Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wideband RCS Reduction of a Microstrip Antenna Using Artificial Magnetic Conductor Structures

A design approach aimed at reducing the radar cross section (RCS) of microstrip antenna in wide frequency band is proposed. First, two different artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) unit cells are designed to obtain 180 ° ( ±30°) reflection phase difference over broadband frequency range. Then, chessboard configuration is structured with the two AMC unit cells and is applied to a microstrip antenna for RCS reduction. The simulated results indicate that the proposed antenna possesses remarkable RCS reduction from 8.0 GHz to 20.0 GHz for both polarizations, covering the working band of the original antenna. The maximum reduction is 31.9 dB. Moreover, the radiation performance of the antenna has been well kept. Measured results of the fabricated prototype are in good agreement with the simulations.
The Beveridge Curve, Unemployment, and Wages in the OECD from the 1960s to the 1990s

This paper is an empirical analysis of unemployment patterns in the OECD countries from the 1960s to the 1990s, looking at the Beveridge Curves, real wages as well as unemployment directly. Our results indicate the following. First, the Beveridge Curves of all the countries except Norway and Sweden shifted to the right from the 1960s to the early/mid 1980s. At this point, the countries divide into two distinct groups. Those whose Beveridge Curves continued to shift out and those where they started to shift back. Second, we find evidence that these movements in the Beveridge Curves may be partly explained by changes in labour market institutions, particularly those which are important for search and matching efficiency. Third, labour market institutions impact on real labour costs in a fashion which is broadly consistent with their impact on unemployment. Finally, broad movements in unemployment across the OECD can be explained by shifts in labour market institutions although this explanation relies on high levels of endogenous persistence as reflected in a lagged dependent variable coefficient of around 0.9.
Validation of the central blood pressure estimation by the SphygmoCor system in Chinese

BackgroundPulse wave analysis using the SphygmoCor system allows the estimation of central blood pressures (BP). However, there is controversy over its accuracy for clinical use. MethodsIn 45 patients undergoing coronary angiography, we compared the ascending aorta BPs measured by the invasive catheter with the estimations by the SphygmoCor system, using paired t-tests, simple correlation analysis, and Bland–Altman plots. ResultsThe estimation of central systolic BP by SphygmoCor was lower, although statistically insignificant, than that measured by the catheter (144±29 vs. 148±30 mmHg; P=0.98). The standard deviation of the difference amounted to 17 mmHg. Both the measured and estimated central systolic BPs were significantly (P<0.001) lower than the brachial systolic BP (156±30 mmHg). The diastolic BP measured at the brachial artery (87±15 mmHg) and provided by SphygmoCor (90±15 mmHg) were systematically higher (P<0.001) than that measured by the catheter (74±13 mmHg). The SphygmoCor system underestimated the central pulse pressure by −20±14 mmHg compared with the catheter method. The correlation coefficients for systolic BP, diastolic BP, and pulse pressure between catheter measurements and the SphygmoCor estimations were 0.84, 0.60, and 0.82 (P<0.001), respectively. ConclusionWhen the radial waveform was calibrated with the oscillometric brachial pressures, the SphygmoCor system could not provide accurate estimation of central BPs. The inaccurate measurement of cuff pressure was the major limiting factor for the use of the transfer function in the clinical settings.
Can a time-varying equilibrium real interest rate explain the excess sensitivity puzzle?

The strong response of long-term interest rates to macroeconomic shocks has typically been explained in terms of informational asymmetries between the central bank and private agents. The standard models assume that the equilibrium real interest rate is constant over time and independent of structural shocks. We incorporate time-variation in the equilibrium real interest rate as function of structural shocks to e.g. productivity and demand. This extended model implies that forward interest rates at long horizons move about 40 basis points as the short-term interest rate increases one percentage point. In terms of regressions of changes in long-term interest rates on changes in the short-term interest rate, including a time-varying equilibrium real interest rate explains about half of the puzzle.
Post partum emotional distress in mothers of preterm infants: a controlled study.

