Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bridges across the Racial Digital Divide: Residential Ecology of Internet Use

Our paper extends the study of residential ecology to understand social changes, specifically the adoption of Internet use. We suggest that the residential ecology of the metropolitan area, in addition to household socioeconomic factors, should be considered in understanding Internet use. The centripetal dimension of residential ecology, represented by residential isolation and the spatial concentration of the poor, and the centrifugal dimension of residential ecology, reflected by residential interaction of groups, are important to understanding the digital divide among racial groups. Based on the August 2000 Current Population Survey Computer and Internet Use Supplement, our results demonstrate that residential ecology is important to understanding the digital divide of groups, especially groups with low rates of Internet use, i.e., blacks and Hispanics. Implications are discussed.
Bone marrow transplantation for chronic myeloid leukaemia: the effects of differing criteria for defining chronic phase on probabilities of survival and relapse

We studied actuarial survival and relapse in 251 patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) treated by bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from HLA‐identical sibling donors at a single institution. According to the institutional criteria used to define disease phase at the time of BMT, the 5‐year probabilities of survival were 58.1% (95% confidence interval 50–66%) for 205 chronic‐phase patients and 21.5% (95%CI 12–37%) for 46 advanced‐phase patients (P < 0.00001); the corresponding values for relapse were 34.8% (95%CI 27–44%) versus 72.7% (95%CI 46–89%). When disease phase was defined strictly according to the criteria of the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry, the survival for 154 chronic‐phase patients increased to 60.1% (95%CI 51–69%) and that for 97 advanced‐phase patients increased to 37.6% (95%CI 28–48%). There was a parallel change in probabilities of relapse in the two patient groups (33.9% [95%CI 25–44%] and 51.3% [95%CI 37–66%], respectively). We also observed that patients transplanted in advanced phase had a higher incidence of grades III–IV acute graft‐versus‐host disease (P = 0.001) and transplant‐related mortality (P = 0.02) than those undergoing BMT for chronic‐phase disease. We recommend that transplant centres reporting results of BMT should always specify the precise criteria used for defining disease phase in order to ensure that results between different centres are strictly comparable.
Methods for products recommendation using emotional information

Kutani-ware is a famous traditional craft which is so significant not only from the economic perspective, but also from the culture perspective. But it has been shrinking recently because of the changes in lifestyle or the appearance of more functional modern products. Compared with the function, brand, image and style have become important in product selection and, technology is no longer the sole driving force in the development of product. As the spread of marketing appealing to emotion, many methods for treating human's feeling have been developed. Since human's emotion has both linear and non-linear characteristics, and it is changing by moment, a method which fits better is necessary. This paper develops a new evaluation model by comparing methods of statistical, fuzzy and pseudo-fuzzy approaches based-on an emotional evaluation database to determine the best approach for recommendation of products.
On the Behavior of Commodity Prices

The classical theory of commodity price determination integrates myopic supply and demand on the one hand with competitive storage (speculation) under rational expectations on the other. Taking into account the fact that inventories mist; be non-negative, this paper derives from the theory testable implications on the behavior of prices, and makes a first attempt to confront these implications with the empirical evidence. The nonlinearities turn out to be a crucial ingredient in matching the stylized facts, particularity the asymmetries and the sharp upward flares that characterize many commodity prices. The model, simple as it is, goes a long way in reproducing the main features of the data for a range of commodities.
Grounding in communication

GROUNDING It takes two people working together to play a duet, shake hands, play chess, waltz, teach, or make love. To succeed, the two of them have to coordinate both the content and process of what they are doing. Alan and Barbara, on the piano, must come to play the same Mozart duet. This is coordination of content. They must also synchronize their entrances and exits, coordinate how loudly to play forte and pianissimo, and otherwise adjust to each other's tempo and dynamics. This is coordination of process. They cannot even begin to coordinate on content without assuming a vast amount of shared information or common ground-that is, mutual knowledge, mutual beliefs, and mutual assumptions And to coordinate on process, they need to update their common ground moment by moment. All collective actions are built on common ground and its accumulation. We thank many colleagues for discussion of the issues we take up here.
Current transport mechanisms of Schottky barrier and modified Schottky barrier MOSFETs

