Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fifty Years of Research in ARDS. Genomic Contributions and Opportunities

Abstract Clinical factors alone poorly explain acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) risk and ARDS outcome. In the search for individual factors that may influence ARDS risk, the past 20 years have witnessed the identification of numerous genes and genetic variants that are associated with ARDS. The field of ARDS genomics has cycled from candidate gene association studies to bias‐free approaches that identify new candidates, and increasing effort is made to understand the functional consequences that may underlie significant associations. More recently, methodologies of causal inference are being applied to maximize the information gained from genetic associations. Although challenges of sample size, both recognized and unrecognized phenotypic heterogeneity, and the paucity of early ARDS lung tissue limit some applications of the rapidly evolving field of genomic investigation, ongoing genetic research offers unique contributions to elucidating ARDS pathogenesis and the paradigm of precision ARDS medicine.
Changing Patterns of Corporate Disclosure in Continental Europe: The Example of Germany

This article presents a structural overview of corporate disclosure in Germany against the background of a rapidly evolving European market. It first makes the theoretical case for mandatory disclosure and outlines the standard, regulatory elements market transparency. It then turns to German law and illustrates both how it attempts to meet the principle, theoretical demands of disclosure and how it should be improved. The article also presents in some detail the actual channels of corporate disclosure used in Germany and the manner in which German law now fits into the overall development of the broader, European Community scheme, as well as the contemplated changes and improvements both at the national and the supranational level.
Environmental Policy in a Vertically Differentiated Product Market

Using a discrete-continuous model that deals with both consumers' choice and usage of an environmentally differentiated product in a utility-consistent framework, this paper investigates welfare impacts of emission taxes, subsidies and ad valorem taxes/subsidies on a green market where consumers emit a pollutant through their usage of the products offered by duopolists. An emission tax is always welfare dominant over a subsidy on consumers' purchase of the clean product because the emission tax contributes to a reduction in environmental damage by inducing firms to improve environmental qualities of the products and by constraining consumers' usage of the products. An ad valorem subsidy is always dominated by both an emission tax and a subsidy in terms of social welfare.
Contagion, Globalization, and the Volatility of Capital Flows

1. In a method of starting a detonation combustion engine having an aerothermodynamic duct which includes an adjustable inlet and an adjustable throat adjacent the combustion zone and is adapted to receive a hypersonic stream of air during normal operation, the steps comprising reducing the amount of air supplied by the inlet to the throat while simultaneously opening the throat until at least sonic velocity of the fluid stream is attained at the combustion zone, then gradually increasing the amount of air supplied by the inlet to the throat, feeding fuel into the fluid stream, and restricting the throat so as to adjust the flow to obtain the desired velocity, temperature and pressure for detonation in said combustion zone.
Quantitation of chondroitin 4-sulfate and chondroitin 6-sulfate in pathologic joint fluid.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the correlation between joint disease and the composition of chondroitin sulfate in the joint fluid, unsaturated disaccharide isomers of chondroitin 4-sulfate (delta di-4S) and chondroitin 6-sulfate (delta di-6S) were measured in joint fluids obtained from patients with osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), or traumatic arthritis (TA). METHODS These pathologic joint fluids were digested with chondroitinase ABC, and the delta di-4S and delta di-6S produced were determined by high performance liquid chromatography combined with fluorometry. RESULTS Total content of delta di-4S plus delta di-6S was 71.8 +/- 30.0 nmoles/ml (mean +/- SD) in OA, 55.4 +/- 29.3 nmoles/ml in RA, and 211 +/- 149 nmoles/ml in TA joint fluids. The ratio of delta di-6S to delta di-4S was 3.81 +/- 0.992 in OA, 1.13 +/- 0.527 in RA, and 5.75 +/- 2.46 in TA joint fluids. Differences between groups were statistically significant. CONCLUSION These results strongly suggest that the levels of chondroitin sulfate isomers and the delta di-6S: delta di-4S ratio in joint fluid reflect the proteoglycan metabolism of joint tissues, particularly of articular cartilage; hence, they could be used to diagnose joint diseases and to predict articular cartilage destruction from such joint diseases.
When the Use of Positive Language Backfires: The Joint Effect of Language Sentiment, Readability, and Investor Sophistication on Earnings Judgments

