Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE INFLATION-GROWTH NEXUS: A DYNAMIC PANEL THRESHOLD ANALYSIS FOR D-8 COUNTRIES

This study investigates the influence of inflation on economic growth in period 1971-2014 for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (D-8 Countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey) through dynamic panel data analysis based on threshold. Results show the existence of a non-linear relationship between economic growth rate and inflation. They indicate that the threshold for the influence of inflation on economic growth is 12.88%, and an inflation rate exceeding this threshold level negatively influences economic growth whereas an inflation rate under this threshold positively influences economic growth. These results show that a high inflation rate will have a considerable influence on economic growth. In this respect, it is crucial to ensure sustainable growth, which plays a significant part in increasing the efficiency of the monetary policies implemented and assuring stability. Hence, while determining the target inflation rate in their attempts to deal with inflation, political and economic decision-makers in these economies should not disregard the concept of threshold within the framework of monetary policy.
Threshold and scaling factor optimization for enhancing impulsive noise cancellation in PLC systems

Power-line communication (PLC) is considered as the backbone of smart grid. Impulsive noise (IN) over such channels, however, remains the main factor responsible for degrading communication signals. A simple method to mitigate IN over PLC channels is to precede the receiver with a nonlinear preprocessor to blank and/or clip the incoming signal when it exceeds a certain threshold. Applying a combination of blanking and clipping in a hybrid fashion was shown to provide the best performance. The hybrid scheme is characterized by two thresholds T1 and T2 (T1 = α.T2), where a is a scaling factor. Previous studies assume a fixed value for the scaling factor and found that optimizing the threshold T2 is the key to enhance performance. In this paper, we show that the performance of this scheme is sensitive not only to the threshold, but also to the scaling factor. With this in mind, a mathematical expression for the output signal-to-noise ratio as a function of the threshold and scaling factor is formulated and used to optimize the hybrid scheme performance. Simulation results are also provided to validate our analysis. The results reveal that using an adaptive hybrid scheme with an optimally selected threshold and scaling factor always outperforms other nonlinear schemes.
A Comparison of the Effects of Epidural and Spinal Anesthesia With Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury on the Rat Transverse Rectus Abdominis Musculocutaneous Flap

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to compare the effects of spinal and epidural anesthesia on a rat transverse rectus abdominus myocutaneous flap ischemia-reperfusion injury model.Forty Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 4 experimental groups: group I (n = 10), sham group; group II (n = 10), control group; group III (n = 10), epidural group; and group IV (n = 10), spinal group. After the elevation of the transverse rectus abdominus myocutaneous flaps, all groups except for the sham group were subjected to normothermic no-flow ischemia for 4 hours, followed by a reperfusion period of 2 hours. At the end of the reperfusion period, biochemical and histopathological evaluations were performed on tissue samples.Although there was no significant difference concerning the malonyldialdehyde, nitric oxide, and paraoxonase levels in the spinal and epidural groups, the total antioxidant state levels were significantly increased, and the total oxidative stress levels were significantly decreased in the epidural group in comparison to the spinal group. The pathological evaluation showed that findings related to inflammation, nuclear change rates and hyalinization were significantly higher in the spinal group compared with the epidural group.Epidural anesthesia can be considered as a more suitable method that enables a decrease in ischemia-reperfusion injuries in the muscle flaps.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder in UK clozapine-treated schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder: a cause for clinical concern

The association between schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is complex. This study systematically examined a UK cohort of clozapine-treated individuals with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder. Fourteen of 59 cases (24%) scored positively on item H of the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) for OCD. The mean Yale— Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) score in MINI-positive cases was 17.6 (SD ± 6.3). Sixty-four percent scored 16 or more on the Y-BOCS, representing clinically meaningful illness severity. Seven (50%) patients with OCD had previously received the diagnosis by their treating clinicians and were already receiving with selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) treatment. OCD cases scored significantly worse than their non-OCD counterparts on the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (P = 0.01) and the Simpson Angus Scale (SAS; P = 0.01). There was also a non-significant trend toward higher ratings for OCD cases on the Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia scale (P = 0.06). Comparing the OCD cases taking SSRI (n = 7) with those not on SSRI (n = 7), significant differences emerged on the SAS (P = 0.03). Our results suggest that OCD is common among patients receiving clozapine for schizophrenic disorders and that the comorbidity is associated with greater motoric impairment. The role of medication in this condition remains unclear.
The Role of ICT in the Economic Growth and Productivity of Andalucia

