Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of public infraestructure in market development in rural Peru

This Study provides a conceptual framework to study the impact of rural infrastructure investment in market development and in the enhancement of income generating opportunities for the poor in rural Peru. The study uses descriptive methods and regression analysis together with relatively new impact evaluation techniques, like propensity score matching, to understand the causal paths through which the access to new or improved infrastructure services affect the livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes of rural households. The data sources included in this study include regional time series data, several cross-section household level data sets coming from rural representative Living Standard Measurement Surveys; a household panel data set coming from the same source, together with specialized surveys developed by the author. The analysis shows that there are important complementarities in rural infrastructure investment. That is, even if any particular infrastructure investment (related to roads, electricity, telecommunication, water, or sanitation services) may be subject to diminishing returns, if done in isolation, this effect can be overcome if it is done in combination with other investments. In this way it is possible to get a sustained growth effect on rural incomes from infrastructure investment. The study shows that infrastructure investments reduce transaction costs and enhances the opportunities for spatial arbitrage, paving the way for improving market efficiency. However, the study warns that efficiency and equity gains may not occur simultaneously, because those that are better off in rural areas may obtain higher returns to infrastructure investments because of a larger private asset base or because of a better access to other public infrastructure.
Quantifying the energetic contributions of desolvation and π-electron density during translesion DNA synthesis

This report examines the molecular mechanism by which high-fidelity DNA polymerases select nucleotides during the replication of an abasic site, a non-instructional DNA lesion. This was accomplished by synthesizing several unique 5-substituted indolyl 2′-deoxyribose triphosphates and defining their kinetic parameters for incorporation opposite an abasic site to interrogate the contributions of π-electron density and solvation energies. In general, the Kd, app values for hydrophobic non-natural nucleotides are ∼10-fold lower than those measured for isosteric hydrophilic analogs. In addition, kpol values for nucleotides that contain less π-electron densities are slower than isosteric analogs possessing higher degrees of π-electron density. The differences in kinetic parameters were used to quantify the energetic contributions of desolvation and π-electron density on nucleotide binding and polymerization rate constant. We demonstrate that analogs lacking hydrogen-bonding capabilities act as chain terminators of translesion DNA replication while analogs with hydrogen bonding functional groups are extended when paired opposite an abasic site. Collectively, the data indicate that the efficiency of nucleotide incorporation opposite an abasic site is controlled by energies associated with nucleobase desolvation and π-electron stacking interactions whereas elongation beyond the lesion is achieved through a combination of base-stacking and hydrogen-bonding interactions.
The 2011 flood event in the Red River Basin: Causes, assessment and damages

The 2011 Red River flood event was the third largest event since the operation of major flood control structures in the Province of Manitoba (exceeded by 1997 and 2009), and the fifth largest on record (including 1800s events). However, the flooding experienced on the Red River in 2011 has only an estimated 22-year (James Avenue) to 58-year (Grand Forks, ND) return period. Flooding in 2011 was the result of the second highest soil moisture index ever recorded (in 2010) prior to freeze up, lower-than-normal winter temperatures (causing significant frost penetration), high winter flows and above-average snow cover across the basin. The flood had the potential to be much more severe had it not been for favourable weather conditions within the basin during the spring of 2011. Below-normal precipitation, warm temperatures resulting in high evaporative losses from saturated soils, the non-coincident peak flows of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, and lower-than-anticipated tributary inflows between Emerson, MB, and the City of Winnipeg mitigated the potential flood peak. The floodway had been expanded after the 1997 flood and further upgrades and maintenance following the 2009 flood allowed an additional 141.6 m3/s of flow to be diverted around the city, resulting in approximately a 0.38-m reduction in the James Avenue water level. The 2011 flood resulted in the fifth highest floodway peak on record, with flood control works in both the Red and Assiniboine systems estimated to have reduced James Avenue stage in the City of Winnipeg by 3.5 m. The majority of data presented in this paper have been taken from the Manitoba 2011 Flood Review Task Force Report and the Red River Floodway Operation Report.
Evolution in random fitness landscapes: the infinite sites model

