Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of a Gel Mat Stall Surface on the Lying Behavior of Dairy Cattle

THE EFFECTS OF A GEL MAT SURFACE ON THE LYING BEHAVIOR OF DAIRY CATTLE Alexa Main Advisor: University of Guelph, 2013 Dr. D.B. Haley This thesis is an investigation of the effects of gel mat stall flooring on the activity, lying behavior and stall preferences of dairy cattle. In the first study, lactating cows (n=24) were housed in tie stalls on four flooring surfaces for one week each, in a cross-over design. Observations showed that housing cows on gel mats increased total lying time and decreased the time required to transition between lying and standing. The same cows housed on the foam mats and rubber mattresses spent longer standing. In the second study, non-lactating cows (n=18) in a free stall environment spent more time lying, and had a shorter latency to lie down after entering the gel mat stall. Cows restricted to the foam mat spent the most amount of time standing. Cows did not show a particular preference for either stall flooring surface during the final choice phase of the experiment. Results from both studies indicate that housing cows on gel mats promotes
IFN-gamma induces apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells in vivo and in vitro.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare in vitro and in vivo responses of primary human tumor cells to IFN-gamma. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN IFN-gamma may have therapeutic activity in patients with ovarian cancer. We showed previously that this cytokine had direct antiproliferative activity against human ovarian cancer cell lines and xenografts in nude mice. To further understand the role of IFN-gamma in ovarian cancer, we compared its action on 8 ovarian cancer cell lines with the response of 14 primary cultures of ovarian tumor cells isolated from patients with ascitic disease. A pilot clinical study was then conducted to see whether IFN-gamma would also induce apoptosis in human tumor cells in vivo. Six patients with ascites and advanced disease were given IFN-gamma by i.p. injection, and sequential samples of ascites were analyzed. RESULTS IFN-gamma had antiproliferative activity in 8 of 8 ovarian cancer cell lines and 11 of 14 primary cultures. This activity was dose related, and cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase in protein isolates provided evidence of apoptosis. In the clinical study, there was a 3 log(10) pharmacokinetic advantage in peritoneal compared with plasma levels of IFN-gamma. In two of six patients, there was a 90% reduction in tumor cells in ascites after IFN-gamma treatment, and this was related to clinical benefit as assessed by intervals between paracentesis. In all six patients, there were increased amounts of cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase in protein extracts of ascitic cells sampled during IFN-gamma treatment. CONCLUSIONS IFN-gamma induces apoptosis in vitro and in vivo in human epithelial ovarian cancer.
Incidence and Risk Factors of First-Line HAART Discontinuation: Is it Worth Choosing Competing Risk or Standard Survival Approaches?

Objectives: To estimate the incidences of first-line HAART discontinuation (for intolerance, treatment failure or treatment simplification) and their risk factors by standard survival (1-KM, Cox model) or competing risk approach (CIF, Fine-Gray model) in HIV infected patients. Methods: We studied 1136 patients receiving first-line Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapies (HAART), aged over 18 years, from the Dat’AIDS cohort, Toulouse, France, between January 2000 and June 2008. Cumulative incidence was estimated with 1-KM and CIF estimators and risk factors with Cox and Fine-Gray models. Results: There were 265 discontinuations for intolerance, 136 simplifications, 101 treatment failure and 274 other reasons. One year incidences were 19.0% versus 16.8%, 8.0% versus 6.0%, 6.3% versus 4.8% and 20.0% versus 17.3%, with the estimators 1-KM and CIF, respectively. For intolerance, both models identified similar risk factors. For risk factors of simplification or treatment failure, results differed by the model. Conclusions: As expected, the 1-KM overestimates the incidence of treatment discontinuation. For early and frequent events such as intolerance, the Cox and the Fine-Gray models appear to give similar results. For late and rare events, potentially exposed to competing risk, results differed. The common or specific nature of a factor may also play a role.
The Effect of Organizational Culture and Organizational Justice on Employee Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment in Bangkok, Thailand

The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of organizational culture and organizational justice on employee satisfaction and organizational commitment. Employees whose aged equal and more than 25 years old and worked in the general organizations in Bangkok, Thailand were respondents. There were 406 qualified questionnaires were used in this analysis. SEM (Structure Equation Model) was used to examine the hypothesis. The finding indicated both organizational culture and organizational justice had direct positive effect on employee satisfaction and organizational commitment. This research provided effective resources (organizational culture and organizational justice) for the companies to improve the employee satisfaction, and make employees more willing to remain and build their career within the organization. In addition, the information in this research could be useful for the future studies to explore the organizational culture and organizational justice effect on the employee satisfaction and employee commitment in other Asian countries.
Salient Beliefs About Earthquake Hazards and Household Preparedness

