Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Capacity Utilization and the Dynamics of Business Cycle Fluctuations

We perform an empirical evaluation of the role of capacity utilization in business cycle fluctuations. We first document the relation between capacity utilization and business cycle fluctuations in historical data and then verify whether these empirical features can be explained by a dynamic general equilibrium environment with variable rates of capacity utilization and realistic stochastic processes for the model's forcing variables. In this evaluation, we use two measures of the business cycle: output growth and the cyclical component of output. We find that, for both historical data and our theoretical economy, capacity utilization is procyclical, a coincident indicator of the cyclical component of output, but a lagging indicator of the growth rate of output. We also find that capacity utilization is much more correlated with the cyclical component of output than with output growth. Nous entreprenons une evaluation empirique du role de l'utilisation de la capacite dans les fluctuations economiques. Nous commencons par documenter la relation entre l'utilisation de la capacite et les fluctuations dans les donnees historiques puis verifions si ces regularites empiriques peuvent etre expliquees par un modele d'equilibre general avec des taux de capacite d'utilisation variables et des processus stochastiques realistes pour les variables exogenes. Dans cette evaluation, nous utilisons deux mesures du cycle: la croissance de la production et la composante cyclique de la production. Nous trouvons que, tant pour les donnees historiques que notre modele, l'utilisation de la capacite est procyclique, est un indicateur coincident de la production, mais un indicateur retarde du taux de croissance de la production. Nous trouvons egalement que l'utilisation de la capacite est beaucoup plus correlee avec les composantes cycliques qu'avec le taux de croissance.
Transient Overvoltages and Overcurrents During Line Fault Tests on the Hokkaido-Honshu HVDC Link

A series of line fault tests have been conducted at completion of Stage I of the Hokkaido-Honshu HVDC Link of Electric Power Development Co., Ltd., prior to its commercial operation, in order to study transient overvoltages and overcurrents and to confirm safety operation of system protecting devices in case of DC transmission line faults.
alto: A Link-Time Optimizer for the DEC Alpha

Traditional optimizing compilers are limited in the scope of their optimizations by the fact that only a single function, or possibly a single module, is available for analysis and optimization. In particular, this means that library routines cannot be optimized to specific calling contexts. Other optimization opportunities, exploiting information not available before linktime such as addresses of variables and the final code layout, are often ignored because linkers are traditionally unsophisticated. A possible solution is to carry out whole-program optimization at link time. This paper describes alto, a link-time optimizer for the DEC Alpha architecture. It is able to realize significant performance improvements even for programs compiled with a good optimizing compiler with a high level of optimization. The resulting code is considerably faster that that obtained using the OM link-time optimizer, even when the latter is used in conjunction with profile-guided and inter-file compile-time optimizations. The work of Robert Muth, Saumya Debray and Scott Watterson was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant numbers CCR-9502826 and CCR-9711166. Koen De Bosschere is a research associate with the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders.
WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF VADGAON TANK OF KOLHAPUR (MAHARASHTRA), WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ZOOPLANKTON

Study on hydrobiological status of Vadgaon tank water was made to assess the potability of water from Jan. 2009 to Dec. 2009. Some physico-chemical parameters were considered such as temperature, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen, carbandioxide, hardness, alkalinity, phosphate and nitrate. Among the zooplankton population four group of Rotifera, Cladocera, Copepod and Ostracods were studied.
1917 Avian Influenza Virus Sequences Suggest that the 1918 Pandemic Virus Did Not Acquire Its Hemagglutinin Directly from Birds

ABSTRACT Wild waterfowl captured between 1915 and 1919 were tested for influenza A virus RNA. One bird, captured in 1917, was infected with a virus of the same hemagglutinin (HA) subtype as that of the 1918 pandemic virus. The 1917 HA is more closely related to that of modern avian viruses than it is to that of the pandemic virus, suggesting (i) that there was little drift in avian sequences over the past 85 years and (ii) that the 1918 pandemic virus did not acquire its HA directly from a bird.
Third-Person Perception and Television Violence

The third-person perception as it relates to the issue of television violence is examined here via survey responses of 624 adults from three regions in the United States. Rather than being asked about generally defined groups of “others,” respondents were instructed to specify which social/demographic groups they deemed more susceptible to negative television influence than others. Social categorization and social identity theories as well as the concept of negative out-group stereotyping are used to explain results that provide preliminary support that some social groups (e.g., children and teens, those with less education, and those with less income) are perceived as more likely to be negatively influenced by television violence than others. The relationship between estimates of groups' susceptibility to effects and respondents' thirdperson perception is also tested.
Spine Enlargement of Pyramidal Tract-Type Neurons in the Motor Cortex of a Rat Model of Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia

