Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PROGRESS IN MODELING AND SIMULATION OF SHOCK WAVE LITHOTRIPSY (SWL)

Past research in shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) has shown that cavitation plays an essential role in the comminution of kidney stones. To provide a better understanding of the role of cloud cavitation dynamics in SWL, the flow in the focal region of a lithotripter was modeled using an ensemble averaged two-phase flow model for the bubbly mixture combined with a high-order accurate shock capturing technique. The domain and initial conditions used in the numerical model reflect the appropriate dimensions and intensity of a Dornier HM3 electrohydraulic lithotripter. The impact of factors such as the size and number of bubble nuclei in the liquid, the intensity of the shock wave and the pulse rate frequency (PRF) on the cavitating flow field is analyzed. Conclusions regarding the impact of these parameters on the potential for stone comminution are also presented.
High Time Resolution Observations of the January 2000 Glitch in the Vela Pulsar

Pulsars are rotating neutron stars, sweeping the emission regions from the magnetic poles across our line of sight. Isolated neutron stars lose angular momentum through dipole radiation and (possibly) particle winds; hence, they slow down extremely steadily, making them among the most reliable timing sources available. However, it is well known that younger pulsars can suffer glitches, when they suddenly deviate from their stable rotation period. On 2000 January 16 (MJD 51,559), the rate of pulsation from the Vela pulsar (B0833-45) showed such a fractional period change of 3.1 × 10-6, the largest recorded for this pulsar. The glitch was detected and reported by the Hobart radio telescope. The speedy announcement allowed the X-ray telescope, Chandra, and others to make Target-of-Opportunity observations. The data placed an upper limit of 40 s for the transition time from the original to the new period. Four relaxation timescales are found, which are believed to be due to the variable coupling between the crust and the interior fluid. One is very short, about 60 s; the others have been previously reported and are 0.56, 3.33, and 19.1 days in length.
Achieving employee wellbeing in a changing work environment An expert commentary on current scholarship

Purpose - The purpose of this expert commentary is to provide an overview of current scholarship on changes occurring in the work environment and its impact on employee wellbeing. The commentary touches on frontier issues such as measurement of healthy work environment, positive and negative changes in work environment influencing employee wellbeing, link between employee productivity and wellbeing, challenges in converting theory into practice, sustainable organizational behavior, workplace wellness, and several other issues germane to the special issue. Design/methodology/approach - The expert commentary explicates the current state of scholarship in relation to the theme of the special issue. The design of the expert commentary, a scholarly conversation between the Guest Editors and University Distinguished Professor Ellen Ernst Kossek, provides an easy to access summary of the current knowledge in the area. This format is intended to inform readers of Findings - The expert commentary provides a gist of key findings in the extant area of research, serving to inform readers about what we know, do not know, and fruitful areas for further enquiry. Originality/value - It provides an overview of current knowledge in the area.
The repeatability and criterion related validity of the 20 m multistage fitness test as a predictor of maximal oxygen uptake in active young men

