Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MicroGrid energy balance management for emergency operation

A distinctive characteristic of a Microgrid (MG) system is related to the ability of operating autonomously. However, the stability of the system relies in storage and generation availability, providing frequency and voltage regulation. Considering the deployment of distributed storage units in the Low Voltage network and of smart metering infrastructures, this paper presents an online tool for promoting an effective coordination of MG flexible resources in order ensure a secure autonomous operation and maximize the time that the MG is able to operate islanded from the main grid. The tool determines a priori an emergency operation plan for the next hours, based on load and microgeneration forecasting. The limited energy capacity of the distributed storage units participating in MG control is also considered.
Casino tourism, social cost and tax effects

Local economic growth can be spurred by casino tourism, yet this may take place at the expense of the external regions where tourists live. We show that Pigouvian taxes should be imposed on gambling activity to attenuate its external cost. The tax may boost social welfare in the local and external communities even though casinos and tourists incur certain private losses due to their tax burdens. The tax can also mitigate gaming-biased unbalanced growth via resource reallocation, and improve the terms of trade for local welfare enhancement through tourism as an exporting industry. If taxes are collected from tourists but not fully refunded, local tax policy then plays the dual roles for both social cost reduction and public revenue generation. Our empirical study suggests the importance of casino taxation for preventing the ‘exported’ social cost from coming back to hurt the local economy, for too much such exportation may trigger visa policy restrictions by tourists' home communities.
The tempering effect of transportation: : Exploring the effects of transportation and identification during exposure to controversial two-sided narratives

In 2 studies, we explored the effects of transportation and identification on attitudes following exposure to relevant and controversial 2-sided narratives. Participants read a story featuring 2 protagonists who held 2 opposing positions about a provocative issue. In Study 1, we manipulated identification and found that identification with the concordant character tended to polarize attitudes whereas identification with the discordant character tempered attitudes. In Study 2, we manipulated transportation and found that it moderated pre-exposure attitudes. Results are discussed in terms of the differences between these processes and their effects, and the potential use of narratives to moderate attitudes even in the context of highly charged conflicts.
Maternal Mental State Language and Preschool Children's Attachment Security: Relation to Children's Mental State Language and Expressions of Emotional Understanding.

Mothers’ mental state language in conversation with their preschool children, and children's preschool attachment security were examined for their effects on children's mental state language and expressions of emotional understanding in their conversation. Children discussed an emotionally salient event with their mothers and then relayed the event to a stranger. Compared to mothers of insecurely attached children, mothers of securely attached children used more mental state language and had children who used more mental state language with both mother and stranger, and who expressed more emotional understanding in the mother–child conversation. Maternal mental state language and attachment security made shared contributions to children's mental state language with their mothers. Maternal mental state language accounted for the effects of attachment security on children's expressions of emotional understanding in the mother–child conversation. Mothers’ mental state language to their children may enhance secure attachment and foster children's understanding of mental states in self and others.
Bacterial Synergism—The Formation by B. typhosus or B. coli anaerogenes from Mannitol of an Intermediate Substance from which Morgan's Bacillus produces Gas

In the operations of bacteria under natural conditions it is the general rule to find mixed cultures at work, the variability of the results depending upon many factors. Therefore it has been suggested by Holman (1928) that the general term “bacterial association” be used to cover such processes. When, however, the combined action of two or more micro-organisms effects changes which each by itself is incapable of achieving, the term “synergism” is applied. Synergism appears to be used now in a more restricted sense to describe a particular type of bacterial association, and has been defined by Fiallos (1925) as follows: “two bacilli neither of which causes the production of gas in certain compounds, may do so when artificially mixed together provided one of them is capable of producing acidity (never gas) in these carbon compounds, and the other though inert to these compounds (i.e. produces in them neither acid nor gas) is capable of producing gas from glucose. ” In 1911 Penfold observed the production of gas from a glucose medium in which B. typhosus was growing along with a variant non-aerogenic strain of B. coli communis, the latter having been derived from a typical gas-producing culture by selective growth on agar containing sodium monochloracetate. Although this organism had lost the power of gas-fermenting glucose it retained the power of gas-fermenting sodium formate. Castellani (1925, 1926 and 1927) states that he noted the phenomenon, which he calls “symbiotic,” in 1904 when investigating the fermentation reactions of bakers' yeast, which is not a pure culture but consists generally of two or more species of yeasts together with one or more types of Gram-negative bacilli.
Agency Business Cycle∗

