Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An examination of pay-for-performance in general practice in Australia.

OBJECTIVE This study examines the impact of Australia's pay-for-performance (P4P) program for general practitioners (GPs). The voluntary program pays GPs A$40 and A$100 in addition to fee-for-service payment for providing patients recommended diabetes and asthma treatment over a year, and A$35 for screening women for cervical cancer who have not been screened in 4 years. DESIGN Three approaches were used to triangulate the program's impact: (1) analysis of trends in national claims for incentivized services pre- and postprogram implementation; (2) fixed effects panel regression models examining the impact of GPs' P4P program participation on provision of incentivized services; and (3) in-depth interviews to explore GPs' perceptions of their own response to the program. RESULTS There was a short-term increase in diabetes testing and cervical cancer screens after program implementation. The increase, however, was for all GPs. Neither signing onto the program nor claiming incentive payments was associated with increased diabetes testing or cervical cancer screening. GPs reported that the incentive did not influence their behavior, largely due to the modest payment and the complexity of tracking patients and claiming payment. IMPLICATIONS Monitoring and evaluating P4P programs is essential, as programs may not spark the envisioned impact on quality improvement.
Comparison of two snowmelt modelling approaches in the Dudh Koshi basin (eastern Himalayas, Nepal)

Abstract The glaciers in the Nepalese Himalayas are retreating due to rising temperatures. Lack of data and information on Nepal’s cryosphere has impeded scientific studies and field investigations in the Nepalese Himalayas. Therefore, IRD France and Ev-K2 CNR Italy have conducted the PAPRIKA (CryosPheric responses to Anthropogenic PRessures in the HIndu Kush-Himalaya regions: impacts on water resources and society adaptation in Nepal) project in Nepal with the financial support of the French and Italian scientific agencies. This project aims to address the current and future evolution of the cryosphere in response to overall environmental changes in South Asia, and its consequences for water resources in Nepal. Thus, two hydrological models, the GR4J lumped precipitation–runoff model and the snowmelt runoff model (SRM), were used in the Dudh Koshi basin. The GR4J model has been successfully applied in different parts of Europe. To obtain better results in such a harsh and rugged topography, modifications needed to be made, particularly in the snow module. The runoff pattern is analysed herein both for past years and, in a sensitivity analysis, for possible future climatic conditions (i.e. precipitation and temperature) using the SRM and GR4J modelling approaches. The results reveal a significant contribution of snow- and glacier-melt to runoff, and the SRM model shows better performance in Nepalese catchments than the GR4J model. Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor D. Gerten Citation Pokhrel, B.K. , Chevallier, P., Andréassian, V. , Tahir, A.A. , Arnaud, Y. , Neppel, L. , Bajracharya, O.R. , and Budhathoki, K.P., 2014. Comparison of two snowmelt modelling approaches in the Dudh Koshi basin (eastern Himalayas, Nepal). Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59 (8), 1507–1518. http://dx.doi. org/10.1080/02626667.2013. 842282
Phytoplankton chlorophyte structure as related to ENSO events in a saline lowland river (Salado River, Buenos Aires, Argentina)

We analyzed the phytoplankton present in the lower sector of the Salado River (Buenos Aires, Argentina) for 10 years (1995–2005) and detected significant changes occurring in chlorophyte abundance and species richness during La Niña event (1998–1999), which period was analyzed throughout the entire basin (main stream and tributaries). We compared the physicochemical and biologic variables between two El Niño–La Niña–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) periods – El Niño (March 1997–January 1998) and La Niña (May 1998–May 1999) – to identify possible indicators of a relationship between climatic anomalies and chlorophyte performance. Chlorophyte density increased during the La Niña. Under normal or extreme hydrologic conditions, mobile (Chlamydomonas spp.) and nonmobile (Monoraphidium spp.) chlorophytes codominated. These species belonged to Reynolds's functional groups X1 and X2, those typical of nutrient-enriched environments. Comparative analyses between El Niño and La Niña periods indicated significant differences in physicochemical (K+, dissolved polyphenols, particulate reactive phosphorus, alkalinity, pH) and biologic (species diversity and richness, phytoplankton and chlorophyte total densities) variables between the two periods at all basin sites. During the La Niña condition, species richness was greater owing to interconnected shallow lakes and drainage-channel inputs, while the Shannon diversity index was lower because of the high abundance values of Monoraphidium minutum. A detailed analysis of the chlorophytes in the entire basin, indicated that changes in density and species dominance occurred on a regional scale although diverse chlorophyte assemblages were identified in the different sectors of the Salado River basin. After La Niña event, the entire basin had the potential to revert to the previous density values, showing the resilience to global environmental changes and the ability to reestablish the general conditions of stability.
Efficient Breeding by Genomic Mating