Recent studies document that market participants react positively to the positive language sentiment or tone embedded in financial disclosures, and that investors’ reactions to negative news are more muted with poor disclosure readability. However, while language sentiment and readability co-occur in practice, their joint effects remain largely unexplored. In an experiment with MBA students as participants, we investigate how the effect of language sentiment varies with readability and investor sophistication level. We find that language sentiment influences investors’ judgments when readability is low, but not when readability is high. Specifically, when readability is low, disclosures couched in positive language lead to higher earnings judgments for less sophisticated investors, but lower earnings judgments for more sophisticated investors. These findings show that the main effects of readability and language sentiment documented in prior studies have boundary effects, and may reverse when both variables are jointly considered along with investor sophistication.
Towards a Universal Embedded Atom Method Interatomic Potential for Pure Metals

A new interatomic potential for metals based on the embedded atom method is proposed in this paper. Some approximation of electron density distribution is suggested from the basic principles of quantum mechanics. The functional form of the electron density distribution includes two adjustable parameters. The form of this distribution defines the pair potential and, in part, the form of embedding energy function. The parameters are determined empirically by fitting to the equilibrium lattice constant, cohesion energy, vacancy formation energy, low index surface energy and elastic constants. Potential parameters for 27 metals (10 fcc metals, 9 bcc metals and 8 hcp metals) are presented. Potential is expressed by simple functions and can be used in molecular dynamics simulations of large atomic systems. PACS: 34.20. Cf, 61.50. Ah
The Importance of Automatic Syntactic Features in Vietnamese Named Entity Recognition

This paper presents a state-of-the-art system for Vietnamese Named Entity Recognition (NER). By incorporating automatic syntactic features with word embeddings as input for bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (Bi-LSTM), our system, although simpler than some deep learning architectures, achieves a much better result for Vietnamese NER. The proposed method achieves an overall F1 score of 92.05% on the test set of an evaluation campaign, organized in late 2016 by the Vietnamese Language and Speech Processing (VLSP) community. Our named entity recognition system outperforms the best previous systems for Vietnamese NER by a large margin.
Raw genotypes vs haplotype blocks for genome wide association studies by random forests

We consider two different representations of the input data for genome-wide association studies using random forests, namely raw genotypes described by a few thousand to a few hundred thousand discrete variables each one describing a single nucleotide polymorphism, and haplotype block contents, represented by the combinations of about 10 to 100 adjacent and correlated genotypes. We adapt random forests to exploit haplotype blocks, and compare this with the use of raw genotypes, in terms of predictive power and localization of causal mutations, by using simulated datasets with one or two interacting effects.
A flexible UWB sensor for indoor localization

This paper presents a research activity aimed at developing an Ultra-Wideband sensor for personnel indoor localization, based on the round trip time measurement of Ultra-Wideband pulses. An approach combining flexibility, high measurement update rate and asynchronous operation with digital processing capability has been employed in the design of the sensor. The principle of operation of the proposed sensor, the architecture of the realized in-house test bed and the experimental setup are described and discussed.
Process Design in an Information-Intensive Service Delivery System: an Empirical Study

Although services now account for between 60 and 80% of GDP and employment in many modern economies and despite a growing evidence of servicization in those economies (Bettley et al., 2005; Cook et al., 2006; Howells, 2004; Wise & Baumgartner, 1999), where manufacturers attempt to increase revenues and the bottom line by integrating service activities and/or components into their traditional product offering, service operations management research remains worryingly meagre (Machuca et al., 2007; Roth & Menor, 2003; Slack et al., 2004b). This paper suggests that many of the extant frameworks found within the Services literature require reappraisal to ensure their relevance and utility in a radically changing business landscape. Engaging a ‘synthetic’ mode of thinking, approaching inquiry from a General Systems Theory perspective, in pursuit of middle-range theory, the paper suggests a new framework for future research. This framework, drawing on recent developments such as UST, suggests that research is needed to address the process configurations of service delivery systems. In particular the correlation of ‘customer input’ type with ‘transformation type’, categorised by material, information, and customer, is suggested. This potentially provides archetypical forms of service delivery systems which are more closely aligned to organisational practice. These archetypes may be used for the logical derivation of future hypothetical propositions and subsequent confirmation through empirical investigation and thus provides a platform for future research. We suggest that this approach facilitates the pursuit of theory which informs organisational practice in a changing and expanding service context.
A quantitative evaluation of the efficiency and economic benefits of the Active-Reactive Induction Machine drive in high power applications

