Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The use of high resolution digital surface models for change detection and viewshed analysis in the urban area around the pyramids of Giza, Egypt

One of the biggest threats to cultural heritage is related to their rapidly changing and developing surroundings. The Giza pyramid plateau is a prime example of this phenomenon, as it is threatened by the enormous urban expansion of Cairo over the last decades. Documenting, monitoring and modelling such a pressure requires accurate and detailed geographic data, which can be derived from recent up-to-date, high resolution satellite images. Remote sensing techniques have proven to be very useful to visualize and analyze urban sprawl and land use changes in two dimensions. The impact assessment of urban sprawl near specific heritage sites, however; needs to be complemented with accurate 2.5D-information. In an attempt to do so, digital surface models (DSMs) from Ikonos-2 (2005) and GeoEye-1 stereoscopic images (2009 and 2011) have been computed in order to analyze recent urban changes. Change detection methods are mainly developed for large scale high resolution aerial images; however this paper focuses on the one hand DSM creation and its challenges resulting in an improvement of 2.5D change detection method for small scale satellite imagery in mainly informal areas. On the other hand a view shed evolution is presented. The combination of the enhanced digital terrain extraction (eATE) module of Erdas Imagine® and ground control points collected in the field provides accurate and high resolution DSMs. The impact of shadow and different urban morphologies however influence the pixel-wise comparison of the two DSMs, which results in different approaches for different city districts. The resulting 2.5D change model clarifies not only the urban sprawl, but also the increase in building levels, directly related to pressure on the famous pyramids. This pressure is furthermore analyzed by creating different view sheds through time from the plateau towards the city and vice versa. An integration of population statistics complements the model, hence allowing it to become a useful policy instrument.
Wideband Pattern-Reconfigurable Cone Antenna Employing Liquid-Metal Reflectors

A wideband pattern-reconfigurable cone antenna employing liquid-metal reflectors is presented. The proposed pattern-reconfigurable antenna consists of a metal cone as the main radiators and eight poles as reflectors for beam switching. It is simple in design and has a wide impedance bandwidth. By changing the states of poles, beam steering can be achieved, where the effect of reflection mechanism is theoretically researched and experimentally validated. Simulated and measured results are found in good agreement with each other. A prototype antenna with four radiation modes is fabricated, which can perform 21 kinds of beam steering over a 360° coverage. It has a fractional bandwidth of 45.5% covering from 1.7 to 2.7 GHz.
Static and Dynamic Externalities, Industry Composition, and State Labor Productivity: A Panel Study of States

Endogenous growth models have reignited interest in regional economic growth. Recent regional growth studies focus on dynamic externalities related to localization and urbanization economies. Yet, these studies typically attempt to observe externality-induced productivity effects indirectly through examination of employment growth. Also, issues of regional differences in concentrations of nationally productive industries and distinguishing between static and dynamic externalities have received little attention. This study directly relates measures of externalities to productivity differences, decomposing them into those due to differences in industry composition and those due to average productivity differences in each industry. A two-step procedure is used to distinguish static from dynamic externalities.
Leadership Positioning among U.S. Firms Investing in China

This study investigates leadership positioning by U.S. firms in China using the awareness, motivation, capability (AMC) perspective. We define leadership as first in industry to invest in China, and find that leaders have characteristics associated with higher AMC, evidenced by pre-existing multinational experience, higher product market orientation, smaller scale of operations, and higher input cost structure. Notably, the motivation to lower input costs and the prior capability in multinational operations mattered only for the first wave of firms leading industry investment earlier in time, while firms with smaller scale of operations exhibited a preference to lead investment in less popular provinces. Overall, these results provide a unique view on how AMC characteristics influence international investment decisions, suggesting that firms both strategically lead and strategically follow. In additional analysis, we examine how leaders and followers positioned themselves with respect to ownership, and find that leaders were more likely to choose entry modes that offered ownership control over flexibility, consistent with internalization theories.
Dual Targeting of Arabidopsis HOLOCARBOXYLASE SYNTHETASE1: A Small Upstream Open Reading Frame Regulates Translation Initiation and Protein Targeting1[W]