Objective: To investigate the repeatability and criterion related validity of the 20 m multistage fitness test (MFT) for predicting maximal oxygen uptake (Vo2max) in active young men. Methods: Data were gathered from two phases using 30 subjects (x̄±s; age = 21.8±3.6 years, mass = 76.9±10.7 kg, stature = 1.76±0.05 m). MFT repeatability was investigated in phase 1 where 21 subjects performed the test twice. The MFT criterion validity to predict Vo2max was investigated in phase 2 where 30 subjects performed a continuous incremental laboratory test to volitional exhaustion to determine Vo2max and the MFT. Results: Phase 1 showed non-significant bias between the two applications of the MFT (x̄diff±sdiff = −0.4±1.4 ml kg−1 min−1; t = −1.37, p = 0.190) with 95% limits of agreement (LoA) ±2.7 ml kg−1 min−1 and heteroscedasticity 0.223 (p = 0.330). Log transformation of these data reduced heteroscedasticity to 0.056 (p = 0.808) with bias −0.007±0.025 (t = −1.35, p = 0.190) and LoA±0.049. Antilogs gave a mean bias on the ratio scale of 0.993 and random error (ratio limits) ×/÷1.050. Phase 2 showed that the MFT significantly underpredicted Vo2max (x̄diff±sdiff = 1.8±3.2 ml kg−1 min−1; t = 3.10, p = 0.004). LoA were ±6.3 ml kg−1 min−1 and heteroscedasticity 0.084 (p = 0.658). Log transformation reduced heteroscedasticity to −0.045 (p = 0.814) with LoA±0.110. The significant systematic bias was not eliminated (x̄diff±sdiff = 0.033±0.056; t = 3.20, p = 0.003). Antilogs gave a mean bias of 1.034 with random error×/÷1.116. Conclusions: These findings lend support to previous investigations of the MFT by identifying that in the population assessed it provides results that are repeatable but it routinely underestimates Vo2max when compared to laboratory determinations. Unlike previous findings, however, these results show that when applying an arguably more appropriate analysis method, the MFT does not provide valid predictions of Vo2max.
The mgtC Gene of Burkholderia cenocepacia Is Required for Growth under Magnesium Limitation Conditions and Intracellular Survival in Macrophages

ABSTRACT Burkholderia cenocepacia, a bacterium commonly found in the environment, is an important opportunistic pathogen in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Very little is known about the mechanisms by which B. cenocepacia causes disease, but chronic infection of the airways in CF patients may be associated, at least in part, with the ability of this bacterium to survive within epithelial cells and macrophages. Survival in macrophages occurs in a membrane-bound compartment that is distinct from the lysosome, suggesting that B. cenocepacia prevents phagolysosomal fusion. In a previous study, we employed signature-tagged mutagenesis and an agar bead model of chronic pulmonary infection in rats to identify B. cenocepacia genes that are required for bacterial survival in vivo. One of the most significantly attenuated mutants had an insertion in the mgtC gene. Here, we show that mgtC is also needed for growth of B. cenocepacia in magnesium-depleted medium and for bacterial survival within murine macrophages. Using fluorescence microscopy, we demonstrated that B. cenocepacia mgtC mutants, unlike the parental isolate, colocalize with the fluorescent acidotropic probe LysoTracker Red. At 4 h postinfection, mgtC mutants expressing monomeric red fluorescent protein cannot retain this protein within the bacterial cytoplasm. Together, these results demonstrate that, unlike the parental strain, an mgtC mutant does not induce a delay in phagolysosomal fusion and the bacterium-containing vacuoles are rapidly targeted to the lysosome, where bacteria are destroyed.
Modelling of stochastic hybrid systems with applications to accident risk assessment

Stochastic dynamical modelling of accident risk is of high interest for the safe design of complex safety-critical systems and operations, such as in nuclear and chemical industries, and advanced air traffic management. In comparison with statistical analysis of collected data, stochastic dynamical modelling approach has the advantage of enabling the use of stochastic analysis and advanced Monte Carlo simulation approaches.
The multiwavelength variability of 3C 273

Aims. We present an update of the 3C 273’s database hosted by the ISDC, completed with data from radio to gamma-ray observations over the last 10 years. We use this large data set to study the multiwavelength properties of this quasar, especially focussing on its variability behaviour. Methods. We study the amplitude of the variations and the maximum variability time scales across the broad-band spectrum and correlate the light curves in different bands, specifically with the X-rays, to search for possible connections between the emission at different energies. Results. 3C 273 shows variability at all frequencies, with amplitudes and time scales strongly depending on the energy and being the signatures of the different emission mechanisms. The variability properties of the X-ray band imply the presence of either two separate components (possibly a Seyfert-like and a blazar-like) or at least two parameters with distinct timing properties to account for the X-ray emission below and above ∼20 keV. The dominant hard X-ray emission is most probably not due to electrons accelerated by the shock waves in the jet as their variability does not correlate with the flaring millimeter emission, but seems to be associated to long-timescale variations in the optical. This optical component is consistent with being optically thin synchrotron radiation from the base of the jet and the hard X-rays would be produced through inverse Compton processes (SSC and/or EC) by the same electron population. We show evidence that this synchrotron component extends from the optical to the near-infrared domain, where it is blended by emission of heated dust that we find to be located within about 1 light-year from the ultraviolet source.
Learning from post-trade identity disclosure in electronic trading

