Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distribution channels on the organic foods market.

Objective This paper aims to explore distribution channels on organic foods (OF) market. Special attention is given to advantages and disadvantages of each variant and the best choices by the farmer of the distribution channels that he will use. Findings Distribution has a key role in the development of the OF as one of the main obstacles to market development is the relatively low availability of OF on market. Market development depends on how farmers will know how to choose an optimal distribution channel for their products. For small farmers is recommended keeping a closer link with the final customer, using distribution channels directly, without intermediaries such as systems "box schemes" community supported agriculture (CSA), peasant markets and shops at the farm gate. If large farms that produce crops that require special storage conditions it is recommended the use of indirect distribution channels, through which can be sold large quantities of goods. These channels are the supermarkets, organic shops specialized, processors and various intermediaries. The practical value of work Farmers can choose from this research work, appropriate ways of distribution for their products.
A European Deposit Insurance and Resolution Fund - An Update

Cross-border banking is currently not stable in Europe. Cross-border banks need a European safety net. Moreover, a truly integrated European level banking system may help to break the diabolical loop between the solvency of the domestic banking system and the fiscal standing of the national sovereign. This policy paper first sketches the building blocks of a banking union. Importantly, a new European Deposit Insurance and Resolution Authority (EDIRA) should start simultaneously with the ECB assuming supervisory powers. A combination of European supervision and local resolution cannot work because it is not ‘incentive compatible’. Next, this paper proposes a transition period to gradually phase in the European deposit insurance coverage. Finally, we calculate that a European Deposit Insurance Fund would amount to about €30-50 billion for the 75 euro area banks that were subject to the EBA stress tests. This Fund could be created over a period of time through risk-based deposit insurance premiums levied on these banks. Once up and running, the Fund would then turn into a European Deposit Insurance and Resolution Fund to also deal with the resolution of one or more of these European banks.
Most of the Dominant Members of Amphibian Skin Bacterial Communities Can Be Readily Cultured

ABSTRACT Currently, it is estimated that only 0.001% to 15% of bacteria in any given system can be cultured by use of commonly used techniques and media, yet culturing is critically important for investigations of bacterial function. Despite this situation, few studies have attempted to link culture-dependent and culture-independent data for a single system to better understand which members of the microbial community are readily cultured. In amphibians, some cutaneous bacterial symbionts can inhibit establishment and growth of the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, and thus there is great interest in using these symbionts as probiotics for the conservation of amphibians threatened by B. dendrobatidis. The present study examined the portion of the culture-independent bacterial community (based on Illumina amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene) that was cultured with R2A low-nutrient agar and whether the cultured bacteria represented rare or dominant members of the community in the following four amphibian species: bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus), eastern newts (Notophthalmus viridescens), spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer), and American toads (Anaxyrus americanus). To determine which percentage of the community was cultured, we clustered Illumina sequences at 97% similarity, using the culture sequences as a reference database. For each amphibian species, we cultured, on average, 0.59% to 1.12% of each individual's bacterial community. However, the average percentage of bacteria that were culturable for each amphibian species was higher, with averages ranging from 2.81% to 7.47%. Furthermore, most of the dominant operational taxonomic units (OTUs), families, and phyla were represented in our cultures. These results open up new research avenues for understanding the functional roles of these dominant bacteria in host health.
Acoustic detection of stenosis in hemodialysis vascular access based on the morphology

In this paper, the method proposed in ¡Error! No se encuentra el origen de la referencia. was extended by introducing two new features: Fm and Bm. These features use time scaling to take into account all the beat morphology and to compensate due to the differences in heart rates from patient to patient. The database consists of before and after angioplasty recordings as well as reference recordings. The assessment of the new features was carried out at two levels: intra-patient (by patient), and inter-patients (all patients). Moreover, the performances of the new features were compared to the feature proposed in ¡Error! No se encuentra el origen de la referencia. The results at the intra-patient level showed that the accuracy of SVM classifier for Fm and Bm parameters, on average, increased by 4.2% and 4% respectively. At the inter-patients level the increase was 10% for Fm and 6% for Bm when before angioplasty and reference recordings were compared. In addition, statistical significance was obtained for first principal component analysis coefficient.
Analysis the Effects of Employees Knowledge Management on Organizational Intelligence in Banking Industry ( Case study : Branches of Public & Private Banks in Kish Island )

