Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis and Design of a Novel Single-Stage Switching Power Supply With Half-Bridge Topology

A novel single-stage switching power supply with half-bridge topology is presented in this paper. The proposed novel single-stage switching power supply is formed from integration of one half-bridge ac/dc power factor corrector (PFC) and one half-bridge dc/dc postregulator. The proposed switching power supply operations are verified and discussed, from which the inductor design criteria are resulted. In addition to output regulation, the proposed single-stage switching power supply has great power factor correction function with the PFC inductor operating in a discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). Compared to the conventional two-stage power supply, this configuration reduces cost and size, simplifies the design, and increases efficiency with both pulse-width-modulation (PWM) controller and switch integrations. The operating principles of the proposed switching power supply are analyzed. Simulations are performed to verify the operations and facilitate the design and implementation with the output specifications of 120 W and 48 V suitable for LED lamp drivers, piezoelectric element driver power systems or adapters. The experimental results show good conformation with the theoretical analysis in which the power factor and efficiency of the implemented single-stage switching power supply are above 0.97 and 0.88, respectively, and the efficiency is improved obviously compared to the conventional two-stage power supply.
Audit Committee Characteristics and Restatements

This study addresses the impact of certain audit committee characteristics identified by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate Audit Committees (BRC) on the likelihood of financial restatement. We examine 88 restatements of annual results (without allegations of fraud) in the period 1991–1999, together with a matched pairs control group of firms of similar size, exchange listing, industry and auditor type. We find that the independence and activity level (our proxy for audit committee diligence) of the audit committee exhibit a significant and negative association with the occurrence of restatement. We also document a significant negative association between an audit committee that includes at least one member with financial expertise and restatement. To test the robustness of the results we also consider a sample of 44 fraud and no‐fraud firms and arrive at largely similar findings. Our results underscore the importance of the BRC's recommendations as a means of strengthen.
Until Death Do You Part: The Effects of Unilateral Divorce on Spousal Homicides

This study examines how the widespread adoption of unilateral divorce influenced the prevalence of lethal spousal violence in the United States. These evaluations are based on fixed-effects specifications for spousal homicide counts from an annual panel of U.S. states from 1968 to 1978. The results indicate that unrestricted unilateral divorce laws had small and statistically insignificant effects on the amount of lethal spousal violence directed against wives. However, the easy access to divorce created by such laws increased spousal homicides of husbands by approximately 21%. These increases were concentrated in states where the division of marital property favored husbands. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.
Effect of Application of Health Belief Model on Pregnant Women' Knowledge and Health Beliefs Regarding Urogenital Infections

Background: Pregnancy and Urogenital Infections (UGIs) often go hand in hand so pregnant women are vulnerable group who need special preventive practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of application of Health Belief Model (HBM) on pregnant women' knowledge and health belief regarding UGIs Methods: Quasi-experimental design was utilized. The study was conducted at Obstetrics and Gynecology Outpatient Clinic affiliated to Benha University Hospital. A purposive sample of 100 pregnant women were included in the current study. They were divided into an intervention group (50) and control group (50). Two tools were used for data collection; first tool interviewing questionnaire to collect data about the subjects' demographic data, obstetric and gynecologic history and knowledge regarding UGIs and its prevention. Second tool the HBM, it composed of the four main HBM constructs, cues for action and health behaviors to prevent UGIs. Results: There was highly statistically significant difference (p˂0.000) in pregnant women' knowledge, health beliefs and their health behaviors to prevent UGIs in the intervention group compared to the control group two months after program implementation. Conclusion and recommendation: HBM was effective in improving pregnant women' knowledge, health beliefs and health behaviors to prevent UGIs. Increase awareness of pregnant women about UGIs through regular health educational program based on HBM.
Relational Ethics, Boundary Riders and Process Sentinels: Allies for Ethical Practice

Counseling Association by Dr. Garry R. Walz and Dr. Jeanne C. Bleuer of Counseling Outfitters, LLC. Its purpose is to provide a means of capturing the ideas, information and experiences generated by the annual ACA Conference and selected ACA Division Conferences. Papers on a program or practice that has been validated through research or experience may also be submitted. This digital collection of peer-reviewed articles is authored by counselors, for counselors. VISTAS Online contains the full text of over 500 proprietary counseling articles published from 2004 to present.
Pesticide Use and Farm Worker Health in Ecuadorian Potato Production

