Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Causes of Rural to Urban Migrations in the Case of Dire Dawa City Administration, Eastern Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes of rural to urban migration in the case of Dire Dawa City Administration, Eastern Ethiopia. The participants of the study were 300 households selected from three major urban kebeles in the city. As such, Kebele 02, Kebele 06 and Kebele 09 were selected. The sample of this study was taken through systematic sampling and simple random sampling technique. To collect data, questionnaire and interview methods were used. The study revealed that the causes of rural-urban migration to Dire Dawa City Administration were mostly related to economic reasons. The main reason that drives migrants to move to Dire Dawa City was attested by both quantitative and qualitative data. As such, migrants move to Dire Dawa for seeking employment and job, to open and extend business, to get better urban facilities and housing, and to maximize income were revealed in the study. Keywords: Migration; Causes; Rural-Urban; Dire Dawa City; Eastern Ethiopia.
Rayleigh lidar studies of mesospheric inversion layers at Poker Flat Research Range, Chatanika, Alaska

Rayleigh lidar observations at Poker Flat Research Range, Chatanika, Alaska (65°N, 213°E), have yielded density and temperature measurements from 40–80 km. These measurements have been made under clear nighttime skies since November 1997. This thesis presents a study of Mesospheric Inversion Layers (MILs) and lidar performance at Chatanika. MILs are identified and characterized in the 40–70 km altitude region on 55 of the 149 wintertime observations over two periods, November 1997 – April 2005 and November 2007 – March 2009, using a new detection algorithm. Investigation of the MILs compared with planetary wave activity as observed by satellite finds a strong correlation between the presence of MILs and the structure of the planetary waves. These two periods are marked by strong planetary wave activity and sudden stratospheric warming events. MILs are found to occur more frequently than previously reported at Arctic sites, but less frequently than at lower latitudes. In spring 2012 the existing lidar system was extended by incorporating a larger aperture telescope and higher power laser and field trials were conducted. The results from these field trails are presented and the ability of the new lidar system to extend the scope of future studies at Chatanika is assessed.
Amount of H Antigen Expressed on Circulating von Willebrand Factor Is Modified by ABO Blood Group Genotype and Is a Major Determinant of Plasma von Willebrand Factor Antigen Levels

To investigate whether the effect of ABO blood group on plasma von Willebrand factor (vWF) levels is mediated by the ABH antigenic determinants carried on N-linked glycans of vWF, we studied 158 group A and group O healthy volunteers. vWF antigen (vWF:Ag) and factor VIII antigen (FVIII:Ag) levels were highest in A1A1 individuals and higher in A1O1 than in A2O1 or O1O1 individuals. Plasma A transferase activity and the amount of A antigen expressed per unit vWF (AvWF) were significantly higher in A1A1 than in A1O1 individuals and higher in A1O1 than in A2O1 individuals. AvWF was correlated strongly with plasma levels of A transferase activity. Thus, we have clearly demonstrated a direct relationship between ABO genotype, A transferase expression, and the amount of A antigen expressed on circulating vWF. H antigen expression per unit vWF (HvWF) was highest in group O individuals. Among group A individuals, the pattern of HvWF expression was A2O1 >A1O1 >A1A1. In group O and group A2O1 individuals, HvWF was inversely correlated with plasma vWF levels. In contrast, among group A1A1 and A1O1 individuals, there was no relationship between AvWF and plasma vWF levels. These findings suggest that it is H antigen expression that mediates the ABO effect on plasma vWF concentration.
Cutaneous Immune Activity Varies with Physiological State in Female House Sparrows (Passer domesticus)

Many vertebrates show seasonality in immune defenses, perhaps because of trade‐offs with other physiological processes. Trade‐offs between reproduction and immune function have been well studied, but how other life cycle events such as molt affect immune function remains unclear. Here, we hypothesize that one possible explanation is that accumulative dissociated processes (e.g., resource deficits generated over the long term by physiological processes) can have delayed effects on immune activity. To test this hypothesis, we compared cutaneous immune responses in groups of captive female house sparrows (Passer domesticus) photoperiodically induced into six different life cycle stages. We predicted that if delayed trade‐offs occur, immune activity would be reduced after a mature life state was reached (e.g., postmolt) and not just compromised when other tissues were actively growing (instantaneous trade‐off). We found evidence for both types of trade‐offs: immune responses were weakest in sparrows that had just completed postnuptial molt, but they were also weak in birds growing reproductive tissues or feathers. Birds in mature reproductive states or light molt had strong immune responses comparable with birds in a nonbreeding/nonmolting state. Altogether, our results indicate that immune activity in female house sparrows can be influenced by both instantaneous and delayed trade‐offs.
The Mayo Clinic Experience with the Cochlear Implant

