Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in Mediterranean mesocarnivore communities along urban and ex-urban gradients

Urbanization causes wildlife habitat loss, fragmentation, and the replacement of specialist species by generalists and/or exotic taxa. Because mesocarnivores are particularly vulnerable to habitat modifications, the rapid expansion of urban areas and the increasing trend for ex-urban development occurring in Mediterranean ecosystems may be major drivers of change in mesocarnivore communities. We combined camera trapping and sign surveys to quantify the richness and relative abundance of a set of wild and domestic mesocarnivores. We quantified these variables controlling for the gradient of urbanism, ex-urbanism, and other environmental variables in patches of natural vegetation in the region of Madrid (central Spain), and a non-urbanized control area ~220 km south of Madrid city. Using conditional autoregressive models (CAR) and model selection procedures, we found that urbanization influenced mesocarnivore community composition but this influence was not detrimental for all the species tested. Generalist carnivores such as the red fox Vulpes vulpes were more abundant in urban and ex-urban areas. Ex-urban development creates overlapping areas between wild and domestic species (such as the domestic cat Felis catus and the wildcat Felis silvestris ) but contact between wild and domestic carnivores in natural areas is unlikely. Detection of species in the control area was very low. Therefore, the impact of urbanization in causing changes in mesocarnivore communities may be less than other factors such as illegal predator culling.
ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF RECEIVING INTERNATIONAL DESIGN AWARDS IN JAPAN

This paper intends to analyze the effect of design management on business performance quantitatively, focusing on firms receiving international design awards, which are supposed to represent their competitive design. First, we conduct a traditional performance study concerning stock and financial indices in Japan to offer the geographical complement to predecessors focusing on other areas. However, the findings from these methods are not always reliable because it entails methodological defects in itself. Thus, secondly, an event study is implemented in order to complement the results of the performance study. It can be said not only to hold a high level of reproducibility and objectivity, but also to help us exclude practically all the effects of factors other than design. We also conduct a performance study as for the same samples and investigate the results. Following the method of event study, we can conclude that effective design management has a positive impact on enterprise value.
Can a fiscal contraction strengthen a currency?: Some doubts about conventional Mundell-Fleming results

This article demonstrates that a fiscal expansion can induce both a short- and long-run depreciation of a currency and, by parallel arguments, fiscal contraction can induce short- and long-run appreciation. This possibility hinges on a country being a debtor with at least some of its debt servicing costs reset periodically in response to changes in its domestic interest rates. In the simpler version of our model, we show that a fiscal expansion can lead to an instantaneous depreciation and a current account deficit, causing the currency to continue to depreciate over time. The current account deficit develops despite the currency depreciation because debt service payments increase due to the higher interest rates induces by the fiscal stimulus. The second version of our model assumes the trade deficit responds with a lag to relative prices. This model implies that expansionary fiscal policy may induce not only a currency depreciation and a current account deterioration, but a widening of the trade deficit as well. In both models, an instantaneous depreciation following a fiscal expansion becomes more likely if a country's net external debt is large.
How to Study the City on Instagram

We introduce Instagram as a data source for use by scholars in urban studies and neighboring disciplines and propose ways to operationalize key concepts in the study of cities. These data can help shed light on segregation, the formation of subcultures, strategies of distinction, and status hierarchies in the city. Drawing on two datasets of geotagged Instagram posts from Amsterdam and Copenhagen collected over a twelve-week period, we present a proof of concept for how to explore and visualize sociospatial patterns and divisions in these two cities. We take advantage of both the social and the geographic aspects of the data, using network analysis to identify distinct groups of users and metrics of unevenness and diversity to identify socio-spatial divisions. We also discuss some of the limitations of these data and methods and suggest ways in which they can complement established quantitative and qualitative approaches in urban scholarship.
Is the Improvement of CF Patients, Hospitalized for Pulmonary Exacerbation, Correlated to a Decrease in Bacterial Load?