At a glance, international investment and economic growth are depending on insurance and support of banking industry and importance of this industry is based on its role as a helping tool for investment opportunities. Generally, banking industry reduces uncertainty and turbulence and makes job security, income growth, national wealth keeping and credit making. From another point of view, in the knowledge based economy, organizations and products live based on knowledge and the best one is the best user of intellectual properties. This study tries to investigate the relationship between knowledge management implementation and organizational intelligence among financial and banking organizations to find new strategies for developing OI level. Study statistical population was managers and employees of private and public banks in Kish Island and using standard error, we determined our sample size equal to 128 but for more reliable results, we gathered 154 complete questionnaires. T-test results show that three dimensions of OI (Appetite for change, Knowledge deployment and Performance pressure) have a suitable level and this good level repeated for process, financial and learning and innovation in knowledge management scale. Finally, using a correlation test we found that although there is a relationship between variables at the level of 0.035 in Pearson and 0.018 in Kendall test, but this is not a significant relationship at 1% and 5% error level. Last but not least, we found a significant relationship between KM deployment with alignment and congruence and performance pressure at 1% error level. This means that KM deployment may develop (optimum implementation of information system and tools), (consonant goals between business units), (clear perception of employees from their responsibilities) and (justice feeling in organization).
Tourism development and recreation: some findings from a case study.

Interrelationships between tourism and recreation within a community are examined using data from a case study of the impacts of a major tourism resort. The implications for park and recreation administrators are discussed in terms of markets, resources, and public relations. Recreation and tourism are best seen as distinct markets. Tourism businesses and park and recreation organizations should consider both local residents and tourists in designing facilities and programs. By taking into account the perspectives of tourists, tourism businesses and the residents of the community, park and recreation administrators can serve local and tourist markets, more effectively use community resources, and enhance their support base within the community.
Discontinuation of Prophylaxis against Opportunistic Infections in HIV-Infected Persons Receiving Potent Combination Antiretroviral Therapy

Prophylaxis and maintenance therapy against opportunistic infections (OI) are a mainstay in the management of HIV-infected patients and have led to a significant improvement in the quality of life and survival. In the past few years potent combination antiretroviral therapy became available. This treatment leads to an improvement in the immune function and is associated with a marked decrease in the incidence of opportunistic infections. This has raised the question whether primary or secondary prophylactic therapies may be discontinued without the risk of new or recurrent OI’s. This issue is being addressed by several study groups. For each opportunistic infection, parameters that might influence the decision to discontinue primary or secondary prophylaxis should be clearly defined and evaluated. Stopping primary prophylaxis against Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in patients with a sustained rise in CD4-lymphocyte count above 200/μL has proven safe. Discontinuation of primary prophylaxis against Mycobacterium avium disease and of maintenance therapy against cytomegalovirus retinitis might also be safe in certain patients receiving potent combination antiretroviral therapy.
Effect of heat stress on tomato fruit protein expression

We delayed the ripening of tomato fruit for several days (average 5 days) by a 1‐day heat treatment at 37—42°C. We analyzed the tomato fruit pericarp proteins, which were altered by the heat stress, using two‐dimensional electrophoresis. Heat stress caused about 23.7% of the proteins in the pericarp to disappear and about 1.1% of new proteins to appear. We determined their apparent molecular mass, isoelectric point, and N‐terminal amino acid sequence. Identified proteins included antioxidant enzymes, heat shock proteins, cell‐wall‐related proteins, etc.
Colchicine treatment of liver fibrosis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Because of its antifibrotic and anti-inflammatory effects, colchicine has been proposed as a treatment for liver disease. The results from clinical trials have however been inconsistent. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of colchicine in the treatment of patients with hepatic fibrosis of various etiologies. METHODOLOGY Thirty-eight patients were randomized to receive either colchicine 1 mg per day (n=21, group A) or no antifibrotic agent (n=17, group B). Treatment lasted for at least 12 months. Liver biopsy was performed prior to entry and after 12 months. Liver function tests, serum aminoterminal peptide of procollagen III (PIIINP) levels and CD4:CD8 ratio of peripheral blood T lymphocytes (PBTLs) were performed at baseline and bimonthly or every 4 months post-treatment. RESULTS Mean albumin serum levels increased 12 months post-treatment period only in group A (p<0.05). Mean serum PIIINP levels did not change significantly after 12 months of treatment in group A; in 7 patients a reduction in mean serum PIIINP levels was noticed during 24-month post-treatment follow-up period (p<0.05). At baseline, a correlation between focal or bridging necrosis and CD4:CD8 ratio of PBTLs was noticed in group A (p < 0.05). The mean serum CD4:CD8 ratio was increased after 12 months of colchicine treatment (p<0.05) associated with abrogation of this correlation; comparison between the two groups revealed increased CD4:CD8 ratio in group A at 12 months (p<0.05). The histological findings according to Knodell criteria in both groups remained unchanged after 12 months follow-up. The treatment was well tolerated in all patients. CONCLUSIONS Long-term colchicine treatment in patients with hepatic fibrosis appears to exert an anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic and immunomodulatory effect.
WHETHER BUILDING BLOCK OR HURDLE, VMI GENERATES RENEWED INTEREST

