Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diet related changes in the gastrointestinal microbiota of horses

Naturally horses were used to survive on grazing a fibre rich diet and consequently their energy metabolism was dependent on fibre degrading microorganisms inhabiting their gastrointestinal tract. However, modern performance horses are exposed to high intensity training, therefore energy-dense feedstuffs had to be introduced to feed rations to meet their high energy requirements. These changes in the diet resulted also in changes in the microbial ecosystem inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract which may also have consequences for the health of the horse. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding about diet related changes within microbial populations in the equine gut using both culture based and molecular methods. Six mature geldings were fed two different diets (haylage-only and haylage-concentrate) in a cross-over design, both periods consisting of 29 days. Faecal samples were used for the culturing work on Rogosa and VRBG plates, for pH measurement and for analysis with T-RFLP. Several bacteria isolated from plates of both diets were identified by sequencing of 16S rRNA. The switch to a diet comprising concentrate to 50% of DM resulted in a significant increase in abundance of lactobacilli and streptococci, and in the appearance of Lactobacillus ruminis, previously not detected in horse. Several other organisms were also significantly affected by the diet as indicated by T-RFLP results. However, identification of some TRFs is inhibited by the lack of knowledge and references in open databases. On the contrary, an effect of diet on numbers of enterobacteria, faecal pH and diversity of the microbial population could not be observed. The results of this study show that there are diet related changes in horses' gastrointestinal microbiota, indicating that their ecosystem is affected by the diet. Similar patterns could be observed in most of the horses, but also individual differences exist. However, our knowledge is still limited on horses' gastrointestinal microbiology. Therefore further investigations are needed to gain a better understanding of the interactions between gut microbiota and different feeding practices which would help to develop feeding strategies that can support equine health and welfare.
Restricciones en la replanificación del mantenimiento de locaciones petroleras

This work deals with an application (PAE) that uses an evolutionary algorithm, generator of multiple solutions for the rescheduling of preventive maintenance of oil fields. The exploitation and the transport of oil are very important activities for the economic development of the industrial modern society. However, these activities are generating risks that are translated in contaminations. It is important that oil companies carry out a correct maintenance of their oil fields. PAE provides a maintenance visit schedule at the right moment and this benefit should be observed from two aspects. First, a schedule is better than other if for the same number of oil wells to be visited, the round cost and the time scheduled is small. Second, if for the same period of time it is possible to carry out the maintenance to more oil wells, this benefit reduces the probability of falling when the number of visited oil wells is increased. PAE is in the fourth phase of its development, in which we have incorporated restrictions to the moment of rescheduling. The obtained results have been satisfactory since they minimize the total time of a scheduling and they maximize the quantity of visited oil wells, satisfying the constraints.
RightField: Semantic enrichment of Systems Biology data using spreadsheets

The interpretation and integration of experimental data depends on consistent metadata and uniform annotation. However, there are many barriers to the acquisition of this rich semantic metadata, not least the overhead and complexity of its collection by scientists. We present RightField, a lightweight spreadsheet-based annotation tool for lowering the barrier of manual metadata acquisition; and a data integration application for extracting and querying RDF data from these enriched spreadsheets. By hiding the complexities of semantic annotation, we can improve the collection of rich metadata, at source, by scientists. We illustrate the approach with results from the SysMO program, showing that RightField supports the whole workflow of semantic data collection, submission and RDF querying in Systems Biology. The RightField tool is freely available from http://www.rightfield. org.uk, and the code is open source under the BSD License.
The Efficient Market Hypothesis and the Behaviour of Share Prices in Nepal

The results of this study do not support the independence assumption of random walk model. The Nepalese stock market may not be termed as "weakly efficient" in pricing of shares. The survey of the opinions of Nepalese financial executives indicate that the current market price of shares are useful to make buy or sell decision, to predict future average returns, and to predict future prices. The main factors affecting share prices as perceived by them are dividends, retained earnings, bonus share, and right issues. The share prices have been found more volatile than expected dividends. The study also revealed that Nepalese investors are not indifferent towards makings or non-makings of information public. Among others, the company information, lack of profitability of the company, market operation system and government policy regarding investment are appeared to be the major causes of deficiency in the Nepalese stock market. Information on favourable future prospect of the company would increase market price of share and shareholders in high tax brackets do not prefer retained earnings instead of dividends.
Ezetimibe Completely Replaced LDL-Apheresis for the Treatment of Familial Hypercholesterolemia and Coronary Artery Disease after CABG—A Case Report