Potatoes are a dietary staple in Ecuador as they have been for thousands of years. In 1992, about 50,000 hectares of potatoes were grown in Ecuador, mostly by small farmers. Almost all potato farmers in Ecuador rely on chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase yields. Potato farmers are perceived as overusing pesticides, both in quantity and quality, with mixtures of chemicals, known locally as cocktails, being the favored form of application. As in many other countries, there is growing popular concern about the environmental and health impacts of agricultural chemical use. Residue testing on fresh vegetables in Ecuador found levels above those recommended by the FAO-WHO food safety guide, Codex Alimentarius. Human poisoning data were slowly accumulated during the 1980s after pesticide poisoning became a notifiable illness under the public health surveillance system. Focused surveys found widespread ignorance of the symptoms of pesticide poisoning and little use of personal protective equipment among farmers and farmworkers. With the widespread use of backpack sprayers (versus tractor or aerial application in developed countries), these groups are most likely to be at risk of excessive exposure. The research results presented here are from a case study to assess impacts of pesticide use in potato production. This case study follows methodological guidelines laid out by Antle and Capalbo to quantify the interaction between production technology, environmental quality, and human health. Two adjacent watersheds totaling about 150 kilometers in Montufar Canton in Carchi Province in a cool moist highland zone in northern Ecuador served as the case
Zeb1 mutant mice as a model of posterior corneal dystrophy.

PURPOSE The zinc finger transcription factor Zeb1 binds to E-box-like sequences and is important for maintaining repression of epithelial specification genes in vivo. Overexpression of Zeb1 in cancer triggers epithelial-mesenchymal transition, which facilitates metastasis. The mutation of ZEB1 in humans is linked to posterior polymorphous corneal dystrophy (PPCD), in which an epithelial transition of the corneal endothelium is associated with abnormal endothelial proliferation. The purpose of this study is to determine whether Zeb1 null or heterozygous mice may provide an animal model for PPCD. METHODS Corneal morphology, protein and mRNA expression, and cell proliferation were compared in wild-type and Zeb1 gene knockout mice by immunostaining, real-time PCR, and BrdU incorporation. mRNA expression in isolated embryo fibroblasts derived from wild-type, Zeb1 heterozygous, and null mice was analyzed by real-time PCR RESULTS: Zeb1 null mice late in gestation show ectopic expression of epithelial genes in the corneal endothelium and keratocytes, including the basement membrane component COL4A3, which is ectopically expressed by the corneal endothelium in PPCD. These embryos also show abnormal corneal endothelial and keratocyte proliferation, corneal thickening, and corneolenticular and iridocorneal adhesions. Adult Zeb1 heterozygous mice exhibit these same corneal defects. The ectopic expression of epithelial genes extended to embryonic fibroblasts derived from Zeb1 heterozygous and null mice, suggesting that Zeb1 may have a more general role in the suppression of an epithelial phenotype. CONCLUSIONS The authors conclude that Zeb1 heterozygous and null mice show features of PPCD and thus should provide an animal model for genetic dissection of pathways contributing to the disease.
Imaging of subthalamic nucleus and ventralis intermedius of the thalamus

The techniques of targeting the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and the ventralis intermedius nucleus (Vim) are similar, only the coordinates are different. Targeting ideally consists of gathering all data about a target and positioning the electrode correctly within that target. The electrode should be positioned within a statistical range of coordinates, where the neuronal firing fits a given pattern and responds to external stimuli, particularly to proprioceptive inputs, in a somatotopically organized manner. Moreover, final placement should provide the best clinical improvement of symptoms under the stimulation parameters expected to be used in the long term. This latter criterion is by far the most important, because intraoperative findings indicate the functional benefit for the patient, which is the ultimate purpose of this surgery. A variety of radiological modalities are available to provide data for electrode placement, but each type has its drawbacks. Ventriculography, although safe when performed accordingly to strict technical procedure, is the most precise method but provides more indirect targeting and is more invasive than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI is the best method for visualizing the STN and, to some extent, for discerning the Vim, but it is plagued with unpredictable and nonreproducible deformations that induce a systematic distortion. These shortcomings no doubt will be corrected in the near future, and the technologies will better assist us in the proper placement of electrodes, which will provide the patient with the highest possible benefit. © 2002 Movement Disorder Society
Nineteenth-Century Jurisdictional Competition in the Granting of Corporate Privileges

century as state legislators relinquished their strict control over the power to grant or deny special corporate privileges to the particular groups that sought them. The corporate charter, which originated as an exclusive privilege to the few, by the end of the nineteenth century had become a general privilege available to all. The move from special charters by individual legislative act to general incorporation on compliance with simple and inexpensive procedures represents a major change in the structure of property rights. This paper offers a legal and economic account of the decline and fall of the special charter in the United States and seeks to explain how and why legislators abandoned the market for special charters. The paper proceeds as follows. Section I examines the ways in which the methods of legal and economic historians can be brought to bear on the basic question. Thereafter it advances the central thesis of the paper, that legislators abandoned the market for special charters only after
Vertebral Body and Posterior Element Morphology: The Normal Spine in Middle Life

