Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Normal Values for Segmental Bioimpedance Spectroscopy in Pediatric Patients

INTRODUCTION Localized limb edema is a clinically relevant sign in diseases such as post-thrombotic syndrome and lymphedema. Quantitative evaluation of localized edema in children is mainly done by measuring the absolute difference in limb circumference, which includes fat and fat-free mass. Bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) provides information on the fluid volume of a body segment. Our objective was to determine normal ranges for segmental (arm and leg) BIS measurements in healthy children. Additionally, we determined the normal ranges for the difference in arm and ankle circumference and explored the influence of handedness and the correlation between techniques. METHODS Healthy children aged 1-18 years were recruited. The ratio of extracellular fluid content between contralateral limbs (estimated as the inter-arm and inter-leg extracellular impedance ratio), and the ratio of extracellular to intracellular fluid content for each limb (estimated as the intracellular to extracellular impedance ratio) were determined with a bioimpedance spectrometer. Arm and ankle circumference was determined with a Gulick II tape. RESULTS We recruited 223 healthy children (48 infants, 54 preschoolers, 66 school-aged children, and 55 teenagers). Normal values for arm and leg BIS measurements, and for the difference in arm and ankle circumference were estimated for each age category. No influence of handedness was found. We found a statistically significant correlation between extracellular impedance ratio and circumference difference for arms among teenagers. CONCLUSION We determined normal BIS ranges for arms and legs and for the difference in circumference between arms and between ankles in children. There was no statistically significant correlation between extracellular impedance ratio and difference in circumference, except in the case of arms in adolescents. This may indicate that limb circumference measures quantities other than fluid, challenging the adequacy of this technique to determine the presence of localized edema in most age groups.
The Equity Index Skew, Market Crashes and Asymmetric Normal Mixture GARCH

The skewness in physical distributions of equity index returns and the implied volatility skew in the risk-neutral measure are subjects of extensive academic research. Much attention is now being focused on models that are able to capture time-varying conditional skewness and kurtosis. For this reason normal mixture GARCH(1,1) models have become very popular in financial econometrics. We introduce further asymmetries into this class of models by modifying the GARCH(1,1) variance processes to skewed variance processes with leverage effects. These asymmetric normal mixture GARCH models can differentiate between two different sources of asymmetry: a persistent asymmetry due to the different means in the conditional normal mixture distributions, and a dynamic asymmetry (the leverage effect) due to the skewed GARCH processes. Empirical results on five major equity indices first employ many statistical criteria to determine whether asymmetric (GJR and AGARCH) normal mixture GARCH models can improve on asymmetric normal and Student’s-t GARCH specifications. These models were also used to simulate implied volatility smiles for the S&P index, and we find that much the most realistic skews are obtained from a GARCH model with a mixture of two GJR variance components.
Hematopoietic cells maintain hematopoietic fates upon entering the brain

Several studies have reported that bone marrow (BM) cells may give rise to neurons and astrocytes in vitro and in vivo. To further test this hypothesis, we analyzed for incorporation of neural cell types expressing donor markers in normal or injured brains of irradiated mice reconstituted with whole BM or single, purified c-kit+Thy1.1loLin−Sca-1+ (KTLS) hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), and of unirradiated parabionts with surgically anastomosed vasculature. Each model showed low-level parenchymal engraftment of donor-marker+ cells with 96–100% immunoreactivity for panhematopoietic (CD45) or microglial (Iba1 or Mac1) lineage markers in all cases studied. Other than one arborizing structure in the olfactory bulb of one BM-transplanted animal, possibly representing a neuronal or glial cell process, we found no donor-marker–expressing astrocytes or non-Purkinje neurons among >10,000 donor-marker+ cells from 21 animals. These data strongly suggest that HSCs and their progeny maintain lineage fidelity in the brain and do not adopt neural cell fates with any measurable frequency.
An Empirical Study on the Impact of Perceived Benefit, Risk and Trust on E-Payment Adoption: Comparing Quick Pay and Union Pay in China

To explain the adoption of two Online payment tools (Quick Pay, Union Pay Online), we use TAM and Trust Theories to extend the Valence Framework. Then we designed a questionnaire in accordance with the proposed model. With the data collected, we have discovered that perceived benefit and trust are the key factors determining users' adoption of e-payment tools, and users pay much less attention to perceived risk. Using the validated and modified model, we explained the adoption of the mentioned two e-payment tools. Quick Pay is more popular than Union Pay because Quick Pay has better performance in ease access, usability, reputation and secure protection.
The Perceptions of the Role of the Company Officer at the United States Naval Academy from the Perspective of Senior Officers, Battalion Officers, Company Officers and Senior Enlisted Leaders