We consider the evolution of an asexually reproducing population in an uncorrelated random fitness landscape in the limit of infinite genome size, which implies that each mutation generates a new fitness value drawn from a probability distribution g(w). This is the finite population version of Kingman’s house of cards model (Kingman 1978 J. Appl. Probab. 15 1). In contrast to Kingman’s work, the focus here is on unbounded distributions g(w) which lead to an indefinite growth of the population fitness. The model is solved analytically in the limit of infinite population size and simulated numerically for finite N. When the genome-wide mutation probability U is small, the long-time behavior of the model reduces to a point process of fixation events, which is referred to as a diluted record process (DRP). The DRP is similar to the standard record process except that a new record candidate (a number that exceeds all previous entries in the sequence) is accepted only with a certain probability that depends on the values of the current record and the candidate. We develop a systematic analytic approximation scheme for the DRP. At finite U the fitness frequency distribution of the population decomposes into a stationary part due to mutations and a traveling wave component due to selection, which is shown to imply a reduction of the mean fitness by a factor of 1−U compared to the limit.
Measure-Valued Solutions for a Differential Game Related to Fish Harvesting

In this paper we consider a model for the harvesting of marine resources, described by an elliptic equation. Since the cost functionals have sublinear growth with respect to the pointwise intensity of fishing effort, optimal solutions are in general measure-valued. For the control problem in one space dimension, we prove the existence of optimal strategies. Uniqueness is established within a class of measures with small total mass. We also study the differential game, modeling the presence of several competing fishing companies, and prove the existence of a Nash equilibrium solution. This is obtained as a fixed point of a continuous transformation in a space of positive Radon measures.
Information bazaar: a contextual evaluation

The rise in the number of smart devices has created a large ecosystem centred on users? personal information and online activities. Numerous smartphone applications and social networking sites harvest and catalogue users' personal information, enabling brokers such as Google and Facebook to provide a platform for advertisers to use this information for targeted advertising. Despite the fact that the users of these services are at the heart of this ecosystem, there has been little effort in understanding individuals' perception of the value of their personal data in different contexts and situations. In this work, we present the results of our large-scale, contextual study over ten days that used smartphones to collect data on user activities, location, and companionship, as well as the amount of money that individuals attach to such information. Our results indicate that people can be re-markably sensitive to situational cues and also be prone to valuation biases. This study represents a first step towards providing insights into the usefulness of a marketplace for information, where users, or their agents, can freely decide to auction off various pieces of their information within established contexts.
Ellenberg Indicator Values for the vascular flora alien to Italy

Domina, G. , Galasso, G. , Bartolucci, F. & Guarino, R. : Ellenberg Indicator Values for the vascular flora alien to Italy. — Fl. Medit. 28: 53-61. 2018. — ISSN: 1120-4052 printed, 2240-4538
14. Diabetes Care in the Hospital

Recommendations c Perform an A1C for all patients with diabetes or hyperglycemia admitted to the hospital if not performed in the prior 3 months. B c Insulin therapy should be initiated for treatment of persistent hyperglycemia starting at a threshold $180 mg/dL (10.0 mmol/L). Once insulin therapy is started, a target glucose range of 140–180 mg/dL (7.8–10.0 mmol/L) is recommended for the majority of critically ill patients A and noncritically ill patients. C c More stringent goals, such as ,140 mg/dL (,7.8 mmol/L), may be appropriate for selected patients, as long as this can be achieved without significant hypoglycemia. C c Intravenous insulin infusions should be administered using validated written or computerized protocols that allow for predefined adjustments in the insulin infusion rate based on glycemic fluctuations and insulin dose. E c Basal insulin or a basal plus bolus correction insulin regimen is the preferred treatment for noncritically ill patients with poor oral intake or those who are taking nothing by mouth. An insulin regimen with basal, nutritional, and correction components is the preferred treatment for noncritically ill hospitalized patients with good nutritional intake. A c Sole use of sliding scale insulin in the inpatient hospital setting is strongly discouraged. A c A hypoglycemia management protocol should be adopted and implemented by each hospital or hospital system. A plan for preventing and treating hypoglycemia should be established for each patient. Episodes of hypoglycemia in the hospital should be documented in the medical record and tracked. E c The treatment regimen should be reviewed and changed as necessary to prevent further hypoglycemia when a blood glucose value is ,70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L). C c There should be a structured discharge plan tailored to the individual patient with diabetes. B
Stride Counting in Human Walking and Walking Distance Estimation Using Insole Sensors