A novel theory of labor market fluctuations is advanced. Firms need to fire nonperforming workers with some positive probability in order to provide them with an ex-ante incentive to exert effort. In order to provide this incentive at the lowest cost, firms load the firing probability on the states of the world where the worker’s cost of losing a job relative to the firm’s cost of losing a worker is highest. When there are aggregate decreasing returns to scale to the value of unemployment, the states of the world where the worker’s cost of losing a job is highest in relative terms are the states of the world with the highest unemployment. Hence, an individual firm finds it optimal to fire its non-performing workers in exactly the same states where other firms fire their non-performing workers workers. The strategic complementarity between the resolution to the agency problem faced by different firms leads to endogenous, stochastic fluctuations in unemployment, job-destruction and job-finding rates. The magnitude and the morphology of these fluctuations closely remembes those observed in the US economy. JEL Codes: D86, E24, E32.
Scholarship Girls Aren't the Only Chicanas Who Go to College: Former Chicana Continuation High School Students Disrupting the Educational Achievement Binary

Drawing from extensive oral history interviews with five Chicana women, Malagon and Alvarez (re)conceptualize the way educational scholarship defines "high achieving. " As attendees of California continuation high schools, all five women defy societal expectations by moving from these alternative educational spaces to community colleges, then transferring into four-year universities and going on to enroll in graduate programs. The article highlights the resistance strategies these young women employ through their critique of social oppression, with the authors using critical race theory, Latina/o critical theory, and Chicana feminist epistemologies to make sense of the women's narratives and their journeys through the educational pipeline.
Certification and specialized competencies for teachers in gifted education programs

T study of certification/ endorsement in gifted education has been a focus of professional interest for over two decades. Karnes and Collins (1977) found six states requiring from 9-18 semester hours of specialized courses at a college or university to teach the gifted (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and West Virginia). Four years later, Karnes and Collins (1981) reported an increase of four states (California, Kansas, New Mexico, and Tennessee). In 1983, Karnes and Parker found a total of 13 states requiring specific courses to teach the gifted in specialized programs.
The political economy of birth choice : mothers' experiences seeking homebirth care in a felonious state

approved: _____________________________________________________________________ Melissa J. Cheyney In this ethnographic study, I examine how women living in downstate Illinois decide to give birth at home. I view decision-making as a process that unfolds throughout region where homebirth is a politically and socially marginalized practice. The methodology bases itself in modified grounded theory, bringing together initial survey research, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 21 homebirth mothers, and two follow-up focus group discussions. I draw from and build upon insights in critical medical anthropology (CMA), feminist bioethics, and anthropological theories of embodiment. Findings reveal that women decision-making processes center around three, chronologically ordered themes. First, when women make the initial decision to birth at home, they directly reflect upon past birth experiences (their own and/or those of close family and friends). This period of reflection leads women to articulate critiques of the technocratic model of birth as well as to voice a common desire for shared decision-making during pregnancy and labor. Second, as women seek they often face social and economic barriers in the process, especially in regions without a licensed provider. Nonetheless, homebirth mothers desire and actively work toward combining care from both homebirth providers and the formal biomedical system. Finally, after the birth, women talk with others about the existence and benefits of homebirth in the hopes of generating a greater awareness and acceptance of multiple models of maternity care. Recommendations from this study include a restructuring of the dominant political discourse surrounding homebirth away from a debate over biomedical notions of risk. Instead, I advocate for re-framing the debate by echoing Bridgette Jordan's call for mutual accommodation (1978) between birthing models as way of understanding and negotiating multiple ways of defining what it means to have hat puts the diverse voices and needs of birthing women at its center with the ultimate goal of creating a maternity care system that serves the interests of more mothers and babies. © Copyright by Grace C. Grinager March 8, 2011 All Rights Reserved The Political Economy of Birth Choice: Mothers' Experiences Seeking Homebirth Care in a Felonious State by Grace C. Grinager A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Biomedical Knowledge in Diagnostic Thinking: The Case of Electrocardiogram (ECG) Interpretation

The role of biomedical knowledge concerning underlying anatomy and pathophysiology in diagnosis has been the subject of considerable controversy in the study of medical expertise. The issue is examined in the present paper in the context of electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation. A study is reported of three levels of expertise in the diagnosis, explanation and recall of ECG traces varying in difficulty of diagnosis. Expertise effects were found in diagnostic accuracy and confidence and in incidental ECG trace recall following diagnosis. Analyses of think-aloud protocols indicated that biomedical thinking was more prevalent in the ECG domain for experts versus less skilled subjects and in explanation versus diagnostic tasks. Biomedical knowledge was mainly invoked to evaluate possible diagnoses.
Recalibration and validation of the SCORE risk chart in the Australian population: the AusSCORE chart

