Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chlamydia trachomatis-Infected Patients Display Variable Antibody Profiles against the Nine-Member Polymorphic Membrane Protein Family

ABSTRACT Genomic analysis of the Chlamydiaceae has revealed a multigene family encoding large, putatively autotransported polymorphic membrane proteins (Pmps) with nine members in the sexually transmitted pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis. While various pathogenesis-related functions are emerging for the Pmps, observed genotypic and phenotypic variation among several chlamydial Pmps in various Chlamydia species has led us to hypothesize that the pmp gene repertoire is the basis of a previously undetected mechanism of antigenic variation. To test this hypothesis, we chose to examine the serologic response of C. trachomatis-infected patients to each Pmp subtype. Immune serum samples were collected from four populations of patients with confirmed C. trachomatis genital infection: 40 women with pelvic inflammatory disease from Pittsburgh, PA; 27 and 34 adolescent/young females from Oakland, CA, and Little Rock, AR, respectively; and 58 adult male patients from Baltimore, MD. The Pmp-specific antibody response was obtained using immunoblot analysis against each of the nine recombinantly expressed Pmps and quantified by densitometry. Our results show that nearly all C. trachomatis-infected patients mount a strong serologic response against individual or multiple Pmp subtypes and that the antibody specificity profile varies between patients. Moreover, our analysis reveals differences in the strengths and specificities of the Pmp subtype-specific antibody reactivity relating to gender and clinical outcome. Overall, our results indicate that the Pmps elicit various serologic responses in C. trachomatis-infected patients and are consistent with the pmp gene family being the basis of a mechanism of antigenic variation.
Hyperkinesia and other physiologic effects of caudate deficit in the adult albino rat

FRONTA cortical or rostra1 cerebral lesions in the rat, including caudate tissue, were associated with cursive: hyperkinesia in the studies of Lashley,' Richter and Hawkes? and Beach.8 Beach's striatal lesions increased activity in one animal, decreased it in two, and produced no effect in two. Beach concluded that ". In the rat, the striatum evidently does not exert a controlling effect upon running activity as measured in this experiment. " Munn,' in a review of effects of cerebral injuries on activity in the rat, concluded ". Lesions in the corpus striatum do not appear to influence activity level. " The purpose of this study was to describe behavioral and selected metabolic consequences of bilateral stereotaxic lesions in caudate tissue in the adult albino rat and, incidentally, to provide definitive observations on the association between such lesions and cursive hyperkinesia.
An Efficient Sparse Sampling Approach to Magnetic Resonance Imaging

It is well known that a nuclear resonance magnetic field is used in capturing a MRI image in medical field. When one goes for MRI, he is kept under the nuclear field scanning (approximately under 64 MHz range) for a wide span of time. This instead of helping adds harm to patient’s health. A new technique sparse sampling or compressive sensing has come into the picture, by using which number of measurements or samples taken can be reduced to a very little number than that were used initially and thus number of radiations bombarded to patient can also be reduced to a great extent. The image we get is little tolerated on PSNR value but has an observable quality. This appear focuses on reducing the recovery timings of MRI image by fitting compressive sensing to MR imaging.
Client-centred development of an infrared thermal access switch for a young adult with severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy

Purpose. This study reports a client-centred development of a non-contact access switch based on an infrared thermal imaging of mouth opening–closing activity of an individual with severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. Method. Over a 6-month period, the client participated in five test sessions to inform the development of an infrared thermal switch. The client completed eight stimulus-response trials (switch test) and eight word-matching trials (scan test) using the infrared thermal switch and provided subjective feedback throughout. Results. For the switch test, the client achieved an average correct activation rate of 90% and average response time of 2.4 s. His mean correct activation rate on the scan test improved from 65 to 80% over the course of system development, with an average response time of 11.7 s. Conclusions. An infrared thermography switch tuned to a client's extant orofacial gestures is a practical non-invasive access solution and warrants further research in clients with severe physical disability.
Customer expectations versus perceptions of service performance in the foodservice industry