This paper proposes a novel method of estimating walking distance based on a precise counting of walking strides using insole sensors. We use an inertial triaxial accelerometer and eight pressure sensors installed in the insole of a shoe to record walkers’ movement data. The data is then transmitted to a smartphone to filter out noise and determine stance and swing phases. Based on phase information, we count the number of strides traveled and estimate the movement distance. To evaluate the accuracy of the proposed method, we created two walking databases on seven healthy participants and tested the proposed method. The first database, which is called the short distance database, consists of collected data from all seven healthy subjects walking on a 16 m distance. The second one, named the long distance database, is constructed from walking data of three healthy subjects who have participated in the short database for an 89 m distance. The experimental results show that the proposed method performs walking distance estimation accurately with the mean error rates of 4.8% and 3.1% for the short and long distance databases, respectively. Moreover, the maximum difference of the swing phase determination with respect to time is 0.08 s and 0.06 s for starting and stopping points of swing phases, respectively. Therefore, the stride counting method provides a highly precise result when subjects walk.
Association Between Necropsy Evidence of Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation and Hemostatic Variables Before Death in Horses With Colic

Background Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is frequent in horses with severe gastrointestinal disorders. Postmortem studies have found fibrin microthrombi in tissues of these horses, but studies relating these histopathological findings with antemortem hemostatic data are lacking. Hypothesis Antemortem classification of coagulopathy is related to the presence and severity of fibrin deposits observed postmortem in horses with severe gastrointestinal disorders. Animals Antemortem hemostatic profile data and postmortem tissue samples (kidney, lung, liver) from 48 horses with colic. Methods Tissue samples were stained with phosphotungstic acid hematoxylin and immunohistochemical methods for histological examination. A fibrin score (grades 0–4) was assigned for each technique, tissue and horse, as well as the presence or absence of DIC at postmortem examination. D‐dimer concentration, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and antithrombin (AT) activity, as well as the clinicopathological evidence of coagulopathy, were determined from plasma samples collected 0–24 hours before death or euthanasia. Histologic and clinicopathologic data from the same horses were compared retrospectively. Results No association was found between antemortem classification of coagulopathy and postmortem diagnosis of DIC based on tissue fibrin deposition. None of the hemostatic parameters was significantly different between horses with or without postmortem diagnosis of DIC. There was no association between horses with fibrin in tissues or different cut‐offs for D‐dimer concentration and postmortem evidence of DIC. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Abnormalities of the routine clotting profile, including D‐dimer concentration, were not useful in predicting histologic evidence of DIC at necropsy in horses with severe gastrointestinal disorders.
A Unique Combination of Aerodynamic and Surface Properties Contribute to Surface Cooling in Restored Wetlands of the Sacramento‐San Joaquin Delta, California

