Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Assessment of Non-geophysical Effects in Spaceborne GNSS Reflectometry Data From the UK TechDemoSat-1 Mission

An assessment of non-geophysical effects in spaceborne global navigation satellite system reflectometry (GNSS-R) data from the UK TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) mission is presented. TDS-1 was launched in July 2014 and provides the first new spaceborne GNSS-R data since the pioneering UK-disaster monitoring constellation experiment in 2003. Non-geophysical factors evaluated include ambient L-band noise, instrument operating mode, and platform-related parameters. The findings are particularly relevant to users of uncalibrated GNSS-R signals for the retrieval of geophysical properties of the Earth surface. Substantial attitude adjustments of the TDS-1 platform are occasionally found to occur that introduce large uncertainties in parts of the TDS-1 GNSS-R dataset, particularly for specular points located outside the main beam of the nadir antenna where even small attitude errors can lead to large inaccuracies in the geophysical inversion. Out of eclipse however, attitude adjustments typically remain smaller than 1.5°, with larger deviations of up to 10° affecting less than 5% of the overall sun-lit data. Global maps of L1 ambient noise are presented for both automatic and programmed gain modes of the receiver, revealing persistent L-band noise hotspots along the Equator that can reach up to 2.5 dB, most likely associated with surface reflection of signals from other GNSS transmitters and constellations. Sporadic high-power noise events observed in certain regions point to sources of human origin. Relevant conclusions of this study are that platform attitude knowledge is essential and that radiometric calibration of GNSS-R signals should be used whenever possible. Care should be taken when considering using noise measurements over the equatorial oceans for calibration purposes, as ambient noise and correlated noise in delay–Doppler maps both show more variation than might be expected over these regions.
Distribution of Caffeine Levels in Urine in Different Sports in Relation to Doping Control

Caffeine concentrations were measured in the urines of 11 361 athletes tested for doping control in the Ghent doping control laboratory during the period 1993 - 2002. Determination of these concentrations was done using an alkaline extraction with a mixture of dichloromethane and methanol (9:1; v/v) followed by high performance liquid chromatography and ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). The method was validated according to ISO 17 025 standards (International Organisation for Standardisation). Quantification was done by using a calibration curve in the range from 0 to 20 microg/ml. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.10 microg/ml. Most caffeine concentrations were far below 12 microg/ml. Because the results were not normally distributed, transformation of the data was done to evaluate the difference in detected concentrations in several sports. This resulted in an overall average concentration of 1.22 microg/ml +/- 2.45 microg/ml. Comparison of those sports with more than 200 samples being analysed demonstrated that caffeine concentrations in urine samples from bodybuilders are significantly higher in comparison to urines taken in the other sports. Also, a significant difference between caffeine concentrations found in cycling and concentrations found in other sports, including athletics and some ball sports, was observed.
Clinical and bone marrow effects of interferon alfa therapy in myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia.

The bone marrow stromal reaction in myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia (MMM) may contribute to the clinical phenotype and is believed to be both reactive and cytokine mediated. [1][1]Therefore, it is reasonable to seek a treatment strategy that has the potential to curb clonal myeloproliferation
Towards Automatic Feature Extraction for Activity Recognition from Wearable Sensors: A Deep Learning Approach

This paper presents a novel approach for activity recognition from accelerometer data. Existing approaches usually extract hand-crafted features that are used as input for classifiers. However, hand-crafted features are data dependent and could not be generalized for different application domains. To overcome these limitations, our approach relies on matrix factorization for dimensionality reduction and deep learning algorithm such as a stacked auto-encoder to automatically learn suitable features, which will be then fed into a softmax classifier for classification. Our approach has potential advantages over existing approaches in terms of automatic feature extraction and generalization across different application domains. The proposed approach is validated using extensive experiments on various publicly available datasets. We empirically demonstrate that our proposed approach accurately discriminates between human activities and performs better than several state-of-the-art approaches.
Tests of Unbiasedness in the Foreign Exchange Futures Markets: An Examination of Price Limits and Conditional Heteroscedasticity

Daily price limits, an institutional feature of futures markets, truncate the distribution of price changes and dampen the variance. Previous tests of the unbiasedness hypothesis using daily foreign exchange futures prices have accounted for the observed conditional heteroscedasticity in the data but have neglected to adequately incorporate the additional effects of daily price limits. This article examines both time variation and truncation of futures price changes. Empirical results suggest that previous rejections of the unbiasedness hypothesis in the foreign exchange futures market are not substantively altered by inclusion of price limits but may be attributed to potentially biased testing procedures. Copyright 1993 by University of Chicago Press.
Morphological and ultrastructural evaluation of the golden retriever muscular dystrophy trachea, lungs, and diaphragm muscle

