Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Homothetic Composed Error Frontiers to Measure Water Utility Efficiency

Efficient delivery of public utility services is an issue which has been widely studied in the industrial organization and public finance literatures. Recent studies have generally focused on whether public or private water utilities are the most efficient. Other related issues of equal interest are how to measure efficiency and how to set standards of adequate performance. This study advances the literature in several important ways. One technical contribution is the use of a dual output production function in order to explicitly account for the separable production and distribution roles of water systems. The approach adopted here permits a test of the relationship between the two outputs and the finding is that the two roles must be separated in a cost or production function analysis. Most other studies focus only on the production of water, though Feigenbaum and Teeples [7] used a hedonic function to incorporate other characteristics of water provision in the output measure. The production function framework employed here allows a test of whether each output is produced under linearly homogeneous, nonlinearly homogeneous, or homothetic conditions. The closed form structure adopted in this study differs from the approximate form which was the basis for Feigenbaum and Teeples' work. A composed error framework is used to estimate frontiers for the production relationships. This requires a synthesis of the homothetic function [19] and composed error [1] literatures and an extension of these to the dual output case. The application of frontier analysis is a key to conducting efficiency tests. Previous work has not permitted tests of efficiency, but tests of whether the cost structures differ between groups of firms such as rural versus urban or public versus private firms. Efficiency must be assessed by judging either the actual cost or production performance against the corresponding potential for an individual firm. Actual performance relative to potential can then be used to test efficiencies across classes of utility firms. The paper is composed of five sections including the introduction. The next section
Improving Pro-environmental Behaviours in Spain. The Role of Attitudes and Socio-demographic and Political Factors

Abstract Over the last 30 years, Spain has witnessed great economic growth. Nevertheless, in spite of an increasing degree of environmental concern, environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviours are still clearly below the European average. In this context, this paper analyses the impact of personal control and attitudes, and of certain socio-demographic, economic and political variables in the development of two environmentally friendly behaviours in Spain: consumption and purchase. The data were provided by a survey carried out in 2007 by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (Centre for Sociological Research) in Spain. The results show the importance of personal control, level of environmental information, political ideology, age and educational level variables to explaining the development of pro-environmental-related consumption behaviours. Personal attitudes, work situation, female gender and level of environmental information influence pro-environmental purchase behaviour in a positive way. Taking into account that personal attitudes are more determining of pro-environmental purchase than consumption behaviour, policy measures such as informal education, tax measures, social and individual norms and interpersonal and institutional trust are discussed to increase the development of pro-environmental behaviours in Spain.
Circulating endothelial progenitor cells in premature infants: is there an association with premature birth complications?

Abstract Background: The most common morbidities in preterm infants are associated with vascular pathology. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been implicated in repair of the vasculature, but their role in the pathogenesis of prematurity complications is not clear. Objectives: We prospectively investigated an association between the number of EPCs circulating in blood during delivery as well as 2 and 6 weeks afterwards, the level of growth factors regulating their migration/homing, and the incidence of premature birth complications. Patients and methods: The study groups consisted of 90 preterm and 52 full-term infants. Early-EPCs (CD133+CD34+CD144+) and late-EPCs (CD133–CD34+CD144+) were analysed in cord blood (CB) and peripheral blood (PB). Results: We found higher early- and late-EPC counts in the CB of premature infants compared with full-term babies. The number of circulating early- and late-EPCs was inversely associated with the Apgar score of preterm infants. A positive association between the early-EPC count and the risk of respiratory distress syndrome, retinopathy of prematurity, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and infections was found. Nevertheless, multivariate analysis revealed that a higher number of EPCs was not an independent predictor of prematurity complications, which were directly related to lower gestational age. The EPC count in full-term infants maintained a constant, relatively low level over the 6-week follow-up, whereas the EPC population in preterm infants gradually decreased during this period. Furthermore, the number of CB late-EPCs in preterm infants positively correlated with VEGF concentration. Conclusions: EPCs may play a considerable role in vascular development in preterm infants.
Injury patterns at US and Canadian overnight summer camps: first year of the Healthy Camp study

