Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
State rescaling and economic convergence

ABSTRACT This paper critically engages with State/Space theory by interrogating the soundness of its fundamental assumptions regarding the rescaling of capitalism and by questioning the validity of its proposition about ever-rising spatial imbalances and economic divergence in post-1970s’ Europe. The paper employs descriptive, cartographic and econometric analysis of the regional and urban growth data covering 28 European Union countries and 11 major OECD and BRICS economies. The vast volume of multi-scalar evidence presented here cannot substantiate the central rescaling hypothesis about Europe’s increasing spatial disparities. A set of alternative explanations is proposed to account for the reported European economic convergence trends.
Effect of local refrigeration prior to venipuncture on pain related responses in school age children.

INTRODUCTION Painful medical procedures are the major sources of distress among children; and for those with chronic diseases, the procedure-related pain can be worse than that of the illness itself. OBJECTIVE The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of local refrigeration prior to venipuncture on pain-related responses in school-age children. DESIGN Quasi-experimental study. SETTING This study was undertaken in a paediatric emergency ward of a paediatric centre. SUBJECTS The subjects were 80 children 6 to 12 years of age selected by purposive sampling after being referred to the paediatric emergency ward. INTERVENTIONS Two groups were chosen for the study: the test and control groups, in order to test the effect of local coldness in reducing the pain of venipuncture. In the test group, the injection site was refrigerated for three minutes using an ice bag. In the control group, the procedure was performed according to usual routine. Physiological responses (ie. blood pressure, pulse, and respiration), behavioural responses (using the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale: CHEOPS), and subjective responses (or intensity of pain using the Oucher scale) were measured in the two groups. A non-invasive (electronic) sphygmomanometer was used before and 5 minutes after the procedure to measure the physiological responses. The measurement of behavioral responses by CHEOPS was done at two time points (during the procedure and 5 minutes after the procedure), measuring six areas of behavior: cry, facial expressions, child verbal, torso, touch and leg movement in reaction to painful stimulation. Finally, the subjective responses were measured at 5 minutes after the procedure. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES In this study the main outcome measures were: range of physiologic responses, and scores of behavioral and subjective responses. The study hypothesised there would be a lower score in the test group than the control group in behavioural and subjective responses and a lower range in physiologic responses. RESULTS Results showed no significant difference between the two groups for physiological responses (before and after procedure). However behavioural responses during and after the procedure (p = 0.0011), and subjective responses after the procedure (p = 0.0097) were significantly lower (ie. the test group had lower scores in behavioural and subjective responses compared to the control group. CONCLUSION The results of this study suggest that the use of local refrigeration prior to venipuncture can be considered an easy and effective intervention of reducing venipuncture-related pain.
The Role of Post-translational Modifications of the CXCR4 Amino Terminus in Stromal-derived Factor 1α Association and HIV-1 Entry*

The chemokine receptor CXCR4 plays critical roles in development, immune function, and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) entry. Here we demonstrate that, like the CC-chemokine receptors CCR5 and CCR2b, CXCR4 is posttranslationally modified by sulfation of its amino-terminal tyrosines. The sulfate group at tyrosine 21 contributes substantially to the ability of CXCR4 to bind its ligand, stromal derived factor 1α. Tyrosine sulfation plays a less significant role in CXCR4-dependent HIV-1 entry than in CCR5-dependent HIV-1 entry. In some cell lines, CXCR4 is efficiently modified by a chondroitin sulfate chain at serine 18, but neither HIV-1 entry nor stromal derived factor 1α binding was affected by loss of this glycosaminoglycan. These data demonstrate a functional role for tyrosine sulfate in the CXC-chemokine receptor family and underscore a general difference in HIV-1 utilization of CCR5 and CXCR4.
Three Essays on International Trade and Finance

