Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Hurricane Katrina on the fish fauna of the Pascagoula River Drainage

Large tropical storms can have dramatic effects on coastal, estuarine and terrestrial ecosystems. However, it is not as well understood how these types of disturbances might impact freshwater communities further inland. Storm surges can change critical water quality parameters for kilometers upstream, potentially causing subtle shifts in community structure or more drastic fish kills. Hurricane Katrina was one of the largest such storms to strike the coast of Mississippi and provides an opportunity to examine these effects in areas where we had pre-storm fish community data. In the weeks following the storm, fish kills were reported from some of the lower portions of the drainage. As part of a separate ongoing research project, monthly electrofishing surveys were conducted in 2004 and 2005 at ten sites throughout the Pascagoula River drainage. Survey effort was evenly divided among bank, sandbar and open channel habitats at each site from June through November. Sites ranged from 90 to 250 river km from the mouth of the Pascagoula River, creating a gradient of storm impact with which to judge storm effects on big river fish fauna. In addition, we compare preand post-storm communities along Black Creek, a medium-sized tributary, as well as in a group of small, headwater tributaries.
Working for Social Justice in Rural Schools: A Model for Science Education.

One-third of all U.S. school children attend school in rural settings. Rural schools are much poorer than urban America, with most of the poorest counties in the United States located in rural areas. Equity is a concern not only in terms of race, class, gender, disability, and sexual orientation, but also in terms of being geographically located in a rural area. Rural teachers are often not certified in their teaching areas, with one in four rural science teachers lacking in academic preparation or certification. This article describes the K20 Oklahoma Science Initiative for Rural Schools that targets low-income, rural schools serving diverse populations in Oklahoma. The K20 Initiative helps reduce the professional, cultural, and social isolation and lack of professional development in rural schools. The objectives of the initiative are to improve teacher quality and student success through three research-based strategies which are described in the article.
ImOSM: Intermittent Evolution and Robustness of Phylogenetic Methods

Among the criteria to evaluate the performance of a phylogenetic method, robustness to model violation is of particular practical importance as complete a priori knowledge of evolutionary processes is typically unavailable. For studies of robustness in phylogenetic inference, a utility to add well-defined model violations to the simulated data would be helpful. We therefore introduce ImOSM, a tool to imbed intermittent evolution as model violation into an alignment. Intermittent evolution refers to extra substitutions occurring randomly on branches of a tree, thus changing alignment site patterns. This means that the extra substitutions are placed on the tree after the typical process of sequence evolution is completed. We then study the robustness of widely used phylogenetic methods: maximum likelihood (ML), maximum parsimony (MP), and a distance-based method (BIONJ) to various scenarios of model violation. Violation of rates across sites (RaS) heterogeneity and simultaneous violation of RaS and the transition/transversion ratio on two nonadjacent external branches hinder all the methods recovery of the true topology for a four-taxon tree. For an eight-taxon balanced tree, the violations cause each of the three methods to infer a different topology. Both ML and MP fail, whereas BIONJ, which calculates the distances based on the ML estimated parameters, reconstructs the true tree. Finally, we report that a test of model homogeneity and goodness of fit tests have enough power to detect such model violations. The outcome of the tests can help to actually gain confidence in the inferred trees. Therefore, we recommend using these tests in practical phylogenetic analyses.
Output’s Response to Change in Exchange Rate: Empirical Evidence from China

This study empirically investigates how China’s real output responds to the appreciation of Chinese exchange rate during the period 1980 to 2010. The aim is to explore whether the appreciation of yuan is expansionary or contractionary in China. Since similar empirical studies on the relationship between output and exchange rate are lacking, this empirical work contributes to serve as a guideline on possible directions of effects and future research and it provide several policy implications for China’s policymakers. Cointegration technique and error correction models by using aggregate annual data are applied for empirical analysis. This study finds evidence that yuan appreciation has a negative impact on China’s output in the long run, indicating currency appreciation is indeed contractionary in China which is consistent with theoretical expectation of current and previous studies. In addition, the empirical findings show that China’s real output is positively associated with expansionary monetary policy, fiscal policy and the world output. Key-words: exchange rate, output’s response, China, cointegration, error correction
The mean echo and echo cross product from a beamforming interferometric altimeter and their application to elevation measurement

This paper describes the echo from a beamforming interferometric altimeter from a uniformly scattering surface inclined at an angle to a sphere, underlain by a uniformly scattering volume. The rough "surface" impulse response and the echo and interferometric cross product are determined as functions of the beam direction and the vector surface gradient. These expressions are used to determine the multilooked echo and interferometric phase from such a system. The "effective" number of looks and the multilooked echo coherence, which determine the statistics of the echo power and the interferometric phase, are defined. The dependence of the multilooked echo power and interferometric phase are investigated as functions of the surface vector gradient, surface roughness, volume scattering, and SNR. These behaviors are illustrated using values based on a practical system. The precision of the elevation measurement is examined in the light of the effective number of looks and the coherence of the multilooked echo and cross product. Some conclusions concerning the practical recovery of the range from the echo power are discussed.
Olfactory identification and incidence of mild cognitive impairment in older age.