Protein biotinylation is an original and very specific posttranslational modification, compartmented in plants, between mitochondria, plastids, and the cytosol. This reaction modifies and activates few carboxylases committed in key metabolisms and is catalyzed by holocarboxylase synthetase (HCS). The molecular bases of this complex compartmentalization and the relative function of each of the HCS genes, HCS1 and HCS2, identified in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) are mainly unknown. Here, we showed by reverse genetics that the HCS1 gene is essential for plant viability, whereas disruption of the HCS2 gene in Arabidopsis does not lead to any obvious phenotype when plants are grown under standard conditions. These findings strongly suggest that HCS1 is the only protein responsible for HCS activity in Arabidopsis cells, including the cytosolic, mitochondrial, and plastidial compartments. A closer study of HCS1 gene expression enabled us to propose an original mechanism to account for this multiplicity of localizations. Located in the HCS1 messenger RNA 5′-untranslated region, an upstream open reading frame regulates the translation initiation of HCS1 and the subsequent targeting of HCS1 protein. Moreover, an exquisitely precise alternative splicing of HCS1 messenger RNA can regulate the presence and absence of this upstream open reading frame. The existence of these complex and interdependent mechanisms creates a rich molecular platform where different parameters and factors could control HCS targeting and hence biotin metabolism.
Design of Linear CMOS Transconductance Elements for Alpha-Power Law Based Mosfets and an Automatic Compensation Technique for Temperature

A model on alpha-power law MOSFETs based source-coupled differential pair (SCDP) is discussed and a simple design procedure for realizing a linear CMOS SCDP transconductance element is proposed. The proposed or modified SCDP circuit using this procedure is an alternative to that of conventional SCDP and the circuit discussed has superior linearity for a wide range ±(0-300mv) of input differential voltage at a supply voltage of 1.2v. The modified SCDP also includes the circuitry needed to suppress the variation in the quiescent current with respect to input common-mode voltage noise. The SPICE results are used to verify theoretical predictions. The results show close agreement between the predicted model behavior and the simulated performance. The simulated result on Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) shows that the modified SCDP circuit is better than the conventional SCDP by about four times at input differential voltage amplitude of ±100mv. An example circuit, a second order continuous time gm-C band-pass filter is constructed using the fully differential modified SCDP and the fully differential conventional SCDP circuit and the result shows that the modified transconductor circuit is better in linearity (THD) than the conventional SCDP by about two times at the input differential voltage amplitude of ±100mv. An automatic digital compensation scheme for temperature is also presented and the temperature coefficient of output current is reduced by about eight times to 250ppm/deg.C after compensation for the maximum change in temperature of 150deg.C and at the input differential voltage of 100mv.
Do schoolbags cause back pain in children and adolescents? A systematic review

Objective To investigate whether characteristics of schoolbag use are risk factors for back pain in children and adolescents. Data sources Electronic searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL databases up to April 2016. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Prospective cohort studies, cross-sectional and randomised controlled trials conducted with children or adolescents. The primary outcome was an episode of back pain and the secondary outcomes were an episode of care seeking and school absence due to back pain. We weighted evidence from longitudinal studies above that from cross-sectional. The risk of bias of the longitudinal studies was assessed by a modified version of the Quality in Prognosis Studies tool. Results We included 69 studies (n=72 627), of which five were prospective longitudinal and 64 cross-sectional or retrospective. We found evidence from five prospective studies that schoolbag characteristics such as weight, design and carriage method do not increase the risk of developing back pain in children and adolescents. The included studies were at moderate to high risk of bias. Evidence from cross-sectional studies aligned with that from longitudinal studies (ie, there was no consistent pattern of association between schoolbag use or type and back pain). We were unable to pool results due to different variables and inconsistent results. Summary/conclusion There is no convincing evidence that aspects of schoolbag use increase the risk of back pain in children and adolescents.
New method for self-heating estimation using only DC measurements

This paper reports a new method for estimating the thermal resistance of a device using the inverse of the transistor efficiency as a function of the power applied to the transistor's channel. The advantages of this new method are the use of DC measurements only and errors smaller than 4% in the estimation of the channel temperature increase due to the SHE when compared to a pulsed method for the UTBB SOI studied in this work.
Strategy in the climate change negotiations: do democracies negotiate differently?

Governments in international negotiations such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations use different negotiation strategies to increase their impact, which can be hard or soft, that is, more or less adding conflict to a negotiation. However, little is known about the structural (e.g. economic size) and domestic (e.g. pressure from stakeholders) factors that determine their choice of strategies. Using an original data set created from interviews with 58 delegations who attended the UNFCCC negotiations in Copenhagen, it is shown that the variables of economic power, democratic status, and pressure from domestic stakeholders had an effect on whether these delegations used hard negotiation strategies. It was found that economically powerful states were likely to use such strategies; in contrast democracies tend to use fewer hard strategies if their economic status is accounted for. However, democracies can be pressured to use hard strategies when they are lobbied by their domestic interest groups (e.g. GHG emitter interests, environmental groups).
CONSEQUENCES OF REGULATORY REFORM IN THE AMERICAN RAILROAD INDUSTRY.

