Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
(Molecular) epidemiology of HIV-1, HIV-2 and HTLV-1 in Guinea-Bissau

Carla van Tienen onderzocht drie virussen die voorkomen in Guinea-Bissau, een klein land in West-Afrika. Ze laat zien dat het aantal mensen met hiv-1 stijgt en het aantal hiv-2 infecties (de zwakke broeder van hiv-1) daalt. Mensen die recent geinfecteerd zijn met hiv-2 lopen het grootste risico om iemand anders te besmetten. Infectie met HTLV-1 (een virus dat leukemie en verlamming kan veroorzaken) vindt plaats door seksuele overdracht en via borstvoeding. Genetisch onderzoek naar HTLV-1 laat zien dat twee mensen zijn geinfecteerd met een type dat ook in apen voorkomt; de vraag is of dit type virus in Guinea-Bissau van mens op mens wordt overgedragen of misschien van aap op mens.
Is firm performance driven by fairness or tournaments? Evidence from Brazilian matched data

Theory and evidence are ambiguous about the effect of within-firm wage inequality on firm performance. This paper tests empirically this relationship drawing on detailed Brazilian matched employer-employee panel data, considering alternative measures of inequality and performance and different estimation methods. We find overwhelming evidence of a positive relationship between wage dispersion and firm performance when using cross-section analysis, especially in manufacturing. However, this relationship is weakened when controlling for firm time-invariant heterogeneity.
Gilbert’s Syndrome Successfully Treated with the Paleolithic Ketogenic Diet

Gilbert’s syndrome (GS) is a common hyperbilirubinaemia syndrome caused by reduced conjugation of serum bilirubin by the liver. Although it is considered as a common and harmless condition not requiring treatment symptoms associated with GS may be unfavorable. Here we present a case of GS where high level of total and direct bilirubin, yellowish discoloration of the sclera as well as associated symptoms including migraine, fatigue and granulomatosus dermatitis were reversed following a shift toward the popular paleolithic and then toward the paleolithic ketogenic diet.
Quantitative Anatomical Characteristics of Compression Wood, Lateral Wood, and Opposite Wood in the Stem Wood of Ginkgo biloba L.

Quantitative aspects were investigated and compared for anatomical characteristics among compression wood (CW), lateral wood (LW), and opposite wood (OW) in the stem wood of Ginkgo biloba. Characteristics of each part were observed in the 5th, 10th, and 15th to 20th growth rings via optical and scanning electron microscopy. The crystalline characteristics were measured using an X-ray diffractometer. The microfibril angles (MFAs) were measured using the iodine method applied to the tangential section, as well as from the slopes of the pit apertures. The CW and OW showed similar tracheid lengths in the 5th and 10th growth rings; however, the CW was the shortest in the 15th to 20th growth rings. The CW showed the highest ray height and lowest ray number in each growth ring. The MFAs of the CW were greater than those in the LW and OW from both measurement methods. The MFAs obtained from the iodine method were smaller than that of the MFAs obtained from the pit aperture measurements. The CW had the lowest relative crystallinity in each growth ring, whereas the crystal width of the CW was the smallest in the 5th and 15th to 20th growth rings.
Secure dynamic system development method (SDSDM): a survey about its suitability

Building secure software is about taking security into account during all phases of software development. However, the major problem in agile methods is the lack of basic security elements in their phases and practices. One of such method is Dynamic System Development Method (DSDM). Based on this study, we have observed that the original/traditional DSDM does not help guide the agile to develop secure software. In order to address this issue, we introduced additional phases and sub-phases to the original/traditional DSDM to integrate security. The proposed model is named Secure Dynamic System Development Method (SDSDM), which has six phases. These phases and sub-phases are feasibility study, functional model iteration, secure functional model iteration, secure design, design and build iteration and implementation. Our findings highlight an improved agility in DSDM after integration of security. However, the study focuses on a questionnaire (survey) where the subject matter experts’ opinion has been used to validate our model. Based on the experts’ opinion, we can say that it is possible to develop secure software using SDSDM model without affecting its agility negatively.
3d virtual world as an enabler for a hybrid virtual-physical situated civic engagement platform

User participatory design concept in the domain of urban computing has been playing a significant role around the industry and research area since it first came out. Many researchers and organisations involved in this strive to reach out a larger diversity of people so they could build urban environment better supportive and salubrious towards the community members. In this regard, we created a common ground platform for sharing opinions of people within the society by delivering a free speech from the public place. The installation is evaluated in our study dedicated in the context of human psychological sensation systems in the virtual environment, tries to find the relation between the performance of the task (giving a speech) carried out in a virtual space and the user's degree of presence and immersion. The results of our series of field experiments show that there is a positive association between the system user interface and the quality of work, though, we could not extend it to the statement which saying the superior performance is the direct result of high immersion and presence.
Examining the context of health promoting schools: a translational approach to characterization and measurement of school ethos to support health and wellbeing

