Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global Energy Development and Climate-Induced Water Scarcity—Physical Limits, Sectoral Constraints, and Policy Imperatives

The current accelerated growth in demand for energy globally is confronted by water-resource limitations and hydrologic variability linked to climate change. The global spatial and temporal trends in water requirements for energy development and policy alternatives to address these constraints are poorly understood. This article analyzes national-level energy demand trends from U.S. Energy Information Administration data in relation to newly available assessments of water consumption and life-cycle impacts of thermoelectric generation and biofuel production, and freshwater availability and sectoral allocations from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank. Emerging, energy-related water scarcity flashpoints include the world’s largest, most diversified economies (Brazil, India, China, and USA among others), while physical water scarcity continues to pose limits to energy development in the Middle East and small-island states. Findings include the following: (a) technological obstacles to alleviate water scarcity driven by energy demand are surmountable; (b) resource conservation is inevitable, driven by financial limitations and efficiency gains; and (c) institutional arrangements play a pivotal role in the virtuous water-energy-climate cycle. We conclude by making reference to coupled energy-water policy alternatives including water-conserving energy portfolios, intersectoral water transfers, virtual water for energy, hydropower tradeoffs, and use of impaired waters for energy development.
Results of the Combination of Open Transthoracic Esophagectomy with Laparoscopic Gastric Tube Formation for Esophageal Cancer

Background: Postoperative complications after open transthoracic esophagectomy could possibly be reduced if the abdominal phase is performed laparoscopically. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of laparoscopic mobilization of the stomach and gastric tube formation in patients undergoing an open transthoracic esophagectomy for cancer. Methods: Thirteen patients underwent an open transthoracic esophagectomy with extended en bloc lymphadenectomy combined with laparoscopic gastric tube formation. Clinicopathological data were derived from a prospective database and patient files. Results: The median operation time was 484 min (range 347–573) and the median intraoperative blood loss was 1,500 ml (range 250–3,700). In 2 patients the laparoscopic procedure was converted to a laparotomy because of technical difficulties. Median postoperative stay in the ICU was 3 days (range 1–8) and median hospital stay was 29 days (range 12–104). One patient died in the hospital. Postoperatively 3 patients suffered from anastomotic leakage, 5 from pneumonia and 3 from vocal cord palsy. Conclusions: The complication rate was high in this series of patients undergoing an open extended transthoracic esophagectomy with laparoscopic mobilization of the stomach and gastric tube formation. Laparoscopic mobilization of the stomach and gastric tube formation are feasible, but need carefully guided testing before this technique can be applied routinely.
Comparison of Life‐Cycle Inventory Databases: A Case Study Using Soybean Production

Three established life‐cycle inventories of agricultural operations were used to generate air emissions data for soybean production: the greenhouse gases, regulated emissions, and energy use in transportation (GREET) model; the economic input‐output life‐cycle assessment (EIO‐LCA) model; and SimaPro software equipped with the Franklin database. EIO‐LCA and GREET baseline data were compared to evaluate differences in boundary definitions that apply specifically to U.S. soybean agriculture and processing, which resulted in several major findings. The EIO model estimated for emissions of particulate matter less than 10 micrograms (PM10) resulting from wind erosion that were not included in GREET, but neglected indirect nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from fertilizer application. EIO also assumed significantly lower process energy requirements and lower volatile organic compounds (VOC) for soybean crushing and oil extraction. The GREET and SimaPro models were compared using identical boundary and assumption data, to reveal major discrepancies in fundamental assumptions of energy inventories. Key emission factors varied by several orders of magnitude for basic energy generation and combustion processes, potentially impacting results for any inventory analysis that contains significant energy consumption. The Franklin database assumed VOC and sulfur oxides (SOx) emissions more than an order of magnitude higher than GREET for all categories investigated, with significantly lower N2O and methane (CH4) emission factors.
The Nepalese Stock Market: Efficiency and Calendar Anomalies

After describing the various forms of efficiency and calendar anomalies observed in many developed and emerging markets according to the existing literature, the present study examines this phenomenon empirically in the Nepalese stock market for daily data of Nepal Stock Exchange Index from February 1, 1995 to December 31, 2004 covering approximately ten years. Using regression model with dummies, we find persistent evidence of day-of-theweek anomaly but disappearing holiday effect, turn-of-the-month effect and time-ofthe- month effect. We also document no evidence of month-of-the-year anomaly and half-month effect. Our result for the month-of-the-year anomaly is consistent to the finding observed for the Jordanian stock market and that for the day-of-the-week anomaly to the Greek stock market . In addition, our finding regarding half-month effect is consistent with the US market. For the rest, we find inconsistent results with that in the international markets. Our results indicate that the Nepalese stock market is not efficient in weak form with regard to the day-of-the-week anomaly but weakly efficient with respect to the other anomalies.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY

The paper focuses on Sustainability and Corporate Governance from the point of view of integration and, in connection with the measurement of corporate performance, Corporate Sustainability Reporting is also gaining in importance. Corporate Governance is understood as a key element when reaching economic performance and growth enabling to increase the investors’ trust. Further on, it enables to create the structures supporting determination, control and reach of corporate objectives and targets. It provides creation of suitable initiatives for the members of administrative bodies and the management. In accordance with the OECD principles (OECD Principles, 2004) it is assumed that the effectively functioning Corporate Governance system within the company and across the whole economy assists to create the confidence and trust necessary for existence of the market economy. A very wide spectrum of sectors coming under the Corporate Governance also appears when trying to define this term succinctly. Integrated with sustainability which is defined as corporate strategy, long-term corporate goals are followed along with effectiveness, performance and competitiveness by means of incorporating of economic, environmental and social aspects into corporate governance.
“Should I Stay or Should I Go?” Explaining Political Ambition by Electoral Success in Brazil

Why run for reelection when the logic and incentives of the political system leave no doubt that running for other offices is a better option? This paper focuses on the factors that influence both the choice of career and the electoral success of those who run for reelection and those who attempt to obtain other offices, using Brazil as a case study, a typically fragmented, multiparty environment with a strong executive. We argue that legislators run for reelection because it is the safest bet for them. The probability of winning is higher for those who attempt reelection than for those running for any other office. Because static ambition is conditioned by election results and not by the intrinsic desire to develop a career in the legislative branch, career paths do not necessarily lead to improvements in legislative professionalization and institutionalization. This finding contradicts theories that relate career paths to legislative institutionalization.
A note on skewness and kurtosis adjusted option pricing models under the Martingale restriction*

Several authors have proposed series expansion methods to price options when the risk-neutral density is asymmetric and leptokurtic. Among these, Corrado and Su (1996) provide an intuitive pricing formula based on a Gram–Charlier Type A series expansion. However, their formula contains a typographic error that can be significant. Brown and Robinson (2002) correct their pricing formula and provide an example of economic significance under plausible market conditions. The purpose of this comment is to slightly modify their pricing formula to provide consistency with a martingale restriction. We also compare the sensitivities of option prices to shifts in skewness and kurtosis using parameter values from Corrado and Su (1996) and Brown and Robinson (2002), and market data from the French options market. We show that differences between the original, corrected and our modified versions of the Corrado and Su (1996) original model are minor on the whole sample, but could be economically significant in specific cases, namely for long maturity and far-from-the-money options when markets are turbulent.
The Changing Nature of Public Support for the Supreme Court of Canada

This paper investigates the relationship between diffuse support for the Canadian Supreme Court (general, lasting attachments to the institution) and specific support (attitudes toward its policy outputs). We hypothesize that diffuse support for the Court will not be closely related to specific support until after 1988, when the Court began making a number of controversial decisions. Using data from 1987 and 1997 we test multivariate models of the determinants of diffuse support and discover that it is indeed correlated more with democratic norms than with attitudes toward specific policies in 1987, while the reverse is true in 1997. The fact that support for the Court now appears to be more closely tied to its outputs could have important political implications for the Court and its decisions.
Management of Primigravida with Unengaged Head at Term

Objective: To an increase in overall caesarean section rate. The incidence of active medical and surgical intervention in cases of primigravidas with high head at onset of labour is quite high. Design: Case Series. Place and duration of study: This prospective study was carried out in Gynae unit 3, Lady Willingdon Hospital Lahore from March 1997 to Oct 1997. Patients and methods: In this series of study, 100 primigravidas with unengaged head at term and at the onset of labour were recruited. All cases were studied in detail with reference to course of labour, mode of delivery, interference required and maternal and fetal outcome. A detailed history was taken and general and systemic examination was done. Adequacy of pelvis and diagnol conjugate was accurately measured. Intrapartum ultrasonography was done. Results: The incidence of high head in primigravidas at term was 22 %. The most common aetiology was deflexed head and next commonest was cephalopelvic disproportion.In 40% no cause found. Vaginal delivery occurred in 67% of cases, 33% of cases had caesarean section. No interference i.e., ventouse or forceps required in 60% of cases. In 64% cases labour lasted more than 12 hrs. Conclusion: With judicious use of oxytocin and careful monitoring of progress of the labour on partograms, this is possible to deliver most of these primigravidas with high heads vaginally with minimal maternal and fetal morbidity and Csections can be avoided in many if not all of these cases.
Zero-Shot Learning via Attribute Regression and Class Prototype Rectification

