Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of light availability and tree size on the architecture of assimilative surface in the canopy of Picea abies: variation in shoot structure

radiance (diffuse site factor, ad) and total tree height (TTH) was studied in a natural canopy of Picea abies (L.) Karst. Surface area of foliar elements was characterized by total needle area (TLA, all-sided needle surface), projected needle area (PLA, area of detached needles laid flat on a horizontal surface), and vertical and horizontal silhouette shoot areas (SSA0 and SSA90, defined as shadows cast by shoots with fixed horizontal inclinations of 0° and rotation angles of 0° and 90°, respectively). With increasing irradiance and tree size, packing of needles (needle number per unit shoot length, Ls) and packing of TLA (TLA/Ls) increased, but packing of SSA0 (SSA0/Ls) was invariant. Accordingly, the SSA0 to TLA ratio (STAR0) decreased, signifying that the proportion of TLA exposed to direct solar radiation declined, and thus the cost of SSA0 in terms of TLA increased with increasing ad and TTH. Factors causing costlier SSA0 at high irradiances and in tall trees included increases in needle packing, changes in needle morphology (increases in needle dry weight per TLA and decreases in TLA/PLA), and changes in needle position and angle of needle inclination. The weight of the shoot axis (Ma) was used as an estimate of biomass costs for mechanical support of the needles and water supply to the needles. Foliage-area-based needle-support costs (NSCa), defined as Ma per unit foliage surface (TLA, PLA or SSA0) increased with ad and were not related to TTH, whereas foliage-weight-based needle-support costs (Ma/Mn) decreased with increasing TTH and were independent of ad.
Separate Destinations: Migration, Immigration, and the Politics of Places

Natives who change residence do not settle in the same places as immigrants. "Separate Destinations" argues that these distinct mobility patterns, coupled with record levels of immigration from impoverished third world nations, are balkanizing the American electorate. James G. Gimpel examines the consequences of different patterns of movement and settlement on the politics of the communities in which these different groups settle.Newer immigrants are con-strained by a lack of education, money, English literacy, and information--and frequently by discrimination--to live in areas of coethnic settlement. Domestic, native-born migrants--predominantly Caucasian--free of discrimination and possessing more money and information, move where they wish, often to communities where immigrants are not welcome or cannot afford to live. Strong evidence suggests that spatially isolated immigrants are slower to naturalize and get involved in politics than domestic migrants.Gimpel looks closely at states with very different patterns of migration and immigration: California, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New York. In these states, Gimpel shows the impact of population mobility on party registration, party votes, and voter turnout and asks whether population changes have changed the dominant party in a state or produced a political reaction from natives. "Separate Destinations" contains a number of thematic maps detailing the settlement patterns of internal migrants and immigrants for both counties and census tracts. Blending insights from a number of social science disciplines, including economics, demography, sociology, political science, and anthropology, this book will be of interest to a wide and diverse readership of scholars, students, and policymakers.James G. Gimpel is Associate Professor of Government, University of Maryland.
An Empirical Nexus between Consumer and Wholesale Price Indexes for Pakistan

This paper examines the relationship between consumer and wholesale price indexes for Pakistan using the Granger Causality Test Procedure developed by Toda-Yamamoto (1995) after the analysis of unit root and cointegration tests, the most widely used tests for time series analysis. The findings in this paper indicate that there is a bidirectional causal relationship between consumer and wholesale price indexes at bivariate and multivariate, with additional variables money supply and exchange rate. The results of this study apparently seem consistent with preceding studies that wholesale prices and consumer prices have feedback effect among them
Federico Caffè and economic policy as a discipline

The complex personality of Federico Caffe deserves attention for his uncommon qualities, as a man, a teacher and a researcher. He expressed dissatisfaction with reality and traced in his vast and deep knowledge of economic doctrines the need and the possibility for the state to intervene and change the performance of markets in a systematic way. From many points of view he anticipated the formation of Economic policy as a discipline. When this finally sprouted in Scandinavia and the Netherlands he was ready to give it a more systematic structure and spread it to the Italian academy. He was aware of the declining role of the discipline in the last years of his life and could not see its revival due to reconfirmed validity of its core.
Type D Dural Carotid—Cavernous Fistula

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of irradiation combined with particulate embolization for treating type D dural carotid—cavernous fistulas, supplied by the meningeal branches of both external (ECA) and internal carotid arteries. Material and Methods: Nine patients were treated by particulate embolization via the ECA branches, followed by radiation therapy with doses of 30 Gy. One of these patients with recurrent symptoms received an additional 30 Gy one year after initial treatment, making a total dose of 60 Gy. Results: In all cases, symptoms were improved immediately after the particulate embolizations. In 8 cases, complete resolution of symptoms were obtained in 4–19 months and an average of 8 months after treatment. In one case, chemosis was markedly improved and persisted minimally 41 months later. Conclusion: Particulate embolization is effective for immediate symptomatic improvement, and complete resolution of symptoms can usually be achieved by subsequent radiation therapy.
articlePregabalin in fibromyalgia-responder analysis from individual patient data