Prior research has found little or no direct link between beliefs about earthquake risk and household preparedness. Furthermore, only limited work has been conducted on how people's beliefs influence the nature and number of preparedness measures adopted. To address this gap, 48 qualitative interviews were undertaken with residents in three urban locations in New Zealand subject to seismic risk. The study aimed to identify the diverse hazard and preparedness‐related beliefs people hold and to articulate how these are influenced by public education to encourage preparedness. The study also explored how beliefs and competencies at personal, social, and environmental levels interact to influence people's risk management choices. Three main categories of beliefs were found: hazard beliefs; preparedness beliefs; and personal beliefs. Several salient beliefs found previously to influence the preparedness process were confirmed by this study, including beliefs related to earthquakes being an inevitable and imminent threat, self‐efficacy, outcome expectancy, personal responsibility, responsibility for others, and beliefs related to denial, fatalism, normalization bias, and optimistic bias. New salient beliefs were also identified (e.g., preparedness being a “way of life”), as well as insight into how some of these beliefs interact within the wider informational and societal context.
Enhancing Rural Development in Tamilnadu through ICT: An Evaluation of Latest Technologies in the scheme MGNREGS

When e-governance indicates better governance, naturally, rural development becomes an essential part of it. It is so because developing countries like India depend on the villages and their welfare. Keeping this in mind, the government of India is launching many schemes towards the betterment of rural areas and their people. In this paper, we will see the outline on the major schemes of the government of India on rural development and how ICT is involved in them. In addition to this, the paper will focus on the rural development schemes in Tamil nadu in general and then in particular it tries to focus on the ‘Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Hawks, Doves, and Diplomats; Reputation and Communication in a Modied Hawk-Dove Game ¤

This paper shows the possibility of communication when players interact repeatedly playing a Hawk-Dove game that is modied to include incomplete information. Players are randomly matched and have no persistent types. Building on previous work (Sartori 2001), I show that players in this situation may obtain reputations for honesty that allow them to communicate their types. Going beyond that work, I prove that players obtain gains from trade over time through communication; realization of such gains provides a motive for communication. I also show that this behavior is not just possible but \likely" by two formal criteria: it is Pareto optimal and collectively stable. Finally, I suggest that communication is more likely when there are greater gains from trade and that it remains possible when both players prefer war to acquiescence.
La diffusion de la RSE par la relation fournisseurs : injonctions paradoxales ou partenariat de progrès ?

Les grands textes et references internationales confient aux grandes entreprises la responsabilite de diffuser les valeurs environnementales et sociales dans leur sphere d’influence. Cette vision « messianique » de leur responsabilite les conduit a promouvoir des pratiques RSE au sein de leur chaine d’approvisionnement, notamment aupres de leurs fournisseurs et sous-traitants PME. Dans une vision manageriale, elles demandent a leurs fournisseurs de signer des codes de conduite et autres clauses contractuelles pour se proteger des risques lies a un comportement non responsable. Quelle que soit la vision, les grandes entreprises sont considerees comme des acteurs majeurs de la diffusion de pratiques socialement et environnementalement responsables pour les PME de leur chaine d’approvisionnement. A partir de cinq etudes de cas de grands groupes industriels consideres comme socialement responsables et a partir d’une enquete aupres de PME francaises, cet article se propose d’analyser les facteurs, freins ou leviers qui expliquent l’influence exercee sur les PME par la gestion « durable » de la relation fournisseurs. Il cherche a repondre a la question : dans quelle mesure les PME sont-elles poussees a adopter des politiques RSE par les grandes entreprises clientes ? Dans les pays developpes comme la France, cette influence est faible, meme lorsque les grands clients se disent engages dans la RSE. Nous avons degage les principaux determinants de cette influence : le degre de formalisation et surtout de controle des engagements demandes au fournisseur, le degre des contradictions entre les exigences economiques de prix toujours plus bas et les exigences de conformite avec les codes de conduite ou autres standards, la nature de la relation commerciale entre les acteurs basee sur un rapport de force economique dans une approche de stricte conformite ou basee sur la confiance, les relations personnelles et le partenariat gagnant-gagnant. Les grandes entreprises, meme proactives, ne sont que de faibles leviers de la diffusion de la RSE chez leurs fournisseurs PME parce que tous ces facteurs jouent faiblement ou comme des freins, ce qui traduit une mise en œuvre encore tres partielle des objectifs annonces de developpement durable au sein des services achat. Les objectifs et l’engagement du chef d’entreprise dans la PME constituent des facteurs cles pour l’adoption de strategies RSE dans les PME et donc pour aller au-dela de la stricte conformite et transformer les exigences RSE du client en opportunites. Nous proposons huit types de reponses strategiques des PME fournisseurs aux exigences de leurs clients en fonction des facteurs degages ci-dessous.
Intellectual capital performance and its long-run behavior: The US banking industry case

