Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Water Quality Analysis At Javary Lake,Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Historically, Brazil has suffered from a lack of sanitation infrastructure. Only 42% of all domestic sewage is collected and less than one-third of the sewage collected receives any treatment before final discharge into water bodies. However, these are just the country’s average numbers. In most small Brazilian towns the sanitary situation is even worse. This two-year study analyzed the water quality in Javary Lake, which is the major leisure site for a small tourist municipality located in the mountain region of Rio de Janeiro state, in southeastern Brazil. This water resource has been progressively polluted over many decades due to raw domestic sewage discharges from local residences. In the preliminary phase, we analyzed various parameters in water samples collected from 10 selected points along the shoreline, following the Standard Methods procedures: pH; conductivity; dissolved oxygen (DO); salinity; dissolved solids; biochemical oxygen demand (BOD); chemical oxygen demand (COD); and nitrates. The preliminary results confirmed that Javary Lake is highly eutrophized and polluted with organic materials. In the second phase, we analyzed the nature of the organic materials through coliform bacteria analysis. The results indicated that at 7 out of the 10 selected points the water quality was poor because of high raw sewage content. In fact, the dissolved oxygen levels were similar to those found in facultative lagoons, a type of stabilization pond commonly used for biological wastewater treatment, which have to be drained every 20 to 30 years to maintain their treatment capability. Javary Lake is intensely used by tourists and the local population, for fishing, swimming and boating, among other recreational activities, as well as for animal Water Resources Management VI 297 www.witpress. com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 145, © 2011 WIT Press doi:10.2495/WRM110251 watering. The overall findings of this study highlight that Javary Lake poses a serious threat to the health of tourists and the local community due to its continuous process of degradation and sludge sedimentation, which leads to cyanobacteria proliferation and anaerobiosis.
A generalized approach to optimal hedging with option contracts

In this paper, we develop a theoretical model in which a firm hedges a spot position using options in the presence of both quantity (production) and basis risks. Our optimal hedge ratio is fairly general, in that the dependence structure is modeled through a copula function representing the quantiles of the hedged position, and hence any quantile risk measure can be employed. We study the sensitivity of the exercise price which minimizes the risk of the hedged portfolio to the relevant parameters, and we find that the subjective risk aversion of the firm does not play any role. The only trade-off is between the effectiveness and cost of the hedging strategy.
Resource drag in an endogenous growth context: a panel data-based estimation with cross-sectional dependences and structural breaks

The article develops a resource drag model based on the endogenous growth theory, and provides fresh empirical evidence to estimate the drags for China by using the recently developed panel model with both cross-sectional dependences and structural breaks. The results indicate that there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship between GDP and its inputs, and both the land and water resources have significantly positive impacts on GDP except from some provinces after allowing for cross-sectional heterogeneities and structure breaks. In addition, the study employs the common correlated effects estimators to investigate the resource drags at both the pooled and individual levels. The result shows that the aggregate drag reduces annual growth rate by about 0.016 percentage points in China as a whole while there exist significant differences in both these disaggregate and aggregate drags for the province-groups, suggesting there is a fair amount of geographic clustering for them.
On the Performance of Cooperative Relaying Spectrum-Sharing Systems with Collaborative Distributed Beamforming

In this paper, we use joint distributed beamforming and cooperative relaying in cognitive radio relay networks in an effort to enhance the spectrum efficiency and improve the performance of the cognitive (secondary) system. In particular, we consider a spectrum sharing system where a set of potential relays are employed to help a pair of secondary users in the presence of a licensed (primary) user. Among the available relays, only the reliable ones participate in the beamforming process, where the beamformer weights are obtained based on a linear optimization method. We investigate two well-known strategies, namely, selection decode-and-forward (SDF) and amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying in conjunction with distributed optimal beamforming. However, given the complexity of the performance analysis with optimal beamforming, we use zero forcing beamforming (ZFB), and compare both approaches through simulations. In this context, for SDF, we derive expressions for the probability density function (PDF) of the received signal-to-interference noise ratio (SINR) at the relays as well as at the secondary destination. As for the AF scheme, we obtain the exact expression for the cumulative distribution function (CDF) and the moment generating function (MGF) of the equivalent end-to-end SNR at the secondary destination. For both schemes, we derive closed-form expressions for the outage probability and bit error rate (BER) over independent and identically distributed Rayleigh fading channels for binary phase shift keying (BPSK) and M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) schemes. Numerical results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed scheme in improving the outage and BER performance of the secondary system while limiting the interference to the primary system. In addition, the results show the effectiveness of the combination of the cooperative diversity and distributed beamforming in compensating for the loss in the secondary system's performance due to the primary user's co-channel interference (CCI).
Education and women: about castes, marriage markets and the illusion of destructuralism

