Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Brain Drain, Numeracy and Skill Premia during the Era of Mass Migration: Testing the Roy-Borjas Model

Emigration countries can suffer from a brain-drain. Do relative skill premia in source and destination countries matter for the brain-drain phenomenon? We explore human capital selectivity during the 1820s to 1900s period. In a sample of 52 source and five destination countries we find in fact brain drain effects determined by relative skill premia. Hence we confirm the Roy-Borjas model of migrant self-selection. Moreover, we find that countries like Germany and UK experienced a small positive effect, because the less educated migrated in larger numbers. We apply age heaping techniques to measure human capital selectivity of international migrants.
Fast Calibration of a Robust Model Predictive Controller for Diesel Engine Airpath

A significant challenge in the development of control systems for diesel airpath applications is to tune the controller parameters to achieve satisfactory output performance, especially while adhering to input and safety constraints in the presence of unknown system disturbances. Model-based control techniques, such as model predictive control (MPC), have been successfully applied to multivariable and highly nonlinear systems, such as diesel engines, while considering operational constraints. However, efficient calibration of typical implementations of MPC is hindered by the high number of tuning parameters and their nonintuitive correlation with the output response. In this paper, the number of effective tuning parameters is reduced through suitable structural modifications to the controller formulation and an appropriate redesign of the MPC cost function to aid rapid calibration. Furthermore, a constraint tighteninglike approach is augmented to the control architecture to provide robustness guarantees in the face of uncertainties. A switched linear time-invariant MPC strategy with recursive feasibility guarantees during controller switching is proposed to handle transient operation of the engine. The robust controller is first implemented on a high-fidelity simulation environment, with a comprehensive investigation of its calibration to achieve desired transient response under step changes in the fuelling rate. An experimental study then validates and highlights the performance of the proposed controller architecture for the selected tunings of the calibration parameters for fuelling steps and over drive cycles.
Tree crown extraction using marked point processes

In this paper we aim at extracting tree crowns from remotely sensed images. Our approach is to consider that these images are some realizations of a marked point process. The first step is to define the geometrical objects that design the trees, and the density of the process. Then, we use a Reversible Jump MCMC1 dynamics and a simulated annealing to get the maximum a posteriori estimator of the tree crown distribution on the image. Transitions of the Markov chain are managed by some specific proposition kernels. Results are shown on aerial images of poplars provided by IFN.
Thiostrepton degrades mutant p53 by eliciting an autophagic response in SW480 cells

Mutations in p53 gene are one of the hallmarks of tumor development. Specific targeting of mutant p53 protein has a promising role in cancer therapeutics. Our preliminary observation showed destabilization of mutant p53 protein in SW480, MiaPaCa and MDAMB231 cell lines upon thiostrepton treatment. In order to elucidate the mechanism of thiostrepton triggered mutant p53 degradation, we explored the impact of proteasome inhibition on activation of autophagy. Combined treatment of thiostrepton and cycloheximide/chloroquine prevented the degradation of mutant p53 protein, reinforcing autophagy as the means of mutant p53 destabilization. Our initial studies suggested that mutant p53 degradation post THSP treatment was carried out by BAG3 mediated autophagy, based on the evidence of BAG1 to BAG3 switching. Subsequent interactome analysis performed post thiostrepton treatment revealed an association of p53 with autophagosome complex associated proteins such as BAG3, p62 and HSC70. Reaccumulation of p53 was seen in BAG3 silenced cells treated with thiostrepton, thereby confirming the role of BAG3 in destabilization of this molecule. Further, localization of p53 into the lysosome upon THSP treatment substantiated our findings that mutant p53 was degraded by an autopahgic process.
Formation of Sulforaphane and Iberin Products from Thai Cabbage Fermented by Myrosinase-Positive Bacteria