Background: Population mean changes are difficult to use in clinical practice. Responder analysis may be better, but needs validating for level of response and treatment duration. A consensus group has defined what constitutes minimal, moderate, and substantial benefit based on pain intensity and Patient Global Impression of Change scores. Methods: We obtained individual patient data from four randomised double blind trials of pregabalin in fibromyalgia lasting eight to 14 weeks. We calculated response for all efficacy outcomes using any improvement (≥ 0%), minimal improvement (≥ 15%), moderate improvement (≥ 30%), substantial improvement (≥ 50%), and extensive improvement (≥ 70%), with numbers needed to treat (NNT) for pregabalin 300 mg, 450 mg, and 600 mg daily compared with
Investigating the User Behavior of Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Software

In recent years, peer-to-peer file sharing has been a hotly debated topic in the fields of computer science, the music industry, and the movie industry. The purpose of this research was to examine the user behavior of peer-to-peer file-sharing software. A methodology of naturalistic inquiry that involved qualitative interviews was used to collect data from 21 university students in Taiwan. The results of the study revealed that a substantial amount of P2P file-sharing software is available to users. The main reasons for using P2P file-sharing software are to save money, save time, and to access files that are no longer available in stores. A majority of respondents use P2P file-sharing software to download music, movies, and software, and the respondents generally perceive the use of such software as neither illegal nor unethical. Furthermore, most users are free-riders, which means that they do not contribute files to the sharing process.
Testing for Real Interest Rate Parity Using Panel Stationarity Tests with Dependence: A Note

In this paper we test for real interest parity (RIRP) among the 19 major OECD countries over the period 1978:Q1-2006:Q1 using both short- and long-run definitions of interest rates. Once the independence hypothesis is rejected among these series, we test for RIRP using panel data unit root and stationarity tests based on common factor models that allow for pervasive forms of dependence. Our results indicate that there is no evidence in favor of the weak version of the RIRP since one of the common factors that have been estimated is non-stationary.
The European Security Agenda and the ‘External Dimension’ of EU Asylum and Migration Cooperation

Abstract The consolidation of immigration and asylum as security concerns on the European Union (EU) legislative agenda has been a recent, but steadfast, phenomenon within European integration. To be sure, the European heads of state and government have repeatedly asserted the added-value of European cooperation in these two fields vis-à-vis third countries even before formal competence was extended to the supranational institutions in 1999. This paper will show that the formation of the external dimension of European asylum and migration cooperation has been in the making since the early 1970s and did not originate as the security problematique as it is now conventionally perceived and articulated. It will be argued that the evolution of European asylum and migration cooperation can be explained as the outcome of converging external and internal pressures for change (fluctuation in migratory flows and policy failures). However, a distinct security discourse emanated from these developments and has been re-embedded into the legislative agenda by the political actors – EU interior ministers – who dominate the decision-making process for asylum and migration measures containing an external dimension. Given that the Lisbon Treaty provisions, if and when they do come into force, did not propose any changes to the legislative procedure for such measures, the current state of play is likely to persist.
The Relationship Between Investor Attachment Style and Financial Advisor Loyalty

The advent and evolution of behavioral finance has brought with it a revolution in the finance industry. Despite all its resources and infrastructure the investment advisory business often results in frustrating and ineffective advisor/client relationships. Using the principles of behavioral finance, the current study explores the psychological concept of individual attachment style and applies it to the relationship construction between the financial advisor and client. Results provide valuable information to the financial advisor in detecting and understanding different client characteristics that can help lead to productive, satisfactory advisor/client relationships.
Hybrid opto-electronic network structure with all-optical edge node for sample value in substation

A hybrid opto-electronic Ethernet network structure for Sample Value service in substation is proposed, which consists of the all-optical edge nodes realizing intra-bay contention-free transmission, multiplexing several wavelength channels and Software Defined Network (SDN) center switch achieving inter-bay signal gathering. Proposed scheme is consistent with the IEC61850 standard. The simulation model for all-optical edge node is set up in both physical and data link layers. The results show that the node can achieve error-free transmission (BER ≤ 10-12) in the actual conditions of substation. The latency of the all-optical edge node decreases around 9. 5μs (61.3%) compared to present Ethernet switch used in substation using standard SV packet size (116Byte) at 100M transmission speed.
Stochastic Estimation of Arm Mechanical Impedance During Robotic Stroke Rehabilitation

