Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Assessment of Existing Methodologies to Retrieve Snow Cover Fraction from MODIS Data

The characterization of snow extent is critical for a wide range of applications. Since 1966, snow maps at different spatial resolutions have been produced using various satellite sensor images. Nowadays, the most widely used products are likely those derived from Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, which cover the whole Earth at a near-daily frequency. There are a variety of snow mapping methods for MODIS data, based on different methodologies and applied at different spatial resolutions. Up to now, all these products have been tested and evaluated separately. This study aims to compare the methods currently available for retrieving snow from MODIS data. The focus is on fractional snow cover, which represents the snow cover area at the subpixel level. We examine the two main approaches available for generating such products from MODIS data; namely, linear regression of the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) and spectral unmixing (SU). These two approaches have resulted in several methods, such as MOD10A1 (the NSIDC MODIS snow product) for NDSI regression, and MODImLAB for SU. The assessment of these approaches was carried out using higher resolution binary snow maps (i.e., showing the presence or absence of snow) at spatial resolutions of 10, 20, and 30 m, produced by SPOT 4, SPOT 5, and LANDSAT-8, respectively. Three areas were selected in order to provide landscape diversity: the French Alps (117 dates), the Pyrenees (30 dates), and the Moroccan Atlas (24 dates). This study investigates the impact of reference maps on accuracy assessments, and it is suggested that NDSI-based high spatial resolution reference maps advantage NDSI medium-resolution snow maps. For MODIS snow maps, the results show that applying an NDSI approach to accurate surface reflectance corrected for topographic and atmospheric effects generally outperforms other methods for the global retrieval of snow cover area. The improvements to the newer version of MOD10A1 (Collection 6) compared to the older version (Collection 5) are significant. Products based on SU provide a good alternative and more accurate retrieval of the snow fraction where wider ranges of land covers are concerned. The fusion process and its resulting 250 m spatial resolution product improve snow line retrieval. False detection in mixed pixels, probably due to the spectral variability associated with the various materials in the spectral mixture, has been identified as an area that will require improvement.
The effect of two actin depolymerizing factors (ADF/cofilins) on actin filament turnover: pH sensitivity of F-actin binding by human ADF, but not of Acanthamoeba actophorin.

Actin depolymerizing factor (ADF) from vertebrates and actophorin from Acanthamoeba castellanii are members of a protein family that bind monomeric and polymeric actin and have been shown by microscopy to sever filaments. Here, we compare the properties of recombinant human ADF and actophorin using rabbit muscle actin. ADF binds tenfold more strongly than actophorin to monomeric actin (G-actin)-ATP, and both bind co-operatively to F-actin. ADF decorates filaments below pH 7.3 and induces substantial depolymerization at higher pH values [Hawkins, M. , Pope, B. , Maciver, S. K. & Weeds, A. G. (1993) Human actin depolymerizing factor mediates a pH-sensitive destruction of actin filaments, Biochemistry 32, 9985-9993], but, at all pH values tested, actophorin binds to filaments in a similar manner to ADF at pH 6.5. Both proteins increase the depolymerization rate at the pointed ends of gelsolin-capped filaments, but the effect of ADF is more marked at pH 8.0. Both proteins accelerate the nucleating activity when mixed with filamentous actin (F-actin), but not with gelsolin-capped filaments, and they rapidly decrease the lengths of filaments as evidenced by electron microscopy. Both of these effects are best explained by a weak severing activity. Our results are discussed in relation to earlier models and to the structural changes observed when ADF binds F-actin [McGough, A. , Pope, B. , Chiu, W. & Weeds, A. (1997) Cofilin changes the twist of F-actin: implications for actin filament dynamics and cellular function, J. Cell Biol. 138, 771-781]. We also discuss the relevance of these observations to their possible roles in facilitating actin turnover in cells, thereby regulating filament dynamics in cell motility.
Cerebral Microcirculation and Histological Mapping After Severe Head Injury: A Contusion and Acceleration Experimental Model