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether mothers of preterm infants experience more psychological distress than mothers of normal full term infants in the immediate postpartum period. DESIGN Cross sectional prospective study of postpartal women using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the GHQ-30. SETTING Neonatal intensive care units and the obstetric units of Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa and Multipurpose Health Centre, Ilesa (These are component Units of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Osun State Nigeria). RESULTS Of the 60 postnatal women recruited into the study, 33 mothers of preterm neonates formed the index group and 27 mothers of full term normal infants constituted the control group. More mothers of preterm neonates (27.3%) had GHQ-30 scores which categorised them as having significant emotional distress than mothers of full term normal infants (3.7%). Similarly more mothers of preterm neonates (15.1%) were more depressed than mothers of full term normal infants (3.7%). These differences were found to be statistically significant when the mean scores of the two groups on the instruments swere compared. CONCLUSION These problems are not usually detected nor appropriately referred by the paediatrician/obstetrician to the psychiatrist. This has a number of implications for preventive psychiatry. A multidisciplinary approach is therefore essential in the detection and management of these problems.
BECOMING A TOUR GUIDE: ANALYZING THE MOTIVATIONS

Guides play a vital role in this process bringing satisfaction to tourists visiting a country or region/state. The opportunity of direct interaction with the tourists makes them all the more responsible for projecting the correct image of the country/region, giving factually correct information about the destination, ensuring the safety and well being of the tourists as well as pleasing and satisfying the stay for them during their visits. Over last few years there has been a greater interest in tour guide profession especially in the northern region of India. The purpose of this study is to identify the motivations that led to choosing tour guiding as a profession and career. There appears to be a significant difference in such motivation in different regions of the country. A comparison in motivations in two regions (north vs. east) was made. Based on primary data collection paper attempts to discuss what has motivated the youth to take up tour guiding profession- whether such motivation is positive of negative. In either case policy makers may decide what type of support programs need to be introduced by the state and other agencies like educational, rearing and counselling, financial support, social security, or any other type of interventions.
Green grow the fishes‐oh? Environmental attributes in marketing aquaculture products

Abstract The rise of aquaculture production in the last two decades has had a notable impact on many of the world's markets, sometimes supplementing or replacing existing capture fishery products, developing new market opportunities through improved availability, novel products and/or improved market chain efficiency. Meanwhile consumers have also become increasingly aware of environmental issues and associations with the products they consume; within this broader trend, the practices and possible impacts of aquaculture have justifiably or otherwise been subject to particular scrutiny and sometimes negative comment. Future opportunities and directions for growth and development of aquaculture may become increasingly driven by market perceptions of environmental attributes and, associated with this, the ways in which aquaculture processes and products are presented. This paper reviews the relevant issues of environmental attributes, explores the ways in which these may interact with future production and m.
Health effects of disinfection by-products in Australian drinking waters

The disinfection of drinking water has greatly diminished the occurrence of diseases known to be caused by water-borne pathogens, but technological advances subsequent to the initial discovery of chloroform in 1974 have enabled the identification of a plethora of Disinfection By-Products (DBPs), particularly trihalomethanes (THMs), that may have injurious health effects on humans. DBPs are widely believed to be associated with bladder, rectal and colon cancers as well as adverse reproductive outcomes such as neural tube disorders. An outline of the disinfectants commonly used in the treatment of drinking water and the Natural Organic Matter (NOM) it reacts with to form DBPs is provided here, and the deficiencies in the current knowledge regarding likely human health effects are briefly discussed.
Second Sourcing with Capacity Constrained Firms and Locked-In Buyers