Multiple morphologic parameters were studied in 50 normal adult vertebral columns ranging in age from 20 to 40 years at the time of death. Posterior element morphology is highly variable and largely unpredictable. Minimum pedicle diameters ranged from 1.8 mm at T6 to 6.4 mm at L5, and did not correlate with any more readily measured vertebral dimensions. Penetration of 5 mm screw threads through pedicle cortex can be expected to occur routinely in the lower thoracic spine, and in a lesser but significant number of lumbar vertebrae.
Manipulating Decisiveness in Decision Making: Effects of Clonidine on Hippocampal Search Strategies

Decisiveness is the ability to commit to a decision quickly and efficiently; in contrast, indecision entails the repeated consideration of multiple alternative possibilities. In humans, the α2-adrenergic receptor agonist clonidine increases decisiveness in tasks that require planning through unknown neural mechanisms. In rats, indecision is manifested as reorienting behaviors at choice points (vicarious trial and error [VTE]), during which hippocampal representations alternate between prospective options. To determine whether the increase in decisiveness driven by clonidine also entails changes in hippocampal search processes, we compared the effect of clonidine on spatial representations in hippocampal neural ensembles as rats passed through a T-shaped decision point. Consistent with previous experiments, hippocampal representations reflected both chosen and unchosen paths during VTE events under saline control conditions. Also, consistent with previous experiments, hippocampal representations reflected the chosen path more than the unchosen path when the animal did not show VTE at the choice point. Injection of clonidine suppressed the spatial representation of the unchosen path at the choice point on VTE laps and hastened the differentiation of spatial representations of the chosen path from the unchosen path on non-VTE laps to appear before reaching the choice point. These results suggest that the decisiveness seen under clonidine is due to limited exploration of potential options in hippocampus, and suggest novel roles for noradrenaline as a modulator of the hippocampal search processes. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Clonidine, an α2-adrenergic receptor agonist, which decreases the level of noradrenaline in vivo, has an interesting effect in humans and other animals: it makes them more decisive. However, the mechanisms by which clonidine makes them more decisive remain unknown. Researchers have speculated that clonidine limits the amount of mental search that subjects do when planning options. We test this hypothesis by measuring the mental search strategy in rats through hippocampal recordings. We find that clonidine limits the options searched by rats, suggesting that noradrenaline also plays a role in balancing exploration and exploitation in internally simulated behaviors, similar to its role in balancing exploration and exploitation in external behaviors.
The Politics of ‘Norm Diffusion’ in Turkish European Union Accession Negotiations: Why it Was Rational for an Islamist Party to Be ‘Pro‐European’ and a Secularist Party to Be ‘Anti‐European’

The article will suggest a bottom‐up approach to analyzing the impact of European Union (EU) conditionality on candidate countries. If requiring comprehensive reforms, EU accession negotiations offer domestic actors a legitimacy standard, external constraints and a focal point for electoral coalitions as resources in the domestic political arena. The Turkish case serves as a hypothesis‐generating case study suggesting that domestic actors who are disadvantaged in domestic resources in these dimensions embrace EU accession, whereas domestic actors who feel threatened in their domestic resources adopt an opposite strategy. It will be demonstrated that the two major Turkish political parties adopted a cost–benefit calculus in their position towards EU accession. The Turkish case is particularly intriguing because the positions adopted by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Republican People's Party (CHP), respectively, have been counter‐intuitive, and in fact both parties have drastically reversed earlier positions towards EU accession and done so in disregard of the preferences of their core electorate.
Implementing Option Pricing Models When Asset Returns are Predictable

Option pricing formulas obtained from continuous-time no- arbitrage arguments such as the Black-Scholes formula generally do not depend on the drift term of the underlying asset's diffusion equation. However, the drift is essential for properly implementing such formulas empirically, since the numerical values of the parameters that do appear in the option pricing formula can depend intimately on the drift. In particular, if the underlying asset's returns are predictable, this will influence the theoretical value and the empirical estimate of the diffusion coefficient a. We develop an adjustment to the Black-Scholes formula that accounts for predictability and show that this adjustment can be important even for small levels of predictability, especially for longer-maturity options. We propose a class of continuous-time linear diffusion processes for asset prices that can capture a wider variety of predictability, and provide several numerical examples that illustrate their importance for pricing options and other derivative assets.
Similarities and differences between stockpiling and reference effects

The correlation of past prices and demand is commonly attributed to reference effects. Although reference dependence is robust, support for loss aversion is mixed; some find demand more sensitive to price increases, consistent with loss aversion, others find no difference or greater sensitivity to price decreases. Stockpiling offers an explanation for these mixed findings. Combining theory, analytical models and simulations, stockpiling and reference dependence predict similar effects and the more stockable the product, the greater sensitivity of demand to price decreases, the opposite of loss aversion. We show that a model combining stockpiling and reference effects best aligns with previous findings and under what conditions each effect should dominate. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Zinc Deficiency Impacts CO2 Assimilation and Disrupts Copper Homeostasis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii*

