Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrical Breakdown of Ethylene Copolymers

co was found that the electric strength FB of ethylene co-polymers containing optimum content of halogen compouns copigher than that of LDPE over a wide temperature range from -196 to 90°C, and that their conduction current was suppressed at the higher fields. It is thought that the introductioned comonomers with halogen groups into polyethylene suppresses the electron acceleration due to an increase of the scattering of conduction electrons, leading to an increase of FB which is determined by the electron avalanche breakdown. However, the reason for a fall of FB with halogen content at high content level is not yet clear. A tentative explanation is presented: Existence of high halogen content in the amorphous part of the ethylene chain gives rise to some kind of defects which arise, for example, from locally brittle structures or stereo hindrance due to strong dipole-dipole interaction, leading to a decrease of FB.
The stereotactic approach for mapping epileptic networks: a prospective study of 200 patients.

OBJECT Stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) is a methodology that permits accurate 3D in vivo electroclinical recordings of epileptiform activity. Among other general indications for invasive intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring, its advantages include access to deep cortical structures, its ability to localize the epileptogenic zone when subdural grids have failed to do so, and its utility in the context of possible multifocal seizure onsets with the need for bihemispheric explorations. In this context, the authors present a brief historical overview of the technique and report on their experience with 2 SEEG techniques (conventional Leksell frame-based stereotaxy and frameless stereotaxy under robotic guidance) for the purpose of invasively monitoring difficult-to-localize refractory focal epilepsy. METHODS Over a period of 4 years, the authors prospectively identified 200 patients with refractory epilepsy who collectively underwent 2663 tailored SEEG electrode implantations for invasive intracranial EEG monitoring and extraoperative mapping. The first 122 patients underwent conventional Leksell frame-based SEEG electrode placement; the remaining 78 patients underwent frameless stereotaxy under robotic guidance, following acquisition of a stereotactic ROSA robotic device at the authors' institution. Electrodes were placed according to a preimplantation hypothesis of the presumed epileptogenic zone, based on a standardized preoperative workup including video-EEG monitoring, MRI, PET, ictal SPECT, and neuropsychological assessment. Demographic features, seizure semiology, number and location of implanted SEEG electrodes, and location of the epileptogenic zone were recorded and analyzed for all patients. For patients undergoing subsequent craniotomy for resection, the type of resection and procedure-related complications were prospectively recorded. These results were analyzed and correlated with pathological diagnosis and postoperative seizure outcomes. RESULTS The epileptogenic zone was confirmed by SEEG in 154 patients (77%), of which 134 (87%) underwent subsequent craniotomy for epileptogenic zone resection. Within this cohort, 90 patients had a minimum follow-up of at least 12 months; therein, 61 patients (67.8%) remained seizure free, with an average follow-up period of 2.4 years. The most common pathological diagnosis was focal cortical dysplasia Type I (55 patients, 61.1%). Per electrode, the surgical complications included wound infection (0.08%), hemorrhagic complications (0.08%), and a transient neurological deficit (0.04%) in a total of 5 patients (2.5%). One patient (0.5%) ultimately died due to intracerebral hematoma directly ensuing from SEEG electrode placement. CONCLUSIONS Based on these results, SEEG methodology is safe, reliable, and effective. It is associated with minimal morbidity and mortality, and serves as a practical, minimally invasive approach to extraoperative localization of the epileptogenic zone in patients with refractory epilepsy.
Non-compliance in the European Union: pathology or statistical artefact?

Does the European Union have a compliance problem? This article argues that we have simply no evidence that the EU suffers from a serious compliance deficit which is claimed by the European Commission and academics alike. First, there are no data that measure the actual level of non-compliance in the EU member states. Second, the statistics published by the European Commission, which allow us to compare non-compliance between the different member states, are often not properly interpreted. If we control for changes in the Commission's enforcement strategy, on the one hand, and the rising items of legislation to be complied with as well as member states that have to comply, on the other hand, the level of non-compliance in the EU has not significantly increased over time. Moreover, non-compliance varies significantly and is focused on four particular member states that account for up to two-thirds of all violations of Community law.
Surviving the times of crisis: Does innovation make a difference?

