Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Empirical analysis on impact of FDI on the level of urbanization in costal areas

Purpose: There is a close relationship between FDI and the level of urbanization. the objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between FDI and the level of urbanization in Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces in costal areas. Design/methodology/approach: The author uses the modern econometric methods by panel unit root test, cointegration test, random effects models and fixed effects models, and the data of FDI (2000-2012), urbanization rate, industrial structure and regional GDP of Nanjing, Xuzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi and other 13 cities in Jiangsu Province, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other 19 cities in Guangdong province, researches the relationship between FDI and urbanization rate. Findings: Models show, FDI was closely correlated with urbanization rate in Jiangsu province and Guangdong province, the highly correlated with industrial structure, while it negatively correlated with the growth of GDP, and the degree of correlation is not high in Jiangsu province, but the high negative correlation in Guangdong province. The results shows the industrial structure and the urbanization rate mainly cause FDI growth. Research limitations/implications: There are many provinces in costal areas of China, this paper just research the relationship between FDI and the level of urbanization in Jiangsu province and Guangdong province, there are some limitations in the study areas and results. Originality/value: The study was the first to successfully apply on random effects model and fixed effects model to study the relationship between FDI and the level of urbanization in coastal areas by competitive analysis. Guangdong and Jiangsu province are the most developed regions, they are the most representative provinces in costal areas of China. Taking these two province as an example, we can analyze the relationship between FDI and the level of urbanization in central and western regions.
Ambiguities in the Tsallis description of non-thermal plasma species

Abstract Tsallis q-non-extensive distributions have recently found favor in describing the presence of energetic particles and their influences on several plasma modes, notably electrostatic solitons. Here attention is drawn to ambiguities and subtleties in the superextensive and subextensive ranges in q, which are not always recognized in the literature, particularly in numerical studies.
Title: Both the frequency of HbA1c testing and the frequency of SMBG predict metabolic control: A multicenter analysis of 15,199 adult type 1 diabetes patients from Germany and Austria. Short title: Frequency monitoring metabolic control

1 Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, ZIBMT, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany 2 Outpatient Diabetes Center, Essen, Germany 3 AUF DER BULT, Diabetes Centre for Children and Adolescents, Hannover, Germany 4 Outpatient Diabetes Center Munich South, Munich, Germany 5 Department of Internal Medicine, Diabetes Center, Clinical Center Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany 6 Diabetes Center Forchheim, Forchheim, Germany 7 Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Clinical Nutrition, University Hospital Bern, Bern, Switzerland 8 Outpatient Diabetes Center, Surheim, Germany 9 German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Munich-Neuherberg, Germany
Factors Affecting Hospital Choice for Rural Iowa Residents

This study uses Iowa Hospital Association records related to inpatient and outpatient procedures performed at rural Iowa hospitals to examine how institutional, location, and individual characteristics affect choice of hospitals for rural residents. The rural residents most likely to bypass their local hospitals are younger people with private outpatient insurance already living a long distance from any hospital. Complex procedures and life-threatening illnesses can reduce the probability of choosing the nearest rural hospital. Rural residents also appear less likely to bypass the nearest rural hospital for outpatient services.
Title : The association between dysregulated adipocytokines in early pregnancy and development of Gestational Diabetes Short title : Adipocytokines in gestational diabetes

Short title: Adipocytokines in gestational diabetes Sally K Abell (MBBS) 1,2 , Soulmaz Shorakae (MBBS) 1,2 , Cheryce L Harrison (PhD) 1 , Danielle Hiam (BBMedSci) 3 , Alba Moreno-Asso (PhD) 3 , Nigel K Stepto (PhD) 3 , Barbora De Courten (PhD) 1,2* and Helena J Teede (PhD) 1,2* . *Co-senior authors 1. Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria.
Using time‐to‐event analysis to complement hierarchical methods when assessing determinants of photographic detectability during camera trapping

