Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Parents Propagate Income Inequality among Children? Evidence from Chinese and Swedish Twins

In this paper we provide comprehensive evidence on the role of parents in driving within–family income inequality by focusing on three important mechanisms through which parents may impact the children: investment in education, inter vivos transfers, and bequests. In particular, using data on parental investments in children’s education in China and Sweden, we first show that parents invest the same amount of resources in twin children’s education regardless of their initial ability differences. Second, using data on inter vivos transfers, we show that parents in China tend to reinforce income inequality among children with a 10% increase in a twin child’s salary at the time of transfer increasing inter vivos transfers by 8.7%. We show that this reinforcing parental behavior is driven by an exchange motive where the child that gets a larger transfer tends to visit the parents more often and is more likely to reside with them, with the visits and living arrangements benefiting the parents and not the child. Swedish parents, on the other hand, tend to transfer equal amounts to both children. Third, we find that bequests tend to be divided equally between children both in China and Sweden. Fourth, we show that differences in parental attitudes towards within–family income inequality between parents in China and Sweden are mainly driven by cross–country differences in the level of parental education. The last item, in turn, demonstrates that other culture–/country–specific differences between Chinese and Swedish parents may be less important when it comes to estimating the role of parents in shaping income inequality among their children. JEL Codes: D13, D31, D64, I24, J12, J13, O15. We are indebted to Mark Rosenzweig and Junsen Zhang for sharing data for Chinese twins with us. We also thank the department of government at Uppsala University, where part of this research was conducted, for their hospitality. Moreover, we are extremely grateful to Ananth Seshadri, Christopher Taber, Bruce Weinberg, and Enghin Atalay for all their guidance and support. Additionally, we thank Meta Brown, Kristin Paul, and Zhen Ye for all their feedback that immensely improved the paper. We thank participants at seminars and conferences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Ohio State University, ASSA Annual Meetings, ECINEQ conference, and IAAE Annual Meetings for constructive suggestions. We take responsibility for all the mistakes. The Ohio State University. Email: aiday.sikhova@gmail.com. Corresponding author. Uppsala University. Email: Sven.Oskarsson@statsvet.uu. se. Uppsala University. Email: Rafael.Ahlskog@statsvet.uu. se.
The Relation between Drying Conditions and the Development of Volatile Compounds in Saffron (Crocus sativus)

Saffron is derived from the stigmas of the flower Crocus sativus L. The drying process is the most important post-harvest step for converting C. sativus stigmas into saffron. The aim of this review is to evaluate saffron’s post-harvest conditions in the development of volatile compounds and its aroma descriptors. It describes saffron’s compound generation by enzymatic pathways and degradation reactions. Saffron quality is described by their metabolite’s solubility and the determination of picrocrocin, crocins, and safranal. The drying process induce various modifications in terms of color, flavor and aroma, which take place in the spice. It affects the aromatic species chemical profile. In the food industry, saffron is employed for its sensory attributes, such as coloring, related mainly to crocins (mono-glycosyl esters or di-glycosyl polyene).
Construction studies in higher education and the use of digital technology

The construction industry wants graduate employees skilled in relationship building and information technology and communications (ITC). Much of the relationship building at universities has evolved through technology. Government and the ITC industry fund lobby groups to influence both educational establishments and Government to incorporate more ITC in education _ and ultimately into the construction industry. This influencing ignores the technoskeptics’ concerns about student disengagement through excessive online distractions. Construction studies students (n=64) and lecturers (n=16) at a construction university were surveyed to discover the impact of the use and applications of ITC. Contrary to Government and industry technopositivism, construction students and lecturers preferred hard copy documents to online feedback for assignments and marking, more human interface and less technological substitution and to be on campus for lectures and face-to-face meetings rather than viewing on-screen. ITC also distracted users from tasks which, in the case of students, prevented the development of the concentration and deep thinking which a university education should deliver. The research findings are contrary to the promotions of Government, ITC industry and ITC departments and have implications for construction employers where a renewed focus on human communication should mean less stress, fewer delays and cost overruns.
Accuracy of Portable Breath Analysers