Abstract : This thesis provides data on the perceptions of the role of the Company Officer at the United States Naval Academy (USNA) according to the perspectives of Senior Officers, Battalion Officers, Company Officers and Senior Enlisted Leaders. The author interviewed and surveyed 59 members of the chain-of-command using four interview questions and a trait questionnaire to address several research questions: the purpose of the role of the Company Officer; critical traits needed to perform the job; examples of effective Company Officer behavior; and skills learned by Company Officers. By comparing the interview and questionnaire responses the author determined that significant congruency exists throughout the chain-of-command. Study participants believe Company Officers are essential in developing midshipmen. Company Officers need to be honest, role models, mentors, approachable, loyal, respected and consistent to be effective. By being involved in company activities and spending time with midshipmen Company Officers are best able to be effective. While fulfilling the role Company Officers learn leadership, personnel management and self-awareness. There are two divergent perspectives in the chain-of-command: (1) a minority of Senior Enlisted Leaders believe there are some low-quality officers serving as Company Officers, and (2) a minority of Company Officers feel they are not being professionally developed by their Battalion Officers. Each of the findings are discussed in detail, and quotations from interview are provided to give the reader deeper insight. The author's conclusion is that there is significant congruency throughout the chain-of-command but there are small changes that need to be made to create a more effective and efficient leadership team.
LP‐BM5 infection impairs acquisition, but not performance, of active avoidance responding in C57Bl/6 mice

LP‐BM5 murine leukemia virus infection causes an AIDS‐like syndrome—murine acquired immunodeficiency syndrome— in C57Bl/6 mice and impairs spatial learning in the Morris water maze without gross motor impairment. We used a shuttle shock‐avoidance procedure to examine the effects of LP‐BM5 infection on learning and retention of avoidance behavior. Thirty mice were inoculated with LP‐BM5; 30 received vehicle (DMEM) injections. Fifteen LP‐BM5 and 15 DMEM mice were trained in avoidance 7 wk after inoculation; retention of the avoidance response was tested 4 wk later. The remaining mice were trained 11 wk after inoculation. In animals trained 7 wk after inoculation, the groups performed similarly, with a marginally significant tendency for LP‐BM5‐infected animals to make more avoidance responses. This group difference was significant when animals were retested at 11 wk. However, LP‐BM5 animals trained 11 wk after inoculation made significantly fewer avoidance responses than controls trained at the same time. We conclude that in later stages of disease, LP‐BM5 impairs response acquisition, but not performance, in the active avoidance procedure. Results extend the use of the LP‐BM5‐infected mouse as a model of AIDS dementia complex. —English, J. A. , Hemphill, K. M. , Paul, I. A. LP‐BM5 infection impairs acquisition, but not performance, of active avoidance responding in C57Bl/6 mice. FASEB J. 12, 175–179 (1998)
Stellar Kinematics of the Double Nucleus of M31

We report observations of the double nucleus of M31 with the f/48 long-slit spectrograph of the Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Camera. We obtain a total exposure of 19,000 s over seven orbits, with the 0. ″063-wide slit along the line between the two brightness peaks (P.A. 42°). Careful correction of the raw data for detector backgrounds and geometric distortion is essential. A spectrum of Jupiter obtained with the same instrument is used as a spectral template to extract rotation and velocity dispersion profiles by cross-correlation. The rotation curve is resolved and reaches a maximum amplitude of ∼250 km s-1 roughly 0. ″3 to either side of a rotation center lying between peaks P1 and P2, 0. ″16 ± 0. ″05 from the optically fainter P2. We find the velocity dispersion to be ≲250 km s-1 everywhere except for a narrow "dispersion spike" centered 0. ″06 ± 0. ″03 on the anti-P1 side of P2, in which σ peaks at 440 ± 70 km s-1. At much lower confidence, we see local disturbances to the rotation curve at P1 and P2 and an elevation in σ at P1. At very low significance we detect a weak asymmetry in the line-of-sight velocity distribution opposite to the sense usually encountered. Convolving our V and σ profiles to Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope resolution, we find good agreement with the forthcoming results of Kormendy & Bender, although there is a 20% discrepancy in the dispersion that cannot be attributed to the dispersion spike. Our results are not consistent with the location of the maximum dispersion found by Bacon et al. in 1994. Comparing with published models, we find that the more recent sinking star cluster model of Emsellem & Combes does not reproduce either the rotation curve or the dispersion profile. The eccentric-disk model proposed by Tremaine fares better and can be improved somewhat by adjusting the original parameters. However, detailed modeling will require dynamical models of significantly greater realism.
Is thinking really aversive? A commentary on Wilson et al.'s “Just think: the challenges of the disengaged mind”