OF THE DISSERTATION THREE ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND FINANCE by Syed Al-Helal Uddin Florida International University, 2017 Miami, Florida Professor Hakan Yilmazkuday, Major Professor This dissertation is composed of three essays at the intersection of international trade and finance. In the first chapter, I measure exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) for value-added exports, where intermediate input requires sharing among countries in a back-and-forth manner for producing a single final product. I derive an estimating equation for ERPT and value-added trade following a partial equilibrium model, which also leads to decomposition of the trade elasticity into the own price effect and the price index effects. From the empirical estimation, I find that ignoring the value-added trade will cause a systematic upward bias in the estimation of ERPT. I also find that there exists substantial heterogeneity in pass-through rates across sectors: sectors with high-integration into global markets functions with a lower rate of exchange in comparison to sectors with less integration. The second essay focuses on a specific market, where I examine the relationship between product attributes and ERPT. This paper estimates the ERPT by using good-level daily data on wholesale prices of imported agricultural products, where the identification is achieved by using daily data on the domestic inflation rate. The results of standard empirical analyses are in line with existing studies that employ lower frequencies of data by showing evidence for incomplete daily ERPT of about 5 percent. The key innovation is achieved when nonlinearities in ERPT are considered, where ERPT is doubled to about 10 percent when daily nominal
Liver Glucokinase: Decreased Activity in Patients with Type II Diabetes

Because of the demonstration of a genetic linkage between glucokinase and Type II diabetes, and the central role of glucokinase on glucose metabolism, we studied glucokinase activity in the liver of patients with and without Type II diabetes. Glucokinase activity was decreased by about 50% in obese subjects with diabetes (n = 12) compared with (p < 0.01) lean controls (n = 9) and (p < 0.05) obese controls (n = 10). There was no difference between lean and obese controls. Fifty percent of subjects with diabetes had lower liver glucokinase activity than the lowest value of the controls. These data further support the important role that glucokinase plays in the pathogenesis of Type II diabetes.
Her2Net: A Deep Framework for Semantic Segmentation and Classification of Cell Membranes and Nuclei in Breast Cancer Evaluation

We present an efficient deep learning framework for identifying, segmenting, and classifying cell membranes and nuclei from human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-stained breast cancer images with minimal user intervention. This is a long-standing issue for pathologists because the manual quantification of HER2 is error-prone, costly, and time-consuming. Hence, we propose a deep learning-based HER2 deep neural network (Her2Net) to solve this issue. The convolutional and deconvolutional parts of the proposed Her2Net framework consisted mainly of multiple convolution layers, max-pooling layers, spatial pyramid pooling layers, deconvolution layers, up-sampling layers, and trapezoidal long short-term memory (TLSTM). A fully connected layer and a softmax layer were also used for classification and error estimation. Finally, HER2 scores were calculated based on the classification results. The main contribution of our proposed Her2Net framework includes the implementation of TLSTM and a deep learning framework for cell membrane and nucleus detection, segmentation, and classification and HER2 scoring. Our proposed Her2Net achieved 96.64% precision, 96.79% recall, 96.71% F-score, 93.08% negative predictive value, 98.33% accuracy, and a 6.84% false-positive rate. Our results demonstrate the high accuracy and wide applicability of the proposed Her2Net in the context of HER2 scoring for breast cancer evaluation.
Effects of Insulin and Amino Acids on Leg Protein Turnover in IDDM Patients

To determine whether the responses of muscle protein metabolism to insulin and amino acids in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) were different from those in nondiabetic subjects, leg tissue kinetics of [15N]phenylalanine and [1-13C]leucine and its metabolites were measured in eight insulin-withdrawn IDDM patients and eight nondiabetic subjects during basal insulinemia and during infusion of insulin (0.29 nmol · min−1 [ m−2). The diabetic patients were studied in the absence of amino acids, and both groups were studied during infusion of a mixed–amino acid solution (AA). In the diabetic patients, insulin alone and combined with additional AA reduced leg tissue phenylalanine release by 42 and 41%, respectively (both P < 0.05), but uptake was unchanged. Leg tissue leucine oxidation was unchanged by insulin alone but was increased (P = 0.012) fourfold during insulin infusion with additional AA. In the nondiabetic subjects, insulin with AA infusion increased leg tissue phenylalanine uptake (45.7 ± 7.5 to 73.1 ± 7.3 nmol · min−1 · 100 g−1, P < 0.01). Insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in the diabetic patients (1.60 ± 0.28 μmol · min−1 · 100 g−1,was impaired compared with the nondiabetic subjects (3.37 ± 0.28 μmol min −1 100 g−1, P = 0.04). These results suggest that, in IDDM patients, 1) infusion of insulin fails to stimulate muscle protein synthesis even when combined with a substantially increased provision of AA, and 2) compared with nondiabetic subjects, muscle protein synthesis as well as glucose uptake exhibit blunted responses to insulin.
Marriage in an immigrant society: Education and the transition to first marriage in Hong Kong

