Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Severe Infections in Obstetrics and Gynecology: How Early Surgical Intervention Saves Lives

Obstetricians and gynecologists commonly encounter many different infections. Early recognition and treatment of these infections is crucial. On many occasions, the use of antimicrobials alone is sufficient; however, in some instances, even with antimicrobials, early surgical intervention is necessary to treat the source of infection and prevent further dissemination. This review article focuses on the epidemiology, diagnosis and management of some of the aggressive microorganisms encountered in obstetrics and gynecology. A full literature review of why early surgical intervention is critical to saving lives was conducted. Clostridial species, Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria are outlined in this review, given their aggressive ability to progress into disseminating sepsis, toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing soft tissue infections. This review serves as a guide to assist obstetricians and gynecologists with making life-saving decisions on early surgical intervention when encountering such critically ill patients. An algorithmic approach is also illustrated that an obstetrician gynecologist can follow when encountering such microorganisms. J Clin Gynecol Obstet. 2016;5(1):1-16 doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.14740/jcgo368w
Improved modeling of new three-phase high voltage transformer with magnetic shunts

: This original paper deals with a new approach for the study of behavior in nonlinear regime of a new three-phase high voltage power supply for magnetrons, used for the microwave generators in industrial applications. The design of this system is composed of a new three-phase leakage flux transformer supplying by phase a cell, composed of a capacitor and a diode, which multiplies the voltage and stabilizes the current. Each cell. in turn, supplies a single magnetron. An equivalent model of this transformer is developed taking into account the saturation phenomenon and the stabilization process of each magnetron. Each inductance of the model is characterized by a non linear relation between flux and current. This model was tested by EMTP software near the nominal state. The theoretical results were compared to experimental measurements with a good agreement. Relative to the current device, the new systemprovides gains of size, volume, cost of implementation and maintenance which make it more economical.
Why they keep missing: An empirical investigation of rational inattention of rating agencies

Sovereign ratings have frequently failed to predict crises. However, the literature has focused on explaining rating levels rather than the timing of rating announcements. We fill this gap by explicitly differentiating between a decision to assess a country and the actual rating decision. Thereby, we account for rational inattention of rating agencies that exists due to costs of reassessment. Exploiting information of rating announcements, we show that (i) the proposed differentiation significantly improves estimation; (ii) rating agencies consider many nonfundamental factors in their reassessment decision; (iii) markets only react to ratings providing new information; (iv) developed countries get preferential treatment.
Large Format Heterodyne Arrays for Terahertz Astronomy

For future ground, airborne and space based single aperture telescopes, multipixel heterodyne imaging arrays are necessary to take full advantage of platform lifetime, and facilitate science requiring wide field spectral line imaging. A first generation of heterodyne arrays with ~10 pixels has already been constructed, i.e. CHAMP, SMART, HERA, DesertStar, PoleStar and HARP. Our group is now constructing SuperCam, a 64 pixel heterodyne array for operation in the 350 GHz atmospheric window. This instrument will realize another order of magnitude increase in array pixel count. Several new techniques were used for SuperCam to maximize integration and modularity. Unlike other SIS array receivers, SuperCam is built around 8 pixel linear mixer modules, rather than independent mixer blocks. These modules house 8 single ended waveguide mixers with SOI substrate SIS devices. Each device is tab bonded to a MMIC based LNA. These modules dissipate only 8 mW of heat, while still maintaining 5 K IF noise temperature and 32 dB gain. Blind mate IF and DC connectors allow each module to be inserted in or removed from the focal plane as a unit. The modules are machined using a state-of-the-art CNC micromilling machine acquired specifically for this project. IF signals are processed by 8 channel IF downconverter boards, which provide gain, baseband downconversion and IF total power monitoring. A real-time FFT spectrometer implemented with high speed ADCs and Xilinx 4 FPGAs produce spectra of the central 250 MHz of each channel at 0.25 km/s spectral resolution. For arrays with an additional order of magnitude increase in pixel count, several additional technical problems must be overcome. Kilopixel arrays will require advances in device fabrication, cryogenics, micromachining, IF processing and spectrometers. In addition, seemingly straightforward receiver systems will require new approaches to realize a kilopixel heterodyne array with manageable complexity and cost. Wire count and 4K heat load must all be reduced significantly compared to SuperCam. IF and DC cabling and interconnects may be replaced with multiconductor microstrip or stripline ribbon. Parallel biasing of LNAs, magnets and even SIS devices is feasible if device uniformity is good enough. IF processing will require further integration, possibly with integrated MMIC chips containing all parts of a IF downconversion chain. Continued advances in FFT spectrometers could allow processing many hundreds of gigahertz of IF bandwidth for a realizable cost. We present results from final SuperCam receiver integration and testing, and concepts for expanding heterodyne arrays to kilopixel scales in the future.
Economic growth and technological change in the long run: a survey of theoretical and empirical literature