The implantati on of a cochlear electronic prosthetic device is an accept able means of improving the communication ability of pre- and postlinguaIIy deafened children and adults. A significant number of patients in this series are in the senior citizen age group. It has been beneficial in improving communication ability in selected profoundly deafened individuals. There has been a significant improvement in the cochlear electronic prosthetic device since the initial report of Djourno1 in 1957.
Critical role of NK but not NKT cells in acute rejection of parental bone marrow cells in F1 hybrid mice

F1 hybrid mice vigorously reject transplanted parental bone marrow (BM) cells, which is a phenomenon called "hybrid resistance (HR)". Since NK1.1+ cells play crucial role in HR, both NK1.1+CD3+ NKT cells and NK1.1+CD3– NK cells have been possible candidates of effector cells. To elucidate the major effector cells in HR, we employed Rag‐2– / – mice devoid of T, B, and NKT cells and cytokine receptor common γ subunit and Rag‐2 double‐deficient (γc– / –(y)‐Rag‐2– / –) mice lacking all lymphoid cells including NK cells. Rag‐2– / – F1 hybrid mice rejected parental BM cells to the extent similar to wild‐type (WT) F1 hybrids. In contrast, male γc− / y‐Rag‐2– / – F1hybrid mice were unable to reject parental BM cells. After reconstitution with NK but not NKT cells, male γc– / y‐Rag‐2– / – F1 hybrid mice restored the ability to reject parental BM cells. Collectively, it is concluded that NKT cells play little role, if any, and NK cells are the only cells involved in HR.
On the submodularity of influence in social networks

We prove and extend a conjecture of Kempe, Kleinberg, and Tardos (KKT) on the spread of influence in social networks. A social network can be represented by a directed graph where the nodes are individuals and the edges indicate a form of social relationship. A simple way to model the diffusion of ideas, innovative behavior, or "word-of-mouth" effects on such a graph is to consider an increasing process of "infected" (or active) nodes: each node becomes infected once an activation function of the set of its infected neighbors crosses a certain threshold value. Such a model was introduced by KKT in [7,8] where the authors also impose several natural assumptions: the threshold values are (uniformly) random to account for our lack of knowledge of the true values; and the activation functions are monotone and submodular, i.e. have "diminishing returns. " The monotonicity condition indicates that a node is more likely to become active if more of its neighbors are active, while the submodularity condition, indicates that the marginal effect of each neighbor is decreasing when the set of active neighbors increases. For an initial set of active nodes s, let σ(S) denote the expected number of active nodes at termination. Here we prove a conjecture of KKT: we show that the function σ(S) is submodular under the assumptions above. We prove the same result for the expected value of any monotone, submodular function of the set of active nodes at termination. In other words, our results demonstrate that "local" submodularity is preserved "globally" under diffusion processes. This is of natural computational interest, as many optimization problems have good approximation algorithms for submodular functions. In particular, our results coupled with an argument in [7] imply that a greedy algorithm gives an (1-1/e-ε)-approximation algorithm for maximizing σ(S) among all sets s of a given size. This result has important practical implications for many social network analysis problems, notably viral marketing.
UbiCrawler: a scalable fully distributed Web crawler

We report our experience in implementing UbiCrawler, a scalable distributed Web crawler, using the Java programming language. The main features of UbiCrawler are platform independence, linear scalability, graceful degradation in the presence of faults, a very effective assignment function (based on consistent hashing) for partitioning the domain to crawl, and more in general the complete decentralization of every task. The necessity of handling very large sets of data has highlighted some limitations of the Java APIs, which prompted the authors to partially reimplement them. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Energy efficiency in low consistency refining: a study using a Valley beater

Abstract The purpose of this work was to study the influence of pulp fiber suspensions refining operating variables on energy efficiency coefficient. Three chemical pulps with different average morphological characteristics were used, obtained from bleached kraft Pinus sylvestris, Eucalyptus globulus and Betula verrucosa. The final objective was to establish the chemical pulps refining efficiency parameters. Refining hydromechanics and energy consumption profiles were analyzed. Average normal and tangential forces on pulp suspension in the gap clearance, resulting rotor-stator distance and no-load and refining conditions power consumption were obtained. The refining trials took place in a laboratory Valley beater, and the manipulated variables were charge on the roll and rotor rotation speed. Global relationships for tangential stress and energy efficiencies in terms of rotation speed and rotor-stator gap were obtained. A relationship between energy efficiency and shear stress was obtained. The results have shown that in a Valley beater increased rotor-stator gaps reduce energy efficiency, concomitantly increasing apparent viscosity and reducing shear stress. No-load power was seen to increase with crowding factor, and thus with flocculation. Inversely, crowding factor and ultimately flocculation had an adverse effect on energy efficiency.
Chemical abundances of 11 bulge stars from high-resolution, near-IR spectra

