Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gentamicin-Impregnated Collagen Sponge: Effectiveness in Preventing Sternal Wound Infection in High-Risk Cardiac Surgery

Sternal wound infections represent one of the most frequent complications after cardiac surgery and are associated with high postoperative mortality. Several preventive methods have been introduced, and recently, gentamicin-impregnated collagen sponges (GICSs) have shown a promising effect in reducing the incidence of this type of complications. Gentamicin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic that has been widely used to treat infections caused by multiresistant bacteria; despite its effectiveness, its systemic use carries a risk of toxicity. GICSs appear to overcome this side effect, topically delivering high antibiotic concentrations to the wound and thus reducing the toxic-related events. Although several retrospective analyses and randomized controlled trials have studied the use of GICSs in cardiac surgery, conclusions regarding their efficacy in preventing sternal wound infection are inconsistent. We have reviewed the current literature focusing on high-risk patients.
Traffic Condition Detection Algorithm (TCDA) For VANET Nodes In Wireless Intelligent Transportation Information Systems

is one of the modern approaches for exchanging and generating traffic information with (yet to be realised) potential to improve road safety, driving comfort and traffic control. In this paper, we present a novel algorithm which is based on V2V communication, in-vehicle sensor information and inter-vehicle collaboration which can be used to detect road conditions and determine the geographical area where this road condition exists – e.g. area where there is increased traffic density, unusual traffic behaviour, a range of weather conditions (raining), etc. The built-in automatic geographical restriction of the data collection, aggregation and dissemination mechanisms allows warning messages to be received by other cars, not necessarily sharing the identified road condition, which may then be used to identify the optimum route taken by the vehicle e.g. to avoid bottlenecks or dangerous areas including accidents or congestion on their current routes. The Traffic Condition Detection Algorithm (TCDA)-which we propose here-is simple, flexible and fast and does not rely on any kind of roadside infrastructure equipment. It could offer a live road condition information channel at-almost-no cost to the drivers and public/private traffic agencies and has the potential to become an indispensable part of any future intelligent traffic system (ITS). The benefits from applying this algorithm in traffic networks are identified and quantified through building a simulation model using Network Simulator II (NS2).
Effect of Three Interventions on Contact Lens Comfort in Symptomatic Wearers: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Purpose To investigate whether carrying out various interventions part way through the day influences comfort in symptomatic daily disposable (DD) contact lens wearers. Methods A subject-masked, randomized, controlled clinical trial was conducted in thirty symptomatic soft lens wearers who wore their habitual DD contact lenses bilaterally for 12 h on two separate days. Five hours after lens application, one of the following three interventions or a control was performed on each eye: replacing the existing lens with a new lens; removing and reapplying the same lens; performing a ‘scleral swish’; and no action (control). Comfort scores were recorded using SMS text messages every hour following lens application using a 0 (causes pain) to 100 (excellent comfort) scale. Comfort scores before lens application, at 6 mins post-application, and at 6 mins post-intervention were also recorded. Results There was a significant reduction in comfort from pre-lens application to 6 mins post-application for all groups (all p<0.05). Comfort gradually decreased from 6 mins to 5 h after lens application for each group (p<0.0001) with no significant difference between groups over the 5-h period (p = 0.09). There was no significant difference in comfort 6 mins post-intervention for any group (all p>0.05). After the intervention, comfort continued to decline (p<0.0001) with slightly lower mean scores for the control group compared to the new lens group (p = 0.003). Change in comfort relative to pre-intervention (5 h) was similar for all groups (p = 0.81). There was no difference in comfort at 12 h between groups (p = 0.83). Conclusion This work has confirmed that comfort shows a continual and significant decline over a 12-h wearing period in symptomatic DD contact lens wearers. None of the interventions investigated had any significant impact on end-of-day comfort. These data suggest discomfort in lens wearers is more heavily influenced by changes to the ocular environment rather than to the lens itself. Trial Registration Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN10419752 http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN10419752
Alternative Method for Choosing Ridge Parameter for Regression

The parameter estimation method based on minimum residual sum of squares is unsatisfactory in the presence of multicollinearity. Hoerl and Kennard [1] introduced alternative method called ridge regression estimator. In ridge regression, ridge parameter or biasing constant plays an important role in parameter estimation. Many researchers are suggested various methods for determining the ridge parameter. In this article, we have proposed new method for choosing the ridge parameter. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated and compared with through simulation study in terms of mean square error (MSE). The technique developed in this communication seems to be very reasonable because of having smaller MSE.
Population structure of Andean Triatoma infestans: allozyme frequencies and their epidemiological relevance

Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) from 22 Andean localities in Bolivia (n=968) and Peru (n=37) were analysed by multi‐locus enzyme electrophoresis. Among 12 gene–enzyme systems analysed, GPD, 6GPD and PGM were polymorphic, ACON, G6PD, GPI, 1DH, LAP, MDH, ME, PEP‐A and PEP‐B were monomorphic. Allozyme frequencies were analysed in relation to geographical and climatic factors, and the presence or absence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection. At one locality (Vallegrande, Bolivia), the frequency of 6Pgd‐1 was significantly higher in infected (41% of 85) than in uninfected (17% of 83) adult T. infestans, although no such difference was found among nymphs (n = 347). From other localities, only insects infected with T. cruzi were subjected to isozyme analysis. Populations of T. infestans within villages showed panmixia, while genetic differentiation of T. infestans between villages was correlated with the distance between them. The genetic structure of T. infestans natural populations followed an ‘isolation by distance’ model, involving a series of founder effects followed by genetic drift, rather than adaptation in response to differential selection pressures. This conforms with circumstantial evidence that T. infestans spread, mainly in association with recent human migrations, from a source, probably in southern Bolivia. Isoenzyme characterization of populations of T. infestans could be used to infer sources of re‐infestation during the surveillance phase of control programs.
Feasibility of Base Station Coordination and Dynamic Backhaul Network Configuration in Backhaul Networks with Limited Capacity

Coordinating base stations (BSs) in current and future mobile access networks is an important approach to reduce interference and to achieve high data rates. One coordination approach is Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) transmission, in which a set of multiple BSs transmit data to a user equipment (UE) in a coordinated manner. Among the BSs CoMP requires high capacities and low latencies in the backhaul network connecting the BSs. We have developed an optimization problem and a heuristic algorithm that verify the feasibility of BSs coordination in a backhaul network with limited capacity. In addition to that, our approach also assigns backhaul network resources (i.e. wavelengths in an optical WDM backhaul) proportional to the actual requirements. We call this backhaul network configuration. Our evaluations show that the heuristic algorithm performs close to the optimal solution, while reducing the execution time by about four orders of magnitude. We also show how our approach can be used to operate the backhaul network in a trafficproportional way to reduce the overall energy consumption of the backhaul network.
A Changing Financial Environment and the Implications for Monetary Policy

Monetary policy affects activity, and ultimately inflation, in a number of ways. The most important of these is generally considered to be through the effect of interest rates directly on the demand for goods by households and firms. However, monetary policy can also influence activity through its impact on the value of assets that, in turn, will influence the behaviour of households and firms; e.g. by changing wealth and, through an impact on balance sheets, borrowing costs. Recent financial market developments may have made these effects of monetary policy more important but at the same time less easy to predict. In particular, the size of financial markets has risen relative to activity and readily tradable assets are becoming increasingly important relative to other financial assets. Prices of such assets tend to be sensitive to shifts in market expectations about the future course of general economic developments and in particular interest rates. With these changing financial .
Speeds of Propagation in Classical and Relativistic Extended Thermodynamics

The Navier-Stokes-Fourier theory of viscous, heat-conducting fluids provides parabolic equations and thus predicts infinite pulse speeds. Naturally this feature has disqualified the theory for relativistic thermodynamics which must insist on finite speeds and, moreover, on speeds smaller than c. The attempts at a remedy have proved heuristically important for a new systematic type of thermodynamics: Extended thermodynamics. That new theory has symmetric hyperbolic field equations and thus it provides finite pulse speeds.Extended thermodynamics is a whole hierarchy of theories with an increasing number of fields when gradients and rates of thermodynamic processes become steeper and faster. The first stage in this hierarchy is the 14-field theory which may already be a useful tool for the relativist in many applications. The 14 fields — and further fields — are conveniently chosen from the moments of the kinetic theory of gases.The hierarchy is complete only when the number of fields tends to infinity. In that case the pulse speed of non-relativistic extended thermodynamics tends to infinity while the pulse speed of relativistic extended thermodynamics tends to c, the speed of light.In extended thermodynamics symmetric hyperbolicity — and finite speeds — are implied by the concavity of the entropy density. This is still true in relativistic thermodynamics for a privileged entropy density which is the entropy density of the rest frame for non-degenerate gases.
ACCOUNTING, COERCION AND SOCIAL CONTROL DURING APPRENTICESHIP: CONVERTING SLAVE WORKERS TO WAGE WORKERS IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES, C.1834–1838

The paper describes the nature and role of accounting during apprenticeship – the transition period from slavery to waged labor in the British West Indies. Planters, colonial legislators, and Parliamentary leaders all feared that freed slaves would flee to open lands unless they were bound to plantations. Thus, rather than relying entirely on economic incentives to maintain viable plantations, the Abolition Act and subsequent local ordinances embodied a complex synthesis of paternalism, categorization, penalties, punishments, and social controls that were collectively intended to create a class of willing waged laborers. The primary role of accounting within this structure was to police work arrangements rather than to induce apprentices to become willing workers. This post-emancipation, pre-industrial formalization of punishment, valuation, and task systems furnish powerful insights into the extent of accountancy's role in sustaining Caribbean slave regimes.
The Distribution of Earnings Losses: Evidence from Displaced Worker Surveys 1994-2010