Background: Health promoting schools (HPS) is hypothesized to influence student health and wellbeing by promoting a ‘school ethos’ that shapes the physical environment, social relations, organisational structure, policies and practices within the school. This complex set of conceptual dimensions makes school ethos challenging to measure as an important context for the implementation of HPS. The purpose of this research was to develop and explore a comprehensive measure of health promoting school ethos (HPSE) for the evaluation of HPS implementation, student health and well-being. Methods: We used a multi-method, iterative process to identify relevant HPSE concepts through triangulation of conceptual literature, existing tools and the tacit knowledge of school stakeholders. The HPSE measurement tool was administered to 18 elementary schools through a principal and teacher survey and an environmental assessment, followed by the development of a total and dimensional HPSE scores for each school. Testing for internal consistency of items was used to examine theorised concepts and sub-scores across HPSE dimensions, and total scores are summarised. Results: HPSE included eight conceptual dimensions with internal consistency ranging from α = 0.60 to α = 0.87. Total HPSE scores across schools (N = 18) ranged from 1 to 8 (Mean = 3.94, SD = 2.1), with 28% to 65% of schools reporting ‘high’ on respective HPSE dimensions. Conclusions: The HPSE tool holds potential for the conceptualization of critical components of school context as it relates to HPS. Schools included a heterogeneous mixture of health supportive school ethos, particularly among sub-dimensions. Implications to policy and practice: Our research suggests that multi-dimensional conceptualisation and measurement of a complex concept, such as HPSE, may help us to better understand school ethos, and improve future implementation of a HPS approach. Further research is needed to determine if the HPSE is associated with improved health outcomes and well-being, which may ultimately help guide HPS implementation. PeerJ Preprints | https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints. 2170v1 | CC BY 4.0 Open Access | rec: 28 Jun 2016, publ: 28 Jun 2016
Magmatic arc fault systems, deformation partitioning and emplacement of granitic complexes in the Coastal Cordillera, north Chilean Andes (25°30′S to 27°00′S)

Three fault systems were responsible for Permian to Late Cretaceous deformation of the overriding plate of the Andean convergent margin in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile (25°30′ to 27°00′S). Displacements were linked to crustal growth expressed by the emplacement of a sequence of magmatic arcs. The Tigrillo Fault System, active from Triassic to Early Cretaceous time, was characterized by arc-normal extension with increasing left-oblique extension (transtension) from Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous time. Stretching of the crust created space for Triassic, Early Jurassic and Early Cretaceous arc basins where epiclastic, volcaniclastic and volcanic sequences accumulated in continental to shallow marine environments. Tabular plutonic complexes were emplaced by roof uplift–floor subsidence that allowed a vertical transfer of material in the crust without significant horizontal extension. The Atacama Fault System was initiated at c.132 Ma as a (mainly) left strike-slip fault during left-oblique extension of the margin. Elongate, tabular plutonic complexes were emplaced within the Atacama Fault System between c.132 and c.106 Ma, again by roof uplift–floor subsidence mechanisms. Ductile–brittle transitions in synplutonic mylonitic rocks of the Atacama Fault System provided the setting for Kiruna-type Fe-apatite, and Fe oxide (with Cu and/or Au) ores. The Chivato Fault System was active as an extensional fault system at the eastern side of the Coastal Cordillera during displacement on the Tigrillo Fault System and later, between c.125 and c.93 Ma, as a partitioned left-oblique extensional fault system. In post-Early Cretaceous time the Chivato Fault System was inverted by left-oblique contraction (transpression) when NW-trending transfer faults, some probably reactivated lateral ramps in the Tigrillo Fault System, accommodated clockwise vertical-axis rotations of 35–45°. Contraction inverted the Atacama Fault System and Tigrillo Fault System and was responsible for west-vergent, thin-skinned, fold–thrust deformation in stratified rocks throughout the margin.
A Suggested "Seaweed-Plantation Model" to Tackle the Looming Phosphorus Crises in the 21st Century at the Rhine/North-Sea System".