Camera trapping, paired with analytical methods for estimating occupancy, abundance and other ecological parameters, can yield information with direct consequences for wildlife management and conservation. Although ecological information is the primary target of most camera trap studies, detectability influences every aspect from design to interpretation. Concepts and methods of time‐to‐event analysis are directly applicable to camera trapping, yet this statistical field has thus far been ignored as a way to analyse photographic capture data. To illustrate the use of time‐to‐event statistics and to better understand how photographic evidence accumulates, we explored patterns in two related measures of detectability: detection probability and time to detection. We analysed camera trap data for three sympatric carnivores (snow leopard, red fox and stone marten) in the mountains of northern Pakistan and tested predictions about patterns in detectability across species, sites and time. We found species‐specific differences in the magnitude of detectability and the factors influencing it, reinforcing the need to consider determinants of detectability in study design and to account for them during analysis. Photographic detectability of snow leopard was noticeably lower than that of red fox, but comparable to detectability of stone marten. Site‐specific attributes such as the presence of carnivore sign (snow leopard), terrain (snow leopard and red fox) and application of lures (red fox) influenced detectability. For the most part, detection probability was constant over time. Species‐specific differences in factors determining detectability make camera trap studies targeting multiple species particularly vulnerable to misinterpretation if the hierarchical origin of the data is ignored. Investigators should consider not only the magnitude of detectability, but also the shape of the curve describing the cumulative process of photographic detection, as this has consequences for both determining survey effort and the selection of analytical models. Weighted time‐to‐event analysis can complement occupancy analysis and other hierarchical methods by providing additional tools for exploring camera trap data and testing hypotheses regarding the temporal aspect of photographic evidence accumulation.
Testing Pecking Order Prediction from the Viewpoint of Managerial Optimism: Some Empirical Evidence from Taiwan

In this paper we examine the relationship between managerial optimism and corporate external financing decisions by empirically testing Heaton's (2002) model. Heaton theoretically shows that, besides traditional information explanations, managerial optimism is also able to lead to managers' pecking order preferences in financing decisions. By using a specification of Shaym-Sunder and Myers (1999), we conduct a comparative test to see whether the pecking order hypothesis performs better when managers are optimistic. That is, the sensitivities of the net debt issues in relation to financing deficits for optimistic managers are larger than those for non-optimistic ones. Using listed Taiwanese companies as our sample, we find that optimistic managers indeed exhibit greater net-debt-issue/financing-deficit sensitivities than do non-optimistic ones. These findings are consistent with the predictions of Heaton's model.
TREM 2 and Neurodegenerative Disease

To the Editor: Guerreiro et al.1 and Jonsson et al.2 (Jan. 10 issue) report an association between the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs75932628 in the gene encoding the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) (predicting an R47H substitution) and Alzheimer’s disease in persons of European ancestry. We and other members of the Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium assembled multiple data sets from a total of 5896 black patients (1968 cases and 3928 controls). First, the association of Alzheimer’s disease with genotyped and imputed SNPs was individually assessed in each data set with the use of logistic regression for case–control data sets and generalized estimating equations for family-based data sets (with adjustment for age, sex, the presence or absence of the apolipoprotein E [APOE] ε4 allele, and population stratification). The results from the individual data sets were combined in a genomewide inverse-variance-weighted metaanalysis. Subsequently, a versatile gene-based association study (VEGAS)3 was performed specifically to explore the association of the TREM2 gene with Alzheimer’s disease; the addition of 20 kb to each side yielded a list of SNPs (see the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org). With the use of simulation based on the linkage-disequilibrium structure of a group of reference samples from HapMap, VEGAS allowed us to calculate the empirical P value for associations between disease status and variants in TREM2 while taking into account gene size and linkage disequilibrium between the markers.3 The TREM2 SNP described by Guerreiro et al. and Jonsson et al. (rs75932628) did not pass quality control because of a low minor allele frequency (0.0009). However, in the genomewide meta-analyses of the results from the individual data sets, five SNPs in the TREM2 region were associated with Alzheimer’s disease at a P value of less than 0.009; the G allele of rs7748513 was most strongly associated with affected status (odds ratio ±SE, 1.16±0.05; P = 0.001). This SNP is located 1 kb downstream of and in linkage disequilibrium with rs75932628. In the VEGAS analyses in which linkage disequilibrium between the markers was taken into account, the TREM2 gene was significantly associated with Alzheimer’s disease (P<0.001). Also, in these analyses, the strongest single-marker association was observed for rs7748513 (P = 0.001). Finally, in VEGAS analyses that were restricted to the largest individual data set (907 cases and 1675 controls), the TREM gene remained significantly associated with Alzheimer’s disease (P = 0.04). This genetic study of Alzheimer’s disease in blacks provides support for a role of TREM2 in Alzheimer’s disease. Christiane Reitz, M.D., Ph.D. Richard Mayeux, M.D.
Effect of salt stress on the flag leaf area and yield components in twenty five durum wheat genotypes (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum)

