Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CONTRIBUTION OF SMOKING BEHAVIOR TO EDUCATIONAL DIFFERENTIAL IN ACTIVE LIFE EXPECTANCY IN NEPAL

Previous studies have consistently established the role of education in producing inequality in active life expectancy, both in developing and developed countries. However, there is little research on possible mechanisms responsible for generating such inequality. This study examines smoking as one possible mechanism by measuring the proportion of educational differences in active life expectancy explained by smoking status. By utilizing cross-sectional health and mortality data from Nepal, I employ a new method developed by Lynch and Brown (forthcoming) to construct education-and smoking-specific active life expectancy. The findings of this study demonstrate the substantial contribution of smoking to educational differentials in active life expectancy. The findings show that education is able to produce inequality in active life expectancy regardless of the existing social, economic, cultural, or developmental context. The findings of relative importance of both education and smoking in reducing health inequality should draw attention of policy makers in developing countries. Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Dr. Scott Brown, Department of Sociology and Gerontology, Miami University and Dr. David Warner, Department of Sociology, Case Western Reserve University for their assistance.
Technoeconomic Evaluation of Multiple Mixed Suspension-Mixed Product Removal (MSMPR) Crystallizer Configurations for Continuous Cyclosporine Crystallization

Continuous crystallization using Mixed Suspension-Mixed Product Removal (MSMPR) crystallizers has been demonstrated as a feasible method for implementing continuous separations in pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. This work conducts a steady-state process modeling and simulation study of the continuous cooling crystallization of cyclosporine, comparing processes with and without solids recycle for their technoeconomic viability. The model describes population balance equations, crystallization kinetics, and process mass balances to compare attainable crystallization and plantwide yields of different process configurations. Total cost components using an established economic analysis methodology are compared for varying numbers of crystallizers, operating temperatures, total crystallizer cascade residence times and API feed concentrations. Economic analyses and the calculation of normalized cost components with respect to total crystallizer volumes identify the process without recycle as the most eco.
Active Learning and Engagement in Mechanics of Solids

A flipped classroom approach was applied to a solid mechanics course at a public state-funded national research university in Fall 2014. All course material was organized into lecture/flipped classroom pairings. Lecture time was used to explain and introduce new concepts, with limited problem solving. Students prepared for flipped classroom sessions by watching a series of videos demonstrating problem solving techniques. During flipped classroom meetings, students selforganized into teams of 4 to work assigned problems at whiteboards with instructor guidance and feedback. The flipped classroom led to a small increase in average student achievement, which was assessed by comparing exam scores to a consistent exam from a previous semester. Lower performing students were more successful in the flipped classroom, while the performance of high achieving students did not change appreciably. Based on course evaluations, the student response to the flipped classroom was overwhelmingly positive; however, some negative perceptions were expressed. Ongoing research will assess whether holding students more accountable for flipped classroom preparation and accomplishments can lead to greater student achievement.
Primordial black holes from fifth forces

Primordial black holes can be produced by a long range attractive fifth force stronger than gravity, mediated by a light scalar field interacting with non-relativistic "heavy" particles. As soon as the energy fraction of heavy particles reaches a threshold, the fluctuations rapidly grow non-linear. The overdensities collapse into black holes or similar screened objects, without the need of any particular feature in the spectrum of primordial density fluctuations generated during inflation. We discuss if such primordial black holes can constitute the total dark matter component in the Universe.
PROBABILISTIC AND STATISTICAL THINKING

Mathematical concepts enable us to structure our thinking, corresponding models help us to structure reality. They supply us with tools to recognize and solve problems. Stochastic models are not mere images of reality that fit more or less. Right from the basics they have more the character of scenarios to explore reality. This circumstance and only indirect feedback about their success impede understanding of concepts and reasonable application of the like models. Accordingly, mis-conceptions are abundant and recipe application is ubiquitous. Stochastic thinking seems to be quite different from other types of thinking like causal thinking, or logical thinking. The educational discussion until the 90’s coined the notion of ‘probabilistic thinking’, from the 80’s the discussion shifted to the notion of ‘numeracy’ and ‘statistical thinking’. By examples and figurative deliberations a multi-faceted image of probabilistic and statistical thinking will be given.
Factors Influencing Intranet Acceptance in Restaurant Industry: Use of Technology Acceptance Model

This study examines factors influencing the user acceptance of intranets in the restaurant industry. The study uses the application of the technology acceptance model (TAM) in explaining intranet usage in restaurant operations. The TAM is an exceptional model for which to predict system usage and has been successfully applied to numerous technologies. The original model was modified to include two independent variables: organization support and information quality. The survey collected data from restaurants in the United States. The results of the study showed that perceived usefulness was the main factor influencing intranet acceptance, while organization support, information quality, and perceived ease of use were not significant in the regression analysis. The findings indicate perceived usefulness of intranet use requires focus in order to improve communications in restaurant franchise systems.
Social Choice Theory and Deliberative Democracy: A Reconciliation

