Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visitor Willingness to Pay U.S. Forest Service Recreation Fees in New West Rural Mountain Economies

This study uses a contingent valuation model to evaluate visitors’ stated willingness to pay (WTP) for recreation at Colorado “Fourteeners”: peaks that rise higher than 14,000 feet. The study also assesses the respondents’ self-reported response uncertainty. One scenario queries respondents about a hypothetical situation in which they would pay an entrance fee where 80% of the funds are used on-site, and the degree of certainty with which they answered the question. Like prior articles from this 6-year project (2006-2012), results indicate a high WTP for recreation on Colorado Fourteeners. Results reveal that 62% of respondents are willing to incur an additional fee of $20 or less to recreate at the study site. Regardless of whether or not the respondent is willing to pay an additional fee for recreation, approximately 90% of respondents report a high level of certainty in their stated answers to both the WTP and the fee questions, which could be connected to the recreators’ sense of place on Fourteeners. Therefore, recreators exhibit clear preferences and low uncertainty in their WTP for general cost increases and localized access fees. Implications could have a complex effect on when, if, and how fees should be applied in “New West” economies reliant on revenues from recreation.
The Association of Parent-Reported Lead Exposure with Language Skills and Externalizing Behavioral Problems in Children

An impressive amount of research has begun to suggest that language deficits and externalizing behavioral problems in children are closely connected. To this point, however, little research has been aimed at examining potential risk factors that might disrupt both the development of behavior and the acquisition of language in early childhood. Findings from empirical-based studies have consistently indicated that lead exposure is a risk factor for myriad negative outcomes in children. We build off this literature and examine the effects of lead exposure on both language development and externalizing problem behaviors. The current study analyzes data drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study in order to investigate the effects of parentally reported lead exposure on verbal intelligence and externalizing problems in children. Our findings suggest that the development of externalizing problems and language deficits appear to share a common pathway which may be vulnerable to the deleterious influence of lead exposure.
Individual Differences in Amygdala and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity are Associated with Evaluation Speed and Psychological Well-being

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined whether individual differences in amygdala activation in response to negative relative to neutral information are related to differences in the speed with which such information is evaluated, the extent to which such differences are associated with medial prefrontal cortex function, and their relationship with measures of trait anxiety and psychological well-being (PWB). Results indicated that faster judgments of negative relative to neutral information were associated with increased left and right amygdala activation. In the prefrontal cortex, faster judgment time was associated with relative decreased activation in a cluster in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA 24). Furthermore, people who were slower to evaluate negative versus neutral information reported higher PWB. Importantly, higher PWB was strongly associated with increased activation in the ventral ACC for negative relative to neutral information. Individual differences in trait anxiety did not predict variation in judgment time or in amygdala or ventral ACC activity. These findings suggest that people high in PWB effectively recruit the ventral ACC when confronted with potentially aversive stimuli, manifest reduced activity in subcortical regions such as the amygdala, and appraise such information as less salient as reflected in slower evaluative speed.
Autoimmune cytopenias in chronic lymphocytic leukemia at disease presentation in the modern treatment era: is stage C always stage C?

Abstract Anemia and thrombocytopenia at chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) presentation have long been considered to be predictive of a poor prognosis, irrespective of the cause of cytopenia, yielding an advanced stage of the disease. We identified 86 patients with CLL who were diagnosed after year 2000 with Binet C disease at first presentation. Cytopenia was considered related to autoimmune conditions in 27 (31.3%; stage C “immune”) or secondary to bone marrow failure in 59 (68.6%; stage C “infiltrative”). No difference in clinical characteristics, mutational status, cytogenetics, TP53 and NOTCH1 mutations was observed between stage C “immune” and “infiltrative. ” Patients with stage C “immune” had a trend toward a better overall survival than patients with stage C “infiltrative” (median 74 vs. 63 months), but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.30). This difference was not modified by adjustment for CLL tumor burden at presentation, and survival of stage C “immune” patients was significantly inferior compared to an unselected cohort of patients with stage A, but similar to stage B. Our findings suggest that autoimmune cytopenias at CLL diagnosis have a negative impact on patient outcome.
Approximation Algorithms for Computing Maximin Share Allocations

