Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Review of the Role of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation in Atlantic Multidecadal Variability and Associated Climate Impacts

By synthesizing recent studies employing a wide range of approaches (modern observations, paleo reconstructions, and climate model simulations), this paper provides a comprehensive review of the linkage between multidecadal Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) variability and Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV) and associated climate impacts. There is strong observational and modeling evidence that multidecadal AMOC variability is a crucial driver of the observed AMV and associated climate impacts and an important source of enhanced decadal predictability and prediction skill. The AMOC‐AMV linkage is consistent with observed key elements of AMV. Furthermore, this synthesis also points to a leading role of the AMOC in a range of AMV‐related climate phenomena having enormous societal and economic implications, for example, Intertropical Convergence Zone shifts; Sahel and Indian monsoons; Atlantic hurricanes; El Niño–Southern Oscillation; Pacific Decadal Variability; North Atlantic Oscillation; climate over Europe, North America, and Asia; Arctic sea ice and surface air temperature; and hemispheric‐scale surface temperature. Paleoclimate evidence indicates that a similar linkage between multidecadal AMOC variability and AMV and many associated climate impacts may also have existed in the preindustrial era, that AMV has enhanced multidecadal power significantly above a red noise background, and that AMV is not primarily driven by external forcing. The role of the AMOC in AMV and associated climate impacts has been underestimated in most state‐of‐the‐art climate models, posing significant challenges but also great opportunities for substantial future improvements in understanding and predicting AMV and associated climate impacts.
18F-FDG PET/CT in the Initial Assessment and for Follow-up in Patients With Tuberculosis

Purpose The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the value of 18F-FDG PET/CT in the initial evaluation and follow-up of patients with tuberculosis (TB). Patients and Methods Thirty-five patients (18 men) with pulmonary or extrapulmonary TB were included. Diagnosis of TB was based either on histology or microbiological assessment in 32 patients and was based on typical morphological features of TB in CT and improvement on antimycobacterial medication in 3 patients. Eighty-eight 18F-FDG PET/CT scans were performed at initial assessment and during treatment, on a Siemens Biograph PET/CT. Diagnostic contrast-enhanced CT scans were performed on the 40-slice multidetector CT of the PET/CT scanner. Mean (SD) anti-TB treatment duration was 16.1 (8.9) months. Results The initial 18F-FDG PET identified 64 affected regions in 34 among 35 patients, whereas CT identified 34 affected organs in 23 patients. Matching image results between PET and CT were observed at first visit in 11 patients (31.4%), with relevant differences in 23 (65.7%). In 1 patient, both modalities remained negative. During follow-up 18F-FDG PET scans, we recorded 15 cases with remission of disease, 16 with residual disease (2 patients with multidrug-resistant infection), and 4 cases with progressive disease or delayed onset of adequate immunological response. In only 3 patients, both modalities, PET and CT, showed completely equivalent results. Conclusions Both components of 18F-FDG PET/CT provide complementary information at initial evaluation and during follow-up; however, 18F-FDG showed more abnormal findings than CT. 18F-FDG PET/CT might be useful for the establishment of individualized treatment regimes, but this requires further prospective studies.
Identification of customer satisfaction in services: a study on agribusiness dealers

Objective – This paper presents an analysis of service factors that impact customer satisfaction with dealers in the sugarcane segment in Sao Paulo state – Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – The research method is descriptive quantitative, based on survey. Data is secondary gathered from the tractor-making company’s database, with n = 88. Tools used for multivariate statistical analysis were factor analysis and correspondence analysis. Findings – The results revealed a reduction in latent variables into two components: trust and relationship. The correspondence analysis presents association among variables “cost-benefit of spare parts” and “treated fairly and honestly”. Practical implications – Despite the evidence of a relationship between the results and the information available in the literature, results cannot be generalized, since theory doesn´t fully describes the investigated sector. Future research may advance towards validating if the emerged variables are relevant on the strategic decision making process for this segment.
Increased transforming growth factor‐beta (TGF‐β)‐secreting T cells and IgA anti‐cardiolipin antibody levels during acute stage of childhood Henoch–Schönlein purpura