Background Cerebral microcirculation after severe head injury is heterogeneous and temporally variable. Microcirculation is dependent upon the severity of injury, and it is unclear how histology relates to cerebral regional blood flow. Objective This study assesses the changes of cerebral microcirculation blood flow over time after an experimental brain injury model in sheep and contrasts these findings with the histological analysis of the same regions with the aim of mapping cerebral flow and tissue changes after injury. Methods Microcirculation was quantified using flow cytometry of color microspheres injected under intracardiac ultrasound to ensure systemic and homogeneous distribution. Histological analysis used amyloid precursor protein staining as a marker of axonal injury. A mapping of microcirculation and axonal staining was performed using adjacent layers of tissue from the same anatomical area, allowing flow and tissue data to be available from the same anatomical region. A mixed effect regression model assessed microcirculation during 4 h after injury, and those results were then contrasted to the amyloid staining qualitative score. Results Microcirculation values for each subject and tissue region over time, including baseline, ranged between 20 and 80 ml/100 g/min with means that did not differ statistically from baseline flows. However, microcirculation values for each subject and tissue region were reduced from baseline, although their confidence intervals crossing the horizontal ratio of 1 indicated that such reduction was not statistically significant. Histological analysis demonstrated the presence of moderate and severe score on the amyloid staining throughout both hemispheres. Conclusion Microcirculation at the ipsilateral and contralateral site of a contusion and the ipsilateral thalamus and medulla showed a consistent decline over time. Our data suggest that after severe head injury, microcirculation in predefined areas of the brain is reduced from baseline with amyloid staining in those areas reflecting the early establishment of axonal injury.
Work Sharing as a Potential Policy Tool for Creating More and Better Employment: A Review of the Evidence

‘Work sharing’ is a labour market instrument devised to distribute a reduced volume of work to the same (or similar) number of workers over a diminished period of working time in order to avoid redundancies. This fascinating and timely study presents the concept and history of work sharing and explores the complexities and trade-offs involved in its use as both a strategy for preserving jobs and a policy for increasing employment.
Impact of Empiric Antibiotic Therapy on Outcomes in Patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa Bacteremia

ABSTRACT The impact of appropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy for Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia on patient outcomes has not been clearly established. We assessed the effect of appropriate empirical therapy on in-hospital mortality and length of stay (LOS) among patients with P. aeruginosa bacteremia. This was a retrospective cohort study of inpatients with a positive blood culture for P. aeruginosa between January 2001 and June 2005. Empirical therapy was defined as appropriate if the patient received an antibiotic the organism was susceptible to between 8 h before culture collection and the time the susceptibility results were available. The severity of the illness was measured 24 h before culture collection. The data were analyzed using logistic regression (in-hospital mortality) and linear regression (LOS). Overall, there were 167 episodes of P. aeruginosa bacteremia, 123 (86%) of which received appropriate empirical antibiotics. Sixty-one patients died (36.5%). The median time from culture collection to susceptibility results was 3.4 days. After we adjusted for age, severity of illness, and time at risk, we found that the appropriate empirical therapy was not significantly associated with mortality (odds ratio = 0.96; 95% confidence interval = 0.31 to 2.93). There was a 7% reduction in the mean LOS for patients who had received appropriate therapy at the time susceptibility results were available compared to those who did not (P = 0.74). These data suggest that the use of appropriate empirical therapy, i.e., before susceptibility results are known may not be as critical to patient outcomes as other studies have suggested.
Technical Efficiency and the Role of ICT: A Comparison of Developed and Developing Countries

This paper investigates for possible effects of information and communication technology (ICT) in reducing aggregate technical inefficiency. A translog stochastic production frontier is simultaneously estimated with a technical inefficiency model across a panel of forty-two countries in 1993-2001. Strong evidence is provided for a significant impact of ICT in reducing country inefficiencies. Further evidence indicates a significantly positive ICT impact on labor productivity, while it seems that a substitute relationship between ICT and non-ICT capital exists. Based on the model's estimates, the most efficient country in the sample is the United States, followed by India, and a number of other developed countries. Overall, developed countries operate closer to the world frontier.
Proposals for Performance Related Pay for Teachers in English Schools

This review concentrates initially on contextualising and then describing the many policy developments during 1999 and the early part of 2000 concerning the payment of teachers. This is followed by a consideration of the implications for teacher motivation, particularly as interpreted by Richardson working with the NUT (National Union of Teachers) to explore the implications of the new reward strategy. A broader contextualisation includes the implications of evidence from business and the public sector on performance pay. Finally, research into recent developments in teacher pay in the USA is considered as of the greatest relevance for policy developments in England and Wales. The newly formed National Assembly in Wales has distinctive responsibilities for education so this article will only refer to England. This article ranges widely to present performance related pay and performance management in England in early 2000.
Resigned Acceptance of an Incomplete Democracy: Russia's Political Equilibrium