Background: The prevalence of marriages between locals and immigrants is likely to alter the relationship between education and marriage. However, there has been little empirical research on the implications of a large immigration population for the relationship between education and marriage. Hong Kong provides an ideal setting to investigate this issue. Methods: This article examines the role of education in union formation for both men and women across two birth cohorts and the effect of education on marriages with local or immigrant spouses, using data from the 2011 Hong Kong Population Census and the Hong Kong Panel Study of Social Dynamics [HKPSSD]. Results: In contrast to findings in many other societies, local men’s education has little effect on union formation. Further analysis reveals that their education is positively associated with marrying a Hong Kong-born spouse but negatively associated with marrying an immigrant spouse born in mainland China. For local women, education has a negative effect on marrying either local or immigrant spouses, but this effect diminishes over time. These findings suggest an increasing importance of women’s economic prospects in union formation in a society like Hong Kong where there is a high cost of living. Contribution: As the first study analysing the role of education in men and women’s marriages, over time and with local or immigrant spouses in Hong Kong, this article shows the growing importance of women’s economic prospects in union formation. It also demonstrates that the presence of an enlarged pool of potential partners due to immigration can moderate the commonly assumed positive relationship between men’s education and marriage.
Fetal endocrine responses to prolonged reduced uterine blood flow are altered following bilateral sectioning of the carotid sinus and vagus nerves.

The present study examines the effect of carotid sinus/vagosympathetic denervation on fetal endocrine responses to prolonged reduced uterine blood flow (RUBF). Fetal sheep had vascular catheters inserted following bilateral sectioning of the carotid sinus and vagus nerves (denervated, n = 7) or sham denervation (intact, n = 7). Uterine blood flow was mechanically restricted at 126.1 +/- 0.7 days (mean +/- S.E.M.) for 24 h, decreasing arterial oxygen saturation by 47.3 +/- 2.6% (P < 0.01). Fetal plasma samples were obtained at -1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h for subsequent analyses of arginine vasopressin (AVP), angiotensin II and catecholamines. The AVP response to prolonged RUBF was markedly attenuated in denervated fetuses (15.6 +/- 3.6 to 34.9 +/- 6.0 pg/ml) when compared with intact (10.0 +/- 1.4 to 127.3 +/- 28.4 pg/ml). In contrast, intact fetuses demonstrated no change in plasma angiotensin II concentrations with RUBF whereas denervated fetuses demonstrated a marked increase from 47.5 +/- 18.9 to 128.7 +/- 34.2 pg/ml. The norepinephrine and epinephrine responses to prolonged RUBF were attenuated in denervated fetuses (950.1 +/- 308.9 and 155.8 +/- 58.5 to 1268.3 +/- 474.6 and 290.6 +/- 160.2 pg/ml respectively) when compared with intact (1558.3 +/- 384.4 and 547.3 +/- 304.7 pg/ml to 3289.2 +/- 1219.8 and 896.8 +/- 467.8 pg/ml respectively). These results support a role for the peripheral chemoreceptors in mediating fetal endocrine responses to prolonged RUBF, which may in part lead to the altered cardiovascular responses observed in denervated fetuses under these conditions.
A Benevolent State Against an Unjust Society? Inequalities in Public Transfers in China

Abstract Against the backdrop of a rapid increase in inequality following China’s historical economic boom, the Chinese government in the past decade has drastically expanded its social welfare programs aimed in part to reduce inequality. How effective has the benevolent state been and what does it inform us about the nature of the new welfare system in China? Utilizing the National Transfer Accounts approach, we examine inequalities in public transfers in three areas: education, health care, and pension. Public transfers in China as a whole are unevenly distributed across generations, with spending on the elderly almost twice of the young on a per person basis. Public transfers in education, health care, and pension combined are even more tilted, with those in the top income quartile receiving nearly four times of those in the bottom group. Such inequalities are in part conditioned by past legacies of social inequalities in China, but they also show the limits of the emerging Chinese welfare regime.
Analysis of Threshold Voltage Variability Due to Random Dopant Fluctuations in Junctionless FETs