Background Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients are vulnerable to airway colonization with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In case eradication fails after antibiotic treatment, patients become chronically colonized with P. aeruginosa, with recurrent pulmonary exacerbation, for which patients typically are hospitalized for 2 weeks and receive intravenous antibiotic treatment. Normally, improvement of the patients' health is established. Aim Determination of the correspondence between patient improvement and changes of the P. aeruginosa and total bacterial load in the sputum. Methods Eighteen CF patients with exacerbation were included for a total of 27 hospitalization episodes. At day 1, 8 and 15, inflammation and lung function parameters were determined, together with the P. aeruginosa load in the sputum using culture, quantitative PCR (qPCR) and propidium monoazide qPCR. Results Patients improved during hospitalization (decrease in levels of C-reactive protein, white blood cell counts and erythrocyte sedimentation rate, increase of FEV1), reaching normal values already after one week. Also the P. aeruginosa load and the total bacterial load decreased during the first week of antibiotic treatment (p<0.05), except for patients with a low lung function (FEV1≤39.4%), for whom no significant decrease of P. aeruginosa was established. Comparison of culture-based and propidium monoazide qPCR-based quantification of P. aeruginosa showed that at the end of the treatment on average 62% of the P. aeruginosa cells are not cultivable, indicating that many cells are alive but dormant, or dead but still structurally intact. Conclusion Improvement of the clinical status is accompanied with a decrease of the P. aeruginosa load, whereby both occur mainly during the first week of antibiotic treatment. However, for patients with a low lung function, no decrease of the P. aeruginosa load is observed. Comparison of detection techniques shows that a large amount of noncultivable or dead bacteria are present in the samples.
Risk of atrial fibrillation and stroke in rheumatoid arthritis: Danish nationwide cohort study

Objectives To determine if patients with rheumatoid arthritis have increased risk of atrial fibrillation and stroke. Design Longitudinal nationwide register based cohort study. Setting Inpatient and outpatient hospital care in Denmark from 1997 to 2009. Participants Entire Danish population aged over 15 years without rheumatoid arthritis, atrial fibrillation, or stroke before 1997. Participants with rheumatoid arthritis were identified by individual level linkage of diagnoses and rheumatoid arthritis treatment. Main outcome measures Rates of atrial fibrillation and stroke. Results Of 4 182 335 participants included in the cohort, 18 247 were identified as having rheumatoid arthritis during follow-up, with a mean age at disease onset of 59.2 years and a median follow-up of 4.8 years. A total of 156 484 people, including 774 with rheumatoid arthritis, were diagnosed as having atrial fibrillation (age and sex matched event rates of 8.2 per 1000 person years in rheumatoid arthritis patients and 6.0 per 1000 person years in the general population), with an adjusted incidence rate ratio of 1.41 (95% confidence interval 1.31 to 1.51). In addition, 165 343 people, including 718 with rheumatoid arthritis, had a stroke (7.6 per 1000 person years in rheumatoid arthritis and 5.7 per 1000 person years in the general population), with a resultant rate ratio of 1.32 (1.22 to 1.42). For both atrial fibrillation and stroke, relative risks were increased in all strata based on thirds of sex and age, with higher relative risks in younger patients but higher absolute risk differences in older patients. Conclusions Rheumatoid arthritis was associated with an increased incidence of atrial fibrillation and stroke. The novel finding of increased risk of atrial fibrillation in rheumatoid arthritis suggests that this arrhythmia is relevant in cardiovascular risk assessment of these patients.
Microarray-Based Screening of Differentially Expressed Genes of E. coli O157:H7 Sakai during Preharvest Survival on Butterhead Lettuce

