Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIATIONS IN THE ACCURACY OF METEOROLOGICAL DROUGHT MAPS

Meteorological drought indices are commonly calculated using data from weather stations and then interpolated to create a map of moisture conditions. These maps are used to communicate drought information to decision makers and the general public. This study analyzes five of the factors (drought index, interpolation method, seasonality, climate region, and station density) that influence the accuracy of these maps. This study compared the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) using data from the Cooperative Observer Network (COOP) and United States Historical Climatology Network (USHCN). The accuracy of the drought maps varied significantly over time and space. The most significant factor affecting the accuracy of the meteorological drought maps was seasonality. Errors were higher in regions (e.g., southeastern U.S.), and months (e.g., summer), dominated by convective precipitation. The choice of interpolation method also had an influence. We found that Ordinary Kriging (OK) performed better than Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) in all cases and therefore it was recommended for interpolating drought indices. Not surprisingly, maps that were created using more stations (COOP) were more accurate. The normalized errors of SPI and SPEI were very similar and so the choice of drought index had little impact on the accuracy of the drought maps. Variaciones espaciales y temporales en la precisión de los mapas de sequías meteorológicas RESUMEN. Los índices de sequía meteorológica se calculan normalmente utilizando datos de estaciones meteorológicas que luego son interpolados para crear un mapa de las condiciones de humedad. Este estudio analiza cinco de los factores (índice de sequía, método de interpolación, estacionalidad, región climática y densidad de estaciones) que influyen en la precisión de estos mapas. Este estudio compara el Índice de Precipitación Estandarizada (SPI) y el Índice de Precipitación Evapotranspiración estandarizada (SPEI) utilizando datos de la Cooperative Observer Network (COOP) y la Red Climatológica Histórica de los Estados Unidos (USHCN). La precisión de los mapas de sequía varió significativamente en el tiempo y en el espacio. El factor que afectó de manera
Dietary obesity alters muscle stem cell behaviors

Occurrence of obesity has steadily increased in the human population and, along with it, associated health complications such as systemic insulin resistance, which can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Obesity is a complex metabolic disorder that often leads to chronic inflammation and an overall decline in human and animal health. In mouse skeletal muscle, obesity has been shown to impair muscle regeneration after injury, however, the mechanism underlying these changes in satellite cell (SC) biology have yet to be explored. To test the negative impacts of obesity on SC behaviors, we fed C57BL/6 mice normal chow (NC, control) or high-fat diet (HFD) for 10 wks and performed SC proliferation and differentiation assays in vitro. SCs from HFD mice formed colonies with smaller numbers (P < 0.001) compared to those isolated from NC mice, and this observation was confirmed (P < 0.05) by BrdU incorporation. Moreover, in vitro differentiation assays consisting of equally seeded SCs derived from NC and HFD muscles showed that HFD SCs exhibited compromised (P < 0.001) differentiation capacity compared to NC SCs. Immunocytochemical staining of cultured SCs demonstrated that the percentage of Pax7+/MyoD(self-renewed) SC subpopulation decreased (P < 0.001) with HFD treatment group compared to the control. In single fiber explants, a higher ratio of SCs experienced apoptotic events as revealed by the expression of cleaved caspase 3 (P < 0.001). To investigate further the impact of obesity on SC quiescence and cycling properties in vivo, we used an inducible H2B-GFP mouse model to trace the turnover rate of GFP and thus cell division under normal and obese conditions. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that SCs from HFD treatment cycled faster (P < 0.001) than their NC counterparts, as reflected by the quicker loss of the GFP intensity. To test for SC muscle regenerative capacity in vivo, we used cardiotoxin (CTX) to induce wide-spread muscle damage in the tibialis anterior muscle. After analysis we found that HFD leads to a compromised, though mild, impairment in muscle regeneration. Taken together, these findings suggest that obesity negatively affects SC quiescence, proliferation, differentiation, and self-renewal in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo. Dietary obesity alters muscle stem cell behaviors
Chapter 10 Self-Management Training for Chronic Stable Angina : Theory , Process , and Outcomes