CONTEXT Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is often a precursor to Alzheimer disease, but knowledge about factors that predict its development is limited. OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that impaired odor identification is related to increased risk of incident MCI. DESIGN Longitudinal cohort study. SETTING Academic research. PARTICIPANTS Subjects were 589 community-dwelling older persons without cognitive impairment at study baseline, at which time odor identification was assessed using the 12-item Brief Smell Identification Test (mean +/- SD score, 9.3 +/- 1.9). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Incidence of MCI and rate of decline in cognitive function. RESULTS During annual observation of up to 5 years, 177 subjects developed MCI. In a proportional hazards model adjusted for age, sex, and education, odor identification score predicted development of MCI (relative risk, 1.15; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-1.23), with risk increased by 50% in persons with below-average (score of 8 [25th percentile]) compared with above-average (score of 11 [75th percentile]) odor identification scores. Results were not substantially changed in subsequent analyses that controlled for level of cognitive function or disability, presence of stroke, or smoking status at baseline or that required MCI to persist for at least 1 year. Impaired odor identification was also associated with a lower level of global cognition at baseline and with more rapid decline in episodic memory, semantic memory, and perceptual speed. CONCLUSION Among older persons without manifest cognitive impairment, difficulty in identifying odors predicts subsequent development of MCI.
Firm Survival and Change in Ghana, 2003-2013

How did Ghanaian manufacturing firms change in the period between 2003 and 2013? This paper presents results from a survey of 1000 firms in Ghana, conducted in 2013, which were randomly selected from the 2003 Ghanaian National Industrial Census. This survey allows us to track survival and exit of firms between 2003 and 2013. We find strong regional differences and also differences for small, medium and large firms. The exit rate of firms in Kumasi, the second city, is lower than in Accra, but the growth rate of firms in Kumasi was also lower. Small firms were more likely to exit than large firms. Overall, the picture we paint of manufacturing in Ghana is not a positive one: total employment by firms operating before 2003 decreased from 134 863 in 2003 to 74 319 in 2013. It remains a question to what extent this was compensated by new employment by firms that entered after 2003, who were not surveyed. We also consider the firm size distribution evolution, and show that selection plays some role in explaining the positive correlation between firm size and age, but that this is less strong than in earlier studies.
Cooperative Learning: The Role of Feedback and Use of Lecture Activities on Students' Academic Performance

This paper examines the role of feedback and the use of lecture activities on student’s academic performance. The responses of 77 second year cost accounting students, from a major Australian university, to a survey were analyzed by using a path analytic technique. The results suggest that the use of lecture activities is an important antecedent of students’ academic performance, and that feedback acts as an important intervening factor between the use of lecture activities and students’ academic performance.
Integrated Rule-Based Learning and Inference

Neurules are a kind of integrated rules integrating neurocomputing and production rules. Each neurule is represented as an adaline unit. Thus, the corresponding neurule base consists of a number of autonomous adaline units (neurules). In this paper, we present the construction process and the inference mechanism of neurules and explore their generalization capabilities. The construction process, which also implements corresponding learning algorithm, creates neurules from a given empirical data set. The inference mechanism of neurules is integrated in its nature; it combines neurocomputing with symbolic processes. It is also interactive, i.e., it interacts with the user asking him/her to provide values for some variables necessary to carry on inference. As shown via experiments, the neurules' integrated inference mechanism is more efficient than the inference mechanism used in connectionist expert systems. Furthermore, neurules generalize much better than their constituent neural component (adaline unit) and are comparable to the backpropagation neural net (BPNN).
Joint Effect of Urinary Total Arsenic Level and VEGF-A Genetic Polymorphisms on the Recurrence of Renal Cell Carcinoma

