Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vapor Diffusional Growth of Free-Falling Snow Crystals between -3 and -23°C

The characteristics of snow crystal growth by vapor diffusion at water saturation and in free fall were quantitatively investigated in a vertical supercooled cloud tunnel for periods up to 30 min at temperatures from -3 to -23*. The results obtained are as follows: 1) the basic growth habits were plates (>-4.0*), columns (-4.0--8.1*), plates (-8.1--22.4*) and columns (<-22.4*), respectively. At about -5.5, -12, -14 . 5, -16.5 and -18*, crystal shapes were enhanced with time; 2) for an isometric crystal, the slope of a log-log plot between the crystal mass and the growth time showed the Maxwellian value of 1.5. The mass growth rate of a shape-enhanced crystal was larger than that of the isometric crystal, indicating more effective vapor transfer on the former; 3) in the case of shape-enhanced planar crystals grown at around -12, -14.5 and -16.5*, ventilation effects became recognizable, whereas the effect was not evident for needle crystals grown at about -5.5*. This suggests that the characteristic length of the flow field even around a needle crystal is along the a-axis. The ventilation effect became significant when the Reynolds number exceeded about 2 (sector) and 5 (dendrite); 4) linear relationships between the drag coefficient and the Reynolds number were found in log-log plots.
Contracting Out Public Service Provision to Not-for-Profit Firms

We analyze the contracting out of public service provision to private firms and compare the performance of for-profit and non-for-profit firms. We consider two alternative settings.In the first,the firm has control rights, as under the UK's Private Finance Initiative(PFI). In the second,the goverment retains control rights,as under traditional procurement. The main insights of the paper can be summarized as follows. First, even when an NP cares more than an Fp does about social benefits,it does not follows that provision by an NP yields the higher social benefits.This is because the non-distribution constraint in of an NP may work against its incentives to invest.Second, the new procurement strategy of PFI increases the desirability of NP provision,relative to traditional procurement.Third, a crucial role in determing the desirability of NP provision is played bu the correlation between the effect of investment onsocial benefit and profit and the nature od the firm's investment.
University ’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs Grain Surface Models and Data for Astrochemistry Journal Item

The cross-disciplinary field of astrochemistry exists to understand the formation, destruction, and survival of molecules in astrophysical environments. Molecules in space are synthesized via a large variety of gas-phase reactions, and reactions on dust-grain surfaces, where the surface acts as a catalyst. A broad consensus has been reached in the astrochemistry community on how to suitably treat gas-phase processes in models, and also on how to present the necessary reaction data in databases; however, no such consensus has yet been B H.M. Cuppen h.cuppen@science.ru. nl C. Walsh c.walsh1@leeds.ac. uk T. Lamberts lamberts@theochem.uni-stuttgart.de D. Semenov semenov@mpia.de R.T. Garrod rgarrod@virginia.edu S. Ioppolo sergio.ioppolo@open.ac. uk 1 Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands 2 Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands 3 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK 4 Computational Chemistry Group, Institute for Theoretical Chemistry, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 55, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany 5 Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany 6 Depts. of Astronomy & Chemistry, University of Virginia, McCormick Road, PO Box 400319, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA 7 Department of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK 2 H.M. Cuppen et al. reached for grain-surface processes. A team of ∼25 experts covering observational, laboratory and theoretical (astro)chemistry met in summer of 2014 at the Lorentz Center in Leiden with the aim to provide solutions for this problem and to review the current state-of-the-art of grain surface models, both in terms of technical implementation into models as well as the most up-to-date information available from experiments and chemical computations. This review builds on the results of this workshop and gives an outlook for future directions.
Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern and ESBL Production among Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Isolated from UTI Children in Pediatric Unit of a Hospital in Kerman, Iran.