This study examines qualitative and quantitative differences between service expectations and perceived performance in the foodservice industry, using the profile accumulation technique. Parallel series of data were obtained for service performance perceptions from actual customers at two pizza restaurants. The three sets of data were compared qualitatively and quantitatively. Results showed that customers structured their perceptions of the service into a common set of elements (termed aspects) and attached quality attributes to each of these elements. The three data series exhibited very similar dimensionalities in terms of both aspects and attributes of the service. Attributes were identified as satisfiers or dissatisfiers. In order to gain insight about their structure they were separately recoded using four different authors’ lists of quality dimensions. The significance of their quantitative differences for positive and negative disconfirmation was also examined. Aspects and attributes were used to calculate matrices of quality metrics referring to both the “aspects” dimensions provided by respondents and the dimension lists of the four authors. The work demonstrates that it is possible to obtain and analyse customers’ expectations and perceptions without making pre‐assumptions about them, and will therefore be of interest to managers and marketers of restaurants and other services.
Cross-border acquisitions of European multinationals

This article presents the results of an extensive study on cross-border/international acquisitions of European multinationals in the period 1976–2000. The most common motives for cross-border acquisitions are market entry, increase in scale and economies of skills. There is a manifest preference for the United States of America. As yet, the influence of the (integrated) European Union is barely noticed. Two important preconditions for cross-border acquisitions are a unique competence that makes a company stand out from the competition and deep financial pockets.
A comparison of innovation in the Scottish livestock sector: the case of genetic selection techniques

This paper compares innovation systems in three main Scottish livestock sectors: dairy, beef, and sheep, using the uptake of Estimated Breed Values (EBVs) across these three sectors. We apply an innovation systems approach to identify systemic challenges within these sectors. Barriers to the adoption of genetic techniques in all three sectors were identified through interviews with national experts and via a stakeholder workshop. Three types of barrier emerged: practical barriers – such as low fertility rates for artificial insemination in sheep; social barriers such as farmer’s scepticism; and market/supply chain barriers, such as limited information flow to farmers within the beef and sheep sectors. We use the innovation system failures framework developed by Weber and Rohracherb (2012) to identify the broad failures within these sectors such as information asymmetries, infrastructure and institutional failures. We show the dairy sector avoids some of these challenges, particularly practical barriers, and market/supply chain barriers. The attributes of the dairy innovation system which enable this are discussed such as data collection management, information on bulls frequently published, and the involvement of breed societies. Finally, solutions are suggested to resolve these innovation systems failures in the livestock sectors.
Determining the faulted phase

In August 1999, a lightning strike caused a misoperation of a relay installed in the late 1980s. The relay misoperation caused a two-minute outage at a petrochemical plant and led to an exhaustive root-cause analysis. The misoperation can be attributed to incorrect fault type selection in a distance element-based, 1980s-era relay. Two separate events in different locations, one in December 2007 and another in March 2009, highlight additional incorrect operations that occurred due to the same problem and root cause. The recent events remind us that this topic is still important and should be reviewed. This paper shares details about three challenging case studies and their root causes. Methodical root-cause analysis techniques are used, including mathematical simulation and testing of old and newer relay designs. This paper contrasts distance and fault identification algorithms, demonstrates methodical analysis techniques, and proposes solutions. Fault type selection logic is discussed, and the evolution and improvement of faulted phase selection logic over several decades is demonstrated. A newer relay design, available since 1993, is proven to have improved performance, namely better security, for these challenging cases.
An initiAtive for A more integrAted disAster mAnAgement in ThAilAnd

Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) under Ministry of interior is the focal government agency in charge of disaster management of Thailand. in order to better manage disaster risks, DDPM has developed the "Disaster information Portal (DiP)" to link and incorporate all relevant information on disaster risks from all agencies concerned. This D iP has served as the platform for data and information sharing as well as provision of disaster risk forecast and data bank. D iP comprises three main compo - nents: (i) development and update of the disaster data bank, (ii) conduct information technology need assessment of relevant agencies, and (iii) development of methods for information linkage and sharing between DDPM and concerned agencies.
Contesting Expertise: Home Care Under Ontario's Conservative Government 1995-2003

Using the example of home care services in Ontario between 1995-2003, this paper shows that policy problems defined through a lens of ideological understandings lead to policy remedies that can be problematic. There is a disconnect between what health care professionals and decision-makers value in the organization of service delivery. While health care professionals value continuity of care and collaboration among providers, decision-makers value cost containment and competition among providers in a quest to improve efficiency, as they understand it. Under Ontario’s system of “managed competition” the role of expertise or knowledge in the delivery of health or social services has become the site of a power struggle among the actors engaged in funding, organizing and delivering these services. Expertise, knowledge and education have become commodified as each organization attempts to offload costs to the other. This is problematic with the increasing complexity of care required in the community.
The family impact of childhood atopic dermatitis: the Dermatitis Family Impact questionnaire

