Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HCV core antigen comes of age: a new opportunity for the diagnosis of hepatitis C virus infection

Abstract The diagnosis of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been traditionally based on the detection of the host antibody response. Although antibody assays are available in different formats and are fairly accurate, they cannot distinguish between an ongoing infection with HCV replicative activity and a past infection where HCV has been cleared, spontaneously or after a successful therapy. As a chronic infection is mostly asymptomatic until the late clinical stages, there is a compelling need to detect active HCV infection by simple and reproducible methods. On this purpose, the clinical guidelines have suggested to search for the HCV ribonucleic acid (HCV-RNA) after anti-HCV has been detected, but this second step carries several limitations especially for population screening. The availability of fast and automated serological assays for the hepatitis C core antigen (HCVAg) has prompted an update of the guidelines that now encompass the use of HCVAg as a practical alternative to HCV-RNA, both for screening and monitoring purposes. In this paper, we summarize the features, benefits and limitations of HCVAg testing and provide an updated compendium of the evidences on its clinical utility and on the indications for use.
An Empirical Assessment of Climate Change in the Courts: A New Jurisprudence or Business as Usual?

While legal scholarship seeking to assess the impact of litigation on the direction of climate change policy is abundant and growing in leaps and bounds, to date it has relied on and examined only small, isolated pieces of the vast litigation landscape. Without a complete picture of what has and has not been within the sweep of climate change litigation, it is difficult to offer a robust evaluation of the past, present, and future of climate change jurisprudence. Based on a comprehensive empirical study of the status of all (201) climate change litigation matters filed through 2010, this Article is the first to fill those gaps and assess the state of play of climate change in the courts. We conclude that the story of climate change in the courts has not been one of courts forging a new jurisprudence, but rather of judicial business as usual. Part I of the Article outlines the scope of climate change litigation, explaining what qualifies as climate change litigation in our study, our methodology for identifying and coding case attributes, and our typology of the claims that have been or likely will be made as climate change moves relentlessly forward. Part II of the Article then presents and assesses the major theme revealed from our empirical study and largely missing from commentary on climate change litigation - that a siege-like battle between “pro” and “anti” regulation interests has led to an increasingly robust and complex litigation landscape but with mixed results for both sides. Drawing from those findings, Part III of the Article takes on a set of empirical and normative questions designed to summarize and assess the climate change litigation experience and its impacts on the content and institutions of climate policy. It is evident at all levels of inquiry that courts have taken a business as usual approach to climate change, resisting litigants’ attempts to make courts a locus of direct policy making, but the courts nevertheless have influenced the policy content and its institutional contours dramatically. We extract these themes from the full experience of climate change litigation and suggest fruitful paths of research to develop a better understanding of the role and impact of the courts in the climate change policy arena. In Part IV of the Article we stretch a bit from the confines of our empirical study and findings to speculate about the future of climate change litigation.
CEO influences and executive compensation: large firms vs. small firms

Prior research has investigated determinants of CEO compensation. However, that research has been primarily limited to large firms. This study investigates the impact of CEO influence over the board of directors on CEO pay for both large and small firms. Additionally, other determinants of CEO pay for both large and small firms are examined. Results suggest that CEO influence over the board significantly affects CEO pay for large firms. However, we do not find the same evidence for small firms. Firm size is the prinmary factor of CEO pay for small firms. Evidence in this study suggests that CEO pay of large firms is mostly a function of CEO influence over the board, firm size and firm performance.
The Information Value of the Stress Test

We investigate whether the “stress test,” the extraordinary examination of the 19 largest U.S. bank holding companies conducted by federal bank supervisors in 2009, produced useful information for the market. Using standard event study techniques, we find that the market had largely deciphered on its own which banks would have capital gaps before the stress test results were revealed, but that the market was informed by the size of the gap; given our proxy for the expected gap, banks with larger capital gaps experienced more negative abnormal returns. Our findings are consistent with the view that the stress tests produced valuable information about banks.
CrowdHuman: A Benchmark for Detecting Human in a Crowd

