Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sequence analysis of measles virus strains collected during the pre‐ and early‐vaccination era in Denmark reveals a considerable diversity of ancient strains

A total of 199 serum samples from patients with measles collected in Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands from 1964 to 1983 were analysed by PCR. Measles virus (MV) RNA could be detected in 38 (19%) of the samples and a total of 18 strains were subjected to partial sequence analysis of the hemagglutinin gene. The strains exhibited a considerable genomic diversity, which is at odds with the assumption that one genome type prevailed among globally circulating MV strains prior to the advent of live‐attenuated vaccines. Our data indicate that the similarity of the various vaccine strains is attributed to their having originated from the same primary isolate. Consequently, it is implied that a small number of clinical manifestations of MV worldwide from which strains similar to the vaccine strain were identified were vaccine related rather than being caused by members of a persistently circulating ancient genome type. The Danish pre‐ and early‐vaccination era MV strains seem to change the evolutionary spectrum of genome types A, C2 and E into one coherent group, suggesting that the genome types of MV strains circulating in the world at present do not represent far ranging evolutionary lineages but merely members of an evolutionary continuum of pre‐vaccination era MV strains which by chance or due to an improved capability survived the worldwide partial herd immunity accomplished through vaccination.
A TIME-SERIES CROSS SECTION ANALYSIS of THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL DERIVATIVES IN THE EMERGING MARKET FINANCIAL CRISES OF THE 1990S

The 1990s witnessed several remarkable international financial crises around the world, especially in emerging market countries and can be called “the international financial crises and instability era” in the history of political economy. In the financial crisis literature, the potential reasons of these crises have been extensively studied. However, the role of financial derivative instruments as one of the possible key factors in international financial crises of the emerging markets in the 1990s has not been covered fully and not undertaken empirically, especially, by a time-series cross section analysis . So this paper aims to investigate the role and significance of financial derivatives in international financial crises of the emerging market countries in the 1990s, notably the South East Asian Crisis of 1997 and the Brazilian Crisis of 1999, in an analytical manner through a time-series cross section approach. The major findings indicate that financial derivatives, designed to hedge financial risks, have exposed emerging market economies to remarkable risks and financial instabilities in the 1990s and they had role in such crises both directly and indirectly.
Finding the Middle Ground: Land Tenure Reform and Customary Claims Negotiability in Rural Ghana

textabstractLand (property) rights have returned to the development agenda of national governments and international organizations globally. Central to the debates are issues concerning the interaction between customary and state legal systems. With an example from rural Ghana, this thesis looks at the interaction between customary and state-led legal processes of tenure arrangements and its implications for land investments and general welfare of farmers. Critical to this study is the social legitimacy and equity of land access negotiations and tenure arrangements. It shows that contrary to neo-classical propositions on formalization of local land tenure practices, state-led processes of land tenure reform are not always equitable and inclusive; they have sometimes rendered some rural poor people destitute by denying them access to and control of land. This implies that security of tenure and access to land are not limited to either state-led legislation or customary practices only but that each one can be complemented by the other. This study argues that sustainable and successful land tenure reform will require a ‘marriage’ between customary and state arrangements of land tenure. It suggests that such reforms should be built on local existing structures such that the new system can be accorded a certain level of legitimacy, enough to reflect the interest and gain acceptance of the local people.
Improving pantropical forest carbon maps with airborne LiDAR sampling

Background: Countries interested in monitoring and quantifying the carbon stock of their tropical forests need cost-effective methodologies to map aboveground carbon density (ACD) at regional and national project levels, and with measurable precision and accuracy. This study reports on improvements made possible by the use of airborne high resolution LiDAR samples to regionally fine-tune freely available moderate resolution remote sensing data, and generate maps of ACD with greater detail and improved accuracy than existing pantropical data sets. Results: Regions in the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon indicate that, although existing pantropical data sets of ACD explain approximately 70% of the variance in ACD relative to high resolution LiDAR estimates, by fine calibration with airborne LiDAR samples, it is possible to reduce the relative root mean squared error from 25.2 and 31.4 MgC ha-1, to 15.7 and 17.6 MgC ha-1, respectively, in Colombia and Peru. Conclusion: Airborne LiDAR data can successfully be used for fine-tuning freely available moderate resolution remote sensing image data and significantly improving existing aboveground carbon density maps, to better meet the requirements for national and subnationl carbon density mapping.
Management of Endolymphatic Sac Tumors: Sporadic Cases and Von Hippel-Lindau Disease