In this article, we propose an approach to breeding which focuses on mating instead of truncation selection, our method uses genome-wide marker information in a similar fashion to genomic selection so we refer it to as genomic mating. Using concepts of estimated breeding values, risk (usefulness) and inbreeding, an efficient mating approach is formulated for improvement of breeding values in the long run. We have used a genetic algorithm to find solutions to this optimization problem. Results from our simulations point to the efficiency of genomic mating for breeding complex traits compared to truncation selection.
Calcium transients during Fc receptor-mediated and nonspecific phagocytosis by murine peritoneal macrophages

Studies with populations of macrophages have produced conflicting results concerning the possibility that the concentration of intracellular ionized calcium [( Ca2+]i) may act as an important mediator for phagocytosis. Since asynchronous changes in [Ca2+]i in individual cells undergoing phagocytosis may be averaged to undetectability in population studies, we studied single adhering murine macrophages using fura-2 and our previously described digital imaging system. The proportion of macrophages phagocytosing IgG-coated latex beads was greater than for uncoated beads (percent phagocytosing cells: 71 +/- 7 vs. 27 +/- 7, P less than 0.01). Phagocytosis of IgG- coated and uncoated beads was always associated with a calcium transient that preceded the initiation of phagocytosis. No calcium transients were detected in cells that bound but did not phagocytose beads. Four major differences between Fc receptor-mediated and nonspecific phagocytosis were detected: (a) the duration of calcium transients was longer for nonspecific phagocytosis compared with Fc receptor-mediated phagocytosis (69.9 +/- 10.2 vs. 48.7 +/- 4.7 s, P less than 0.05) and the magnitude of calcium transients was less for nonspecific phagocytosis (178 +/- 43 vs. 349 +/- 53 nM, P less than 0.05); (b) removal of extracellular calcium abolished the calcium transients associated with nonspecific phagocytosis but had no effect on those associated with receptor-mediated phagocytosis; (c) in the absence of extracellular calcium, buffering intracellular calcium with a chelator reduced Fc receptor-mediated phagocytosis but had no additive inhibitory effect on nonspecific phagocytosis; and (d) inhibition of protein kinase C (PKC) with staurosporine inhibited nonspecific phagocytosis but had no effect on receptor-mediated phagocytosis. Our observations suggest that despite both types of phagocytosis being associated with intracellular calcium transients, the role played by intracellular calcium in the signaling pathways may differ for Fc receptor-mediated and nonspecific phagocytosis by elicited murine macrophages.
Indian media: Global approaches

Introduction: A Global Approach to the Indian Media Chapter One: Mass Media and the Making of Modern India Chapter Two: Media Development and Mixed Messages Chapter Three: Liberalisation, Diversity and the Age of Television Chapter Four: The Global Dynamics of Indian Media Piracy Chapter Five: Digital India: Software, Services and Cybercultures Chapter Six: Bollywood, Brand India and Soft Power Chapter Seven: Media Provision and the New Leisure Economy Afterword: Indian Media and the Asian Century References
Mediational links among parenting styles, perceptions of parental confidence, self-esteem, and depression on alcohol-related problems in emerging adulthood.