In the present scenario, high power industrial drive applications mostly employ Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) fed induction motors. In the very high power ranges (>10 MW), Load Commutated Inverter (LCI) fed synchronous motors are also used. Economy and efficiency are crucial factors for drives in such high power applications. Recently, a new hybrid drive topology using a specially designed dual stator winding induction machine fed from an LCI and a VSI has been proposed. The machine has been named as the Active-Reactive Induction Machine (ARIM). The use of a thyristor-based LCI to handle all the active power, is expected to make the ARIM drive a much more efficient and economic option than the VSI based drives. This paper presents a quantitative evaluation of the efficiency and economic benefits of the ARIM topology employed in a 1 MW drive application, as compared to three other popular drive topologies used in this power range. These are: (a) A low voltage VSI based drive, (b) A medium voltage two level VSI based drive, and (c) A medium voltage three level VSI fed drive. The losses and efficiency in each case are compared by simulation studies using MATLAB/PLECS. Further, an estimate of the approximate costs of the drive topologies is made to compare their economic benefits. It is found that the ARIM drive has major benefits in cost and efficiency, when compared to other conventional drives.
Industry specialization as a means to soften price competition in the audit market

This study empirically examines competition among auditors, arguing that auditors behave as oligopolists. Based on prior economic theory (see Hotelling, 1929) using game-theoretic models to predict market outcomes in differentiated product oligopolies, we hypothesize that the audit fee is affected by an auditor’s relative location in a market segment. Competition is measured at local audit office level per U.S. state and an audit office’s location through product differentiation is measured as industry specialization (i.e. fee market share in a two-digit SIC industry) per U.S. state. We find that the presence of competitive auditors with a higher (lower) degree of industry specialization puts (removes) pressure on (from) audit fees. Our results suggest that auditors do compete on audit fees, but clients are willing to pay a premium for specialist auditors.
Faustmann Optimal Pine Stands Stochastic Rotation Problem

The Faustmann optimal rotation harvesting pine stands' models under Logistic and Gompertz wood stock and Brownian price stochastic diffusion processes are reformulated as stochastic one dimensional optimal stopping problem, which are solvable with the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations. The application of these models to a Chilean forest company stands, shows discrepancies due to the absence of consideration to wood stock and price uncertainties that the company's actual cut policy shows. The stochastic models predict a significant increase of their deterministic optimal cut, with 47.0% and 48.0% in the cases of the Logistical and Gompertz wood stock diffusion respectively. The experimental data significantly validate the Faustmann stochastic logistic model giving a better approximation of the company cut policy, underestimating it by 8.09% and producing a more reliable saturation volume than the Gompertz model. The sensitivity analysis shows that both volatilities have a similar linear effect in the optimal cut, but the wood stock volatility volume elasticity of 0.687 almost double the stumpage price volume elasticity of 0.350, showing the importance of this uncertainty.
RNA synthesis in cells infected with herpes simplex virus. X. Properties of viral symmetric transcripts and of double-stranded RNA prepared from them

HEp-2 cells infected with herpes simplex 1 virus contain RNA transcripts capable of forming double-stranded (DS) RNA on annealing. The properties of purified DS RNA were as follows (i) DS RNA is resistant to depolymerization by RNase A or T-1 in 2 times 0.15 M NaCl, plus 0.015 M sodium citrate (SSC) but not 0.1 times SSC or following thermal denaturation. (ii) The Tm of the viral DS RNA was 100 C in 0.1 times SSC. (iii) Undenatured DS RNA does not hybridize with viral DNA: upon denaturation, excess unlabeled RNA drove 50 to 55% of labeled DNA into DNA-RNA hybrid. The kinetics of hybridization indicate that the DS RNA consists of at least two populations of transcripts arising from 29 and 26% of viral DNA and differing 40-fold in molar concentration.
Estimation of force-activation, force-length, and force-velocity properties in isolated, electrically stimulated muscle