This paper examines the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on the corporate performance of banking firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange from 2000 to 2011 as an attempt to rectify observed modeling issues in the extant IC performance models. It also studies the long-run behavior of IC as a strategic asset in the value-creation process. We propose four dynamic models to estimate IC performance, and the evidence of these models concludes that IC has a positive influence on the performance of the sample firms. However, the IC level and the magnitude of its influence on corporate performance have deteriorated over the sample period, raising doubts about the appropriateness of using IC as a strategic asset in the long term.
HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE MARKETING OF INTERCOLLEGIATE SPORTS PROGRAMS: A PORTFOLIO APPROACH

Faced with greater needs to effectively manage enrollments, endowments and the branding of their institutions, colleges and universities are looking to successful sports programs as one way to further differentiate their institution in the marketplace. For smaller and some medium-sized institutions, it is becoming increasingly difficult to field a cadre of successful sports programs which both generate both positive revenues and national exposure for the institution. As a result, some of these schools are beginning to think more critically about the portfolio of sports teams which represent the institution, in an effort to increase the efficacy of those institutional investments.
PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT CAPABILITIES TO RESPECT COSTS, SCHEDULE AND SCOPE IN PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

Scholarly research and practitioner contributions have highlighted technical ability in the management public infrastructure projects as a potentially potent source of project success. However this paper raises a potentially puzzling question; if these abilities are so central to project success, why are successful public infrastructure projects still weak and questionable? To explore this issue, this paper draws on detailed analyses of 115 interviews conducted with many of the predominant stakeholders concerned with public infrastructure projects conducted in the last decade in Quebec. The study suggests that any particular ability to manage a public infrastructure project rests on a complex set of interlinked abilities that usually evolve slowly over time and with failures. Those owners fortunate enough to have focused early on project management with an open and flexible attitude have been much more successful in managing public infrastructure projects: on time, within budget, and without judicial conflict.
Evaluation of the maturity level of BI initiatives in European Higher Education Institutions: initial report from the BI Task Force @EUNIS

Business intelligence (BI) encompasses a broad category of applications and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, sharing and providing access to data to help enterprise users make better business decisions. Nowadays, the value of BI is perceived as more than information dissemination or tactical responses to information requests from individual managers; it is highly linked to achieving organizational goals. Therefore, well-designed and deployed BI initiatives can play an important role in organizations enabling better management, leadership and decision-making, to achieve efficiency and financial benefit.
Performance monitoring of solar stand alone power systems

Performance monitoring of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems is very essential for initial system evaluation, and continuous output optimization. Currently, PV system monitoring is complicated and expensive and limited to large scale grid connected solar PV plants. This paper surveys PV system monitoring methods and proposes a simple and economic method that can be used by stand alone PV power systems. The method uses reference cells to collect real time data and an electronic subsystem for processing. Experimental results show that reference cells power output correlate well with monitored module output and can be used for monitoring and optimization.
Error assessment of grid-based diffuse solar radiation models

ABSTRACT Two grid-based diffuse solar radiation models, ESRI’s Solar Analyst (SA) and Kumar’s model (KM), were assessed using a data-independent approach where each model’s numerical results of clear sky diffuse radiation on V/U-shaped surfaces were compared with analytical results derived using each model’s assumptions. SA and KM consistently underestimate and overestimate, respectively, diffuse radiation at daily, seasonal, and annual scale relative to the analytical results based on each model’s parameterizations. Overall, SA performs better than KM in modeling diffuse radiation at most timescales. While SA and KM have similar error in calculating diffuse radiation on a horizontal surface, SA models sky view factor much better than KM, with mean absolute relative differences of 0.76% and 17.02%, respectively. KM has a large error in sky view factor as it does not consider the shading effect from surrounding terrain. Sky view factor error in SA is small and use of more zenith divisions can further reduce the error. Based on our previous study, model performance on clear sky global solar radiation was also evaluated. Overall, KM performs better than SA in global radiation as KM performs better than SA in modeling direct radiation which is the major component of global radiation.
Ultrasonographic Estimation of Fetal Weight