Zero-shot learning (ZSL) aims at classifying examples for unseen classes (with no training examples) given some other seen classes (with training examples). Most existing approaches exploit intermedia-level information (e.g., attributes) to transfer knowledge from seen classes to unseen classes. A common practice is to first learn projections from samples to attributes on seen classes via a regression method, and then apply such projections to unseen classes directly. However, it turns out that such a manner of learning strategy easily causes projection domain shift problem and hubness problem, which hinder the performance of ZSL task. In this paper, we also formulate ZSL as an attribute regression problem. However, different from general regression-based solutions, the proposed approach is novel in three aspects. First, a class prototype rectification method is proposed to connect the unseen classes to the seen classes. Here, a class prototype refers to a vector representation of a class, and it is also known as a class center, class signature, or class exemplar. Second, an alternating learning scheme is proposed for jointly performing attribute regression and rectifying the class prototypes. Finally, a new objective function which takes into consideration both the attribute regression accuracy and the class prototype discrimination is proposed. By introducing such a solution, domain shift problem and hubness problem can be mitigated. Experimental results on three public datasets (i.e., CUB200-2011, SUN Attribute, and aPaY) well demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
Changes in home care use by disabled elderly persons: 1982-1994.

OBJECTIVES The use of, and changes in the use of. formal (paid) and informal care by elderly persons who are chronically disabled and living in the community was studied. METHODS Estimates were made of the sources and volume of home care use for persons reporting chronic disability in the 1982, 1989, and 1994 National Long Term Care Surveys. Comparisons were made across disability intensity, survey data, and age. RESULTS The analyses showed changes over time in the sources of home care services. Generally, the combined use of both paid and informal home health care increased, whereas the use of either source of care alone decreased. The amount spent on formal care increased with disability level and age. DISCUSSION Use of formal sources of care by community disabled elderly residents increased, likely because of changes in the Medicare home health care benefits in 1989. Increased use of home health care was associated with the concurrent use of informal care.
HRM Practices and the Within‐Firm Gender Wage Gap

The effect of HRM practices on the within‐firm gender gap in wages in manufacturing is investigated merging a 1999 survey on work practices among Danish firms to matched employer–employee panel data. Self‐managed teams, project organization and job rotation schemes are the most widely introduced practices. Accounting for non‐randomness in adoption, the pay gap is reduced among hourly paid workers but increases among salaried workers. Considering practices individually, wage gains from adoption accrue to males except for salaried workers in firms that adopt project organization and for hourly paid workers in firms that introduce quality control circles.
Analysis of Biochemical Markers of Bone Metabolism in Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus)

Abstract Two human enzyme immunoassays (EIA) and one radioimmunoassay (RIA) were validated and used to measure osteocalcin (OC), bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), and the cross-linked telopeptide domain of type I collagen (ICTP), in serum from Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). Sera from four adult females sampled on 7 consecutive days were also analyzed to assess the existence and magnitude of intraindividual day-to-day variability of the serum concentration of these markers. Sample dilution curves were parallel with assay standard curves, which demonstrated that excellent cross reactivity existed between assay antibodies and elephants marker antigens. Statistically significant inverse correlations were found between age and concentrations of all three markers: BAP, r = −0.862 (P < 0.01); OC, r = −0.788 (P < 0.002); and ICTP, r = −0.848 (P < 0.01). Strong positive correlations were found between BAP and OC (r = 0.797, P < 0.01), OC and ICTP (r = 0.860, P < 0.01), and between BAP and ICTP (r = 0.958, P < 0.01). No statistically significant intraindividual variability was found over 7 days in the four adult females for any of the markers assessed (OC: P = 0.089; ICTP: P = 0.642; BAP: P = 0.146; n = 4 in each case). The overall coefficient of variability observed in this group of animals was 10.3%, 7.4%, and 5.5% for OC, BAP, and ICTP, respectively. These results suggest a potential role for biochemical markers of bone turnover in monitoring skeletal health and bone disease in Asian elephants.
Does Schooling Promote Economic Growth