- Salt stress is considered to be a major limiting factor for plant growth and crop productivity. In this study, effect of salinity on leaf area, ion accumulation (Na + , K + ) and component yield (grain number per spike, 1000 grain weight, number of spikes per m² and grain yield) were investigated in twenty five genotypes of durum wheat ( Triticum turgidum ssp. durum) cultivated in three different regions in Tunisia center (Echbika, Barrouta and Sidi Bouzide). These sites differ by their salinity degree in the irrigation water respectively 2.1 (control), 4.3 and 5.2 g/l. As a result salt stress the flag leaf area decreased significantly for the most of genotypes with the increase of stress treatments except “Mahmoudi, Om Rabia, N, Maali, Khiar and Jneh Khotifa”. Na + concentrations increased with increase in salinity but K + concentration was lower as salinity levels increased for all cultivars expect “Mahmoudi” and “Hamira” cultivars. Thus, less Na + accumulation and more K + content in these genotypes at the highest salt level, confirm salt tolerance of these cultivars. Grain number per spike, 1000 grain weight, number of spikes per m² and grain yield showed a reduction with increase in root zone Stalinization but the effect was varied in different durum wheat genotypes. It was concluded that the conservation of the leaf area and a low concentration of Na + in the flag leaf will improve the salt tolerance of wheat genotypes in breeding programs.
A Bounds Analysis of World Food Futures: Global Agriculture Through to 2050

type="main" xml:id="ajar12072-abs-0001"> The notion that global agricultural output needs to double by 2050 is oft repeated. Using a new International Agricultural Prospects (iAP) Model, to project global agricultural consumption and production, we find in favour of a future where aggregate agricultural consumption (in tonnes) increases more modestly, by around 69 per cent (1.3 per cent per year) from 2010 to 2050. The principal driver of this result is a deceleration in population growth in the decades ahead. Per capita income growth and changing demographics (generally ageing population) have significant but secondary roles in spurring growth in agricultural consumption, as does our projected growth in the use of agricultural feedstocks to meet the growth we envisage in biofuel demand. Worldwide (but not equally everywhere), crop yield growth has generally slowed over the past decade or so. Notwithstanding a projected continuance of this slowdown, the prospective improvements in crop productivity are still sufficient to reduce per capita cropland use, such that land devoted to crops would need to increase by less than 10 per cent. Even in our upper-bound (high-consumption) scenario, we estimate that there remains sufficient productive agricultural land to more than meet the demand without ploughing-in additional forest-dominated lands.
A Hybrid DA-PSO Optimization Algorithm for Multiobjective Optimal Power Flow Problems