Objective: To describe injury patterns at overnight summer camps in 2006, and identify risk factors for more significant injury. Design: Surveillance data obtained from Healthy Camp Study from 2006 were analyzed from 71 overnight camps, representing 437 541 camper-days and 206 031 staff-days. Results: Injuries were reported in 218 campers and 81 staff. 51.8% of injured campers were male versus 34.6% of staff. Among campers, 60.1% were evaluated off-site; 2.3% required hospital admission. 43.9% of injuries required >24 h activity restriction (deemed “significant injury”). Among campers, significant injury was associated with camp sessions ⩾14 days (RR 1.48); among staff, with male sex (RR 1.85) and camper-to-staff ratio (RR 0.67). There were no associations with age, time of day, setting, or level of supervision. Conclusions: Significant injuries are uncommon at overnight summer camps. Rates appear similar to those in comparable activities. Targeted interventions may further reduce injury risk.
Perifolliculitis Capitis Abscedens et Suffodiens in an 18-Year-Old Aboriginal Canadian Patient: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Background: Perifolliculitis capitis abscedens et suffodiens (PCAS) is a suppurative process that involves the scalp, eventually resulting in extensive scarring and irreversible alopecia. This condition often presents in males of African American origin. Objective: This article describes the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of an Aboriginal Canadian male suffering from PCAS. A literature review on the etiology, pathology, differential diagnosis, and management is also discussed. Conclusion: Careful analysis of the pathology and clinical presentation can aid in the timely diagnosis and management of this challenging condition. The clinician dealing with patients suffering from PCAS has several treatment options available to help successfully manage patients with straightforward or recalcitrant disease.
Route planning for cooperative air-ground robots with fuel constraints: an approach based on CMSA

Limited payload capacity on small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) results in restricted flight time. In order to increase the operational range of UAVs, recent research has focused on the use of mobile ground charging stations. The cooperative route planning for both aerial and ground vehicles (GVs) is strongly coupled due to fuel constraints of the UAV, terrain constraints of the GV and the speed differential of the two vehicles. This problem is, in general, an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem. Existing polynomial-time solution approaches make a trade-off in solution quality for large-scale scenarios and generate solutions with large relative gaps (up to 50%) from known lower bounds. In this work, we employ a hybrid metaheuristic known as Construct, Merge, Solve & Adapt (CMSA) in order to develop a scalable and computationally efficient solution approach. We discuss results for large scale scenarios and provide a comparative analysis with the current state-of-the-art.
Variations in Health Perception between Black and White Elderly

In a sample of 414 residents of public housing for the elderly, health perception is significantly lower among Black residents than among Whites. The relationship of health perception to several measures of objective health status, to cultural background, to social participation, and to morale is analyzed separately for the two ethnic groups. The relationship of measures of health to health perception is more direct among Whites than among Blacks, except for an Index of Daily Well-Being, in which the relationship is similar for both groups. Social participation also influences health perception. With Blacks, participation in church-related activities is the most direct influence. While health perception is related to morale, life orientation (an index of morale) is higher for Blacks than for Whites. The implications for health education professionals seem to lie in the lack of direct links between objective measures of health and self-perception of health for Blacks. The need for health education, so that there may be a realistic appraisal of one's own health condition, is shown here. The relatively low educational level of many older citizens, especially elderly Blacks, suggests that newspaper releases are not an adequate tool for health education for the elderly.
Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and tuberculosis among minority injection drug users.

OBJECTIVE This article reviews the literature on the impact of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV, HCV), and tuberculosis on minority drug injectors in the United States. OBSERVATIONS Injection drug use is a key factor in the transmission of blood-borne pathogens, and HIV disease is exacerbated by tuberculosis infection. Minority drug injectors are disproportionately represented in the national statistics on these infections. Behavioral epidemiologic studies show that both injection-related risk factors years of injecting drugs, type of drug injected, direct and indirect sharing of injection paraphernalia) and sex-related risk factors (lack of condom use, multiple sexual partners, survival sex) are conducive to the spread of HIV, HBV, and HCV. CONCLUSIONS Two issues must be addressed to halt the spread of HIV infection and hepatitis B and C. The capacity of syringe-exchange programs to refer participants to drug treatment programs and facilitate access to health and social services must be increased. Culturally appropriate behavioral interventions targeting risk behaviors among ethnic and racial minorities, especially women, must be developed and put in place.
Randomised, placebo controlled trial of nebulised furosemide for breathlessness in patients with cancer