Intensive treatment of hyperlipidemia is an important factor in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Among several therapies, statins are well recognized as playing a central role, although low density lipoprotein bound cholesterol-apheresis can be used to treat very severe cases of familial hypercholesterolemia. However, statins are not always effective on their own and, recently, ezetimibe has emerged as a unique anti- hypercholesterolemic drug that acts as a cholesterol transporter inhibitor; its role is only partially understood. I experienced rare case that appeared to benefit from ezetimibe therapy, and report them as they help increase our knowledge of this novel drug.
Institutional landscape for implementation and financing of social protection programs : Towards effective service delivery in Myanmar

Defining appropriate institutional and financing arrangements is crucial to achieve sustainable social protection in Myanmar. This will require setting up overarching coordination mechanisms, with strong political leadership at the union level complemented by a more prominent role for region/state governments and local-level structures in social protection programming, financing, and delivery. This will lead to an effective and sustainable social protection system that addresses local priorities and increases accountability to citizens.
Active-passive sensing of clouds for reconstruction of water content profile

The paper considers signal processing algorithm for reconstruction of integral water content and water content profile in a cloud. Based on numerical simulation it was shown that curve of brightness temperature of clouds versus its integral water content does not depend on the type of water content profile or cloud thickness. Results of integral water content and water content profile experimental measurements obtained by weather radar MRL-1 and 3-cm radiometer are also presented.
The Impossibility of Auditor Independence

The growing number of audit failures leads the authors to question the current auditing relationship. In no profession is impartiality more important than in auditing, they say. Yet psychological research indicates that such impartiality is impossible under current institutional arrangements. An audit is meant to ensure that a company's financial statement is valid, reliable, and complete. The auditor gives an unqualified opinion that the statement "fairly presents" the company's financial position. But the management of the company hires and pays the outside auditor; the company and its managers become the auditor's "client," thus making psychological independence impossible. Bazerman et al. examine a series of experiments on self-serving bias, in which bias entered unconsciously and unintentionally while subjects made supposedly impartial judgments. In the auditing relationship, certain characteristics exacerbate self-serving bias, causing auditors' judgments to favor their clients: 1. People tend to be less concerned about harming a statistical victim than a known victim. An auditor doesn't really know who will be harmed by misinformation, but he or she does know the people in the firm who would be harmed by a negative audit. 2. The negative consequences of a negative opinion on an audit are immediate, i.e., loss of contract or employment. 3. Auditors have long-standing relationships with the companies they audit. 4. Reporting standards are flexible or ambiguous. 5. People can mislead themselves about the nature of trade-offs and rationalize their behavior. Other factors add to the pressure on auditors such as the increased competition among accounting firms and the growth of consulting firms that also provide auditing services. An unfavorable audit risks not only the auditing relationship but the consulting one as well. Bazerman et al. call for reform of auditing's current structure to end the current epidemic of litigation.
Getting Involved: Exploring Latino GBT Volunteerism and Activism in AIDS and LGBT Organizations

The purpose of this article is to investigate the community involvement (e.g., volunteerism, activism) of Latino gay and bisexual men and transgender persons (GBT) in two areas: AIDS/LGBT and other general causes. Drawing from volunteering and identity theories, we explore the following: Who is likely to get involved? What factors affect variation in the levels of involvement? Where do Latino GBT participate and what do they do? Data come from a cross-sectional sample (N = 643) of Latino GBT in Chicago, Illinois, and San Francisco, California. We found high levels of involvement, but primarily focused on AIDS/LGBT. Involvement appears to be driven by income, early involvement, role modeling, and childhood stigmatization of gender nonconformity.
Committees of Boards: An Event Study on an Emerging Market

This study investigates the market reaction surrounding the establishments of committees of boards, and director appointments to these committees based on the underlying reason for the appointments in public firms quoted at the Borsa Istanbul. In addition, it investigates how the market reaction changes based on the professional expertise of these directors. The findings suggest that investors in Turkish capital markets do not value the existence of various committees of boards highly. In addition, they do not appear to react differently to director appointments to these committees based on the underlying reasons for the appointments. Lastly, they do not seem to value the professional expertise of directors serving on these committees, except in the case of audit committees. Investor reaction surrounding the appointments of expert directors to audit committees is significantly higher compared to the appointments of non-expert directors to audit committees.
CSSR: Cloud Services Security Recommender

The emerging paradigm of cloud computing (CC) presents many security risks that can potentially and adversely impact any one of the plethora of stakeholders. The widespread deployment and service models of CC in addition to the wide variety of stakeholders make it difficult to comprehend security and privacy (S&P). In this paper, we present CSSR1, a Cloud Services Security Recommender tool. CSSR codifies a stakeholder-oriented taxonomy. The goal for CSSR is to identify the various S&P risks for the kaleidoscope of different CC models from the stakeholder's perspective. CSSR will recommend a comprehensive list of S&P attributes that must be considered as controls necessary to minimize the CC attack surface. By identifying the S&P concerns that are unique to the particular usage scenarios (again from a stakeholder perspective), CSSR provides a comprehensive basis from which to choose alternative security solutions. This model then provides a structured and well-informed process of mitigating risk as envisioned by each and every stakeholder based on their needs.
Does Positive-Feedback Trading by Institutions Contribute to Stock Return Momentum?