The recent economic crisis caught many by surprise. Yet some firms were better prepared to weather the downturn than others. Using a unique micro dataset of shareholding companies from emerging countries in Eastern and Southern Europe derived from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys, we econometrically test the hypothesis that pre-crisis innovation affected their survival odds and performance thereafter. Overall, the results indicate that the innovation-survival connection holds. Nevertheless, firms that have been identified as innovating excessively before the crisis turned out to be far more likely to die, whereas cautious innovators came out better off. Firms that stretched their resources too much, that were too bold, faced dire consequences. If appetite for risky innovation is sociably desirable and the crisis weeds out viable businesses, including those that may drive the recovery, there is a role for public policy to mitigate the short-lived selection inefficiencies that proliferate during severe recessions.
Unraveling Risk Appetite: applications of decision theory in the evaluation of organizational risk appetite

textabstractIn our current era of major global challenges and worldwide crises the human race is continuously searching for solutions to the fundamental economic problem of how to determine which aims should be pursued and how limited resources ought to be allocated. Economics as the science that studies “human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means” (Robbins 1932 p.16) is poised to prescribe normative antidotes to the calamities and acts of man that plague today’s financial and economic markets. Aiming to minimize the adverse effects of risk at minimum cost, organizations are engaged in a balancing act between the ex ante allocation of resources for risk reduction and the ex post adequacy of resources to absorb losses. The outcome of this trade-off is an expression of the organization’s willingness to accept risk, also known as its risk appetite. Scarcity of resources implies that the probability of occurrence and the potential impact of events identified as risks cannot always be reduced beforehand, and thus requires these risks to be ranked in priority by a decision maker in the organization. Risk attitude, a concept from decision theory, allows one to specify the rank order of a set of identified risks. In addition, the concept of risk appetite specifies the subset of this rank ordered set of risky events that requires control measures and its complement that, in contrast, is accepted. Given that organizational risk appetite is not unlimited, this thesis explores how measurements of risk attitude can be applied meaningfully in risk management to the economic problem of scarcity of resources.
Infrared Spectra, Optical Constants, and Temperature Dependences of Amorphous and Crystalline Benzene Ices Relevant to Titan

Benzene ice contributes to an emission feature detected by the Cassini Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS) near 682 cm−1 in Titan’s late southern fall polar stratosphere. It is also one of the dominant components of the CIRS-observed High-Altitude South Polar ice cloud observed in Titan’s mid stratosphere during late southern fall. Titan’s stratosphere exhibits significant seasonal changes with temperatures that spatially vary with seasons. A quantitative analysis of the chemical composition of infrared emission spectra of Titan’s stratospheric ice clouds relies on consistent and detailed laboratory transmittance spectra obtained at numerous temperatures. However, there is a substantial lack of experimental data on the spectroscopic and optical properties of benzene ice and its temperature dependence, especially at Titan-relevant stratospheric conditions. We have therefore analyzed in laboratory the spectral characteristics and evolution of benzene ice’s vibrational modes at deposition temperatures ranging from 15 to 130 K, from the far- to mid-IR spectral region (50–8000 cm−1). We have determined the amorphous-to-crystalline phase transition of benzene ice and identified that a complete crystallization is achieved for deposition temperatures between 120 and 130 K. We have also measured the real and imaginary parts of the ice complex refractive index of benzene ice from 15 to 130 K. Our experimental results significantly extend the current state of knowledge on the deposition temperature dependence of benzene ice over a broad infrared spectral range, and provide useful new data for the analysis and interpretation of Titan-observed spectra.
INTERN: A New Learning Paradigm Towards General Vision

