Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Edge Contrast Sensitivity in Optometric Practice: An Assessment of its Efficacy in Detecting Visual Dysfunction

ABSTRACT The utility of the Melbourne Edge Test (MET) in optometric practice was evaluated by screening 293 consecutive patients who presented for routine eye examination. The MET identified ocular abnormalities in 37 eyes. Of these, 36 also manifested a reduction of visual acuity. The incidence of “false positives” was 1.0%. The MET test failed to detect ocular abnormalities revealed by conventional examination techniques in 29 eyes (4.9%), of which 28 exhibited Snellen acuity losses.
Evaluation of DNA damage and DNA repair capacity in occupationally lead-exposed workers

Occupational lead (Pb) exposure remains a significant concern for workers in Turkey. Health hazards of Pb exposure have been investigated in various test systems, but results regarding its potential genotoxic effects on exposed populations are contradictory. In this study, a control group and an exposed group were studied, each consisting of 25 male subjects. Blood lead levels (BLLs) were estimated by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Genotoxic effects of Pb exposure were studied in leukocytes by comet and challenge assays. The effect of Pb exposure to DNA repair capacity was evaluated following in vitro hydrogen peroxide exposure. Pb-exposed workers had significantly higher BLLs than the control group (p < 0.01). DNA damage in exposed workers had a significantly higher percentage of DNA in tail than the control group (p < 0.05). In the challenge assay, it was found that the mean DNA% repair capacity was significantly decreased in Pb-exposed workers (p < 0.01). The results indicated that occupational Pb exposure is associated with DNA damage and causes decrease in DNA% repair capacity, indicating a potential health concern for occupationally Pb-exposed populations.
Heterogeneous exascale supercomputing: The role of CAD in the exaFPGA project

Since the end of Moore's law is limiting the growth of general purpose processors, High Performance Processing (HPC) systems are considering FPGA-based accelerators as a promising solution for several application fields. However, their employment poses challenges the research is still tackling, and existing tools and workflows do not naturally adapt to the scale and complexity of HPC domains. To help researchers and practitioners, this paper proposes CAOS, a platform that implements an FPGA development workflow tailored to HPC systems while being open to external contributions. Indeed, researchers and developers can plug into CAOS to experiment and compare their solutions at each step of the design flow. This paper describes the CAOS workflow and validates it against several case studies to assess its generality and highlight possible research contributions.
Strategic groups as subsets of strategic scope groups in the Belgian brewing industry

This research report proposes a distinction between strategic scope groups and strategic groups whereby strategic groups are delineated within strategic scope groups. A strategic scope group (SSG) includes firms within an industry that define their business using a four-dimensional ‘strategic space’ consisting of buyer types, product types, geographical reach and level of vertical integration, in a similar way. Within each SSG there may be several strategic groups (SGs). An SG includes firms within an SSG that deploy their resources in a similar way and that compete in the same way. While all firms within an SSG may compete against each other, firms within the same SG compete against each other in a similar way. Within the brewing industry in Belgium five SSGs could be identified. These SSGs differ statistically significantly on a risk-adjusted return on assets measure. SGs themselves did not differ on this performance measure. One may therefore conclude that mobility barriers between SSGs are higher than they are between SGs. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
T lymphocyte numbers in human gut associated lymphoid tissue are reduced without enteral nutrition.

BACKGROUND Clinically, in the absence of enteral nutrition, the morbidity of infectious complication is high. Although experiments using mice have shown alterations in gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) to be an important mechanism underlying impaired host defense, there are no clinical studies on the effects of nutritional routes on GALT. METHODS A total of 27 colon cancer cases who underwent right colectomy or hemicolectomy were reviewed. Six patients did not receive enteral nutrition for 4 to 28 days before surgery because of bowel obstruction (parenteral nutrition [PNI group). Twenty-one patients were enterally fed before surgery (enteral nutrition [EN] group). The terminal ileum from resected specimens was examined microscopically. T-cell numbers in intraepithelial spaces (IE) and the lamina propria (LP) were determined immunohistochemically in blinded fashion. RESULTS There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between the 2 groups. T-cell number in the LP was significantly lower in the PN group than in the EN group, with no difference in IE cell numbers. CONCLUSIONS Lack of enteral delivery of nutrients reduces GALT cell number in patients with colon cancer, as is the case in mice.
INCREASED ANTIBACTERIAL RESISTANCE AND IMMUNODEPRESSION DURING GRAFT‐VERSUS‐HOST REACTIONS IN MICE