This paper shows how traders learn from post-trade identity disclosure in a currency limit order market. We establish that identity disclosure reveals information and show how traders react by reversing their order flow in line with the better informed. This result holds when controlling trading decisions for proxies of other private and public information. Moreover, we find that informed traders process information differently from the uninformed. The informed focus relatively more on public information, whereas uninformed amplify price discovery by learning from the informed. JEL-Classification: G12, G15, D82, F31
Evaluation of Biomass Yield and Water Treatment in Two Aquaponic Systems Using the Dynamic Root Floating Technique (DRF)

The experiment evaluates the food production and water treatment of TAN, NO2−–N, NO3−–N, and PO43− in two aquaponics systems using the dynamic root floating technique (DRF). A separate recirculation aquaculture system (RAS) was used as a control. The fish cultured was Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). The hydroponic culture in one treatment (PAK) was pak choy (Brassica chinensis,) and in the other (COR) coriander (Coriandrum sativum). Initial and final weights were determined for the fish culture. Final edible fresh weight was determined for the hydroponic plant culture. TAN, NO2−–N, NO3−–N, and PO43− were measured in fish culture and hydroponic culture once a week at two times, morning (9:00 a.m.) and afternoon (3:00 p.m.). The fish biomass production was not different in any treatment (p > 0.05) and the total plant yield was greater (p < 0.05) in PAK than in COR. For the hydroponic culture in the a.m., the PO43− was lower (p < 0.05) in the PAK treatment than in COR, and in the p.m. NO3−–N and PO43− were lower (p < 0.05) in PAK than in COR. The PAK treatment demonstrated higher food production and water treatment efficiency than the other two treatments.
Study of the Effect of I-vector Modeling on Short and Mismatch Utterance Duration for Speaker Verification

It is well known that state-of-the-art speaker verification systems using the i-vector concept perform well when target speakers training and test utterances have the same condition: long-long as per NIST evaluation. In practice, real-life applications impose strong constraints on the amount of data that can be used in training target and test speaker models. Since speaker verification systems based on the i-vector approach need to estimate some statistical parameters, the aim of this paper is to explore methods to train statistical parameters of the classical i-vector system when target speakers are trained and tested on mismatched data durations. Experimental results are shown on NIST 2008 SRE for various durations of target training and test speech segments ranging from long to very short, such as full (average 2.5 minutes), 5 seconds and 10 seconds.
X-RAY INSIGHTS INTO THE PHYSICS OF MINI-BAL QUASAR OUTFLOWS

We examine the ultraviolet and X-ray properties of 256 radio-quiet Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasars (QSOs) observed in X-rays with Chandra and/or XMM-Newton in order to study the relationship between QSOs with broad C iv absorption lines (BALs; width >2000 km s−1) and those with C iv mini-BALs (here defined to have widths of 1000–2000 km s−1). Our sample includes 42 BAL and 48 mini-BAL QSOs. The relative X-ray brightness and hard spectral slopes of the mini-BAL population are, on average, intermediate between those of BAL and non-BAL QSOs, as might be expected if narrower and broader absorption line outflows are physically related. However, a significant population of mini-BALs has outflow velocities higher than would be expected for BAL QSOs of the same relative X-ray brightness. Consistently strong X-ray absorption is apparently not required to accelerate at least some mini-BALs to high outflow velocities. Assuming the mini-BAL features are correctly attributed to intrinsic C iv absorption, we suggest that their observed properties may be explained if mini-BALs are “seeds” that can be accelerated to form BALs when sufficient X-ray shielding is present. We also examine several QSOs with broad C iv absorption that have been recently reported to be unusually X-ray bright. Such cases are frequently mini-BAL QSOs, which, as a population, are generally brighter in X-rays than BAL QSOs. Pointed XMM-Newton observations also suggest that these sources (or unresolved neighbors) may have been previously observed in a high-flux state.
Survey instruments and the reports of consumption expenditures: evidence from the consumer expenditure surveys