Land use change and management affect climate by altering both the biogeochemical and biophysical interactions between the land and atmosphere. Whereas climate policy often emphasizes the biogeochemical impact of land use change, biophysical impacts, including changes in reflectance, energy partitioning among sensible and latent heat exchange, and surface roughness, can attenuate or enhance biogeochemical effects at local to regional scales. This study analyzes 3 years (2015–2017) of turbulent flux and meteorological data across three contrasting wetland restoration sites and one agricultural site, colocated in the Sacramento‐San Joaquin Delta, California, USA, to understand if the biophysical impacts of freshwater wetland restoration can be expected to attenuate or enhance the potential biogeochemical benefits. We show that despite absorbing more net radiation, restored wetlands have the potential to cool daytime surface temperature by up to 5.1 °C, as compared to a dominant drained agricultural land use. Wetland canopy structure largely determines the magnitude of surface temperature cooling, with wetlands that contain areas of open water leading to enhanced nighttime latent heat flux and reduced diurnal temperate range. Daytime surface cooling could be important in ameliorating physiological stress associated with hotter and drier conditions and could also promote boundary layer feedbacks at the local to regional scale. With a renewed focus on the mitigation and adaptation potential of natural and working lands, we must better understand the role of biophysical changes, especially in novel land use transitions like wetland restoration.
A comparative analysis and implementation of various PLL techniques applied to single-phase grids

The scope of this work is to find the best approach to control advanced inverters used to connect electric vehicles to the grid. Phase-locked Loop (PLL) is a grid voltage phase detection that makes use of an orthogonal voltage to lock the grid phase. This method is suitable for both single and three phase systems, although in single-phase, because they have less information, more advanced systems are required. The easiest way to obtain the orthogonal voltage system is using a transport delay block to introduce a phase shift of 90 degrees with respect to the fundamental frequency of the grid voltage. This method is known as Synchronous Reference Frame PLL (SRF-PLL). The use of inverse Park transformation is also possible. To lower the complexity and increasing the filtering of the output signals, methods using adaptive filters are a good alternative. For this approach, the use of a second order generalized integrator (SOGI) or Adaptive Notch filter combined with PLL, Enhanced PLL (EPLL) and Quadrature PLL (QPLL), leads to satisfactory results.
Effect of treatment with phytosterols in three herds with porcine respiratory disease complex.

This case study includes three pig production systems belonging to two companies in Spain. Mortality, percent culls, average daily gain (ADG), and feed efficiency in Production Systems One and Two were incorporated into a database program and analyzed using statistical process control (SPC) techniques to assess changes in performance before and after phytosterols, natural substances that act as immunomodulators, were added to the feed. Inmunicin Maymo (Maymo Laboratories SA, Barcelona, Spain), a commercial phytosterol product, was administered in feed during the nursery and finishing periods, from 4 weeks before until 4 weeks after the predicted date of an outbreak of porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC). In Production System Three, data obtained for batches treated or not treated with Inmunicin Maymo were compared using a one-way ANOVA, with the level of significance set at . 05. In all three production systems, finisher mortality and percent culls were lower and production parameters were best when the immunomodulator was applied. Differences were statistically significant for all parameters evaluated, except feed conversion ratio, when assessed using SPC criteria in Systems One and Two and one-way ANOVA in System Three. Phytosterols may be useful to control endemic PRDC under field conditions.
Study of a vehicle conversion from internal combustion engine to electric drive

A conversion of an internal combustion engine vehicle (ICE) to an electric drive vehicle (EV) was a project carried out at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER). This project has lead to valuable conclusions about the ICE to EV conversion, its costs and benefits. The whole process of conversion will be presented in this article, including the applied regulations, total labor and components expenses. Finally, an analysis of the conversion cost-benefit ratio has been done, taking into account lower fuel prices, maintenance costs, battery life etc. The comparison was done between an EV and a diesel ICE vehicle.
Tough Love and Intergenerational Altruism

This chapter develops and studies a tough love model of intergenerational altruism. We model tough love by modifying the Barro-Becker standard altruism model in two ways. First, the child’s discount factor is endogenously determined, so lower childhood consumption leads to a higher discount factor later in life. Second, the parent evaluates the child’s lifetime utility with a constant high discount factor. Our model predicts that parental transfers will fall when the child’s discount factor falls. This is in contrast with the standard altruism model, which predicts that parental transfers are independent of exogenous changes in the child’s discount factor.
E-Ring 8-Isoprostanes Are Agonists at EP2- and EP4-Prostanoid Receptors on Human Airway Smooth Muscle Cells and Regulate the Release of Colony-Stimulating Factors by Activating cAMP-Dependent Protein Kinase