Whenever it comes to education in general and of women in India and everywhere else in the world in specific, this topic is coupled with very high expectations and enthusiastic statements. Education seems to provide the solution for all problems that arise on the social and individual level of a society. Such expectations on education of women, especially in India, are related to the so called "development of the nation", to the political and economic empowerment of women, to the improvement of public health and wealth etc. But education, whether for men or women, seen from a social point of view, is not as innocuous as the songs of praise suggest. In the contrary: It can have and has far-reaching consequences in many respects and these consequences are neither assessable in advance nor easy controllable. [In her article which is based on a lecture held at the 'Conference on International Women's Day - Contemporary Indian Women: Celebrating their Spirit and Success' March 2003 in Hyderabad, India, March 2003, the author points out] some social and structural constellations which form the context for any engagement for education and which also may contribute to unintended problems. (DIPF/Orig.)
Maritime legislation: new areas for safety of life at sea

This study reveals areas where IMO regulations of safety of life at sea can be improved upon. After examination of 5389 mortality and 3559 accident cases of UK seamen and 6878 fatalities of worldwide seamen, it finds fatalities due to personal accidents on board ship constitute ∼90% of all mortality cases. Therefore, prevention of personal accidents should be given a higher priority. It reveals also that accidents involving coastal (domestic) ferries were another concern in the safety of life in shipping, e.g. in 1996 alone more than 2562 fatalities occurred in this sector. As a case study, the nationalities of 364 deceased seamen in bulk carrier disasters (1990–1998) are identified. Fatalities to British and worldwide seamen are based on the data obtained from various sources. However, fatalities to seamen working on board open registry ships are the best estimation, based on the information available to the authors.
The Market Price of Fiscal Uncertainty

Recent fiscal interventions have raised concerns about US public debt, future distortionary tax pressure, and long-run growth potential. We explore the long-run implications of public financing policies aimed at short-run stabilization when: (i) agents are sensitive to model uncertainty, as in Hansen and Sargent (2007), and (ii) growth is endogenous, as in Romer (1990). We find that countercyclical deficit policies promoting short-run stabilization reduce the price of model uncertainty at the cost of significantly increasing the amount of long-run risk. Ultimately these tax policies depress innovation and long-run growth and may produce welfare losses.
Russia's politics of uncertainty

Introduction: the politics of uncertainty 1. The negotiating table 2. Post-imperial politics: the national republics 3. Patronage politics: Tatarstan and Sakha 4. The conservative borderlands: Krasnodar krai 5. Regional variations: Perm and Tomsk 6. Consensus versus pluralist politics 7. St Petersburg: a democratic alternative? 8. The reassertion of executive power 9. Facing the electorate.
Determining self‐incompatibility genotypes in Belgian wild cherries

The self‐incompatibility (S) genotypes of a collection of 65 Belgian accessions of wild cherry, selected within two populations and planted in a seed orchard, were determined using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods. Initially, DNA extracts were amplified with consensus primers that amplify across the second intron of the S‐ribonuclease gene which shows considerable length polymorphism. The provisional genotypes deduced were checked with the appropriate allele‐specific primers for the known alleles S1 to S16. Putative new alleles were subjected to PCR with consensus primers amplifying across the first intron. Six new alleles, S17 to S22, were thus indicated on the basis of the estimated lengths of the first and second intron PCR products. Examples of these alleles were partially sequenced and were indeed mutually distinct and different from the known alleles. The incompatibility genotypes of all 65 accessions were determined and one triploid individual was found. Seventeen alleles were detected in all. Allele frequencies differed between samples and the expected total number of alleles in the underlying populations was estimated. The wild cherry populations differed significantly with respect to allelic frequencies from sweet cherry cultivars; alleles S4 and S5, which are moderately frequent in sweet cherry, were absent from the wild cherry accessions. The knowledge of the S genotypes will be useful for studying the gene flow within the seed orchard and these approaches should also be informative in wild populations.
The Necessity of Burn Treatment Units

Aim of study to identify, describe the patterns first 950 burn patients treated in Konya Education and Research Hospital Burn Unit. First consecutive 950 patients with burn injury hospitalized included in this study. The patient\'s records reviewed for this study.Patient\'s ratio male to female is 1.64. The mean age was 30.52p22. 54 years; range was 0-94 years. Scald was the most frequent caused burn (51.2%). Electrical burns were the most common cause of full-thickness burns(%82.8). The patients 77.2% treated conservatively with burn dressing and them 22.8% treated surgically. The mean hospitalization time is 13.48p6. 48 days and the mean burned TBSA 14.02p6. 2%. The mortality rate was 2% for the study period and lastly cost of treatment burns injury Turkish Liras 1.345 per patient. Burn unit should be established in developing countries. Because the burn unit do not have in hospitals, burn patients are forced to be treated, other clinics and unsuitable conditions for burn wounds and the staff have not been received training in burn wounds and treatment of burn injury. The most of the burned patients can be treated with advanced burn dressing conservatively and lastly treatments of patients with burns injury are very expensive according to the treatments other diseases.
The Lessons from the Banking Panics in the United States in the 1930s for the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008