Henoch–Schönlein purpura (HSP) is a small vessel vasculitis characterized by increased serum IgA and IgA‐dominant immune complex deposition in lesions. The involvement of IgA implies a probable role for TGF‐β, a major factor in IgA production, in the pathogenesis of HSP. Among IgA antibodies, serum IgA anti‐cardiolipin antibodies (aCL) have been found in many diseases, including vasculitis. In addition to the clinical presentations and laboratory parameters, we further investigated the roles of IgA aCL and TGF‐β in childhood HSP. Twenty‐six Chinese children with the diagnosis of HSP were enrolled. Blood samples from these patients were collected at both acute and convalescent stages. Intracellular staining of lymphocytes was performed to enumerate type 1 (interferon‐gamma‐secreting), type 2 (IL‐4‐secreting), and type 3 (TGF‐β‐secreting) helper T cells. Serum levels of TGF‐β were detected by ELISA. Serum IgA aCL of 21 of 26 patients at the acute stage, 11 of them at the convalescent stage, were measured by ELISA. The data showed that IgA aCL serum levels were significantly elevated in patients compared with healthy controls (P < 0·001), and those patients at the convalescent stage (P < 0·001). In addition, TGF‐β‐secreting T cells were significantly elevated during the acute stage, and decreased at the convalescent stage. Although more studies are needed, the high prevalence of IgA aCL and increased TGF‐β‐secreting T cells in children with acute HSP revealed some points which should permit a better understanding of the pathogenesis of HSP.
Can Autoregressive Betas Account for the Statistical Properties of Stock Returns?

This paper analyzes the implications of autoregressive betas in single factor models for the statistical properties of stock returns. It is demonstrated that this assumption alone is sufficient to account for the most important stylized facts of stock returns, namely conditional heteroscedasticity, leptokurtosis, weak serial correlation over short horizons, asymptotic independence and aggregational Gaussianity. This means that the autoregressive assumption of beta is sufficient to reproduce the observed non-linear dynamics of stock returns, even in the most extreme case in which both the factor and the non-systematic component follow Gaussian independent processes.
Differences in the digital home lives of young people in New Zealand

Digital technology is changing every aspect of life from how we communicate to the way we learn. International trends would suggest that digital access is becoming increasingly widespread in developed countries. But general trends may hide the fact that some households still do not have access to the internet for a variety of reasons. Differences in digital access and use, particularly along socio-economic lines, may be less visible but are still present. This paper reports on a two-phase study that explores home digital access and use of young people (16-17-years-old) from a range of socio-economic backgrounds across New Zealand. Phase one sought to establish what home access is available, while the second phase explores what kinds of digital technologies are used and for what purpose among a subset of young people. Results indicate that differences in digital access do exist among young people from different socio-economic backgrounds. These differences include the number of digital devices in the home, the types of devices available, and whether the device(s) are shared or individually owned. These findings are particularly important in light of the finding that these young people perceived that digital access and use at school is inadequate and lagging behind everyday use. This suggests that there is still a considerable way to go to ensure equal digital opportunities for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
The relationships of the leadership styles of superintendents and fiscal conditions with district student performance across Ohio

The Relationships of the Leadership Styles of Superintendents and Fiscal Conditions with District Student Performance across Ohio Daniel T. Doyle This study investigated the relationships of the leadership styles of superintendents and the fiscal conditions of local school districts with student performance across Ohio. To examine these relationships the Bolman and Deal survey instrument, “Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire-Self,” was utilized to collect data from superintendents to assess their perception of their leadership style. The fiscal conditions of the school districts were placed on predictability and sustainability continuums based upon state percentage basic aid and annual percentage change in per pupil expenditure over five Ohio state biennial funding cycles (1997-2007). Control variables for the study include district size, socio-economic status, locale and per pupil expenditure. Surveys were sent to superintendents serving the 614 public school districts across Ohio. Responses were received from 241 superintendents. 174 surveys were utilized for an inclusive analysis and 83 qualified for the primary study. An ancillary analysis was completed to investigate more deeply the relationships between district fiscal conditionpredictability and district student performance with the study variables. Descriptive statistics were utilized as were linear multiple regression models to provide the statistical analysis. Major research findings indicate: (1) Superintendents across Ohio champion the multiframed leadership style (35%) followed by the single frame (27%) and the paired and the no-frame style (19%) equally; (2) Within these styles the structural frame (30.2%) was utilized the most, followed by the human-resource (26.3%), the symbolic and political (17.1%) equally and the no-frame (9.3%); (3) None of the study variables were found to be significant with leadership styles; (4) As a school district‟s fiscal conditionsustainability increases, so does the district expenditure per pupil and the district fiscal condition-predictability; (5) As a school district‟s fiscal condition-predictability increases, so does the number of students qualifying for the free/reduced lunch program and the district fiscal condition-sustainability. However, as the school district also becomes smaller, the district expenditure per pupil becomes less and the district is more likely to be urban than suburban; and (6) As a school district‟s student performance increases its fiscal condition-predictability and fiscal condition-sustainability becomes lower. Recommendations from this study include: (1) Implementation of professional development activities for superintendents that includes an understanding in leadership styles along with an increased awareness of their personal leadership style; and (2) opportunities provided for federal, state and local funding policy makers to gain an awareness of the relationships between a school district‟s dependency on state basic aid and the district student performance.
Hierarchical Up/Down routing architecture for ethernet backbones and campus networks