Aims: Emergence of antibiotic resistance and extended spectrum βlactamase (ESBL) among uropathogens in the pediatric unit of hospitals created serious health care concern. This study deals with antimicrobial susceptibility and ESBL analysis of uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from children hospitalized in pediatric unit of a university hospital in Kerman, Iran. Methodology: Fifty-five uropathogens positive samples were recovered from one hundred thirty five samples collected from urine of the children hospitalized with sign of UTI in pediatric unit of a hospital, in Kerman, Iran from April 2011 to November 2012. Preliminary antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out using agar disk-diffusion breakpoint assay and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of different antibiotics were determined by agar dilution method. ESBL production was detected by a double disk synergy test and confirmed by a phenotypic confirmatory test. Results: Of fifty-five positive samples isolated, Escherichia coli (69%) was the leading uropathogen followed by Klebsiella spp. (18.8%), Proteus (7.27%), Staphylococcus aureus (3.63%), Citrobacter (1.8%), Enterobacter spp. (1.81%) and Enterococcus (1.8%). Antimicrobial susceptibility tests revealed that almost all uropathogenic E. coli were Original Research Article British Microbiology Research Journal, 4(3): 262-271, 2014 263 sensitive to carbapenems (100%) and amikacin (94.4%), while, 100% of the strains were resistant to ampicillin (MIC range ±32 μg/mL), 63.8% were resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (MIC range ±32μg/mL), 33% were resistant to trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole (MIC range ±64.2μg/mL) and 61.1% of the strains were resistant to third generation of cephalosporins (MIC range ±8.0μg/mL) (P=0.05). The ESBL confirmatory test for uropathogenic E. coli isolates resistant to third generation of cephalosporins revealed that only 20% were produced detectable ESBL enzymes. Conclusion: From above results it can be concluded that E. coli was the most common nosocomial pathogen associated with UTI among hospitalized children in our hospital and amikacin, carbapenems were very effective drugs for treatment of UTI in these age group, while, care must be taken when third generation of cephalosporins and trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole are administered.
Effient Estimation of Partially Varying Coefficient Instrumental Variables Models

We study a new class of semiparametric instrumental variables models with the structural function represented by a partially varying coefficient functional form. Under this representation, the models are linear in the endogenous/exogenous components with unknown constant or functional coefficients. As a result, the ill-posed inverse problem in a general nonparametric model with continuous endogenous variables does not exist under this setting. Efficient procedures are proposed to estimate both the constant and functional coefficients. Precisely, a three-step estimation procedure is proposed to estimate the constant parameters and the functional coefficients, we use the partial residuals and implement a nonparametric two-step estimation procedure. We establish the asymptotic properties for both estimators, including consistency and asymptotic normality. More importantly, it is also demonstrated that the constant parameters estimators are efficient, e.g., square root of n-consistent, and the functional coefficient estimators are oracle. A consistent estimation of the asymptotic covariance for both estimators is also provided. Finally, the high practical power of the resulting estimators is illustrated via both a Monte Carlo simulation study and an application to returns to education.
Social Exclusion of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon: Reflections on the Mechanisms that Cement their Persistent Poverty

The majority of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon lives in poverty. This can be observed across a number of socio-economic indicators such as low income and few assets held by the household, poor housing, poor educational achievements, poor health, and others. However, these factors, while completing the picture of what it means to be poor for a Palestinian household, fail to explain the persistence of the low socio-economic status suffered by most Palestinian households. This article argues that restriction of access to major social and occupational institutions of society tremendously affects the living conditions of Palestinian households. Identifying these restrictions as systematic social exclusion, this article outlines mechanisms of exclusion. Particular attention is given to the camp as a form of urban exclusion, aggravating the existing legal discrimination against Palestinian refugees.
Sexual Dimorphism Determination by Piriform Aperture Morphometric Analysis in Brazilian Human Skulls

El diagnostico del sexo a partir de osamentas humanas es importante en investigacion antropologica y forense, este puede ser realizado mediante analisis cualitativos o cuantitativos de parametros morfologicos de dimorfismo. La forma de la apertura piriforme es uno de los indicadores clasicos de dimorfismo sexual, a partir de ella se han descrito diferencias entre hombres y mujeres en sus dimensiones, con un fuerte comportamiento poblacion-especifico. El proposito de este estudio fue analizar la presencia de dimorfismo sexual en las dimensiones de la apertura piriforme y su relacion con el color de piel de los individuos. Se utilizaron 90 craneos humanos de la Coleccion de la Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP), con registro de sexo, edad y color de piel (clasificadas en blanco, negro y pardo). Las dimensiones analizadas fueron: altura, ancho superior e inferior de la apertura piriforme. Todas las dimensiones resultaron mayores en hombres que en mujeres, sin embargo, solo la altura de la apertura piriforme resulto ser significativa con p<0.01. Al analizar las diferencias agrupandolas por color de piel, obtuvimos que la altura de la apertura piriforme resulto ser mayor y significativa (p<0.05) en hombres blancos, negros y pardos. En el grupo de craneos de individuos negros, ademas, encontramos diferencias significativas en el ancho superior (p<0.05). Las principales diferencias encontradas, referidas a la altura de la apertura piriforme, y la baja influencia del color de piel en la presencia de dimorfismo sexual en las dimensiones de la apertura piriforme, contrastan con lo reportado en la literatura y justifican la revision de los indicadores clasicos utilizados para el diagnostico del sexo en poblaciones especificas.
Riverbed: Enforcing User-defined Privacy Constraints in Distributed Web Services