Numerous outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 have been linked to the consumption of leafy vegetables. However, up to the present, little has been known about E. coli O157:H7’s adaptive responses to survival on actively growing (and thus responsive) plants. In this study, whole genome transcriptional profiles were generated from E. coli O157:H7 cells (isolate Sakai, stx-) one hour and two days after inoculation on the leaves of growing butterhead lettuce, and compared with an inoculum control. A total of 273 genes of E. coli O157:H7 Sakai (5.04% of the whole genome) were significantly induced or repressed by at least two-fold (p < 0.01) in at least one of the analyzed time points in comparison with the control. Several E. coli O157:H7 genes associated with oxidative stress and antimicrobial resistance were upregulated, including the iron-sulfur cluster and the multiple antibiotic resistance (mar) operon, whereas the Shiga toxin virulence genes were downregulated. Nearly 40% of the genes with significantly different expression were poorly characterized genes or genes with unknown functions. These genes are of special interest for future research as they may play an important role in the pathogens’ adaptation to a lifestyle on plants. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the pathogen actively interacts with the plant environment by adapting its metabolism and responding to oxidative stress.
FMIRS: A Fuzzy indexing and retrieval system of mosaic-image database

This work is dedicated to present a fuzzy-set based system useful for image indexing and retrieval pertaining to historical Roman-mosaics. This exceptional collection of mosaics dates back from the first to fourth centuries AD. Considering the state of these images (i.e. noise, color degradation, etc.) a fuzzy features definition is necessary. Thereby, we use a robust to rotation, scale and translation fuzzy extended curvature scale space (CSS) as shape descriptor. Furthermore, we propose a fuzzy color-quantization approach, applied on mosaics, using HSV color space. The system allows for two user-friendly querying modes: a drawing based mode and the mode that fusion both shape and color features using a unified fuzzy similarity measure. Based on queries of variable complexity, the advanced fuzzy system has managed to achieve interesting recall, precision and F-measure rates.
The Roles of Serum Selenium and Selenoproteins on Mercury Toxicity in Environmental and Occupational Exposure

Many studies have found that mercury (Hg) exposure is associated with selenium (Se) accumulation in vivo. However, human studies are limited. To study the interaction between Se and Hg, we investigated the total Se and Hg concentrations in body fluids and serum Se-containing proteins in individuals exposed to high concentrations of Hg. Our objective was to elucidate the possible roles of serum Se and selenoproteins in transporting and binding Hg in human populations. We collected data from 72 subjects: 35 had very low Hg exposure as evidenced by mean Hg concentrations of 0.91 and 1.25 ng/mL measured in serum and urine, respectively; 37 had high exposure (mean Hg concentrations of 38.5 and 86.8 ng/mL measured in serum and urine, respectively). An association between Se and Hg was found in urine (r = 0.625; p < 0.001) but not in serum. Hg exposure may affect Se concentrations and selenoprotein distribution in human serum. Expression of both selenoprotein P and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) was greatly increased in Hg miners. These increases were accompanied by elevated Se concentrations in serum. In addition, selenoprotein P bound more Hg at higher Hg exposure concentrations. Biochemical observations revealed that both GSH-Px activity and malondialdehyde concentrations increased in serum of the Hg-exposed group. This study aids in the understanding of the interaction between Se and Hg. Selenoproteins play two important roles in protecting against Hg toxicity. First, they may bind more Hg through their highly reactive selenol group, and second, their antioxidative properties help eliminate the reactive oxygen species induced by Hg in vivo.
A Role for Proinflammatory Cytokines and Fractalkine in Analgesia, Tolerance, and Subsequent Pain Facilitation Induced by Chronic Intrathecal Morphine