Graft-versus-host (GVH) reactions were induced in adult C57BL/ 6J X A/J F1 hybrid mice by i.v. injection of parental (A/J) spleen cells. Eighteen days later, spleen weight was increased, but no other overt signs of GVH disease were present. At this time, various aspects of resistance to infection and immunological responsiveness were examined. Animals given parental cells were highly resistant to i.v. infection with an intracellular bacterial parasite, Listeria monocytogenes, when compared with control mice given isogeneic or allogeneic spleen cells, or nothing. There was marked depression of the growth of Listeria in the spleen and liver and increased survival after a large challenge dose. Furthermore, the mice undergoing GVH reactions possessed a peritoneal macrophage population with greatly increased capacity to inactivate Salmonella typhimurium, another intracellular parasite. The antibody response to sheep erythrocytes, as measured by direct plaque-forming spleen cells and serum hemolytic and hemagglutinin titres, was almost completely suppressed when sheep erythrocytes were injected i.v. 18 days after parental spleen cells. In addition, depression of the immune response to keyhole limpet hemocyanin given s.c. in Freund's complete adjuvant was manifest in mice with GVH reactions by failure to develop immediate hypersensitivity reactions to subsequent injections of hemocyanin into the footpad.
Traumatic transfemoral amputation with concomitant ipsilateral proximal femoral fracture. A report of two cases.

In contrast to civilian amputations, military amputations today are almost entirely due to trauma1-6. The current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have resulted in more than 700 major limb amputations7. We present the cases of two patients who sustained traumatic transfemoral amputations with concomitant ipsilateral femoral fractures. The injuries in these two patients represent particularly complex injuries that are rarely, if ever, seen in the civilian trauma setting. These patients represent a different segment of the population than do traditional civilian amputees because of their young age, excellent physical conditioning prior to injury, high capacity for healing, and long life expectancy following amputation8-11. When a traumatic lower-limb amputation occurs in a young healthy adult, the best outcome is attained with use of a prosthetic limb to restore as much function and mobility as possible12. More distal levels of amputation (e.g., transtibial compared with transfemoral) allow more efficient walking8,10,11,13-16 and better overall function14,17. It is therefore important to maintain as much skeletal length as possible to optimize outcome. The current standard suggests that a minimum length of 5 to 10 cm distal to the lesser trochanter (approximately one-third of the original femoral length) is necessary to fit a patient with a transfemoral total-contact ischial-containment narrow-medial-lateral socket prosthesis rather than a hip-disarticulation total-contact ischial-containment prosthesis. Ideally, the residual length should be approximately 20 cm distal to the lesser trochanter (approximately two-thirds of the original femoral length). ### Evolution of Surgical Technique Historically, according to the Department of the Army, “Only in the very occasional case was it found expedient to amputate through a long bone which was the site of a proximal fracture. ”4,6 Technical challenges, risk of infection, and …
Cure of Trypanosoma musculi infection by heat-labile activity in immune plasma

Passive transfer of plasma from a mouse cured of parasitemia to a Trypanosoma musculi-infected host rapidly eliminates parasitemia; this curative activity, presumably mediated by an immunoglobulin, is sensitive to heat treatment (56 degrees C, 30 min). In addition, pretreatment with immune plasma, even after heat treatment, prevents the development of a patent parasitemia in a naive host (protective activity).
A Low Complexity RLS-PASTd Algorithm for Blind Multiuser Detection in Dispersive CDMA Channels