Although regulatory reform has occurred in many American industries in the past two decades, in few of these industries was the need for reform as clear and urgent as in the domestic railroad industry during the 1970s. Simply stated, the financial viability of a large part of the industry depended on reform. For decades the industry had earned subnormal rates of return on investment and experienced declining market shares. By the early 1970s bankruptcy had become commonplace in the industry, particularly in the Northeast corridor, and with alarming quickness the vital signs of a number of other railroads were weakening. Regulatory reform was initiated in a series of steps during the 1970s, culminating with the passage of the Staggers Rail Act of 1980. To revitalize the industry, regulatory reform has generally been designed to lead to a market oriented system within the railroad industry, among other things giving railroads increased freedom to set rates, to enter into long term contracts, to abandon unprofitable lines and to reduce operating costs. In this article we will examine the nature and consequences of reform. Happily the text need not be written as a post mortem. In large part the financial condition of the industry has stabilized, and while the survival of the industry in the long run is still of some concern, the future of the industry is much brighter than it was twenty years ago. In fact, as the Association of American Railroads notes [1, 5], "For the first time ever, railroads handled more than a trillion ton-miles of traffic in 1989. "
Pbx1 is essential for adrenal development and urogenital differentiation

Pbx1 encodes a TALE (three amino acid loop extension) class homeodomain protein that participates in multimeric transcriptional complexes to regulate developmental gene expression. Previous studies demonstrate a critical role for Pbx1 as a developmental regulator whose absence results in embryonic lethality and multiple tissue and organ system abnormalities. Here we report a requirement for Pbx1 in the differentiation of urogenital organs, where Pbx1 is widely expressed in mesenchymal tissues. The complete lack of adrenal glands and formation of gonads displaying rudimentary sexual differentiation correlated with decreased cellular proliferation in Pbx1‐/‐ genital ridges. Furthermore, expression of steroidogenic factor‐1 (SF‐1), a nuclear receptor essential for adrenal organogenesis, was reduced to minimal levels in Pbx1 mutants, indicating an upstream function for Pbx1 in adrenocortical development. Finally, loss of Pbx1 markedly reduces urogenital ridge outgrowth and results in impaired differentiation of the mesonephros and kidneys and the absence of Müllerian ducts. These findings establish a Pbx1‐dependent pathway that regulates the expansion of SF‐1 positive cells essential for adrenal formation and gonadal differentiation and demonstrate an early requirement for Pbx1 in urogenital development. genesis 37:123–130, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Early Follow-Up After a Heart Failure Exacerbation: The Importance of Continuity.

BACKGROUND Although early follow-up for heart failure (HF) is recommended, the time window and which physicians should do the follow-up are unclear. We explored whether (1) follow-up within 14 days and (2) physician continuity influence outcomes within 30 days of a HF exacerbation. METHODS AND RESULTS Retrospective cohort of all adults in Alberta, Canada, with a first discharge from a hospital or an emergency department where HF was the most responsible diagnosis between April 2002 and November 2013, analyzed using Cox proportional hazards models with time-varying covariates. Of 39 249 adults (mean age,76.1 years), 21 848 (55.7%) received follow-up from a familiar physician, 3938 (10.0%) saw an unfamiliar physician, and 13 463 (34.3%) had no outpatient visits in the first 14 days after a hospitalization or emergency department visit for HF. The risk of death or hospitalization within 30 days was lower in patients who saw a familiar physician (16.9%; adjusted hazard ratio [aHR],0.94;95%confidence interval [CI],0.89-0.99) than inthose who sawan unfamiliar physician (20.0%;aHR,1.05;95%CI,0.97-1.15) or those with no outpatient visits (22.0%;aHR,1.00 [referent]). The composite of death or emergency department visit or hospitalization within 30 days was also less common with familiar physician follow-up (25.2%;aHR,0.86;95%CI,0.82-0.89) compared withunfamiliar physicians (26.9%;aHR,0.93;95%CI,0.87-0.996) or those with no outpatient follow-up within 14 days (47.5%;aHR,1.00 [referent]). CONCLUSIONS Outpatient follow-up within 14 days after HF exacerbation requiring hospitalization or emergency department visit is associated with better outcomes, particularly if the follow-up is with a familiar physician.
Circular Polarized Ground Radiation Antenna for Mobile Applications