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disease, characterized by atrophy and muscle weakness. The respiratory failure is a common cause of early death in patients with DMD. Golden retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD) is a canine model which has been extensively used for many advances in therapeutics applications. As the patients with DMD, the GRMD frequently died from cardiac and respiratory failure. Observing the respiratory failure in DMD is one of the major causes of mortality we aimed to describe the morphological and ultrastructural data of trachea, lungs (conductive and respiratory portion of the system), and diaphragm muscle using histological and ultrastructural analysis. The diaphragm muscle showed discontinuous fibers architecture, with different diameter; a robust perimysium inflammatory infiltrate and some muscle cells displayed central nuclei. GRMD trachea and lungs presented collagen fibers and in addition, the GRMD lungs showed higher of levels collagen fibers that could limit the alveolar ducts and alveoli distension. Therefore, the most features observed were the collagen areas and fibrosis. We suggested in this study that the collagen remodeling in the trachea, lungs, and diaphragm muscle may increase fibrosis and affect the trachea, lungs, and diaphragm muscle function that can be a major cause of respiratory failure that occur in patients with DMD. Microsc. Res. Tech. 77:857–861, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
From Statism To Federalism: A Paradigm Shift

Since the end of World War II and most particularly since the late 1970s, the world has been in the midst of a paradigm shift from a world of states modeled after the idea of the nation-state developed in the seventeenth century to a world of diminished state sovereignty and increas- ingly constitutionalized interstate linkages of a federal character. This paradigm shift has been noted by students of both federalism and inter- national relations. It has been most strongly manifested in the economic sphere. Worldwide and regional economic arrangements have become essential to the peace and prosperity of the world and while formally volun- tary, no state can remain outside the increasingly more demanding economic networks. Thus, those networks have acquired an increasingly confederal dimension. Foremost among them is that of Western Europe which, since the Maastricht Treaty, has been transformed into a confeder- ation in fact if not in name. Other arrangements approach the EU in varying degrees. In this new paradigm, existing states will not disappear; rather they will be overlaid by a variety of federal arrangements of a confederal character that will tie them ever closer to each other.
Relative Capital Shortage and Potential Output Constraint: A Gap Approach

Abstract Focusing on core‐infrastructure capital vis‐à‐vis productive capital, we propose a macroeconomic method to estimate their optimal utilisation ratio in production and their relative shortage in any period. The method is based on an adapted two‐gap model, estimated via linear programming, with application to Chile and Mexico over the 1950–2000 period. Core infrastructure appears to support a variable level of productive investment, relative capital shortage alternating and imposing constraints on potential output over time. This suggests an optimal investment trade off, based on a social opportunity cost that derives from the prevailing gap in any period.
The growth of Micrococcus varians by utilizing sugar cane blackstrap molasses as substrate

Comparative studies on the growth of Micrococcus varians were carried out in BHI culture medium (control) as well as in a culture medium with 2% diluted sugar cane blackstrap molasses, enriched with 0.1% yeast extract. The experiment was conducted with three samples of the experimental and control media in a 5 liter fermentor with working volume of 3.5 liters, continuous agitation (150 rpm), 35 ± 0.1°C temperature, 0.7 L air. l-1 medium. min -1, initial pH 7.0 ± 0.2, 24 hour fermentation period, and approximate inoculum of 6.0 log10 CFU/ml. Samples were collected at 2-hour intervals. Micrococcus varians grew in the two culture media studied, which confirms the experimental medium viability for the growth of this species. The final average concentration of biomass was higher in the control medium than in the experimental medium: 0.99 g.l-1 and 0.78 g.l-1, respectively. The final number of viable cells at the end of fermentation was 20.65 log10 CFU/ml for the control medium (BHI), while in the experimental medium the number of viable cells was 19.43 log10 CFU/ml. The consumption of total sugars was higher for the biomass in the control medium (79.78%), while only 50.53% was consumed for the experimental medium.
Detection of circulating melanoma cells by specific amplification of tyrosinase complementary DNA is not a reliable tumor marker in melanoma patients: a clinical two-center study.

PURPOSE Recently, the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of tyrosinase messenger RNA (mRNA) was reported to be a useful tool for the detection of circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood of melanoma patients. Our aim was to evaluate critically the diagnostic value of this marker by investigating a significant number of patients in different stages of the disease in a two-center study. PATIENTS AND METHODS Different techniques of blood collection, RNA isolation, and RT-PCR were compared, and the detectability of tyrosinase mRNA was tested using nine different melanoma cell lines. The sensitivity of the method was confirmed by blood spiking experiments and the specificity by restriction enzyme analysis. Subsequently, a total of 153 blood samples from 137 individuals (30 healthy subjects, five basal cell carcinoma, and 102 melanoma patients) were investigated. RESULTS The detection level of melanoma cells differed between the cell lines tested. However, we could reproducibly detect single melanoma cells by spiking whole blood samples from healthy volunteers. One of 43 patients with primary melanoma (2.3%), zero of 15 patients with regional metastasis (0%), and 12 of 44 patients with advanced disease (27.3%) were found to be RT-PCR positive. All blood samples obtained from controls and patients with basal cell carcinoma were tyrosinose mRNA negative. CONCLUSION Our data support the recent doubts that the detection of circulating tumor cells in melanoma patients using the tyrosinase mRNA RT-PCR is not sensitive enough to be used either as a melanoma progression marker in early stages of the disease or to monitor therapy in advanced stages of the disease.
The effect of a superior's preference and process control on a subordinate's information processing strategy