Background: Breathlessness is a common and difficult symptom to treat in patients with cancer. Case reports suggest that nebulised furosemide can relieve breathlessness in such patients but few data are available. Method: Patients with primary or secondary lung cancer and a Dyspnoea Exertion Scale score of ⩾3 were recruited. Following familiarisation, patients received either nebulised furosemide 40 mg or nebulised 0.9% saline under double blind conditions or no treatment, in random order on 3 consecutive days. Patients undertook number reading and arm exercise tests to assess breathlessness and its impact, and were asked to report subjective benefit and any preference between nebulised treatments. Results: 15 patients took part. There were no differences between furosemide, saline and no treatment in the outcomes of the number reading test (eg, mean number read per breath was 6.7, 6.4 and 6.7, respectively) or arm exercise test (eg, mean Borg score at maximum equivalent workload was 2.3, 2.5 and 2.7, respectively). No adverse effects were reported, although there was a small fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 s and forced vital capacity following saline. Six patients considered that their breathlessness improved with nebulised treatment, three preferring saline, one furosemide and two reporting they were of equal benefit. Conclusions: Our findings do not support a beneficial effect from nebulised furosemide in patients with cancer related breathlessness. Listed on the National Research Register (N0170118249) and the UK Clinical Research Network Portfolio Database (1428).
Localization by FISH of the 31 Texas nomenclature type I markers to both Q- and R-banded bovine chromosomes

A series of 31 marker genes (one per chromosome) were localized precisely to both Q- and R-banded bovine chromosomes by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), as a contribution to the revised chromosome nomenclature of the three major domestic bovidae (cattle, sheep and goat). All marker genes except one (LDHA) are taken from the Texas Nomenclature of the cattle karyotype published in 1996. Homologous probes for each marker gene were obtained by screening a bovine BAC library by PCR with specific primer pairs. After labeling with biotin, each probe preparation was divided into two fractions and hybridized to bovine chromosomes identified either by Q or R banding. Clear signals and good quality band patterns were observed in all cases. Results of the two series of hybridizations are totally concordant both for Q and R band chromosome numbering and precise band localization. This work permits an unambiguous correlation between the Q/G- and R-banded 31 bovine chromosomes, including chromosomes 25, 27 and 29 which remained unresolved in the Texas Nomenclature (1996). Hybridization of the chromosome 29 marker gene to metaphase spreads from a 1;29 Robertsonian translocation bull carrier showed a positive signal on the short arm of this rearranged chromosome, confirming that the numbering of this long-known translocation in cattle is correct when referring to the Texas Nomenclature (1996). Taking into account that cattle, goat and sheep have very similar banded karyotypes, the data presented here will help to establish a definite and complete reference chromosome nomenclature for these species.
Arabidopsis Rab Geranylgeranyltransferases Demonstrate Redundancy and Broad Substrate Specificity in Vitro*

Posttranslational lipid modifications mediate the membrane attachment of Rab GTPases, facilitating their function in regulating intracellular vesicular trafficking. In Arabidopsis, most Rab GTPases have two C-terminal cysteines and potentially can be double-geranylgeranylated by heterodimeric Rab geranylgeranyltransferases (Rab-GGTs). Genes encoding two putative α subunits and two putative β subunits of Rab-GGTs have been annotated in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, but little is known about Rab-GGT activity in Arabidopsis. In this study, we demonstrate that four different heterodimers can be formed between putative Arabidopsis Rab-GGT α subunits RGTA1/RGTA2 and β subunits RGTB1/RGTB2, but only RGTA1·RGTB1 and RGTA1·RGTB2 exhibit bona fide Rab-GGT activity, and they are biochemically redundant in vitro. We hypothesize that RGTA2 function might be disrupted by a 12-amino acid insertion in a conserved motif. We present evidence that Arabidopsis Rab-GGTs may have preference for prenylation of C-terminal cysteines in particular positions. We also demonstrate that Arabidopsis Rab-GGTs can not only prenylate a great variety of Rab GTPases in the presence of Rab escort protein but, unlike Rab-GGT in yeast and mammals, can also prenylate certain non-Rab GTPases independently of Rab escort protein. Our findings may help to explain some of the phenotypes of Arabidopsis protein prenyltransferase mutants.
Statistical Modeling of 4D Respiratory Lung Motion Using Diffeomorphic Image Registration

Modeling of respiratory motion has become increasingly important in various applications of medical imaging (e.g., radiation therapy of lung cancer). Current modeling approaches are usually confined to intra-patient registration of 3D image data representing the individual patient's anatomy at different breathing phases. We propose an approach to generate a mean motion model of the lung based on thoracic 4D computed tomography (CT) data of different patients to extend the motion modeling capabilities. Our modeling process consists of three steps: an intra-subject registration to generate subject-specific motion models, the generation of an average shape and intensity atlas of the lung as anatomical reference frame, and the registration of the subject-specific motion models to the atlas in order to build a statistical 4D mean motion model (4D-MMM). Furthermore, we present methods to adapt the 4D mean motion model to a patient-specific lung geometry. In all steps, a symmetric diffeomorphic nonlinear intensity-based registration method was employed. The Log-Euclidean framework was used to compute statistics on the diffeomorphic transformations. The presented methods are then used to build a mean motion model of respiratory lung motion using thoracic 4D CT data sets of 17 patients. We evaluate the model by applying it for estimating respiratory motion of ten lung cancer patients. The prediction is evaluated with respect to landmark and tumor motion, and the quantitative analysis results in a mean target registration error (TRE) of 3.3 ±1.6 mm if lung dynamics are not impaired by large lung tumors or other lung disorders (e.g., emphysema). With regard to lung tumor motion, we show that prediction accuracy is independent of tumor size and tumor motion amplitude in the considered data set. However, tumors adhering to non-lung structures degrade local lung dynamics significantly and the model-based prediction accuracy is lower in these cases. The statistical respiratory motion model is capable of providing valuable prior knowledge in many fields of applications. We present two examples of possible applications in radiation therapy and image guided diagnosis.
Student perceptions of a good teacher: the gender perspective.

