Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The problem of past emissions and intergenerational debts

The problem of past emissions – how to share fairly the costs of climate-changing emissions caused by polluters who are no longer in existence – presents an increasingly pressing challenge to scholars and policy-makers. Since standard contribution-based principles are inapplicable when it comes to past emissions, theorists have instead proposed various non-contribution-based historical principles. This paper develops such a principle – the Inherited Debt Principle – which seeks to account for the intuition that historical injustice matters to current duties in a way that does not appeal to the counterfactual benefits derived from that injustice. This principle, it is argued, offers a surprisingly plausible solution to the problem of past emissions.
Cell-to-cell distances between tumor-infiltrating inflammatory cells have the potential to distinguish functionally active from suppressed inflammatory cells

ABSTRACT Beyond their mere presence, the distribution pattern of inflammatory cells is of special interest. Our hypothesis was that random distribution may be a clear indicator of being non-functional as a consequence of lack of interaction. Here, we have assessed the implication of cell-to-cell distances among inflammatory cells in anal squamous cell carcinoma and a possible association with survival data. Thirty-eight patients suffering from anal carcinoma were studied using tissue microarrays, double staining immunohistochemistry, whole slide scanning and image analysis software. Therapy consisted of concurrent radiochemotherapy. Numbers of stromal and intraepithelial tumor-infiltrating inflammatory cells (TIC) and the distances between cells were quantified. Double-staining of FoxP3+ cells with either CD8+, CD1a+ or CD20+ cells was performed. Measured cell-to-cell distances were compared to computer simulated cell-to-cell distances leading to the assumption of non-randomly distributed and therefore functional immune cells. Intraepithelial CD1a+ and CD20+ cells were randomly distributed and therefore regarded as non-functional. In contrary, stromal CD20+ cells had a non-random distribution pattern. A non-random distance between CD20+ and FoxP3+ cells was associated with a clearly unfavorable outcome. Measured distances between FoxP3+ cells were distinctly shorter than expected and indicate a functional active state of the regulatory T cells (Treg). Analysis of cell-to-cell distances between TIC has the potential to distinguish between suppressed non-functional and functionally active inflammatory cells. We conclude that in this tumor model most of the CD1a+ cells are non-functional as are the intraepithelial CD20+ cells, while stromal CD20+ cells and FoxP3+ cells are functional cells.
On the Impact of Network State Collection on the Performance of SDN Applications

Intelligent and autonomous SDN applications need to monitor the network state in order to take appropriate actions. In this letter, we compare the impact of active and passive network state collection methods on an SDN load-balancing application running at the controller. We do this comparison through: 1) the results of a mathematical model evaluation we derive for the SDN load-balancer, and 2) the results of a series of elaborate experiments we ran on our emulation setup. The results show that in case of low-variation traffic, the load-balancer with passive state collection performed better than the active one, which was confirmed by both model and experimental evaluation. However, the load-balancer with the active state collection was more resilient to the nature of the traffic load.
Understanding academic performance and progression of first-year accounting and business economics undergraduates: the role of approaches to learning and prior academic achievement

Previous research indicates that age, gender, and prior academic achievement have direct effects on students' approaches to learning and their academic performance and progression. Here an investigation is reported which explores the relationships between 60 first-year undergraduate accounting and business economics students' approaches to learning, their age, gender, prior academic achievement, and their subsequent academic performance and progression. Linear regression analyses identified the strongest predictor of first-year academic performance and progression as prior academic achievement (i.e. performance in school examinations). Cluster analysis of the six dimensions of the RASI, academic performance and progression revealed two clusters. The first cluster (labelled 'effective learner') had a 75.0% rate of progression; the second (labelled 'ineffective learner') had only an 11.7% rate of progression. 'Effective learner' scores high on Deep Approach and low on Surface Approach, while the 'ineffective learner' scores low on Deep Approach and high on Surface Approach.
Young people and voting behaviour: alienated youth and (or) an interested and critical citizenry?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of trust, cynicism and efficacy on young peoples' (non)voting behaviour during the 2005 British general election.Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were gathered from 1,134 interviewer‐administered questionnaires with young first‐time voters during the three‐week period following the British general election in May 2005. Validated attitudes statements were used to measure their levels of trust, cynicism and efficacy.Findings – The research shows that young people are generally distrusting of and very cynical about politicians and the Prime Minister (Tony Blair) Thus, in part, the data support the existing evidence that cynicism contributes to feelings of political alienation. However, the paper's findings also indicate that while young people can be highly distrusting and cynical, they can also be interested in the election and vote.Research limitations/implications – Current, negative evaluations of young people and electoral politics ne.
Frequency effects in noun phrase production: Implications for models of lexical access