Riverbed is a new framework for building privacy-respecting web services. Using a simple policy language, users define restrictions on how a remote service can process and store sensitive data. A transparent Riverbed proxy sits between a user’s front-end client (e.g., a web browser) and the backend server code. The back-end code remotely attests to the proxy, demonstrating that the code respects user policies; in particular, the server code attests that it executes within a Riverbed-compatible managed runtime that uses IFC to enforce user policies. If attestation succeeds, the proxy releases the user’s data, tagging it with the user-defined policies. On the server-side, the Riverbed runtime places all data with compatible policies into the same universe (i.e., the same isolated instance of the full web service). The universe mechanism allows Riverbed to work with unmodified, legacy software; unlike prior IFC systems, Riverbed does not require developers to reason about security lattices, or manually annotate code with labels. Riverbed imposes only modest performance overheads, with worst-case slowdowns of 10% for several real applications.
Kallikrein gene ‘ knock-down ’ by siRNA transfection induces a pro-fibrotic phenotype in rat mesangial cells

Emerging evidence suggests that kallikrein exerts reno-protective effects independent of its haemodynamic actions. The aim of the current investigation was to delineate the role of kallikrein in the regulation of fibrosis, by ‘knocking down’ its expression using specific small interfering RNAs (siRNA). Rat mesangial cells were treated with 12, 60, 120 nmol kallikrein-specific siRNAs. The consequent cellular genotypes and phenotypes were analysed. Western blotting demonstrated that mesangial cells produced a kallikrein protein, which was of a different molecular weight to urinary kallikrein from rats of the same species. Treatment of cells with siRNA resulted in a dose dependent decrease in kallikrein mRNA levels, which impacted on other components of the kallikrein-kinin system, dose dependently reducing bradykinin B2 receptor mRNA expression. Kallikrein suppression resulted in significant increases in fibronectin and TGF protein levels in culture supernatants over control levels. Gelatin zymography demonstrated a siRNA dose dependent decrease in active MMP2 enzyme levels. Bradykinin, an effector molecule of the kallikrein system is known to stimulate tPA production. However, paradoxically tPA protein levels were augmented with increasing kallikrein mRNA silencing. This was accompanied by a dose dependent decrease in low density lipoprotein receptor related protein (LRP) mRNA levels indicating that increased tPA levels were due to an attenuation of receptor mediated protease clearance. These data lend strong support to the hypothesis that kallikrein exerts anti-fibrotic, renoprotective effects that are independent of its classical haemodynamic actions.
CHARACTERISTICS OF OILS AND NUTRIENT CONTENTS OF NIGELLA SATIVA LINN. AND TRIGONELLA FOENUM-GRAECUM SEEDS

The core objective of this research was to determine the oil characteristics and nutrient contents of Nigella sativa and Trigonella foenum-graecum seeds. Characteristics of seed oils revealed higher degree of unsaturation and as determined by gas liquid chromatography (GLC) reported herein the major unsaturated fatty acids were linoleic acid (52.6% in N. sativa and 42.5% in T. foenum-graecum ), followed by oleic acid (23.5% in N. sativa and 20% in T. foenum-graecum ), while the main saturated fatty acid was palmitic acid (16% in N. sativa and 10.5% in T. foenum-graecum ). Triacylglycerols and neutral lipids were found to be most abounded components recorded to 78.4 and 93.2% for N. sativa and 84.8 and 93.2% for T. foenum-graecum , respectively. The seed oils, therefore, have potential for use as domestic and industrial oils. Compositional analysis revealed that both samples contained considerable amounts of protein (20% in N. sativa and 28% in T. foenum-graecum ) and high amount of lipid (37%) in N. sativa seeds. The seeds are shown to be rich sources of potassium, calcium and sodium and other elements. Nutrient information reported herein illustrates the benefits to public health for consumers of these plant seeds. KEY WORDS : Seed oil, Fatty acids, Nutrient contents, Nigella sativa , Trigonella foenum graecum Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2012 , 26(1), 55-64. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.4314/bcse.v26i1. 6
Exploring non-linear associations between atmospheric new-particle formation and ambient variables: a mutual information approach

Abstract. Atmospheric new-particle formation (NPF) is a very non-linear process that includes atmospheric chemistry of precursors and clustering physics as well as subsequent growth before NPF can be observed. Thanks to ongoing efforts, now there exists a tremendous amount of atmospheric data, obtained through continuous measurements directly from the atmosphere. This fact makes the analysis by human brains difficult but, on the other hand, enables the usage of modern data science techniques. Here, we calculate and explore the mutual information (MI) between observed NPF events (measured at Hyytiälä, Finland) and a wide variety of simultaneously monitored ambient variables: trace gas and aerosol particle concentrations, meteorology, radiation and a few derived quantities. The purpose of the investigations is to identify key factors contributing to the NPF. The applied mutual information method finds that the formation events are strongly linked to sulfuric acid concentration and water content, ultraviolet radiation, condensation sink (CS) and temperature. Previously, these quantities have been well-established to be important players in the phenomenon via dedicated field, laboratory and theoretical research. The novelty of this work is to demonstrate that the same results are now obtained by a data analysis method which operates without supervision and without the need of understanding the physics deeply. This suggests that the method is suitable to be implemented widely in the atmospheric field to discover other interesting phenomena and their relevant variables.
First�?Differencing in Panel Data Models with Incidental Functions