The results of our previous study suggested that high urinary total arsenic levels were associated with an increased risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Germline genetic polymorphisms might also affect cancer risk and clinical outcomes. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in vasculogenesis and angiogenesis, but the combined effect of these factors on RCC remains unclear. In this study, we explored the association between the VEGF-A -2578C>A, -1498T>C, -1154G>A, -634G>C, and +936C>T gene polymorphisms and RCC. We also evaluated the combined effects of the VEGF-A haplotypes and urinary total arsenic levels on the prognosis of RCC. This case-control study was conducted with 191 RCC patients who were diagnosed with renal tumors on the basis of image-guided biopsy or surgical resections. An additional 376 age- and gender-matched controls were recruited. Concentrations of urinary arsenic species were determined by a high performance liquid chromatography-linked hydride generator and atomic absorption spectrometry. Genotyping was investigated using fluorescent-based TaqMan allelic discrimination. We observed no significant associations between VEGF-A haplotypes and RCC risk. However, the VEGF-A ACGG haplotype from VEGF-A -2578, -1498, -1154, and -634 was significantly associated with an increased recurrence of RCC (OR = 3.34, 95% CI = 1.03–10.91). Urinary total arsenic level was significantly associated with the risk of RCC in a dose-response manner, but it was not related to the recurrence of RCC. The combination of high urinary total arsenic level and VEGF-A risk haplotypes affected the OR of RCC recurrence in a dose-response manner. This is the first study to show that joint effect of high urinary total arsenic and VEGF-A risk haplotypes may influence the risk of RCC recurrence in humans who live in an area without obvious arsenic exposure.
The Determinants of Mutual Funds Performance in Russia

Despite 19 years of the existence of mutual funds in Russia, their performance and effectiveness remain not deeply investigated subjects. The deficit of academic research has a negative influence on the investors’ and regulator’s attitude towards the collective investment market in Russia. In contrast to many other countries oriented on the development of internal stock market, collective investment in Russia does not yet play an active role in the mobilization of internal private savings.This article intends to partially make up for the lack of knowledge about the economy of mutual funds in Russia. It presents the analysis of three measures of mutual fund performance in Russia: the share return, net flow and management company fee. The analysis is based on a unique dataset which contains information about characteristics of 755 mutual funds and covers a 13 year period of the existence of the collective investment sector in Russia. The mutual fund return is able to outperform inflation, return on government bonds and return on the 50/50 strategy. During the periods 2000-2013 and 2008-2013 the abnormal return, net flow and management company fee have followed the same regularity as their foreign counterparts. Thus, mutual funds are one of the most important players in the Russian financial market. We also showed that for the successful development of collective investment in Russia it is necessary to increase the scale of operations, cost management effectiveness and transparency
Culture and Online Learning: Global Perspectives and Research

Despite the vast body of research on online learning and distance education, one of the areas in need of further analysis is its relation to culture and globalization (Zawacki-Richter, 2009). Thus, contributions by authors with international research backgrounds in this field hold the promise for Culture and Online Learning: Global Perspectives and Research to help minimize this perceived gap. Throughout the seventeen chapters of the book, the authors present a range of themes related to culture and online learning, mirroring their different perspectives and takes on this topic.
Globalization and marketization of government services : comparing contemporary public sector developments

Preface and Acknowledgements - Notes on the Contributors - In Search of the State: Markets Myths and Paradigms A.Massey - The Globalization of Public Services Production: Can Government be 'Best in World'? P.Dunleavy - The National Performance Review: A New Humanist Public Management? H.Margetts - European Union and Local Government M.Goldsmith - The Automated State H.Margetts - Recycling or Reinventing: The Search for Governmental Efficiency? G.Jordan - The Bureau-Shaping Model and the Public Service S.Cope - Index
Overview of the Special Issue "Selected Papers from the 2014 International Aerosol Conference"

ABSTRACTAn International Aerosol Conference (IAC), held once in every four years, is the largest and most prestigious professional meeting in the aerosol research community worldwide. The 9th IAC was organized by the Korean Association for Particle and Aerosol Research (KAPAR) on behalf of the International Aerosol Research Assembly (IARA) and held from August 31 to September 5, 2014 in Busan, Republic of Korea. A total of 1215 participants from 52 countries presented 1059 papers, including 529 oral and 530 poster presentations. More than a half (51%) of the presentations was from Asia followed by Europe (35%), and North America (15%). The presentations covered a wide range of aerosol-related studies. Among 17 topics, the theme ‘atmospheric aerosols and air quality’ had the most presentations (21% of the total number of papers presented), followed by ‘aerosol chemistry’ (10%), ‘atmospheric aerosols and global climate’ (9%), ‘instrumentation’ (8%) and ‘aerosol physics’ (8%). This suggests that air quality issues related to ambient aerosols is of a major concern, especially, in East Asian countries. In addition to research presentations, various educational and social activities were carried out during the IAC-2014. There were tutorial lectures attended by 166 participants as well as several plenary and keynote lectures given by distinguished speakers. One of the popular social activities was a conference tour to the traditional Korean folk village and Buddhist temples, both are UNESCO world heritage sites. Also, there was a large and interesting exhibition from 29 companies and institutions related to aerosols.
A multi-stage neural network classifier for ECG events