OBJECTIVE Depression is often found to be comorbid with alcohol-related problems. Parental overprotection, which may be of particular importance during emerging adulthood, has been linked to internalizing symptoms in offspring. This article evaluates the impact of parenting styles and parental confidence in their offspring on an internalizing pathway to alcohol-related problems through self-esteem and depression. METHOD Mediational links were tested among parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive), parental confidence (overprotection, autonomy), self-esteem, depression, and alcohol-related problems. A two-group, multiple indicator multiple-cause structural equation model with 441 (216 female, 225 male) college students was examined. RESULTS Overall, having a father who was confident in his child's ability to make autonomous decisions was protective against depression for both genders. Perceptions of paternal autonomy mediated the impact of the fathers' parenting styles (authoritative, permissive) on depression for both genders. For men, parental overprotection mediated the impact of an authoritarian father on self-esteem, and self-esteem mediated the impact of parental overprotection on depression. Moreover, among men, perceptions of maternal autonomy mediated the impact of the mothers' parenting styles (authoritative, permissive) on self-esteem, and self-esteem mediated the impact of maternal autonomy on depression. CONCLUSIONS The current pattern of findings is distinct from pathways through behavioral undercontrol with influences from the same-sex parent for both genders. These findings indicate that parenting may have differential influences on internalizing pathways to alcohol-related problems.
Vector measurements of F region ion transport at Arecibo

Vector measurements of the ion transport velocity in the F region above Arecibo (18°N, 50° dip angle) are reported for two daytime and five nighttime periods. From these vector measurements both the electric fields and neutral winds in the F region can be found. Daytime results indicate eastward electric fields during the morning, changing to westward near 1400. The most outstanding feature of the nighttime results is a large (∼3 mv/m) westward electric field at 0400. The overall diurnal electric field pattern suggests that an 8-hour tidal mode dominates the wind fields in the dynamo region. Daytime neutral wind measurements indicate the importance of ion drag in determining the neutral winds; the poleward winds are observed to be strongest at ∼1000, though, according to satellite drag data and evidence presented here, the N-S neutral pressure gradient maximizes in the afternoon. At night the neutral winds are first seen to blow strongly equatorward but then abate and often blow poleward by 0200. Application of the neutral wind and electric field measurements to F region morphology indicates that (1) during sunset strong downward ion transport is the result of poleward neutral winds; (2) the generally occurring (at Arecibo) sudden drop in the height of the F layer near midnight is the result of a reversing wind from equatorward to poleward; and (3) the rise of the F layer often seen at ∼0400 at Arecibo is the result of E × B drifts. Finally, there is a strong tendency for the ion motion to be horizontal. Possible reasons for this behavior are discussed.
Temporal Integration for Continuous Multimodal Biometrics

Typically, biometric systems authenticate the user at a particular moment in time, granting or denying access to resources for the complete session. This model of authentication does not appropriately address environments where a different individual may take over a system from the original user (either willingly or otherwise). We propose a multimodal system that performs authenticationcontinuouslyby integrating information temporally as well as across modalities. Such continuous authentication provides ongoing (rather than onetime) verification and can easily be coupled with another system for dynamically adjusting access to privi-
A novel rodent model of posterior ischemic optic neuropathy.