A large literature shows that workers, on average, suffer large and persistent earnings losses when displaced from a job. However, little attention has been devoted to the distribution of those losses. Using the 1994-2014 Current Population Survey displaced worker surveys, I find that averages, whether from simple summary statistics or calculated as expectations using ordinary least squares (OLS), give a misleading and incomplete picture. The average loss in earnings in my sample is 29%, compared with a median loss of just 12%. Using OLS, each year of tenure is associated with an additional 1.3% reduction in earnings. Quantile regression estimates reveal that this magnitude of effect corresponds to the 80th percentile, and that the effect of tenure at the median is just 0.7%. OLS estimates of the effect of changing industries and occupations are also considerably larger than quantile regressions at or below the median. I also attempt to correct for possible endogeneity in the choice to switch industry and occupation. Two-stage least squares estimates yield even larger estimated negative effects of changing industry and occupation than OLS, but instrumental variables quantile regression estimates, using the model developed by Chernozhukov and Hansen (2005), suggest that the marginal effects on such losses are highly concentrated among relatively few workers. Finally, I demonstrate that there is a consistently negative relationship between the magnitude of earnings losses and the level of skill associated with the pre-displacement jobs. Workers displaced from jobs in the third skill quartile tend to find jobs lower down in the occupation distribution, consistent with Autor and Dorns (2013) polarization hypothesis. However, workers displaced from jobs in the middle of the distribution tend to find jobs in the middle post-displacement, and workers displaced from jobs lower down in the distribution tend to find jobs higher up. ∗I am grateful to Professor Curtis Simon for his guidance and feedback. I am also thankful to Professor Tom Lam for his comments. Any remaining errors are my own. †Clemson University, John E. Walker Department of Economics mgarg@clemson.edu
Eating Disorders in Schizophrenia: Implications for Research and Management

Objective. Despite evidence from case series, the comorbidity of eating disorders (EDs) with schizophrenia is poorly understood. This review aimed to assess the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of EDs in schizophrenia patients and to examine whether the management of EDs can be improved. Methods. A qualitative review of the published literature was performed using the following terms: “schizophrenia” in association with “eating disorders,” “anorexia nervosa,” “bulimia nervosa,” “binge eating disorder,” or “night eating syndrome. ” Results. According to our literature review, there is a high prevalence of comorbidity between schizophrenia and EDs. EDs may occur together with or independent of psychotic symptoms in these patients. Binge eating disorders and night eating syndromes are frequently found in patients with schizophrenia, with a prevalence of approximately 10%. Anorexia nervosa seems to affect between 1 and 4% of schizophrenia patients. Psychopathological and neurobiological mechanisms, including effects of antipsychotic drugs, should be more extensively explored. Conclusions. The comorbidity of EDs in schizophrenia remains relatively unexplored. The clearest message of this review is the importance of screening for and assessment of comorbid EDs in schizophrenia patients. The management of EDs in schizophrenia requires a multidisciplinary approach to attain maximized health outcomes. For clinical practice, we propose some recommendations regarding patient-centered care.
An integrated CMOS high precision time-to-digital converter based on stabilised three-stage delay line interpolation

This thesis describes the development of a high precision time-to-digital converter (TDC) in which the conversion is based on a counter and three-stage stabilised delay line interpolation developed in this work. The biggest design challenges in the design of a TDC are related to the fact that the arrival moment of the hit signals (start and stop) is unknown and asynchronous with respect to the reference clock edges. Yet, the time interval measurement system must provide an immediate and unambiguous measurement result over the full dynamic range. It must be made sure that the readings from the counter and the interpolators are always consistent with very high probability. Therefore, the operation of the counter is controlled with a synchronising logic that is in turn controlled with the interpolation result. Another synchronising logic makes it possible to synchronise the timing signals with multiphase time-interleaved clock signals as if the synchronising was done with a GHz-level clock, and enables multi-stage interpolation. Multi-stage interpolation reduces the number of delay cells and registers needed. The delay line interpolators are stabilised with nested delay-locked loops, which leads to good stability and makes it possible to improve single-shot precision with a single look-up table containing the integral nonlinearities of the interpolators measured at the room temperature. A multi-channel prototype TDC was fabricated in a 0.6 μm digital CMOS process. The prototype reaches state-of-the-art rms single-shot precision of better than 20 ps and low power consumption of 50 mW as an integrated TDC.
Imperatives, Discourse Markers, and Grammaticalization É vida, olha…: Imperatives as Discourse Markers and Grammaticalization Paths in Romance