For joint blind channel estimation and multiuser detection in direct-sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems, a combined scheme is proposed, which couples the recursive least-squares (RLS) adaptations and the PASTd subspace tracking algorithm. A major advantage of the RLS-PASTd algorithm is that it admits an adaptive implementation with low computational complexity instead of singular value decomposition. Simulation results demonstrate the fast tracking capability and high steady-state estimation accuracy of the proposed algorithm in both the time-invariant and time-variant environments
Using EAO model to predict the self-employment intentions among the universities' undergraduates in Malaysia

The statistics have shown that the market is oversupplied with young and inexperienced graduates as the number of graduates has been increasing over the years. At the same time, the growing funds created to assist small enterprises in Malaysia have steadily increased. Hence, to solve the unemployment issue among graduates, there is a potential to make this self-employment an option for graduates to start on their careers. Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation (EAO)scale was used to measure the students’ entrepreneurial attitudes. A survey approach was adopted by sending questionnaires to 2000 students of the public and private universities. The results show that personal control, self-esteem and innovation were found to have significant and positive relationships with self-employment intention. Meanwhile achievement was found to have no significant relationship with self-employment intention. These findings provide important insight to promote and produce a positive image of entrepreneurship as a career.
A hybrid simplex-harmony search algorithm and its application to model reduction of linear systems

To improve the local search ability of the basic harmony search algorithm, a hybrid algorithm that combines harmony search algorithm and concurrent simplex method is proposed. The performance of the hybrid simplex-harmony search algorithm is investigated and compared with the basic harmony search algorithm and two other heuristics through benchmark function optimization problems. The hybrid algorithm is then used to solve the model reduction problems. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid algorithm.
Strategies adopted by Nairobi Water Company in managing its commercialization

The purpose of this project was to determine the strategies adopted by Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company in its commercialization process and also establish the challenges it faces towards the attainment of the same objective. In pursuit of this objective, the study niodeled the research on a case study and as a result data was collected through face to face interview method. The respondents were subjected to open ended questions and the data collected was analyzed using content analysis technique and inferences made based on consistency, credibility and adequacy of data. The research revealed that privatization of water and sewerage services can help in the attainment of millennium development goals through the increase of provision of clean water to the inhabitants of the city. However, to implement effective commercialization strategy there is need of staff capacity building to fill in gaps posed by the new business process. In addition, for effective monitoring and evaluation of the organisation performance, fully fledged departments that will perform the same function and incorporate the views of all the stakeholders need to be developed. The key stakeholder whose views need to be incorporated is the customer. By meeting the needs of the customer and disseminating of information on anv changes was found to go a long way in keeping this group happy while the °tgamzation will achieve its objectives. However, the organisation still faces challenges iln its commercialization process that include lack of adequate capital, frequent interference political class and old infrastructure system and lack of cooperation from customers. TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration. ii Acknowledgement. iii Dedication. iv A bstract.v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION. 1 1.0 Introduction.1 1.1 Background to the Study. 1 1.1.1 The Concept of Strategy.2 1.1. 2 Commercialization and Management of Water and Sanitation Services. 4 1.1. 3 Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Limited. 5 12 Statement of the Problem.6 13 Objectives of the study.v . 8 1.4 Significance of the Study. 8 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW.10 2.0 Introduction. 10 2.1 Concept of Strategy. 10 2.2 Types of strategies. 13 2.2.1 Cost Leadership Strategy.13 2.2.2 Differentiation Strategy.14 2.2.3 Focus Strategy.15 2.2. 4 Niche market competition strategy.16 2.2. 5 Dominant market competition strategy. 16 2.3 Alternative Management Options of Water and Sanitation Serv ices. 17 2.3. 1 Option A: Public Ownership and Public Operation. 17 2.3. 2 Option B: Public Ownership and Private operation. 18 2.3. 2.1 The "Natural Monopoly Problem" and Franchise Bidding.20 2.3.3 Option C. Private Ownership and Private Operation (Full privatization). 22 2-4 Commercialization Process.25 2-5 The Conceptual Model. 26 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. 27 Introduction. 27 32 Research Design. 27 VI 3.3 Data Collection.27 3.4 Data Analysis.28 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. 29 4.
Colistin sulphomethate sodium administration in the presence of severe renal failure and during haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.