The two most influential traditions of contemporary theorizing about democracy, social choice theory and deliberative democracy are generally thought to be at loggerheads, in that one demonstrates the impossibility, instability or meaninglessness of the rational collective outcomes sought by the other. We argue that the two traditions can be reconciled. After expounding the central Arrow and Gibbard–Satterthwaite impossibility results, we reassess their implications, identifying the conditions under which meaningful democratic decision making is possible. We argue that deliberation can promote these conditions, and hence that social choice theory suggests not that democratic decision making is impossible, but rather that democracy must have a deliberative aspect.
Translation and Reception of The Wealth of Nations by Spanish and Latin American Authors during Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

The objective of this paper is not the complete work, but namely to analyze the reasons for which in Spain and Latin America The Wealth of Nations, was censored in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and to analyze in turn whether the reasons for this censorship correspond to the ideas that Adam Smith effectively defended. It is not intended to judge the intention of any of the parties involved in this process but to understand the context in which they occurred, and to judge whether people in Spanish-speaking countries during those centuries knew what Adam Smith actually wanted to express.
No 663 Mind , Behaviour and Health-a Randomised Experiment

Behavioural attitudes toward risk and time, as well as behavioural biases such as present bias, are thought to be important drivers of unhealthy lifestyle choices. This paper makes the first attempt to explore the possibility of training the mind to alter these attitudes and biases, in particular health-related behaviours, using a randomized controlled experiment. The training technique we consider is a well-known psychological technique called “mindfulness”, which is believed to improve self-control and reduce stress. We conduct the experiment with 139 participants, half of whom receive a four-week mindfulness training, while the other half are asked to watch a four-week series of historical documentaries. We evaluate the impact of our interventions on risk-taking and inter-temporal decisions, as well as on a range of measures of health-related behaviours. We find evidence that mindfulness training reduces perceived stress, but only weak evidence of its impact on behavioural traits and health-related behaviours. Our findings have significant implications for a new domain of research on training the mind to alter behavioural traits and biases that play important roles in lifestyle. JEL Classification: C81, C91, D81, I10, I12
Does the size of the microphytobenthic biofilm on intertidal mudflats depend on the available photosynthetic biomass

Many scientists consider that the top centimetre of the sediment on intertidal mudflats contains the photosynthetic competent biomass (PCB). Part of this biomass migrates upward to the surface of the sediment during diurnal emersion periods to form a temporary biofilm: the photosyn- thetic active biomass (PAB). The present study tests the hypothesis that the size of the biofilm (PAB) is functionally dependent on PCB. Therefore, we have plotted PAB as a function of PCB for a range of different environmental conditions: 3 seasons and 5 tidal situations, representing a total of 600 cores. This investigation points out that, in spring and autumn, there was a simple linear relationship between PAB and PCB, thus indicating that the maximum size of the biofilm represents a constant fraction (between 13 and 18%) of the available biomass in the top centimetre of the mud. The rela- tionship was more complex in winter, but the general trend remained the same. The dependence of the size of the biofilm on PCB might have important ecological implications in terms of primary productivity and also the monitoring of intertidal microalgal biomass at large spatial scales.
Evaluations of NAM Forecasts on Midtropospheric Perturbation-Induced Convective Storms over the U.S. Northern Plains

Abstract In the U.S. northern plains, summer progressive convective storms that occur in weakly forced environments are often coupled with short-wave perturbations that are embedded in the midlevel northwesterly flow. These midtropospheric perturbations (MPs) are capable of inducing propagating convection that contributes to a majority of the rainfall over the northern plains during July and August. There is a possibility that the difficulties of numerical weather prediction models in forecasting summer convective rainfall over the northern plains are partly attributed to their deficiency in forecasting MPs. The present study tests this possibility through examining operational forecasts by the North American Mesoscale (NAM) model during the summers of 2005 and 2006. Forecasted MPs exhibit slower propagation speeds and weaker relative vorticity than the observations leading to systematic position errors. Underpredicted vorticity magnitudes weaken horizontal vorticity advection that influences the vorticit.
Credibility of Policies Versus Credibility of Policymakers

Standard models of policy credibility. defined as the expectation that an announced policy will be carried out. emphasize the preferences of the policymaker (his "type") and the role of policies in signaling type. Whether a policy is carried out. however. should also reflect the state of the economy. so that even a "tough" policymaker may renege on an announced policy in adverse circumstances. We investigate this alternative notion of credibility, using an "escape clause" model of devaluation. in which a policymaker maintains a fixed parity in good times, but devalues if the unemployment rate gets too high. Our main conclusion is that if there is persistence in the process driving unemployment, following a tough policy in a given period may lower rather than raise the credibility of a no-devaluation pledge in subsequent periods. in contrast to the results in the earlier literature. We test this implication on EMS interest rates and find support for our hypothesis.
Adsorption in complex porous networks with geometrical and chemical heterogeneity