To advance understanding of the present-day Russian regime, three political scientists set out a model of political authority in democratic and undemocratic regimes. New Russia Barometer surveys, especially a post-presidential election survey in March 2004, are used to document the amount of resigned acceptance of the Putin regime. The article reviews alternative hypotheses about why people may differ in their view of authority and tests the hypotheses statistically. The authors then consider circumstances, both economic and political, that might upset this equilibrium.
Directors’ Recommendations on Takeover Bids and the Management of Earnings: Evidence from Australian Takeovers

This article investigates whether Australian companies manage their earnings during takeover bids in a manner consistent with the earnings-management hypothesis. This hypothesis predicts that directors who reject a bid use accrual accounting to increase current earnings, supporting their claim that the bid, relative to earnings, is inadequate. Likewise, directors who accept a bid are predicted to use accrual accounting to decrease current earnings. Overall, the results are not consistent with the earnings-management hypothesis. However, some components of unexpected accruals (our proxy for managed earnings) change in the direction predicted by the earnings-management hypothesis, although these changes are not statistically significant. Using industry adjusted performance measures the conclusion is that unexpected accruals are primarily a manifestation of poor financial performance of target firms in the period leading up to the takeover bid.
Potential role and mechanisms of subcellular remodeling in cardiac dysfunction due to ischemic heart disease

Several studies have revealed varying degrees of changes in sarcoplasmic reticular and myofibrillar activities, protein content, gene expression and intracellular Ca2+-handling during cardiac dysfunction due to ischemia–reperfusion (I/R); however, relatively little is known about the sarcolemmal and mitochondrial alterations, as well as their mechanisms in the I/R hearts. Because I/R is associated with oxidative stress and intracellular Ca2+-overload, it has been indicated that changes in subcellular activities, protein content and gene expression due to I/R are related to both oxidative stress and Ca2+-overload. Intracellular Ca2+-overload appears to induce changes in subcellular activities, protein contents and gene expression (subcellular remodeling) by activation of proteases and phospholipases, as well as by affecting the genetic apparatus, whereas oxidative stress is considered to cause oxidation of functional groups of different subcellular proteins in addition to modifying the genetic machinery. Ischemic preconditioning, which is known to depress the development of both intracellular Ca2+-overload and oxidative stress due to I/R, was observed to attenuate the I/R-induced subcellular remodeling and improve cardiac performance. It is suggested that a combination therapy with antioxidants and interventions, which reduce the development of intracellular Ca2+-overload, may improve cardiac function by preventing or attenuating the occurrence of subcellular remodeling due to ischemic heart disease. It is proposed that defects in the activities of subcellular organelles may serve as underlying mechanisms for I/R-induced cardiac dysfunction under acute conditions, whereas subcellular remodeling due to alterations in gene expression may explain the impaired cardiac performance under chronic conditions of I/R.
University Cost Structure in Taiwan

"In this paper we demonstrate that the measures of scale and scope economies may be elusive if failing to consider quality variation among universities and endogeneity of congestion in students' learning and living facility utilization. Empirical results show that the private and highly congested universities have consistently underestimated the cost of congestion, which results in an upward bias in estimating the economies of scale and scope. Taking into account the quality of outputs in enrollments and the congestion factor, we find that the private and the more congested universities have much less scale and scope economies than the public and the less congested institutions. "("JEL "I21, H52, 9120) Copyright (c) 2008 Western Economic Association International.
The Effects of Pressure and Heat Shocks Induced at Different Times After Fertilization on Triploid Production in Rainbow Trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss , W . 1792 )

The objective of this study was to identify the survival and triploidy rates in rainbow trout under pressure and heat shocks induced at different times after fertilization. Fertilized eggs were exposed to a heat shock of 28°C for 10 minutes at 10, 15 and 20 minutes after fertilization. Survival rates were higher at 15 min and triploidy rates were higher at 20 min applications. Also pressure shock of 48263 kPa (7,000 psi) was applied to eggs for 4 min at 35, 40 and 45 min after fertilization, and higher survival and triploidy rates were observed at 40 min treatment. These results also show that pressure shock is more advantageous comparing with heat shock in all stages of development (embryo, eyed-stage, hatching, and first feeding) in both respect of survival and triploidy rates.
The Picture Exchange Communication System