Abstract I begin by surveying the motivations for second-sourcing agreements in the absence of licensing fees. I then focus on a particular motivation – that of an incumbent wanting to relax a capacity constraint. I develop a general model with buyers locked into a product, and find necessary and sufficient conditions for an incumbent to benefit from the presence of rivals without any need to sign contracts with them, in contrast with Dick (1992) and with the literature on subcontracting. I show that multiple equilibria due to the self-fulfilling expectations of rivals are possible. With regards to policy, I find that, with homogeneous buyers, a monopolist incumbent will produce where price and marginal cost coincide. I illustrate the model’s results with observations from the semiconductor industry.
Bioaccessibility and content of Se in fish and shellfish widely consumed in Mediterranean countries: influence of proteins, fat and heavy metals

Abstract Twenty samples of fish and seafood products were selected for determination of total and bioaccessible Se (i.e. soluble and dialyzable). The Se contents ranged between 0.638–0.052 µg/g. The samples of fatty fish such as mackerel and tuna showed higher contents than the species of lean fish, and mainly the fresh water fish, such as salmon, trout and panga showed the lowest contents. The fraction of soluble Se ranged between 43–84% while that the fraction of dialyzable Se did not exceed 14%. No statistically significant correlation was observed between protein content and total and bioaccessible Se content. In contrast, a negative interaction was observed between bioaccessible Se and fat content, and between bioaccessible Se and presence of heavy metals like Cd.
Total Force and the New American Military Family: Implications for Social Work Practice

Increasing numbers of civilian social workers are being hired by the Department of Defense to provide services in military family programs. Recent changes in the American military, commonly referred to as “total force” policy, will bring even more social workers into contact with both active-component and reserve-component military families. The total force policy has caused the military family to be redefined. Still, the military hierarchy, culture, organization, and social support systems are key factors to be considered in the delivery of social services to military members and their families. Critical differences in the needs of reserve-component and active-component military families challenge social work practice. Social work practice has not kept pace with the changing military family environment It is time to incorporate military families into practice as yet another diverse population with whom social workers will interact. This article describes the new American military family, provides principles for practice, and identifies how social workers can respond.
For whom the bell tolls: ecological perspectives on industrial decline and resurgence

Over the last twenty-five years, research in organizational ecology has given rise to a proliferation of mechanisms that seek to explain processes of decline and resurgence in mature industries. In this article, I consider four of these mechanisms--including arguments concerning competitive intensity, temporal heterogeneity, population inertia, and community ecology--and apply them to explain the evolution of US medical schools between 1765 and 1999. For this population, mechanisms relying on organizational variation in competitive intensity--especially, mass dependence accounts--perform poorly in terms of theoretical and empirical adequacy. Models that incorporate temporal heterogeneity in industrial competition and legitimation explain more variation in patterns of growth and decline, but are sensitive to right-censoring and model specification. Ecological mechanisms that explicitly analyze population inertia or community ecology seem to be the most promising in terms of theoretical and empirical consistency. Ironically, this finding seems to vindicate the model of population growth advanced in Hannan and Freeman's seminal article, which has sometimes been discounted as failing to represent the evolution of mature industries in a realistic manner. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.
Use of midazolam urinary metabolic ratios for cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) phenotyping.

