Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automated Neuroanatomical Relation Extraction: A Linguistically Motivated Approach with a PVT Connectivity Graph Case Study

Identifying the relations among different regions of the brain is vital for a better understanding of how the brain functions. While a large number of studies have investigated the neuroanatomical and neurochemical connections among brain structures, their specific findings are found in publications scattered over a large number of years and different types of publications. Text mining techniques have provided the means to extract specific types of information from a large number of publications with the aim of presenting a larger, if not necessarily an exhaustive picture. By using natural language processing techniques, the present paper aims to identify connectivity relations among brain regions in general and relations relevant to the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) in particular. We introduce a linguistically motivated approach based on patterns defined over the constituency and dependency parse trees of sentences. Besides the presence of a relation between a pair of brain regions, the proposed method also identifies the directionality of the relation, which enables the creation and analysis of a directional brain region connectivity graph. The approach is evaluated over the manually annotated data sets of the WhiteText Project. In addition, as a case study, the method is applied to extract and analyze the connectivity graph of PVT, which is an important brain region that is considered to influence many functions ranging from arousal, motivation, and drug-seeking behavior to attention. The results of the PVT connectivity graph show that PVT may be a new target of research in mood assessment.
The Union Wage Advantage for Low-Wage Workers

This report uses national data from 2003 to 2007 to show that unionization raises the wages of the typical low-wage worker (one in the 10th percentile) by 20.6 percent compared to 13.7 percent for the typical medium wage worker (one in the 50th percentile), 6.1 percent for the typical high-wage worker (one in the 90th percentile). The paper also produces results for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Throughout the states, a similar pattern holds, with unionization raising the wages of the lowest-wage workers the most.
Turbulent flow between counter-rotating concentric cylinders: a direct numerical simulation study

We report three-dimensional direct numerical simulations of the turbulent flow between counter-rotating concentric cylinders with a radius ratio 0.5. The inner- and outer-cylinder Reynolds numbers have the same magnitude, which ranges from 500 to 4000 in the simulations. We show that with the increase of Reynolds number, the prevailing structures in the flow are azimuthal vortices with scales much smaller than the cylinder gap. At high Reynolds numbers, while the instantaneous small-scale vortices permeate the entire domain, the large-scale Taylor vortex motions manifested by the time-averaged field do not penetrate a layer of fluid near the outer cylinder. Comparisons between the standard Taylor–Couette system (rotating inner cylinder, fixed outer cylinder) and the counter-rotating system demonstrate the profound effects of the Coriolis force on the mean flow and other statistical quantities. The dynamical and statistical features of the flow have been investigated in detail.
Comparative Radiographic Assessment of Root Canal Obturation Quality: Manual Verses Rotary Canal Preparation Technique

Objective: To compare the technical quality of root canal obturation in relation to rotary and manual root canal preparation techniques. Study Design: Cross sectional, analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: The Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi from January till December 2011. Methodology: Data was retrospectively retrieved by periapical radiographs of 60 root canal treated molars for assessment of obturation quality. Data was divided into two groups, 30 radiographs in each group. Group 1 and 2 teeth were prepared with rotary and manual canal preparation technique respectively followed by obturartion with cold lateral condensation technique. Postobturation radiographs were assessed to evaluate technical quality of obturation in term of length, density and taper of root filling. Mann Whitney-U and Chi- square test was applied to compare the difference in technical quality of obturation between two canal preparation techniques. Results: Amongst Thirty molar prepared with rotary instruments, 27 had achieved acceptable length, 25 had adequate density and 27 had achieved adequate taper. Amongst 30 molars prepared manually, 18 had achieved acceptable length, 14 had adequate density and 12 had adequate taper. Conclusion: Radiographic technical quality of the obturation (length, density and taper) was better with rotary technique as compared to manual canal preparation technique.
Measures, Spatial Profile and Determinants of Dietary Diversity: Evidence from India

Food security policies in developing countries generally focus on calorie intake, which is not sufficient to tackle the triple burden of malnutrition: undernourishment, micronutrient deficiencies and over-nutrition. Consumption of a diverse diet is important to lessen the burden and is constrained by different factors. This paper using nationally representative dataset from India, analyzes the determinants of dietary diversity, which is measured using the Entropy Index. Heterogeneous dietary diversity profile across adjoining regions highlights the persistence of uneven development in terms of consumption and health indicators. Quantile regression analysis is used to identify the impact of determinants at different parts of the intake distribution. We find that level of consumption expenditure, quality adjusted prices of food items, educational attainment and information dissemination are important factors that affect the household's consumption of a diverse diet. As one moves away from towns dietary diversity improves. Large size landholders need not necessarily consume a diverse diet as expected. Suitable policy interventions are identified.
Family Policies in ‘Hybrid’ Welfare States after the Crisis: Pathways between Policy Expansion and Retrenchment†