In this paper, we investigate the evolution from imperatives to discourse markers in Romance, with a corpus-based approach. We focus on the case of items coming from verbs meaning " to look " , in a semasiological perspective: Spanish and Catalan mira, Portuguese olha, Italian guarda, French regarde, Romanian uite. We show that they all share many uses, among which turn-taking, introduction of reported speech, hesitation phenomenon, topic-shifting and modalization, except for French regarde. We then establish (against Waltereit 2002) that the development of these uses is the result of a process of grammaticalization, from lexical, clause-internal uses to uses as discourse markers, in a cline which tends to confirm the predictions made by Brinton and Traugott (2005). The lesser grammaticalization of French regarde could seem unimportant, but is in apparent contradiction with the now well-established fact that French is, of all Romance languages, the most grammaticalized. We try, in conclusion, to address this paradox: is French not so grammaticalized after all, or is this just an exception to the rule?
Global Brain Ischemia and Reperfusion: Modifications in Eukaryotic Initiation Factors Associated with Inhibition of Translation Initiation

Abstract: We used in vitro translation and antibodies against phosphoserine and the eukaryotic initiation factors eIF‐4E, eIF‐4G, and eIF‐2α to examine the effects of global brain ischemia and reperfusion on translation initiation and its regulation in a rat model of 10 min of cardiac arrest followed by resuscitation and 90 min of reperfusion. Translation reactions were performed on postmitochondrial supernatants from brain homogenates with and without aurintricarboxylic acid to separate incorporation due to run‐off from incorporation due to peptide synthesis initiated in vitro. The rate of leucine incorporation due to in vitro‐initiated protein synthesis in normal forebrain homogenates was ∼0.4 fmol of leucine/min/µg of protein and was unaffected by 10 min of cardiac arrest, but 90 min of reperfusion reduced this rate 83%. Sodium dodecyl sulfate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and western blots of these homogenates showed that neither 10 min of global brain ischemia nor 90 min of reperfusion induced significant alterations in the quantity or serine phosphorylation of eIF‐4E. However, we observed in all 90‐min‐reperfused samples eIF‐4G fragments that also bound eIF‐4E. The amount of eIF‐2α was not altered by ischemia or reperfusion, and immunoblotting after isoelectric focusing did not detect serine‐phosphorylated eIF‐2α in normal samples or in those obtained after ischemia without reperfusion. However, serine‐phosphorylated eIF‐2α was uniformly present after 90 min of reperfusion and represented 24 ± 3% of the eIF‐2α in these samples. The serine phosphorylation of eIF‐2α and partial fragmentation of eIF‐4G observed after 90 min of reperfusion offer an explanation for the inhibition of protein synthesis.
FinFET Device Circuit Co-design Issues: Impact of Circuit Parameters on Delay

Fin FET circuits' performance suffers from high level of parasitics at short channel lengths despite their excellent intrinsic behavior. The effective values of a Fin FET logic gate's input and parasitic capacitances (Cin, Cp) depend strongly on its terminal voltages due to strong gate controlled modulation of carrier densities in the low doped part of the extension region which shields gate-extension fringing field capacitance. Therefore, for developing a systematic circuit design methodology with best performance, it is very important to have a quantitative understanding of Fin FET device parasitics, their dependence on circuit parameters and thereby impact on circuit delay. In this paper, we investigate the impact of this strong dependence of capacitances and its relationship with delay of a multi-stage logic circuit. For this, we study the influence of circuit parameters such as input and output transition times, inverter size (no. Of fins), load capacitance etc. On transient behavior of Fin FET inverter chains. We explain that the trend of change in inverter chain delay with respect to driver-load ratio (NF1/NF2) and load (CL) can be predicted if this phenomenon is considered.
Education programs for improving intergroup relations : theory, research, and practice

This highly informative book describes in rich detail a wide variety of programs designed to improve intergroup relations. Specific techniques and practices are discussed and the research on the effectiveness of each program is carefully reviewed. In addition, there are chapters on the psychological mechanisms underlying successful programs and organizational practices that improve intergroup relations, as well as an up-to-date review of the overall effectiveness of these programs.
Inflation Targeting and its Effects on Macroeconomic Performance

An increasing number of countries have adopted inflation targeting since New Zealand first adopted this framework in early 1990. Currently there are 21 countries using inflation targeting in every continent of the world. This paper discusses the characteristics of these countries and how the adoption of inflation targeting has affected their economic performance along several dimensions. The main conclusion is that inflation targeting has largely been a success. The new framework has made central banks, which previously lacked credibility, able to change the way they conduct monetary policy towards what is commonly considered best practice. In many respects they have even been leading in creating a new benchmark for how to formulate monetary policy.