Here, we propose a ground radiation antenna (GradiAnt) with circular polarization (CP) by applying the ground-mode tuning (GMT) technique to the ground plane. We demonstrate that a GradiAnt at an arbitrary location of the ground plane can simultaneously excite two orthogonal modes of the same magnitude, and the phase difference between the two modes can be adjusted via GMT to achieve CP in mobile antennas. The proposed GradiAnt can be viewed as a combination of an electric coupler (J-type) and magnetic coupler (M-type) to the modes of the ground plane, and both modes can be excited to the same amplitude by tuning the coupling-type. GMT, applied to the ground modes using inductor-connected metal strips, can generate a 90° phase difference between the two modes of the ground plane. The proposed antenna design generates a 6 dB axial ratio bandwidth of 140 MHz from 2.38 to 2.52 GHz in the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$+\textit {z}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-direction. Right-hand CP and left-hand CP in the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$+\textit {z}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-direction and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$-\textit {z}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-direction, respectively, are obtained. The tuning mechanism is presented, and measurements are taken to validate the proposed technique.
ENETS Consensus Guidelines for the Standards of Care in Neuroendocrine Tumors: Follow-Up and Documentation

Summary of follow-up recommendations in patients with benign and malignant neuroendocrine tumorsFollow-upyes/no endoscopy US/CT/MRI Octreoscan CgABenign insulinoma noType 1 gastric carcinoid yes yearlyRectal carcinoid no (if completely resected)Appendiceal carcinoid T1 noAppendiceal carcinoid T2 ? (see text)Resectable tumor (uncertain behavior)G1 every 6–12 months yes(gastric carc.)yes every 2 years 2 yes 1 Resectable malignant tumor with/without nodal involvementG1 every 6–12 months yes every 2 years 2 yes 1 G2 every 6 months yes yearly 2 yes 1 G3 every 3 months yes yearly 2 yes 3 Non-resectable malignant tumor with/without nodal involvement and/or liver and other metastasesG1 every 6–12 months yes every 2 years 2 yesG2 every 6 months yes yearly 2 yesG3 every 3 months yes yearly 2 yes 31 Only in the presence of a visible tumor. 2 Recommendations regarding the time frames of Octreoscan should be adjusted to the individual situation. 3 In poorly differentiated tumors and negative CgA NSE may act as a suitable marker.
Human Skeleton Detection from Semi-constrained Environment Video

This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013 and research grant FCT SFRH/BD/84939/2012.
Collateral Pledge, Sunk-Cost Fallacy and Mortgage Default

Individuals and firms pledge collateral to mitigate agency costs or contracting frictions in a world with asymmetric information. However, the option value theory suggests that once the mark-to-market asset valuation is below the current debt, the firms and individuals should default on their debt contract irrespective of the initial collateral pledged. In this paper, we estimate default models and find that after controlling for mark-to-market asset valuation, initial collateral remains an important predictor of mortgage default. Specifically, individuals that pledge higher collateral have a lower hazard to default. Our results are consistent with models of sunk cost fallacy.
The Pricing Efficiency Of Leveraged Exchange-Traded Funds: Evidence From The U.S. Markets

We examine the pricing efficiency of leveraged exchange-traded funds, whose goal is to generate daily returns that are in a positive or a negative multiple of the underlying index returns. We find that bull funds (i.e., those with positive multiples) tend to trade at a discount more often than bear funds (i.e., those with negative multiples) do. Also, price deviations of bull (bear) funds are negatively (positively) correlated with their underlying index returns. These behaviors are more pronounced in funds with high leverage ratios, and can be partly explained by the funds' daily exposure adjustments to maintain their leverage ratios.
Additional AM Fungi Inoculation Increase Populus cathayana Intersexual Competition

Sex-specific responses to mycorrhiza have been reported in dioecious plant species, but little attention has been paid to the influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on competitive ability under intersexual competition. To further address whether this competition is affected by an additional AM fungi supply, Populus cathayana saplings were chosen and subjected to two mycorrhizal treatments [inoculated and non-inoculated (control) with an additional AM fungi Funneliformis mosseae] while growing with the opposite sex for 3 months. Compared with the control, the additional AM fungi inoculation induced P. cathayana saplings to exhibit significant sexual differences in root structure and nutrient uptake (e.g., cortical layer, cross-section area, radius of root tips, and N, K, and Mg content), and enlarged sexual differences in morphology and biomass accumulation (e.g., leaf number increment, shoot height increment, total leaf area, total specific root length, stem dry mass, leaf dry mass, and total dry mass). Meanwhile, inoculated females presented higher values in most of these traits mentioned above than males under intersexual competition. Therefore, we conclude that the intersexual competition can be increased by an additional AM fungi supply, with females gaining more symbiosis-mediated benefits than males.