Current transport mechanisms of Schottky barrier (SB) and modified Schottky barrier (MSB) MOSFETs are investigated by measuring the temperature effect on current-voltage characteristics. For SB MOSFETs, current transport could be dominated by thermionic emission or tunneling mechanism depends on the Schottky barrier height and the gate voltage. The current transport of the MSB MOSFETs changes from tunneling mechanism to drift-diffusion mechanism as the gate voltage increases. The changing point is a good indicator to evaluate the efficiency of the MSB junction. Since the current transport mechanism depends on bias condition, the extraction of mobility should be treated carefully, especially at low gate voltage.
Taxa de câmbio, comércio exterior e desindustrialização precoce – o caso brasileiro

The reason for this study is to evaluate the potential process of early deindustrialization in Brazil, or, the falling share of manufacturing in the value added at lower levels of per capita income, when compared to those perceived in similar processes in developed countries. To do so, the study has specified a model that incorporates several factors that may have led to the process of reducing the share of manufacturing in the value added in Brazil since the 1980s. It also highlights the influence of the overvalued exchange rate. The data suggests that this correlation is significant.
Politické strany moderní Evropy. Analýza stranicko-politických systémů

Politicke strany jsou jednim ze zakladnich prostředků k zajistěni demokraticke vlady. Umožňuji formovani nazorů obcanů, jejich agregaci a vyjadřovani ve volbach. V jejich fungovani nebo naopak dysfunkci se projevuje kvalita celých politických systemů. Stavaji se proto privilegovaným předmětem studia politologie. Na zakladě klasických typologii (G. Sartoriho, J. Blondela) popisuji autoři systemy politických stran v rozsiřene Evropske unii a ostatnich statech zapadni Evropy. Věnuji se jejich soucasnemu stavu, jednotlivým významným stranam, konfliktnim liniim, vývoji, proměnam a významu pro politiku v jednotlivých zemich.
Genetic evaluation for dairy production traits with a test day model for multiple lactations

A multiple lactation test day model was applied to predict genetic merit for dairy production traits in German Holstein cattle. The model for test day genetic evaluation included a fixed herd-test-date effect, fixed regressiors on fi:nctions of days in milk, random Permanent environmental effects within lactatiory random animal genetic effects, and residual effects. Records from the first three lactations were used and treated as different traits. Test day evaluations were compared to evaluatioru obtained with a lactation model as used for official evaluation in C,errrany. Correlatiors between EBV from test-day model and EBV from lactation model were in a range of . 90 to . 95 for bulls with many daughters, but were as low as . 80 for bulls with few daughters.
Cardio-Oncology Issues Among Pediatric Cancer and Stem Cell Transplant Survivors

Improvements in the survival of children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer have resulted in a growing population of childhood, adolescent and adult cancer and stem cell transplant survivors. Approximately two thirds of these survivors will experience at least 1 late effect of their treatment, and about one third will experience a late effect that is severe or life threatening. Childhood cancer survivors are at high risk for development of severe cardiac disease, particularly after anthracycline and/or radiation exposure. Cardiotoxicity can present as early cardiac dysfunction during or shortly after therapy or as chronic impairment of cardiac function several years after treatment. Attempts to minimize serious adverse effects have included reduction of high-dose chemotherapy, particularly anthracycline dosing to <350 mg/m2, use of cardioprotective agents such as dexrazoxane and decreased radiation dosing and radiation fields. There have been no convincing data showing medical interventions that can reliably slow or reverse cardiotoxicity in treated patients, which therefore warrants further studies looking at the use of beta blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, or newer agents either prior to or following the discovery of heart damage. Emphasis on the prevention of further damage is critical and can be accomplished through aggressive surveillance, including screening for lipid abnormalities, cardiac biomarkers such as troponins and B-type natriuretic peptides, hypertension, diabetes and obesity as well as the use of echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to identify abnormalities early in their course. Here, we provide an overview of the field of cardio-oncology to stimulate interest among cardiologists.
The Impact of Liquidity Constraints on Bank Lending Policy

This paper examines banks' provision of liquidity to depositors and provision of loans. The problem identified is that banks may not be able to provide new funds for borrowers who are short of cash, because either the return on investments is poor, or because depositors withdraw more funds than expected. Banks subject to liquidity shortages may ration loans to good borrowers. This problem is shown to depend upon the nature of the deposit contract and banks' inability to issue subordinated deposits. State contingent renegotiation of loans and matching of the duration of project returns and investment needs mitigates the problem.
Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in Health Care Systems