This note discusses a class of models for panel data that accommodate between‐group heterogeneity that is allowed to exhibit positive within‐group variance. Such a set‐up generalizes the traditional fixed‐effect paradigm in which between‐group heterogeneity is limited to univariate factors that act like constants within groups. Notable members of the class of models considered are non‐linear regression models with additive heterogeneity and multiplicative‐error models suitable for non‐negative limited dependent variables. The heterogeneity is modelled as a non‐parametric nuisance function of covariates whose functional form is fixed within groups but is allowed to vary freely across groups. A simple approach to perform inference in such situations is based on local first‐differencing of observations within a given group. This leads to moment conditions that, asymptotically, are free of nuisance functions. Conventional generalized method of moments procedures can then be readily applied. In particular, under suitable regularity conditions, such estimators are consistent and asymptotically normal, and asymptotically valid inference can be performed using a plug‐in estimator of the asymptotic variance.
A novel approach of an infrared transparent Er:Y2O3–MgO nanocomposite for eye-safe laser ceramics

Er3+ ion doped eye-safe lasers operating at a wavelength of 1.5 μm have attracted attention for use in many applications requiring protection from accidental retina exposure. For eye-safe lasers, it is considered important to improve the thermal and mechanical stability of the host materials for high power operation. Transparent Y2O3 is the most representative example among different types of host materials due to its low maximum phonon energy. However, this host shows low thermal conductivity with increasing dopant concentration. Herein, we prepare an Er:Y2O3–MgO nanocomposite as a new host material candidate that shows excellent optical, mechanical and thermal properties. By limiting domain coalescence and eliminating residual pores during sintering, outstanding optical transmittance is demonstrated for the Er:Y2O3–MgO nanocomposite. We also investigated the fluorescence spectrum and cross-section values to evaluate the possibility of using the Y2O3–MgO nanocomposite as a laser gain medium. The Er:Y2O3–MgO nanocomposite also shows excellent mechanical and thermal properties at high Er3+ ion dopant concentrations. The results indicate that Y2O3–MgO nanocomposite ceramics are promising candidate materials for use as high-power infrared laser hosts.
RANK / RANKL / OPG : The Axis of Breast Cancer Bone Metastasis Evil ?

Breast cancer bone metastasis remains the leading cause of death in individuals with advanced breast cancer of patients presenting with metastasis, ~ 70% is osseous. Generally, breast cancer bone metastasis is osteolytic, resulting in breakdown of the bone matrix. Treatment options are limited, and once breast cancer has metastasized to bone, it is incurable. The RANK/RANKL/OPG triad plays a critical role in breast cancer bone metastasis. Not only do the interactions of this triad facilitate and regulate normal bone turnover, it is also central to many signaling pathways in the metastatic bone microenvironment. Radiating from the RANK/RANKL/OPG axis, like spokes in a wheel, are factors such as TGF-beta, PTHrP, M-CSF, CCN2 and other cellular signaling pathways involved in the progression of breast cancer bone metastasis. Crosstalk between breast cancer cells and the bone microenvironment results in a vicious cycle of metastatic tumor promotion, progression and osteolysis. Furthermore, mounting evidence suggests that the RANK/RANKL/OPG axis also plays an important role in the development of breast carcinogenesis. However, the relationship between their differential expression in normal mammary epithelium and breast tumors is understudied and conflicting data from the literature muddies the role of each player in this triad in progression towards breast cancer bone metastasis. Thus, this review discusses the current status of RANK/RANKL/OPG expression and their involvement in breast cancer progression and metastasis and highlights the need to further understand the role of the triad.
Auditor Liability and Business Investment

We model a firm's investment decision, an auditor's effort-rendering behavior, audit fees, and prices of the firms under two auditor liability rules: strict liability and negligence liability. We show that an auditor's effort level is socially optimal under strict liability, while it is not generally so under negligence liability. Further, both the firm owner's expected benefit and the audit fee are higher under strict liability than under negligence liability. We define the legal error under negligence liability as the difference between the assessed audit effort (i.e., the estimate of audit effort made by the court) and the actual audit effort and prove that the greater the variance of the legal error, the more incentive an auditor has to exert effort under negligence liability compared to strict liability. Finally, the number of investments being undertaken could be higher under strict liability since more firm owners are willing to hire auditors to go public.