This study aims to measure ICT adoption in the Andalusian economy and to assess the contribution of these technologies to economic and productivity growth in the region. The topic of this research is highly relevant as, on the one hand, empirical evidence at the regional level is scant and, on the other hand, ICT and regions are at the core of the EU policy agenda. This study must be seen as a first step towards a regional approach to analysing the contribution of ICT to productivity and economic growth. The data and methodology used in the study are consistent with existing country-level studies and thus provide a useful starting point for further research addressing the impact of ICT on other EU regions. The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national.
Fuzzy c-means in features space of Teager-Kaiser Energy of continuous wavelet coefficients for detection of PVC beats in ECG

In this paper, a method for the detection of premature ventricular contraction (PVC) beat in electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is presented. The method adopts the minimum distance (MD) and the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) in a proposed feature space for classification. The features are extracted by continuous wavelet-transform of the ECG beat signal followed by the Teager-Kiaser Energy (TKE) operator. The significant TKEs are then selected, transformed to [0, 1] range, and used as a feature vector. The prototypes of different classes in the feature space are generated using the fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm. To test the proposed method, the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database has been used. The method has provided total accuracy of 100% in classifying normal and PVC beats with MD classifier. The proposed method has also outperformed a counterpart one employing features extracted by the discrete cosine transform (DCT).
Taste for Science, Academic Boundary Spanning and Inventive Performance of Scientists and Engineers in Industry

Matching survey data on PhD scientists and engineers currently working in an R&D job in industry with publications and patents, we study the relation between their individual motives and the rate and nature of their inventive output. We find that individuals with a strong taste for science, that is motivated by intellectual challenge, autonomy, and contribution to society, create more novel and impactful patents in industry. These individuals are also more involved in academic boundary spanning, proxied by scientific publications co-authored with academic scientists, and this boundary spanning partially mediates the effect of taste for science on impactful inventive output. In contrast, individuals with a strong taste for salary and career collaborate less with academic scientists, fully mediating the negative effect of taste for salary and career on impactful inventive output.
Design integration of SINGAP accelerator and RF source in the ITER NB injector

The paper deals with the design integration of two alternative solutions for the negative ion source and accelerator of the ITER neutral beam (NB) injectors. The first alternative concerns the new 1 MV accelerator, named SINGAP, which has a single acceleration step instead of the five steps of the reference design. The second modification introduces a radio frequency (RF) negative ion source replacing the traditional filament solution. Design criteria, solutions and critical issues are presented in the paper
Dual-output, three-level GaN-based dc-dc converter for battery charger applications

Gallium Nitride (GaN) HFETS are an enabling technology for high-density converter design. This paper proposes a three-level dc-dc converter with dual outputs based on enhancement-mode GaN devices, intended for use as a battery charger in aircraft applications. The charger can output either 28 V or 270 V, selected with a jumper, which meets the two most common dc bus voltages in airplanes. It operates as an LLC converter in the 28 V mode, and as a buck converter in the 270 V mode. In both operation modes, the devices can realize zero-voltage-switching (ZVS). With the chosen modulation method, the converter can realize the frequency doubling function to act as an interleaved converter. For the LLC mode, the resonant frequency is twice the switching frequency of primary-side switches, and for buck mode, the frequency of the output inductor current is also twice the switching frequency. This helps to reduce the size of magnetics while maintaining low switching loss. Also, the converter utilizes the matrix transformer with resonant parameters designed to avoid ZVS failure. The operation principle of the converter is analyzed and verified on a 1MHz resonant frequency prototype.
Hunting down fungal secretomes using liquid‐phase IEF prior to high resolution 2‐DE

The secreted proteins (secretome) of fungi play a key role in interactions of pathogenic and symbiotic fungi with plants. Using the plant pathogenic fungus Leptosphaeria maculans and symbiont Laccaria bicolor grown in culture, we have established a proteomic protocol for extraction, concentration and resolution of the fungal secretome. As no proteomic data were available on mycelium tissues from both L. maculans and L. bicolor, mycelial proteins were studied; they also helped verifying the purity of secretome samples. The quality of protein extracts was initially assessed by both 1‐DE and 2‐DE using first a broad pH range for IEF, and then narrower acidic and basic pH ranges, prior to 2‐DE. Compared with the previously published protocols for which only dozens of 2‐D spots were recovered from fungal secretome samples, up to approximately 2000 2‐D spots were resolved by our method. MS identification of proteins along several pH gradients confirmed this high resolution, as well as the presence of major secretome markers such as endopolygalacturonases, β‐glucanosyltransferases, pectate lyases and endoglucanases. Shotgun proteomic experiments evidenced the enrichment of secreted protein within the liquid medium. This is the first description of the proteome of L. maculans and L. bicolor, and the first application of liquid‐phase IEF to any fungal extracts.
Assessment of the internal construct validity of the revised High-Level Mobility Assessment Tool for traumatic orthopaedic injuries

