Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Palynological and Palaeoenvironmental Study of the Middle-Upper Maastrichtian Mamu Coal Facies in Anambra Basin, Nigeria

3 Abstract: The Middle-Upper Maastrichtian Mamu Formation in the Anambra Basin is characterized by fossiliferous dark gray, indurated, fissile shale, overlain by intercalation of sand and shale facies sequence with coal inter-beds inferring deposition under shallow marine conditions. The sequence is also characterized by rapid facies change within short stratigraphic interval. Detailed palynostratigraphic study of a reference Well-1008 and coal samples from different horizons in eight cored Wells-1002,1267,1235,1239, 1219, 1213 and 1356 were analyzed in order to determine the palynological zones of the reference Well and geological age of the coal seams in the Mamu Formation. The reference Well-1008 indicates two palynological zones, while one palynological zone was established for the other eight Wells belonging to Spinizonocolpites baculatus Assemblage Zone. Two palynological zones were established for the Well-1008 - Zone 1: Longapertites marginatus Acme Zone characterized by the maximum development of Longapertites marginatus; associated with other forms such as Retimonocolpites sp.2, Periretisyncolpites sp. , Retidiporites magdalenensis, Monocolpites marginatus,Cingulatisporites ornatus, Constructipollenites ineffectus, Aquilapollenites sp. and Triporites sp. The marker forms are inferred to have been deposited as a result of marine transgression marked by dark shales which were deposited during the Middle Maastrichtian. The interval is further marked by preponderance high palynomorph abundance and diversity which could have resulted due to conducive environmental conditions and appreciable shift in marine shoreline onto the continent. The palynological Zone 2, belongs to Spinizonocolpites baculatus Assemblage Zone, characterized by co-occurrence of Nigeripollis gemmatus sp, Echitriporites trianguliformis, Periretisyncolpites sp. ,Rugulatisporites caperatus, Cingulatisporites ornatus, Constructipollenites ineffectus, Zlivisporites blanensis and Distaverrusporites simplex. All the coal seam beds belong to the Zone 2 of Spinizonocolpites baculatus assemblage zone, dated Late Maastrichtian age. It is suggested that the coal deposits were formed as a result of interplay between the pockets of marine water and fluvial processes during the regressive phase in the Late Maastrichtian time. This is further characterized by relatively low abundance of palynomorph population and diversity associated with low sea level and basin ward shift of marine shoreline.
New strong interactions above the electroweak scale

Theoretical arguments for a new higher-color quark sector, based on Pomeron physics in QCD, are briefly described. The electroweak symmetry-breaking, Strong CP conservation, and electroweak scale CP violation, that is naturally produced by this sector is also outlined. A further consequence is that above the electroweak scale there will be a radical change in the strong interaction. Electroweak states, in particular multiple W`s and Z`s, and new, semi-stable, very massive, baryons, will be commonly produced. The possible correlation of expected phenomena with a wide range of observed Cosmic Ray effects at and above the primary spectrum knee is described. Related phenomena that might be seen in the highest energy hard scattering events at the Fermilab Tevatron, some of which could be confused with top production, are also briefly discussed.
Preliminary Report on a Haptic Feedback Technique for Basic Interactions with a Virtual Control Panel

This paper discusses haptic feedback for interactions with sliders and buttons on a virtual control panel. We present a haptic technique that uses both feedback from a portable force-feedback glove and feedback from direct contact with a real panel. An evaluation comparing this combined approach to each individual approach is presented. The combination of two approaches is shown to result in improved user performance and improved subjective ratings when compared to the use of only a force-feedback glove, and it is shown to improve subjective ratings when compared to the use of only a static panel.
Multimodal Analgesia for Postoperative Pain Management