The accuracy of portable analysers on the basis of real measurements of alcohol concentration in drunken drivers was assessed. The results of breath and blood analyses were achieved by the analysis of expert opinions elaborated at the Institute of Forensic Research in 2002-2007. The paper was limited to two portable instruments, Alcotest 7410 (Drager) and AlcoSensor IV (Intoximeters, Inc). The results obtained by portable devices were compared with the readings of stationary breath analysers (Alcomat, Siemens and Alkometr A2.0, AWAT) and blood analyses. The results of second and subsequent measurements were re-calculated using mean elimination rates. The readings of portable instruments were in very good agreement with the results of confirmatory analyses performed by stationary devices (Alcotest 7410: r = 0.981, p 0.1, y = -0.0119 x - 0.021; relative difference [%]: r = 0.014, p > 0.1, y = 0.58 x – 4.89) and AlcoSensor IV (r = 0.064, p > 0.1, y = 0.0150 x - 0.024; r = -0.15, p > 0.1, y = -5.35 x + 2.50 for absolute and relative difference, respectively). The results indicate good correlation between the readings of portable breath alcohol analysers and the results of confirmatory analyses using both stationary breath analysers and blood analysis. It means that if a police officer follows proper procedure and the metrological properties of a breath analyser are periodically verified, the readings of portable instruments are accurate and can be used for forensic purposes. On the other hand, the confirmatory analyses have to be performed as it is common in forensic toxicology.
Genetic Algorithm for a Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows

A mathematical model for a multivehicle pickup and delivery problem with time windows is presented, and a genetic algorithm (GA) for solving it is proposed. The mathematical model is formulated as a mixedinteger linear programming problem. The objective of the proposed model is to minimize the total cost, which consists of the fixed cost for the vehicles, the routing cost, and the customer inconvenience cost, which is modeled as a penalty cost for violation of the time windows of each customer. Like other combinatorial problems, solving this pickup and delivery problem is time-consuming, and sometimes it is impossible to find an exact solution. The problem is solved exactly for up to six demands (12 nodes), and GA is used for larger problems with more than six demands. The proposed GA can solve a pickup and delivery problem in an extremely short time compared with the exact solution procedure. It also produces excellent results for small problems. A GA used to solve a 30-demands problem (60 nodes) with 10 vehicles is illustrated.
Recovery of motor function in rats with complete spinal cord injury following implantation of collagen/silk fibroin scaffold combined with human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to assess the effect of the collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds seeded with human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells on functional recovery after acute complete spinal cord injury. METHODS The fibroin and collagen were mixed (mass ratio, 3:7), and the composite scaffolds were produced. Forty rats were randomly divided into the Sham group (without spinal cord injury), spinal cord injury group (spinal cord transection without any implantation), collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds group (spinal cord transection with implantation of the collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds), and collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds + human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells group (spinal cord transection with the implantation of the collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds co-cultured with human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells). Motor evoked potential, Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan scale, modified Bielschowsky's silver staining, and immunofluorescence staining were performed. RESULTS The BBB scores in the collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds + human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells group were significantly higher than those in the spinal cord injury and collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds groups (p<0.05 or p<0.01). The amplitude and latency were markedly improved in the collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds + human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells group compared with the spinal cord injury and collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds groups (p<0.05 or p<0.01). Meanwhile, compared to the spinal cord injury and collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds groups, more neurofilament positive nerve fiber ensheathed by myelin basic protein positive structure at the injury site were observed in the collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds + human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells group (p<0.01, p<0.05). The results of Bielschowsky's silver staining indicated more nerve fibers was observed at the lesion site in the collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds + human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells group compared with the spinal cord injury and collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds groups (p<0.01, p< 0.05). CONCLUSION The results demonstrated that the transplantation of human umbilical cord-mesenchymal stem cells on a collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds could promote nerve regeneration, and recovery of neurological function after acute spinal cord injury.
Current Insights into Atopic March

The incidence of allergic diseases is increasing, and research on their epidemiology, pathophysiology, and the prevention of onset is urgently needed. The onset of allergic disease begins in infancy with atopic dermatitis and food allergy and develops into allergic asthma and allergic rhinitis in childhood; the process is defined as “atopic march”. Atopic march is caused by multiple immunological pathways, including allergen exposure, environmental pollutants, skin barrier dysfunction, type 2 inflammation, and oxidative stress, which promote the progression of atopic march. Using recent evidence, herein, we explain the involvement of allergic inflammatory conditions and oxidative stress in the process of atopic march, its epidemiology, and methods for prevention of onset.
Reversible inactivation of ferret auditory cortex impairs spatial and non-spatial hearing