Background: Zinc is required for catalysis and protein structure. Results: Zinc-deficient Chlamydomonas lose carbonic anhydrases and cannot grow photoautotrophically in air. They also hyperaccumulate copper but are phenotypically copper-deficient and therefore require Crr1, the nutritional copper sensor. Conclusion: Zinc deficiency impacts the carbon-concentrating mechanism and disrupts copper homeostasis. Significance: Cross-talk exists between zinc and copper homeostasis pathways. Zinc is an essential nutrient because of its role in catalysis and in protein stabilization, but excess zinc is deleterious. We distinguished four nutritional zinc states in the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: toxic, replete, deficient, and limited. Growth is inhibited in zinc-limited and zinc-toxic cells relative to zinc-replete cells, whereas zinc deficiency is visually asymptomatic but distinguished by the accumulation of transcripts encoding ZIP family transporters. To identify targets of zinc deficiency and mechanisms of zinc acclimation, we used RNA-seq to probe zinc nutrition-responsive changes in gene expression. We identified genes encoding zinc-handling components, including ZIP family transporters and candidate chaperones. Additionally, we noted an impact on two other regulatory pathways, the carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM) and the nutritional copper regulon. Targets of transcription factor Ccm1 and various CAH genes are up-regulated in zinc deficiency, probably due to reduced carbonic anhydrase activity, validated by quantitative proteomics and immunoblot analysis of Cah1, Cah3, and Cah4. Chlamydomonas is therefore not able to grow photoautotrophically in zinc-limiting conditions, but supplementation with 1% CO2 restores growth to wild-type rates, suggesting that the inability to maintain CCM is a major consequence of zinc limitation. The Crr1 regulon responds to copper limitation and is turned on in zinc deficiency, and Crr1 is required for growth in zinc-limiting conditions. Zinc-deficient cells are functionally copper-deficient, although they hyperaccumulate copper up to 50-fold over normal levels. We suggest that zinc-deficient cells sequester copper in a biounavailable form, perhaps to prevent mismetallation of critical zinc sites.
Uniportal video-assisted thoracic surgery colorectal lung metastasectomy in non-intubated anesthesia.

BACKGROUND More than ten years ago we started a program of video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lung metastasectomy in non-intubated local anesthesia. In this study we investigated the effectiveness and long term results of this combined surgical-anesthesiological technique. METHODS Between 2005 and 2014, 48 patients (25 men and 23 women) with pulmonary oligometastases from colorectal cancer, at the first episode, underwent VATS metastasectomy under non-intubated local anesthesia. Three patients required intubation for intolerance. In the same period 13 patients scheduled for non-intubated metastasectomy refused awake surgery and were used as a control group. RESULTS The two groups were homogeneous for both demographic and pathological features. Mean number of lesions resected per patient were 1.51 (non-intubated) vs. 1.77 (control), respectively (P=0.1). The oxygenation was significantly lower in the non-intubated group especially at the end of the procedure, but the values inverted from the first postoperative hour. There was no mortality in any groups. The non-intubated group demonstrated a significant shorter overall operating time (P=0.04), better quality of recovery after both 24 (P=0.04) and 48 hours (P=0.04), shorter median hospital stay (P=0.03) and lower estimated costs (P=0.03), even excluding the hospital stay. Major morbidity rate was lower (6% vs. 23%) yet not significant (P=0.1). Both disease free survival and overall survival were similar between groups. CONCLUSIONS VATS lung metastasectomy in non-intubated local anesthesia was safely performed in selected patients with oligometastases with significant advantages in overall operative time, hospital stay and economical costs. Morbidity rate was lower yet not significant. Long term results were similar.
Do Dropouts Drop Out Too Soon? Evidence from Changes in School-Leaving Laws

his paper investigates if decisions to drop out of high school are sub-optimal, and whether students benefit from policies, such as a minimum school leaving age, that oblige them to finish school beyond the time they choose on their own. I use changes in minimum school-leaving laws in Great Britain and Ireland, which were remarkably influential, to measure pecuniary and non-pecuniary gains from education. I find, similar to previous studies, students compelled to take an extra year of schooling experienced an average increase of 12 percent in annual earnings. I also find significant effects from education on health, leisure and labor activities, and subjective measures of well-being, which hold up against a wide array of specification checks. Comparing these estimates with intertemporal models of educational choice, the main conclusion of this paper is that it is very difficult to justify an optimal decision to drop out early without the presence of time inconsistent preferences, misguided expectations, or disutility from identifying with a social group that considers dropping out the norm. To prefer dropping out early, the one-year cost from attending school would have to exceed a dropout s maximum lifetime annual earnings by a factor of about six.