SUMMARY Antimicrobial stewardship programs in hospitals seek to optimize antimicrobial prescribing in order to improve individual patient care as well as reduce hospital costs and slow the spread of antimicrobial resistance. With antimicrobial resistance on the rise worldwide and few new agents in development, antimicrobial stewardship programs are more important than ever in ensuring the continued efficacy of available antimicrobials. The design of antimicrobial management programs should be based on the best current understanding of the relationship between antimicrobial use and resistance. Such programs should be administered by multidisciplinary teams composed of infectious diseases physicians, clinical pharmacists, clinical microbiologists, and infection control practitioners and should be actively supported by hospital administrators. Strategies for changing antimicrobial prescribing behavior include education of prescribers regarding proper antimicrobial usage, creation of an antimicrobial formulary with restricted prescribing of targeted agents, and review of antimicrobial prescribing with feedback to prescribers. Clinical computer systems can aid in the implementation of each of these strategies, especially as expert systems able to provide patient-specific data and suggestions at the point of care. Antibiotic rotation strategies control the prescribing process by scheduled changes of antimicrobial classes used for empirical therapy. When instituting an antimicrobial stewardship program, a hospital should tailor its choice of strategies to its needs and available resources.
Failure of noninvasive prediction of pulmonary hypertension in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

BACKGROUND Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients with advanced idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a complication connected with unfavorable prognosis. Great efforts have been made in attempting to establish a reliable non-invasive method which would enable detection of this complication. In this context a formula using pulmonary function parameters was published with outstanding results. METHODS We tested the formula in 27 IPF patients who underwent a lung function examination, cardiac ultrasonography and catheterisation on the same day. RESULTS Pulmonary hypertension was detected by catheterisation in 17 patients (63%). In our group, contrary to the published data, the aforementioned formula was neither useful for detecting patients with a high probability of PH nor as a means of calculating the mean pulmonary artery pressure in individual patients (p = 0.502 and p = 0.833, respectively). Ultrasound examination reached borderline correlation with the values measured by catheterisation when we compare patients with relevant results (r = 0.531, p = 0.051). However, the examination gave no usable results in 13 patients (48%). CONCLUSION Our data suggests that no reliable, noninvasive method is currently available for detecting and confirming PH in IPF patients. We did not confirm the usefulness of the published formula. Further carefully organised studies will be necessary to verify or refute it.
Otitis Media, Hearing Loss, and Language Learning: Controversies and Current Research

ABSTRACT. This article reviews research on the possible linkage of otitis media with effusion (OME) to children's hearing and development, identifies gaps, and directions for research, and discusses implications for healthcare practices. About half of children with an episode of OME experience a mild hearing loss while about 5-10% of children have moderate hearing loss. Recent prospective and randomized clinical trials suggest none to very small negative associations of OME to children's later language development. Based on both retrospective and prospective longitudinal studies, associations between OME and perceiving speech in noise and tasks that require equal binaural hearing have been reported but have not been adequately studied with regard to functional outcomes. Thus, on average, for typically developing children, OME may not be a substantial risk factor for later speech and language development or academic achievement. However, these conclusions should be interpreted cautiously, since most of these studies used OME rather than hearing loss as the independent variable (although hearing loss rather than OME is hypothesized to affect language development) and many studies did not control for important confounding variables such as socioeconomic status (SES).
Differential erbB signaling in astrocytes from the cerebral cortex and the hypothalamus of the human brain

Studies in rodents have shown that astroglial erbB tyrosine kinase receptors are key regulatory elements in neuron–glia communication. Although both astrocytes and deregulation of erbB functions have been implicated in the pathogenesis of many common human brain disorders, erbB signaling in native human brain astrocytes has never been explored. Taking advantage of our ability to perform primary cultures from the cortex and the hypothalamus of human fetuses, we conducted a thorough analysis of erbB signaling in human astrocytes. We showed that human cortical astrocytes express erbB1, erbB2, and erbB3, whereas human hypothalamic astrocytes express erbB1, erbB2, and erbB4 receptors. Ligand‐dependent activation of different erbB receptor heterodimeric complexes in these two populations of astrocytes translated into different morphological and proliferative responses. Although morphological plasticity was more pronounced in hypothalamic astrocytes than in cortical astrocytes, the former showed a lower mitogenic potential. Decreasing erbB4 expression via siRNA‐mediated gene knockdown revealed that erbB4 constitutively restrains basal proliferative activity in hypothalamic astrocytes. We further show that treatment of human astrocytes with a protein kinase C activator results in rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of erbB receptors that involves cleavage of endogenous membrane bound erbB ligands by metalloproteinases. Together, these results indicate that erbB signaling in primary human brain astrocytes is functional, region‐specific, and can be activated in a paracrine and/or autocrine manner. In addition, by revealing that some aspects of astroglial erbB signaling are different between human and rodents, our results provide a molecular framework to explore the potential involvement of astroglial erbB signaling deregulation in human brain disorders. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Vermis and lateral lobes of the cerebellum in adolescents born very preterm