The present experiments examined the role of spinal proinflammatory cytokines [interleukin-1β (IL-1)] and chemokines (fractalkine) in acute analgesia and in the development of analgesic tolerance, thermal hyperalgesia, and tactile allodynia in response to chronic intrathecal morphine. Chronic (5 d), but not acute (1 d), intrathecal morphine was associated with a rapid increase in proinflammatory cytokine protein and/or mRNA in dorsal spinal cord and lumbosacral CSF. To determine whether IL-1 release modulates the effects of morphine, intrathecal morphine was coadministered with intrathecal IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra). This regimen potentiated acute morphine analgesia and inhibited the development of hyperalgesia, allodynia, and analgesic tolerance. Similarly, intrathecal IL-1ra administered after the establishment of morphine tolerance reversed hyperalgesia and prevented the additional development of tolerance and allodynia. Fractalkine also appears to modulate the effects of intrathecal morphine because coadministration of morphine with intrathecal neutralizing antibody against the fractalkine receptor (CX3CR1) potentiated acute morphine analgesia and attenuated the development of tolerance, hyperalgesia, and allodynia. Fractalkine may be exerting these effects via IL-1 because fractalkine (CX3CL1) induced the release of IL-1 from acutely isolated dorsal spinal cord in vitro. Finally, gene therapy with an adenoviral vector encoding for the release of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 also potentiated acute morphine analgesia and attenuated the development of tolerance, hyperalgesia, and allodynia. Taken together, these results suggest that IL-1 and fractalkine are endogenous regulators of morphine analgesia and are involved in the increases in pain sensitivity that occur after chronic opiates.
Optimal Financial Nä ı veté

When agents first become active investors in financial markets, they are relatively inexperienced. Much of the literature focuses on the incentives of presumably sophisticated informed agents to produce information, and not on the na¨ıve agents. However , unsophisticated agents are important aspects of financial markets and worth analyzing further. In this paper, we provide a theoretical perspective that addresses the issue of how many na¨ıve traders would one expect in a financial market where policy makers try to educate the na¨ıve agents. We show that such policy trades off the effects of na¨ıve trades on price efficiency versus the losses incurred by these traders in financial markets. The optimal proportion of na¨ıve agents varies with the value of information, the noise in private signals, and the inherent sensitivity of corporate investment to prices. We also show that the policy tool of encouraging insider trading can deter na¨ıve investors and thus improve corporate governance and the efficacy of corporate investment.
Non-Rational Expectations and the Transmission Mechanism

In this paper, we compare two approaches to modelling behaviour under non-rational expectations in a benchmark New Keynesian model. The ‘Euler equation’ approach modifies the equations derived under the assumption of rational expectations by replacing the rational expectations operator with an alternative assumption about expectations formation. The ‘long-horizon’ expectations approach solves the decision rules of households and firms conditional on their expectations for future events that are outside of their control, so that spending and price-setting decisions depend on expectations extending into the distant future. Both approaches can be defended as descriptions of (distinct) forms of boundedly rational behaviour, but have different implications both for the form of the equations that govern the dynamics of the economy and the ease of deriving those equations. In this paper we construct two versions of a benchmark New Keynesian model in which non-rational expectations are modelled using the Euler equation and long-horizon approaches and show that both approaches have very similar implications for macroeconomic dynamics when departures from rational expectations are relatively small. But as expectations depart further from rationality, the two approaches can generate significantly different implications for the behaviour of key variables.
Expression of Bcl-2 Protects against Photoreceptor Degeneration in retinal degeneration slow (rds) Mice

The retinal degeneration slow or rdsgene encodes rds/peripherin, an integral membrane glycoprotein in the outer segments of rod and cone photoreceptors. Mice homozygous for a null mutation in rds fail to develop outer segments and undergo subsequent degeneration of photoreceptors by the apoptotic pathway. Mutations in the human RDS gene are responsible for several forms of inherited blindness including autosomal-dominant retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. Here, we examined the effects of ectopic Bcl-2 expression in transgenic photoreceptors on the rate of retinal degeneration in rds mutant mice. We observed an approximately twofold preservation of photoreceptors compared with nontransgenic rds mutant mice at 3 months. Immunoblot analysis showed similar levels of Bcl-2 in 2-, 3-, and 4-week-old transgenic mice. Expression of Bcl-2 in therds mouse did not lead to outer segment formation and did not induce cell death. These results suggest that Bcl-2 expression may be an effective therapeutic strategy in humans with mutations inRDS or other genes that affect the integrity of photoreceptor outer segments.
Poverty in the Midst of Affluence: How Hong Kong Mismanaged Its Prosperity

