonstrated reasonably high levels of environmental consciousness relating to various environmental issues. However, this pro-environmental attitude was not sufficient to turn good intentions into actual buying actions, possibly due to several factors, such as loyalty to traditional products and weak credibility of “green” claims. The article stresses the need to link consumers' good intentions to actual buying behavior through a green marketing strategy, which focuses on the unique characteristics of green products and how they impact the environment, within the cultural context of the Jordanian consumer. Over time, we hope that these efforts can lead to a culture of green consumerism within a framework of environmental responsibility.
Degrees of untruth

The author points out that truth and falsehood are not open to supplementation by other truth values in the way that early work in many-valued logic, proposed, nor is truth amenable to gradation in the way that is suggested by the terminology of degrees of truth. He maintains that nevertheless there may be a degree of untruth: one untruth may be more or less false than another is. He discusses a variety of recent attempts to make some sense of degrees of untruth (or degrees of truth). <<ETX>>