Midazolam (MDZ) total clearance (ClT) is widely used for cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) phenotyping, but requires up to eight blood samples. This study was conducted to compare the use of midazolam ClT to use of a midazolam urinary metabolic ratio for CYP3A phenotyping. Ten male and 10 female subjects received i.v. midazolam 0.025 mg/kg eight times over a 4-month period at approximately 2-week intervals. The first six phenotyping measures were used to estimate baseline CYP3A activity, then subjects received the moderate CYP3A inhibitor fluvoxamine 150 mg/day for the last 4 weeks (two phenotyping visits) of the study. Serial blood samples were obtained for calculation of ClT. Urine was collected for 6 h following each midazolam dose. Midazolam, 1'-hydroxymidazolam (1-OHMDZ), and 4-hydroxymidazolam were measured in plasma and urine by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Analysis of 148 samples from 20 subjects revealed a weak overall correlation between the urinary ratio of 1-OHMDZ/MDZ to midazolam ClT of r(s) = 0.372 (P = 0.0001). There was no correlation when examining either baseline samples or fluvoxamine-inhibited samples alone (r(s) = 0.101, P = 0.289 and r(s) = 0.266, P = 0.123, respectively). The median (range) urinary ratio decreased significantly with fluvoxamine [219 (141-409) versus 127 (50-464); P = 0.005] and to a similar extent to the midazolam ClT (-33.6% versus -42.4%, respectively; P > 0.05). Median urinary recovery of the i.v. midazolam dose varied between 1.4% and 53% and was significantly lower in samples collected while patients were receiving fluvoxamine (34.3% versus 23.1%; P= 0.0004). Based on these results, although this midazolam urinary ratio was not very reflective of baseline CYP3A activity, it may be a useful indicator of CYP3A inhibition.
Disability and multimorbidity in women older than 50 years: a population-based household survey

ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the prevalence of disability and associated factors in Brazilian women older than 50 years. MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study (in the form of a population survey) of 622 women older than 50 years and residing in Campinas, Brazil. Disability was assessed through a questionnaire with seven items and defined as “being completely unable to perform any of them. ” Independent variables included self-perception of health, sociodemographic data, health-related habits, and morbidities. Statistical analysis was carried out by &khgr;2 test and Poisson regression. ResultsThe mean age of women was 64.1 years, and the prevalence of disability was 43.4%. Age (prevalence ratio [PR], 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01-1.03), fear of falling (PR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.17-2.16), higher body mass index (PR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01-1.05), personal history of myocardial infarction (PR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.06-1.76), smoking more than 15 cigarettes per day (PR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.04-1.72), hospitalization in the past year (PR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.03-1.62), multimorbidity (PR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.02-2.02), and use of any medication prescribed by a doctor (PR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.02-2.41) were associated with a higher prevalence of disability. Self-perception of health as good/very good (PR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.52-0.86), use of alternative medications (PR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.33-0.90), and more years of schooling (PR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.45-0.93) were associated with a lower prevalence of disability. ConclusionsThe results improve our understanding of the factors associated with disability in Brazilian women and may help identify those who need multidisciplinary support to reduce effects on quality of life.
Redirections in Organisational Analysis

M ichael Reed has written an analysis of developments in organisation theory which charts the redirections of the past twenty years and offers indications of likely and beneficial future directions. The book opens with the structural-functionalist, systems, science-building perspective of the fifties and sixties, which is related by Reed to technocratic and managerialist interests. A key issue here is the tension between the requirement for coordination and the inherent recalcitrance of human actors, which opens the door to managerial manipulation. Reed then charts the subsequent "revolt against science" (p.44) and the rise of the alternative approaches of action theory, the negotiated order view of organisations and ethnomethodology. While reasserting the necessity for organisational analysis to deal specifically with human cognition and interaction, Reed sees in these approaches an excessive focus on minutire and neglect of larger structures. This in tum leads to the next phase of organisational analysis charted by Reed, radical structuralist and critical theory. This is followed by a discussion of what Reed calls "post-interregnum organisational studies". This involves further critique of the functionalist orthodoxy, in both societal and organisational theory, through renewed socio-political consciousness stirred by the ebb of the affluence and false optimism of the sixties. Moreover, there is fresh attention paid to the problem of human agency, as structural determinism is rejected in favour of a more dialectical conception of the interplay of structure and actor. There are several inherent dilemmas such as functionalism/actionism and determinism/voluntarism. The path forward, as seen by Reed, is the adoption of the "social practice framework". This combines notions of organisation as imperatively coordinated bureaucracy with the concept of an institutional web of social norms, and as a level of primary production controlled by a secondary administrative level responsive to the interests of a dominant class. There is a tension between instrumental needs and morality, as well as inherent ambiguity and conflict. And there is a degree of
Polymerase chain reaction–based method for the typing of F18 fimbriae and distribution of F18 fimbrial subtypes among porcine Shiga toxin–encoding Escherichia coli in Germany