The experience of pain is complex, multifaceted, and “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience,” as defined in part by the International Association for the Study of Pain. It is a personal, subjective experience that involves sensory, emotional and behavioral factors associated with actual or potential tissue injury (Rawal). The differential behavior response to surgical incision can be influenced by many variables including global (i.e., personality, gender, age, cultural background, pre-existing pain syndromes, genetic makeup, kind and type of surgical approach, cultural background) and specific (i.e., fear, anxiety, depression, anger, and coping) psychological factors (Eccleston, 2001). Only by considering all concomitant factors can physicians provide optimal treatment. Millions of surgeries are performed on an annual basis, necessitating the frequent use of acute postoperative pain management. There are many types of surgery and, with few exceptions, all are painful. Fear of uncontrolled pain is among the primary concerns of many patients who are about to undergo surgery. One of the most important factors in determining when a patient can be safely discharged from a surgical facility, and that also has a major influence on the patient’s ability to resume his/her normal activities of daily living, is the adequacy of postoperative pain control. Pain is a predictable part of the postoperative experience. Unrelieved postoperative pain may result in clinical and psychological changes that increase morbidity and mortality as well as costs and that decrease quality of life (Carr& Goudas, 1999). The guidelines for acute pain management in the perioperative setting published in 1992 and 1995 (Acute Pain, 1992; American Pain, 1995; Practice Guidelines, 1995) promoted aggressive treatment of acute pain and educate patients about the need to communicate unrelieved pain. Nonetheless these guidelines appear to have had little influence on practice patterns or on improved pain control for patients. In a study of Warfield and Kahn (Warfield&Kahn, 1995) they found three of four patients reported experiencing pain after surgery, and 80% of these patients rated pain after surgery as moderate to extreme. Since their study, newer drugs, techniques and protocols for postoperative pain management have been developed, and minimally invasive surgical techniques, such as endoscopic procedures, are used more frequently. These changes in practice patterns thought that they could affect the management of postoperative pain and patient attitudes about pain. But in a recent study (Apfelbaum, 2003) that assessed patients’ postoperative pain experience and
Predictive value for progression to tuberculosis by IGRA and TST in immigrant contacts

The authors determined the positive predictive value (PPV) for progression to tuberculosis (TB) of two interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs), QuantiFERON-TB® Gold In-tube (QFT-GIT) and T-SPOT.TB®, and the tuberculin skin test (TST) in immigrants contacts. Immigrant close contacts of sputum smear-positive TB patients were included when aged ≥16 yrs and their TST result was ≥5 mm 0 or 3 months after diagnosis of the index patient. Contacts were followed for the next 2 yrs for development of TB disease. Of 339 immigrant contacts with TST ≥5 mm, 324 and 299 had valid results of QFT-GIT and T-SPOT.TB®, respectively. Nine contacts developed active TB. One patient had not been tested with TST, while another patient had not been tested with QFT-GIT and T-SPOT.TB®. The PPV for progression to TB during this period was 9/288 = 3.1% (95% CI 1.3–5.0%) for TST ≥10 mm, 7/184 = 3.8% (95% CI 1.7–5.9%) for TST ≥15 mm, 5/178 = 2.8% (95% CI 1.0–4.6%) for QFT-GIT and 6/181 = 3.3% (95% CI 1.3–5.3%) for T-SPOT.TB®. Sensitivity was 100%, 88%, 63% and 75%, respectively. The predictive values of QFT-GIT, T-SPOT.TB® and TST for progression to TB disease among immigrant close contacts were comparable.
Fiscal policy and private saving in Australia: Ricardian equivalence, twin deficits and broader policy inferences