In this paper, a multi-stage network including two multilayer perceptron (MLP) and one self organizing map (SOM) networks is presented. The input of the network is a combination of independent features and the compressed ECG data. The proposed network as a form of data fusion, performs better than using the raw data or individual features. We classified six common ECG waveforms using ten ECG records of the MIT/BIH arrhythmia database. An average recognition rate of 0.883 was achieved within a short training and testing time.
Vitamin D as a Resilience Factor, Helpful for Survival of Potentially Fatal Conditions: A Hypothesis Emerging from Recent Findings of the ESTHER Cohort Study and the CHANCES Consortium

There is debate on whether vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for major chronic diseases and premature death or whether observed associations were just confounded by general health status. Here, we review recent results from the Epidemiologische Studie zu Chancen der Verhütung, Früherkennung und optimierten Therapie chronischer Erkrankungen in der älteren Bevölkerung (ESTHER) cohort study and the Consortium on Heatlh and Ageing: Network of Cohorts from Europe and the United States (CHANCES) that suggest that vitamin D deficiency may not be a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases and cancer but may be a risk factor for fatal instances of these diseases. Furthermore, analyses comprehensively adjusted for the health status showed that the association of vitamin D and mortality was very likely not confounded by general health status. These results suggest that vitamin D could be a marker of resilience to fatality of potentially fatal diseases. Sufficient vitamin D serum concentrations may be needed to regulate the response of the immune system when it is challenged by severe diseases to prevent a fatal course of the disease. If this hypothesis can be verified through basic research studies and adequately designed randomized controlled trials, it could have important public health implications because vitamin D deficiency is very common worldwide, and interventions could be implemented easily.
Job search theory and the slippery slope framework: an attempt to integration

Recently, attempts have been made to formalize the assumptions of the ‘slippery slope’ framework about the effects of trust (in) and power (of) tax authorities on tax compliance. In this sense, the proposed theoretical work introduces the basic insights of the ‘slippery slope’ framework into the benchmark macroeconomic model of the labour market with tax evasion. The key result of this integration is the following: with the right mix of policy tools of deterrence and trust in tax authorities, a reduction in tax evasion may increase labour market tightness and decrease unemployment.
Impaired fibrinolysis in the pathogenesis of dengue hemorrhagic fever

The mechanisms contributing to bleeding complications in dengue hemorrhagic fever were studied by investigating the pattern of activation of the coagulation and fibrinolytic systems in 50 children with severe dengue hemorrhagic fever. Thirteen patients (26%) died, and activation of coagulation was most pronounced in the deceased group. Fibrinolysis was also activated, but this activation was relatively weak compared with that of coagulation as a result of persistently high plasminogen activator inhibitor levels. Plasminogen activator inhibitor also prevented a switch from the procoagulant to the profibrinolytic state in lethal dengue hemorrhagic fever, which was further enhanced by an acquired protein C deficiency. The present study is the first to demonstrate such a mechanism in a viral infection. This imbalance between coagulation and fibrinolysis may be used as a prognostic marker, but it may also be a target for future therapeutic intervention. J. Med. Virol. 67:549–554, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
End-of-life planning in a family context: does relationship quality affect whether (and with whom) older adults plan?

OBJECTIVES Medical professionals typically approach advance care planning (ACP) as an individual-level activity, yet family members also may play an integral role in making decisions about older adults' end-of-life care. We evaluate the effects of marital satisfaction and parent-child relationship quality on older adults' use of advance directives (i.e., living will and durable power of attorney for health care [DPAHC] appointments) and end-of-life discussions. METHODS Using multinomial logistic regression models and data from a sample of 1,883 older adults in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we estimated the effects of marital satisfaction, emotional support and criticism from children, other social support, demographic characteristics, and health on general ACP (i.e., advance directive only, discussions only, both, or neither) and specific DPAHC appointments. RESULTS Parents with problematic parent-child relationships were less likely to complete ACP, and marital satisfaction was positively associated with completion of both advance directives and discussions. Happily married persons were more likely to appoint their spouse as DPAHC, whereas persons who received ample emotional support from children were mostly likely to appoint an adult child. DISCUSSION Family dynamics affect ACP in complex ways and should be considered in patient-provider discussions of end-of-life care.