Growing evidence suggests that abnormal synaptic plasticity of cortical neurons underlies levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) in Parkinson's disease (PD). Spine morphology reflects synaptic plasticity resulting from glutamatergic transmission. We previously reported that enlargement of the dendritic spines of intratelencephalic-type (IT) neurons in the primary motor cortex (M1) is linked to the development of LID. However, the relevance of another M1 neuron type, pyramidal-tract (PT) neurons, to LID remains unknown. We examined the morphological changes of the dendritic spines of M1 PT neurons in a rat model of LID. We quantified the density and size of these spines in 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats (a model of PD), 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats chronically treated with levodopa (a model of LID), and control rats chronically treated with levodopa. Dopaminergic denervation alone had no effect on spine density and head area. However, the LID model showed significant increases in the density and spine head area and the development of dyskinetic movements. In contrast, levodopa treatment of normal rats increased spine density alone. Although, chronic levodopa treatment increases PT neuron spine density, with or without dopaminergic denervation, enlargement of PT neuron spines appears to be a specific feature of LID. This finding suggests that PT neurons become hyperexcited in the LID model, in parallel with the enlargement of spines. Thus, spine enlargement, and the resultant hyperexcitability of PT pyramidal neurons, in the M1 cortex might contribute to abnormal cortical neuronal plasticity in LID.
Real-world occlusion in optical see-through AR displays

In this work we describe a system composed by an optical see-through AR headset---a Microsoft HoloLens---, stereo projectors and shutter glasses. Projectors are used to add to the device the capability of occluding real-world surfaces to make the virtual objects to appear more solid and less transparent. A framework was developed in order to allow us to evaluate the importance of occlusion capabilities in optical see-through AR headset. We designed and conducted two experiment to test whether making virtual elements solid would improve the performance of certain tasks with an AR system. Results suggest that making virtual objects to appear more solid by projecting an occlusion mask onto the real-world is useful in some situations. Using an occlusion mask it is also possible to eliminate ambiguities that could arise when enhancing user's perception in some ways that are not possible in real-life, like when a "x-ray vision" is enabled. In this case we wanted to investigate if using an occlusion mask to eliminate perceptual conflicts will hit user's performance in some AR applications. The framework that allowed us to conduct our experiments is made freely available to anyone interested in conducting future studies.
Genotyping and Phylogenetic Analysis of Giardia duodenalis Isolates from Turkish Children

Background Giardiasis is caused by the intestinal protozoan parasite Giardia duodenalis (synonyms: G. lamblia, G. intestinalis), which is one of the most frequent parasites that infect Turkish children. However, molecular characterization of G. duodenalis in Turkey is relatively scarce. The present work aimed at genotyping G. duodenalis isolates from Turkey using molecular techniques. Material/Methods In the present study, 145 fecal samples from children were collected to search for the presence of Giardia by microscopy and PCR screening. PCR generated a 384 bp fragment for β-giardin. The PCR products were sequenced and the sequences were subjected to phylogenetic analysis by using PHYLIP. Results Based on the phylogenetic analysis of the sequences, assemblage A, B, and mixed subtypes were determined. Of 22 isolates, 11 were identified as assemblage A (50%), 7 were assemblage B (31.8%), and 4 were assemblage AB (18.2%). Association between G. duodenalis assemblages and the epidemiological data was analyzed. No correlation was found between symptoms and infection with specific assemblages (P>0.05), but we found statistically significant association between age and the assemblage AB (P=0.001). Conclusions The association between G. duodenalis and the epidemiologic data were analyzed. Since assemblage A is the more prevalent subgroup compared with assemblage B, this subgroup might be responsible for common Giardia infections in Turkey. This is the first study that included a detailed phylogenetic analysis of Giardia strains from Turkey.
Discrete recurrent neural networks for grammatical inference

Describes a novel neural architecture for learning deterministic context-free grammars, or equivalently, deterministic pushdown automata. The unique feature of the proposed network is that it forms stable state representations during learning-previous work has shown that conventional analog recurrent networks can be inherently unstable in that they cannot retain their state memory for long input strings. The authors have previously introduced the discrete recurrent network architecture for learning finite-state automata. Here they extend this model to include a discrete external stack with discrete symbols. A composite error function is described to handle the different situations encountered in learning. The pseudo-gradient learning method (introduced in previous work) is in turn extended for the minimization of these error functions. Empirical trials validating the effectiveness of the pseudo-gradient learning method are presented, for networks both with and without an external stack. Experimental results show that the new networks are successful in learning some simple pushdown automata, though overfitting and non-convergent learning can also occur. Once learned, the internal representation of the network is provably stable; i.e., it classifies unseen strings of arbitrary length with 100% accuracy.
Anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic effects of pentacyclic triterpenoids maslinic acid through NF-κB inactivation.