Chronic stable angina (CSA) is a cardinal symptom of coronary artery disease (CAD), charac‐ terized by pain or discomfort in the precordium, shoulder, back, arm, or jaw [1]. Angina pain symptoms—or equivalents such as shortness of breath, fatigue, and nausea—are considered stable if they are experienced over several weeks in the absence of major deterioration [1-3]. Those affected by CSA typically have CAD involving one or more large epicardial arteries, although individuals diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, hypertension, endothe‐ lial dysfunction, or valvular stenosis/deficiencies may also exhibit angina [1]. Symptoms usually occur predictably upon physical exertion and are relieved by rest or nitroglycerin [1]. The severity of symptoms experienced can vary, typically ranging from Canadian Cardiovas‐ cular Society [CCS] class I to class III angina. A number of factors can also aggravate symptoms including heightened emotional states, diet, smoking, and weather [1,4].
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Worth-Creating Activities

Making the world a better place to live is an idea that is spreading over the four quarters of the globe; and the business realm is no exception. Firms are expected to have ethical responsibilities and go beyond their profit-oriented activities and boost the wellbeing of the community. This situation becomes more evident when an industry has a very close relationship with environments and societies which, in turn, are facets of its own products. This study shows that socially oriented activities carried out by tourism firms bring about benefits for society both directly (inherent to the purpose of such activities) and indirectly (via their commercial performance). The fact that getting actively involved in duties outside of the business arena has a positive influence on a firm’s outcome implies that these initiatives help increase the social force of tourism through non-economic as well as economic mechanisms.
Bursting Filter Bubbles With Programmed Serendipity

When talking about personalization online, Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently said "it will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for them. " This level of personalized filtering of content has worried academics and activists. Many argue that users will be trapped in a so-called "Filter Bubble," limiting their exposure to challenging or new ideas they are not expected to like. In answer to these worries, serendipitous recommendation systems have been developed to help users make surprising and pleasant discoveries outside of their typical online content sphere. In this thesis, we investigate whether serendipitous recommendation system do indeed help break the filter bubble effect. In contrast to previous work, we investigate this question on one large-scale live experiment. We find that serendipity partially mitigates the filter bubble effect, but that users are more responsible for their own filter bubbles than algorithms. Further, we search for user characteristics that can be used to identify users more likely to experience the filter bubble effect. We find that users spending more time on site are less likely to experience the filter bubble effect.
Monetary Policy With Endogenous Firm Entry ∗

This paper explores a new channel for the transmission of monetary policy through the extensive margin. In this paper, a shock to money induces firms to enter by affecting a measure of Tobin’s Q: the ratio of expected future profits to entry costs. In a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium setting, though, optimal consumption smoothing limits the flow of entering firms. As a result, the model generates positively correlated, persistent and hump-shaped responses of output, consumption and firm entry to monetary shocks, as observed in the data. This is obtained via an endogenous source of inertia and despite minimal nominal rigidities, as only one-time entry costs – as opposed to goods prices or wages – are assumed to be sticky. ∗Thanks first and foremost to Cédric Tille for his guidance, insights and encouragements. Sincere thanks also to Richard Baldwin, Florin Bilbiie, Hans Genberg, Fabio Ghironi, Jean Imbs, Michel Juillard, Bob King, Jean-Marc Natal, Scott Schuh and Tack Yun for extremely helpful comments. Thanks also to seminar participants at the Dynare conference in Paris (2006) and the Swiss National Bank (2007). We are indebted to Marc Melitz for inspiration and to have encouraged us to pursue the topic. All simulations were run using Dynare for Matlab. The views in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Swiss National Bank. †elkhou99@hei.unige. ch. 11A Avenue de la Paix, 1202 Genève. Tel: +41 22 908 5959. ‡Corresponding author: tommaso.mancini@stanfordalumni.org. Economics Research Department, Swiss National Bank, Börsenstrasse 15, P.O. Box 2800, 8022 Zurich. Tel: +41 44 631 3631, Fax: +41 44 631 3911.
Hand deformities are important signs of disease severity in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis

Objectives. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence and significance of hand deformities during the first 10 years of RA. Methods. One hundred and eighty-three early RA patients were included in the study during 1985–89. Mean S.D. of age at onset was 51.4 12.4 years, and mean duration of symptoms before inclusion 12 7 months; 64% were women. The patients were followed annually. Assessment of hand deformities was standardized. Hand mobility was measured by signals of functional impairment (SOFI), disability by HAQ and hand HAQ, disease activity by ESR and radiographic changes by the Larsen method. Results. One hundred and eight (59%) patients developed at least one hand deformity during the study time. The majority occurred during the first years. After 10 years, the rate of ulnar deviation, button hole deformity and swan neck deformity was 44, 24 and 23.5%, respectively. The deformity group showed significantly higher disease activity during the first 5 years, and significantly more hand impairment, more disability and more severe radiographic changes throughout the study. Presence of a deformity after 1 year increased the risk of developing a Larsen score above median after 5 years. Odds ratio (95% CI) was 2.1 (1.023, 4.385). Conclusions. More than half of the patients in this early RA cohort had developed hand deformities after 10 years. Most deformities occurred during the first year of the disease. Presence of hand deformities had an impact on daily life function and added useful prognostic information, being an early sign of a more severe disease.
10. Disposition Effect

