Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of process conditions on the fluidization behaviour of gas fluidized beds

The flow properties of three powders differing in size and density and fluidized at various rates of aeration have been studied by means of a mechanically stirred Fluidized Bed Rheometer (msFBR). A correspondence between the fluid bed expansion and the torque measurements for the three powders was found: the higher the capability of the powder to expand, the lower the torque needed to stir it; increasing aeration diminished the energy needed to stir the materials. A shear stress/shear rate relationship was derived from the experimental curves and a rheological model was fitted to the data, highlighting a yield stress behaviour at gas velocities below the minimum fluidization velocity (umf) and power law behaviour at gas velocities above umf.
Determinants of Long-Term Growth: Some African Results

Using the framework of endogenous growth models which seeks to explain sustained long term growth across countries and over time as a basis, this paper empirically analyzes the determinants of long term growth in selected African countries during 1970-91. The most important explanatory variables considered include initial per capital income, investment, population growth, macroeconomic environment (inflation and exchange rates), external factors (export growth, external debt, terms of trade), political environment and human capital. On average, investment, external debt, population growth, human capital and proxies for macroeconomic environment appear to have more relative importance in influencing long-term growth. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.
Mechanism of the Antiproliferative Activity of Some Naphthalene Diimide G-Quadruplex Ligands

G-quadruplexes are higher-order nucleic acid structures that can form in G-rich telomeres and promoter regions of oncogenes. Telomeric quadruplex stabilization by small molecules can lead to telomere uncapping, followed by DNA damage response and senescence, as well as chromosomal fusions leading to deregulation of mitosis, followed by apoptosis and downregulation of oncogene expression. We report here on investigations into the mechanism of action of tetra-substituted naphthalene diimide ligands on the basis of cell biologic data together with a National Cancer Institute COMPARE study. We conclude that four principal mechanisms of action are implicated for these compounds: 1) telomere uncapping with subsequent DNA damage response and senescence; 2) inhibition of transcription/translation of oncogenes; 3) genomic instability through telomeric DNA end fusions, resulting in mitotic catastrophe and apoptosis; and 4) induction of chromosomal instability by telomere aggregate formation.
Stock index hedge using trend and volatility regime switch model considering hedging cost

This paper studies the risk hedging between stock index and underlying futures. The hedging ratios are optimized using the mean-variance utility function as considering the hedging cost. The trend of returns and variance are estimated by the model of regime switch on both vector autoregression (VAR) and GARCH(1,1) compared to three restricted models: VAR switch only, GARCH(1,1) switch only, and no switch. The hedge portfolio is constructed by Morgan Stanley Taiwan Index (MSTI) and Singapore Traded MSTI futures. The hedge horizon is set as a week to reduce the hedging cost and the weekly in-sample data cover from 08/09/2001 to 05/31/2007. The rolling window technique is used to evaluate the hedge performances of out-of-sample period spanning subprime, Greek debt, and post-risk durations. The subprime period indeed is evidenced very vital to achieve the hedge performance. All models perform surprisingly far above average during subprime period. The hedge ratios indeed are the tradeoff between maximum expected return and minimum variance. It is demonstrated challenging for all models to increase returns and reduce risk together. The hedge context is further classified into four hedge states: uu, ud, du, and dd (u and d denote respectively usual and down) using the state probabilities of series. The regime switch models are found to have much greater wealth increase when in dd state. It is decisive to hedge risk in dd state when volatility is extensively higher as observed recurrently in subprime period. Remarkably, the trend switch is found having larger wealth increase while the volatility switch is not found prominent between models. While the no switch model has larger utility increase in uu state as most observed in Greek debt or post risk period, its performance is far below average like other models.
Comparison of intravenous colloid and colloid-crystalloid combination in hypotension prophylaxis during spinal anesthesia for cesarean section.

CONTEXT Many studies comparing different intravenous fluid types usually do not use equipotent volumes of three to one crystalloid to colloid ratio in such comparisons. Conflicting results emanate from such studies. AIM This study was designed to compare the efficacy of equipotent volumes of colloid and crystalloid-colloid combination in spinal anesthesia-induced hypotension prophylaxis during cesarean section. SETTINGS AND DESIGN A prospective randomized double blinded experimental study carried out in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHODS Pregnant women scheduled for elective cesarean section were prospectively randomized into two groups to receive either 1000 ml of crystalloid/colloid (750/250 ml) combination or 500 ml colloid intravenous fluid preload, before spinal anesthesia. Hemodynamic variables were monitored till the end of surgery. The results were collated, analyzed, and rational conclusions deduced. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED Data collected and analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 and rational deductions derived. RESULTS In the first 10 min, the crystalloid-colloid combination showed better efficacy in hypotension prophylaxis over the colloid only regimen. In the next 30 min; however, there was no significant difference between both groups in hemodynamic parameters. CONCLUSION Beyond 10 min the crystalloid-colloid combination has no advantage over colloid alone in hypotension prophylaxis, as used in this study.
The polish intelligentsia: KOR and solidarity