OBJECTIVES To develop a reliable, reproducible rat model of posterior ischemic optic neuropathy (PION) and study the cellular responses in the optic nerve and retina. METHODS Posterior ischemic optic neuropathy was induced in adult rats by photochemically induced ischemia. Retinal and optic nerve vasculature was examined by fluorescein isothiocyanate–dextran extravasation. Tissue sectioning and immunohistochemistry were used to investigate the pathologic changes. Retinal ganglion cell survival at different times after PION induction, with or without neurotrophic application, was quantified by fluorogold retrograde labeling. RESULTS Optic nerve injury was confirmed after PION induction, including local vascular leakage, optic nerve edema, and cavernous degeneration. Immunostaining data revealed microglial activation and focal loss of astrocytes, with adjacent astrocytic hypertrophy. Up to 23%, 50%, and 70% retinal ganglion cell loss was observed at 1 week, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks, respectively, after injury compared with a sham control group. Experimental treatment by brain-derived neurotrophic factor and ciliary neurotrophic factor remarkably prevented retinal ganglion cell loss in PION rats. At 3 weeks after injury, more than 40% of retinal ganglion cells were saved by the application of neurotrophic factors. CONCLUSIONS Rat PION created by photochemically induced ischemia is a reproducible and reliable animal model for mimicking the key features of human PION. CLINICAL RELEVANCE The correspondence between the features of this rat PION model to those of human PION makes it an ideal model to study the pathophysiologic course of the disease, most of which remains to be elucidated. Furthermore, it provides an optimal model for testing therapeutic approaches for optic neuropathies.
Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution with a Noisy Laser

Existing experimental implementations of continuous-variable quantum key distribution require shot-noise limited operation, achieved with shot-noise limited lasers. However, loosening this requirement on the laser source would allow for cheaper, potentially integrated systems. Here, we implement a theoretically proposed prepare-and-measure continuous-variable protocol and experimentally demonstrate the robustness of it against preparation noise stemming for instance from technical laser noise. Provided that direct reconciliation techniques are used in the post-processing we show that for small distances large amounts of preparation noise can be tolerated in contrast to reverse reconciliation where the key rate quickly drops to zero. Our experiment thereby demonstrates that quantum key distribution with non-shot-noise limited laser diodes might be feasible.
Tuberculosis in Children Living amongst Adults with Tuberculosis at the Tuberculosis and Leprosy Referral Hospital, Eku, Nigeria

Background: Tuberculosis (tb) causes significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. In Nigeria, the exact prevalence is not known but a progressive increase of the disease has been observed, with “epidemic states” reported in certain clusters. Even with the newer diagnostic tests for tb, diagnostic difficulties still occur. As a result, several diagnostic criteria have been adopted to aid the diagnosis of tuberculosis in these children. The main objective of this study was to identify Tb in children who were either living with adults who have Tb or in the environment of adults with Tb. Methodology: This was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted in Eku and Oria communities in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State. Eku housed the Tuberculosis and Leprosy Referral Hospital where adults with tb were admitted in the first two months of their treatment. 128 children under 19 years of age were studied over a 3-month period. After obtaining relevant information from every child, a full physical examination and certain laboratory investigations were done. Results: There were 68 males and 60 females. The prevalence of Tb was 68% in those children living among adults with tb within the hospital and 50.6% in those living in the environment or community (p = 0.05). The prevalence of Tb in Bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG) immunized children was 66.2% as against 46.7% in those not vaccinated. Twenty-six of the infected children (57.8%) had only pulmonary disease while 45.7% had affectation of 2 or more organs. The positive predictive values of elevated erythrocyte sedimented rate (ESR), elevated white blood cells (WBC) count and positive gastric aspirates (GA) in diagnosing tb were 60.3%, 70.5% and 0% respectively, while that of abnormal chest X-ray (CXR) and positive Mantoux reaction were 93.6% and 93.7% respectively. Conclusion: The alarming prevalence of tb in these children was not surprising considering their contacts with the tb patients and was representative of similar high incidence areas as a whole. Active case finding efforts should be intensified for childhood contacts of adults with Tb for early identification of children with tuberculosis.
Systematic Mispricing