Background Development of a validated risk prediction model for future cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Australians is a high priority for cardiovascular health strategies. Design Recalibration of the SCORE (Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation) risk chart based on Australian national mortality data and average major CVD risk factor levels. Methods Australian national mortality data (2003-2005) were used to estimate 10-year cumulative CVD mortality rates for people aged 40-74 years. Average age-specific and sex-specific levels of systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol and prevalence of current smoking were generated from data obtained in eight Australian large-scale population-based surveys undertaken from the late 1980s. The SCORE risk chart was then recalibrated by applying hazard ratios for 10-year CVD mortality obtained in the SCORE project. Discrimination and calibration of the recalibrated model was evaluated and compared with that of the original SCORE and Framingham equations in the Blue Mountains Eye Study in Australia using Harrell's c and Hosmer-Lemeshow χ2 statistics, respectively. Results An Australian risk prediction chart for CVD mortality was derived. Among 1998 Blue Mountains Eye Study participants aged 49-74 years with neither CVD nor diabetes at baseline, the Harrell's c statistics for the Australian risk prediction chart for CVD mortality were 0.76 (95% confidence interval: 0.69-0.84) and 0.71 (confidence interval: 0.62-0.80) in men and women, respectively. The corresponding Hosmer-Lemeshow χ2 statistics, the measure of calibration, were 2.32 (P = 0.68) and 7.43 (P = 0.11), which were superior to both the SCORE and Framingham equations. Conclusion This new tool provides a valid and reliable method to predict risk of CVD mortality in the general Australian population.
Determinants of Emigration: Comparing Migrants’ Selectivity from Peru and Mexico

Although Latin American migrants to the United States, particularly Mexicans, are typically portrayed as poor and uneducated, some, such as Peruvians, are disproportionately well educated compared to those who never left their countries. This article examines who emigrates and why by comparing migrants’ selectivity from Mexico and Peru. Using the Peruvian data of the Latin American Migration Project (LAMP), collected in five communities in Lima between 2001 and 2005, and comparable data for twelve urban communities from the Mexican Migration Project (MMP), the authors compare the determinants of out-migration from these two countries. The results show that the difference in migrant selectivity is not so much attributable to migrants’ legal status, urban versus rural origins, demographic background, or geographic distance. Rather, a crucial difference lies in the nature of migrant networks, or how networks develop over time and how migrants utilize networks in migrating.
Thermo-Optical Enhanced Silicon Wire Interleavers

Ring-resonator (RR) and ring-assisted (RA) Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) interleaver structures with thermo-optical fine tuning are proposed and fabricated on silicon-on-insulator. With thermo-optical fine tuning, the crosstalks are improved from ~12 to ~22 dB and from ~6 to ~17 dB for RR- and RA-MZI interleavers, respectively. In a wavelength range of 40 nm, the RR-MZI interleaver structure has more uniform responses whereas the RA-MZI interleaver structure has sharper rolloffs.
Efficacy and Safety of Ibrutinib in Indian Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Mantle Cell Lymphoma: Cases from a Named Patient Program

Abstract Context: This named patient program evaluated the safety and efficacy of ibrutinib, a selective inhibitor of Bruton's tyrosine kinase in Indian patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL, with/without chromosome 17 deletion [del17p]) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Subjects and Methods: The eight enrolled patients (relapsed/refractory CLL: n = 6 [4/6 patients with del17p] and relapsed/refractory MCL: n = 2) had median age of 55 years (range, 52–60) and had received a median of 3 (CLL patients) and 4 (MCL patients) prior therapies. Patients received once-daily dose of ibrutinib (420 mg: CLL, 560 mg: MCL). Results: In CLL patients, the median time to response was 3 months (range, 0.5–7) and five of six patients had partial response (PR) whereas one achievedcomplete response (CR). Median time on treatment was 11.5 months (range, 8–14); five patients continued treatment and one was recommended stem cell transplantation (SCT). Of the two MCL patients, one achieved PR and one showed CR and advanced to SCT. In CLL patients, the median (range) hemoglobin level improved from 9.8 g/dL (7.2–11) at baseline to 12.0 g/dL (9.5–13.2) and median (range) platelet count improved from 150,000 cells/μL (21,000–195,000) at baseline to 190,350 cells/μL (130,000–394,000) at the time of analysis (July 2016). Most adverse events (AEs) reported were infections (n = 2). No Grade 3-4 or serious AEs, dose reductions, or treatment discontinuation due to AEs were reported. Conclusions: In this first real-world experience in Indian patients, ibrutinib demonstrated therapeutic efficacy in relapsed/refractory CLL (with/without del17p) and MCL. Safety results were consistent with the current known profile of ibrutinib.
Diagnostic Delay and Sociodemographic Predictors of Stage at Diagnosis and Mortality in Unilateral and Bilateral Retinoblastoma