Concern in the United States over fiscal and current account deficits during the 1980s led to arguments that these deficits were linked, or “twins”. The Reagan Administration conducted an expansionary fiscal policy by cutting taxes, which was not accommodated by monetary policy. This placed upward pressure on US interest rates – which subsequently boosted the US dollar. The exchange rate appreciation led to a fall in net exports and a rise in the US current account deficit. Under these circumstances, the current account appeared to mirror the fiscal position, leading to the popularisation of the twin deficits hypothesis. Similar concerns were also held in Australia. Following the depreciation of the Australian dollar after its float in December 1983, the remainder of the decade saw a widening of the current account deficit; while net foreign debt increased from around 6 per cent of GDP in June 1981 to 32 per cent five years later. This led to both political and community unease over the large current account and rising stock of net foreign debt. Policymakers subsequently focused on fiscal consolidation as a means of reducing the current account deficit – leading to the establishment of policies such as the trilogy commitments in the Commonwealth’s 1985-86 Budget.
New product development in Chinese SMEs: Key success factors from a managerial perspective

Purpose – The importance of innovation to the performance of firms has led to numerous studies conducted to identify the critical successful factors in new product development (NPD). However, most of these studies were conducted within the context of the developed economies or for large enterprises; relatively little is known about how firms, especially small and medium‐size enterprises (SMEs), develop new products in many of the emerging markets. This paper tries to bridge the gap by examining the key success factors of NPD in Chinese SMEs. Different from the traditional approach regarding the success factors in each stage of NPD as homogeneous, the key success factors in each stage of the NPD process are examined from a managerial perspective.Design/methodology/approach – The data used in this study were collected through a multi‐stage procedure including in‐depth field interviews and surveys. Two rounds of pretests were used to refine the measurements, and the 74 questionnaires retuned in the third rou.
Help-Seeking and Access to Mental Health Care in a University Student Population

Background:University students represent an important population in which to study access to mental health care. Understanding their unmet needs will enhance efforts to prevent and treat mental disorders during a pivotal period in life. Objective:To quantify mental health service use and estimate how various factors are associated with help-seeking and access in a university student population. Design:A Web-based survey was administered to a random sample of 2785 students attending a large, public university with a demographic profile similar to the national student population. Nonresponse bias was accounted for using administrative data and a nonrespondent survey. Measures:Mental health was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire screens for depressive and anxiety disorders. Mental health service utilization was measured as having received psychotropic medication or psychotherapy in the past year. Results:Of students with positive screens for depression or anxiety, the proportion who did not receive any services ranged from 37% to 84%, depending on the disorder. Predictors of not receiving services included a lack of perceived need, being unaware of services or insurance coverage, skepticism about treatment effectiveness, low socioeconomic background, and being Asian or Pacific Islander. Conclusions:Even in an environment with universal access to free short-term psychotherapy and basic health services, most students with apparent mental disorders did not receive treatment. Initiatives to improve access to mental health care for students have the potential to produce substantial benefits in terms of mental health and related outcomes.
Unequal Participation: Democracy's Unresolved Dilemma

Low voter turnout is a serious democratic problem for five reasons: (1) It means unequal turnout that is systematically biased against less well-to-do citizens. (2) Unequal turnout spells unequal political influence. (3) U.S. voter turnout is especially low, but, measured as percent of voting-age population, it is also relatively low in most other countries. (4) Turnout in midterm, regional, local, and supranational elections -- less salient but by no means unimportant elections -- tends to be especially poor. (5) Turnout appears to be declining everywhere. The inequality problem can be solved by institutional mechanisms that maximize turnout. One option is the combination of voter-friendly registration rules, proportional representation, infrequent elections, weekend voting, and holding less salient elections concurrently with the most important national elections. The other option, which can maximize turnout by itself, is compulsory voting. Its advantages far outweigh the normative and practical objections to it. This article has been removed from the eRepository website since it is now published: American Political Science Review vol. 91 (March 1997): 1-14.
Recent trends in bank loan syndications: evidence for 1995-1999