We study the problem of computing maximin share allocations, a recently introduced fairness notion. Given a set of n agents and a set of goods, the maximin share of an agent is the best she can guarantee to herself, if she is allowed to partition the goods in any way she prefers, into n bundles, and then receive her least desirable bundle. The objective then is to find a partition, where each agent is guaranteed her maximin share. Such allocations do not always exist, hence we resort to approximation algorithms. Our main result is a 2/3-approximation that runs in polynomial time for any number of agents and goods. This improves upon the algorithm of Procaccia and Wang (2014), which is also a 2/3-approximation but runs in polynomial time only for a constant number of agents. To achieve this, we redesign certain parts of the algorithm in Procaccia and Wang (2014), exploiting the construction of carefully selected matchings in a bipartite graph representation of the problem. Furthermore, motivated by the apparent difficulty in establishing lower bounds, we undertake a probabilistic analysis. We prove that in randomly generated instances, maximin share allocations exist with high probability. This can be seen as a justification of previously reported experimental evidence. Finally, we provide further positive results for two special cases arising from previous works. The first is the intriguing case of three agents, where we provide an improved 7/8-approximation. The second case is when all item values belong to {0, 1, 2}, where we obtain an exact algorithm.
Cover Me! A Self-Deployment Algorithm for Mobile Sensor Networks

This paper describes an algorithm for deploying a mobile sensor network. A mobile sensor network is made up of a distributed collection of nodes, each of which has sensing, computation, communication and locomotion capabilities. In this paper, we describe an incremental deployment algorithm in which nodes are deployed one-at-a-time into an unknown environment. Each node makes use of information gathered by previously deployed nodes to determine its optimal deployment location. The algorithm is designed to maximize network ‘coverage’ whilst ensuring that nodes retain line-of-sight with one another (this latter constraint arises from the need to localize the nodes: in our previous work on mesh-based localization [9], [10] we have shown how nodes can localize themselves in a completely unknown environment by using other nodes as landmarks). In this paper, we describe a series of experiments (conducted in both simulation and reality) aimed at validating the algorithm and illuminating its empirical properties.
Magnesium Alloys as Promising Degradable Implant Materials in Orthopaedic Research

Magnesium alloys as degradable implant materials in orthopaedic research received a lot of interest in recent years (Witte et al., 2007a; Xu et al., 2008; Zhang et al., 2010). The application of resorbable implant material avoids an implant removal surgery and therewith helps to diminish the costs and the burden for the patient. In comparison to other degradable implant materials like polymers, magnesium alloys excel in higher tensile and compressive strength and the young’s modulus is near to cortical bone (Hofmann, 1995; Staiger et al., 2006; Kaese, 2002). Another advantage that leads to the choice of magnesium alloys as implant material is the fact, that magnesium is a natural component of the body and furthermore has many important functions within the body (Hartwig, 2001). Magnesium is tested as non-allergenic (Witte et al., 2007a) and due to several studies it is assumed, that it stimulates new bone formation in vitro and in vivo (Revell et al., 2004; Zreitqat et al., 2002; Witte et al., 2007b). For the application as orthopedic implant material in weight bearing bones, only magnesium alloys with a slow corrosion rate are useful. A high corrosion rate results in gas formation, a too fast loss of mechanical stability and a considerably higher bone remodelling activity (Thomann et al., 2009; Krause et al., 2010). Beside to different coating facilities (Witte et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2010) and surface treatments (von der Hoh et al., 2006; Hanzi et al., 2008), in particular the alloying of aluminium, lithium, rare earth metals or calcium decrease the corrosion rate in vitro and in vivo (Kaese, 2002; Staiger, 2006; Hanzi et al., 2008; Krause et al., 2010; Thomann et al., 2009). However, in vivo and in vitro corrosion rates can be quite different (Witte et al., 2006; Zhang et al., 2010), which makes it more difficult to develop and adapt magnesium alloys for biomedical use. In order to investigate if the chosen magnesium-alloys are suitable for the use in orthopedic applications, in vivo-studies in rabbit tibiae were conducted. Therefor the selected and in vitro examined magnesium alloys LAE442, WE43, MgCa0.8, AX30, ZEK100 were implanted into the rabbit tibia and examined with regard to the mechanical stability, the in vivo corrosion rate and the biocompatibility. For the in vivo investigation of the implant materials, the rabbit was used as established animal model for orthopaedic applications (Pearce, 2007). All animal experiments were conducted under an ethic committee approved protocol in accordance with German federal welfare legislation. Five rabbits were used for each group. Extruded pins with 2.5 mm in
The Quantitative Modeling of Operational Risk: Between G-and-H and EVT