Adolescents born before 33 weeks' gestation have reduced cerebellar volume compared with term-born controls, and this is related to their cognitive performance. We wished to determine whether this relationship is regionally specific. We measured midline and lateral cerebellar volumes in magnetic resonance imaging scans from 67 very preterm adolescents and 50 term-born controls at 14–15 years. Volumes of vermis and lateral lobes were reduced in the preterm group, after controlling for whole-brain volume. Lateral cerebellar volume decrease was associated with reduced cerebral white matter volume, and with reduced executive, visuo-spatial and language function. Vermis volume was less strongly related to cognitive function. Volume decrement of the lateral lobes, rather than the vermis, is associated with neuropsychological dysfunction in very preterm individuals.
Stabilized double-electron capture in Krq+ (q=17,18)-Kr collisions.

We have determined the distribution of [ital n] states initially populated in a double- or multielectron-capture collision of Kr[sup [ital q]+] ([ital q]=17,18) with Kr at low energy ([approx]5 keV/u). Radiative decay curves of Rydberg transitions of the projectile ions were obtained by translating the target gas jet along the projectile beam. As a result for Kr[sup 18+] projectiles, we found that an initial population of Kr[sup 16+] equally distributed from [ital n]=14 to 19 allows the observed Kr XVII 13-14 radiative decay curve to be reproduced relatively well. Furthermore, coincidence time-of-flight spectroscopy of photons emitted by recoil ions of given charge states was used to measure the radiative decay of recoil-ion transitions. From the Kr VII 7[ital i]-8[ital k] decay curve we deduced an initial population distribution of the Kr[sup 6+] recoil ion centered around [ital n]=20. These results lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms of double-electron capture responsible for populating Rydberg states, especially those in asymmetric configurations.
Down-regulation of 21A Alu RNA as a tool to boost proliferation maintaining the tissue regeneration potential of progenitor cells

ABSTRACT 21A is an Alu non-coding (nc) RNA transcribed by RNA polymerase (pol) III. While investigating the biological role of 21A ncRNA we documented an inverse correlation between its expression level and the rate of cell proliferation. The downregulation of this ncRNA not only caused a boost in cell proliferation, but was also associated to a transient cell dedifferentiation, suggesting a possible involvement of this RNA in cell dedifferentiation/reprogramming. In this study, we explored the possibility to enhance proliferation and dedifferentiation of cells of interest, by 21A down-regulation, using a mixture of chemically modified Anti-21A RNAs. Our results confirmed the validity of this approach that allows the amplification of specific cell populations, in a controlled manner and without inducing permanent effects. In addition to induce cell proliferation, the procedure did not decrease the tissue regeneration potential of progenitor cells in two different cell systems.
Estimating regional evapotranspiration under water-limited conditions based on SEBS and MODIS data in arid regions

This study proposes a method for improving the estimation of surface turbulent fluxes in surface energy balance system (SEBS) model under water stress conditions using MODIS data. The normalized difference water index (NDWI) as an indicator of water stress is integrated into SEBS. To investigate the feasibility of the new approach, the desert-oasis region in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin (HRB) is selected as the study area. The proposed model is calibrated with meteorological and flux data over 2008- 2011 at the Yingke station and is verified with data from 16 stations of the Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (HiWATER) project in 2012. The results show that soil moisture significantly affects ET under water stress conditions in the study area. Adding the NDWI in SEBS can significantly improve the estimations of surface turbulent fluxes in water-limited regions especially for spare vegetation cover area. The daily ET maps generated by the new model also show improvements in drylands with low ET values. This study demonstrates that integrating the NDWI into SEBS as an indicator of water stress is an effective way to improve the assessment of the regional ET in semi-arid and arid regions.