Myrosinase-positive bacteria from local fermented foods and beverages in Thailand with the capacity to metabolize glucosinolate and produce isothiocyanates (ITCs) were isolated and used as selected strains for Thai cabbage fermentation. Enterobacter xiangfangensis 4A-2A3.1 (EX) from fermented fish and Enterococcus casseliflavus SB2X2 (EC) from fermented cabbage were the two highest ITC producers among seventeen strains identified by 16S rRNA technique. EC and EX were used to ferment Thai cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata) containing glucoiberin, glucoraphanin and 4-hydroxyglucobrassicin at 430.5, 615.1 and 108.5 µmol/100 g DW, respectively for 3 days at 25 °C. Different amounts of iberin nitrile, iberin, sulforaphane and indole 3-acetonitrile were produced by spontaneous, EX- and EC-induced cabbage fermentations, and significantly higher ITCs were detected (p < 0.01) with increased antioxidant activities. Iberin and sulforaphane production in EX-induced treatment peaked on day 2 at 117.4 and 294.1 µmol/100 g DW, respectively, significantly higher than iberin at 51.7 µmol/100 g DW but not significantly higher than sulforaphane at 242.6 µmol/100 g DW in EC-induced treatment at day 2. Maximum health-promoting benefits from this functional food can be obtained from consumption of a liquid portion of the fermented cabbage with higher ITC level along with a solid portion.
UCNN: Exploiting Computational Reuse in Deep Neural Networks via Weight Repetition

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have begun to permeate all corners of electronic society (from voice recognition to scene generation) due to their high accuracy and machine efficiency per operation. At their core, CNN computations are made up of multi-dimensional dot products between weight and input vectors. This paper studies how weight repetition—when the same weight occurs multiple times in or across weight vectors—can be exploited to save energy and improve performance during CNN inference. This generalizes a popular line of work to improve efficiency from CNN weight sparsity, as reducing computation due to repeated zero weights is a special case of reducing computation due to repeated weights. To exploit weight repetition, this paper proposes a new CNN accelerator called the Unique Weight CNN Accelerator (UCNN). UCNN uses weight repetition to reuse CNN sub-computations (e.g., dot products) and to reduce CNN model size when stored in off-chip DRAM—both of which save energy. UCNN further improves performance by exploiting sparsity in weights. We evaluate UCNN with an accelerator-level cycle and energy model and with an RTL implementation of the UCNN PE. On three contemporary CNNs, UCNN improves throughput-normalized energy consumption by 1.2x ~ 4x, relative to a similarly provisioned baseline accelerator that uses Eyeriss-style sparsity optimizations. At the same time, the UCNN processing element adds only 17-24% area overhead relative to the same baseline.
Impact of interference correlation on the decoding error statistics

Scenarios where interference is correlated with useful signals are often met in communications systems. Interestingly, even though uncorrelated interference mitigation has been extensively studied by the literature, there is still lack of insight into how correlation can affects information transfer processes. In this paper we formally address this issue and show how a positive correlation between the interference and useful signal power introduces a non-intuitive increase in the diversity gain, improving the error statistics with respect to the uncorrelated case. In contrast, the diversity gain decreases under negative correlation, degrading the system performance. These findings are confirmed by simulations for scenarios of practical relevance.
Exploring the effects of fishing pressure and upwelling intensity over subtidal kelp forest communities in Central Chile