was advisable in patients with severe renal failure, and what, if any, effect was produced by haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis on blood levels of the drug. The purpose of the study was carefully explained to all patients and their consent obtained before administering the drug. We were aware of reports of nephrotoxicity due to colistin sulphate, but we consider this finding irrelevant to our situation, since all the patients had terminal and irreversible renal failure and all but one were on either intermittent haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis awaiting renal transplantation. One of the major problems of intermittent haemodialysis is infection of the arteriovenous shunt site, which so often leads
Recovery after floods: A Case of Rental Housing Business in Keko Machungwa Informal Settlement, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

In unplanned settlements, it is common for people to use their homes as a source of income. As revealed by this study, the main income generating activity is “Rental housing”. At the same time most of the unplanned settlements are located in risk sites (flood prone areas notably along river banks). This indicates that houses and the environment in unplanned settlements are vulnerable during floods. Therefore, understanding how rental housing business in unplanned settlements is affected by flooding and the factors that influence their recovery is crucial in formulating strategies for disaster risk reduction. This is the main focus of this paper. Findings show that, absence of flood control infrastructure, inaccessibility during floods, dampness and water logging inside the houses are the main factors affecting rental housing in Keko Machungwa unplanned settlement. Desertion by tenants, renting at a price below the market rate and stopping house renting business, are the main factors reported to undermine the rental housing business. The main factors that had significant contribution to the recovery of rental housing business included: number of rooms available for renting, alternative income generating activities, ownership and water logging and dampness. To enhance recovery of house renting business, the findings suggest the following measures to be taken: Conduct vulnerability assessment; settlement upgrading and regularization; Emergency response plans need to include business recovery; enhance individual financial capability through diversification of the sources of income and enhance an early warning system.
LPXRFa peptide system in the European sea bass: A molecular and immunohistochemical approach

Gonadotropin‐inhibitory hormone (GnIH) is a neuropeptide that suppresses reproduction in birds and mammals by inhibiting GnRH and gonadotropin secretion. GnIH orthologs with a C‐terminal LPXRFamide (LPXRFa) motif have been identified in teleost fish. Although recent work also suggests its role in fish reproduction, studies are scarce and controversial, and have mainly focused on cyprinids. In this work we cloned a full‐length cDNA encoding an LPXRFa precursor in the European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax. In contrast to other teleosts, the sea bass LPXRFa precursor contains only two putative RFamide peptides, termed sbLPXRFa1 and sbLPXRFa2. sblpxrfa transcripts were expressed predominantly in the olfactory bulbs/telencephalon, diencephalon, midbrain tegmentum, retina, and gonads. We also developed a specific antiserum against sbLPXRFa2, which revealed sbLPXRFa‐immunoreactive (ir) perikarya in the olfactory bulbs‐terminal nerve, ventral telencephalon, caudal preoptic area, dorsal mesencephalic tegmentum, and rostral rhombencephalon. These sbLPXRFa‐ir cells profusely innervated the preoptic area, hypothalamus, optic tectum, semicircular torus, and caudal midbrain tegmentum, but conspicuous projections also reached the olfactory bulbs, ventral/dorsal telencephalon, habenula, ventral thalamus, pretectum, rostral midbrain tegmentum, posterior tuberculum, reticular formation, and viscerosensory lobe. The retina, pineal, vascular sac, and pituitary were also targets of sbLPXRFa‐ir cells. In the pituitary, this innervation was observed close to follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and growth hormone (GH) cells. Tract‐tracing retrograde labeling suggests that telencephalic and preoptic sbLPXRFa cells might represent the source of pituitary innervation. The immunohistochemical distribution of sbLPXRFa cells and fibers suggest that LPXRFa peptides might be involved in some functions as well as reproduction, such as feeding, growth, and behavior. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:176–198, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The European Union’S Bilateral Approach