Operational risk has become an important risk component in the banking and insurance world. The availability of (few) reasonable data sets has given some authors the opportunity to analyze operational risk data and to propose different models for quantification. As proposed in Dutta and Perry [12], the parametric g-and-h distribution has recently emerged as an interesting candidate. In our paper, we discuss some fundamental properties of the g-and-h distribution and their link to extreme value theory (EVT). We show that for the g-and-h distribution, convergence of the excess distribution to the generalized Pareto distribution (GPD) is extremely slow and therefore quantile estimation using EVT may lead to inaccurate results if data are well modeled by a g-and-h distribution. We further discuss the subadditivity property of Value-at-Risk (VaR) for g-and-h random variables and show that for reasonable g and h parameter values, superadditivity may appear when estimating high quantiles. Finally, we look at the g-and-h distribution in the one-claim-causes-ruin paradigm.
Glucose-to-insulin ratio rather than sex hormone-binding globulin and adiponectin levels is the best predictor of insulin resistance in nonobese women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the main androgen disorder in women, has been suggested to be associated with a high risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In many PCOS patients, overweight or central obesity is generally associated with increases in fasting insulin levels, insulin resistance, and glucose intolerance, and has been identified as a target for new therapeutic strategy, including early change in lifestyle. Early biochemical marker(s) for identifying at-risk patients will be useful for prevention studies. The main goal of the present study was to search for such tool(s). We investigated 16 nonobese PCOS women by performing euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp and measuring insulin levels during fasting and oral glucose tolerance test, as well as the serum concentrations of SHBG, leptin, and adiponectin, the newly identified adipose factors. Eight of the 16 patients had a steady-state glucose disposal rate less than 8.5 mg/kg.min, the lowest normal value for nonobese control women. These insulin-resistant patients had significant higher body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and SHBG levels. As expected, glucose disposal correlated negatively with BMI (P = 0.01), WHR (P = 0.01), and fasting insulin level (P = 0.003). On stepwise regression analysis, however, the glucose-to-insulin ratio (GIR) emerged as the strongest independent parameter to appraise insulin resistance (R(2) = 0.61). SHBG level correlated positively with GIR (P < 0.001) and negatively with BMI (P = 0.003) but did not correlate with either insulin response during the glucose tolerance test or plasma leptin and/or adiponectin levels. In contrast, BMI was the only independent predictive parameter of SHBG (P = 0.003, R(2) = 0.73). Interestingly, plasma adiponectin levels were positively associated with glucose disposal rate (P = 0.043) and negatively with WHR (P = 0.024), waist circumference being the best predictor of adiponectin level (P < 0.01). Leptin level correlated only with BMI (r = 0.62, P = 0.01). This study confirmed that insulin resistance, despite the lack of obesity as such, is clearly present in many PCOS women, and demonstrated that GIR is the best predictor for insulin resistance. It was also shown that adiponectin level is a good indicator of abdominal fat mass and is associated to insulin resistance. Finally, low SHBG levels in PCOS are intimately associated with BMI, suggesting that some signal(s) from the adipose tissue, independent of adiponectin and leptin, may regulate liver production of SHBG.
Abdominal obesity: causal factor or simply a symptom of obesity-related health risk