In the 20th century mainly the two nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus were prominently major constituents in agricultural fertilizer and enabled agriculture to increase its productivity and the world's population to grow more than six-fold. We obtain nitrogen from the air, but we must mine phosphorus. Readily, available global supplies of phosphorus may start running out by the end of this century. At the midst of the 21 st century around the global population will grow to around ten billion people ("the global ten billion people issue"). So a shortage of phosphorus looms with as consequences food shortages and famine. We suggest a new approach to extract P from the oceans for reuse on our terrestrial areas by accumulation them in "seaweed plantations" in the shallow seas and continental shelf of our 5-7 major large river systems at our globe and harvesting these macro algae before they disappear as inorganic phosphate for hundred thousand of years "out of the loop" in the infinite oceanic abyssal plain at 6 km depth. In this study we used the North Sea/Rhine system as an example which can be applied especially in S.E. Asia were it is expected that half of the world population will live in the nearby future in extreme mega-cities.
Optimization of RP-HPLC Method for Simultaneous Estimation of Lamivudine and Raltegravir in Binary Mixture by Using Design of Experiment

A simple, sensitive, cost effective and robust RP-HPLC method for the simultaneous estimation of the Lamivudine (LAM) and Raltegravir (RAL) in laboratory prepared binary mixture was developed, optimized and validated. Separation was achieved on phenomenex C18 column (150 X 4.6 mm id, 5μ particle size) and mobile phase was composed of 75% methanol: 15% Acetonitril: 10 % (0.05mM) phosphate buffer (at pH 3.0), with flow rate 1.2 ml/min at 254nm. Developed method was optimized by using Box Behnken Design (BBD) in response surface methodology (RSM). The independent variables such as the concentration of methanol, pH in mobile phase and flow rate were selected for the optimization and Retention time (Rt) were used as responses for both drugs. Derringer’s desirability function was used to concurrently optimize the selected responses. The LOD and LOQ were found to be 1.04 and 3.18 μg/ mL for LAM and 0.36 and 1. 08μg/mL of RAL. The percentage recoveries were found to be less than 2% for LAM and RAL. Retention time of LAM and RAL was 3.13±0.07 and 7.27±0.01 minutes respectively. Conclusion: The developed and optimized method was fully validated. The validated method further can be potentially used for estimation of these drugs in combined dosage form.
The Effectiveness and Efficiency of Distributed Online, Regional Online, and Regional Face-to-Face Training for Writing Assessment Raters.

This study examined the influence of rater training and scoring context on training time, scoring time, qualifying rate, quality of ratings, and rater perceptions. 120 raters participated in the study and experienced one of three training contexts: (a) online training in a distributed scoring context, (b) online training in a regional scoring context, and (c) stand-up training in a regional context. After training, raters assigned scores to qualification sets, scored 400 student essays, and responded to a questionnaire that measured their perceptions of the effectiveness of, and satisfaction with, the training and scoring process, materials, and staff. The results suggest that the only clear difference on the outcomes for these three groups of raters concerned training time—online training was considerably faster. There were no clear differences between groups concerning qualification rate, rating quality, or rater perceptions.
The Role of Inventory Adjustments in Quantifying Factors Causing Food Price Inflation

The food commodity price increases beginning in 2001 and culminating in the food crisis of 2007/08 reflected a combination of several factors, including economic growth, biofuel expansion, exchange rate fluctuations, and energy price inflation. To quantify these influences, the authors developed an empirical model that also included crop inventory adjustments. The study shows that, if inventory effects are not taken into account, the impacts of the various factors on food commodity price inflation would be overestimated. If the analysis ignores crop inventory adjustments, it indicates that prices of corn, soybean, rapeseed, rice, and wheat would have been, respectively, 42, 38, 52, and 45 percent lower than the corresponding observed prices in 2007. If inventories are properly taken into account, the contributions of the above mentioned factors to those commodity prices are 36, 26, 26, and 35 percent, respectively. Those four factors, taken together, explain 70 percent of the price increase for corn, 55 percent for soybean, 54 percent for wheat, and 47 percent for rice during the 2001-2007 period. Other factors, such as speculation, trade policy, and weather shocks, which are not included in the analysis, might be responsible for the remaining contribution to the food commodity price increases.
Cointegration tests of PPP: do they also exhibit erratic behaviour?