Edema disease is an enterotoxemic disorder of weaned piglets that represents a significant threat to pig husbandry worldwide. The causative Escherichia coli strains are highly adapted to the porcine host and characterized by the production of Shiga toxin type 2e (Stx2e) and adhesive F18 fimbria. The current study assessed the occurrence of F18 fimbrial subtypes in 241 porcine stx2e + fedA + E. coli strains in Germany, including 116 Shiga toxin–encoding E. coli (STEC) and 125 Shiga toxin E. coli/enterotoxigenic E. coli (STEC/ETEC) isolates. In addition, a novel multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed in order to improve the typing system in terms of costs, time, and discriminative power. Utilizing the novel F18 typing PCR, 93 E. coli strains (38.5%) tested positive for the F18ab fimbrial subtype and 147 strains (61.0%) for the F18ac fimbrial subtype, while 1 strain remained nontypeable. Six strains were classified as F18ac using the F18 typing PCR, but were classified as F18ab using the F18-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Nucleotide sequencing of the FedA gene revealed that 5 of these strains encoded F18ac fimbriae, while the FedA of 1 strain did not cluster with F18ab or with F18ac amino acid sequences. The F18 fimbrial subtype was significantly associated with the pathovar of the E. coli strains, as 73.2% of the STEC isolates harbored F18ab genes whereas 93.6% of the STEC/ETEC isolates proved F18ac positive. In conclusion, the novel F18 typing PCR allows a specific identification of the F18 fimbrial subtype. The genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity of F18 fimbriae in porcine E. coli strains should be considered in the development of new vaccines and diagnostic tools.
Candida and candidiasis.

To the Editor. — The EDITORIAL "Candidiasis: Colonization vs Infection" ( 215 :285-286, 1971) presented the clinician's dilemma but few clues to its resolution. It quoted Ellis and Spivack's 12 cases of repeated candidemia and noted that six cases came to autopsy. Two cases were considered to be preterminal candidemia, in which no lesions were found at autopsy. Four cases showed widespread major organ candidiasis. Six patients got "well," two with the aid of antifungal therapy. The absence of a fatality in these six cases does not disprove the presence of candidal infection. Major organ disease in four out of 12 cases with persistent candidemia should give serious pause to any clinician. The review of Toala et al ( Arch Intern Med 126 :983, 1970) on the lack of significance of 371 Candida isolates from specimens submitted for bacteriological examination leads only to more befuddlement. Although Candida from any specimen should not be
Public Welfare Provision, Scandinavia, and the Sheer Futility of the Sociological Approach to Politics

In the last two decades, the prevailing orthodoxy in comparative studies has been the sociological view that public policy outcomes are primarily a reflection of what can loosely be described as ‘environmental’ factors: the demographic structure of the population, the incremental logic of policy programmes, and, most important of all, the level of economic development. This paper has two main objectives: first, to demonstrate that the sociological orthodoxy is methodologically and empirically unsound in its central tenet that politics does not matter, and, second, to provide a more detailed, and political, explanation of the particularly high levels of public welfare provision that characterize the Scandinavian countries.
Factors Influencing IPO Decisions. Do Corporate Managers Use Market and Corporate Timing? A Survey

Abstract This paper explores the motives for Initial Public Offerings (IPOs); that is, whether market mispricing or the behavioral inclinations of investors and analysts impact corporate decisions about rising equity, with a particular focus on market and corporate timing practices of managers going public. To do so, an anonymous survey was conducted of 166 managers of firms that recently went public at the Warsaw Stock Exchange in Poland (being the second most active IPO market in Europe, after London). The resulting data reveals that managers attempt to time bullish markets and good historical corporate financial results.