Understanding the processes that drive kelp forest communities is critical for management and conservation of these productive ecosystems. As a way to advance in this direction, we explored the effects of fishing pressure and upwelling intensity over kelp forest communities along the central coast of Chile. We sampled kelp communities in different upwelling conditions associated with contrasting management regimes, namely Territorial User Rights for Fisheries (TURFs) and open-access (OA) areas. In TURF areas, we found a 2.6-fold increase in reef fish biomass, higher diversity of all fish trophic groups, mainly dominated by benthic carnivore feeders, and a 1.8-fold reduction in the number of kelp grazers. On the other hand, upwelling regimes evidence a 1.6-fold increase in abundance and recruitment of the dominant kelp (Lessonia trabeculata), and also an increase in biomass of planktivorous reef fishes. We found that grazers were capable of reducing kelp condition (measured as canopy foliage index) in OA areas outside the influence of upwelling. Enclosure experiments in the field revealed the effect of grazers on kelps, reducing kelp growth (i.e., blade elongation) and increasing blade tissue loss. Results provide evidence that TURF areas could be important ancillary conservation instruments in kelp forest ecosystems, if key processes of the subtidal community assemblages (e.g., interactions between grazers and reef fish) are maintained. We conclude that human impact interplays with the influence of upwelling in structuring kelp communities.
Skin Biopsy Findings in Patients With CMT1A: Baseline Data From the CLN-PXT3003-01 Study Provide New Insights Into the Pathophysiology of the Disorder

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A (CMT1A), the most common form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth diseases, is a demyelinating neuropathy caused by a deletion encompassing the gene coding for PMP22, a myelin protein of the peripheral nervous system. Although myelinated fibers are mostly involved in CMT1A, some patients experience neuropathic pain. We thus investigated whether unmyelinated fibers are lost in CMT1A. Skin biopsies were taken from the distal portion of the leg of 80 patients with CMT1A as part of the PXT30003-01 study and processed for quantification of intraepidermal nerve fiber density (IENFD). Mean IENFD was significantly lower in CMT1A patients than in healthy controls. Although the data were highly dispersed, IENFD tended to decrease with age and was higher overall in female patients and controls than male patients and controls. This study shows that small nerve fibers are affected in CMT1A and that this correlates with pin sensitivity. The density of epidermal Langerhans cells (LCs) was also significantly reduced in CMT1A patients, suggesting the involvement of LCs in neuropathic pain processes. These findings raise several questions concerning the interactions of Schwann cells and LCs with unmyelinated fibers in CMT1A. Moreover, they suggest that factors other than PMP22 gene dosage are involved in small fiber pathology in CMT1A.
Factors Influencing the Adoption of Smart Wearable Devices

ABSTRACT This article examined factors associated with the adoption of smart wearable devices. More specifically, this research explored the contributing and inhibiting factors that influence the adoption of wearable devices through in-depth interviews. The laddering approach was used in the interviews to identify not only the factors but also their relationships to underlying values. The wearable devices examined were a Smart Glass (Google Glass) and a Smart Watch (Sony Smart Watch 3). Two user groups, college students and working professionals, participated in the study. After the participants had the opportunity to try out each of the two devices, the factors that were most important in deciding whether to adopt or not to adopt the device were laddered. For the smart glasses, the most frequently mentioned factor was look-and-feel. For the smart watch, the availability of fitness apps was a key factor influencing adoption. In addition, factors which were linked to image, a personal value, were particularly important across both the student and working groups. This research provides support for the usefulness of the laddering approach to data collection and analysis, and provides some insight into key design criteria to better fit users’ needs and interests.
Estrogen‐regulated expression of P450arom genes in the brain and ovaries of adult female Indian climbing perch, Anabas testudineus

Cytochrome P450arom (CYP19), a product of cyp19a1 gene, catalyzes the conversion of androgens to estrogens and is essential for regulation of reproductive function in vertebrates. In the present study, we isolated partial cDNA encoding the ovarian (cyp19a1a) and brain (cyp19a1b) P450arom genes from adult female perch, Anabas testudineus and investigated their regulation by estrogen in vivo. Results demonstrated that cyp19a1a and cyp19a1b predominate in ovary and brain respectively, with quantity of both attuned to reproductive cycle. To elucidate estrogen-regulated expression of cyp19a1b in brain and cyp19a1a in ovary, dose- and time-dependent studies were conducted with estrogen in vitellogenic-stage fish in the presence or absence of specific aromatase inhibitor fadrozole. Results demonstrated that treatment of fish with 17β-estradiol (E2; 1.0 μM)) for 6 days caused significant upregulation of cyp19a1b transcripts, aromatase B protein, and aromatase activity in brain in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Ovarian cyp19a1a mRNA, aromatase protein, and aromatase activity, however, was less responsive to E2 than brain. Treatment of fish with an aromatase inhibitor fadrozole for 6 days attenuated both brain and ovarian cyp19a1 mRNAs expression and stimulatory effects of E2 was also significantly reduced. These results indicate that expression of cyp19a1b in brain and cyp19a1a in ovary of adult female A. testudineus was closely associated to plasma E2 levels and seasonal reproductive cycle. Results further show apparent differential regulation of cyp19a1a and cyp19a1b expression by E2/fadrozole manipulation.
Prognostic factors of functional outcome after hip fracture surgery: a systematic review