The aim of the article is to evaluate the impact of a Polish dissident organisation, the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR), on the trade union Solidarity. KOR, like nearly all Polish dissidents’ organisations before, was formed by the intelligentsia alone. Yet, unlike its predecessors, it aimed at, and succeeded in, overcoming this isolation from other social groups; the isolation was deliberately introduced by the authorities. This success paved the way for the emergence of the free trade union Solidarity. The article argues that KOR significantly contributed both to the formation of Solidarity and to its performance, shaping the union's programme, structure, and strategy.
THE INEXORABLE RISE OF THE RATIONAL CONSUMER? THE BLAIR GOVERNMENT AND THE RESHAPING OF SOCIAL HOUSING

The Blair government is implementing an ambitious agenda for the reform of the access, pricing and subsidy of social housing in England. This paper argues on the basis of available evaluation evidence that we should expect a muted response from consumers to the incentives created by these reforms. In this respect, the reforms are only likely to fulfil their apparent objectives in part. The paper notes some significant tensions within the reform agenda. The issue of how housing choice is modelled is highlighted as key. The paper argues that if we are serious about understanding the impact of these policy reforms on letting outcomes then we need to return to first principles and re-examine our understanding of housing market decision-making. It concludes by suggesting an alternative reading of current developments, focusing upon control.
Serum levels of phytoestrogens as biomarkers of intake in Mexican women

Abstract Phytoestrogens have generated interest in human health in view of their potential effect to reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases. Serum levels of phytoestrogens have been proposed as an alternative to measure the exposure of phytoestrogens. We evaluated the use of serum as a biomarker of phytoestrogen’s intake in healthy women. Phytoestrogens in serum (luteolin, kaempferol, equol, biochanin A, formononetin, quercetin, naringenin, coumestrol, secoisolariciresinol, genistein, matairesinol, enterolactone, enterodiol, daidzein, glycitein and resveratrol) were analyzed by HPLC-ESI-MS. Subjects were asked to recall all foods and beverages consumed the previous 24 h. Association of dietary intake and serum concentrations was performed by Spearman correlation. Correlations were found for naringenin (r = 0.47, p < 0.001), luteolin (r = 0.4 p < 0.001), genistein (r = 0.32, p < 0.01) enterolactone (r = 0.35, p = 0.0553), coumestrol (r = 0.26, p = 0.0835) and resveratrol (r = 0.29, p = 0.0517). Serum levels as biomarkers of intake along with a 24-h recall would be useful in order to investigate the relationship between phytoestrogens and health.
Generalized estimators of stationary random-coefficients panel data models: asymptotic and small sample properties

• This article provides generalized estimators for the random-coefficients panel data (RCPD) model where the errors are cross-sectional heteroskedastic and contemporaneously correlated as well as with the first-order autocorrelation of the time series errors. Of course, under the new assumptions of the error, the conventional estimators are not suitable for RCPD model. Therefore, the suitable estimator for this model and other alternative estimators have been provided and examined in this article. Furthermore, the efficiency comparisons for these estimators have been carried out in small samples and also we examine the asymptotic distributions of them. The Monte Carlo simulation study indicates that the new estimators are more efficient than the conventional estimators, especially in small samples.
Study of Text Segmentation and Recognition Using Leap Motion Sensor

Recognition of 3-D texts drawn by fingers using Leap motion sensor can be challenging for existing text recognition frameworks. The texts sensed by Leap motion device are different from traditional offline and on-line writing systems. This is because of frequent jitters and non-uniform character sizes while writing using Leap motion interface. Moreover, because of air writing, characters, words, and lines are usually connected by continuous stroke that makes it difficult to recognize. In this paper, we present a study of segmentation and recognition of text recorded using Leap motion sensor. The segmentation task of continuous text into words is performed using a heuristic analysis of stroke length between two successive words. Next, the recognition of each segmented word is performed using sequential classifiers. In this paper, we have performed 3-D text recognition using hidden Markov model (HMM) and bidirectional long short-term memory neural networks (BLSTM-NNs). We have created a data set consisting of 560 Latin sentences drawn by ten participants using Leap motion sensor for experiments. An accuracy of 78.2% has been obtained in word segmentation, whereas 86.88% and 81.25% accuracies have been recorded in word recognition using BLSTM-NN and HMM classifiers, respectively.
Uncertain Policy Decisions and Investment Timing: Evidence from Small Hydropower Plants