We analyse whether tests of PPP exhibit erratic behaviour (as previously reported by Caporale et al., 2003) even when (possibly unwarranted) homogeneity and proportionality restrictions are not imposed, and trivariate cointegration (stage-three) tests between the nominal exchange rate, domestic and foreign price levels are carried out (instead of stationarity tests on the real exchange rate, as in stage-two tests). We examine the US dollar real exchange rate vis-à-vis 21 other currencies over a period of more than a century, and find that stage-three test statistics are also somewhat erratic, though less than stage-two ones.
Influence of adsorbed surface layer on domain growth in the field produced by conductive tip of scanning probe microscope in lithium niobate

The results of investigation of the single domain growth in electric field applied by conductive tip of the scanning probe microscope in thin plates of lithium niobate (LiNbO3) crystals doped with MgO after various surface preparations and at various ambient conditions are presented. It has been shown that the sizes of the produced domain can exceed by several orders of magnitude the value of the tip curvature radius. The observed effect has been explained taking into account the existence of the conductive adsorbed surface layer in all experimental conditions. We have demonstrated that the domain growth decelerates with decreasing of the layer conductivity. The existence of the conductive adsorbed surface layers drastically changes the spatial distribution of electric field. In addition to strongly localized electric field, just in the vicinity of the tip there exists the field component remaining homogeneous over the distance exceeding the radius of any experimentally produced domain. The crucial role of the conductive properties of the adsorbed surface layers on the screening of the depolarization field has been revealed. Within proposed approach the domain growth is controlled by the current in the external circuit including the surface layer with low conductivity. The proposed model allows us to explain time and field dependences of the domain size for various types of surface treatment. V C 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3624798]
Global Patterns of Mesoscale Eddy Properties and Diffusivities

Mesoscale eddies play a major role in the transport of tracers in the ocean. Focusing on a sector in the east Pacific, the authors present estimates of eddy diffusivities derived from kinematic tracer simulations using satellite-observed velocity fields. Meridional diffusivities are diagnosed, and how they are related to eddy properties through the mixing length formulation of Ferrari and Nikurashin, which accounts for the suppression of diffusivity due to eddy propagation relative to the mean flow, is shown. The uniqueness of this studyis that, throughsystematically varyingthe zonal-meanflow, a hypothetical ‘‘unsuppressed’’ diffusivity is diagnosed. At a given latitude, the unsuppressed diffusivity occurs when the zonal-mean flow equals the eddy phase speed. This provides an independent estimate of eddy phase propagation, which agrees well with theoretical arguments. It is also shown that the unsuppressed diffusivity is predicted very well by classical mixing length theory, that is, that it is proportional to the rms eddy velocity times the observed eddy size, with a spatially constant mixing efficiency of 0.35. Then, the suppression factor is estimated and it is shown that it too can be understood quantitatively in terms of easily observed mean flow properties. The authors then extrapolate from these sector experiments to the global scale, making predictions for the global surface eddy diffusivity. Together with a prognostic equation for eddy kinetic energy and a theory explaining observed eddy sizes, these concepts could potentially be used in a closure for eddy diffusivities in coarse-resolution ocean climate models.
The Impact of Import Competition on Employment and Wages in Swiss Manufacturing

This paper explores the impact of import competition on wage and employment at the industry level in Switzerland. We estimated reduced-form wage and employment equations for a panel of seven Swiss manufacturing sectors. Our analysis relies on a basic partial equilibrium relationship that relates changes in import price to domestic factor price and factor demand changes. Results are consistent with those found for other countries. A majority of the coefficients are significantly positive, reflecting a negative impact of import competition on both employment and wages, but our main result is that all the elasticities have a relatively small magnitude. As in several other studies, our results suggest that import price variations have had very little incidence on domestic labour market.
The influence of climate and hydrological variables on opposite anomaly in active-layer thickness between Eurasian and North American watersheds

Abstract. This study not only examined the spatiotemporal variations of active-layer thickness (ALT) in permafrost regions during 1948–2006 over the terrestrial Arctic regions experiencing climate changes, but also identified the associated drivers based on observational data and a simulation conducted by a land surface model (CHANGE). The focus on the ALT extends previous studies that have emphasized ground temperatures in permafrost regions. The Ob, Yenisey, Lena, Yukon, and Mackenzie watersheds are foci of the study. Time series of ALT in Eurasian watersheds showed generally increasing trends, while the increase in ALT in North American watersheds was not significant. However, ALT in the North American watersheds has been negatively anomalous since 1990 when the Arctic air temperature entered into a warming phase. The warming temperatures were not simply expressed to increases in ALT. Since 1990 when the warming increased, the forcing of the ALT by the higher annual thawing index (ATI) in the Mackenzie and Yukon basins has been offset by the combined effects of less insulation caused by thinner snow depth and drier soil during summer. In contrast, the increasing ATI together with thicker snow depth and higher summer soil moisture in the Lena contributed to the increase in ALT. The results imply that the soil thermal and moisture regimes formed in the pre-thaw season(s) provide memory that manifests itself during the summer. The different ALT anomalies between Eurasian and North American watersheds highlight increased importance of the variability of hydrological variables.