Objective To analyze the difference between the endolymphatic sac tumors (ELSTs) in sporadic cases and in von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease. Study Design Retrospective case review in a tertiary referral center. Patients and Methods Fourteen cases of ELST, occurring since 1998, were reviewed. We analyzed the initial symptoms, characteristics of the tumor, treatment, sequelae, and follow-up for each group. Results The ELSTs were sporadic in 6 cases and associated with VHL disease in 8 cases. The mean age at the time of the first surgery was 26 years (range, 12–41). All except two of the patients presented with a unilateral tumor. The initial symptoms were hearing loss (n = 9), tinnitus (n = 7), and/or vertigo (n = 5). Hearing loss was more prevalent in the sporadic cases. Preoperative arteriography was performed for 4 patients, with embolization performed for 1 patient. The size of the tumor was significantly larger in the sporadic cases (31.7 mm) than in the cases of VHL disease (19.3 mm). The surgical approach was more extensive in the sporadic cases. The surgeons found 2 types of tumors. Cystic tumors with massive bleeding invading the surrounding structures (the dura mater or jugular bulb) were more common in the sporadic cases. Fibrous tumors that infiltrate the bone and have moderate bleeding were more common in the cases associated with VHL disease. Two patients with small lesions were not operated on but were followed for 6 years without tumor growth. They died of metastasis from gastric and kidney cancer. Four recurrences occurred during the 14 years of follow-up. Four facial palsies and 8 cases of profound deafness were encountered postoperatively. Conclusion Sporadic tumors are more aggressive than those associated with VHL disease. Complete surgical resection should be the goal of treatment. Preoperative angiography with embolization is recommended. In some cases, embolization may be impossible, and preoperative or postoperative radiotherapy should be discussed.
Strategic human resource management within a resource-capability view of the firm

This paper takes a critical look at the field of strategic human resource management and in particular the debate about the strategic value of the human resource. We identify the contribution as well as the problematic nature of the situational-contingency perspective. Drawing from the strategic management literature and the concept of resource heterogeneity, we then posit a resource-capability view of the firm and argue that the mutually reinforcing interaction between the stock of knowledge, skills and expertise (resources) and the organizational routines and human resource policies and practices (capabilities) generates human resource competencies whose strategic value is realizable to the extent that they are linked with core competencies. We thus offer a reconceptualization of human resource competencies which goes beyond existing trait, behavioural and systems approaches. Finally, we identify the circumstances surrounding the generation and distribution of rents arising from the utilization of human resource competencies by drawing from transaction cost theory and industrial relations.
Why is Income Inequality Increasing in the Developed World?

We address empirically the factors affecting the dynamics of income inequality among industrialized economies. Using a panel for 32 developed countries spanning the last four decades, our results indicate that the predictions of the Stolper–Samuelson theorem concerning the effects of international trade on income inequality find support in the data if we concentrate on imports from developing countries as a trade measure, as theory would imply. We find that democratization, the interaction of technology and education, and changes in the relative power of labor unions affect inequality dynamics robustly.
Interaction of an ultrasound-activated contrast microbubble with a wall at arbitrary separation distances

Both in vitro and in vivo, contrast agent microbubbles move near bounding surfaces, such as the wall of an experimental container or the wall of a blood vessel. This problem inspires interest in theoretical models that predict the effect of a wall on the dynamics of a contrast microbubble. There are models for a bubble at a large distance from a wall and for a bubble adherent to a wall. The aim of the present study is to develop a generalized model that describes the dynamics of a contrast microbubble at arbitrary distances from a wall and thereby make it possible to simulate the acoustic response of the bubble starting from large separation distances up to contact between the bubble and the wall. The wall is assumed to be a plane. Therefore, the developed model applies for in vitro investigations of contrast agents in experimental containers. It can also be used as a first approximation to the case of a contrast microbubble within a large blood vessel. The derivation of the model is based on the multipole expansion of the bubble velocity potential, the image source method, and the Lagrangian formalism. The model consists of two coupled equations, one of which describes the bubble radial oscillation and the second describes the translation of the bubble center. Numerical simulations are performed to determine how the acoustic response of a contrast microbubble depends on the separation distance near walls of different types: rigid, plastic, arterial, etc. The dynamics of the bubble encapsulation is described by the Marmottant shell model. The properties of the plastic wall correspond to OptiCell chambers commonly used in experiments. The results of the simulations show that the bubble resonance frequency near a wall depends on both the separation distance and the wall material properties. In particular, the rigid wall makes the resonance frequency decrease with decreasing separation distance, whereas in the vicinity of the OptiCell wall and the arterial wall, the resonance frequency increases. The theoretical model is validated by comparing with experimental data available in the literature for phospholipid-shelled microbubbles near a compliant agarose gel boundary. The comparison is conducted for two data sets. In the first case, the simulated and measured parameters of the bubble acoustic response (resonance frequency and maximum amplitude of the scattered pressure) are compared as a function of bubble diameter, using the experimental data obtained for bubbles with diameters ranging from 2.3 to 4 μm, insonified at 30 kPa in the frequency range from 4 to 13.5 MHz. In the second case, the simulated and measured values of the maximum amplitude of the scattered pressure are compared as a function of separation distance from the agarose boundary, using the experimental data for a 2.3 μm-diameter bubble insonicated at 69 kPa and 11 MHz. In both cases, the theoretical model correctly predicts the qualitative tendency in the behavior of the measured quantities and their quantitative level.
How Effective Is Schooling? A Critical Review and Synthesis of Research Findings.