SUBTITLE: IS VENDOR-MANAGED INVENTORY A BOON TO SUPPLIERS OR ANOTHER PROBLEM FOR THEM TO OVERCOME? REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU COME DOWN ON THAT QUESTION, ANALYSTS SAY A CONFLUENCE OF FORCES IS WHIPPING UP RENEWED INTEREST IN VMI.
Lost and found: social innovation and occupational health and safety in organizations

Despite the wealth of material on occupational health and safety (OHS) there remains an ongoing tragic toll on workers. Governments of the more industrialised economies have sought to address this problem through launching a raft of legislative changes. However, implementation of these mandates generally rests with management and whilst procedural regulations are broadly adhered to, more innovative solutions to OHS issues at work have been absent. In this paper we provide a brief overview of developments, debates and studies in OHS and through drawing on the concept of social innovation forward a more holistic organizational model of OHS management.
Do Homeowners Know Their House Values and Mortgage Terms?

To assess whether homeowners know their house values and mortgage terms, we compare the distributions of these variables in the household-reported 2001 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) to the distributions in lender-reported data. We also examine the share of SCF respondents who report not knowing these variables. We find that most homeowners appear to report their house values and broad mortgage terms reasonably accurately. Some adjustable-rate mortgage borrowers, though, and especially those with below-median income, appear to underestimate or not know how much their interest rates could change.
Strategies and Tools for Managing Change

Continuous change in complex healthcare environments is a challenge for nurse leaders, but it can also be a boon. Change can leverage the introduction of innovations that improve the quality of care delivery. It all depends on how change is managed. The author describes major leadership strategies and tools to effectively manage change, particularly innovative changes that result in better outcomes for patients, staff, and the organization.
A semi-fragile lossless data hiding scheme based on multi-level histogram shift in image integer wavelet transform domain

A semi-fragile lossless data hiding (LDH) Scheme based on histogram distribution shift in integer wavelet transform (IWT) domain is proposed in this paper. In the proposed scheme, the transform approximation image is divided into non-overlapping blocks. In each block, the differences between the neighboring elements are computed and a histogram is made on the difference values. The secret data are embedded into the blocks based on a multi-level shifting mechanism of the histogram. The proposed method enables the exact recovery of the original host signal upon extracting the embedded information, if the watermarked image is not affected by any other process. The performance of proposed scheme is evaluated with respect to imperceptibility, robustness, and data payload capacity by simulations. Comparing with the state-of-the-art known techniques, the proposed method performs a higher performance.
Developmental origins of species differences in telencephalon and tectum size: Morphometric comparisons between a parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus) and a quail (Colinus virgianus)

Parrots, including parakeets, evolved significantly larger brains than other birds, relative to their body size, and they possess a proportionately larger telencephalon. For example, the telencephalon occupies approximately 68% of the brain in parakeets but only 52% in bobwhite quail. The present study was designed to determine when and how this difference in brain region proportions arises during development. To that end, we present volumetric data on the major brain regions in parakeets and bobwhite quail at several stages of embryogenesis, at hatching and, for the parakeets, 1 week after hatching. We also report on the proportional sizes of each region's proliferative and postproliferative zones. One major finding is that parakeets develop a proportionately larger telencephalon relatively late in development and that this late increase correlates with a delay in telencephalic neurogenesis. The most prominent aspect of this delayed telencephalic development is a tremendous expansion of the proliferative subventricular zone in the telencephalon of late embryonic and posthatching parakeets. The second major finding is that the tectum is much smaller in parakeets than in quail at all developmental stages examined, suggesting that the tectum's reduced size is due to an evolutionary change in how much tissue was allocated to become tectum at the time of brain regionalization. Collectively these findings indicate that evolutionary changes in brain region proportions are caused not by a single type of change but by several distinct developmental mechanisms, including changes in brain regionalization and neurogenesis timing. J. Comp. Neurol. 507:1663–1675, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The wide clinical spectrum and nigrostriatal dopaminergic damage in spinocerebellar ataxia type 6