This paper reviews the literature on the disposition effect, i.e., investors tendency to sell their winning investments rather quickly while holding on to losing investments. Empirical studies conducted with stocks as well as other assets show strong evidence for the disposition effect. The effect varies by investor type. Household investors are more affected by the disposition effect than professional investors. Investors can also learn to avoid the disposition effect. The disposition effect underlies patterns in market trading volume and plays a part in stock market under reactions, leading to price momentum. A full understanding of the underlying causes of the disposition effect is currently lacking, but investor psychology appears to play an important part. * Aalto University School of Economics, P.O. Box 21210, FI-00076 AALTO, FINLAND. Tel: +358 40 353 8042; Email: markku.kaustia@hse.fi.
Application of multilevel models to morphometric data . Part 1 . Linear models and hypothesis testing

Morphometric data usually have a hierarchical structure (i.e., cells are nested within patients), which should be taken into consideration in the analysis. In the recent years, special methods of handling hierarchical data, called multilevel models (MM), as well as corresponding software have received considerable development. However, there has been no application of these methods to morphometric data yet. In this paper we report our first experience of analyzing karyometric data by means of MLwiN – a dedicated program for multilevel modeling. Our data were obtained from 34 follicular adenomas and 44 follicular carcinomas of the thyroid. We show examples of fitting and interpreting MM of different complexity, and draw a number of interesting conclusions about the differences in nuclear morphology between follicular thyroid adenomas and carcinomas. We also demonstrate substantial advantages of multilevel models over conventional, single-level statistics, which have been adopted previously to analyze karyometric data. In addition, some theoretical issues related to MM as well as major statistical software for MM are briefly reviewed.
Neck and back pain : The scientific evidence of causes, diagnosis, and treatment

A review of social influences on neck and back pain and disability psychological risk factors for back and neck pain influences of individual factors and smoking on neck and low back pain work-related influences on neck and low back pain preventive interventions for neck and back pain neurophysiology of back pain. Current knowledge epidemiology of neck and low back pain assessment of patients with neck and back pain. A best evidence synthesis introduction to treatment of neck and back pain conservative treatment of acute and subacute low back pain conservative treatment of chronic low back pain surgical treatment of lumbar disc prolapse and degenerative lumbar disc disease acute and subacute neck pain - non-surgical treatment non-surgical treatment of chronic neck pain surgical treatment of neck pain the utility of cognitive-behavioral psychological treatments approaching patients with low back pain in primary health care cost-effectiveness of treatment for neck and low back pain cost of back pain in some OECD countries a review of social security systems.
ffi cient Tree Modeling from Airborne LiDAR Point Clouds

Modeling real-world trees is important in many application areas, including computer graphics, botany and forestry. An example of a modeling method is reconstruction from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) scans. In contrast to terrestrial LiDAR systems, airborne LiDAR systems – even current high-resolution systems – capture only very few samples on tree branches, which makes the reconstruction of trees from airborne LiDAR a challenging task. In this paper, we present a new method to model plausible trees with fine details from airborne LiDAR point clouds. To reconstruct tree models, first, we use a normalized cut method to segment an individual tree point cloud. Then, trunk points are added to supplement the incomplete point cloud, and a connected graph is constructed by searching sufficient nearest neighbors for each point. Based on the observation of real-world trees, a direction field is created to restrict branch directions. Then, branch skeletons are constructed using a bottom-up greedy algorithm with a priority queue, and leaves are arranged according to phyllotaxis. We demonstrate our method on a variety of examples and show that it can generate a plausible tree model in less than one second, in addition to preserving features of the original point cloud.
The Himalaya in 3 D : slab dynamics controlled mountain 2 building and monsoon intensification 3

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A study of sexual health issues, attitudes and behaviours: the views of early school leavers / Paula Maycock, Tina Byrne