The economic crisis has significantly challenged national welfare states and has often led to retrenchment. The question arises how countries have reacted to the crisis in the area of family policy – not directly connected to rising unemployment and also not as demanding for state spending as for example the pension system. This article analyzes family policy reforms during the crisis in three small European welfare states – Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Focusing on the ‘rationale’ behind the reforms, it aims to explore how family policy was affected by the crisis and whether the crisis gave rise to new policy pathways and ideas in the area. The exploratory case studies of reforms conducted in the three countries between 2009 and 2013 show that everywhere the pre-crisis policy pathways were also continued in the period of crisis. The reforms were framed by diverse paradigms related to national-specific contexts along with newly emerged austerity arguments. The Czech Republic shows a continued focus on a neo-liberal paradigm, utilizing the crisis to introduce further residual measures, i.e. mostly negative re-familializing reforms, mixed with de-familializing policies based on the workfare paradigm. Strong crisis-related discourse in Slovenia was accompanied by diverse austerity measures, which strengthened the social dimension of family policy and weakened a de-familialistic effect of the pre-crisis reforms. Austria, much less affected by the crisis, continues to combine social investment and ‘freedom of choice’ paradigms, introducing an ambivalent amalgam of positive familialistic and de-familialistic family policy reforms.
The corporate use of derivatives: a survey of South Africa’s large listed non-financial firms

This paper presents the results of a comparative questionnaire survey of derivative use by South African companies. The objective was to determine the extent of derivative use and to examine how and why companies use derivatives. Derivative use by South African companies compares favourably to the level of derivative use in developed countries. The risk most often hedged is currency exposure followed by interest rate risk. Commodity producers tend to hedge commodity price risk. Companies mainly use forwards to hedge exchange rate risk whilst swaps dominate in the hedging of interest rate risk. Companies mainly use derivatives to hedge contractual obligations and rarely use derivatives to take a view on market movements. Concerns relate to transaction costs, investor perceptions, and credit and liquidity risks. Companies indicated that they would, if permitted, hedge expected as compared to actual future currency exposure.
A Hybrid Approach for Dehazing Images

Bad weather conditions including haze, fog, rain etc. degrade the picture quality which causes poor visualizations. Various methods have been proposed to eradicate the effects of above conditions. Initially, polarization filters were used to restore the foggy image. Though this method estimates airlight to quite good an extent but at the same time uses multiple images therefore, cannot be applied on dynamic scenes. In addition, it has very high time complexity. To overcome the use of multiple images Dark channel prior technique was used that effectively calculates the transmission map to restore the foggy image. For this purpose it requires usage of soft matting technique that causes halo effect and has high time complexity. We are of the opinion that if transmission map is calculated using dark channel prior and airlight is estimated using polarisation filters, the resultant process will not only have lower time complexity but at the same time overcomes the drawback of multiple images. The above mentioned technique is implemented in MATLAB-9 and analysed in this paper. The results shows that usage of this hybrid approach gives quite better results.
Climate and Pest-Driven Geographic Shifts in Global Coffee Production: Implications for Forest Cover, Biodiversity and Carbon Storage

Coffee is highly sensitive to temperature and rainfall, making its cultivation vulnerable to geographic shifts in response to a changing climate. This could lead to the establishment of coffee plantations in new areas and potential conflicts with other land covers including natural forest, with consequent implications for biodiversity and ecosystem services. We project areas suitable for future coffee cultivation based on several climate scenarios and expected responses of the coffee berry borer, a principle pest of coffee crops. We show that the global climatically-suitable area will suffer marked shifts from some current major centres of cultivation. Most areas will be suited to Robusta coffee, demand for which could be met without incurring forest encroachment. The cultivation of Arabica, which represents 70% of consumed coffee, can also be accommodated in the future, but only by incurring some natural forest loss. This has corresponding implications for carbon storage, and is likely to affect areas currently designated as priority areas for biodiversity. Where Arabica coffee does encroach on natural forests, we project average local losses of 35% of threatened vertebrate species. The interaction of climate and coffee berry borer greatly influences projected outcomes.
Dissecting Altered Functional Engagement in TBI and Other Patient Groups through Connectivity Analysis: One Goal, Many Paths (A Response to Hillary)

We are grateful for the opportunity to clarify the misconceptions contained in Hillary's commentary. We agree that there are multiple routes to understanding altered functional brain activity in TBI and other patient groups. There is no standard analytical framework that is broadly accepted. We applied one approach that has been successfully applied in other patient groups (Grady et al., 2003a,b) and in manipulations with healthy subjects (for review, see McIntosh et al., 2004; Krishnan et al., 2011). There is no approach that is without limitations. We are encouraged by the recent increase in research in this domain and welcome the alternative frameworks as applied by other researchers.
Risk Premium and Nominal Rigidities