In this paper, a hybrid optimization algorithm is proposed to solve multiobjective optimal power flow problems (MO-OPF) in a power system. The hybrid algorithm, named DA-PSO, combines the frameworks of the dragonfly algorithm (DA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) to find the optimized solutions for the power system. The hybrid algorithm adopts the exploration and exploitation phases of the DA and PSO algorithms, respectively, and was implemented to solve the MO-OPF problem. The objective functions of the OPF were minimization of fuel cost, emissions, and transmission losses. The standard IEEE 30-bus and 57-bus systems were employed to investigate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The simulation results were compared with those in the literature to show the superiority of the proposed algorithm over several other algorithms; however, the time computation of DA-PSO is slower than DA and PSO due to the sequential computation of DA and PSO.
Quantum computational finance: Monte Carlo pricing of financial derivatives

Financial derivatives are contracts that can have a complex payoff dependent upon underlying benchmark assets. In this work, we present a quantum algorithm for the Monte Carlo pricing of financial derivatives. We show how the relevant probability distributions can be prepared in quantum superposition, the payoff functions can be implemented via quantum circuits, and the price of financial derivatives can be extracted via quantum measurements. We show how the amplitude estimation algorithm can be applied to achieve a quadratic quantum speedup in the number of steps required to obtain an estimate for the price with high confidence. This work provides a starting point for further research at the interface of quantum computing and finance.
Potential risk factors associated with carcass contamination in slaughterhouse operations and hygiene in Oyo state, Nigeria

Avoiding meat contamination at slaughterhouses is crucial for food safety; consumers’ awareness and concern for the type of food they eat has attracted global attention and redirected research interests towards food safety. The practical hygiene in the slaughterhouse operations play key role in the safety and wholesomeness of meat. A cross sectional survey was carried out on 60 slaughterhouses in Ibadan, Oyo and Ogbomosho, in Oyo State, South Western Nigeria. A well-structured pre-tested checklist was administered and scored; data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics and t-test to separate significant differences between abattoirs and slaughter slabs. This study revealed that for the 50 items scored, only four [environmental cleanliness (66.7%), washing of slaughtering tools and equipments (60%), access to facility to wash hands and shoes (71.7%), and appropriateness of slaughterhouse location (58.3%)] were partially observed. The remaining 46 are non-existent or poorly implemented. However, only 9 out of the 23 items of the practical hygiene and level of cleanliness compared between the surveyed abattoirs and slaughter slabs, showed significant (p < 0.05) differences. These are garbage disposal (p<0.001), washing of slaughtering tools and equipments (p<0.001), disinfection of the slaughterhouse (p<0.014), disinfection of premises (p<0.001), and disinfection of infrastructure and equipments (p<0.002). Others are, availability of sufficient and clean water (p<0.001), good hygiene (p<0.033) and also, hands washing after slaughtering (p<0.001) and hands disinfection (p<0.001). The surveyed abattoirs performed better than slaughter slabs in hygiene and level of cleanliness. But nevertheless all evidences of unhygienic practices and predisposing risk factors across the surveyed slaughter locations would serve as critical points for the distribution of contaminated meat to the public, and also serve as medium for occupational disease acquisition. Hence the issue of food safety is called to question. There is the need for workers training on operational hygiene and occupational zoonoses. Key words: Contamination, meat hygiene, risk factors, slaughterhouse.
The Hopf-Laplace Equation

The central theme in this paper is the Hopf-Laplace equation, which represents stationary solutions with respect to the inner variation of the Dirichlet integral. Among such solutions are harmonic maps. Nevertheless, minimization of the Dirichlet energy among homeomorphisms often leads to nonharmonic solutions. We investigate the Hopf-Laplace equation for a certain class of topologically well behaved mappings which are almost homeomorphisms, called Hopf deformations. We establish Lipschitz continuity of Hopf deformations, the best possible regularity one can get. Thus in particular we show that the minimal-energy deformations are Lipschitz continuous, a result of considerable interest in the theory of minimal surfaces, calculus of variations, and PDEs, with potential applications to elastic plates.
EUS-guided Tumor Ablation