Background Abdominal fat (AF) reduction is advocated in the treatment of obesity-related diseases. Nonetheless, recent studies have shown additional beneficial effects against obesity-related health risks, independent of AF reduction. Therefore it is important to determine whether AF plays a causal role in promoting metabolic disorders or is simply a symptom of increased obesity-related health risk factors. Clarification of the primary role of AF in the pathogenesis of obesity-related disease is also important. Objective This retrospective study was conducted with the objectives of 1) comparison between groups exhibiting equivalent amounts of AF loss that resulted from distinct treatments (exercise and dietary restriction) with respect to degrees of improvement in obesity-related health risk factors and 2) determination of definite differences in the outcomes of obesity-related health risk in subjects receiving identical treatment (exercise) but exhibiting a remarkable difference in AF reduction. Design In 66 subjects who completed a 12-week exercise or dietary restriction program, 17 parameters (systolic blood pressure [SBP] and diastolic blood pressure [DBP]; high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hs-CRP]; leptin, adiponectin, tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α, interleukin [IL]-6; alanine aminotransferase [ALT], gamma glutamyl transpeptidase [γGT]; lipid profile: high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDLC], triglyceride [TG]; fasting plasma glucose [FPG], hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c], homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR); creatinine, uric acid; and maximal aerobic capacity [VO2 max]) were examined as indicators of obesity-related health risk. Results Despite equivalent magnitudes of AF reduction (−29.5% versus −30.1%) in subjects in the exercise and dietary restriction groups (objective 1), ten parameters (SBP, DBP, HDLC, HOMA-IR, uric acid, creatinine, hs-CRP, adiponectin, IL-6, and VO2 max) showed significant differences. However, for large AF reduction differences (−30.1% versus −2.8%) between groups of subjects in the same exercise program (objective 2), only creatinine and VO2 max were different. Conclusion It is likely that AF reduction alone is not directly linked to improvement in obesity-related health risk factors, indicating the need for reexamination of the management for AF reduction (ie, lifestyle modification) rather than simply targeting reduction of AF.
Stochastic Game Modelling for Distributed Constraint Reasoning with Privacy

Privacy has been a major concern for agents in distributed constraint reasoning. In this work, we approach this issue in distributed constraint reasoning by letting agents compromise solution quality for preserving privacy, using utility theory. We formalize privacy in the context of distributed constraint reasoning, detail its different aspects, and present model and solvers, as well as their properties. We then show how distributed constraint reasoning with privacy requirements can be modelled as a planning problem, and more speciﬁcally as a stochastic game.
A Novel Geographical Information Systems Framework to Characterize Photovoltaic Deployment in the UK: Initial Evidence

Globally, deployment of grid-connected photovoltaics (PV) has increased dramatically in recent years. The UK has seen rapid uptake reaching over 500,000 installations totalling 2.8 GWp by 2013. PV can be installed in different market segments (domestic rooftop, non-domestic rooftop and ground-mounted “solar-farms”) covering a broad range of system sizes in a high number of locations. It is important to gain detailed understanding of what grid-connected PV deployment looks like (e.g., how it deployed across different geographic areas and market segments), and identify the major drivers behind it. This paper answers these questions by developing a novel geographical information systems (GIS)-framework—the United Kingdom Photovoltaics Database (UKPVD)—to analyze temporal and spatial PV deployment trends at high resolution across all market segments. Results show how PV deployment changed over time with the evolution of governmental PV policy support. Then spatial trends as function of local irradiation, rurality (as a proxy of building and population density) and building footprint (as a proxy for roof-area) are analyzed. We find in all market segments, PV deployment is strongly correlated with the level of policy support. Furthermore, all markets show a preference to deploy in rural areas and those with higher irradiation. Finally, local clustering of PV in all market segments was observed, revealing that PV is not spread evenly across areas. This work reveals the complex nature of PV deployment, both spatially and by market segment, reinforcing the need capture this through mapping.
Glial cell loss, proliferation and replacement in the contused murine spinal cord