This paper investigates implications of nominal rigidities for the risk premium. We use Obstfeld and Rogoff (1998) type DSGE model equipped with nominal rigidities, imperfect market competitions, a production sector, and a money-in-the-utility function. For a monthly frequency, we generate volatility relations derived from violations of unbiasedness in the forward exchange rate and the autocorrelation of the forward premium observed in the data. However, we fail to obtain the same results when the quarterly decision interval is considered mainly because of time varying uncertainty and the discount factor. We also find that real exchange risks and staggered nominal contracts play a role in the determination of the risk premium while habit persistence and asset market structure do not. Finally, our analysis shows that one should be cautious about measuring the risk premium from the regression of ex post predictable returns
Infarct size and left ventricular remodelling after preventive percutaneous coronary intervention

Objective We hypothesised that, compared with culprit-only primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), additional preventive PCI in selected patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction with multivessel disease would not be associated with iatrogenic myocardial infarction, and would be associated with reductions in left ventricular (LV) volumes in the longer term. Methods In the preventive angioplasty in myocardial infarction trial (PRAMI; ISRCTN73028481), cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) was prespecified in two centres and performed (median, IQR) 3 (1, 5) and 209 (189, 957) days after primary PCI. Results From 219 enrolled patients in two sites, 84% underwent CMR. 42 (50%) were randomised to culprit-artery-only PCI and 42 (50%) were randomised to preventive PCI. Follow-up CMR scans were available in 72 (86%) patients. There were two (4.8%) cases of procedure-related myocardial infarction in the preventive PCI group. The culprit-artery-only group had a higher proportion of anterior myocardial infarctions (MIs) (55% vs 24%). Infarct sizes (% LV mass) at baseline and follow-up were similar. At follow-up, there was no difference in LV ejection fraction (%, median (IQR), (culprit-artery-only PCI vs preventive PCI) 51.7 (42.9, 60.2) vs 54.4 (49.3, 62.8), p=0.23), LV end-diastolic volume (mL/m2, 69.3 (59.4, 79.9) vs 66.1 (54.7, 73.7), p=0.48) and LV end-systolic volume (mL/m2, 31.8 (24.4, 43.0) vs 30.7 (23.0, 36.3), p=0.20). Non-culprit angiographic lesions had low-risk Syntax scores and 47% had non-complex characteristics. Conclusions Compared with culprit-only PCI, non-infarct-artery MI in the preventive PCI strategy was uncommon and LV volumes and ejection fraction were similar.
Isolation, Screening and Development of Local Bacterial Consortia With Azo Dyes Decolourising Capability

A total of 1540 bacterial isolates were isolated and screened for their ability to degrade selected azo dyes. Of these, nine isolates were chosen for further studies based on their ability to degrade a wide spectrum of dyes efficiently and rapidly. Several microbial consortia were developed and tested for their effectiveness. Overall the consortia were able to degrade 70 100% colour within 72 hours compared to 60 – 97% colour removed by individual isolates. A microbial consortium labelled C15 showed good growth in agitation culture but the colour removal was best in static culture with 80 100% colour removed in less than 72 hours. Based on the 16S rRNA sequencing, two of the bacterial isolates in C15 belong to the Chryseobacterium genus while the other one belongs to Flavobacterium genus.
Declining Inequality in Latin America: A Decade of Progress?

Latin America is often singled out for its high and persistent income inequality. Toward the end of the 1990s, however, income concentration began to fall across the region. Of the seventeen countries for which comparable data are available, twelve have experienced a decline, particularly since 2000. This book is among the first efforts to understand what happened in these countries and why. Led by editors Felipe Li? ½pez-Calva and Nora Lustig, a panel of distinguished economists undertakes in-depth analyses of Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. In addition, they provide essential background in the form of overviews of the relationship between markets and inequality, the political economy of redistribution, and the evolution of income inequality in the advanced industrialized economies. Two factors account for much of the decline in inequality: a decrease in the wage gap between skilled and low-skilled labor, and an increase in government transfers targeted to the poor. Thanks to the timeliness and sophistication of these essays, Declining Inequality in Latin America is likely to become a standard reference in its field.
$Ka$-Band Low-Loss and High-Isolation Switch Design in 0.13-$\mu{\hbox {m}}$  CMOS