Objective this systematic review aimed to identify immutable and modifiable prognostic factors of functional outcomes and their proposed mechanism after hip fracture surgery. Design systematic search of MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PEDRO, OpenGrey and ClinicalTrials.gov for observational studies of prognostic factors of functional outcome after hip fracture among surgically treated adults with mean age of 65 years and older. Study selection, quality assessment, and data extraction were completed independently by two reviewers. The Quality in Prognosis Studies Tool was used for quality assessment and assigning a level of evidence to factors. Proposed mechanisms for reported associations were extracted from discussion sections. Results from 33 studies of 9,552 patients, we identified 25 prognostic factors of functional outcome after hip fracture surgery. We organised factors into groups: demographics, injury and comorbidities, body composition, complications, and acute care. We assigned two factors a weak evidence level-anaemia and cognition. We assigned Parkinson's disease an inconclusive evidence level. We could not assign an evidence level to the remaining 22 factors due to the high risk of bias across studies. Frailty was the proposed mechanism for the association between anaemia and functional outcome. Medication management, perceived potential, complications and time to mobility were proposed as mechanisms for the association between cognition and functional outcome. Conclusion we identified one modifiable and one immutable prognostic factor for functional outcomes after hip fracture surgery. Future research may target patients with anaemia or cognitive impairment by intervening on the prognostic factor or the underlying mechanisms.
Myocardial protection following del Nido cardioplegia in pediatric cardiac surgery

Background This study was designed to compare myocardial protection with del Nido cardioplegia and conventional blood cardioplegia in children undergoing cardiac surgery in Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery categories 1 and 2. Methods Sixty patients were randomized into 2 groups receiving del Nido cardioplegia solution or conventional blood cardioplegia. Myocardial injury was assessed using biochemical markers (troponin I and creatine kinase-MB). Vasoactive-inotropic scores were calculated to compare inotropic requirements. Results Demographic characteristics, cardiopulmonary bypass time, and aortic crossclamp time were comparable in the 2 groups. Time-related changes in troponin I and creatine kinase-MB were similar in both groups. Statistically significant differences were seen in total cardioplegia volume requirement (p < 0.0001), number of cardioplegia doses given (p < 0.0001), packed red cell volume usage during cardiopulmonary bypass (p < 0.02), and time taken to restore spontaneous regular rhythm (p < 0.0001). Vasoactive-inotropic scores on transfer to the intensive care unit (p < 0.040) and at 24 h (p < 0.030) were significantly lower in the del Nido group. Duration of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit stay, and hospital stay were comparable in the 2 groups. Conclusions Our results show that del Nido cardioplegia solution is as safe as conventional blood cardioplegia. Moreover, it provides the benefits of reduced dose requirement, lower consumption of allogenic blood on cardiopulmonary bypass, quicker resumption of spontaneous regular cardiac rhythm, and less inotropic support requirement on transfer to the intensive care unit and at 24 h, compared to conventional blood cardioplegia.
Performance of amplicon and shotgun sequencing for accurate biomass estimation in invertebrate community samples