We report here a simple algorithm to create 2D lattice-based models of porous deposits of preformed nanometric particles, by mimicking to some extent the physics of the actual deposition/aggregation mechanism. The heterogeneous porous networks obtained exhibit anisotropic properties unlike lattice-based models of porous materials in the existing literature, such as those of porous Vycor glass. We have then used calculations based on the mean field kinetic theory, in order to study the thermodynamics and dynamics of fluid adsorption and desorption in these lattice-based porous models. We showcase the influence of pore heterogeneity on the phase equilibrium of the confined fluid, studying both heterogeneity in pore size distribution and chemical heterogeneity of the internal surface.
Spatial Relationship and Functional Relevance of Three Lipid Domain Populations at the Erythrocyte Surface

Background/Aims: Red blood cells (RBC) have been shown to exhibit stable submicrometric lipid domains enriched in cholesterol (chol), sphingomyelin (SM), phosphatidylcholine (PC) or ganglioside GM1, which represent the four main lipid classes of their outer plasma membrane leaflet. However, whether those lipid domains co-exist at the RBC surface or are spatially related and whether and how they are subjected to reorganization upon RBC deformation are not known. Methods: Using fluorescence and/or confocal microscopy and well-validated probes, we compared these four lipid-enriched domains for their abundance, curvature association, lipid order, temperature dependence, spatial dissociation and sensitivity to RBC mechanical stimulation. Results: Our data suggest that three populations of lipid domains with decreasing abundance coexist at the RBC surface: (i) chol-enriched ones, associated with RBC high curvature areas; (ii) GM1/PC/chol-enriched ones, present in low curvature areas; and (iii) SM/PC/chol-enriched ones, also found in low curvature areas. Whereas chol-enriched domains gather in increased curvature areas upon RBC deformation, low curvature-associated lipid domains increase in abundance either upon calcium influx during RBC deformation (GM1/PC/chol-enriched domains) or upon secondary calcium efflux during RBC shape restoration (SM/PC/chol-enriched domains). Hence, abrogation of these two domain populations is accompanied by a strong impairment of the intracellular calcium balance. Conclusion: Lipid domains could contribute to calcium influx and efflux by controlling the membrane distribution and/or the activity of the mechano-activated ion channel Piezo1 and the calcium pump PMCA. Whether this results from lipid domain biophysical properties, the strength of their anchorage to the underlying cytoskeleton and/or their correspondence with inner plasma membrane leaflet lipids remains to be demonstrated.
SIMULATING INTONATIONAL VARIETIES OF SWEDISH

This paper introduces a new research project Simulating Intonational Varieties of Swedish (SIMULEKT). The basic goal of the project is to produce more precise and thorough knowledge about some major intonational varieties of Swedish. In this research effort the Swedish prosody model plays a prominent role. A fundamental idea is to take advantage of speech synthesis in different forms. In our analysis and synthesis work we will focus on some major intonational types: South, Gota, Svea, Gotland, Dala, North, and Finland Swedish. The significance of our project work will be within basic research as well as in speech technology applications.
Design and control of a smart fin using piezoelectric actuators

Design and Control of a Smart Fin using Piezoelectric Actuators by Surya Kiran Parimi Dr. Woosoon Yim, Examination Committee Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Dr. Mohamed B. Trabia, Examination Committee Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering University of Nevada, Las Vegas The objective of this research work is to design and implement control algorithms for smart fin of a projectile, which is currently under development in the Army Research Laboratory (ARL). The smart fin is used to maneuver small aerial vehicles by controlling the rotation angle of the fin. The fin is activated by a composite laminated plate that has two active piezoelectric layers. The prototype of the smart fin is assembled using Macro Fiber Composite (MFC actuator model M8557, Smart Material Co). Control algorithms for rotating the fin when subject to external aerodynamic forces are proposed. These controllers use a finite element model of the system. The three controllers are designed using Integral, Adaptive and Fuzzy Logic techniques respectively. Effects of Aerodynamic forces and uncertainties are included in these controllers.
In situ observations of new particle formation in the tropical upper troposphere: the role of clouds and the nucleation mechanism