: This paper revisits the debate on schooling and economic growth with particular reference to the case of sub-Saharan Africa. Following the endogenous growth model developed by Lucas (1988) that considers human capital as one factor of production and schooling as a means of human capital accumulation, two results of schooling are explicitly stated: accumulation of privately owned and publicly owned human capital. By developing a growth estimating equation containing these two types of schooling results from the model and confronting it with empirical data, the hypothesis that schooling has got growth effect is tested. The analytic result suggests that in the indicated economies, for the period covered by the study (1966–2000), schooling that leads to accumulation of publicly owned human capital is associated with per capita income growth. Likewise, the analysis provides supporting evidence for the argument that primary schooling level is more associated with growth than other levels of schooling. Resume: L’article reexamine le debat sur la scolarisation et la croissance economique, en se referant tout particulierement au cas de l’Afrique subsaharienne. Suivant le modele de croissance endogene elabore par Lucas (1988) qui considere le capital humain comme facteur de production et la scolarisation comme moyen d’accumulation du capital humain, deux resultats de la scolarisation sont explicitement etablis: accumulation du capital humain public et accumulation du capital humain prive. En elaborant une equation d’evaluation de la croissance contenant ces deux types de resultat de la scolarisation emanant du modele, et en la confrontant avec des donnees empiriques, on peut verifier l’hypothese selon laquelle la scolarisation a un effet sur la croissance. Le resultat analytique laisse penser que, dans les economies concernees, et pour toute la periode couverte par l’etude (1966–2000), la scolarisation menant a l’accumulation du capital humain public est liee a la croissance du revenu par habitant. De meme, l’analyse fournit des preuves appuyant l’argument selon lequel la scolarisation au niveau du primaire est plus liee a la croissance que la scolarisation aux autres niveaux.
The Trench Power MOSFET: Part I—History, Technology, and Prospects

The historical and technological development of the ubiquitous trench power MOSFET (or vertical trench VDMOS) is described. Overcoming the deficiencies of VMOS and planar VDMOS, trench VDMOS innovations include pioneering efforts in reactive ion etching and oxidation of the silicon trench gate, polysilicon fill and recessed etchback, unit cell and distributed voltage clamping to protect the trench gate, and scaling active cells to high densities using deep submicron fabrication. Thereafter, gate–drain engineered trench VDMOS improved high-frequency switching capability with lower gate charge utilizing nonuniform gate oxides, field shaping, and charge balancing (superjunction, RSO) methods. The recent adaptation of trench gates in wide bandgap unipolar devices is also described.
Secondary malignant involvement of gynecologic organs in radical cystectomy specimens in women: is it mandatory to remove these organs routinely?

PURPOSE We report the incidence of concomitant secondary malignancy of gynecologic organs (uterus, ovaries and vagina) and the incidence of benign lesions affecting these organs in female radical cystectomy specimens. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between January 1983 and December 2001, 2,055 radical cystectomies were performed, including 609 in females. Pathological findings in gynecologic organs in female cystectomy specimens were reviewed. These data were correlated with different tumor characteristics. RESULTS Mean age of the female patients +/- SD was 47 +/- 9 years (range 20 to 73). Mean followup was 4.3 +/- 4.2 years (range 0.5 to 19). Of these women 390 (64%) had squamous cell bladder carcinoma. Gynecologic organ involvement was documented in 16 of 609 patients (2.6%). Benign ovarian lesions (49 cases or 8%), a simple serous cyst (31), a dermoid cyst (1), a hemorrhagic cyst (3), bilharzial granuloma (6) and corpus albicans (8) were detected. Benign uterine lesions (30 cases or 5%), endometrial hyperplasia (20), endometriosis (4) and fibroids (6) were diagnosed. No primary genital cancers were detected in this study. Gynecologic organ involvement was more frequent in high grade tumors and the transitional cell cancer type than low grade tumors and the squamous cell type (p = 0.01 and 0.05, respectively). Posterior wall tumors were more frequently associated with genital involvement than other sites, although the difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS Evidence is provided that the risk of secondary malignant involvement of genital organs in female cystectomy specimens is low. This low risk together with the low risk of primary cancers of genital organs in this group of patients does not strongly support the routine removal of uninvolved gynecologic organs during radical cystectomy in women.
Comparison of Prevalence of Nutritional Status of Thai Children in the First 2 Years of Life Using National and International Growth Charts.

OBJECTIVE Identify the difference of the nutritional status of Thai children from birth to 24 months of age using the national and international growth charts. MATERIAL AND METHOD The analytic sample was of 4,224 children from the Prospective Cohort Study of Thai Children (PCTC). Age-specific prevalence of malnutrition was estimated using the NCHS, WHO, and Thai growth charts. RESULTS Rapid growth faltering was found in both genders during the first two years, regardless of the reference, but the Thai charts reflected better Thai children. When using the Thai and NCHS charts, a steep fluctuation was observed in infancy, although the prevalence of wasting, underweight, and overweight between the references became narrower at 24 months. Meanwhile, the WHO standards identified a higher number of stunted children and showed a linear increasing trend of overweight with age, compared to the Thai reference. CONCLUSION Although the Thai growth charts better reflect the Thai children, in consideration of a double burden of stunting and overweight in Thailand, the WHO standards can be used to identify Thai children at risk of stunting and overweight in the first two years of life.