This paper investigates the impact of positive-feedback trading by institutions on stock return momentum and market efficiency. Using an ex-ante measure of positive-feedback trading by institutions, I find that return momentum is stronger in stocks that attract more positive-feedback trading by institutions, suggesting that positive-feedback trading by institutions intensifies stock return momentum. This effect is not only statistically and economically significant, but also robust after controlling for the other factors that influence return momentum. Further empirical findings suggest that positive-feedback trading by institutions destabilizes stock prices and hampers market efficiency.
Comparative International Accounting

PART 1 CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING 1. Introduction 2. Causes of international differences 3. Some major international differences in financial reporting 4. International classification of financial reporting 5. International harmonization of accounting 6. The requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards PART 2 COUNTRY STUDIES 7. Financial reporting in the United Kingdom 8. Financial reporting in the United States 9. Financial reporting in the Netherlands 10. Financial reporting in France 11. Financial reporting in Germany 12. Financial reporting in Japan 13. Financial reporting in nine other important countries 14. Financial reporting in Central and Eastern Europe and in China PART 3 ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING 15. Liabilities 16. Consolidation 17. Foreign currency translation 18. Segment reporting PART 4 ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT ISSUES 19. International financial analysis 20. International auditing 21. International aspects of corporate income taxes 22. Managerial accounting Glossary of abbreviations Suggested answers to some of the end of chapter questions Author index Subject index
Educational application of virtual instruments based on reconfigurable logic

A number of computer assisted learning (CAL) tools which complement traditional learning methods have been developed due to the decreasing cost and increasing capacity of personal computers. Nevertheless, there are only a few experiences of combining CAL tools with practical experiments. This is the particular case of electronics where practical education is based on traditional independent instruments and CAL tools are use for simulation only. A new approach of CAL tools in electronics is the virtual instrumentation technique. Virtual instruments result from the combination of a general purpose computer with a generic data acquisition system in order to emulate several traditional measurement instruments. Virtual instruments are characterized by their versatility and low cost so they are very suitable for educational applications. Nevertheless, the operation rate of these instruments is limited by the general-purpose orientation of the hardware. In this work, the authors propose a new solution for the implementation of virtual instruments based on reconfigurable data acquisition systems. The whole system is characterized by its versatility because software and hardware modules change dynamically according to the application requirements. By this way, virtual instruments provides a link between CAL tools and the external systems used in practical experiments.
3D image display with motion parallax by camera matrix stereo

We propose a 3D image display system which can present real scenes with realistic motion parallax. In the sensing system, a scene is observed by using a camera matrix. An excellent stereo algorithm SEA which utilizes 3/spl times/3 image matrix recovers the depth information of the scene with the density and the sharpness required for high quality image generation. In the display system, following the viewing position of the observer, 2D images with proper notion parallax are generated and presented. A novel algorithm to determine the view parameters suitable for reproducing the motion parallax on a fixed screen and an image generation algorithm which can cope with arbitrary viewing positions are described. A prototype system has been developed to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed algorithms.
Annual Summary of Vital Statistics—2003

The crude birth rate rose slightly in 2003 to 14.1 births per 1000 population, from 13.9 in 2002. The 2002 rate was the lowest ever reported for the United States. The total number of births and the fertility rate (66.1) also increased. The birth rate for teenaged mothers dropped 3% to another record low in 2003, to 41.7 per 1000 females aged 15 to 19 years. The teenage birth rate has fallen by one third since 1991. The birth rate declined for women 20 to 24 years old but rose for women aged 25 to 44 years. The number, rate, and proportion of births to unmarried women all increased in 2003. Smoking during pregnancy declined to 11%, down from 19.5% in 1989. Prenatal care utilization improved slightly for 2003; 84.1% of women began care in the first trimester of pregnancy. The cesarean delivery rate jumped 6% to 27.6% for another US high. The primary cesarean rate rose 6%, and the rate of vaginal birth after a previous cesarean delivery plummeted 16% from 2002 to 2003. The percent of infants delivered preterm continued to rise (12.3% in 2003). The preterm birth rate is up 16% since 1990. The percentage of children born at low birth weight rose slightly in 2003 to the highest level reported since 1970 (7.9%). The twinning rate increased, but the rate for triplet/+ births declined slightly between 2001 and 2002. Multiple births accounted for 3.3% of all births in 2002. The infant mortality rate rose to 7.0/1000 live births in 2002 from 6.8 in 2001, marking the first increase in this rate in >4 decades. Increases were distributed fairly widely across age, racial/ethnic groups, and geographic areas. The rise in infant mortality was attributed to increases in <750-g births in both singleton and multiple deliveries. Although the downward trend in infant mortality rates in many developed nations may have stabilized, the United States still ranked 27th among these nations in 2001. Expectation of life at birth reached a record high of 77.3 years for all gender and race groups combined in 2002. Death rates in the United States continue to decline. Between 2001 and 2002, death rates declined for the 3 leading causes of death: diseases of heart, malignant neoplasms, and cerebrovascular diseases. Death rates for children 1 to 19 years old decreased by 8% for suicide; the death rate for chronic lower respiratory diseases increased by 33% in 2002. Rates for unintentional injuries and homicide did not change significantly for children aged 1 to 19 years. A large proportion of childhood deaths continues to occur as a result of preventable injuries.
Genetic Multilocus Studies of Different Strains ofCryptococcus neoformans: Taxonomy and Genetic Structure