SCOPE Consumption of olives (Olea europaea L.), including table olives and oil, is associated with low incidence of inflammation-related diseases. In this study, the effects of maslinic acid (MA), the main constituent of olive pomace, on the expression of genes and proteins involved in inflammatory activity in RAW 264.7 cells were investigated. Furthermore, the effect of MA on carrageenan-induced paw edema and collagen antibody induced arthritis in mice was determined. METHODS AND RESULTS We confirmed the suppressive effects of MA on LPS-induced tumor necrosis factor α production and on the expression of inflammatory response associated genes in RAW 264.7 cells. We also clarified the suppressive effect of MA on LPS-induced nuclear factor-kappa B activation as well as the phosphorylation of IκB-α. Furthermore, MA (200 mg/kg in the edema model or 100 mg/kg in the arthritis model) exerted anti-inflammatory and antiarthritis effects as shown by the suppression of paw edema, arthritis score, inflammatory cells, and destruction of synovium in knee joints. CONCLUSION Olive products containing MA are useful as a new preventive and therapeutic food ingredient for inflammatory and arthritic diseases.
Response of Four Shrub Species to Different Water Source Components in an Arid Environment

Shrubland species in the Great Basin (USA) depend on soil water recharged from precipitation and/or groundwater for survival and growth. Climate warming and possible basin water diversion could alter the amount and timing of water availability to these plants. The objective of this study was to quantify the extent to which each of four co-occurring shrub species, big sage [Artemisia tridentata], rabbitbrush [Ericameria nauseosus], greasewood [Sarcobatus vermiculatus] and shadscale [Atriplex confertifolia)) acquired water from different sources (precipitation, soil vadose zone and/or groundwater) during a growing season. Soil salinity increased linearly with depth over the upper 1.5 m of soil, with salinity ranging from 0.84 to 31.70 dSm-1 in saturation extracts (R2=0.78, p<0.001). Changes in soil water both with depth and time during the growing period indicated that all species accessed soil water from precipitation recharge. Evapotranspiration totals for the growing period exceeded total precipitation by 137 mm, indicating that plants also used water stored deeper within the vadose zone and/or from groundwater (particularly) by the phreatophyte greasewood. Delta18O in the soil solution declined linearly with depth over the upper 100 cm (R2=0.80, p<0.001). Delta18O values in greasewood corresponded closely to Delta18O values measured deeper in the vadose zone and groundwater. Output from a mixing model indicated a decrease in groundwater reliance for greasewood from 30% in July to 2% in September, with a major shift to deeper soil water in the vadose zone (180 cm depth) (38% in July to 97% in September). Our data suggested that the four shrub species at our site were able to coexist because of their different spatial, temporal, and physiological uses of available soil water, reflecting possible water resource partitioning based on differences in response to precipitation, ability to extract water at deeper depths and variable tolerance to elevated levels of soil salinity to access groundwater.
Depression in Turkey in the 1980s: Epidemiological and Clinical Approaches

Summary: A review is presented of knowledge about the following issues in Turkey: prevalence of depression, suicidal attempts and suicide, clinical picture of depression, and etiological factors responsible for causing depression. Epidemiological studies of depression are reviewed and their results are discussed in detail, with special emphasis on conclusions with valid generalizations. As in almost all countries, depression, though exhibiting some differences clinically, is a major public health problem in Turkey. The point prevalence rate for depressive symptoms is nearly 20% and clinical depression has a rate of ×10%. Besides, about one‐third of depressive patients are chronically ill. Specific risk groups for depression by various sociodemographic characteristics include women, widowed persons aged 40 years and over, close relatives of depressive persons, and members of lower socio‐economic classes. An increase in the prevalence rates of depression in Turkey is expected due to changes in public attitudes, which do not consider depression a medical disorder at present; increase in life expectancy; rapid changes in socio‐economic, cultural environments; and in family structures and lifestyles.
A DC/DC multilevel converter for high voltage applications

In this paper a ladder multilevel converter topology for an application of high voltage is analyzed. This converter is compared with other well-known structure called ”Flying Capacitors” showing its simplicity on the implementation and control. Furthermore, the converter is implemented and its voltage drop is tested experimentally varying the number of cells of the converter using electrolytic and polyester capacitors. The results show that the voltage drop increase quadratically with the increment of the number of cells.
Decline in Surface Melt Duration on Larsen C Ice Shelf Revealed by The Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT)