An analytical formulation of the threshold voltage variance induced by random dopant fluctuations in junctionless transistors is derived for both cylindrical nanowire and planar double-gate structures under uniform channel and constant mobility approximation. Results from drift-diffusion-based numerical methods are in reasonable agreement also for large , including mobility variations, and for short gate lengths. The results clearly indicate that the threshold voltage fluctuations can become a concern with the reduction of the critical dimensions.
The differential futures of ski tourism in Ontario (Canada) under climate change: the limits of snowmaking adaptation

The international ski tourism industry is highly vulnerable to inter-annual climate variability and climate change. Accordingly, there is a strong need to advance our understanding of climate risk for this multi-billion tourism market that is so important to mountain regions around the world. This study addressed major limitations in the ski tourism literature, while concurrently supporting priority information needs of ski tourism stakeholders. An improved version of SkiSim 2.0 is applied to all 34 alpine ski areas in southern Ontario (Canada) to examine potential changes in the capacity of this regional marketplace. Model improvements include differential snowmaking capacities of individual ski areas, updated snowmaking decision rules, as well as a new indicator, termed ‘terrain-days’, to estimate changes in system capacity. The results project two fundamentally different futures for this ski tourism marketplace under climate change. If the international community succeeds in achieving the + 2°C Paris Agreement policy goal, then losses in system capacity can be limited to less than 10% in the mid- and late-century. In contrast, a high-end emission scenario (RCP 8.5) would severely disrupt this ski tourism market by mid-century, with system capacity losses between 28% and 73%.
Mutator Gene Studies in Escherichia coli

An Escherichia coli mutator gene, mutT, has been shown by P1-mediated crosses to map between the leucine and azide loci. The mutT1 and azi-r alleles cotransduce with a frequency of >92%. In mutT1/mutT+ merodiploids, the mutT1 phenotype is recessive; in mutT1/F′trp or mutT1/F′lac merodiploids, the mutT1 allele has a trans effect. The gene can mutate λ and T7 phage but not T1, T3, T4, T5, and S13.
DJ-1 is critical for mitochondrial function and rescues PINK1 loss of function

Mutations or deletions in PARKIN/PARK2, PINK1/PARK6, and DJ-1/PARK7 lead to autosomal recessive parkinsonism. In Drosophila, deletions in parkin and pink1 result in swollen and dysfunctional mitochondria in energy-demanding tissues. The relationship between DJ-1 and mitochondria, however, remains unclear. We now report that Drosophila and mouse mutants in DJ-1 show compromised mitochondrial function with age. Flies deleted for DJ-1 manifest similar defects as pink1 and parkin mutants: male sterility, shortened lifespan, and reduced climbing ability. We further found poorly coupled mitochondria in vitro and reduced ATP levels in fly and mouse DJ-1 mutants. Surprisingly, up-regulation of DJ-1 can ameliorate pink1, but not parkin, mutants in Drosophila; cysteine C104 (analogous to C106 in human) is critical for this rescue, implicating the oxidative functions of DJ-1 in this property. These results suggest that DJ-1 is important for proper mitochondrial function and acts downstream of, or in parallel to, pink1. These findings link DJ-1, pink1, and parkin to mitochondrial integrity and provide the foundation for therapeutics that link bioenergetics and parkinsonism.
Comparative structural connectivity spectra analysis (CoSCoSA) models of steroids binding to the aromatase enzyme