A key question in auditory neuroscience is to what extent are brain regions functionally specialized for processing specific sound features, such as location and identity. In auditory cortex, correlations between neural activity and sounds support both the specialization of distinct cortical subfields, and encoding of multiple sound features within individual cortical areas. However, few studies have tested the contribution of auditory cortex to hearing in multiple contexts. Here we determined the role of ferret primary auditory cortex in both spatial and nonspatial hearing by reversibly inactivating the middle ectosylvian gyrus during behavior using cooling (n = 2 females) or optogenetics (n = 1 female). Optogenetic experiments used the mDLx promoter to express Channelrhodopsin-2 in GABAergic interneurons, and we confirmed both viral expression (n = 2 females) and light-driven suppression of spiking activity in auditory cortex, recorded using Neuropixels under anesthesia (n = 465 units from 2 additional untrained female ferrets). Cortical inactivation via cooling or optogenetics impaired vowel discrimination in colocated noise. Ferrets implanted with cooling loops were tested in additional conditions that revealed no deficit when identifying vowels in clean conditions, or when the temporally coincident vowel and noise were spatially separated by 180 degrees. These animals did, however, show impaired sound localization when inactivating the same auditory cortical region implicated in vowel discrimination in noise. Our results demonstrate that, as a brain region showing mixed selectivity for spatial and nonspatial features of sound, primary auditory cortex contributes to multiple forms of hearing. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Neurons in primary auditory cortex are often sensitive to the location and identity of sounds. Here we inactivated auditory cortex during spatial and nonspatial listening tasks using cooling, or optogenetics. Auditory cortical inactivation impaired multiple behaviors, demonstrating a role in both the analysis of sound location and identity and confirming a functional contribution of mixed selectivity observed in neural activity. Parallel optogenetic experiments in two additional untrained ferrets linked behavior to physiology by demonstrating that expression of Channelrhodopsin-2 permitted rapid light-driven suppression of auditory cortical activity recorded under anesthesia.
An 8-bit carry look-ahead adder with 150 ps latency and sub-microwatt power dissipation at 10 GHz

Reciprocal quantum logic combines the speed and power-efficiency of single-flux quantum superconductor devices with design features that are similar to CMOS. We have demonstrated an 8-bit carry look-ahead adder in the technology using combinational gates with fanout of four and non-local interconnect. Measured power dissipation of the fully active circuit is only 510 nW at 6.2 GHz. Latency is only 150 ps at a clock rate of 10 GHz.
Effect of Fixed and sEMG-Based Adaptive Shared Steering Control on Distracted Driver Behavior

Driver distraction is a well-known cause for traffic collisions worldwide. Studies have indicated that shared steering control, which actively provides haptic guidance torque on the steering wheel, effectively improves the performance of distracted drivers. Recently, adaptive shared steering control based on the forearm muscle activity of the driver has been developed, although its effect on distracted driver behavior remains unclear. To this end, a high-fidelity driving simulator experiment was conducted involving 18 participants performing double lane change tasks. The experimental conditions comprised two driver states: attentive and distracted. Under each condition, evaluations were performed on three types of haptic guidance: none (manual), fixed authority, and adaptive authority based on feedback from the forearm surface electromyography of the driver. Evaluation results indicated that, for both attentive and distracted drivers, haptic guidance with adaptive authority yielded lower driver workload and reduced lane departure risk than manual driving and fixed authority. Moreover, there was a tendency for distracted drivers to reduce grip strength on the steering wheel to follow the haptic guidance with fixed authority, resulting in a relatively shorter double lane change duration.
Can We Sustain Sustainability? A Critical Synthesis of Pertinent Literature

Architects and designers, along with their corporate clients, generally embrace the importance of environmental stewardship, saving the earth’s ecosystem, and sustainable design. However, research is needed to link sustainable design with relevant human behavior (e.g., in corporate offices and educational settings) to ensure its enduring legacy. Regarding changing people’s behavior, the majority of human experience results from unconscious processes, i.e., brain–environment interactions not available to awareness; thus, in general, people cannot articulate the nature of these associations. Using theoretical roots stemming from William James and running through ecological psychology (e.g., James J. Gibson to Roger Barker), Harry Heft has argued that the influence of environmental design precedes conscious awareness and information processing. Assuming Heft’s conjecture, this implies that—if informed by biologically influential signals (e.g., biophilic design)—the design of the ambient physical environment may positively ‘nudge’ human behavior in ways useful to sustainability and sensitivity to the environment—although relevant critical perspectives suggest that dynamic conditions and contextual complexity may modify the potential of nudge theory applications. Still, could it be that sustainable design can improve human health and well-being? Research suggests that environmentally responsible and biophilic design may accomplish at least a few elements of this goal and perhaps also enhance some aspects of cognitive performance. Could this approach support environmental sustainability by linking sustainable design to its potential economic benefits via worker productivity or student success? If so, then the strategy of improving positive well-being through design aligns well with the goal of maintaining the long-term viability of the earth’s ecosystem.
Bioactive Essential Oils from Cuban Plants: An Inspiration to Drug Development