The EU is a world economic power and a major trading partner for most countries. All the time, this region has been interested and has acted towards a free and fair trade. The decrease and even the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers in the world trade are among the main objectives of the EU strategy for international trade. At the moment, the elusive outcome of the WTO Doha Round has led to the proliferation of bilateral trade agreements worldwide. Although the EU remains committed to further development of the multilateral trading system, however, the EU still has appealed also to the development of bilateral trade relations. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the current bilateral dimension of the common commercial policy of the EU. In conclusion, to describe this bilateral approach of the EU we are using one word, namely “diversity”.
The molecular phenotype of human cardiac myosin associated with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy

Abstract Aim The aim of the study was to compare the functional and structural properties of the motor protein, myosin, and isolated myocyte contractility in heart muscle excised from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients by surgical myectomy with explanted failing heart and non-failing donor heart muscle. Methods Myosin was isolated and studied using an in vitro motility assay. The distribution of myosin light chain-1 isoforms was measured by two-dimensional electrophoresis. Myosin light chain-2 phosphorylation was measured by sodium dodecyl sulphate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis using Pro-Q Diamond phosphoprotein stain. Results The fraction of actin filaments moving when powered by myectomy myosin was 21% less than with donor myosin (P = 0.006), whereas the sliding speed was not different (0.310 ± 0.034 for myectomy myosin vs. 0.305 ± 0.019 µm/s for donor myosin in six paired experiments). Failing heart myosin showed 18% reduced motility. One myectomy myosin sample produced a consistently higher sliding speed than donor heart myosin and was identified with a disease-causing heavy chain mutation (V606M). In myectomy myosin, the level of atrial light chain-1 relative to ventricular light chain-1 was 20 ± 5% compared with 11 ± 5% in donor heart myosin and the level of myosin light chain-2 phosphorylation was decreased by 30–45%. Isolated cardiomyocytes showed reduced contraction amplitude (1.61 ± 0.25 vs. 3.58 ± 0.40%) and reduced relaxation rates compared with donor myocytes (TT50% = 0.32 ± 0.09 vs. 0.17 ± 0.02 s). Conclusion Contractility in myectomy samples resembles the hypocontractile phenotype found in end-stage failing heart muscle irrespective of the primary stimulus, and this phenotype is not a direct effect of the hypertrophy-inducing mutation. The presence of a myosin heavy chain mutation causing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can be predicted from a simple functional assay.
MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING: INFORMATION FOR DECISION MAKING AND STRATEGY EXECUTION

In the book entitled Management Accounting: Information for Decision Making and Strategy Execution, authors Atkinson, A. A. , Kaplan, R. S. , Matsumura, E. M. , and Young, S. M. analyse comprehensively and in detail important issues related to the process of providing managers and employees with fi nancial and nonfi nancial information related to decision making and resource allocation, in accordance with a company’s strategies as well as the process of the monitoring and evaluation of performances.
A conceptual model of US consumer willingness‐to‐pay for environmentally certified wood products

Global industrialization and the subsequent dwindling of many natural resources have become elements for product differentiation in marketing. Environmental certification programs are increasingly being recognized as significant market‐based tools for linking manufacturing and consumer purchases. This research examines the relationships between intrinsic environmental motivations and the willingness‐to‐pay a premium for environmentally certified wood products. A conceptual model is proposed that captures the effects of perceptions, awareness and price on consumer willingness to purchase and pay a premium for environmentally certified forest products. The data suggest that there are positive correlations between the willingness‐to‐pay and the independent variables in the model, environmental consciousness, certification involvement and perceived importance of certification. A cluster of US consumers was identified that has a proclivity to purchase certified wood products and may be a logical target market.