Based on panel data of 214 licenses to construct small hydropower plants, we examine whether uncertainty with respect to the introduction of a market for renewable energy certificates affected the timing of investments in Norway from 2001 to 2010. Using regression analysis, we find that (1) investors owning a portfolio of licenses acted in accordance with a real options investment rule, and uncertain climate policy decisions delayed their investment rate; and (2) investors owning a single license acted in accordance with a traditional net present value investment rule, focusing on the value of the immediate investment and ignoring policy uncertainty.
Exploratory Study on the Contents Design of Mobile Edutainment for Preschool Children

As there has been a recent increase in the number of children who use edutainment content based on smart devices, the current study conducted an exploratory research to identify the design factors of smart phones and tablet PCs that influence the usage of mobile edutainment content for preschool children. Semi-structured interviews with 20 females who are mothers of preschool children revealed that aesthetic factors, such as characters, color, and the expressional form of symbolic icons included in the edutainment contents, sound, ease of use, story, and interactivity had significant effects on children’s preference and intention to use edutainment. This study provides the planners, producers and marketers of mobile edutainment content for children with a guideline on which aspects of the content they need to place emphasis on when producing edutainment content. However, in the future studies, it will be necessary to provide quantitative results by carrying out an empirical study.
Retraction: Transgenic expression of human matrix metalloproteinase-1 attenuates pulmonary arterial hypertension in mice.

Following an investigation by the Columbia University Office of Research Compliance and Training, the Editorial Board of Clinical Science is upholding the recommendation to retract this paper that has been communicated by the University’s Standing Committee on the Conduct of Research. All authors on the paper have been contacted with regard to the retraction. HHS Public Access Author manuscript Clin Sci (Lond). Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 January 01.
Corporate governance attributes and remediation of internal control material weaknesses reported under SOX Section 404

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between corporate governance attributes in the form of board and ownership characteristics and the remediation of internal control material weaknesses (ICMW) reported under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002. Design/methodology/approach - The paper employs multivariate logistic regression models for a sample of 528 firms having ICMW as per their auditors' attestation reports during the fiscal periods of 2004, 2005 and 2006 to investigate the empirical relationships between board and ownership characteristics, and remediation of control weaknesses in subsequent fiscal years. Findings - The board diligence, CEO-independent board, and managerial, institutional and dominant shareholdings are all positively and significantly associated with the ICMW remediation of the sample firms in the presence of other firm-specific variables in the analysis. The results also suggest that, in general, the ownership characteristics play a greater role in the firms' remediation action than the board-related factors except board diligence. The separate sub-sample tests demonstrate that board diligence and several stock ownership characteristics are positively and significantly associated with a firm's action to remediate both the systematic and non-systematic internal control weaknesses though the results are more robust for non-systematic control weaknesses. Research limitations/implications - A useful extension is to conduct a detailed analysis of the effect of audit committee characteristics in conjunction with board and ownership characteristics on firms' remediation action in a setting where ICMW firms take such action at a differential pace that may continue over two or more fiscal periods. Further, the present study examines the empirical associations between variables of interest, and does not, by virtue of its results, establish any cause-and-effect relationship between governance attributes and timeliness in ICMW remediation. Finally, this research can be extended to a detailed analysis of the types of systematic and non-systematic control weaknesses, their probable effect on firms' financial reporting process and the role of corporate governance in timeliness of management's remediation action for different types of internal control problems. Originality/value - The paper adds to the existing literature on corporate governance and financial reporting quality by documenting the association between a firm's board and ownership characteristics and management's immediate action to remediate internal control problems that ultimately impacts the quality of reported accounting information. The study complements prior studies on ICMW remediation and accrual quality by demonstrating that the effective monitoring by board and large, sophisticated shareholders as well as greater alignment of manager-shareholder interests ensures more timeliness in remediation of internal control weaknesses and improves financial reporting quality.
Comparison of long-term outcomes of patients with severe traumatic or hypoxic brain injuries treated with intrathecal baclofen therapy for dysautonomia

Primary objective: To compare the long-term outcome of patients with severe traumatic brain injury and patients with hypoxic brain injury with dysautonomia and hypertonia treated with intrathecal baclofen therapy. Methods and procedures: Fifty-three patients with severe traumatic (n = 43/53) or hypoxic (n = 10/53) brain injuries treated by intrathecal baclofen therapy were included to be evaluated with the Coma Recovery Scale–Revised, the Barthel Index, the Glasgow Outcome Scale, the Ashworth scale, the scores of hypertonic attacks, of sweating episode and of voluntary motor responses. A retrospective analysis highlighted patients’ characteristics at admission and before surgery and their complications. Main outcomes and results: After a mean follow-up time of 9.6 years, 13/53 (24.5%) patients had died. Alive patients with traumatic brain injury had a higher level of consciousness recovery (p < 0.02) and more abilities in activities of daily living (p < 0.008) in the long-term. Their dysautonomia and limb hypertonia also significantly improved, contrary to patients with hypoxic brain injury who needed higher doses of baclofen (p < 0.03). Conclusions: At long-term follow-up, patients with hypoxic brain injury had a poorer functional outcome than patients with traumatic brain injury with persistent symptoms of dysautonomia associated with uncontrolled hypertonia, despite the use of intrathecal baclofen.
Is the Relation between Volatility and Expected Stock Returns Positive, Flat or Negative?