Aromatic plants and essential oils are important agents as complementary and alternative medicines in many cultures and geographical locations. In this review, a literature search on essential oils from Cuba, their chemical compositions, and their pharmacological properties was carried out. Out of 171 published scientific articles on essential oils of Cuban plants, a total of 31 documents, focused on both chemical composition and pharmacological properties, were considered for this review. In general, an increase in articles published in the last decade was noted, particularly in recognized international journals in English. Myrtaceae and Piperaceae were the most representative families collected in the occidental area of the country. Leaves and aerial parts were predominantly used, while a wide and variable number of components were identified, including terpenes, aliphatic derivatives, sulfur-containing compounds, phenylpropanoids, alkaloids and amine-type compounds. Finally, different biological activities were reported such as antiprotozoal, antibacterial, antifungal, cytotoxic, anthelmintic, larvicidal and insecticidal. In conclusion, we encourage further studies that would promote the use of essential oils from Cuban plants in new pharmaceutical products.
Numerical Aspects in the Calculation of the Transient Lightning Electromagnetic Radiation Over Lossy Ground

The propagation of lightning electromagnetic radiation over a lossy ground has been investigated numerically with the combined use of a newly developed computer algorithm for Sommerfeld integrals and the fast numerical inverse Laplace transform. The transmission line model has been adopted as the lightning current model and we have dealt with lightning discharges with sharp initial peak. The dependences of the radiation fields (especially horizontal electric field) on ground conductivity, distance etc. have been extensively studied, with a special reference to its comparison with previous approximations by Zenneck and Cooray and Rubinstein. Based on these comparisons, we have found that our numerical methods are effective when calculating the radiation field from the lightning for any combinations of the parameters including ground conductivity, distance etc.
Recovering From Intimate Partner Violence Through Strengths and Empowerment: Findings From a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: Recovering from Intimate Partner Violence through Strengths and Empowerment (RISE) is a brief, variable-length (1-6 sessions), modular, individualized psychosocial counseling intervention for women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). Pilot findings demonstrated the potential helpfulness, acceptability, and feasibility of RISE; however, a randomized clinical trial (RCT) is needed to support program effectiveness. Methods: This RCT enrolled 60 women who experienced IPV within the prior year. Participants were recruited from an urban Veterans Health Administration hospital (October 2018 to September 2020). Participants completed a pretreatment assessment that included measures of relevant outcomes (primary: empowerment, self-efficacy, patient activation, and valued living; secondary: depression symptoms, IPV, and satisfaction with the intervention) and were randomly assigned to RISE or an enhanced care as usual (ECAU) condition. RISE participants received 1 to 6 sessions. ECAU participants received a single session consisting of psychoeducation, safety planning, resources, and referrals. Participants were reassessed 10 and 14 weeks after enrollment. Results: Intent-to-treat analyses using unconditional growth models revealed significant time-by-condition effects: RISE participants demonstrated higher increases in empowerment (d = 3.46) and self-efficacy (d = 1.09). RISE participants also experienced significant improvements in valued living (d = 0.53), depression symptoms (d = 0.49), and IPV reduction (d = 1.07) over time; however, the lack of a significant difference by condition suggested similar effectiveness of the interventions on these outcomes. Satisfaction was significantly higher for RISE than ECAU (d = 1.23). Conclusions: Results indicate the effectiveness of RISE in enhancing psychosocial well-being, especially empowerment and self-efficacy, among women experiencing IPV, for whom accessible health care-based interventions are needed. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03261700.
Evaluation of the fermentation of acetylated agave fructans (agavins), with Saccharomyces boulardii as a probiotic

Agave fructans (agavins) are fructose polymers that possess β (2-1) and β (2-6) bonds. Thus, they cannot be hydrolyzed by digestive enzymes and are hence classiﬁed as indigestible oligosaccharides. These molecules have gained importance due to their various applications, one of which is their prebiotic capacity. They have also been used as wall material, and encapsulating bioactive compounds. The paper aim to characterize and modify the native fructanos (NF) of Agave angustifolia Haw by acetylation and evaluate their fermentation with Saccharomyces boulardii yeast.To determine the degree of polymerization of the native fructans, FTIR, 1 H NMR, and MALDI-TOF-MS were used for characterization. They were subsequently modiﬁed and tested as a carbon source with S. boulardii , which was used as a probiotic. The fructans used had a degree of polymerisation (DP) ranging from 4-10 units. Acetylation was performed with a change in functional groups (C = O) in the 1700-1750 cm − 1 region, indicating that reaction was successful. Thermal properties changed due to relaxation of the amorphous structure of fructanos during acetylation. Furthermore, yeast cell development with modiﬁed agave fructans (7.32 log 10 CFU / mL and native agave fructans (7.09 log 10 CFU / mL) indicated that the compound’s fermentation was una ﬀ ected.