We describe a new layer two distributed and scalable routing architecture. It uses an automatic hierarchical node identifier assignment mechanism associated to the rapid spanning tree protocol. Enhanced up/down mechanisms are used to prohibit some turns at nodes to break cycles, instead of blocking links like the spannning tree protocol does. The protocol performance is similar or better than other turn prohibition algorithms recently proposed with lower complexity O(Nd) and better scalability. Simulations show that the fraction of prohibited turns over random networks is less than 0.2. The effect of root bridge election on the performance of the protocol is limited both in the random and regular networks studied. The use of hierarchical, tree-descriptive addresses simplifies the routing, and avoids the need of all nodes having a global knowleddge of the network topology. Routing frames through the hierarchical tree at very high speed is possible by progressive decoding of frame destination address, without routing tables or port address learning. Coexistence with standard bridges is achieved using combined devices: bridges that forward the frames having global destination MAC addresses as standard bridges and frames with local MAC frames with the proposed protocol.
PREDICTORS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL INNOVATION ATTITUDE: IMPLICATIONS FOR ARTS AND BUSINESS PEDAGOGY

An innovative attitude is key to entrepreneurship development and determining predictors of innovative attitude has important implications for cross-campus entrepreneurship education. This study, using the innovative attitudinal construct from the Entrepreneurial Attitudes Orientation model, compared factors affecting the innovative attitude scores of 273 undergraduate arts and business students. Results indicated that overall, arts students had significantly higher innovative attitude scores than business students. Both arts and business student innovation scores were significantly related to exposure to entrepreneurship and several demographic characteristics. In addition, the innovative scores were higher for arts students who had taken at least one business course. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Research into the innovative attitudes of arts and business students can have important implications for the customization of entrepreneurship education. This study identified differences between arts and business students in terms of demographic characteristics and business education and entrepreneurship exposure factors which could influence the development of entrepreneurial innovative attitudes. Undergraduate arts and business students from a small mid-Atlantic liberal arts university (N = 273) completed a survey based on the Robinson and Hunt (1991) Entrepreneurial Attitudes Orientation model which develops the innovative attitude construct based on three attitudinal scores. Results indicated that overall, arts students had significantly higher innovative attitudinal scores than business students. For both arts and business students, innovative attitudinal scores were significantly higher for freshman arts students and for business students who had completed at least two years of college. Innovative attitudinal scores of art students were also significantly higher for students who had taken at least one business course. In addition, exposure to entrepreneurship, such as working in a small business or having close friends or relatives who owned a small business, also increased arts and business student scores. Innovative attitudinal scores for both students were also significantly related to various demographic characteristics. Business student scores were higher for students who were over 21, non-Caucasian, and highincome; arts student scores were higher for students who were under 21.
Bafilomycin A1 inhibits bone resorption and tooth eruption in vivo

It has been shown that a specific inhibitor of vacuolar H+‐ATPases, bafilomycin A1, inhibits bone resorption by isolated chicken osteoclasts by blocking the proton pump in the ruffled border membrane. We report here the effects of bafilomycin A1 on bone resorption in vivo. Using a cannulated osmotic minipump delivery system, we infused bafilomycin locally to the eruption pathway of permanent premolars of beagle dogs. We used pit formation by osteoclasts in vitro to estimate the concentrations and heat stability of bafilomycin to be used in vivo. In this model, osteoclasts were cultured on thin bone slices, in which they form pits indicative of resorption. After 2 weeks preincubation at 37°C, bafilomycin concentrations of 10−6 and 10−7 M but not 10−8 M completely inhibited the resorptive activity of cultured osteoclasts, and the two larger doses were chosen for use in vivo. Local delivery of 10−6 M bafilomycin to the eruption pathway of the fourth permanent mandibular premolar during mideruption inhibited tooth eruption by blocking bone resorption as assayed by radiography, light microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Bafilomycin at 10−7 M had similar but less intensive effects. Moreover, osteoclasts in the alveolar bone of crypts treated with 10−7 M bafilomycin A1 stained very weakly for tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase. The effect of bafilomycin on bone resorption was shown to be very local, and no side effects of treatment with bafilomycin were observed in adjacent teeth or the behavior of dogs. We report here, for the first time, inhibition of tooth eruption caused by inhibited bone resorption using bafilomycin A1 in vivo.
Pollutant transport and dispersion in large indoor spaces: A status report for the large space effort of the Interiors Project

LBNL-44791 Pollutant Transport and Dispersion in Large Indoor Spaces: A Status Report for the Large Space Effort of the Interiors Project A.J. Gadgil, E.U. Finlayson, M.L. Fischer, P.N. Price, T.L. Thatcher, M.J. Craig, K.H. Hong, J. Housman, C.A. Schwalbe, D. Wilson, J.E. Wood, and R.G. Sextro Environmental Energy Technologies Division Indoor Environment Department Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley, CA 94720 June 2000
Which Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) Estimator is Better for Managers and Researchers1?