A variety of strategies have been used to help children with autism acquire functional communication skills. The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a unique communication training program that was developed as a means of circumventing some shortcomings associatd with these strategies. A description of the steps within PECS is provided. Long-term group data have indicated that a large proportion of children started on PECS as preschoolers acquire speech. Individual and group data supporting the use of PECS are provided.
Class Differentiation in Rural China: Dynamics of Accumulation, Commodification and State Intervention

This paper develops a classification of the emerging agrarian class positions in China today. Using an instrument based on rural households' combination of market positions in four markets – land, labour, means of production and product – I identify five agrarian classes: the capitalist employer class, the petty-bourgeois class of commercial farmers, two labouring classes of dual-employment households and wage workers, and subsistence peasants. This classification is then used as a heuristic device to organize the empirical analysis that examines how dynamics of agrarian change drive class differentiation in rural China. For the capitalist employer class, the analysis focuses on their diverse paths of accumulation; for the petty-bourgeois commercial farmers, their contingent resilience and tendencies of differentiation; and for the two classes of labour, the commodification of their subsistence. The state plays important but varying roles in all these processes.
Productivity and R&D at the Firm Level in French Manufacturing

In a companion study to that of Griliches and Mairesse for the United States, we have investigated the relationship between output, labor, and physical and RD it is less so in the time dimension. However, the within-firm estimates are still significant and of a likely order of magnitude.In this respect, they are more satisfactory than the U.S. ones. We show that this is largely due to a better measurement of the variables: (1) the fact that we can use a value-added measure of output instead of sales (or equivalently that we include materials among the factors of the production function); (2) the fact that we can correct the measures of labor, physical capital and output for the double counting or expensing out of the labor, capital and materials components of R&D expenditures.
How Crowding Affects Letter Confusion

Background Acuity for letter recognition is known to be worse when multiple letters are presented with narrow interletter spacings than with wide spacings. How would interletter spacing affect the kind of errors made by human subjects? Methods Five-letter strings that were randomly drawn from the 26 uppercase letters of the English alphabet were presented foveally to the subjects. The interletter spacings were 1.0 and 0.1 letter height. Letter confusion matrices were constructed from the data collected using these spacing conditions. Results Narrow- and wide-spacing letter strings produced different letter confusion matrices. Aside from the letter confusions that were shared by both wide- and narrow-spacing strings, narrow-spacing strings produced more random confusions and a set of unique letter confusions, which was not observed under the wide-spacing condition. Conclusion Increased random guessing and lateral interactions between features of neighboring letters can account for most of the acuity deterioration observed under the narrow-spacing condition.
Importance‐Performance and Segmentation: An Application at a Biosphere Reserve in Vietnam

This paper examines how importance‐performance analysis (IPA) used with segmentation can be an effective natural resource management tool. Data were obtained from visitors (n = 368, response rate = 66%) to the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam. Two distinct user segments were identified according to their preference for facility development within the reserve. The two segments differed in their importance‐performance ratings for (a) attractions, (b) beach facilities and services, (c) facilities in the area, and (d) beauty of the area. Those favoring development rated each of these reserve attributes as more important (p < .001) than those less disposed to additional development. Those favoring development rated the performance of three of four attributes positively, while all four attributes received negative performance scores for those less disposed to additional development. Implications show that segmentation can allow for more accurate planning and decision making.
Intellectual capital disclosure and corporate governance structure in UK firms

Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between intellectual capital disclosure and corporate governance variables, controlling for other firm‐specific characteristics, for a sample of 100 UK listed firms. Intellectual capital disclosure is measured by a disclosure index score, supported by word count and percentage of word count metrics to assess the variety, volume and focus of intellectual capital disclosure respectively. The independent variables comprise various forms of corporate governance structure: board composition, ownership structure, audit committee size and frequency of audit committee meetings, and CEO role duality. Results of the analysis based on the three measures of intellectual capital disclosure indicate significant association with all the governance factors except for role duality. The influence of corporate governance mechanisms on human, structural and relational capital disclosure, based on all three metrics, is also explored.