Background: More invasive retinoblastoma, characterized by increased morbidity and mortality, with lower rates of eye salvage and higher rates of extraocular dissemination, seems more prevalent in resource-poor countries. The relationship of diagnostic delay (lag time) and sociodemographic factors on the extent of disease at diagnosis has not been examined separately for unilateral and bilateral retinoblastoma. Methods: At diagnosis, consenting parents of 179 Mexican children with retinoblastoma were interviewed about initial symptoms and household demographic characteristics. Clinical presentation was classified using St. Jude's, International Staging System (ISS), and International Intraocular Retinoblastoma Classification (IIRC) criteria. Lag time (delay between noting symptoms and diagnosis) and sociodemographic factors were examined as predictors for higher stage at diagnosis and overall survival (OS). Results: In bilateral disease, lag time predicts stage at diagnosis using St. Jude's, and ISS criteria (P < 0.005 in multivariate regression), and OS (P < 0.05, Cox hazards), but not extent of intraocular disease (by IIRC). In unilateral disease, lag time predicts neither extent of disease (using ISS, St Jude's, and IIRC), nor OS. Indicators of prenatal poverty, including lower maternal education and the presence of dirt flooring in the home, predict more advanced disease by IIRC for bilateral retinoblastoma, and for unilateral by ISS, and St Jude's (P < 0.001) as well as OS (P < 0.05). Conclusion: These results suggest unilateral and bilateral retinoblastoma differs in factors governing progression and extraretinal extension, possibly reflecting underlying biologic heterogeneity. Impact: This demonstrates differing effect of social factors on extent of intra- and extraocular disease depending on laterality with implications for screening strategies. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(5); 784–92. ©2014 AACR.
iSkin: Flexible, Stretchable and Visually Customizable On-Body Touch Sensors for Mobile Computing

We propose iSkin, a novel class of skin-worn sensors for touch input on the body. iSkin is a very thin sensor overlay, made of biocompatible materials, and is flexible and stretchable. It can be produced in different shapes and sizes to suit various locations of the body such as the finger, forearm, or ear. Integrating capacitive and resistive touch sensing, the sensor is capable of detecting touch input with two levels of pressure, even when stretched by 30% or when bent with a radius of 0.5cm. Furthermore, iSkin supports single or multiple touch areas of custom shape and arrangement, as well as more complex widgets, such as sliders and click wheels. Recognizing the social importance of skin, we show visual design patterns to customize functional touch sensors and allow for a visually aesthetic appearance. Taken together, these contributions enable new types of on-body devices. This includes finger-worn devices, extensions to conventional wearable devices, and touch input stickers, all fostering direct, quick, and discreet input for mobile computing.
POWER THERAPIES: EVIDENCE VERSUS EMOTION A REPLY TO ROSEN, LOHR, MCNALLY AND HERBERT

Rosen, Lohr, McNally and Herbert’s (1998) arguments directed at the so-called “Power Therapies” and, in particular, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) are examined. It is suggested that their paper does not adequately review the available research data and, therefore, draws unwarranted conclusions. Based on published controlled studies it is concluded that there is evidence to support the use of EMDR in the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Ultrastructural changes in the efferent duct and epididymis of men with obstructive infertility

Ultrastructural changes in the efferent duct and in different regions of the epididymis in men with obstructive azoospermia were compared with corresponding tissues collected from men of proven fertility who underwent castration due to malignancy of the prostate. Major degenerative changes were seen in the efferent duct and the caput epididymidis of men with obstruction at the caput epididymidis which may have been induced by fluid pressure due to defective absorption of testicular fluid in the caput epididymidis. These degenerative changes included decrease in tubular and lumen diameter of the caput and the cauda epididymides, decrease in height of the stereocilia, reduction in‐rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi material, and presence of lipofuscin and osmiophilic dense bodies. The degenerative changes were less when the site of obstruction was in the cauda epididymidis since fluid reabsorption would continue to take place normally in the caput epididymidis. In men who had undergone vasoepididymostomy (VEA), the ejaculated spermatozoa showed a high percentage of morphological abnormalities which may have occurred due to adverse effects of long‐term obstruction on spermatogenesis. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss Inc.
Centroid Localization of Uncooperative Nodes in Wireless Networks Using a Relative Span Weighting Method

Increasingly ubiquitous wireless technologies require novel localization techniques to pinpoint the position of an uncooperative node, whether the target is a malicious device engaging in a security exploit or a low-battery handset in the middle of a critical emergency. Such scenarios necessitate that a radio signal source be localized by other network nodes efficiently, using minimal information. We propose two new algorithms for estimating the position of an uncooperative transmitter, based on the received signal strength (RSS) of a single target message at a set of receivers whose coordinates are known. As an extension to the concept of centroid localization, our mechanisms weigh each receiver's coordinates based on the message's relative RSS at that receiver, with respect to the span of RSS values over all receivers. The weights may decrease from the highest RSS receiver either linearly or exponentially. Our simulation results demonstrate that for all but the most sparsely populated wireless networks, our exponentially weighted mechanism localizes a target node within the regulations stipulated for emergency services location accuracy.