Theoretical models, such as the CAPM, predict a positive relation between risk and return, but the empirical evidence paints a mixed picture. Positive, flat and negative relations have been reported in various empirical studies. In this paper we reconcile these seemingly conflicting results by showing how methodological choices can lead to different, or even opposite conclusions. In our 1963-2009 U.S. sample we find that the empirical relation between historical volatility and expected returns is negative, with an average quintile return spread of -3.7%. The relation becomes 2% less negative when small caps are excluded, but 3% more negative when compounding effects are taken into account. We also argue that the positive relation between volatility and expected return reported by some studies can be attributed to various kinds of look-ahead bias. Our results provide an empirical basis for low-volatility and minimum-variance investment approaches.
Potential utility of electronic drug compliance monitoring in measures of adverse outcomes associated with immunosuppressive agents

Poor compliance with prescribed medications limits the effectiveness of many pharmacologic therapies and enhances their potential toxicities. Traditional methods of measuring drug‐taking behavior, including direct observation, patient self‐report, pill counts, and therapeutic drug level monitoring, all have well‐described limitations in validity and interpretability. Electronic medication event monitoring has been used to assess compliance with therapies for hypertension, glaucoma, anemia, and epilepsy, overcoming many problems of traditional approaches. However, no published reports describe the use of electronic monitoring with immunosuppressive agents, despite their increasing use for non‐life‐threatening conditions and their many dose‐dependent toxicities. Transplant recipients are thought to be at particular risk from noncompliance. Therefore, we undertook this study to assess the feasibility of electronically monitoring compliance with immunosuppressive drugs among renal allograft recipients. Twenty‐five kidney transplant patients receiving immunosuppressive medications from a single pharmacy were enrolled. Each subject received electronic monitors with their immunosuppressive serum drug refills for cyclosporine and azathioprine. Each subject returned their monitors after the first month of this 2‐month study for downloading data. The frequency distribution of interdose intervals were described. Two measures of average non‐compliance were calculated for both drugs: the proportion of monitored days that had missed doses, and the proportion of missed doses. Once daily and twice daily regimens of cyclosporine were compared. Concordance in drug compliance between the two drugs was calculated for each subject and averaged over the study population. Twenty‐two of 25 subjects missed one or more doses of cyclosporine or azathioprine. Seventeen (68%) subjects never missed four or more consecutive doses. Subjects were non‐compliant with cyclosporine on 8.7% of monitored days, and non‐compliance with azathioprine on 9.8% of monitored days. Subjects were non‐compliant with 6.8% of their cyclosporine doses and 9.8% of their azathioprine doses. Patients were compliant with both drugs on 86.6% of days and were non‐compliant with both drugs on 5.1% of days. Subjects were non‐compliant with cyclosporine during 5% and 13.2% of monitored days for once and twice daily dosing regimens, respectively. Concordance analysis demonstrated that for 91.7% of days of monitoring, compliance information was identical for both drugs. This study demonstrated the feasibility of electronic medication event monitoring among kidney transplant patients. This methodology represents an important tool for monitoring compliance of immunosuppressive agents essential to their safe and effective use, and should be considered for use in future studies of these drugs and others with substantial dose‐dependent toxicity. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Early Treatment With Alglucosidase Alfa Prolongs Long-Term Survival of Infants With Pompe Disease

In a previous 52-wk trial, treatment with alglucosidase alfa markedly improved cardiomyopathy, ventilatory function, and overall survival among 18 children <7 mo old with infantile-onset Pompe disease. Sixteen of the 18 patients enrolled in an extension study, where they continued to receive alglucosidase alfa at either 20 mg/kg biweekly (n = 8) or 40 mg/kg biweekly (n = 8), for up to a total of 3 y. These children continued to exhibit the benefits of alglucosidase alfa at the age of 36 mo. Cox regression analyses showed that over the entire study period, alglucosidase alfa treatment reduced the risk of death by 95%, reduced the risk of invasive ventilation or death by 91%, and reduced the risk of any type of ventilation or death by 87%, compared with an untreated historical control group. Cardiomyopathy continued to improve and 11 patients learned and sustained substantial motor skills. No significant differences in either safety or efficacy parameters were observed between the 20 and 40 mg/kg biweekly doses. Overall, long-term alglucosidase alfa treatment markedly extended survival as well as ventilation-free survival and improved cardiomyopathy.