BACKGROUND A large-scale survey of pupils' perceptions of a good teacher in the Caribbean republic of Trinidad and Tobago is reported. An essay-based, interpretative mode of research was used to elicit and identify constructs used by boys and girls. AIMS The study explores similarities and differences between boys and girls in their perceptions of a good teacher, in a society where girls achieve superior academic performance (than boys). SAMPLE A total of 1756 pupils and students aged between 8 and 16 provided the sample, which was proportional, stratified, clustered. Within these constraints classrooms were randomly selected to be representative of primary and secondary schools across the two islands. METHOD Altogether 1539 essays and 217 interviews were content analysed, coded for age development and compared between boys and girls. Content items identified by the pupils were logically grouped into: physical and personal characteristics of the teacher, quality of the relationship between the teacher and pupil, control of behaviour by the teacher, descriptions of the teaching process, and educational and other outcomes obtained by pupils due to teacher efforts. RESULTS Female pupils identified more good teacher concepts at all age levels than males. There was some commonality between the sexes in concepts regarding interpersonal relationships and inclusiveness in the good teachers' teaching practices and boys showed significantly greater concerns regarding teacher control and use of punishment. Males as young as 8 years stated that good teachers should be sensitive to their needs. Only among the 16-year-old males were males noted as good teachers. CONCLUSION Consideration is given to the roles of male and female teachers, how their classroom actions may set the basis for future success (or failure) of their pupils, and the needs of pupils with regard to teacher support within developing and developed countries.
PENGUATAN KEMAMPUAN SOSIAL PADA PENATAAN KAWASAN KUMUH PERKOTAAN (Studi Kasus Kelurahan Cigugur Tengah Cimahi)

The focus of this research is to measure and identify the factors that can enrichment social skills , both for the government and society in rearrangement urban slum with a case study in Kelurahan Cigugur Tengah Cimahi city . Research methodology is Participatory Research Appraisal ( PRA), to ensure the active involvement of the people who became the subject group . Based on the results of the study , the researchers have concluded that the success of social assistance in rearrangement urban slums depend on increasing the capacity of governments and communities governansi . Increased capacity of government governance can be done by encouraging the Regional Executive , gave a commitment to establish priority areas for quality improvement of social areas . Forming a business unit area that has the task of improving the quality of social structuring slum . Increase the capacity of communities governance be done with the commitment of citizens, actively involved in decision-making , planning , implementation , maintenance , monitoring and improving the quality of social contribution in structuring slum priority .
A high magnetic field radio pulsar survey with Swift/XRT

We present the X-ray survey results of high-magnetic-field radio pulsars (high-B PSRs) with Swift/XRT. X-ray observations of the rotation-powered pulsars with the dipole magnetic field ${\it B_{\rm d}}$ near the quantum critical field ${\it B_{\rm q}}=4.4\times10^{13}$ G is of great importance for understanding the transition between the rotation-powered pulsars and the magnetars, because there are a few objects that have magnetar-like properties. Out of the 27 high-B PSRs that are in the ATNF pulsar catalogue but have not been reported or have no effective upper-limits in the X-ray bands, we analyze the Swift/XRT data for 21 objects, where 6 objects are newly observed and 15 objects are taken from the archival data. As a result, we have new $3\sigma$ upper-limits for all the 21 objects. Since the upper-limits are tight, we conclude that we do not find any magnetar-like high-B PSRs such as PSR J1819$-$1458. The probability of the high X-ray efficiency in the high-B PSRs is obtained to be $11\%-29\%$. Combining the previous observations, we discuss which parameter causes magnetar-like properties. It may be suggested that the magnetar-like properties appear only when ${\it B_{\rm d}}\gtrsim10^{13.5}$ G for the radio pulsar population. This is true even if the radio-quiet high-B RPP are included.