Little information is available about the effect of childhood atopic dermatitis (AD) on family function. The aim of this study was to identify the areas of family life most affected and their perceived importance. Intensive qualitative interviews with 34 families were conducted and 11 basic problem areas were identified. A detailed questionnaire was prepared, part of which addressed the perceived importance of particular issues using the framework of multi‐attribute utility theory. The results from using this questionnaire in 41 families were analysed and a shorter 10‐question one‐page Dermatitis Family Impact (DFI) questionnaire designed (maximum score = 30). In affected families the mean DFI score was 9.6 ± 7.0 (range 0–27, n = 56) and in unaffected families the mean score was 0.4 ± 0.9 (range 0–3, n = 26, P < 0.0001). The DFI could potentially be used as an extra measure in clinical studies, or to help guide appropriate management of AD.
Do Health Shocks Increase Retirement More When Workers are Universally Insured

Rationale: Health shocks significantly alter workers' retirement plans, more so than a worsening in a already existing health condition. Dwyer and Hu (2000) find that developing a new work limitation between 2 waves of the U.S. HRS increases the likelihood of retirement more than having a persistent limitation. Coile (2004) finds that the shock effect of an unexpected health event such as a heart attack or the onset of a new chronic condition leads to a serious financial loss for the family. The labour supply response following a health shock, however, would depend on having access to pensions and health insurance. Within an employment-contingent health insurance system without retiree health insurance, workers may be forced to continue working simply to be able to pay the costs of their medical treatment, see for example Bradley al. (2005). When workers are universally insured, insurance is not contingent on employment. Therefore, we would expect that health shocks would increase retirement to a larger extent in a general tax-financed health-care system with universal access such as the Danish one, compared to the US. Objectives: Our aim is to compare the retirement effects of negative health shocks occuring in a universally insured health care system to those found in similar US sub-samples, both with and without insurance coverage, for narrowly defined health conditons. Methodology: We explore our question by estimating pooled and random effects probability of work-for-pay models. In these models, we compare the effect of new acute condition of new chronic disease on the probability of working for pay on sub-samples of workers aged 51-64 in the Danish Longitudinal Registers, 1991-2001, and similarly defined sub-samples drawn from the US HRS, 1992-2002. Results: Our results show that while new chronic conditions lead individuals to reduce work at about the same rate in both countries, older Americans are three times as likely to stop working for pay following an acute condition than similar Danes. Accounting for insurance differences narrows this gap by almost two-thirds for single women who suffer an acute shock and lack retiree insurance but do not affect the findings for any other group. Thus, insurance differences cannot explain this puzzling gap which persists even after accounting for unobserved heterogeneity and justification bias in self-assessed health and which, furthermore, is robust to different checks. Conclusions: One plausible explanation for the observed country difference is that older Danes could be in better general health than their American counterparts and therefore less debilitated by the impact of a health shock. Another explanation could be that getting a new job may be easier for older workers in the US. On the fact of it, there seems to be little evidence to suggest that a universally-insured health-care system like the Danish one leads to excessive retirement following a health shock, although there may be hidden selection in that Danes may tend to retire at the first sign of a health problem, before a health shock can occur.
Building decision analysis model by the experts knowledge–applying to management fraud detection

Fraudulent financial reporting has recently become a serious social and economic concern. Auditor judgments sometimes face challenges will be driven to difficulty and checking and verification procedures are becoming increasingly costly. The purpose of this study is to develop a Grey Situation Decision-making (GSDM) to help auditors plan the audit process and identify the financial ratios that are important in fraud detection. This study also provides a significant advantage to auditors and managers in enhancing the efficiency of fraud detection and critical evaluation.
Private Equity in Financial Institutions: Value Creation and Performance

In this paper we introduce a framework to analyze the key drivers of value creation of private equity in financial institutions and the bank holding sub-segment. We estimate the influence of market-timing, take specifications of this highly regulated industry into account, and approximate the influence of leverage and operational improvement. We prove that market-timing has a positive but limited impact on value creation in financial institution and bank holding buyouts, and we find evidence that the value creation in the capital intense and highly regulated bank holding sub-segment is not diluted by financial leverage and depends to 87% on operational improvement. Moreover, we investigate the absolute and relative performance of these transactions and draw cross industry comparisons based on a unique data set of 3,296 completed buyout transactions. We show that leveraged buyouts of financial institutions generate a median gross IRR of 29% and a median PME of 1.9 compared to a public financial services benchmark index. The more capital intense bank holding sub-segment shows a median gross IRR of 23% and also outperforms the public benchmark with a median PME of 1.5. Results are controlled by DPI and Excess IRR figures, and are tested for significance. Both categories of companies are almost consistently in the upper half of our cross industry benchmarking with partially significant higher return figures than traditional buyout industries.
Market Orientation in the Mental Models of Decision Makers: Two Cross-Border Value Chains