Objective: To determine whether the revised High-Level Mobility Assessment Tool (HiMAT) was valid for measuring mobility for people with multi-trauma orthopaedic lower limb injuries. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects: Participants with lower limb multi-trauma orthopaedic injuries. Methods: One complete revised HiMAT was obtained for 106 people within 12 weeks of being allowed to fully weight bear. Rasch analysis was used to assess the overall fit of the model for individuals and items, differential item functioning, local dependency, targeting of items and dimensionality. Results: The mean revised HiMAT score was 10.5 (SD = 6.8) with a range of 5–30. Rasch analysis of revised HiMAT showed adequate overall fit to the model (P = 0.29) with no misfitting items (fit residual SD = 0.69) or persons (fit residual SD = 0.62). The scale showed good internal consistency (Person Separation Index = 0.91). One item (hopping) demonstrated disordered thresholds, however this item had good fit to the model in all other aspects. The revised HiMAT was unidimensional, and no differential item functioning was detected for gender or age. The revised HiMAT was well targeted for this group with a range of items across all ability levels. Conclusion: The results of this study support the internal construct validity of the revised HiMAT as a well-targeted, unidimensional measure of high-level mobility with no ceiling or floor effect for males and females recovering from multi-trauma orthopaedic lower limb injuries.
Impact of Vertical Integration on Electricity Prices in Turkey

Government’s active participation in to the energy markets requires us to understand its vertical and horizontal integrated involvement. Coherently, in order to diversify their portfolios and reduce their business risks, vertical integration of the major private players in the market is another important topic. Under these market conditions market power becomes prominent. Our paper utilizes ARX models to analyze market power and portfolio diversification impact on electricity prices. In the aggregate models since we used high frequency time series data for all bidding hours of day ahead market, autoregressive structure within the system marginal prices vitiated the effect of power production type. Accordingly, we benefited different hours of the day as separate time series where a baseload (hour 24) and a peak hour (hour 11) were selected. The contribution of our paper to the policy debate is to highlight that such issues exist in the first place and that market power remains an important concern in Turkish electricity market.
The quality of sustainability assurance reports: The expertise and experience of assurance providers as determinants

The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of sustainability assurance reports and some aspects associated with it: expertise (a practitioner attribute) and experience (a characteristic of the contractual relationship). Specifically, it examines the impact of the assurance provider's expertise and experience on assurance quality, measured through an index based on a content analysis approach with items related to the reporting format, assurance procedures, and recommendations and opinions. This paper also examines the moderating effect of the type of assurance provider on these relationships. For a sample of international listed companies from the period 2007–14, our evidence shows greater quality of assurance reports when the assurers are industry specialists than when they are nonspecialists, because of their strong industry knowledge, and when the assurers have greater experience in the assurance market because of the extended length of the assurer–client relationship. In addition, the higher quality associated with industry expertise and experience is increased when assurance providers are also accounting firms, given their greater skills and training within the audit profession.
Forecasting with Bayesian Vector Autoregressions with Time Variation in the Mean

We develop a vector autoregressive model with time variation in the mean and the variance. The unobserved time-varying mean is assumed to follow a random walk and we also link it to long-term Consensus forecasts, similar in spirit to so called democratic priors. The changes in variance are modelled via stochastic volatility. The proposed Gibbs sampler allows the researcher to use a large cross-sectional dimension in a feasible amount of computational time. The slowly changing mean can account for a number of secular developments such as changing inflation expectations, slowing productivity growth or demographics. We show the good forecasting performance of the model relative to popular alternatives, including standard Bayesian VARs with Minnesota priors, VARs with democratic priors and standard time-varying parameter VARs for the euro area, the United States and Japan. In particular, incorporating survey forecast information helps to reduce the uncertainty about the unconditional mean and along with the time variation improves the long-run forecasting performance of the VAR models.
Shp-1 dephosphorylates TRPV1 in dorsal root ganglion neurons and alleviates CFA-induced inflammatory pain in rats