Studies in the rat have shown that contusive spinal cord injury (SCI) results in devastating pathology, including significant loss of mature oligodendrocytes and astrocytes even in spared white matter. Subsequently, there is increased proliferation of endogenous NG2+ cells, postulated to contribute to replacement of mature glia chronically, which is important for functional recovery. Studies of mechanisms that stimulate endogenous progenitor cells would be facilitated by using mouse models with naturally occurring and genetically engineered mutations. To determine whether the murine response is similar to that in the rat, we performed contusive SCI on adult female C57Bl/6 mice at the T8–9 level. Animals received bromodeoxyuridine injections in the first week following injury and were killed at 1, 3, 4, 7 or 28 days postinjury (DPI). The overall loss of macroglia and the temporal–spatial response of NG2+ cells after SCI in the (C57Bl/6) mouse was very similar to that in the (Sprague–Dawley) rat. By 24 h after SCI nearly half of the macroglia in spared ventral white matter had been lost. Cell proliferation was increased at 1–7 DPI, peaking at 3–4 DPI. Dividing cells included NG2+ cells and Cd11b+ macrophages and microglia. Furthermore, cells dividing in the first week expressed markers of mature glia at 28 DPI. The similarities in endogenous progenitor cell response to SCI in the mouse and rat suggest that this is a fundamental injury response, and that transgenic mouse models may be used to further probe how this cellular response to SCI might be enhanced to improve recovery after SCI.
Minor adverse events of colonoscopy on ambulatory patients: the impact of moderate sedation

Background Minor complications in colonoscopy, such as pain, distension, headache, dizziness, etc. are an important cause for the rejection of colonoscopy procedure. Their incidence, however, has not been established. Objective To determine minor complication rates in outpatient colonoscopy procedures and the effect of sedation on these complications. Patients A prospective randomized cohort study was performed on 1250 adults selected randomly among patients referred to our endoscopy unit. Complications and undesirable affects related to the colonoscopy were reordered during the patients' stay in the endoscopy unit (early complications) and 30 days postprocedure (late complications). Results One thousand one hundred and twenty-six patients were enrolled (mean age 50.43±13.7 years; 54.5% female), of which 875 (78%) were sedated and 251 (22%) were not. No difference between groups was observed. Thirty-one percent of the patients had early minor complications (25% among sedated patients; 52% of nonsedated patients; P<0.001 χ2); 23% had late minor complications (16% of sedated patients vs. 51% nonsedated patients; P<0.001 χ2). The most common undesirable effects were pain and abdominal distension. The risk of experiencing complications – odds ratio – was 1.013 times higher per year of age [confidence interval (CI) 95%: 1.004–1.022]; 1.953 times higher per increase in American Society of Anesthesiologists classification (95% CI: 1.524–2.504); and 0.116 times lower when sedation was used (95% CI: 0.079–0.170). Conclusion Minor complications of colonoscopy are common. Their incidence increases with age and American Society of Anesthesiologists class and decreases with the use of sedation.
A Review of Dual-Task Walking Deficits in People with Parkinson's Disease: Motor and Cognitive Contributions, Mechanisms, and Clinical Implications

Gait impairments in Parkinson's disease (PD) are exacerbated under dual-task conditions requiring the simultaneous performance of cognitive or motor tasks. Dual-task walking deficits impact functional mobility, which often requires walking while performing concurrent tasks such as talking or carrying an object. The consequences of gait impairments in PD are significant and include increased disability, increased fall risk, and reduced quality of life. However, effective therapeutic interventions for dual-task walking deficits are limited. The goals of this narrative review are to describe dual-task walking deficits in people with PD, to discuss motor and cognitive factors that may contribute to these deficits, to review potential mechanisms underlying dual-task deficits, and to discuss the effect of therapeutic interventions on dual-task walking deficits in persons with PD.