Spontaneous thought, often colloquially referred to as “daydreaming” or “mind-wandering,” is increasingly being investigated by scientists (for recent reviews, see Christoff, 2012; Andrews-Hanna et al., 2014; Smallwood and Schooler, 2014). In a recent article published in Science, Wilson et al. (2014) argue in support of the view (e.g., Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010) that such thinking is predominantly unpleasant, and even emotionally aversive. While we were impressed with the enormous wealth of data collected by Wilson et al. and by the number of experimental manipulations carried out, we found their interpretations surprising in light of prior research. We applaud Wilson et al.'s detailed effort to investigate the content and affective qualities of “just thinking”—but upon examining their dataset, we find little support for their claims. Wilson et al. make three central claims, as summarized in their article's abstract: (i) “participants typically did not enjoy spending 6–15 min in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think”; (ii) participants “enjoyed doing mundane external activities much more” than “just thinking”; and (iii) “many [participants] preferred to administer electric shocks to themselves instead of being left alone with their thoughts. ” These claims were surprising to us because they contradict the findings from a substantial body of research on the affective qualities of thinking and daydreaming (Singer and McCraven, 1961; Killingsworth and Gilbert, 2010; Stawarczyk et al., 2011, 2013; Song and Wang, 2012; Andrews-Hanna et al., 2013; Diaz et al., 2013; Ruby et al., 2013; Tusche et al., 2014; the results from these studies are summarized in Table S1 in our Supplementary Materials). After closely examining Wilson et al.'s data, we found very little support for their first and third central claims—similar to other independent, critical examinations of their dataset (e.g., Jabr, 2014; Nelson, 2014). We did find their second claim to be supported by their data—but for external activities that were engaging, and tailored to participants' personal interests, rather than “mundane. ” Overall, we argue that it is impossible to draw meaningful conclusions regarding the “typical” affective qualities of spontaneous thought, given their enormous variability both within and across individuals (for a similar argument, see Gelman, 2014).
The Economic Value of the Greater Montreal Blue Network (Quebec, Canada): A Contingent Choice Study Using Real Projects to Estimate Non-Market Aquatic Ecosystem Services Benefits

This study used a contingent choice method to determine the economic value of improving various ecosystem services (ESs) of the Blue Network of Greater Montreal (Quebec, Canada). Three real projects were used and the evaluation focused on six ESs that are related to freshwater aquatic ecosystems: biodiversity, water quality, carbon sequestration, recreational activities, landscape aesthetics and education services. We also estimated the value associated with the superficies of restored sites. We calculated the monetary value that a household would be willing to pay for each additional qualitative or quantitative unit of different ESs, and these marginal values range from $0.11 to $15.39 per household per unit. Thus, under certain assumptions, we determined the monetary values that all Quebec households would allocate to improve each ES in Greater Montreal by one unit. The most valued ES was water quality ($13.5 million), followed by education services ($10.7 million), recreational activities ($8.9 million), landscape aesthetics ($4.1 million), biodiversity ($1.2 million), and carbon sequestration ($0.1 million). Our results ascribe monetary values to improved (or degraded) aquatic ecosystems in the Blue Network of Greater Montreal, but can also enhance economic analyses of various aquatic ecosystem restoration and management projects.
The Impact of Defense Expenditure on Economic Growth

The goal of this paper is to analyze the relationship between defense expenditures and economic growth in Romania, trying to find out the existence, direction and intensity of this connection. The methods which I used are cluster analysis, quintile analysis, regression technique and Granger causality. The results suggest that in Romania there is a negative correlation. A potential cause of the negative effect of defense expenditures on economic growth in Romania is the high proportion of the spending on equipment and other operational spending. Also I have considered the implications of the budgetary restriction – the limited resources might be given priority for other programs.
An Adaptive Approach to Human Decision Making : Learning Theory , Decision Theory , and Human Performance

This article describes a general model of decision rule learning, the rule competition model, composed of 2 parts: an adaptive network model that describes how individuals learn to predict the payoffs produced by applying each decision rule for any given situation and a hill-climbing model that describes how individuals learn to fine tune each rule by adjusting its parameters. The model was tested and compared with other models in 3 experiments on probabilistic categorization. The first experiment was designed to test the adaptive network model using a probability learning task, the second was designed to test the parameter search process using a criterion learning task, and the third was designed to test both parts of the model simultaneously by using a task that required learning both category rules and cutoff criteria.
Recent Initiatives in the Canadian Market for Government of Canada Securities