Bank loan syndications have become an increasingly popular and important way for commercial borrowers to satisfy their financing needs. The ability to overcome problems of adverse selection and moral hazard are critical to the development of this market. Using a panel data set constructed from the Shared National Credit Program over the period 1995 to 1999, this paper extends the work of Simons (1993) and Dennis and Mullineaux (2000) by estimating a multivariate cross-section/time-series regression model explaining an agent bank's retained share of a syndicated loan. The panel regression model focuses on the effect of information asymmetries, loan quality, and capital constraints on an agent bank's retained loan share. We also test for opportunistic behavior by agent banks. We find that bank capital, loan seasoning, and maturity have significant effects on the average loan share retained by an agent bank. More importantly, we find that, although agent banks retain larger portions of their lower-quality loans, certain agent banks specialize in the lower end of the credit spectrum, and these banks syndicate a larger share of their low-quality loans. 1 The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision, as a matter of policy, disclaim any responsibility for any publication or statements by any of their employees. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of these agencies, or of the authors' colleagues on the staffs of the two agencies. The authors wish to thank Bob DeYoung, David Nebhut and Gary Whalen for valuable comments and Morey Rothberg for excellent editorial assistance.
Determinants of the Capital Structure of Small and Medium Sized Brazilian Enterprises

This research investigates the determinants of the capital structure of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) using a unique database that includes over 19,000 Brazilian firms and spans 13 years of data. The econometric analysis employs the System Generalized Method of Moments estimator (GMM-Sys) and two strong results emerge: (a) profitability is negatively related to leverage, and (b) asset growth is positively related to leverage. Both results are consistent with the pecking order theory of capital structure and suggest that SMEs tend to finance their expansion with debt only after exhausting their internal resources. Additionally, we find weaker evidence for the following: (a) size is positively related to leverage, which can be interpreted as evidence that larger firms have more access to credit markets; (b) riskier SMEs tend to be less financially leveraged, consistent with the bankruptcy cost arguments from trade-off theories; and (c) the age of the firm is negatively related to financial leverage, suggesting that older SMEs may be slightly more conservative in their financing choices. Finally, the magnitude of the coefficient of lagged leverage shows the high persistence of this variable and is compatible with the hypothesis that SMEs adjust their debt/equity ratio towards a target value, although at a low speed.
Neural Correlates of Empathy with Pain Show Habituation Effects. An fMRI Study

Background Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that the actual experience of pain and the perception of another person in pain share common neural substrates, including the bilateral anterior insular cortex and the anterior midcingulate cortex. As many fMRI studies include the exposure of participants to repeated, similar stimuli, we examined whether empathic neural responses were affected by habituation and whether the participants' prior pain experience influenced these habituation effects. Method In 128 trials (four runs), 62 participants (31 women, 23.0 ± 4.2 years) were shown pictures of hands exposed to painful pressure (pain pictures) and unexposed (neutral pictures). After each trial, the participants rated the pain of the model. Prior to the experiment, participants were either exposed to the same pain stimulus (pain exposure group) or not (touch exposure group). In order to assess possible habituation effects, linear changes in the strength of the BOLD response to the pain pictures (relative to the neutral pictures) and in the ratings of the model’s pain were evaluated across the four runs. Results Although the ratings of the model’s pain remained constant over time, we found neural habituation in the bilateral anterior/midinsular cortex, the posterior midcingulate extending to dorsal posterior cingulate cortex, the supplementary motor area, the cerebellum, the right inferior parietal lobule, and the left superior frontal gyrus, stretching to the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex. The participant’s prior pain experience did neither affect their ratings of the model’s pain nor their maintenance of BOLD activity in areas associated with empathy. Interestingly, participants with high trait personal distress and fantasy tended to show less habituation in the anterior insula. Conclusion Neural structures showed a decrease of the BOLD signal, indicating habituation over the course of 45 minutes. This can be interpreted as a neuronal mechanism responding to the repeated exposure to pain depictions, which may be regarded as functional in a range of contexts.
Analysis and Optimization of Engines for Dynamically Typed Languages