Human detection has witnessed impressive progress in recent years. However, the occlusion issue of detecting human in highly crowded environments is far from solved. To make matters worse, crowd scenarios are still under-represented in current human detection benchmarks. In this paper, we introduce a new dataset, called CrowdHuman, to better evaluate detectors in crowd scenarios. The CrowdHuman dataset is large, rich-annotated and contains high diversity. There are a total of $470K$ human instances from the train and validation subsets, and $~22.6$ persons per image, with various kinds of occlusions in the dataset. Each human instance is annotated with a head bounding-box, human visible-region bounding-box and human full-body bounding-box. Baseline performance of state-of-the-art detection frameworks on CrowdHuman is presented. The cross-dataset generalization results of CrowdHuman dataset demonstrate state-of-the-art performance on previous dataset including Caltech-USA, CityPersons, and Brainwash without bells and whistles. We hope our dataset will serve as a solid baseline and help promote future research in human detection tasks.
The cultural validity of Holland's model and its implications for human resource management: the case of Hong Kong

There has been continuous interest in studying occupational classifications and the match between individuals' vocational orientation and occupational environment. However, it is also believed that modifications of a Western developed vocational model are necessary in other cultures. Unfortunately, there is little study on how human resource practitioners will be affected by their vocational orientation in making human resource decisions such as placement and selection. To address the role of cultural characteristics in the vocational model and the effect of vocational orientation on human practitioners' decisions, three studies have been conducted in Hong Kong. In the first two studies, we provide evidence for a revised model of vocational orientations in Hong Kong based on its special cultural characteristics. In the third study, we provide indicative evidence about the effect of the conceptualization of occupational orientations on human resource practitioners' selection judgement. Implications for cross-cultural human resource researchers and practitioners are discussed.
Corrosion damage detection with piezoelectric wafer active sensors

Since today's aging fleet is intended to far exceed their proposed design life, monitoring the structural integrity of those aircraft has become a priority issue for today's Air Force. One of the most critical structural problems is corrosion. In fact the KC-135 now costs $1.2 billion a year to repair corrosion. In this paper, we plan to show the use of Lamb waves to detect material loss in thin plates representative of aircraft skins. To do this we will use embedded transducers called Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensor (PWAS) in a pitch-catch configuration. The sensors were placed on a grid pattern. Material loss through corrosion was simulated by removing the material mechanically with an abrasive tool. Thus, simulated corrosion pits of various depths and area coverage were made. Three-count tone burst wave packets were used. The Lamb wave packets were sent in a pitch-catch mode from one transmitter PWAS to the other PWAS in the grid acting as receivers. The Lamb wave mode used in these experiments was A1, since this was found to be more sensitive to changes due to material loss. At the frequencies considered in our experiments, the A1 waves are highly dispersive. It was found that, as the Lamb wave travels through simulated corrosion damage, the signal changes. The observed changes were in the signal wavelength (due to change in the dispersive properties of the medium) and in signal amplitude (due to redistribution of energy in the wave packet). This change in signal can be correlated to the magnitude of damage. To achieve this, we have used several approaches: (a) direct correlation between the sent and the received signals; (b) wavelet transform of the signal followed by correlation of the wavelet coefficients time-frequency maps; (c) Hilbert transform of the signal to produce the signal envelope and comparison of the resulting envelope signals (d) neural network correlation between the sent and received signals. It was found that these methods work well together in a complementary way.
Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts and Real Estate Returns

Some investors view equity real estate investment trusts (EREITs) as partial substitutes for conventional real estate investments, although the correlation between EREIT and real estate returns is insignificant. However, this study finds that the residuals from regressions of both real estate series on financial asset returns are significantly correlated. This supports the notion that there is a common factor (or factors) associated with real estate that affects both sets of returns. In addition, lagged values of the EREIT residuals help explain variations in the conventional unsecuritized real estate return residuals.
Textual Analysis of Corporate Disclosures: A Survey of the Literature

This paper reviews and proposes additional research concerning the textual analysis of corporate disclosures in large-sample settings. I first discuss the motivations and methodology issues for this research area. I then review the recent papers that explore corporate textual disclosures to test economic hypotheses. I also discuss the challenges facing this literature and propose some future research opportunities.
Blood and lens lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in normal individuals, senile and diabetic cataractous patients