Context. It is debated whether the Milky Way bulge has characteristics more similar to those of a classical bulge than those of a pseudobulge. Detailed abundance studies of bulge stars are important when investigating the origin, history, and classification of the bulge. These studies provide constraints on the star-formation history, initial mass function, and differences between stellar populations. Not many similar studies have been completed because of the large distance and high variable visual extinction along the line-of-sight towards the bulge. Therefore, near-IR investigations can provide superior results. Aims. To investigate the origin of the bulge and study its chemical abundances determined from near-IR spectra for bulge giants that have already been investigated with optical spectra. The optical spectra also provide the stellar parameters that are very important to the present study. In particular, the important CNO elements are determined more accurately in the near-IR. Oxygen and other alpha elements are important for investigating the star-formation history. The C and N abundances are important for determining the evolutionary stage of the giants and the origin of C in the bulge. Methods. High-resolution, near-infrared spectra in the H band were recorded using the CRIRES spectrometer mounted on the Very Large Telescope. The CNO abundances are determined from the numerous molecular lines in the wavelength range observed. Abundances of the alpha elements Si, S, and Ti are also determined from the near-IR spectra. Results. The abundance ratios [O/Fe], [Si/Fe], and [S/Fe] are enhanced to metallicities of at least [Fe/H] = -0.3, after which they decline. This suggests that the Milky Way bulge experienced a rapid and early burst of star formation similar to that of a classical bulge. However, a similarity between the bulge trend and the trend of the local thick disk seems to be present. This similarity suggests that the bulge could have had a pseudobulge origin. The C and N abundances suggest that our giants are first-ascent red-giants or clump stars, and that the measured oxygen abundances are those with which the stars were born. Our [C/Fe] trend does not show any increase with [Fe/H], which is expected if W-R stars contributed substantially to the C abundances. No "cosmic scatter" can be traced around our observed abundance trends: the measured scatter is expected, given the observational uncertainties.
Safety of Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Closure: Results From the Watchman Left Atrial Appendage System for Embolic Protection in Patients With AF (PROTECT AF) Clinical Trial and the Continued Access Registry

Background— The Watchman Left Atrial Appendage System for Embolic Protection in Patients With AF (PROTECT AF) randomized trial compared left atrial appendage closure against warfarin in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients with CHADS2 ≥1. Although the study met the primary efficacy end point of being noninferior to warfarin therapy for the prevention of stroke/systemic embolism/cardiovascular death, there was a significantly higher risk of complications, predominantly pericardial effusion and procedural stroke related to air embolism. Here, we report the influence of experience on the safety of percutaneous left atrial appendage closure. Methods and Results— The study cohort for this analysis included patients in the PROTECT AF trial who underwent attempted device left atrial appendage closure (n=542 patients) and those from a subsequent nonrandomized registry of patients undergoing Watchman implantation (Continued Access Protocol [CAP] Registry; n=460 patients). The safety end point included bleeding- and procedure-related events (pericardial effusion, stroke, device embolization). There was a significant decline in the rate of procedure- or device-related safety events within 7 days of the procedure across the 2 studies, with 7.7% and 3.7% of patients, respectively, experiencing events (P=0.007), and between the first and second halves of PROTECT AF and CAP, with 10.0%, 5.5%, and 3.7% of patients, respectively, experiencing events (P=0.006). The rate of serious pericardial effusion within 7 days of implantation, which had made up >50% of the safety events in PROTECT AF, was lower in the CAP Registry (5.0% versus 2.2%, respectively; P=0.019). There was a similar experience-related improvement in procedure-related stroke (0.9% versus 0%, respectively; P=0.039). Finally, the functional impact of these safety events, as defined by significant disability or death, was statistically superior in the Watchman group compared with the warfarin group in PROTECT AF. This remained true whether significance was defined as a change in the modified Rankin score of ≥1, ≥2, or ≥3 (1.8 versus 4.3 events per 100 patient-years; relative risk, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.24 to 0.82; 1.5 versus 3.7 events per 100 patient-years; relative risk, 0.41; 95% confidence interval, 0.22 to 0.82; and 1.4 versus 3.3 events per 100 patient-years; relative risk, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.22 to 0.88, respectively). Conclusion— As with all interventional procedures, there is a significant improvement in the safety of Watchman left atrial appendage closure with increased operator experience. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00129545.
Automatic detection of pulmonary nodules: Evaluation of performance using two different MDCT scanners