Hong Kong is among the richest cities in the world. Yet over the past 15 years living conditions for the average family have deteriorated despite a robust economy, ample budget surpluses and record labor productivity. Successive governments have been reluctant to invest in services for the elderly, the disabled, the long-term sick, and the poor, while education has become more elitist. The political system has helped to entrench a mistaken consensus that social spending is a threat to financial stability and economic prosperity. In this trenchant attack on government mismanagement, Leo Goodstadt traces how officials have created a "new poverty" in Hong Kong and argues that their misguided policies are both a legacy of the colonial era and a deliberate choice by modern governments-not the result of economic crises. This book is highly relevant to the continuing debate about the efficiency of market forces in solving welfare "problems" and the claims put forward for the superiority of the private sector in meeting housing, health and educational needs.
A class of full diversity space-time codes

We propose a new class of space-time trellis codes for 4 transmit antennas. These codes combine set-partitioning and a super set of quasi-orthogonal space-time block codes in a systematic way to provide full diversity and improved coding gain. The result is a very powerful non full-rate code that provides full diversity and high coding gain for different number of states and at different rates. Also, it is possible to maintain a tradeoff between coding gain and rate. The decoding complexity of the new codes is very low because the symbols can be decoupled at the decoder. Simulation results demonstrate the good performance of our new space-time trellis codes. We provide a study of coding gain and different code examples.
The language and literacy practices of English language learners (ELLs) in a Philadelphia high school: The hyphenated experiences of immigrant students in content area classrooms

This multiple case study results from an ethnographic immersion in a local public high school, focusing on English language learners (ELLs) in content area classrooms. The primary goals were to 1) explore the language and literacy practices of ELLs within this setting, 2) gain an understanding of the complexity and multiplicity of the learners' schooling experiences, and 3) discuss implications pertaining to practice and research. Four focal students, each from a different country and each with different home or first languages, are discussed to provide a nuanced perspective of immigrant and refugee students. Importantly, the theoretical framework of "hyphenated reality" and interlanguage contributed to uncovering the ELLs' subterranean layers. The study was informed by qualitative research methodologies, including critical ethnography. Data collection namely included field observations in classrooms, interviews with students and teachers, and student work. Within-case and cross-case analysis was conducted through a general inductive analysis approach. Major findings include the need to view ELLs as theory constructors, who form sophisticated notions regarding second language acquisition and the linguistic features of the English language, given their unique position as learners of another language and their heightened metalinguistic awareness. ELLs also theorize schooling and act as rational agents within the structure of school. They enter school with a logical agenda and, according to their observations and experiences, adjust themselves and devise strategies for performing school. Finally, the concept of the micro-macro dialectic grew empirically from this study, thereby building upon existing scholarship. The micro-macro dialectic calls for intentionally juxtaposing a larger, contextual layer to understanding ELLs, such that their personal narratives become enriched by "official" facts and vice versa. This framework also complicates dichotomies that have been established to categorize students, academic fields, and pedagogical ideologies, such as the notion of ELLs compared to bilingual/multilingual learners. These supposedly irreconcilable differences exist in the academy and in theory but do not hold up in the hyphenated experiences of learners. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Education First Advisor H. Gerald Campano This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn. edu/edissertations/1103
The Fundamentals of Municipal Bonds

Preface. Acknowledgments. Writer's Acknowledgments. Overview of the Municipal Bond Market. The Basics of Municipal Securities. The Issuers. The Primary Market. The Secondary Market. Investing in Bonds. Credit Analysis. Understanding Interest Rates. Regulatory and Disclosure Requirements. Financial Products. Appendix A. Appendix B. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. About the Writer.