This paper presents designs and measurements of Ka-band single-pole single-throw (SPST) and single-pole double-throw (SPDT) 0.13-CMOS switches. Designs based on series and shunt switches on low and high substrate resistance networks are presented. It is found that the shunt switch and the series switch with a high substrate resistance network have a lower insertion loss than a standard designs. The shunt SPST switch shows an insertion loss of 1.0 dB and an isolation of 26 dB at >35 GHz. The series SPDT switch with a high substrate resistance network shows excellent performance with 2.2-dB insertion loss and isolation at 35 GHz, and this is achieved using two parallel resonant networks. The series-shunt SPDT switch using deep n-well nMOS transistors for a high substrate resistance network results in an insertion loss and isolation of 2.6 and 27 dB, respectively, at 35 GHz. For series switches, the input 1-dB compression point (1P1) can be significantly increased to with the use of a high substrate resistance design. In contrast, of shunt switches is limited by the self-biasing effect to 12 dBm independent of the substrate resistance network. The paper shows that, with good design, several 0.13- CMOS designs can be used for state-of-the-art switches at 26-40 GHz.
Analysis of the Time and Location of the Silicone Oil Emulsification by Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography after Silicone Oil Tamponade

Purpose. To estimate localization and the period up to the appearance of small hyperreflective round-shaped droplets using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) after pars plana vitrectomy with silicone oil tamponade. Methods. A retrospective observational study included 24 patients who had undergone pars plana vitrectomy with silicone oil tamponade for proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) retinal detachment. SD-OCT analysis was performed 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery. We characterized the emulsified silicone oil in the SD-OCT as the small hyperreflective round-shaped droplets. Results. In SD-OCT examination, none of the patients had hyperreflective round-shaped droplets visible one month after vitrectomy with silicone oil tamponade. The hyperreflective droplets were found three months after surgery—in one patient above the optic nerve and in five patients intraretinally (in the cystoid spaces). Six months after vitrectomy, the hyperreflective round-shaped droplets were still present in the aforementioned patients' eyes and additionally in 3 eyes above the optic disc. Conclusions. Hyperreflective round-shaped droplets were found in a SD-OCT examination 3 months after silicone oil tamponade. The authors suggest that they are most likely the emulsified silicone oil droplets. The authors hypothesize that emulsification and migration of silicone oil begin within 3 months after surgery.
Experiences with queen bees : a South African study exploring the reluctance of women executives to promote other women in the workplace

This study explores the experiences of women executives and senior managers in South Africa in respect of the Queen Bee syndrome. Queen Bee behaviour is a term used to describe women executives that, after reaching senior positions, alienate other women and hence prevent more junior women from advancing through the ranks. Such behaviour has in the past specifically been observed in corporate environments with a tradition of male domination. This study specifically focussed on the banking sector as an example of a previously male-dominate environment. Twenty-five women executives and senior managers from South Africa’s five national retail banks were interviewed to obtain data on their unique personal experiences and perceptions of Queen Bee behaviour. The qualitative data were then content-analysed. This study is one of the first studies that reports on Queen Bee behaviour in South Africa, and confirms the existence of Queen Bee behaviour in South Africa, despite the efforts in the corporate world to advance the gender cause. While this paper does not provide evidence that women’s advancement and growth in corporate organisations are solely reliant on the support and assistance of other women it, however, indicates the constraints of a hierarchical and male lead work culture in most organisations that could be a block to the promotion of professional women. Future studies are required to investigate the other sectors and to develop tools to detect and discourage Queen Bee behaviour.
A Neuronal Culture System to Detect Prion Synaptotoxicity

Synaptic pathology is an early feature of prion as well as other neurodegenerative diseases. Although the self-templating process by which prions propagate is well established, the mechanisms by which prions cause synaptotoxicity are poorly understood, due largely to the absence of experimentally tractable cell culture models. Here, we report that exposure of cultured hippocampal neurons to PrPSc, the infectious isoform of the prion protein, results in rapid retraction of dendritic spines. This effect is entirely dependent on expression of the cellular prion protein, PrPC, by target neurons, and on the presence of a nine-amino acid, polybasic region at the N-terminus of the PrPC molecule. Both protease-resistant and protease-sensitive forms of PrPSc cause dendritic loss. This system provides new insights into the mechanisms responsible for prion neurotoxicity, and it provides a platform for characterizing different pathogenic forms of PrPSc and testing potential therapeutic agents.
Effects of Mother's Home Time on Children's Schooling

In order to determine the importance of parental time inputs in the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status, previous work relies on proxies such as family size, birth order, maternal employment, and retrospective reports of child care time. This paper is unique in finding a connection between more direct measures of mother's child-care time and children's outcomes as adults. It shows that (1) higher home productivity increases, but higher opportunity costs reduce, maternal child-care time and (2) greater child-care time of highly-educated, but not of less well-educated, mothers significantly raises children's years of schooling. Copyright 1988 by MIT Press.