The purpose of this study is to experimentally investigate whether management controls can mitigate a subordinate's biased cognitive strategy arising from a superior-subordinate goal-information asymmetry in a capital budgeting process. Goal-information asymmetry occurs when a subordinate has less knowledge of a superior's goal preference than the superior does. A subordinate's selection of an information-processing strategy in proposing an investment proposal is expected to be affected by the level of goal-information asymmetry (present/absent) which, in turn, can have detrimental effects on the effectiveness and/or efficiency of his or her judgement and decision-making. Finding management controls to mitigate these effects will improve the qualities of managers' information processing and decision making. One kind of management controls – process justification – is the focus of this study. The results showed that the process justification control influenced the subjects' selection of information processing strategies in reacting to the absence or presence of goal-information asymmetry.
Do Distinct Class Preferences for Foods Exist

Reports an analysis of class preferences for certain foodstuffs in the UK. Multivariate analysis of the UK Family Expenditure Survey is used to show that distinct factors operate in choice of food purchase dependent on a person′s social class. Relying on Bourdieu′s Distinction thesis as the theoretical basis, a scale of tastes for certain foods is arrived at using discriminant analysis. This builds on work already reported in the BFJ.
The Beauty Contest and Short-Term Trading

type="main"> Short-termism need not breed informational price inefficiency even when generating beauty contests. We demonstrate this claim in a two-period market with persistent liquidity trading and risk-averse, privately informed, short-term investors and find that prices reflect average expectations about fundamentals and liquidity trading. Informed investors engage in “retrospective” learning to reassess inferences (about fundamentals) made during the trading game's early stages. This behavior introduces strategic complementarities in the use of information and can yield two stable equilibria that can be ranked in terms of liquidity, volatility, and informational efficiency. We derive implications that explain market anomalies as well as empirical regularities.
The Effects of Analyst Forecasts and Earnings Trends on Perceptions of Management Forecast Credibility

We examine whether analyst forecasts influence investors’ perceptions of the credibility of a good news management earnings forecast. We hypothesize that the effect of analyst forecasts will depend on whether the analyst forecast confirms management’s forecast and the extent to which management’s forecast is consistent with the prior earnings trend. Findings indicate that the positive effect of a confirming analyst forecast is greater when the management forecast is trend inconsistent than when it is trend consistent. The negative effect of a disconfirming analyst forecast does not differ based on management forecast trend consistency.
A Review of Theoretical Debates on the Measurement of Service Quality: Implications for Hospitality Research

The complexity of the factors defining service quality has led to the development of multidimensional models, which are divided into two schools of thought: the North American and the Nordic European. The aim of this article is twofold. First, it reviews some of the key is - sues raised in relation to the theoretical formations of these two schools of thought. Second, it outlines further research areas in the hospitality industry.
The Predictive Power of Content and Temporal Features of Posts in Information Dissemination in Microblogging

Reposting and commenting are the key mechanisms for information diffusion in microblogging. This study investigated the effects of content- and temporal-related characteristics of microposts on the number of reposts and comments received. Using a case study approach, data were collected from the microblog of a corporate in the hospitality industry. For the content-related factors, the results suggest that the use of multimedia features (including emoticons and pictures) and originally written posts had positive effects on reposts and comments. Different thematic topics also generated varying numbers of reposts and comments. For the temporal-related factors, the hour of the day in which a post was posted apparently affected the number of reposts and comments received.
Aid-growth nexus: empirical evidence from Fiji

Foreign aid to the island economies is a major source for foreign exchange and resource needs. This paper presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between foreign aid and economic growth in the case of Fiji. A neoclassical production function is applied to estimate the aid-growth nexus. Since the data employed are time series for the period 1968 to 1996, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach to cointegration is utilized to estimate the models. Components of total aid, such as grant aid, loan aid, technical cooperation, bilateral and multilateral aid flows are also utilized to estimate a disaggregated short-run and long-run relationship between foreign aid and economic growth. The results show that total aid flows and its various forms, i.e. bilateral aid, grant aid and technical cooperation grant aid, has a significant impact on economic growth in Fiji. As for domestic resources, only exports and private investments in two equations show positive contribution to growth.
On Adjusting the Hp-Filter for the Frequency of Observations

This paper studies how the HP-Filter should be adjusted, when changing the frequency of observations. It complements the results of Baxter and King (1999) with an analytical analysis, demonstrating that the filter parameter should be adjusted by multiplying it with the fourth power of the observations frequency ratios. This yields an HP parameter value of 6.25 for annual data given a value of 1600 for quarterly data. The relevance of the suggestion is illustrated empirically.
Multidisciplinary cancer care: Does it improve outcomes?