Real-time guidance of needle advancement has transformed Endoscopic Ultrasound from a diagnostic to an interventional procedure. EUS guided fine needle puncture has application in various interventional procedures (drainage of pseudocyst, biliary intervention, and injection of drugs). Celiac plexus or ganglion neurolysis for pain control is the major current EUSguided fine-needle injection procedure. Feasibility and safety to accurately position needle devices and/or inject under real time EUS imaging with precise delivery of interventional agent have expanded the use of EUS to ablate tumor. These include Radio-Frequency Ablation, or delivery of fiducial markers, potential antitumor-agents, or radioactive seeds, in the cancer mass. Minimally invasive EUS guided antitumor therapy is primarily used for pancreatic cancer because of better anatomic access (versus other imaging modality) and the dismal prognosis (despite improvements in surgery and chemo-radiation). Also, the response to parenteral chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer is poor because of sub-optimal drug delivery A cc ep te d A rt ic le This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. resulting from hypo-vascularity and abundant desmoplasia. Other targets for EUS-guided tumor ablation are pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor and pancreatic cyst lesion, which are less aggressive and curable by resection. However, patient non-eligible for surgery may benefit from local EUS-guided ablation.
The Development of A Survey Instrument: Assessing University Students' Perception On The Quality of Classroom Assessment

This paper focuses on the development of a survey instrument on students' perception of the quality of classroom assessment in university. The theoretical framework use in the development of the questionnaire is the principles of sound assessment of students' learning. This paper begins with an overview of classroom assessment and the principals of educational assessment. The instrument design and development is presented to show how items are constructed including the format of the response choice. Literatures on survey and questionnaire are used to justify the selection.
Metagenomic profiles of antibiotic resistance genes ( ARGs ) in paddy soils from South China Running head : Diversity of antibiotic resistance genes in paddy soils

Overuse and arbitrary discard of antibiotics have expanded antibiotic resistance reservoirs, from gut, waste water, activated sludge, to soil, freshwater and even ocean. Based on the structured database of Antibiotic Resistance Genes Database and next generation sequencing, metagenomic analysis was used for the first time to detect and quantify antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in paddy soils from South China. A total of 16 types of ARGs were identified, corresponding to 110 ARGs subtypes. The abundances and distribution pattern of ARGs in paddy soil were distinctively different from those in activated sludge and pristine deep ocean sediment, but close to those of sediment from human impacted estuaries. Multidrug resistance genes were the most dominant (38-47.5%) type in all samples, and the ARGs detected encompassed the three major resistance mechanisms, among which efflux pumps were the predominant resistance mechanism. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that pH was significantly correlated with the distribution of ARGs subtypes (P < 0.05). Our results provided a broad spectrum profile of ARGs in paddy soil, indicating the widespread of ARGs in paddy soils of South China.
The High Time Resolution Universe Pulsar Survey – IV. Discovery and polarimetry of millisecond pulsars

We present the discovery of six millisecond pulsars (MSPs) in the High Time Resolution Universe (HTRU) survey for pulsars and fast transients carried out with the Parkes radio telescope. All six are in binary systems with approximately circular orbits and are likely to have white dwarf companions. PSR J1017-7156 has a high flux density and a narrow pulse width, making it ideal for precision timing experiments. PSR J1446-4701 and PSR J1125-5825 are coincident with gamma-ray sources, and folding the high-energy photons with the radio timing ephemeris shows evidence of pulsed gamma-ray emission. PSR J1502-6752 has a spin period of 26.7 ms, and its low period derivative implies that it is a recycled pulsar. The orbital parameters indicate it has a very low mass function, and therefore a companion mass much lower than usually expected for such a mildly recycled pulsar. In addition we present polarization profiles for all 12 MSPs discovered in the HTRU survey to date. Similar to previous observations of MSPs, we find that many have large widths and a wide range of linear and circular polarization fractions. Their polarization profiles can be highly complex, and although the observed position angles often do not obey the rotating vector model, we present several examples of those that do. We speculate that the emission heights of MSPs are a substantial fraction of the light cylinder radius in order to explain broad emission profiles, which then naturally leads to a large number of cases where emission from both poles is observed.