Surface melting has been contributing to the surface lowering and loss of firn air content on Larsen C Ice Shelf since at least the mid‐1990s. Where the amount of melting and refreezing is significant, the firn can become impermeable and begin to support ponds of surface meltwater such as have been implicated in ice shelf collapse. Although meteorological station data indicated an increase in melt on the Antarctic Peninsula over the second half of the 20th century, the existing Ku‐band Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) time series is too short (1999–2009) to detect any significant 21st century trends. Here we investigate a longer 21st century period by extending the time series to 2017 using the C‐band Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT). We validate our recent observations with in situ weather station data and, using a firn percolation model, explore the sensitivity of scatterometry to water at varying depths in the firn. We find that active microwave C‐band (5.6‐cm wavelength) instruments can detect water at depths of up to 0.75 m below a frozen firn layer. Our longer scatterometry time series reveals that Larsen C Ice Shelf has experienced a decrease in melt season length of 1–2 days per year over the past 18 years consistent with decreasing summer air temperatures. Only in western inlets, where föhn winds drive melt, has the annual melt duration increased during this period.
Spatiotemporal Decompositions of Summer Drought in China and Its Teleconnection with Global Sea Surface Temperatures during 1901–2012

AbstractThe teleconnection between the summer (June–August) Palmer drought severity index (PDSI) in China and seasonal global sea surface temperatures (SSTs) is investigated at both spatial and temporal scales during 1901–2012. Three pairs of coupled spatial patterns for China’s PDSI and global SST anomalies are identified using the singular value decomposition (SVD) method. With a combination of ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) and multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis, it is found that the first mode, the sea ice loss–global warming pattern, causes wetness over north and northeastern China and drying over Inner Mongolia. The North Pacific Current (NPC) mode shows that a warmer NPC corresponds to a wetter summer over eastern China and a drier one over the Tibetan Plateau. Both NPC and Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) affect moisture variability in northern China and over the Tibetan Plateau, with the NPC mode more important in the centennial scale, while the PDO mode is more important in.
Finite element analysis of the effect of cementing concepts on implant stability and cement fatigue failure

Background and purpose Two contradictory cementing techniques (using an undersized stem versus a canal-filling stem) can both lead to excellent survival rates, a phenomenon known as the “French paradox”. Furthermore, previous studies have indicated that the type of bone supporting the cement mantle may affect implant survival. To further evaluate the mechanical consequences of variations in cementing technique, we studied the effect of implant size and type of bone supporting the cement mantle on the mechanical performance of cemented total hip arthroplasty, using finite element analysis. Methods In a generic 2-dimensional plane-strain finite element model of a transverse section of a cemented total hip arthroplasty with a Charnley-Kerboull stem, we varied implant size and type of bone supporting the cement mantle. The models were subjected to 2 × 106 cycles of an alternating loading pattern of torque and a transverse load. During this loading history, we simulated cement fatigue crack formation and tracked rotational stability of the implant. Results Canal-filling stems produced fewer cement cracks and less rotation than undersized stems. Cement mantles surrounded by trabecular bone produced more cement cracks and implant rotation than cement mantles surrounded by cortical bone. Interpretation Our investigation provides a possible explanation for the good clinical results obtained with canal-filling Charnley-Kerboull implants. Our findings also indicate that inferior mechanical properties are obtained with these implants if the cement is supported by trabecular bone, which may be minimized by an optimal cementing technique.
Hierarchical Clustering for Software Systems Restructuring

Improving the quality of software systems design is the most important issue during the evolution of object oriented software systems. In this paper we are focusing on the problem of determining refactorings that can be used in order to improve the design of object oriented software systems. Refactoring ([6]) is a major issue to improve internal software quality. This paper aims at presenting a new hierarchical agglomerative clustering algorithm, HARS(Hierarchical agglomerative clustering algorithm for restructuring software systems), that identifies the refactorings needed in order to restructure a software system.Clustering([10]) is used in order to recondition the class structure of the system. The proposed approach can be useful for assisting software engineers in their daily works of refactoring software systems. We evaluate our approach using the open source case study JHotDraw ([7]), emphasizing its advantages in comparison with existing approaches.
Continuous Speech Recognition from a Phonetic Transcription

A widely accepted linguistic theory holds that speech recognition in humans proceeds from an intermediate representation of the acoustic signal in terms of a small number of phonetic symbols. A novel speech recognition system based on this theory in which the acoustic-to-phonetic mapping is accomplished by means of a particular form of hidden Markov model and is independent of lexical and syntactic constraint is described. Word recognition is then treated as a classical string-to-string editing problem which is solved with a two-level dynamic programming algorithm that accounts for lexical and syntactic structure. The system was tested on speaker-independent recognition of fluent speech from the 991-word DARPA resource management task, on which 76.6% word accuracy was achieved. In informal tests it was observed that the phonetic transcription can be resynthesized to provide a 100-bit/s vocoder with word intelligibility rates of approximately 75%. <<ETX>>