Enormous waves of technological innovations over the past several years, marked by the advances in AI technologies, are profoundly reshaping the industry and the society. However, down the road, a key challenge awaits us, that is, our capability of meeting rapidly-growing scenario-specific demands is severely limited by the cost of acquiring a commensurate amount of training data. This difficult situation is in essence due to limitations of the mainstream learning paradigm: we need to train a new model for each new scenario, based on a large quantity of well-annotated data and commonly from scratch. In tackling this fundamental problem, we move beyond and develop a new learning paradigm named INTERN. By learning with supervisory signals from multiple sources in multiple stages, the model being trained will develop strong generalizability. We evaluate our model on 26 well-known datasets that cover four categories of tasks in computer vision. In most cases, our models, adapted with only 10% of the training data in the target domain, outperform the counterparts trained with the full set of data, often by a significant margin. This is an important step towards a promising prospect where such a model with general vision capability can dramatically reduce our reliance on data, thus expediting the adoption of AI technologies. Furthermore, revolving around our new paradigm, we also introduce a new data system, a new architecture, and a new benchmark, which, together, form a general vision ecosystem to support its future development in an open and inclusive manner. See project website at https://opengvlab.shlab. org.cn .
Different modes of proton translocation by sensory rhodopsin I.

The membrane‐bound complex between sensory rhodopsin I (SRI) and its transducer HtrI forms the functional photoreceptor unit that allows transmission of light signals to the flagellar motor. Although being a photosensor, SRI, the mutant SRI‐D76N and the HtrI‐SRI complex can transport protons, as we demonstrate by using the sensitive and ion‐specific black lipid membrane technique. SRI sustains an orange light‐driven (one‐photon‐driven) outward proton transport which is enhanced by additional blue light (two‐photon‐driven). The vectoriality of the two‐photon‐driven transport could be reversed at neutral pH from the outward to the inward direction by switching the cut‐off wavelength of the long wavelength light from 550 to 630 nm. The cut‐off wavelength determining the reversal point decreases with decreasing pH. The currents could be enhanced by azide. A two‐photon‐driven inward proton transport by SRI‐D76N (catalyzed by azide) and by the complex HtrI‐SRI is demonstrated. The influence of pH and azide concentration on the rise and decay kinetics of the SRI380 intermediate is analyzed. The different modes of proton translocation of the SRI species are discussed on the basis of a general model of proton translocation of retinal proteins and in the context of signal transduction.
Stages of Concern Profiles for Active Learning Strategies of Agricultural Technical School Teachers in Egypt

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess Egyptian Agricultural Technical School (ATS) teachers’ implementation of active learning strategies in their classrooms. Methods: The Stages of Concern Questionnaire was administered to 230 participants in active learning workshops. After eliminating headmasters, supervisors and people no longer teaching, the population became 160 teachers with usable responses from all. Findings: ATS instructors who had participated in an active learning workshop indicated some concern in adopting the innovation and in being well prepared to utilize the strategies. Implications: Adoption of innovations is dependent upon instructor motivation to change and support from the school. Future workshops must address those concerns, as well as provide additional information regarding how to implement innovative strategies. Value: ATS teachers in Egypt have participated in various workshops to assist them in learning about, practicing and incorporating into their teaching the innovation of active learning strategies. Agriculture teachers do not complete formal preparation to become teachers in Egypt, so the development of teaching strategies is often neglected. ATS instructors may be reluctant to adopt new innovations such as active learning, since there are few incentives to make changes and few opportunities to learn new strategies. If workshops on active learning are to be continued, the concerns of teachers regarding the adoption of the innovation can be valuable. Further investigation is also warranted regarding the implementation of and concerns with each of the active learning strategies.
Elite discourse and institutional innovation: making the hybrid happen in English public services

Abstract This paper focuses on the strategic role of elites in managing institutional and organizational change within English public services, framed by the wider ideological and political context of neo-liberalism and its pervasive impact on the social and economic order over recent decades. It also highlights the unintended consequences of this elite-driven programme of institutional reform as realized in the emergence of hybridized regimes of ‘polyarchic governance’ and the innovative discursive and organizational technologies on which they depend. Within the latter, ‘leaderism’ is identified as a hegemonic ‘discursive imaginary’ that has the potential to connect selected marketization and market control elements of new public management (NPM), network governance, and visionary and shared leadership practices that ‘make the hybrid happen’ in public services reform.
Effects of rule of law on firm performance in South Africa