The initiatives reviewed by the author were undertaken to ensure a liquid and well-functioning market for Government of Canada securities in light of the significant shift in the government's financial position. They include changes made in 1998 by the Bank of Canada and the government to the rules governing auctions and to the Bank's surveillance of the auction process, changes to the treasury bill and bond programs, and implementation of a pilot buyback program for Government of Canada marketable bonds. In addition, the Investment Dealers Association of Canada adopted a code of conduct for the secondary market. These initiatives were well received by the market and appear to have had a positive impact. The Bank and the government are, however, continuing their search for ways to maintain and enhance the efficiency of this market.
Leptin signaling enhances cell invasion and promotes the metastasis of human pancreatic cancer via increasing MMP-13 production

Emerging evidence has suggested that leptin, an adipokine related to energy homeostasis, plays a role in cancer growth and metastasis. However, its impact on pancreatic cancer is rarely studied. In this study, we found that leptin's functional receptor Ob-Rb was expressed in pancreatic cancer cell lines. Treatment with leptin enhanced the migration and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells but did not affect the proliferation of human pancreatic cancer cells. Leptin up-regulated the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13) via the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. The overexpression of leptin was shown to significantly promote tumor growth and lymph node metastasis in a subcutaneous model and an orthotopic model of human pancreatic cancer, respectively. Furthermore, in human pancreatic cancer tissues, the expression of Ob-Rb was positively correlated with the MMP-13 level. The increased expression of either Ob-Rb or MMP-13 was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis and tended to be associated with the TNM stage in patients with pancreatic cancer. Our findings suggest that leptin enhances the invasion of pancreatic cancer through the increase in MMP-13 production, and targeting the leptin/MMP-13 axis could be an attractive therapeutic strategy for pancreatic cancer.
Modeling Olive Crop Yield in Andalusia, Spain

Andalusia (southern Spain) is the largest olive (Olea europaea L.) oil producing region in the world. This study sought to identify the main factors influencing olive fruit production in this region, by modeling pollen release as an index of flowering intensity, field floral phenology data, and meteorological data over the fruiting season in three main olive-producing provinces of Andalusia: Jaen, Cordoba, and Granada. Field floral phenological data were used to determine the anthesis phase, to ascertain which period of the pollination records should be included in the models. Forecast models indicated that annual prepeak pollen index (PI) was the variable most influencing the final olive crop. Spring and summer rainfall and both maximum and minimum temperatures in summer and autumn were the major weather-related parameters affecting final fruit production, although statistical analysis revealed differences between sites with regard to the timing and the degree of their influence. Validation results confirmed the validity and accuracy of the widely-used Hirst volumetric trap as a tool for olive crop yield forecasting in high-density olive-growing areas. The models used here provided earlier and more accurate crop estimates than those traditionally used by the Andalusian regional government, and may thus enable farmers, as well as government departments, to improve both crop yield management and olive oil marketing strategies and policies.
Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change Constraining Climate Model Properties Using Optimal Fingerprint Detection Methods

The MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change is an organization for research, independentÊpolicy analysis, and public education in global environmental change. It seeks to provide leadership inÊunderstanding scientific, economic, and ecological aspects of this difficult issue, and combining them into policy assessments that serve the needs of ongoing national and international discussions. To this end, the Program brings together an interdisciplinary group from two established research centers at MIT: the Center for Global Change Science (CGCS) and the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR). These two centers bridgeÊmany key areas ofÊthe needed intellectual work, and additional essential areas are covered by other MIT departments, by collaboration with the Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biology Laboratory (MBL) at Woods Hole, and by short-and long-term visitors to the Program. The Program involves sponsorship and active participation by industry, government, and non-profit organizations. To inform processes of policy development and implementation, climate change research needs to focus on improving the prediction of those variables that are most relevant to economic, social, and environmental effects. InÊturn, the greenhouse gas and atmospheric aerosol assumptions underlying climate analysis need to be related to the economic, technological, and political forces that drive emissions, and to the results of international agreements and mitigation. Further, assessments of possible societal and ecosystem impacts, and analysis of mitigation strategies, need to be based on realistic evaluation of the uncertainties of climate science. This report is one of a series intended to communicate research results and improve public understanding of climate issues, thereby contributing to informed debate about the climate issue, the uncertainties, and the economic and social implications of policy alternatives. Titles in the Report Series to date are listed on the inside back cover. Abstract We present a method for constraining key properties of the climate system that are important for climate prediction (climate sensitivity and rate of heat penetration into the deep ocean) by comparing a modelÕs response to known forcings over the 20th century against climate observations for that period. We use the MIT two-dimensional (2D) climate model in conjunction with results from the UK Hadley CentreÕs coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) to determine these constraints. The MIT 2D model is a zonally-averaged version of a 3D GCM which can accurately reproduce the global-mean transient response of coupled AOGCMs through appropriate choices of the climate sensitivity and the effective rate …