Objective. Ultrasonographic imaging is considered an objective means for fetal weight estimation. The goals of this study were to determine the accuracy of ultrasonographic estimates of fetal weight performed by residents in training and to ascertain how rapidly the residents gained proficiency in this regard. Methods. A total of 300 ultrasonographic estimates of fetal weight and corresponding birth weight were collected and stratified into 4 groups by the level of residents' experience, from level 1 (inexperienced, with <6 months of exposure) to level 4 (advanced experience, with at least 24 months of training). The proportional difference between ultrasonographic estimates of fetal weight and birth weight was calculated for each case and grouped according to the level of training of the examiner. The derived data were compared by analysis of variance, linear regression, and χ2 test. Results. Significant increases in the accuracy of ultrasonographic estimates of fetal weight were observed with advancing levels of resident experience (P < .0001). Overall, 30.6% of ultrasonographic estimates of fetal weight fell within 5% of birth weight, and 60.6% fell within 10%. Among the least experienced residents (<6 months of training), 49.4% of estimates fell within 10% of birth weight; among those with 6 to 11 months of experience, 53.5% of estimates fell within 10%; among those with 12 to 23 months of experience, 64.1% of estimates fell within 10%; and among the most experienced (≥24 months), 73.6% of estimates fell within 10%. Conclusions. There is a learning curve for ultrasonographic estimates of fetal weight, with a significant decrease in the percent error seen with advancing training among residents, reaching acceptable levels of more than 70% of estimates within 10% of birth weight after 24 months of ultrasonographic experience.
Time Accuracy of a Radio Frequency Identification Patient Tracking System for Recording Operating Room Timestamps

A patient tracking system is a promising tool for managing patient flow and improving efficiency in the operating room. Wireless location systems, using infrared or radio frequency transmitters, can automatically timestamp key events, thereby decreasing the need for manual data input. In this study, we measured the accuracy and precision of automatically documented timestamps compared with manual recording. Each patient scheduled for urgent surgery was given an active radio frequency/infrared transmitter. The prototype software tracked the patient throughout the perioperative process, automatically documenting the timestamps. Both automatic and traditional data entry were compared with the reference data. The absolute value of median error was 64% smaller (P < 0.01), and the average quartile deviation of error was 69% smaller in automatic documentation. The average delay between an activity and the documentation was 80 seconds in automatic documentation and 735 seconds in manual documentation. Both the accuracy and the precision were better in automatic documentation and the data were immediately available. Automatic documentation with the Indoor Positioning System can help in managing patient flow and in increasing transparency with faster availability and better accuracy of data.
The Information Content and Contracting Consequences of SFAS 141(R): The Case of Earnout Provisions

SFAS 141(R) requires firms to recognize the fair value of contingent considerations (“earnouts”) included in acquisition agreements. This new accounting standard alters the information environment surrounding earnouts and impacts the acquiring firms’ financial statements. We find that fair value estimates and subsequent fair value adjustments of earnout provisions provide valuable information to market participants beyond the financial statement effects. We also document that the use of earnout provisions increased following the adoption of SFAS 141(R), on average, while use by acquiring firms with greater financial reporting concerns declined. Together, our results provide evidence that fair value disclosures help reconcile information asymmetries between insiders and market participants, and shed light on the influence of accounting standards on contract design.
The Determinants and Forecasting of Electricity Supply in Pakistan (1972-2014)

Development of Today’s world is impossible without the presence of required energy supply especially electricity in developing countries. Electricity is one of the most important forms of energy and its use increasing progressively with time. Pakistan faces sever electricity crises in the last two decades more specifically after the year 2000, which effect different sectors of the economy like agricultural, industrial and the services sectors. In recent years Pakistan commenced many projects to enhance electricity supply but failed to achieve the required target. This is due to fiscal mismanagement and policy inefficiency. To overcome the problem of electricity shortfall government and policy makers should to recognize the determinants of electricity generation and to accurately forecast electricity supply. The present study focused on the determinants of electricity supply from 1972-2014, followed by forecasting of electricity supply up to 2025. The study use OLS econometric technique to point out the determinants and ARIMA technique is used for forecasting electricity supply. Results showed that total petroleum import, electricity transmission and distribution loss, price of petroleum and technology were statistically significant, while rainfall and electricity price were statistically insignificant determinants of electricity supply. Moreover price elasticity of electricity is inelastic. The finding of the study suggests that government and private sectors should inject more funds to energy particularly electricity sector in favor of technology and to increase electricity supply to meet increasing demands of energy. Keywords: Electricity, Determinants, Forecasting, ARIMA, Pakistan .
Cryopyrin‐associated periodic syndromes and autoinflammation

Autoinflammatory syndromes are a distinct class of inherited diseases of cytokine dysregulation with important cutaneous features. Several disorders, including familial cold autoinflammatory syndrome (FCAS), Muckle–Wells syndrome and neonatal onset multisystem inflammatory disorder (NOMID), are associated with mutations in a common gene, CIAS‐1. These disorders are now believed to represent related conditions along a spectrum of disease severity, in which FCAS is the mildest and NOMID is the most severe phenotype. Patients typically present with lifelong atypical urticaria with systemic symptoms, with potential for developing end‐organ damage due to chronic inflammation. Advances in the understanding of the genetic basis of these syndromes have also revealed cytokine signalling molecules that are critical to normal regulation of inflammatory pathways. The dramatic response of these syndromes to anakinra, an interleukin (IL)‐1 antagonist, highlights the important role of IL‐1 cytokine signalling in the pathogenesis of this rare but fascinating class of diseases.