Abstract. New particle formation (NPF), which generates nucleation mode aerosol, was observed in the tropical Upper Troposphere (UT) and Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL) by in situ airborne measurements over South America (January–March 2005), Australia (November–December 2005), West Africa (August 2006) and Central America (2004–2007). Particularly intense NPF was found at the bottom of the TTL. Measurements with a set of condensation particle counters (CPCs) with different d p50 (50% lower size detection efficiency diameter or "cut-off diameter") were conducted on board the M-55 Geophysica in the altitude range of 12.0–20.5 km and on board the DLR Falcon -20 at up to 11.5 km altitude. On board the NASA WB-57F size distributions were measured over Central America in the 4 to 1000 nm diameter range with a system of nucleation mode aerosol spectrometers. Nucleation mode particle concentrations ( N NM ) were derived from these measurements which allow for identifying many NPF events with N NM in the range of thousands of particles per cm 3 . Over Australia and West Africa, we identified NPF in the outflow of tropical convection, in particular of a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS). Newly formed particles with N NM > 1000 cm −3 were found to coexist with ice cloud particles ( d p > 2 μm) as long as cloud particle concentrations remained below 2 cm −3 . The occurrence of NPF within the upper troposphere and the TTL was generally confined within 340 K to 380 K potential temperature, but NPF was of particular strength between 350 K and 370 K (i.e. ~1–4 km below the cold point tropopause). Analyses of the aerosol volatility (at 250 °C) show that in the TTL on average 75–90% of the particles were volatile, compared to typically only 50% in the extra-tropical UT, indicative for the particles to mainly consist of H 2 SO 4 -H 2 O and possibly organic compounds. Along two flight segments over Central and South America (24 February 2005 and 7 August 2006, at 12.5 km altitude) in cloud free air, above thin cirrus, particularly high N NM were observed. Recent lifting had influenced the probed air masses, and N NM reached up to 16 000 particles cm −3 (ambient concentration). A sensitivity study using an aerosol model, which includes neutral and ion induced nucleation processes, simulates N NM in reasonable agreement with the in situ observations of clear-air NPF. Based on new, stringent multi-CPC criteria, our measurements corroborate the hypothesis that the tropical UT and the TTL are regions supplying freshly nucleated particles. Our findings narrow the altitude of the main source region to the bottom TTL, i.e. to the level of main tropical convection outflow, and, by means of measurements of carbon monoxide, they indicate the importance of anthropogenic emissions in NPF. After growth and/or coalescence the nucleation mode particles may act as cloud condensation nuclei in the tropical UT, or, upon ascent into the stratosphere, contribute to maintain the stratospheric background aerosol.
Automatic On-Line Generation of Student's Exercises in Teaching Programming

Teaching programming faces some general teaching problems, but also confronts some specific problems such as understanding of programming concepts as well as algorithms for solving programming tasks. Our teaching experience with students at university beginner's level has shown that students often try to avoid understanding programming concepts by some "shortcuts", like learning program code by rote, copying programs from colleagues etc. In this paper we introduce automatic on-line generation of programming exercises with code examples for students. This enables high level personalization of student's programming tasks and makes avoiding of understanding concepts more dif ficult. Along with introduction of the on-line solution, some open questions about correctness of exercises, controlling the solutions and the whole teaching process are also discussed.
Arginine Metabolism : Enzymology , Nutrition , and Clinical Significance Renal Arginine Metabolism 1 , 2

The kidney plays a major role in arginine metabolism in 3 principal ways: arginine synthesis, creatine synthesis, and arginine reabsorption. Appreciable quantities of arginine are synthesized in the kidney from citrulline produced by the intestine. The renal enzymes of arginine synthesis, argininosuccinate synthetase and argininosuccinate lyase, occur in the cells of the proximal tubule. The rate of arginine synthesis depends on citrulline delivery and does not appear to be regulated by dietary arginine availability. Renal arginine synthesis in humans produces 2 g arginine/d, which may be compared to an intake, from a Western diet, of 4 to 5 g/d. Spontaneous, nonenzymatic breakdown of creatine and creatine phosphate to creatinine causes the excretion of 1 to 2 g creatinine/d and requires the replacement of an equivalent amount of creatine from the diet and by endogenous synthesis. The first enzyme of creatine biosynthesis, L-arginine:glycine amidinotransferase, occurs in the kidney and produces guanidinoacetate, which is released into the renal vein. The renal output of guanidinoacetate, however, is rather low, and we propose that the entire pathway of creatine synthesis may also occur in the liver. Renal arginine reabsorption salvages 3 g arginine/d. At the apical membrane of proximal tubular cells, arginine shares a transporter with lysine, ornithine, and cystine. Defects in this heteromeric transporter cause cystinuria, which is also characterized by urinary loss of arginine, lysine, and ornithine. Arginine is transported out of the proximal tubular cells at the basolateral membrane by another heteromeric transporter, which also transports lysine and ornithine. Defects in this transporter cause lysinuric protein intolerance. J. Nutr. 134: 2791S–2795S, 2004.