The results of a critical survey of research on educational effectiveness, performed to assess the current state of knowledge regarding the determinants of educational outcomes, are reported. An input-output approach was used to analyze the relationship between the amounts of various resources provided to students and the educational outcomes. Other approaches used were the process approach, the organizational approach, the evaluation approach, and the experimental approach. It was found that school resources are ,'r. )t consistently important, and that the role of peer-group influences is complex. Major implications of the research include the following; (1) Research has not identified a variant of the existing system ,chat is consistently related to students' educational outcomes; (2) Increasing expenditures on traditional educational practices is not likely to improve educational outcomes substantially; and (3) There seem to be opportunities for significant reduction of redirection of educational expenditures without deterioration in educational outcomes. (For related document, see ED 058 473.) (Author/CR)
Qualification of the U.S. Conductors for ITER TF Magnet System

The U.S. Domestic Agency is one of the six suppliers of the toroidal field (TF) conductor for ITER. To qualify conductors per ITER requirements, we prepared or provided to the Swiss Plasma Center (SPC) eight test articles, sixteen conductors total, that were tested in the SULTAN facility at SPC in the ITER relevant conditions. The strands that were used in these SULTAN samples were fully characterized in the laboratories. In this paper, we report both test results and analysis of the conductors’ performance against expected strand performance. The U.S. TF conductors showed a slightly better than average current sharing temperature and a relatively low sensitivity to warm up-cooldown cycles in comparison with other suppliers’ conductors. However, the trend in current sharing temperature versus cycles and warm ups did not saturate, which means a continuing slow degradation of the conductor performance if the number of warm up and cooldown cycles will be significantly higher than expected. The ac losses in the U.S. TF conductors are in line with losses in the other TF conductor suppliers.
Social media practices applied by city hotels: a comparative case study from Turkey

Purpose – This study aims to examine various forms of hotel businesses’ social media (SM) practices by analysing TripAdvisor (TA) and examining its critical role in decision-making. As a well-known platform of SM in tourism, TA serves as an independent review site where visitors share their holiday experiences. Design/methodology/approach – The sample for this study includes hotel businesses located in Istanbul, Turkey, and listed in the top grades of TA ratings. Purposive sampling was used to obtain relevant data. A holistic multiple-case study was designed, as sample hotels vary in official class and attributes. Structured interviews were used to collect data from participating managers in each hotel business. Upon creation of the data set, transcripts were used to develop and classify a matrix table (hotels vs questions) and analysed by clustering responses according to the content of questions. Findings – The study findings show that hotels pay significant attention to TA and that it is viewed as an e.
A Long-Run View of German Dominance and the Degree of Policy Convergence in the EMS

A preliminary for European monetary union is convergence of the European Monetary System's members' policies. Using a cointegration framework with short-term interest rates and monetary bases as monetary policy measures, the authors find policy convergence has not occurred. Nor, contrary to popular beliefs, does the Bundesbank dominate other members' policies. Although the Bundesbank is influential, substantial policy interaction occurs among almost all the European Monetary System countries examined. Finally, the credibility argument, that pegged exchange rate systems constrain and discipline monetary policymakers behavior, is undermined by the authors' findings. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press.
Multispectral Transfer Network: Unsupervised Depth Estimation for All-Day Vision

To understand the real-world, it is essential to perceive in all-day conditions including cases which are not suitable for RGB sensors, especially at night. Beyond these limitations, the innovation introduced here is a multispectral solution in the form of depth estimation from a thermal sensor without an additional depth sensor.Based on an analysis of multispectral properties and the relevance to depth predictions, we propose an efficient and novel multi-task framework called the Multispectral Transfer Network (MTN) to estimate a depth image from a single thermal image. By exploiting geometric priors and chromaticity clues, our model can generate a pixel-wise depth image in an unsupervised manner. Moreover, we propose a new type of multitask module called Interleaver as a means of incorporating the chromaticity and fine details of skip-connections into the depth estimation framework without sharing feature layers. Lastly, we explain a novel technical means of stably training and covering large disparities and extending thermal images to data-driven methods for all-day conditions. In experiments, we demonstrate the better performance and generalization of depth estimation through the proposed multispectral stereo dataset, including various driving conditions.
Human herpesvirus (HHV)-6 and HHV-7 infections in pregnant women.