This paper reviews the literature on technological change in relation to economic growth with the aim to bring different strings of the literature together. On the one hand it reviews the theory on the standard neo-classical growth models as well as modern endogenous growth theories that incorporate learning by doing, education and monopolistic elements. Besides, it deals historical and empirical approaches to technological change and growth. These include empirical studies on growth accounts, growth regressions, sectoral growth performance as well as empirical tests of R&Dmodels. The historical approach emphasises the importance of path dependency of technological change as a major explanatory factor for persistent differences in growth performance. It is argued that a systematic integration of the various approaches will be necessary to fully understand the dynamics of long term growth. More specifically, it is proposed to integrate the concept of "path dependency" in the growth models. 1 University of Groningen, Department of Economics, P.O. Box 800, NL-9700 AV Groningen, the Netherlands. Fax: +31-50 363 73 37. E-mail: M.Rensman@eco.rug. nl. I would like to thank the following people for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this literature survey: Bart van Ark, Rainer Fremdling, Jan Jacobs, Remco Kouwenhoven, Simon Kuipers, Gerard Kuper, Fieke van der Lecq, Angus Maddison, Nanno Mulder and Jan Egbert Sturm. All remaining errors are mine.
Characterization of MgB2 Superconducting Hot Electron Bolometers

Hot-Electron Bolometer (HEB) mixers have proven to be the best tool for high-resolution spectroscopy at the Terahertz frequencies. However, the current state of the art NbN mixers suffer from a small intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth as well as a low operating temperature. MgB2 is a promising material for HEB mixer technology in view of its high critical temperature and fast thermal relaxation allowing for a large IF bandwidth. In this work, we have fabricated and characterized thin-film (~ 15 nm) MgB2-based spiral antennacoupled HEB mixers on SiC substrate. We achieved the IF bandwidth greater than 8 GHz at 25 K and the device noise temperature < 4000 K at 9 K using a 600 GHz source. Using temperature dependencies of the radiation power dissipated in the device we have identified the optical loss in the integrated microantenna responsible as a cause of the limited sensitivity of the current mixer devices. From the analysis of the currentvoltage (IV) characteristics, we have derived the effective thermal conductance of the mixer device and estimated the required local oscillator power in an optimized device to be ~ 1 μW.
Do Higher Levels of Qualification Lead to Higher Returns to Education: Evidence from Malaysian Education Sector

Using data from a Household Income Survey (HIS), this study provides first evidence about returns to education at highest certificates of qualification in the Malaysian Education sector. We employ a simple Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimator with robust standard errors to estimate the Mincerian equation during the years 2002–2007. Our results show that workers with degree qualifications have high average returns, followed by diploma-educated workers during the period investigation. The results indicate that the returns to education show a linear relationship between certificates of qualification and earnings. For policy makers with scarce resources to allocate between competing policies, the findings from the returns to education at highest certificates of qualification provides valuable information for the decision to provide extra funds for education. This results is also may act as a useful indicator for individuals to invest in their own human capital. Keywords : returns to education, earnings; certificates of qualification JEL Classifications: I26; J20, J30
Role orientations and legislative behaviour of parliamentary party leaders: towards a common ground?