We investigated the processes of lexical retrieval during the production of adjectival noun phrases (NPs) such as "the blue kite". We used various current assumptions about the scope of grammatical and phonological encoding and about the locus of the classic frequency effect to derive predictions about possible frequency effects in the NP naming task. The predictions were tested in two picture-naming experiments where we manipulated orthogonally the frequencies of the adjective and of the noun that composed the NPs. We consistently found frequency effects for both adjectives and nouns. Moreover the effects were additive. We argue that the existence of a frequency effect for the noun during noun phrase production restricts the various combinations of assumptions that speech production models can hold simultaneously. Possible implications of the additivity of the effects for the time course of lexical access are also discussed.
Local Networks and Regional Development: Features and Perspectives

The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the role of local industrial networks in regional development processes. A one-region model is built with which to investigate the conditions under which local networks arise, distinguishing between spontaneous and supported networks. Taking into account the difference between incomplete and fully coordinated agreements among firms, I establish the values of parameters that allow for the rise of each type of network. Finally, I discuss the positive effects that local networks yield to the regional internal product, making them a reliable support for regional economic take-off.
Impact of Trauma Stress Ulcer Prophylaxis Guidelines on Drug Cost and Frequency of Major Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Trauma patients are routinely prescribed stress ulcer prophylaxis despite evidence suggesting such therapy be limited to patients with identifiable risk factors for bleeding. With surgeons' consensus, we developed and implemented trauma stress ulcer prophylaxis guidelines, and measured the impact of clinical pharmacists on implementing the guidelines and the effect of the guidelines on drug cost and frequency of major gastrointestinal bleeding. Two groups of 150 consecutive patients admitted with multiple trauma were evaluated before and after guideline implementation and stratified by Injury Severity Score (ISS) to minor (ISS < 9) or moderate to severe (ISS ≥ 9) trauma groups. The number of patients prescribed stress ulcer prophylaxis, length and cost of this therapy, and number of patients experiencing major gastrointestinal bleeding (decrease in consecutive hemoglobin ≥ 2 g/dl in conjunction with coffee‐ground emesis, hematemesis, melena, or hematochezia) were measured. All pharmacist interventions pertaining to stress prophylaxis were collected. Fewer patients were prescribed stress ulcer prophylaxis after guideline implementation (105/150, 70% vs 39/150, 26%, p<0.0001), leading to a decrease in total drug cost of $4558. Use decreased more in patients with minor (40/54, 74% vs 9/59, 15%, p<0.0001) than moderate to severe (65/96, 68% vs 30/91, 33%, p<0.0001) trauma. Neither length of therapy nor agent of choice (> 95% cimetidine) differed between groups. Fifteen (38%) of 38 postguideline prophylaxis orders were determined by the pharmacist not to meet guideline criteria. Recommendations to discontinue therapy were accepted in 9 (60%) of 15 instances. The frequency of major gastrointestinal bleeding remained unchanged between groups (1/150 vs 0/150, p=1.0). Implementation of trauma stress ulcer prophylaxis guidelines limiting therapy to patients with risk factors for bleeding led to a 80% decrease in drug cost and did not affect the frequency of major gastrointestinal bleeding.
Executive Control of Craving: An Examination of College Students

Previous research has shown that alcohol abuse may cause a deficit in frontal lobe functioning, specifically, areas of the frontal lobe that are related to executive function. Additionally, problems with executive function have been related to increased difficulty in managing cravings to addictive substances. The current study explored the relationship between alcohol use and performance on measures of executive functioning in a sample of 121 traditional college students. Students were given 5 measures of executive function designed to explore mental set shifting, updating, inhibition, sustained attention, and planning. These measures were used to examine the relationship between executive function and craving as measured by the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale. Levels of alcohol use were also examined using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test in relation to executive function performance and family history of alcohol abuse.
Education, Personal Control, Lifestyle and Health

The concept of human capital implies that education improves health because it increases effective agency. We propose that education's positive effects extend beyond jobs and earnings. Through education, individuals gain the ability to be effective agents in their own lives. Education improves physical functioning and self-reported health because it enhances a sense of personal control that encourages and enables a healthy lifestyle. We test three specific variants of the human-capital and learned-effectiveness hypothesis: (1) education enables people to coalesce health-producing behaviors into a coherent lifestyle, (2) a sense of control over outcomes in one's own life encourages a healthy lifestyle and conveys much of education's effect, and (3) educated parents inspire a healthy lifestyle in their children. Using data from a 1995 national telephone probability sample of U.S. households with 2,592 respondents, ages 18 to 95, a covariance structure model produces results consistent with the three hypotheses.
US Children's Acquisition of Tobacco Media Literacy Skills: A Focus Group Analysis