Multidisciplinary care has been advocated as a solution for increasingly complex treatment decisions in cancer patients. The impact of multidisciplinary care on patient survival has been studied, but evidence is limited by poor methodological quality. Lack of conclusive evidence for increased survival is balanced against improvements in quality of care, guideline adherence, reduction in wait times, and greater satisfaction for patients and care providers. J. Surg. Oncol. 2014 110:494–499. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Facial Nerve Paralysis Due to Chronic Otitis Media

Objective To present the characteristics of facial paralysis caused by chronic otitis media. The role of cholesteatoma, bony dehiscence, the duration of the disease, and the results of surgical therapy in facial paralysis were reviewed. Study Design Retrospective case review. Setting Tertiary care referral center. Patients A total of 24 patients (6 women, 18 men; age range, 17–74 yr) with facial paralysis were included in the study. Intervention Canal wall down mastoidectomy was performed in 14 patients (58.3%), modified radical mastoidectomy was performed in seven patients (25%), and intact canal wall mastoidectomy was performed in three patients (16.7%). All patients had decompression of the fallopian canal from the geniculate ganglion to the stylomastoid foramen without opening the epineural sheath. Results Eighteen patients (75%) had gradual onset of facial paralysis. The most common associated symptom with facial paralysis was vertigo in six patients. Twelve patients (50%) had no associated symptoms. Facial paralysis was the sole complication in 21 patients (87.9%). Three patients had multiple complications. Labyrinthitis was the most common associated complication. Facial paralysis was associated with congenital cholesteatoma in one patient. Fourteen patients (58.3%) demonstrated dramatic recovery within 3 months after surgery. Intraoperatively, cholesteatomas were found in 17 of the patients (70.8%). The fallopian canal was intact in four patients (none of them had a cholesteatoma), and 20 patients had bone destruction or dehiscence (three patients had no cholesteatoma). The tympanic segment was the most common site of involvement in 14 patients (58.3%). Conclusion A middle ear cholesteatoma was present in the majority of patients with facial paralysis caused by chronic otitis media. Gradual onset of facial paralysis was the most frequent pattern. Facial paralysis presented poor prognosis regardless of the presence of a cholesteatoma. There was no statistical difference among the results of surgical techniques.
Outer retinal fine structure of the garfish Belone belone (L.) (Belonidae, Teleostei) during light and dark adaptation – photoreceptors, cone patterns and densities

In the present EM study, we investigate the retina of Belone belone, a visually-orientated marine predator living close to the water surface. In the duplex retina, four morphologically different cone types are observed: unequal and equal double cones, long single cones and triple cones. In the light-adapted state, five different cone patterns occur: row, twisted row, square, pentagonal and hexagonal patterns. High double cone densities are found ventro-nasally, ventro-temporally and dorso-temporally. Throughout the retina the double cone/single cone ratio is 2 : 1, in the ventral part, however, a 1 : 1 ratio occurs. In the vitreous body we found a curtain-like intraocular septum dividing the retina into two morphologically different regions. In most areas of the dark-adapted retina the cone patterns are absent at the ellipsoid level, with long single cones standing more vitreally in the light path than double cones. The mosaics are retained, however, in the outer nuclear layer. Typical dark adaptation, i.e. the retinomotor movements of the retinal pigment epithelium and photoreceptors in response to the dark adaptation (light change) is not present in the peripheral ventral and parts of the central ventral area. In both regions we found a twisted row pattern of cones having a vitreal position. The findings are discussed with respect to the photic habitat and feeding habits of this species.
Ostrich ( Struthio camelus ) gastric diseases in Minas Gerais , Brazil , from 1997 to 2009

In ostrich farming, gastric diseases are usual causes of increased mortality and economic losses. Infectious and non-infectious pathogens can damage the gastrointestinal tract, affecting the digestive process. Gastric impaction may be characterized by anorexia, cachexia, dehydration, apathy, decubitus, and dry and reduced feces. Chronic anorexia result in progressive loss on the reproductive performance and may culminate in death, causing significant economic losses in ostrich farms (Gulbahar et al,. 2000; Yusek et al., 2002; Komnenou et al., 2003).