Purpose – South Africa (SA) has undertaken significant institutional reforms since the change in its political regime in 1994. During the same period, SA has also experienced rapid economic growth. Although it is widely accepted that institutional reform generally has positive impacts on firm competitiveness and economic growth, the extent to which institutional reforms in SA have been of benefit to businesses is not well understood. The purpose of this paper is to focus specifically on the rule of law and assesses the extent to which the rule of law affects business performance.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses multinomial logistic regression techniques and data, from a large‐scale firm level survey (n=751) of SA businesses undertaken by the World Bank in 2007, to estimate the effects of various elements of the rule of law on firm performance.Findings – Crime and theft were found to have the largest impact on business performance, followed by corruption and tax administration. Political instab.
"Kitas, Quoten und Karriere: The F-Word in German Boardrooms"

Over the last years, Germany has seen a lively debate about the lack of women in full time positions and particularly in management positions compared to other industrialized countries. This significant problem has gone relatively unnoticed in both the political arena and the private sector since the fall of the Berlin Wall, but has in the past few years reached the surface of political debate and within individual companies. This article aims to examine the scope of the problem and the origins of the current inequality. It also discusses various possible solutions that are being offered by different economic and political camps; and it explores what the present employment disparity between men and women means for Germany’s future as the economic powerhouse of the EU.
Optimal Investment and Financial Strategies under Tax-Rate Uncertainty

Abstract In this paper, we apply a real-option model to study the effects of tax-rate uncertainty on a firm’s decision. In doing so, we depart from the relevant literature, which focuses on fully equity-financed investment projects. By letting a representative firm borrow optimally, we show that debt finance not only encourages investment activities but can also substantially mitigate the effect of tax-rate uncertainty on investment timing.
Association of Major Histocompatibility Complex II with Cholesterol- and Sphingolipid-rich Membranes Precedes Peptide Loading*

Major histocompatibility complex class II protein (MHC II) molecules present antigenic peptides to CD4-positive T-cells. Efficient T cell stimulation requires association of MHC II with membrane microdomains organized by cholesterol and glycosphingolipids or by tetraspanins. Using detergent extraction at 37 °C combined with a modified flotation assay, we investigated the sequence of events leading to the association of MHC II with cholesterol- and glycosphingolipid-rich membranes (DRMs) that are distinct from tetraspanins. We find two stages of association of MHC II with DRMs. In stage one, complexes of MHC II and invariant chain, a chaperone involved in MHC II transport, enter DRMs in the Golgi stack. In early endosomes, these complexes are almost quantitatively associated with DRMs. Upon transport to late endocytic compartments, MHC II-bound invariant chain is stepwise proteolyzed to the MHC class II-associated invariant chain peptide (CLIP) that remains MHC II-bound and retains a preference for DRMs. At the transition between the two stages, CLIP is exchanged against processed antigens, and the resulting MHC II-peptide complexes are transported to the cell surface. In the second stage, MHC II shows a lower overall association with DRMs. However, surface MHC II molecules occupied with peptides that induce resistance to denaturation by SDS are enriched in DRMs relative to SDS-sensitive MHC II-peptide complexes. Likewise, MHC II molecules loaded with long-lived processing products of hen-egg lysozyme containing the immunodominant epitope 48–61 show a very high preference for DRMs. Thus after an initial mainly intracellular stage of high DRM association, MHC II moves to a second stage in which its preference for DRMs is modulated by bound peptides.
Association between Global Brain Volume and the Rate of Cognitive Change in Elderly Humans without Dementia