Pro-tobacco messages in media play an important role in initiating smoking behavior among children, but can be addressed in health promotion media literacy interventions. Children from Southwest Virginia, US (age range: 8–14, N = 19) who participated in a tobacco media literacy intervention were invited to discuss their learning and understanding of tobacco media literacy in three focus groups. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and sensitizing concepts based on a comprehensive theoretical framework. Responses to the intervention were largely categorized into awareness of absent health messages, perceived media influences, and critical evaluation. Unanticipated themes also emerged, such as enthusiasm for media production, desirability of commercials despite the intervention, and an excitement to share with family. These findings not only have implications for the development of health promotion media literacy, but also add additional dimensions to advance theoretical development.
Models of Bilingual Education: Comparisons of Effectiveness

dicated that the Spanish-dominant bilingual student is handicapped in a classroom where English is the only language of instruction (1). Studies have shown, too, that in classrooms where Spanish and English are used in teaching, the performance of Spanish-dominant bilingual students improves (2-3). Despite decades of study of the impact of bilingualism on verbal skills and educational progress, discussion of bilingual students continues. One widely accepted finding is that bilinguals are generally impaired in certain aspects of verbal abilities (4). Peal and Lambert (5) however, in their work with French Canadian children, report that bilingualism affects intelligence favorably. These researchers found that bilingual children do better than monolinguals on verbal tests as well as nonverbal tests.
Bidirectional Hebbian Plasticity at Hippocampal Mossy Fiber Synapses on CA3 Interneurons

Hippocampal area CA3 is critically involved in the formation of nonoverlapping neuronal subpopulations (“pattern separation”) to store memory representations as distinct events. Efficient pattern separation relies on the strong and sparse excitatory input from the mossy fibers (MFs) to pyramidal cells and feedforward inhibitory interneurons. However, MF synapses on CA3 pyramidal cells undergo long-term potentiation (LTP), which, if unopposed, will degrade pattern separation because MF activation will now recruit additional CA3 pyramidal cells. Here, we demonstrate MF LTP in stratum lacunosum-moleculare (L-M) interneurons induced by the same stimulation protocol that induces MF LTP in pyramidal cells. This LTP was NMDA receptor (NMDAR) independent and occurred at MF Ca2+-impermeable AMPA receptor synapses. LTP was prevented by with voltage clamping the postsynaptic cell soma during high-frequency stimulation (HFS), intracellular injections of the Ca2+ chelator BAPTA (20 mm), or bath applications of the L-type Ca2+ channel blocker nimodipine (10 μm). We propose that MF LTP in L-M interneurons preserves the sparsity of pyramidal cell activation, thus allowing CA3 to maintain its role in pattern separation. In the presence of the mGluR1α antagonist LY367385 [(S)-(+)-a-amino-4-carboxy-2-methylbenzeneacetic acid] (100 μm), the same HFS that induces MF LTP in naive slices triggered NMDAR-independent MF LTD. This LTD, like LTP, required activation of the L-type Ca2+ channel and also was induced after blockade of IP3 receptors with heparin (4 mg/ml) or the selective depletion of receptor-gated Ca2+ stores with ryanodine (10 or 100 μm). We conclude that L-M interneurons are endowed with Ca2+ signaling cascades suitable for controlling the polarity of MF long-term plasticity induced by joint presynaptic and postsynaptic activities.
Turning towards a bio-psycho-social way of thinking

This paper considers the impact being made on child and adolescent mental health services by the ‘neuroscience revolution’. It outlines some of the important developments that form part of that revolution and considers some of the challenges they present to the thinking of psychoanalytic child psychotherapists within the British Object Relations tradition. After considering a case example and Guntrip's formulation of some core principles of that tradition, it argues that its psycho-social thinking now needs to be stretched so as to become bio-psychosocial.
Measuring Care Continuity: A Comparison of Claims-based Methods

Background:Assessing care continuity is important in evaluating the impact of health care reform and changes to health care delivery. Multiple measures of care continuity have been developed for use with claims data. Objective:This study examined whether alternative continuity measures provide distinct assessments of coordination within predefined episodes of care. Research Design and Subjects:This was a retrospective cohort study using 2008–2009 claims files for a national 5% sample of beneficiaries with congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes mellitus. Measures:Correlations among 4 measures of care continuity—the Bice-Boxerman Continuity of Care Index, Herfindahl Index, usual provider of care, and Sequential Continuity of Care Index—were derived at the provider- and practice-levels. Results:Across the 3 conditions, results on 4 claims-based care coordination measures were highly correlated at the provider-level (Pearson correlation coefficient r=0.87–0.98) and practice-level (r=0.75–0.98). Correlation of the results was also high for the same measures between the provider- and practice-levels (r=0.65–0.92). Conclusions:Claims-based care continuity measures are all highly correlated with one another within episodes of care.
Changing roles of dogs in urban African society: a South African perspective