Political parties are central to modern representative democracy (Dalton, Farrell, & McAllistar, 2011; Müller, 2000; Müller & Narud, 2013). Particularly in European countries, where they perform a wide array of democratic linkage functions (Fiers, 1998; Gunther & Diamond, 2001; King, 1969), parties are the basic unit of action for representation (Deschouwer & Depauw, 2014). Individual members of parliament (MPs) typically act cohesively and toe the party line, even if this means putting aside personal opinions and considerations (Van Vonno, Malka, Depauw, Hazan, & Andeweg, 2014), possibly allowing or hindering the representation of special group interests (Celis & Wauters, 2010).
Assessment of antioxidant capacity of ethanolic extract of Portulaca oleracea leaves in vitro and in vivo

The purpose of the present study was to prepare ethanol extract of Portulaca oleracea L. leaves (PLE) that is rich in phenolic compounds and investigate there in vitro and in vivo antioxidative activities using ethanol to induce oxidative stress in the liver. This study includes two phases. The first phase includes assessment of antioxidant capacity in vitro using 1,1- Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and 2,2-azinobis-(3-ethyl-benzothiazo-line-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assay. In the second phase (assessment of antioxidant capacity in vivo), the levels of antioxidant parameters in the alcoholic liver disease rats were studied and the protective effect of ethanolic extract of P. oleracea L. in the alcoholic liver disease rats was examined to further understand their mechanisms. In vitro studies with DPPH and ABTS showed that PLE possesses antioxidant activity. In vivo administration of ethanol (7.9 g/kg body weight/day) for 45 days with PLE (100 mg/kg body weight/day) signii¬cantly decreased the activities of liver markers enzyme serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and gamma glutamyl transferase in serum towards near normal level. In addition, PLE also signii¬cantly reduced the levels of lipid peroxidation and in addition, signii¬cantly restored the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants level in the liver of alcohol administration rats. Our study suggests that ethanol extract of P. oleracea leaves play a benei¬cial role in the treatment of alcohol induced tissue damage, which could be one of its therapeutic values. Key words: Alcoholic liver disease, Portulaca oleracea L. , oxidative stress, ethanolic extract, antioxidants, rats.
The forecasting power of real interest rate gaps: an assessment for the Euro area

The real Interest Rate Gap (IRG)–the gap between the short-term real interest rate and its ‘natural’ level–is a theoretical concept that has attracted much attention in central banks in recent years. This article aims at clarifying its practical relevance for monetary policy in real time. For this purpose, it provides an empirical assessment of the usefulness of a semi-structural versus purely statistical estimates of the real IRG for predicting policy relevant macroeconomic variables in the Euro area. However mixed, the results confirm that semi-structural estimates of the real IRG deserve being added to the central banks’ toolbox.
The Asymmetric Effects of Fiscal Policy on Private Consumption over the Business Cycle

This paper explores on a yearly panel of nineteen OECD countries from 1970-2001 the effects of fiscal policy on private consumption in recessions and expansions. In the presence of binding liquidity constraints on households, fiscal policy is more e¤ective in boosting private consumption in recessions than in expansions. The effect is more pronounced in countries characterized by a less developed consumer credit market. This happens because the fraction of individuals that face binding liquidity constraints in a recession will consume the extra income generated following a tax cut or government spending increase.
The resolved structure of the extragalactic supernova remnant SNR 4449−1

We present very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of the milliarcsecondscale radio structure of the supernova remnant SNR 4449-1 in the galaxy NGC 4449. This young and superluminous remnant was observed at 1.6 GHz (λ = 18 cm) with the European VLBI Network. The observations confirm earlier identifications of this object with a supernova remnant (SNR) while revealing a somewhat different morphology compared with the structure reported by Bietenholz et al. from VLBI observations at 1.4 GHz. This difference is discussed here in the context of structural sensitivity of both observations. The 1.6 GHz image yields accurate estimates of the size (0.0422 arcsec × 0.0285 arcsec and 0.8 pc × 0.5 pc) and age (~55 yr) of SNR 4449-1. With a total flux of 6.1 ± 0.6 mJy measured in the VLBI image, the historical light curve of the source can be well represented by a power-law decay with a power index of -1.19 ± 0.07. The SNR exhibits a decline rate of the radio emission of 2.2 ± 0.1 per cent yr-1 and a radio luminosity of 1.74 × 1035 erg s-1. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes among dogs and owners perception about zoonotic dog parasites in Hawassa Town, Ethiopia