New applications of DNA and RNA sequencing are expanding the field of biodiversity discovery and ecological monitoring, yet questions remain regarding precision and efficiency. Due to primer bias, the ability of metabarcoding to accurately depict biomass of different taxa from bulk communities remains unclear, while PCR‐free whole mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) sequencing may provide a more reliable alternative. Here, we used a set of documented mock communities comprising 13 species of freshwater macroinvertebrates of estimated individual biomass, to compare the detection efficiency of COI metabarcoding (three different amplicons) and shotgun mitogenome sequencing. Additionally, we used individual COI barcoding and de novo mitochondrial genome sequencing, to provide reference sequences for OTU assignment and metagenome mapping (mitogenome skimming), respectively. We found that, even though both methods occasionally failed to recover very low abundance species, metabarcoding was less consistent, by failing to recover some species with higher abundances, probably due to primer bias. Shotgun sequencing results provided highly significant correlations between read number and biomass in all but one species. Conversely, the read–biomass relationships obtained from metabarcoding varied across amplicons. Specifically, we found significant relationships for eight of 13 (amplicons B1FR‐450 bp, FF130R‐130 bp) or four of 13 (amplicon FFFR, 658 bp) species. Combining the results of all three COI amplicons (multiamplicon approach) improved the read–biomass correlations for some of the species. Overall, mitogenomic sequencing yielded more informative predictions of biomass content from bulk macroinvertebrate communities than metabarcoding. However, for large‐scale ecological studies, metabarcoding currently remains the most commonly used approach for diversity assessment.
Formation of native prions from minimal components in vitro

The conformational change of a host protein, PrPC, into a disease-associated isoform, PrPSc, appears to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and scrapie. However, the fundamental mechanism by which infectious prions are produced in neurons remains unknown. To investigate the mechanism of prion formation biochemically, we conducted a series of experiments using the protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) technique with a preparation containing only native PrPC and copurified lipid molecules. These experiments showed that successful PMCA propagation of PrPSc molecules in a purified system requires accessory polyanion molecules. In addition, we found that PrPSc molecules could be formed de novo from these defined components in the absence of preexisting prions. Inoculation of samples containing either prion-seeded or spontaneously generated PrPSc molecules into hamsters caused scrapie, which was transmissible on second passage. These results show that prions able to infect wild-type hamsters can be formed from a minimal set of components including native PrPC molecules, copurified lipid molecules, and a synthetic polyanion.
Distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates in Mantovo Reservoir (South-East part of the R. Macedonia)

Composition and community structure as well as functional feeding organization of the macroinvertebrates from Mantovo Reservoir (South-East part of the R. Macedonia) in relation to lake depth were carried out during the period from May 2003 to April 2004. Bottom fauna samples were collected at four stations situated on the depth profile across the reservoir. Forty nine taxa belonging to 14 animal groups were recorded. With exception on the lower profundal, the results of this study show that Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri was the most abundant species in the benthic community. The latter presents taxon highly tolerant to organic pollution, as well as collector (deposit feeders), witch features indicate presence of abundant fine particulate organic matter (FPOM) in Mantovo Reservoir. Only, zooplankton predator, Chaoborus crystallinus (97.21%) was presented in considerable quantities in the bottom fauna from the deepest part of the lake (20.3 m). Distribution of the macrozoobenthos was determined by depth gradient, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. The station with the highest richness (d = 3.22), diversity (H , = 1.68), evenness (J(e) = 0.50) and community density (5,939.05 ind·m 2 ) belongs to the littoral region and additionally is located near the main river input, which very likely act as colonizing source. Heterogeneous bottom habitat contributes to species richness of macroinvertebrates in the littoral region. In relation to other depth profiles, low species richness (d = 0.99), diversity (H , = 0.17) and evenness (J(e) = 0.08) as well as significant decrease in abundance of zoobenthos community (3,313.39 ind·m 2 ) were noticed in lower profundal, near the dam. These results point up different environmental conditions in the deepest part of the lake.