ABSTRACTIn Southern Africa domesticated dogs date back to the Iron Age (circa 1430 BP). Mainly of the sight hound type, they were traditionally used for hunting. In some more pastoral societies they played a role in guarding stock. Dogs were expected to forage for food and there was no control over breeding. Today South Africa has a large urban population and the interactions between humans and dogs have changed. A survey of households (n= 871) in Soweto, a densely populated urban area in Gauteng, was conducted using a structured interview and non-participant observation. There was a dog/human ratio of 1:12.4 or 0.42 dogs per household. This is not remarkably different from dog populations in urban areas elsewhere in the world. Dogs were kept for personal security, as companions, for guarding property and to keep feral cats away. The problems respondents had with dogs included strays in the road and in their yards, fighting, killing chickens, noise, biting children, faecal contamination of public places, .
Evolution of Asian aerosols during transpacific transport in INTEX-B

Abstract. Measurements of aerosol composition were made with an Aerodyne High Resolution Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) on board the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft as part of the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment Phase B (INTEX-B) field campaign over the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The HR-ToF-AMS measurements of non-refractory submicron aerosol mass are shown to compare well with other aerosol instrumentation in the INTEX-B field study. Two case studies are described for pollution layers transported across the Pacific from the Asian continent, intercepted 3–4 days and 7–10 days downwind of Asia, respectively. Aerosol chemistry is shown to be a robust tracer for air masses originating in Asia, specifically the presence of sulfate dominated aerosol is a distinguishing feature of Asian pollution layers that have been transported to the Eastern Pacific. We examine the time scales of processing for sulfate and organic aerosol in the atmosphere and show that our observations confirm a conceptual model for transpacific transport from Asia proposed by Brock et al. (2004). Our observations of both sulfate and organic aerosol in aged Asian pollution layers are consistent with fast formation near the Asian continent, followed by washout during lofting and subsequent transformation during transport across the Pacific. Our observations are the first atmospheric measurements to indicate that although secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from pollution happens on the timescale of one day, the oxidation of organic aerosol continues at longer timescales in the atmosphere. Comparisons with chemical transport models of data from the entire campaign reveal an under-prediction of organic aerosol mass in the MOZART model, but much smaller discrepancies with the GEOS-Chem model than found in previous studies over the Western Pacific. No evidence is found to support a previous hypothesis for significant secondary organic aerosol formation in the free troposphere.
Genome Sequence of Lysinibacillus boronitolerans F1182, Isolated from a Traditional Korean Fermented Soybean Product

ABSTRACT Lysinibacillus is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, and round-spore-forming bacterial genus of the family Bacillaceae. We analyzed the genome sequence of Lysinibacillus boronitolerans F1182, isolated from a traditional Korean fermented soybean product. The genome sequence contained 4.46 Mbp with a G+C content of 37.5%. This is the first report of an L. boronitolerans genome.
Nonrespiratory predictor of mechanical ventilation dependency in intensive care unit patients.

OBJECTIVE To determine the role of serum albumin concentration as a predictor of mechanical ventilation dependency. DESIGN Prospective, observation trial. SETTING Multidisciplinary intensive care unit (ICU) in a university hospital. PATIENTS One hundred forty-five consecutive patients who required mechanical ventilation for > 72 hrs. INTERVENTIONS Patients were classified into five different groups based on the cause of respiratory failure. The following parameters were recorded daily: serum albumin concentration; Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score; and fluid balance. Using multiple regression, multiple logistic regression analysis, and the Anderson-Gill proportional hazards model, we determined the metabolic factors that could help predict weaning success. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS The mean length of ICU stay was 12.3 +/- 1.0 days. The duration of mechanical ventilation dependency was 10.5 +/- 1.0 days. The initial mean serum albumin concentration was 25.2 +/- 0.6 g/L. The APACHE II score on the first day of ICU stay was 19.1 +/- 0.6. Although albumin concentration was significantly lower and the APACHE II score was significantly higher in ICU nonsurvivors than in ICU survivors, albumin concentration on ICU admission was not a predictor of the length of time spent receiving mechanical ventilation. The profile of albumin concentration changes was different between weaned and mechanical ventilation-dependent patients. At the time of weaning patients from the ventilator, the median albumin concentration was higher than in those patients who continued to be supported by mechanical ventilation. This effect of albumin could not be attributed to patient fluid balance or to the severity of illness since each factor had an independent influence in predicting weaning, using the Anderson-Gill proportional hazards models. CONCLUSIONS Initial serum albumin concentration did not necessarily predict weaning success. However, when serum albumin concentration was assessed on a daily basis, its trend was important in determining the relative chance of being successfully weaned from the ventilator. This finding suggests that albumin may be an index of the metabolic status of the patient, which could be important in determining the weanability of the patients who are mechanically ventilated for prolonged periods of time.