Abstract Transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) receptors are expressed in nociceptive neurons of rat dorsal root ganglions (DRGs) and mediate inflammatory pain. Nonspecific inhibition of protein-tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) increases the tyrosine phosphorylation of TRPV1 and sensitizes TRPV1. However, less is known about tyrosine phosphorylation's implication in inflammatory pain, compared with that of serine/threonine phosphorylation. Src homology 2 domain-containing tyrosine phosphatase 1 (Shp-1) is a key phosphatase dephosphorylating TRPV1. In this study, we reported that Shp-1 colocalized with and bound to TRPV1 in nociceptive DRG neurons. Shp-1 inhibitors, including sodium stibogluconate and PTP inhibitor III, sensitized TRPV1 in cultured DRG neurons. In naive rats, intrathecal injection of Shp-1 inhibitors increased both TRPV1 and tyrosine-phosphorylated TRPV1 in DRGs and induced thermal hyperalgesia, which was abolished by pretreatment with TRPV1 antagonists capsazepine, BCTC, or AMG9810. Complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)–induced inflammatory pain in rats significantly increased the expression of Shp-1, TRPV1, and tyrosine-phosphorylated TRPV1, as well as the colocalization of Shp-1 and TRPV1 in DRGs. Intrathecal injection of sodium stibogluconate aggravated CFA-induced inflammatory pain, whereas Shp-1 overexpression in DRG neurons alleviated it. These results suggested that Shp-1 dephosphorylated and inhibited TRPV1 in DRG neurons, contributing to maintain thermal nociceptive thresholds in normal rats, and as a compensatory mechanism, Shp-1 increased in DRGs of rats with CFA-induced inflammatory pain, which was involved in protecting against excessive thermal hyperalgesia.
Enhanced phosphorus removal from sewage in mesocosm-scale constructed wetland using zeolite as medium and artificial aeration

Phosphorus (P) contained in sewage maybe removed by mesocosm-scale constructed wetlands (MCW), although removal efficiency is only between 20% and 60%. P removal can be enhanced by increasing wetland adsorption capacity using special media, like natural zeolite, operating under aerobic conditions (oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) above+300 mV). The objective of this study was to evaluate P removal in sewage treated by MCW with artificial aeration and natural zeolite as support medium for the plants. The study compared two parallel lines of MCW: gravel and zeolite. Each line consisted in two MCW in series, where the first MCW of each line has artificial aeration. Additionally, four aeration strategies were evaluated. During the operation, the following parameters were measured in each MCW: pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and ORP. Phosphate () and chemical oxygen demand (COD), five-day biological oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS) and ammonium. (NH 4+−N ) were evaluated in influents and effluents. Plant growth (biomass) and proximate analysis for P content into Schoenoplectus californicus were also performed. The results showed that removal efficiency was 70% in the zeolite medium, presenting significant differences (p<.05) with the results obtained by the gravel medium. Additionally, aeration was found to have a significant effect (p<.05) only in the gravel medium with an increase in up to 30% for removal. Thus, S. californicus contributed to 10–20% of P removal efficiency.
Filobacterium rodentium gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of Filobacteriaceae fam. nov. within the phylum Bacteroidetes; includes a microaerobic filamentous bacterium isolated from specimens from diseased rodent respiratory tracts.

Strain SMR-CT, which was originally isolated from rats as the SMR strain, had been named 'cilia-associated respiratory bacillus' ('CAR bacillus'). 'CAR bacillus' was a Gram-stain-negative, filamentous argentophilic bacterium without flagella. SMR-CT grew at 37 °C under microaerobic conditions, showed gliding activity, hydrolysed urea and induced chronic respiratory diseases in rodents. The dominant cellular fatty acids detected were iso-C15 : 0 and anteiso-C15 : 0. The DNA G+C content was 47.7 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed SMR-CT and other strains of 'CAR bacillus' isolated from rodents all belonged to the phylum Bacteroidetes. The nearest known type strain, with 86 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, was Chitinophaga pinensis DSM 2588T in the family Chitinophagaceae. Strain SMR-CT and closely related strains of 'CAR bacillus' rodent-isolates formed a novel family-level clade in the phylum Bacteroidetes with high bootstrap support (98-100 %). Based on these results, we propose a novel family, Filobacteriaceae fam. nov., in the order Sphingobacteriales as well as a novel genus and species, Filobacterium rodentium gen. nov., sp. nov., for strain SMR-CT. The type strain is SMR-CT ( = JCM 19453T = DSM 100392T).
Landmarking of computed tomographic images to assist in segmentation of abdominal tumors caused by neuroblastoma

Segmentation of the primary tumor mass in neuroblastoma could aid radiologists by facilitating reproducible and objective quantification of the tumor's tissue composition and size. However, due to the heterogeneous nature of the tissue components of the neuroblastic tumor, ranging from low-attenuation necrosis to high-attenuation calcification, some of which possess strong similarities with adjacent nontumoral tissues in computed tomographic (CT) images, segmentation of the tumor is a difficult problem. In this context, landmarking methods are proposed to assist in the segmentation of neuroblastic tumors. Methods are proposed to identify and segment automatically the rib structure, the vertebral column, the spinal canal, the diaphragm, and the pelvic girdle. The use of the landmarks assisted in limiting the scope of the tumor segmentation process to the abdomen, and resulted in the reduction of the false-positive error rates by 26.9%, on the average, over 10 CT exams, and improved the result of segmentation of neuroblastic tumors.