This is the first detailed study of the sexual health attitudes and behaviour of early school leavers to be conducted in an Irish context. The research is qualitative and comprises a mix of individual in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The study findings provide a wealth of information on the following: romantic relationships, sexual behaviour and sexual relationships, contraceptive behaviour and safe sex practices and knowledge and sources of knowledge about sexual health. The study also makes extensive recommendations for policy, education and service provision.
Temperate migrants and resident species in Afrotropical 3 savannahs show similar levels of ecological generalism

1 Running head: Habitat generalism in migrants 2 Temperate migrants and resident species in Afro-tropical 3 savannahs show similar levels of ecological generalism 4 Sam T. Ivande* 1,2 and W. Cresswell 5 1 School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9TH, UK 6 2 A.P Leventis Ornithological Research Institute (APLORI), Jos, Nigeria 7 *Corresponding author: ivande.sam@gmail.com 8 How specific an animal’s habitat requirements are will determine its ability to deal with 9 anthropogenic climate and habitat change. Migratory birds are observed as being particularly 10 vulnerable to such change, but theory predicts that they should be largely generalist. This 11 prediction was tested with the aim to confirm whether migratory Palearctic birds wintering in 12 the savannah biome of Africa were relatively generalist compared to taxonomically and 13 ecologically similar Afrotropical resident species in terms of habitat use. The degree of 14 specialization of these species groups to certain habitat characteristics was assessed and 15 compared by calculating the relative occurrence of the species along habitat gradients, where 16 wide occurrence would indicate generalism and narrow occurrence implies specialism. 17 Palearctic migrants as a group could not be clearly distinguished as generalists relative to 18 Afrotropical residents with respect to habitat attributes. The only indication of greater 19 flexibility in Palearctic migrants was a significant tendency to utilize habitats over a larger 20 latitudinal range. The results probably confirm that migrants are generalists but not 21 particularly more so than taxonomically similar resident species that also occur over a wide 22 range of habitat types within the savannah biome. Availability of specific habitat 23 requirements on the wintering grounds in Africa is therefore unlikely to be a primary limiting 24 factor for many migrant bird species. 25
o ̋ni c two Severe A / H 1 N 1 Influenza in Four Pregnant Women in Podkarpacie Province of Poland

Pregnant women, just like the rest of the population, are at risk of the novel A/H1N1 infection. However, since they belong to a more susceptible group of patients, the risk of a severe course of the disease is significantly higher when compared to their non-pregnant counterparts. This risk is especially great when the infection is accompanied by chronic conditions such as asthma or diabetes mellitus, resulting in an increased morbidity and mortality of both the mother and the fetus. Objectives: The aim of the study was to present the first four cases of A/H1N1 infection in advanced pregnancy in Podkarpacie Province of Poland that were noted in the course of six weeks in November and December 2009. Patients and Methods: Maternal age ranged between 27 to 34 years, gestational age was between 29 to 38 weeks. One patient had been at first admitted to Infectious Disease Clinic, and later on transferred to the Intensive Care Unit due to respiratory distress syndrome. The remaining three patients were hospitalized in the obstetrical unit, two of them due to respiratory tract infection and one due to amniotic fluid leakage without any respiratory failure symptoms. Three patients required artificial ventilation. One patient delivered vaginally, and the remaining three had caesarean section, one of them had an emergency c-section in agonia. The fatal outcome in this patient was the result of improper diagnosis due to a false negative stripe-test result. In case of the other three patients, properly diagnosed with Real Time RT-PCR test, an immediate antiviral therapy was introduced. Two neonates died: one delivered by the woman in agonia, and one due to intrauterine hypoxia and prematurity. Conclusions: Diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties in A/H1N1 infections in pregnant women may have their source in that fact that an unreliable stripe test alone is used (without confirmation of the infection with Real Time RT-PCR), risk factors are not taken into the account and antiviral therapy is delayed or postponed. Early antiviral therapy and delivery in case of respiratory distress syndrome improve the prognosis for both the mother and the child.
Robust stability of polytopic time-delay systems with delays defined in intervals

Stability analysis of uncertain time-delay systems is considered in a quadratic separation framework. Results are formulated in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMI) which prove to be conservative but this conservatism is significantly reduced compared to previous results by combining several tools. First of all, the delay is splited into thinner delays to recover as much as possible some knowledge on the functional defining the current state of the system. Secondly, a Taylor series approximation of the delay operator is performed and the Taylor remainder is explicitly taken into account with a new uncertaintytype approximation. Thanks to LMI formulation, and with the use of slack variables, robustness is also guaranteed for all uncertainties and all delays included in some bounded interval which may not include zero.