Purpose. Oxidative mechanisms are believed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of cataract, the most important cause of visual impairment at advanced age. To determine the body's antioxidant status as well as its lipid peroxidation levels, both blood and lens parameters were evaluated. Methods. This study was performed on the blood samples and lenses obtained from 46 patients diagnosed as having cataract and 20 control subjects. The control group was composed of 10 women and 10 men who do not smoke. Control subjects without any lens opacity or vacuoles when observed with a slit lamp were recruited on the same exclusion criteria as far as disease and treatment were concerned. No antioxidant medicines were used. They were all healthy individuals without any systemic diseases. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), glutathione reductase (GSSG-Red) activities in red blood cell (RBC) lysates as well as whole blood glutathione (GSH) and plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), the indicator of lipid peroxidation concentrations, were determined quantitatively both in the blood samples and the lenses of the patients with senile and diabetic cataracts. Results. Whole blood GSH values, and erythrocyte SOD activities were significantly lower in the cataractous patients than those in the control group. The values in the diabetic cataractous group were also less than those in the senile cataractous group. Significantly decreased erythrocyte GSSG-Red and G6PD activities were detected in the diabetic cataractous group. Plasma TBARS values were higher both in the senile and diabetic groups when compared to those in the control group. Significantly decreased values were observed for GSSG-Red activities and TBARS values in the lenses of the senile cataractous patients in comparison with those in the diabetic cataractous patients. The lens GSH values were found to be higher in the senile cataractous group than the values obtained in the diabetic cataractous group. Conclusions. A strong correlation was found between lens GSH and lens TBARS concentrations in the diabetic group. This emphasized the vital role of GSH as an antioxidant in the lens over the other antioxidant parameters, e.g., enzymes, and the oxidative stress is at the highest level in lens.
Thrombolytic treatment of ischaemic stroke occurring during a migrainous attack: A case report

Authors report a case of young female suffering from the acute ischaemic stroke with right-sided hemiplegia, hemianopsia and hemihypoaesthesia during a migrainous attack without aura. Magnetic resonance imaging detected infarction in the left occipital lobe and occlusion of branches of the posterior cerebral artery (PCA). Combined treatment with systemic thrombolysis and sonothrombolysis was used, leading to the early PCA recanalization, and to a favourable clinical outcome after 1 month. Intravenous thrombolytic treatment administered within the therapeutic window may be useful in cerebral ischaemia associated with migraine when an arterial occlusion is documented.
A systematic review on barriers, facilities, knowledge and attitude toward evidence-based medicine in Iran

Introduction: Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the ability and skill in using and integration of the best up-to-date evidences. The aim of this study was a systematic review of barriers, facilities, knowledge and attitude of EBM in Iran. Methods: In this study, database and manual search was used with keywords such as, "evidence-based, EBM, evidence-based nursing, evidence-based practice, evidence-based care, evidence-based activities, evidence-based education" and their combination with the keywords of the barrier, facilitator, attitude, awareness, prospective, knowledge, practice and Iran. The databases of SID (Scientific information database), Magiran, MEDLIB, PubMed, Google scholar, IranMedex and CINAHL (Cumulative index to nursing and allied health literature) were used for data collection. Results: Finally, 28 papers were included in this study. The lack of facilities, time and skill in research methodology were the most important barriers to EBM. The most and least important factors were orderly creating ample opportunity and detecting needs and problems. The degree of familiarity with the terminology of evidence-based performance was low (44.2%). The textbooks have been considered as the most significant source of obtaining information. The level of awareness, knowledge, and evidence-based performance was less than 50.0%. Conclusion: There are many various barriers in use of EBM and healthcare providers despite the positive attitude toward EBM had a low level knowledge in EBM setting. Consideration of the importance of EBM proper planning and effective intervention are necessary to removing the barriers and increase the knowledge of healthcare providers.
Succession and Nonsuccession Concerns of Family Firms and Agency Relationship with Nonfamily Managers

This article consists of two parts. The first part reports findings from a survey of the issues facing top executives in 272 Canadian family firms. Results show that succession is their No. 1 concern, thus supporting the predominant focus of family business researchers on succession issues. Results also show that concern about relationships with nonfamily managers is a close second in importance. The second part of the article uses Agency Theory to explain why relationships with nonfamily managers are so important. Empirical results show that both the extent and the criticality of a firm's dependence on nonfamily managers are statistically significant determinants of the importance. This study implies that relationships with nonfamily managers is a neglected research topic and points to a new direction for research in family business management.
Age patterns and time sequence of mortality in national populations with the highest expectation of life at birth.