The paper uses data from the consumer expenditure surveys to demonstrate that the mode of collection is important for the analysis of consumption data. We first show that population figures obtained with diaries markedly differ from figures obtained by using recall questions. We then exploit multiple measurements of food expenditure to identify the effects of the mode of collection on the distribution of reported consumption. Finally, we show how to combine information from multiple reports to obtain a single measure of total expenditure in consumer expenditure surveys. The paper concludes by offering guidelines for empirical analyses based on these data, and by providing an application of the methods proposed to the measurement of inequality and wellbeing.
“A Give and A Take”: Lived Experiences in a Real Sharing Economy

3 Introduction 4 Review of the Literature 7 Foundational Perspectives on Gifting Communities 8 (Re)Learning to Share: Online Gifting in Web 2.0 11 The Real Sharing Economy 14 Background on Freecycle 18 Methodology 20 Results 23 “Too much stuff” 23 “The right thing to the right person” 25 “A give and a take” 27 “A different type of network” 29 “It’s the chance that you take” 33 “I’m not going into business” 35 “I hate wasting” 37 Conclusion 40 Appendix 43 References 44
A comparative analysis of EU and US trade preferences for the LDCs and AGOA beneficiaries

In light of the much praised US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), this study compares EU and US preferential trade policies towards the least developed countries (LDCs) under the EU Everything but Arms (EBA) initiative and the countries covered by the US AGOA. The descriptive analysis examines and compares product coverage, diversification of imports, share and value of preferential imports and preference utilisation rates. The empirical analysis, conducted in a gravity setting, compares the relative trade creating effects of the EU and US schemes. Excluding mineral fuels, it finds that EU preferential trade policies generate about twice as much trade as do corresponding US policies.
Community-directed health (CDH) workers enhance the performance and sustainability of CDH programmes: experience from ivermectin distribution in Uganda

The performance and ‘drop-out’ rates of ivermectin (Mectizan®) distributors in the Ugandan programme for community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI) were investigated and related to the manner in which the distributors were recruited. Distributors, from randomly selected communities endemic for onchocerciasis in seven of the 10 affected districts, were interviewed. Questionnaires were initially completed for 296 communities (in which ivermectin had been distributed in 1998 but not in 1999) and then extended to another 310 communities (in which ivermectin had been distributed in both study years). Discussions were also held with some other community members, in participatory evaluation meetings (PEM) in 14 communities from four districts. Despite the CDTI being labelled as ‘community-directed’, the first round of interviews and questionnaires revealed that there were in fact three categories of distributors: 322 (69.4%) of those questioned had been selected by community members and were therefore truly community-directed health workers (CDHW) but 101 (22%) were community-based health workers appointed by the leaders of the local council (CBHW-LC) and 41 (9%) were self-appointed volunteers (CBHW-SA). During 1999, only the CDHW received good community support; they still helped to mobilise and educate their community members and advocate CDTI, and 98% of them agreed that they would distribute ivermectin during the following year. In contrast, many of the CBHW-LC were neither supported nor appreciated by the community members. Presumably in consequence, many of the CBHW-LC did not help to mobilise or educate their community members in 1999, nor did they advocate CDTI. Almost all (95%) of the CBHW-LC said that they would not be available to distribute in the following year, and were therefore regarded as total ‘drop-outs’ from the CDTI. The CBHW-SA were better supported by community members than were the CBHW-LC, they did more to advocate the CDTI, and 93% reported that they would distribute ivermectin during the following year. The ‘drop-out’ rates for 1999 were < 2% for the CDHW, 7% for the CBHW-SA, and 95% for the CBHW-LC. The results also indicated that the CBHW-SA were not as reliable as the CDHW. Similar results were obtained from the second round of questionnaires, in which 224 (73%) of the interviewees were CDHW, 57 (18%) were CBHW-LC and 28 (9%) were CBHW-SA. The results of the PEM showed that the CDHW, who mainly came from the same kinship groups as the people who selected them, were likely to achieve higher ivermectin coverage within a week than the other categories of distributors. It is clear that, for the optimum performance and sustainability of the CDTI, the distributors used should be CDHW selected by their own community members.
The rural areas - the unutilized potential in light of tourism