A cross sectional study was carried out between November, 2009 and March, 2010 in Hawassa town, Ethiopia with the aims of determining the prevalence of intestinal helminthes of dogs and evaluating owner’s awareness about zoonotic dog parasites. A total of 455 dogs were sampled randomly and 58% (n=264) were positive for Strongyloides stercorslis, 49.2% (n=224), 40% (n=182), 25% (n=114), 6% (n=28) and 3.3% (n=15) were positive for Ancylostoma caninum, Dipylidium caninum, Toxocara canis, Echinococcus granulosus and Trichuris vulpis, respectively. Results from fecal examination showed that only 60 dogs were free of the above parasites (13.2%). From coprological examinations concurrent infections with one, two, three, four and five types of parasite were 19% (n=75), 33.9% (n=134), 32.2% (n=127), 13.6% (n=54) and 1.5% (n=6), respectively. There was statistically significant difference (P 0.05) in D. caninum, E. granulosus and T. vulpis in the two age groups. Questionnaire survey concerning owner’s knowledge about zoonotic dog parasites showed that only 4.4% of the respondents know that dogs have zoonotic parasites, specifically, 95.6% have awareness about the zoonotic importance of rabies and only 7.3% have awareness about the availability of anthelmitics to treat dogs parasites. The high level of helminthiasis in dogs in the present study represent high rate of infection and immense public health risks. In line with this finding, it is recommended that owners who keep dogs should improve their hygienic standards. Besides, they should be able to regularly treat their dogs with the appropriate anthelementics and awareness should be created on the prevention and control methods of helminthiasis.
On the existence of heteroclinic trajectories for asymptotically autonomous equations

By means of a minimax argument, we prove the existence of at least one heteroclinic solution to a scalar equation of the kind $\ddot x=a(t)V'(x)$, where $V$ is a double well potential, $0< l\le a(t)\le L$, $a(t)\to l$ as $|t|\to\infty$ and the ratio $L/l$ is suitably bounded from above.
Returns to Corporate Social Responsibility : Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Firm Credit Ratings

This study attempts to address the question whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) has positive impact on firm credit ratings as part of financial returns. The CSR performance of North American firms is observed for periods from 2008 to 2012. The empirical analysis of fixed-effect panel regression with firm size and leverage as control variables denotes that there is no supporting evidence for relationship between CSR and firm credit ratings. This result suggests that firms with better CSR do not benefit from higher credit rating, and thus lower financing costs.
Estimating the Determinants of Finnish Inflation

This paper estimates the determinants of Finnish quarterly inflation. Empirical long-run relations, consistent with different inflation theories, are estimated using the cointegrated VAR model for I(2) data. The relative importance of the theories are evaluated based on their statistical relevance in the Finnish inflation process. The primary determinant of Finnish inflation is product market excess demand. Other explanations such as money demand, imported inflation, and mark-up pricing are of minor importance. I also find evidence of an IS relationship determining real output and short-term interest rates. The long-term interest rates are adjusting to ensure that uncovered interest parity approximately holds. JEL Classification: C32, C52, E31.
Political parties or party systems? Assessing the ‘myth’ of institutionalisation and democracy