We provide statistical estimates of individual security mispricing which is defined as the departure of the market price from the prediction of a fundamental asset pricing model. We show that there is a return premium associated with systematic mispricing risk which is the dependence of the individual security mispricing on a market wide mispricing factor. The risk or characteristic-adjusted return spread between high and low mispricing risk decile portfolios is 50-70 bp per month depending on the specification of the market mispricing factor. When portfolios are formed on estimates of both systematic mispricing risk and the liquidity betas of Amihud (2002), Pastor-Stambaugh (2003) or Liu (2006) there is evidence of a significant risk-adjusted return spread associated with systematic mispricing risk, but no longer any evidence of a systematic liquidity risk premium. When portfolios are formed using estimates of the mispricing return bias of Brennan and Wang (2007) and systematic mispricing risk, both characteristics are shown to contribute to the return premium.
Modulation of Cold-Season U.S. Daily Precipitation by the Madden–Julian Oscillation

AbstractThis study examines the characteristics of cold-season (November–March) daily precipitation over the contiguous United States during active periods of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). A large response in the precipitation rate anomaly is found over the eastern United States when MJO-related enhanced tropical convection is moving through the far western to central Pacific (conventionally known as phases 5, 6, and 7 of the MJO). Positive anomalies occur in the region of the eastern Mississippi River basin, and negative anomalies occur in the Southeast. The relative stability of this pattern throughout the three phases suggests that they can be considered together. During phases 5–7, the central United States has a daily precipitation rate between 110% and 150% of normal, while the precipitation rate over much of Florida is less than 70% of normal. Much of the lower Mississippi River basin region receives somewhat more frequent daily precipitation during MJO phases 5–7, but a greater increase is .
How far are associations between child, family and community factors and child psychopathology informant-specific and informant-general?

BACKGROUND Assessments of child psychopathology commonly rely on multiple informants, e.g., parents, teachers and children. Informants often disagree about the presence or absence of symptoms, reflecting reporter bias, situation-specific behaviour, or random variation in measurement. However, few studies have systematically tested how far correlates of child psychopathology differ between informants. METHODS Parents, teachers and children in the 1999 British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Survey (n = 4,525, ages 11-15 years) completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Multiple source regression models tested the extent to which child, family, school and neighbourhood characteristics were differentially associated with the three informants' reports. The 2004 British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Survey (n = 3,438, ages 11-15 years) was used for replication. RESULTS Almost all significant correlates of child mental health were differentially related to parent, teacher and child ratings of adjustment. Parental distress, parent-rated family functioning, and child physical health problems were most strongly associated with parent ratings. Child ability and attainment, socio-economic factors, and school and neighbourhood disadvantage were more strongly associated with teacher and parent rated mental health than with children's own ratings. Gender differences in externalising problems were most pronounced for teacher ratings, and least so for child ratings; the opposite held true for emotional problems. Effect sizes for combined latent scores fell near the upper end of the range of effect sizes estimated for the three individual informants. Results showed good replication across the two samples. CONCLUSIONS The study highlights that there is substantial variation across informants in the links between associated factors and child psychopathology.
Applications of the work of Stone and von Neumann to wavelets

This survey paper examines the work of J. von Neumann and M.H. Stone as it relates to the abstract theory of wavelets. In particular, we discuss the direct integral theory of von Neumann and how it can be applied to representations of certain discrete groups to study the existence of normalized tight frames in the setting of Gabor systems and wavelets, via the use of group representations and von Neumann algebras. Then the extension of Stone's theorem due to M. Naimark, W. Ambrose and R. Godement is reviewed, and its relationship to the multiresolution analyses of S. Mallat and Y. Meyer and the generalized multiresolution analyses of L. Baggett, H. Medina, and K. Merrill. Finally, the paper ends by discussing some recent work due to the author, Baggett, P. Jorgensen and Merrill, and its relationship to operator theory.
Format-Compliant Encryption of H.264/AVC and SVC

An encryption approach for H.264/AVC and SVC is proposed. Although the bitstream (format stream) is encrypted with state-of-the-art symmetric ciphers, H.264/AVC and SVC compliance is preserved. Standard compliant encoder/decoder and conventional symmetric ciphers, e.g., in specialized hardware, can still be employed - a significant advantage compared to previous work. The approach is suitable for a wide range of application scenarios.