8-Isoprostanes are bioactive lipid mediators formed via the nonenzymatic peroxidation of arachidonic acid by free radicals and reactive oxygen species. However, their cognate receptors, biological actions, and signaling pathways are poorly studied. Here, we report the effect of a variety of E- and Fα-ring 8-isoprostanes on the release of granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) from human airway smooth muscle (HASM) cells stimulated with interleukin-1β (IL-1β). The elaboration of GM-CSF and G-CSF by IL-1β was inhibited and augmented, respectively, in a concentration-dependent manner by 8-iso-prostaglandin (PG) E1 and 8-iso-PGE2, but not by 8-iso-PGF1α, 8-iso-PGF2α, and 8-iso-PGF3α. AH 6809 (6-isopropoxy-9-oxoxanthine-2-carboxylic acid), an EP1-/EP2-/DP-receptor blocking drug, antagonized the inhibitory effect of 8-iso-PGE1 and 8-iso-PGE2 on GM-CSF output with an affinity consistent with an interaction at prostanoid receptors of the EP2-subtype. In contrast, the facilitation by 8-iso-PGE1 and 8-iso-PGE2 of G-CSF release was unaffected by AH 6809 and the selective EP4-receptor antagonist L-161,982 [4′-[3-butyl-5-oxo-1-(2-trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-1,5-dihydro-[1,2,4]triazol-4-ylmethyl]-biphenyl-2-sulfonic acid (3-methyl-thiophene-2-carbonyl)-amide]. However, when used in combination, AH 6809 and L-161,982 displaced 5-fold to the right the 8-iso-PGE and 8-iso-PGE concentration-response curves. The opposing 1effect of E-ring 28-isoprostanes on GM-CSF and G-CSF release was mimicked by 8-bromo-cAMP and abolished in cells infected with an adenovirus vector encoding an inhibitor protein of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). Together, these data demonstrate that E-ring 8-isoprostanes regulate the secretion of GM-CSF and G-CSF from HASM cells by a cAMP- and PKA-dependent mechanism. Moreover, antagonist studies revealed that 8-iso-PGE1 and 8-iso-PGE2 act solely via EP2 -receptors to inhibit GM-CSF release, whereas both EP2- and EP4-receptor subtypes positively regulate G-CSF output.
Diagnostic utility of abdominal ultrasonography in dogs with chronic diarrhea.

BACKGROUND Chronic diarrhea is common in dogs and has many causes. Ultrasonographic descriptions of many gastrointestinal diseases have been published, but the diagnostic utility of ultrasonography in dogs with chronic diarrhea has not been investigated. HYPOTHESIS Diagnostic utility of abdominal ultrasound will be highest in dogs with GI neoplasia and lowest in those with inflammatory disorders. ANIMALS 87 pet dogs with chronic diarrhea. METHODS Prospective study in which medical records were reviewed and contribution of abdominal ultrasound toward making diagnosis was scored. RESULTS In 57/87 (66%) of dogs, the same diagnosis would have been reached without ultrasonography. In 13/87 (15%) of dogs, the ultrasound examination was vital or beneficial to making the diagnosis. Univariable analysis identified that increased diagnostic utility was associated with weight loss (P = .0086), palpation of an abdominal or rectal mass (P = .0031), diseases that commonly have mass lesions visible on ultrasound examination (P < .0001), and a final diagnosis of GI neoplasia. Multivariable regression indicated that utility of abdominal ultrasonography would be 30 times more likely to be high in dogs in which an abdominal or rectal mass was palpated (odds ratio 30.5, 95% CI 5.5-169.6) (P < .0001) versus dogs without a palpable mass. In 15/87 (17%) of dogs, additional benefits of ultrasonography to case management, independent of the contribution to the diagnosis of diarrhea, were identified. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE Overall, the diagnostic utility of abdominal ultrasonography was low in dogs with chronic diarrhea. Identification of factors associated with high diagnostic utility is an indication to perform abdominal ultrasonography in dogs with chronic diarrhea.