The rural areas represent an extensive territorial or natural, human and economic potential which is utilized unevenly and imperfectly. one of the alternatives of using this potential is to develop tourism in those municipalities, which have appropriate conditions for the development of activities connected to tourism at their disposal. The aim of this paper is to identify the development potential of rural municipalities in the light of tourism (in the area of the nitra Self-governing region), to evaluate this potential using the valorisation method and to define the individual categories of rural municipalities. The results of the typology provide important information about the potential of the rural areas for the development of tourism and about the current utilization of this potential. They are also used to create the concept of the development of rural tourism in the nitra Self-governing region and to represent a tool for effectively allocated public resources for municipalities and for entrepreneurial subjects in the municipalities.
Do corporate taxes distort capital allocation?: Cross-country evidence from industry-level data

The working paper investigates the impacts of corporate taxes on the accumulation of different types of capital assets. The paper analyses the effect of corporate taxes on new investment in different types of capital assets in the manufacturing industries of 11 advanced economies over the period 1991-2007. The magnitude of the asset substitution elasticities points to a significant inter-asset distortionary effect induced by differences in the tax-adjusted user cost of capital. Overall, differential taxation leads on average to under-investment in ICT capital and to over-investment in other machinery and equipment compared to a counterfactual benchmark where marginal tax rates are equalized across assets. Once cross-country heterogeneity in corporate taxation is accounted for, the results are more mixed, in terms of both the size and the direction of the distortions. On average, 4 percent of the aggregate capital stock appears misallocated.
Labor Market Dynamics in a Monetary Business Cycle Model with Search Frictions

We explore the role of real wage dynamics in a New Keynesian business cycle model with search and matching frictions in the labor market. Both job creation and destruction are endogenous. We show that the model generates counterfactual real wage and labor market dynamics. In particular, it fails to generate a Beveridge curve. That is, vacancies and unemployment are positively correlated. Introducing real wage rigidity leads to a negative correlation, and increases the magnitude of labor market flows to more realistic values.
Success of Electronic Government Information Portal

Abstract The Hong Kong Government promulgated the 1998 Digital 21 Information Technology (IT) Strategy in November 1998. The primary focus of this strategy was to build up capabilities and infrastructure to support a thriving information economy, and to create a strong foundation for business growth and governmental service expansion in the use of IT. Hypotheses are formulated to test research concepts from Information Systems related to technology adoption. We find that managerial issues, rather than technological problems, led to the low adoption rate. Implications of our findings from a practitioner's perspectives are discussed.
Characterization of HSP90 isoforms in transformed bovine leukocytes infected with Theileria annulata

HSP90 chaperones are essential regulators of cellular function, as they ensure the appropriate conformation of multiple key client proteins. Four HSP90 isoforms were identified in the protozoan parasite Theileria annulata. Partial characterization was undertaken for three and localization confirmed for cytoplasmic (TA12105), endoplasmic reticulum (TA06470), and apicoplast (TA10720) forms. ATPase activity and binding to the HSP90 inhibitor geldanamycin were demonstrated for recombinant TA12105, and all three native forms could be isolated to varying extents by binding to geldanamycin beads. Because it is essential, HSP90 is considered a potential therapeutic drug target. Resistance to the only specific Theileriacidal drug is increasing, and one challenge for design of drugs that target the parasite is to limit the effect on the host. An in vitro cell culture system that allows comparison between uninfected bovine cells and the T. annulata‐infected counterpart was utilized to test the effects of geldanamycin and the derivative 17‐AAG. T. annulata‐infected cells had greater tolerance to geldanamycin than uninfected cells yet exhibited significantly more sensitivity to 17‐AAG. These findings suggest that parasite HSP90 isoform(s) can alter the drug sensitivity of infected host cells and that members of the Theileria HSP90 family are potential targets worthy of further investigation.