Patients with mild cognitive deficits experience different types of evolution. They are at increased risk of developing dementia, but they have also a chance of remaining stable in cognition or of improving. We investigated whether global brain volume, callosal size and hippocampal size are associated with the rate of cognitive change in elderly without dementia. Volumetric MR images were recorded from 39 controls and 35 patients with questionable dementia who were followed up longitudinally for a mean of 2.3 years. The outcome measure was the annual change in the test score in the Structured Interview for the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Dementia and Multi-Infarct Dementia, which includes all items of the Mini-Mental State Examination. Global brain volume, grey matter volume and white matter volume were the only significant independent predictors of the rate of cognitive change.
The Clinical Neuromuscular Pharmacology of Mivacurium Chloride (BW B1090U). A Short‐acting Nondepolarizing Ester Neuromuscular Blocking Drug

Mivacurium chloride (BW B1090U), a bis-benzylisoquinolinium diester compound, was found to undergo hydrolysis in vitro by purified human plasma cholinesterase in a pH-stat titralorat 88% of the rate of succinylcholine at pH 7.4,37°C and 5 μM substrate concentration. In 72 consenting ASA Physical Status I-II patients receiving nitrous oxide/oxygen-narcotic-thiopental anesthesia, the neuromuscular blocking effect of mivacurium was assessed following bolus doses from 0.03 to 0.30 mg/kg, as well as during and following continuous infusions from 35 to 324 min in length. The calculated ED95 for inhibition of adductor pollicis twitch evoked at 0.15 Hz was 0.08 mg/kg. At 0.1 mg/kg, 96% block developed, onset to maximum block required 3.8 ± 0.5 min, and recovery to 95% twitch height occurred 24.5 ± 1.6 (SE) min after injection. At 0.25 mg/kg, onset was 2.3 ± 0.3 min; 95% recovery developed within 30.4 ± 2.2 min, an increase in duration of action of only 24% versus 150% higher dosage. Comparative recovery indices from 5 to 95% or from 25 to 75% twitch heights did not differ significantly among all dosage groups from 0.1 to 0.3 mg/kg (range 12.9 to 14.7 and 6.6 to 7.2 min, respectively). In 38 patients who received mivacurium by continuous infusion (duration 88.1 ± 7.1/47.1 min, SE/SD) for maintenance of 95 ± 4% twitch inhibition, the mean 5–95% and 25–75% recovery indices after discontinuation of infusion were 14.4 ± 0.6 and 6.5 ± 0.3 min (P > 0.5 vs. all single bolus doses). The train-of-four (T4) ratio, within 2.6 ± 0.5 min after 95% twitch recovery following bolus doses, averaged 79.5 ± 1.8% (n = 32). Similarly, after discontinuation of infusions, the T4 ratio reached 73.4 ± 1.9% within 3.4 ± 1.9 min after 95% twitch recovery (n = 33). Antagonism of residual block was seldom indicated, but, to test case of reverals, eight patients electively received ncostigmine (0.06 mg/kg) with atropine (0.03 mg/kg) at 67 to 93 (76.6 ± 3.5) % block. Twitch returned to 95% of control within 4.5 to 9.5 (6.3 ± 0.5) min after neostigmine. Mivacurium may offer increased versatility in providing clinical muscle relaxation in a variety of situations. Further studies seem appropriate.
The Economic Returns to the Knowledge and Use of a Second Official Language: English in Quebec and French in the Rest-of-Canada

La connaissance d’une deuxième langue officielle au Canada peut être associée à des revenus plus élevés à cause de la valeur que cela comporte sur le marché du travail, ou de la valeur que cela représente simplement en tant qu’habileté supplémentaire. Mais, jusqu’à maintenant, les données disponibles sur ce sujet n’avaient rapport qu’à la connaissance de cette langue, et non à son utilisation. C’est le recensement de 2001 qui, pour la première fois, a fourni des données sur l’utilisation de la langue maternelle et d’une langue seconde au travail, ce qui montre que c’est la connaissance et l’utilisation d’une langue seconde qui entraînent une augmentation des revenus attribuable à la maîtrise d’une deuxième langue officielle. Dans cette étude, nous observons que cet effet est important et statistiquement significatif au Québec, mais négligeable ailleurs au Canada.