Dynamically typed programming languages have become very popular in the recent years. These languages ease the task of the programmer but introduce significant overheads since assumptions about the types of variables have to be constantly validated at run time. Java Script is a widely used dynamically typed language that has gained significant popularity in recent years. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of the two main sources of overhead in the Java Script execution. The first one is the runtime overhead needed for dynamic compilation and housekeeping activities (i.e. Garbage collector, compilation, etc.). The second one is the additional checks and guards introduced by the dynamic nature of Java Script. Then, we propose three new HW/SW optimizations that reduce this latter type of overhead. We show that these two types of overhead represent 35% and 25% respectively of the total execution time on average for a representative workload, and the proposed optimizations provide a 6% average speedup.
Observational Evidence for Oceanic Controls on Hurricane Intensity

Abstract The influence of oceanic changes on tropical cyclone activity is investigated using observational estimates of sea surface temperature (SST), air–sea fluxes, and ocean subsurface thermal structure during the period 1998–2007. SST conditions are examined before, during, and after the passage of tropical cyclones, through Lagrangian composites along cyclone tracks across all ocean basins, with particular focus on the North Atlantic. The influence of translation speed is explored by separating tropical cyclones according to the translation speed divided by the Coriolis parameter. On average for tropical cyclones up to category 2, SST cooling becomes larger as cyclone intensity increases, peaking at 1.8 K in the North Atlantic. Beyond category 2 hurricanes, however, the cooling no longer follows an increasing monotonic relationship with intensity. In the North Atlantic, the cooling for stronger hurricanes decreases, while in other ocean basins the cyclone-induced cooling does not significantly differ.
Rapid and reversible responses to IVIG in autoimmune neuromuscular diseases suggest mechanisms of action involving competition with functionally important autoantibodies

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is widely used in autoimmune neuromuscular diseases whose pathogenesis is undefined. Many different effects of IVIG have been demonstrated in vitro, but few studies actually identify the mechanism(s) most important in vivo. Doses and treatment intervals are generally chosen empirically. Recent studies in Guillain‐Barré syndrome and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy show that some effects of IVIG are readily reversible and highly dependent on the serum IgG level. This suggests that in some autoantibody‐mediated neuromuscular diseases, IVIG directly competes with autoantibodies that reversibly interfere with nerve conduction. Mechanisms of action of IVIG which most likely involve direct competition with autoantibodies include: neutralization of autoantibodies by anti‐idiotypes, inhibition of complement deposition, and increasing catabolism of pathologic antibodies by saturating FcRn. Indirect immunomodulatory effects are not as likely to involve competition and may not have the same reversibility and dose‐dependency. Pharmacodynamic analyses should be informative regarding most relevant mechanism(s) of action of IVIG as well as the role of autoantibodies in the immunopathogenesis of each disease. Better understanding of the role of autoantibodies and of the target(s) of IVIG could lead to more efficient use of this therapy and better patient outcomes.
Direct simulation Monte Carlo modeling of e-beam metal deposition

Three-dimensional direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is applied here to model the electron-beam physical vapor deposition of copper thin films. Various molecular models for copper-copper interactions have been considered and a suitable molecular model has been determined based on comparisons of dimensional mass fluxes obtained from simulations and previous experiments. The variable hard sphere model that is determined for atomic copper vapor can be used in DSMC simulations for design and analysis of vacuum deposition systems, allowing for accurate prediction of growth rates, uniformity, and microstructure.
The LeChatelier Principle

The LeChatelier principle, in the form introduced into economics by Paul A. Samuelson, asserts that, at a point of long-run equilibrium, the derivative of long-run compensated demand with respect to own price is larger in magnitude than the derivative of short-run compensated demand. The authors introduce an extended LeChatelier principle that applies also to large price changes and to uncompensated demand as well as to a wide range of concave and nonconcave maximization problems outside the scope of demand theory. This extension also clarifies the intuitive basis of the principle. Copyright 1996 by American Economic Association.