The objectives of this paper is to analyze whether there is a significant difference among widely used Higgins, Van-Hone’s and newly introduced Huang-Liu SGR models and whether these three competing SGR estimates diverge in ways that are systematically related to variations in common financial characteristics. We find that Higgins and Huan-Liu SGR when used as continuous and dichotomous variables are more affected by variations in financial characteristics than Van-Hone’s model. The test of divergences reveals that profitable firms with adequate cash which invest on fixed assets and pay more tax give higher SGR by Higgins than Van-Hone’s. However, a large firm with high leverage gives less SGR by Higgins than Van Hone’s model. Further, we find that more profitable firm with efficient working capital management, effective investment on fixed assets and pay more tax gives higher SGR by Higgins than Huang-Liu model. We also find that more profitable large firm with high leverage, efficient working capital management and investments on fixed assets gives higher SGR by Van Hone’s than Huang-Liu model. Variations of liquidity, debt maturity and financial distress are almost trivial in an economic sense. From the researchers’ point of view, if both continuous and dichotomous variables are used in the analysis, it is better to choose Van Hone’s sustainable growth. Finally, we find that the Huang-Liu model induces more sample-selection bias as a result of loss of sample size. We suggest that Higgins and Van-Hone’s models are preferable both managers and researchers point of view.
Anticonvulsant Drugs, Cognitive Function, and Behavior

Summary: Healthy volunteers as well as patients wih epilepsy were studied for 2 weeks in a double‐blind crossover design to determine the effect of anticonvulsant drugs on cognitive function and behavior. The healthy volunteers experienced significant deficits in performance with the four drugs examined, phenytoin, carbamazepine, sodium valproate, and clobazam. The most widespread changes were seen with phenytoin; carbamazepine, sodium valproate, and clobazam did not interfere with tests of memory function. The results of the patients' studies showed that (1) when anticonvulsants are reduced, patients receiving polytherapy improve their cognitive function; (2) patients with high serum levels of anticonvulsant drugs demonstrated more cognitive impairment than those with low levels; (3) when carbamazepine is substituted for another anticonvulsant, cognitive function is improved; and (4) in patients receiving monotherapy, high serum levels are linked to greater cognitive impairment than lower levels and the profile of changes differs between the drugs.
Hospital admission patterns in adult patients with skin and soft tissue infections: Identification of potentially avoidable hospital admissions through a retrospective database analysis

Abstract Background: Despite the substantial hospitalization costs associated with the management of patients with skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) in the inpatient setting, there is limited guidance on patients who should be managed in the hospital relative to the outpatient setting. Studies have demonstrated that SSTI patients without major complications or comorbidities can be successfully managed in the outpatient setting. However, there are limited data on current hospital admission patterns for patients with SSTI. Objectives: Given this literature gap, this study described the current hospital admission patterns among adult patients with SSTI using data from a US hospital research database. Methods: To determine the subset of hospitalized SSTI patients who could likely be managed in the outpatient setting (potentially avoidable hospital admissions), the distribution of hospital admissions was categorized by infection severity and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) score. Results: During the study observational period, there were 610,867 medical encounters across 520 hospitals. Of the 610,867, 125,743 (20.6%) were treated as inpatients. Nearly all patients with life-threatening conditions or systemic symptoms or a CCI score of 2 or greater were admitted. Among those with no life-threatening conditions and no systemic symptoms, admission rates exceeded 10 and 30% for patients with a CCI score of zero and 1, respectively. While the admissions rates for these patient populations were low, they accounted for nearly 60% of all admissions (75,255 of 125,743 hospital admissions). On average, patients with CCI score of zero or 1, independent of the presence of systemic symptoms, were treated in the hospital for about 4 days, costing $6000–$7000 on average. Conclusions: Given the cost associated with the management of patients with SSTIs in the inpatient setting, the findings highlight the critical need for healthcare systems to develop well-defined criteria for hospital admission based on presence of comorbid conditions and infection severity.
Complete Stability of Reduced-Order and Full-Order Observers for Sensorless IM Drives

In this paper, reduced-order observers for flux and speed estimation of sensorless induction-motor drives are analyzed. All gain selections, which give stability for all operating conditions, including the regeneration mode (called complete stability), are found. Furthermore, it is shown that full-order observers, under the assumption of fast stator-current dynamics, have equivalent implementations as reduced-order observers. Consequently, all gain selections of the full-order observer gains for which complete stability is obtained, under the assumption stated, are also found. A number of previously proposed full-order observers are analyzed within the developed framework, generally showing agreement between the full- and reduced-order models.