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system, on the detection of pulmonary nodules in multidetector row computed tomography (MDCT) images, by using two different MDCT scanners. The computerized scheme was based on the iris filter. We have collected CT cases of patients with pulmonary nodules. We have included in the study one hundred and thirty-two calcified and noncalcified nodules, measuring 4-30 mm in diameter. CT examinations were performed by using two different equipments: a CT scanner (SOMATOM Emotion 6), and a dual-source computed tomography system (SOMATOM Definition) (Siemens Medical System, Forchheim, Germany), with the following parameters: collimation, 6x1.0mm (Emotion 6); and 64×0.6mm (Definition); 100-130 kV; 70-110 mAs. Data were reconstructed with a slice thickness of 1.25mm (Emotion 6) and 1mm (Definition). True positive cases were determined by an independent interpretation of the study by three experienced chest radiologists, the panel decision being used as the reference standard. Free-response Receiver Operating Characteristic curves, sensitivity and number of false-positive per scan, were calculated. Our CAD scheme, for the test set of the study, yielded a sensitivity of 80%, with an average of 5.2 FPs per examination. At an average false positive rate of 9 per scan, our CAD scheme achieved sensitivities of 94% for all nodules, 94.5% for solid, 80% for non-solid, 84% for spiculated, and 97% for non-spiculated nodules. These encouraging results suggest that our CAD system, advocated as a second reader, may help radiologists in the detection of lung nodules in MDCT.
Invariant spatial information in sketch maps - a study of survey sketch maps of urban areas

It is commonly recognized that free-hand sketch maps are influenced by cogni- tive impacts and therefore sketch maps are incomplete, distorted, and schematized. This makes it difficult to achieve a one-to-one alignment between a sketch map and its corre- sponding geo-referenced metric map. Nevertheless, sketch maps are still useful to commu- nicate spatial knowledge, indicating that sketch maps contain certain spatial information that is robust to cognitive impacts. In existing studies, sketch maps are used frequently to measure cognitive maps. However, little work has been done on invariant spatial in- formation in sketch maps, which is the information of spatial configurations representing correctly the real world. We aim to study such information from a cognitive perspective. This paper first presents basic spatial objects identified in sketch maps and then introduces sketch aspects that capture invariant spatial information. The accuracy and reliability of these aspects were evaluated by a human study. We collected sketch maps from partici- pants, extracted and measured spatial relations of identified spatial objects, and in the end analyzed the accuracy and statistical significance of these relations. Based on the statisti- cal survey, we propose in this paper a set of seven sketch aspects that constitute invariant spatial information, along with a spatial analysis method to measure them. The findings of these aspects help to understand which spatial information is preserved under the trans- formation from the physical world to human sketch maps.
On the interdiffusion-based quantum cascade laser

Design procedure for the active region of current pumped quantum cascade laser is proposed, so to achieve maximal gain. Starting with an arbitrary smooth potential, a family of isospectral Hamiltonians with predefined energy spectrum is generated using the inverse spectral theory. By varying the relevant control parameter the potential shape is varied, inducing changes in transition dipole moments and electron-phonon scattering times, and the optimal potential which gives the largest gain is thus found. For purpose of realization, a simple step quantum-well structure with just a few layers is then designed so that in the post-growth heating-induced layer interdiffusion, it will acquire a shape as close as possible to the optimal smooth potential.
A high performance two dimensional scalable parallel algorithm for solving sparse triangular systems

Solving a system of equations of the form Tx=y, where T is a sparse triangular matrix, is required after the factorization phase in the direct methods of solving systems of linear equations. A few parallel formulations have been proposed recently. The common belief in parallelizing this problem is that the parallel formulation utilizing a two dimensional distribution of T is unscalable. We propose the first known efficient scalable parallel algorithm which uses a two dimensional block cyclic distribution of T. The algorithm is shown to be applicable to dense as well as sparse triangular solvers. Since most of the known highly scalable algorithms employed in the factorization phase yield a two dimensional distribution of T, our algorithm avoids the redistribution cost incurred by the one dimensional algorithms. We present the parallel runtime and scalability analyses of the proposed two dimensional algorithm. The dense triangular solver is shown to be scalable. The sparse triangular solver is shown to be at least as scalable as the dense solver. We also show that it is optimal for one class of sparse systems. The experimental results of the sparse triangular solver show that it has good speedup characteristics and yields high performance for a variety of sparse systems.
Fine-grained task reweighting on multiprocessors

We consider the problem of task reweighting in fair-scheduled multiprocessor systems wherein each task's processor share is specified as a weight. Task reweighting can be used as a means for consuming (or making available) spare processing capacity. In this paper, we propose a multiprocessor reweighting scheme that can change a task's processor share with "minimal" error per share change.