No matter the region of the world under study, party (system) institutionalisation has been traditionally considered to be a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the survival of democracy. Despite being one of the most quoted statements in the democratisation literature, the few studies looking at the relationship between institutionalisation and democratic endurance have found no evidence of the ‘almost magical’ powers of the former. This article revisits the abovementioned research question by making use of an original dataset covering all European democracies between 1848 and 2014. The main findings are threefold: (1) it is not the institutionalisation of political parties but the institutionalisation of party systems as a whole that has fostered the prospects for democratic survival in Europe; (2) there is a threshold of systemic institutionalisation which, once reached, will avoid democratic collapse; and (3) systemic over-institutionalisation does not seem to be so perilous for the survival of democracy.
Pre- and post-infection activity of new fungicides against Botrytis cinérea and other fungi causing decay of table grapes

R.A. Serey, R. Torres, and B.A. Latorre. 2007. Pre- and post-infection activity of new fungicides against Botrytis cinerea and other fungi causing decay of table grapes. Cien. Inv. Agr. 34(3):215-224. Pre- and post-harvest diseases restrict table grape production and exports (Vitis vinifera L.) in Chile, with the most important disease being grey mold (Botrytis cinerea). In addition, rot due to Aspergillus niger, Cladosporium herbarum, Penicillium expansum, and Rhizopus stolonifer frequently occurs. The pre- and post-infection activity of fungicides against r these pathogens was studied on Thompson Seedless table grapes. Detached, mature, berries were used, and inoculations were performed with 20 μL of a 10 6 spores·mL -1 suspension placed on three punctures aseptically made at the calyx end of each berry. Fungicides used (per liter) were boscalid (600 mg), boscalid (200 mg) + pyraclostrobin (100 mg), boscalid (200 mg) + kresoxim methyl (100 mg), cyprodinil (60 mg) + fl udioxonil (40 mg), BAS 600 KBF (100 mg) + metrafenone (150 mg), BAS 600 KBF (200 mg) + boscalid (300 mg), BAS 600 KBF (100 mg) + pyraclostrobin (100 mg), and captan (400 mg). Each fungicide was applied either by drop (12 μL·berry -1 ) placed on three punctures made with a sterile hypodermic needle or by 60 s immersion. Berries were then incubated in humid chambers at 20oC. The pre-infection (protection) activity of the fungicides varied considerably among the pathogens tested and was found to be signifi cant (p < 0.001) and, with one exception (A. niger), it was signifi cantly (p < 0.002) affected by the application method. The interaction between fungicide and application method was only signifi cant (p < 0.001) for R. stolonifer at 48 h post treatment. In general, pre-infection activity gave 0 to 4 days protection after drop applications and 0 to 21 days after immersion treatments. The post-infection (curative) activity varied among pathogens and fungicide treatments. However, it was always below 24 h.
Small-scale topology of solar atmospheric dynamics - V. Acoustic events and internetwork grains

We use high-quality observations from the Dunn Solar Telescope at NSO/Sacramento Peak to study spatio-temporal co-location of acoustic flux events in the photosphere and internetwork grains in the chromosphere. The events are diagnosed as sites with excess upward-propagating five-minute waves measured from Dopplergrams. The grains are repetitive bright internetwork features in simultaneous Caii K2V filtergrams. We find that the largest-flux sites in the granulation have appreciably larger than random probability to co-locate with exceptionally bright chromospheric internetwork grains, at an average delay of about two minutes which is likely to represent sound travel time to the chromosphere. This finding strengthens the case for acoustic grain excitation.
SFB 823 On the robustness of goodness-offit tests for copulas D iscussion P aper

This paper is the first to analyze the robustness of goodness-of-fit for bivariate elliptical and archimedean copulas. To assess the tests’ robustness, we consider perturbations and outliers both in the dependence structure and the observations from the joint distribution. The Monte Carlo simulations show that independent of the underlying true copula, the GoF-test or chosen test statistic, even minor contaminations of the data can lead to a significant decrease in the GoF-tests’ power. In order to robustify the GoF-tests, several methods for the detection of multivariate outliers are applied to the contaminated data. The results show that the exclusion of outliers can have a beneficial effect on the power of the GoF-tests. Moreover, this robustification strategy improves the power of GoF-testing when used to identify the main component of a mixture copula. In the empirical risk management application, the practical usefullness of this strategy is exemplified for a set of bivariate portfolios.