This article reflects Ansley Coales analysis of the "rectangularization" of survival curves and the "compression of mortality" morbidity and disability. The literature reflects a lack of consensus on a precise definition of rectangularization and compression. The author defines rectangularization as the increasingly flat curve of the proportion of persons surviving from birth to advancing ages. The flat curve is evident among persons aged 5-55 years when mortality is low. Death rates decline at all ages. It is assumed that the curve remains flat until some "innate" maximum age at death. After this "innate" age is reached there is an almost vertical fall. It is assumed that a maximum life expectancy occurs despite treatment of disease and disability or improvements in treatment. Support for a future rectangular curve is identified as attributed to observed mortality trends and biomedical stages of mortality (susceptibility to an ailment illness with the ailment and death from the ailment). A higher age at death is due to vaccinations healthier life styles and better curative medicine. Evidence is presented that shows that the age patterns of mortality in the lowest mortality countries are similar. Mortality patterns conform to model life tables that express mortality by age and a high life expectancy. There is a linear relationship between expectation of life at a given time and the annual rate at which life expectancy is increasing. In India and Mexico as life expectancy increased the slower the annual increase during 1955-84. In India the time path was not the same as in Mexico which suggests a lack of universality in the time path of the increase in life expectancy. New life table models were constructed that more closely approximated actual mortality above the age of 80 years. These new tables showed identical patterns in all four regions for female life expectancy of 80 years but a better fit in four of the lowest mortality countries (Sweden Japan Austria and Spain). Male mortality patterns over the age of 79 years show irregularities that were identified by Preston as related to cigarette smoking. It is expected that as countries reach low mortality survival patterns will be more similar to the new models than rectangularization.
The New Zealand Resource Management Act: An Exercise in Delivering Sustainable Development through an Ecological Modernisation Agenda

The 1991 New Zealand Resource Management Act established an effects-based planning system intended to safeguard the biophysical resource base. The act and its subsequent practical implementation are deconstructed using an ecological modernisation framework. This demonstrates that many of the key policy instruments of the act can be accommodated within an ecological modernisation discourse. However, elements of discursive democracy introduced by the legislation have subsequently been impaired by technocorporatist legal formalism. This has prompted considerable debate about the perceived high process and compliance costs and the restricted public scrutiny of effects-based compliance in the new planning system. The reduced emphasis on socioeconomic effects within land-use development plans has impeded the promotion of sustainable spatial development strategies, frustrating attempts to deliver the ‘superindustrial ecological switchover’ sought by proponents of ecological modernisation. Recent legislation to extend the strategic powers of local government may help resolve this issue.
Optimization of uniplanar multilayer structures using nonlinear tunable dielectrics

For an optimization of the tunability of coplanar waveguides (CPW) different geometries have been studied on barium-strontium-titanate (BST) thick films. The presented measurement results show a strong dependency of tunability vs. geometry which can not be calculated using standard conformal mapping (CM) approaches. To calculate a cross section of a CPW, an FDTD (finite difference time domain) algorithm, expanded to field strength dependent relative permittivities has been implemented. A geometry efficiency factor /spl chi/ is introduced to review the effective tunability for different geometries.
Wind power transmission through LCC-HVDC with wind turbine inertial and primary frequency supports

This paper investigates the control design when a wind power base of doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) is directly connected to line-commutated converter (LCC) HVDC link. Firstly, the positive feedback characteristic of PLL in DFIG is analyzed, which allows DFIG to self-maintain frequency without an available grid voltage reference. Furthermore, in order to avoid the rapid variation of HVDC power flow when some disturbances happened to the local system, it is proposed that the local inertial and primary frequency supports are provided by wind turbines, and the LCC-HVDC link is only responsible for transmitting wind power to the main grid. The dynamic performances of an aggregated DFIG in island operation, and operating with HVDC are demonstrated by the simulation results. Satisfactory responses verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.
Prediction of herb–drug metabolic interactions: a simulation study

In vitro and in vivo studies have indicated that the induction or inhibition of cytochrome P450 (CYP) is one of the major mechanisms for some clinically important pharmacokinetic herb–drug interactions. An attempt was made to simulate the effects of herbal preparation with single or multiple CYP‐inhibiting constituents on the area of the plasma concentration‐time curve (AUC) of coadministered drug that was either a low clearance drug by intravenous (i.v.) injection or a high clearance drug by oral route. Our simulation studies indicated that the expected increase (Rc) in the AUC of the coadministered drug by inhibiting herbal constituent(s) was dependent on the route of administration. For low clearance drug by i.v. injection, Rc was generally determined by inhibition constant (Ki), unbound inhibitor concentration ([I]), hepatic fraction (fh), number of inhibitory herbal constituents (n) and metabolic pathway fraction in hepatic metabolism (fm), while Rc for a high clearance drug by oral route, Rc was determined by Ki, [I], n and fm. By varying these parameters, Rc changed accordingly. It appeared likely to predict a herb–drug metabolic interaction, if the inhibiting herbal constituents could be quantitatively determined. However, many herb‐ and drug‐related factors may cause difficulties with the prediction, and thus in vivo animal and human studies are always necessary. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.