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine whether predictions about different degrees of market orientation in two cross‐border value chains also appear in the mental models of decision makers at two levels of these value chains.Design/methodology/approach – The laddering method elicits mental models of actors in two value chains: Norwegian salmon exported to Japan and Danish pork exported to Japan. The analysis of the mental models centers on potential overlap and linkages between actors in the value chain, including elements in the mental models that may relate to the actors' market orientation.Findings – In both value chains, decision makers exhibit overlap in their views of what drives their business. The pork chain appears dominated by a focus on efficiency, technology, and quality control, though it also acknowledges communication as important. The salmon chain places more emphasis on new product development and good relations between chain partners.Research limitations/implications – Whil.
Voicing in Russian Stops: Cross-Linguistic Implications

This paper presents the results of an investigation of voicing in utterance-initial and intervocalic stops in monolingual Russian speakers. Prevoicing was found in over 97% of the lenis stops; over 97% of the intervocalic stops were fully voiced. Utterance-initial fortis stops were pronounced as voiceless unaspirated and had short positive VOT. Intervocalic fortis stops were completely voiceless except for a short voicing tail into closure. These results are relevant for typological studies of voicing. Some studies of languages with a two-way contrast between initial stops with prevoicing and short lag VOT have reported that prevoicing is less robust than what might be expected. These findings have been attributed to influence from another language without prevoicing. Our results with monolingual speakers of Russian support these claims. Our results are also relevant for the debate about the laryngeal feature in aspirating languages, which often have some voicing of intervocalic lenis stops. Such voicing has been attributed to passive voicing, in contrast with active voicing that occurs in true voice languages such as Russian. We found that the voicing in Russian is much more robust than the intervocalic voicing in aspirating languages. This difference is explained if the features of contrast are different in the two types of languages: [voice] in the case of Russian and [spread glottis] in the case of aspirating languages.
Impact of Corporate Governance on Organizational Profitability

Corporate governance is one of the major issues that have dominated the business world since the advent of the twenty-first century. The recent business failures or recession have been attributed to failure of corporate governance ethics. The failures also raise some fundamental questions, such as, the dependability of financial information, audit independence, the role of regulators, company management, the role of the board of directors, conflict of interest and of course, the whole question of ethics and professionalism. Therefore, a study of how strict adherence to corporate governance could impact the profitability of an organization is considered in this study. The result revealed that strict adherence to corporate governance will positively impact any organization. Questionnaires were designed for the purpose of testing the two hypothesis derived. The Hypothesis was tested using PPMC techniques to validate already held opinions about the relationship between corporate governance and corporate/organizational performance profitability.
Epidemiology of hearing loss.

Epidemiology no longer concerns itself only with infectious diseases. Now it deals with the commoner non-infectious diseases in a population. In epidemiology, we deal with populations and this is the centre of the problem.Data on more than 30 000 cases of hearing loss were statistically analysed for the period 1966–1971. The number of males was higher than that of females in spite of the fact that, in the population, there is an inverse ration. The ratio of males to females increased as a function of age.The most frequent diseases were presbyacusis noise-induced hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss of unknown origin, the different forms of chronic otitis and the consequence of these (cicatrisation, adhesive process, tympanosclerosis). The grades of hearing loss were determined in the different pathological processes and the distribution of these grades was calculated according to age.As regards sensorineural hearing loss, it was found that, among the patients older than 40 years, not only did the numbe.
Fabric defect classification with geometric features using Bayesian classifier

Fabric defect inspection is the pivotal part in the production of textile products. Since manual inspection is tedious and erroneous, automated fabric inspection has been topic of research for past years. Automation of fabric inspection involves two major aspects: defect detection and defect classification. We focused on classifying defects based on geometric features of defects. The features are obtained by applying statistical technique on an image dataset. Classification of defects is accomplished using simple Bayesian classifier, which delivers a pleasing accuracy.