Designing advanced controllers for motor neural prosthesis applications requires appropriate models for electrically stimulated muscle. A nonlinear nonisometric muscle model based on a Hill-type structure is presented. Estimation algorithms were derived to parameterize the passive force-length, the passive force-velocity, the active force-length, and the active force-velocity properties, the isometric recruitment curve, and the linear contraction dynamics of the model. All parameters were based on experimental measurements rather than on values taken from the literature. The estimation methods were validated experimentally using isolated hind-limb muscles in two acute animal model preparations. The results demonstrated that the parameterized model is capable of predicting force output with reasonable accuracy for a wide range of simultaneously varying kinematic and stimulation inputs. <<ETX>>
Aerobic Exercise Training in Very Severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of exercise training in patients with very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Design We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases using the following as search terms: COPD, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Exercise, and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of subjects with forced expiratory volume in the first second of less than 35% of the predicted normal value enrolled in in-patient, outpatient, or home- or community-based training programs lasting at least 4 weeks with respect to usual care. We included RCTs with outcome measures including the 6-minute walking test and/or health-related quality of life assessed by the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). Results Of 580 articles screened, 10 were included. The programs' duration ranged from 4 to 52 weeks with 1 to 5 sessions per week lasting 15 to 40 minutes each. The intervention group improved in 6-minute walking test [weighted mean difference, 67.1 (95% confidence interval [CI], 37.897–98.927); standardized mean difference, 3.86 (95% CI, 2.04–5.67)], and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire [weighted mean difference, −8.041 (95% CI, −15.273 to −0.809); standardized mean difference, −1.23 (95% CI, −2.14 to −0.31)]. Conclusions Exercise training improves exercise tolerance and health-related quality of life in patients with very severe COPD. However, because few studies on severely affected patients are available and the training programs are Highly heterogeneous, larger RCTs are needed.
Rediscovering consumer‐producer involvement: A network perspective on fair trade marketing

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate the value of a network perspective in enhancing the understanding of the business to consumer marketing of high‐involvement product categories. This is achieved through the analysis of the development of fair trade marketing in the UK.Design/methodology/approach – The paper addresses the research question through an analysis of relevant literatures from both marketing and other disciplinary areas. The paper is thus multidisciplinary in nature. Findings from a series of in depth, semi‐structured interviews with senior representatives of a fair trade wholesaler, of a specialist fair trade brand, of supermarket retailers involved with fair trade and of other fair trade labelling and support organisations are reported and discussed.Findings – The relevance of an actor network theory (ANT) informed interpretation of the development of the fair trade marketing network is revealed. Its emphases on the processes of exchange and the role of human and non‐human actants in ena.
Development and validation of a decigram-scale method for the separation of limonin from limonin glucoside by C18 flash chromatography

0308-8146/$ see front matter Published by Elsevier doi:10.1016/j.foodchem. 2008.08. 046 * Corresponding author. Tel. : +510 559 5898; fax: + E-mail address: andrew.breksa@ars.usda. gov (A.P. A preparative method for decigram-scale polishing of limonin glucoside (1) with regard to removing traces of limonin (2), the main bitter principle in Citrus, is reported. During the method development and up-scaling stages, sample purity, sample size, solvent amounts, and drying conditions were varied. The resulting polishing method consists of a simple step gradient that utilises food grade solvents, ethanol and water at 15% EtOH and 50% EtOH steps. Using a 75 300 mm C-18 column, this method is capable of processing 20 g of material per run in less than 3 h. Recovery of the purified limonin glucoside following evaporation of the solvent was 93.5% (±2.8, n = 6) and the limonin concentrations in the resulting materials were found to be reduced 10to 15-fold. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Empirical analysis for investigating the effect of object-oriented metrics on fault proneness: a replicated case study

The importance of software measurement is increasing, leading to the development of new measurement techniques. Many metrics have been proposed related to the various object-oriented (OO) constructs like class, coupling, cohesion, inheritance, information hiding and polymorphism. The purpose of this article is to explore relationships between the existing design metrics and probability of fault detection in classes. The study described here is a replication of an analogous study conducted by Briand et al. The aim is to provide empirical evidence to draw the strong conclusions across studies. We used the data collected from Java applications for constructing a prediction model. Results of this study show that many metrics capture the same dimensions in the metric set, hence are based on comparable ideas and provides redundant information. It is shown that by using a subset of metrics prediction models can be built to identify faulty classes. The model predicts faulty classes with more than 90p accuracy. The predicted model shows that import coupling and size metrics are strongly related to fault proneness, confirming the results from previous studies. However, there are also differences reported in this study with respect to previous studies such as inheritance metric which counts methods inherited in a class is also included in the predicted model. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Advanced scale-space, invariant, low detailed feature recognition from images - car brand recognition

This paper presents analysis of a model for car brand recognition. The used method is an invariant keypoint detector - descriptor. An input for the method is a set of images obtained from the real environment. The task of car classification according its brand is not a trivial task. Our work would be a part of an intelligent traffic system where we try to collect some statistics about various cars passing a given area. It is difficult to recognize objects when they are in different scales, rotated or if they are low contrasted or when it is necessary to take into count high level of details. In our work we present a system for car brand recognition. We use scale space invariant keypoint detector and descriptor (SURF - Speeded-up Robust Features) for this purpose.