In this paper we revisit the debate over the role of the banking panics in 1930-33 in precipitating the Great Contraction. The issue hinges over whether the panics were illiquidity shocks and hence in support of Friedman and Schwartz (1963) greatly exacerbated the recession which had begun in 1929, or whether they largely reflected insolvency in response to the recession caused by other forces. Based on a VAR and new data on the sources of bank failures in the 1930s from Richardson (2007), we find that illiquidity shocks played a key role in explaining the bank failures during the Friedman and Schwartz banking panic windows. In the recent crisis the Federal Reserve learned the Friedman and Schwartz lesson from the banking panics of the 1930s of conducting expansionary open market policy to meet demands for liquidity. Unlike the 1930s the deepest problem of the recent crisis was not illiquidity but insolvency and especially the fear of insolvency of counterparties.
Lessors' recovery risk management capability

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to verify recovery risk management capabilities by lessors. It tests several hypotheses and finds out interesting specific results for lessors. Design/methodology/approach - The approach is empirical: two different database of leasing contracts are analysed with econometric methodologies. Findings - There is clear evidence that: lessors are Research limitations/implications - The data used are large enough, but come from institutions concentrated in Italy. Future research could be extended to other relevant countries. Practical implications - Results presented are verified in leasing companies which made a limited use of rating systems and credit risk model: they have been achieved by the continuous improvements of traditional lending practices. The development of modern reliable systems can enhance risk management capabilities; our findings can help building more structured and advanced credit risk management tools. Originality/value - The paper adds to the literature in the sense that gives clear evidence of a neglected but important fact of real world credit markets: financial intermediaries have the capability of properly assessing risk components and manage loss given default (LGD) in order to control overall credit risk.
Immunocytes and Activated Stellate Cells in Pancreatic Fibrogenesis

Introduction and Aims Chronic pancreatitis is a progressive chronic inflammatory disease characterized by irreversible destruction of exocrine pancreatic tissue and extensive fibrosis. Excessive alcohol consumption has been identified as the main etiologic factor of this disease in the Western world. Idiopathic pancreatitis accounts for ≈30% of cases. An autoimmune mechanism may be involved in some patients, but this concept has not been generally accepted as a new clinical entity. The purpose of this work was to investigate the pathogenesis of pancreatic fibrosis and to establish the role of immunocytes and activated stellate cells in chronic pancreatitis, which was categorized into three groups: chronic alcoholic pancreatitis (AP), chronic idiopathic pancreatitis (IP), and chronic pancreatitis in the presence of pancreatic cancer (CA). Methodology Fifty-one pancreatic tissue samples were studied histopathologically and immunohistochemically (AP, 16 samples; IP, 12; CA, 12; and samples of tissue with apparently normal pancreatic histology, 11). The following immunohistochemical stains were used: &agr;-smooth muscle antibody, desmin, and synaptophysin, as markers of activated stellate cells; and laminin, fibronectin, and collagen IV, as markers of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Immunocytes were stained with antibody to LCA, CD68 antibody (macrophages), and CD8 antibody (natural killer T cell subset), and mast cells were examined using the Giemsa method. Positively stained macrophages, lymphocytes, and mast cells were counted in three high-power fields of a light microscope. The immunoreactivity of activated stellate cells and ECM proteins was assessed by a semiquantitative method (0, lack of positive staining; 5, numerous cells with strong positive immunostaining). Results were assessed statistically. Results We found no statistical differences between cases of AP, IP, and CA in terms of total lymphocyte count (mean numbers: 416, 418, and 407 per three high-power fields, respectively). The percentage of CD8+ T cells in IP was statistically higher than that in AP. The macrophage count was significantly higher in the IP group than in the AP and CA groups. The mast cell count was markedly higher in the IP group than in the other groups. The stellate cell markers &agr;-smooth muscle antibody and desmin showed slightly higher immunoreactivity in IP. The immunopositivity for synaptophysin was also higher in the IP group. There was a positive correlation between &agr;-smooth muscle antibody, desmin, and synaptophysin expression and the degree of fibrosis. ECM protein markers showed no statistically significant differences between the three groups. Conclusion Results of this work show that a significant number of IP cases might have an autoimmune etiology. There was a positive correlation between activated stellate cell marker expression and the degree of fibrosis.
Inflation in Uganda: Lessons From Two Decades