ABSTRACT The genotypes of 107 strains of Cryptococcus isolated from the environment or from patients from various geographical areas were determined by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE). We analyzed the relationships between genotype structure and serotype and between genotype structure and strain origin. Twelve of the 14 enzyme-encoding loci studied were polymorphic, giving rise to 48 electrophoretic types. The genotypes of C. neoformansand C. laurentii were very similar. MLEE could not distinguish between these two pathogenic species. A correlation between the genetic multilocus structure and the origin of the sample (from the environment or patients) existed. A second analysis detected a correlation between genotype distribution and serotype. The second analysis considered three serotype groups (B, C, and A plus D plus A/D), proving that serotypes A, D, and A/D are closely related. MLEE is a useful epidemiological tool for improving our understanding of the biology of this fungus.
[Sandfly fever outbreak in a province at Central Anatolia, Turkey].

Sandfly fever virus (SFV), which is classified in Phlebovirus genus, Bunyaviridae family, is widely seen in the Middle East and Mediterranean basin. SFV has four serotypes known as Sicilian (SFSV), Cyprus (SFCV), Naples (SFNV) and Toscana virus (TOSV). Sandfly fever, which is transmitted to human by different species of sandflies, especially Phlebotomus spp. , starts with acute onset of high fever and lasts for three days. Headache, anorexia and myalgia are the most common symptoms. The aim of this study was to present the clinical and laboratory findings of the patients who were diagnosed during sandfly fever outbreak in Kirikkale province (located in central Anatolia in Turkey) during July 2009. A total of 20 patients from different districts of Kirikkale province with the history of fly bite and with the clinical findings of fever, myalgia-arthralgia, headache, conjunctival hyperemia and gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea and nausea-vomiting were admitted to the Infectious Disease Unit of State Hospital. All the patients were followed up after hospitalization. A sandfly fever outbreak has been considered in the area since the cases shared a common history of insect bite, similar clinical and laboratory features in a particular time interval. The first patients from each different districts were accepted as the "index case" and 11 patients' serum samples have been sent to Refik Saydam National Public Health Agency, Virology Reference and Research Laboratory, Ankara. Serum samples were analyzed by using a commercial mosaic immunofluorescence test (IFT) (Euroimmun, Germany) to detect IgM and IgG antibodies against SFSV, SFCV, SFNV and TOSV. SFV-IgM positivity was demonstrated in 8 out of 11 patients (Naples virus in 5, Sicilian virus in 3 cases), while all of the cases were IgG negative. Of seropositive patients, two were female and six were male with a mean age of 30.7 (age range: 16-53) years. Sandfly fever was diagnosed in five cases by the positive IgM results and in three cases by the detection of IgM seroconversion in the second samples collected 6 days later. Clinically, fever and myalgia-arthralgia were detected in all of the cases, diarrhea and nausea-vomiting in 7, headache in 5 and conjunctival hyperemia in 1 of 8 seropositive patients. The evaluation of laboratory findings revealed leukopenia (1800-3800 cell/µl) in all cases, thrombocytopenia (69000-140.000 cell/µl) in 7, elevated AST (42-271 IU/L) in 7, elevated ALT (46-173 IU/L) in 5, elevated CK (185-1560 U/L) in 6 and elevated CRP (5.18-83.6 mg/L in 5 of 8 patients. All the patients were treated symptomatically without any sequella and discharged with complete cure. Turkey is a country in the Mediterranean basin and it is known that there is a favorable sandfly fauna in Anatolia. Therefore sandfly fever should be considered in patients presenting with fever and arthralgia-myalgia and with a history of insect bite especially during summer months.