BACKGROUND Both intrauterine and sexual transmission of human herpesvirus (HHV)-6 and HHV-7 have been suggested, and congenital HHV-6 infection does occur. We prospectively studied HHV-6 and HHV-7 at multiple sites in pregnant women to determine the characteristics of these viruses at repeated time points. METHODS Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), cervical secretions, placenta, and cord blood were tested by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse-transcriptase PCR for HHV-6 and HHV-7 and by quantitative PCR for HHV-6. A control group of women was also studied. RESULTS We enrolled 104 pregnant and 31 control women. HHV-7 DNA was detected more frequently in PBMCs from pregnant women (66.9%) than HHV-6 DNA (22.2%; P<.0001), but both were found at low rates in cervical swabs (HHV-7 vs. HHV-6 DNA, 3.0% vs. 7.5%; P=.19). Pregnant women with HHV-6 DNA present in cervical swabs had a greater odds of having HHV-6 DNA present in the blood than did pregnant women with negative cervical swabs (odds ratio, 12.9; P=.0009). HHV-6 reactivation or reinfection was suggested in 17% of pregnant women. One placental sample had active HHV-6 replication. CONCLUSIONS Detection of HHV-6 DNA in cervical secretions is associated with HHV-6 DNA in PBMC samples. Active placental infection along with congenital HHV-6 infection was identified.
Proposed protocols for interference managements and interference cancellation with AAF relay in D2D communication

This paper proposes cooperative Device to Device (D2D) communication which uses a cooperative relay technique; that used to reduce the interference; with conventional underlay D2D communication, where a relay is chosen from Cellular Users. Therefore, two proper methods for interference management and cancellation using the AAF strategy in D2D communication with Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) will be suggested which are not clarified until now. From simulation results; we can conclude that by using a relay with a D2D channel in the presence of AWGN and flat fading, the BER will be decreased at low SNR levels. Moreover, D2D link throughput will be increased by 20%. Also comparison between the proposed technique and another one will be made, where the proposed reduce BER by 9 dB. Also, best location of the relay will be chosen. Moreover, the effect of changing D2D pairs number on the outage ratio links will be studied. It can be seen that when the D2D number equal to 20 pairs, the outage ratio will be reduced to 0.002.
Informational content in historical CTA performance

The past decade has witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of public commodity funds as stand-alone investments or as additions to traditional stock and bond portfolios. Research has shown that for investors in stock and bond mutual funds often make selections based on historical return performance. Academic research also suggests that this investor bias toward investment in funds with high historical return results in public commodity funds created primarily from Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) who have had high pre-offering return performance. Previous research concentrates on persistence in pro forma commodity fund returns and post-offering returns. In this paper, the persistence of risk and return performance among Commodity Trading Advisors is assessed. In the following section, we review previous academic studies’ results on performance persistence in managed futures (public commodity funds as well as direct investment with CTAs). In section III, the data and methodology are presented. Results are discussed in section IV. The results of this study support previous research on public commodity funds which question the benefit of using past CTA return performance to forecast of future public commodity fund return. The results of this study show, however, that the lack of return persistence noted in previous studies may be because public commodity funds are created from CTAs with high risk-adjusted ex post returns.
A theory of interdependent demand for a communications service

The utility that a subscriber derives from a communications service increases as others join the system. This is a classic case of external economies in consumption and has fundamental importance for the economic analysis of the communications industry. This paper analyzes the economic theory of this kind of interdependent demand. We begin by defining "equilibrium user set" as a set of users consistent with all individuals' (users and nonusers) maximizing their utilities. There are typically multiple equilibria at any given price, and which equilibrium is attained depends partly on the static model, partly on the initial disequilibrium conditions, and partly on the disequilibrium adjustment process. Some general properties of equilibrium user sets are derived. Then we turn our attention to some specific models based on simple characterizations of communities of interest. The implications for pricing are discussed, with special reference to the problem of starting up a new communications service (e.g., a video communications service).