This paper investigates whether or not the factors influencing inflation in Uganda have changed over the last decade. The study applies the vector auto regression (VAR) methodology to establish how the exchange rate, foreign price, money supply, output and interest changes cause inflation in Uganda. An exchange rate pass through equation and an extended model are estimated using the ordinary least squa res, recursive least squares, and the full information maximum likelihood estimation techniques. The results indicate that variations in money supply, output and exchange rate are vital in explaining Uganda's inflation episodes. The changes in foreign prices affect the domestic price via the exchange rate. Uganda has achieved low and stable inflation since the mid-1990s notably due to government commitment to policy reforms. The achievement is the first of its kind in Uganda since 1980 and must be nur tured to avoid future slippages. Learning from our history, this will require deepening institutional reforms, maintain commitment and prudent management by the authori ties and strengthening policies for the structural transformation of the economy.
Image-based dual energy CT using optimized precorrection functions: A practical new approach of material decomposition in image domain.

Dual energy CT (DECT) measures the object of interest using two different x-ray spectra in order to provide energy-selective CT images or in order to get the material decomposition of the object. Today, two decomposition techniques are known. Image-based DECT uses linear combinations of reconstructed images to get an image that contains material-selective DECT information. Rawdata-based DECT correctly treats the available information by passing the rawdata through a decomposition function that uses information from both rawdata sets to create DECT specific (e.g., material-selective) rawdata. Then the image reconstruction yields material-selective images. Rawdata-based image decomposition generally obtains better image quality; however, it needs matched rawdata sets. This means that physically the same lines need to be measured for each spectrum. In today's CT scanners, this is not the case. The authors propose a new image-based method to combine mismatched rawdata sets for DECT information. The method allows for implementation in a scanner's rawdata precorrection pipeline or may be used in image domain. They compare the ability of the three methods (image-based standard method, proposed method, and rawdata-based standard method) to perform material decomposition and to provide monochromatic images. Thereby they use typical clinical and preclinical scanner arrangements including circular cone-beam CT and spiral CT. The proposed method is found to perform better than the image-based standard method and is inferior to the rawdata-based method. However, the proposed method can be used with the frequent case of mismatched data sets that exclude rawdata-based methods.
The impact of IL-6 and IL-28B gene polymorphisms on treatment outcome of chronic hepatitis C infection among intravenous drug users in Croatia

Background Several genes and their single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with either spontaneous resolution of hepatitis C infection or better treatment-induced viral clearance. We tested a cohort of intravenous drug users (IVDU) diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) for treatment response and its association with the SNPs in the interleukin-6 (rs1800795-IL6) and the interleukin-28B (rs12979860-IL28B) genes. Methods The study included 110 Croatian IVDU positive for anti-HCV antibody. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based approach. Patients were treated by standard pegylated-interferon/ribavirin and followed throughout a period of four years, during which sustained virological response (SVR) was determined. All data were analysed with statistical package SPSS 19.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA) and PLINK v1.07 software. Results Patients showed a significantly better response to treatment according to the number of copies of the C allele carried at rs1800795-IL6 (P = 0.034). All but one of the patients with CC genotype achieved SVR (93%), whereas the response rate of patients with GG genotype was 64%. The association of rs1800795-IL6 with SVR status remained significant after further adjustment for patients’ age, fibrosis staging, and viral genotype (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.16–4.68, P = 0.019). Distributions of allele frequencies at the locus rs12979860-IL28B among the study cohort and the underlying general population were suggestive of a protective effect of CC genotype in acquiring chronic hepatitis C in the Croatian IVDU population. Discussion The rs1800795-IL6 polymorphism is associated with positive response to treatment in IVDU patients positive for HCV infection. A protective role of rs12979860-IL28B CC genotype in acquiring chronic hepatitis C is suggested for Croatian IVDU population.
Smart cities and ageing population - Implications for waste management in the Czech Republic

European towns and cities are facing substantial changes in demographic and socioeconomic structure of their inhabitants. Demographic changes mainly linked with population ageing, i.e. increasing number and proportion of older people in the society, increasing number of single person households and decreasing number of inhabitants in some cities and regions introduce new challenges for smart cities to tackle changing condition of the public services provision. Especially waste management seems to be affected by these changes significantly. Our research aimed to evaluate how demographic variables influence the municipal solid waste production and propose a matching adaptation policy at the local level. Although results confirmed that demographic variables explain only 4% of the variation of municipal solid waste production in the Czech Republic, demographic development is the reality and the adaptation policy should be define to minimize costs of the adaptation. Not only organization of the waste management services in municipalities, but also the personal policy of the waste handling companies should stay in the center of the interest.