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6) manifests a wide spectrum of non-cerebellar system involvements. The objective of this study was to examine the presence of nigrostriatal dopaminergic system derangement in SCA6. Eight patients with SCA6 who underwent a regular follow-up for at least 2 years participated in this study. A detailed neurological examination was performed and striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) was evaluated using [99mTc]–TRODAT-1 SPECT. The main clinical feature of SCA6 was cerebellar ataxia with impaired eye movements. However, a wide spectrum of non-cerebellar system involvements, such as autonomic dysfunction, and pyramidal and extrapyramidal signs, was also observed. Two patients had bradykinesia. l-dopa was tried in one patient without benefit. Of the two patients with bradykinesia, DAT density was reduced to the Parkinson's disease (PD) range with a rostrocaudal gradient typical of PD in one patient (CAG repeats 13/22) and was mildly decreased in the other patient (12/25). Of the four patients without extrapyramidal signs, three (12/22, 11/25, 17/22) showed mild to severe reduction of DAT density and one (13/22) had a normal density. This study shows that SCA6 has a varying degree of nigrostriatal dopaminergic derangement. Two patients manifested mild bradykinesia, emphasising the need to screen for SCA6, even in patients with progressive ataxia and parkinsonism. Further histopathological studies would be helpful to determine the nigrostriatal dopaminergic damage in SCA6.
Online and offline video game use in adolescents: measurement invariance and problem severity

ABSTRACT Background: Despite the increasing popularity of video game playing, little is known about the similarities and differences between online and offline video game players. Objectives: The aims of this study were (i) to test the applicability and the measurement invariance of the previously developed Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire (POGQ) in both online and offline gamers and to (ii) examine the differences in these groups. Methods: Video game use habits and POGQ were assessed in a sample of 1,964 (71% male) adolescent videogame players. Those gamers who played at least sometimes in an online context were considered “online gamers,” while those who played videogames exclusively offline were considered “offline gamers. ” Results: Confirmatory factor analysis supported the measurement invariance across online and offline videogame players. According to the multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) model, online gamers were more likely to score higher on overuse, interpersonal conflict, and social isolation subscales of the POGQ. Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that online and offline gaming can be assessed using the same psychometric instrument. These findings open the possibility for future research studies concerning problematic video gaming to include participants who exclusively play online or offline games, or both. However, the study also identified important structural features about how online and offline gaming might contribute differently to problematic use. These results provide important information that could be utilized in parental education and the prevention program about the possible detrimental consequences of online vs. offline video gaming.
The MIT-LL, JHU and LRDE NIST 2016 Speaker Recognition Evaluation System

In this paper, the NIST 2016 SRE system that resulted from the collaboration between MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the team at Johns Hopkins University is presented. The submissions for the 2016 evaluation consisted of three fixed condition submissions and a single system open condition submission. The primary submission on the fixed (and core) condition resulted in an actual DCF of . 618. Details of the submissions are discussed along with some discussion and observations of the 2016 evaluation campaign.
Haldane's Causes of Evolution After 60 Years

rpHE QUESTION of how much progress science is making in advancing our understanding of the world is still being argued in the literature, particularly in that of the philosophy of science. Admittedly, the advance is not on a direct pathway, it does not follow any laws of logic, and there are occasionally what in hindsight must be considered to be retrograde steps. Yet, scientists are quite unanimous in insisting on the reality of scientific progress. The issue, of course, can be definitely decided only by a detailed analysis of the history of a particular field. And evolutionary biology is particularly suitable for such an analysis. Indeed, in this discipline an entire series of definite steps can be distinguished (Mayr, 1988:536), representing clearcut advances. Certain ideas, such as the occurrence of evolution, the theory of common descent, and the descent of man from the primates were universally accepted already in Darwin's lifetime, although other aspects of evolution remained highly controversial until the evolutionary synthesis of the 1930s-1940s.
Human growth hormone as a reporter gene in regulation studies employing transient gene expression

The human growth hormone (hGH) transient assay system described here is based on the expression of hGH directed by cells transfected with hGH fusion genes. Levels of secreted hGH in the medium, measured by a simple radioimmunoassay, are proportional to both levels of cytoplasmic hGH mRNA and the amount of transfected DNA. The system is extremely sensitive, easy to perform, and is qualitatively different from other transient expression systems in that the medium is assayed and the cells themselves are not destroyed. The hGH transient assay system is appropriate for analyses of regulation of gene expression and was utilized here to investigate the effect of the simian virus 40 enhancer on the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase promoter and the effect of zinc on the mouse metallothionein-I promoter. The expression of hGH can also be used as an internal control to monitor transfection efficiency along with any other transient expression system. All cell types tested thus far (including AtT-20, CV-1, GC, GH4, JEG, L, and primary pituitary cells) were able to secrete hGH into the medium.