A method that combines NMR spectral and structural information into a constructed three‐dimensional (3D)‐connectivity matrix is developed for modeling biological binding activity of small molecules. The 3D‐connectivity matrix for a molecule is defined by associating the distances between all possible carbon‐to‐carbon connections with their assigned carbon NMR chemical shifts. In this project we selected from the total 3D‐connectivity matrix a subset, the two‐dimensional (2D) 13C‐13C COSY and a theoretical long range 2D 13C‐13C distance connectivity spectral plane. Patterns of 13C chemical shifts observed at these two relative distances for 50 steroids were used to produce a mathematical relationship for the steroids' relative binding affinity (pKi) to the aromatase enzyme. We call this technique comparative structural connectivity spectra analysis (CoSCoSA) modeling. Using combinations of the 2D COSY and 2D long‐range distance spectra as modeling parameters, we built four CoSCoSA models. One model was made from the 2D COSY spectra alone and another was developed using only the 2D long‐range distance spectra. Then the COSY and long‐distance spectra were combined in two different ways: starting with the combined principal components (PCs) from the separately calculated COSY and distance spectra or using the combined raw spectra (3D). The best CoSCoSA model was based on the combined PCs from COSY and distance spectra. This model had an r2 of 0.96 and a leave‐one‐out cross‐validation (q2) of 0.92. In general CoSCoSA modeling combines the quantum mechanical information inherent in NMR chemical shifts with internal molecular atom‐to‐atom distances to give a reliable and straightforward basis for predictive modeling. The technique has the flexibility and accuracy to outperform not only the cross‐validated variance q2 of previously published quantitative structure–activity relationships (QSAR) but also those obtained by related quantitative spectral data–activity relationships (QSDARs) lacking connectivity dimensions. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Impossible Trinity and Financial Stability. The Incidence of Trilemma Regimes on the (In)stability of Stock Markets and Credit Aggregates (1922-2013)

ADVERTIMENT. La consulta d’aquesta tesi queda condicionada a l’acceptació de les següents condicions d'ús: La difusió d’aquesta tesi per mitjà del servei TDX (www.tdx.cat) i a través del Dipòsit Digital de la UB (diposit.ub.edu) ha estat autoritzada pels titulars dels drets de propietat intel·lectual únicament per a usos privats emmarcats en activitats d’investigació i docència. No s’autoritza la seva reproducció amb finalitats de lucre ni la seva difusió i posada a disposició des d’un lloc aliè al servei TDX ni al Dipòsit Digital de la UB. No s’autoritza la presentació del seu contingut en una finestra o marc aliè a TDX o al Dipòsit Digital de la UB (framing). Aquesta reserva de drets afecta tant al resum de presentació de la tesi com als seus continguts. En la utilització o cita de parts de la tesi és obligat indicar el nom de la persona autora.
Effect of UGT1A1, UGT1A3, DIO1 and DIO2 polymorphisms on L-thyroxine doses required for TSH suppression in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.

AIM To evaluate the impact of genetic polymorphisms in uridine 5'-glucuronosylytansferases UGT1A1 and UGT1A3 and iodothyronine-deiodinases types 1 and 2 on levothyroxine (T4 ; 3,5,3',5'-triiodo-L-thyronine) dose requirement for suppression of thyrotropin (TSH) secretion in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). METHODS Patients (n = 268) submitted to total thyroidectomy and ablation by (131) I, under T4 therapy for at least 6 months were recruited in three public institutions in Brazil. Multivariate regression modelling was applied to assess the association of T4 dosing with polymorphisms in UGT1A1 (rs8175347), UGT1A3 (rs3806596 and rs1983023), DIO1 (rs11206244 and rs2235544) and DIO2 (rs225014 and rs12885300), demographic and clinical variables. RESULTS A regression model including UGT1A haplotypes, age, gender, body weight and serum TSH concentration accounted for 39% of the inter-individual variation in the T4 dosage. The association of T4 dose with UGT1A haplotype is attributed to reduced UGT1A1 expression and T4 glucuronidation in liver of carriers of low expression UGT1A1 rs8175347 alleles. The DIO1 and DIO2 genotypes had no influence of T4 dosage. CONCLUSION UGT1A haplotypes associate with T4 dosage in DTC patients, but the effect accounts for only 2% of the total variability and recommendation of pre-emptive UGT1A genotyping is not warranted.
Randomized clinical trial of oral and intravenous versus intravenous antibiotic prophylaxis for laparoscopic colorectal resection

The use of oral prophylactic antibiotics for the prevention of surgical‐site infection (SSI) in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer is controversial. The aim of this RCT was to evaluate whether intravenous perioperative antibiotics are inferior to combined preoperative oral and perioperative intravenous antibiotics in this setting.