This paper presents a stochastic method to estimate the multijoint mechanical impedance of the human arm suitable for use in a clinical setting, e.g., with persons with stroke undergoing robotic rehabilitation for a paralyzed arm. In this context, special circumstances such as hypertonicity and tissue atrophy due to disuse of the hemiplegic limb must be considered. A low-impedance robot was used to bring the upper limb of a stroke patient to a test location, generate force perturbations, and measure the resulting motion. Methods were developed to compensate for input signal coupling at low frequencies apparently due to human-machine interaction dynamics. Data was analyzed by spectral procedures that make no assumption about model structure. The method was validated by measuring simple mechanical hardware and results from a patient's hemiplegic arm are presented
MANAGEMENT CONTROL: THE ROLES OF RULES, MARKETS AND CULTURE[1]

This paper addresses the question of efficacy of Management Control Systems in organizations. It shows that control systems are based on a combination of three underlying approaches — markets, rules and culture — in order to obtain desired behaviours from organizations’ members. These three approaches are then discussed in terms of Hofstede's work‐related values characterization. It is shown that each firm or organization defines its own balance among the three bases of control identified above. This balancing is dynamic and organizations must continuously adapt their Management Control Systems to changes in the overall culture(s), in technology and in the competitive forces. The general evolution of Management Control Systems is seen to be towards a lessening of the importance of rules‐based controls and towards an increased reliance on controls imbedded in the organizational culture. [2]
Synaptotagmin I is a molecular target for lead

Lead poisoning can cause a wide range of symptoms with particularly severe clinical effects on the CNS. Lead can increase spontaneous neurotransmitter release but decrease evoked neurotransmitter release. These effects may be caused by an interaction of lead with specific molecular targets involved in neurotransmitter release. We demonstrate here that the normally calcium‐dependent binding characteristics of the synaptic vesicle protein synaptotagmin I are altered by lead. Nanomolar concentrations of lead induce the interaction of synaptotagmin I with phospholipid liposomes. The C2A domain of synaptotagmin I is required for lead‐mediated phospholipid binding. Lead protects both recombinant and endogenous rat brain synaptotagmin I from proteolytic cleavage in a manner similar to calcium. However, lead is unable to promote the interaction of either recombinant or endogenous synaptotagmin I and syntaxin. Finally, nanomolar concentrations of lead are able to directly compete with and inhibit the ability of micromolar concentrations of calcium to induce the interaction of synaptotagmin I and syntaxin. Based on these findings, we conclude that synaptotagmin I may be an important, physiologically relevant target of lead.
Impact of pediatric rehabilitation services on children's functional outcomes.

OBJECTIVES Relatively little is known about the treatment effectiveness and functional outcomes of pediatric rehabilitation therapies. This study was conducted to gain knowledge of the type and quantity of inpatient rehabilitation services provided to children who received acute inpatient rehabilitation and compare functional gains by age and diagnosis. METHOD A retrospective cohort design was used. Records of rehabilitation therapies and functional assessments of 814 pediatric patients who received inpatient rehabilitation during 1996, 1997, and 1998 were collected. The admission and discharge item ratings of the WeeFIM instrument were first transformed into interval-level measures of self-care, mobility, and cognition. Parametric analyses were used to compare functional gains across impairment groups and to examine the relationship between amount of treatment and functional gains. RESULTS Occupational therapy and physical therapy were the primary rehabilitation services received by patients across impairment groups (98% and 99%, respectively). A large proportion of children with traumatic brain injuries also received speech therapy (97%) and psychology services (60%). Across domains (self-care, mobility, cognition), the largest gains were made by children who were older than 7 years and had traumatic injuries. Functional gains were significantly related to the amount of discipline-specific treatment received, after controlling for age, impairment, and functional status at admission. CONCLUSION Rehabilitation therapy provision in pediatric inpatient rehabilitation varies greatly depending on children's age and the nature of the impairment. Systematic reporting of type and quantity of rehabilitation therapies along with functional assessments before and after hospitalization would allow researchers to track functional changes and study the determinants of functional improvement.
Central bank independence in twelve industrial countries

There has recently been worldwide interest in the question of greater monetary policy autonomy for central banks. According to the December 1991 Treaty on European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), for example, the European Central Bank is supposed to assume practically unlimited responsibility for monetary policy. The authors set in context the issue of central bank independence and compare different indices of central bank independence.
Do Moving Average Rules Make Profits? A Study Using the Madrid Stock Market

(WP 03/04 Clave pdf) Previous studies have reported mixed results with regard to the success of technical trading rules.Studies that provide positive evidence are [Brock et al (1992), Karjalainen (1994), Bessembinder et al (1995),Mills (1997), and Fernandez et al (1999)]. Studies rejecting the utility of technical trading rules are [Hudson et al (1996) or Allen et al (1999)]. A recent body of work has applied evolutionary algorithms to the design of trading rules [see Karjalainen (1994), Allen et al (1999), Fernandez et al (2001) and NuA±ez (2002)]. This paper uses genetic algorithms to tests the forecastability of the moving average in the MSE.We report the lack of utility of this indicator.
Data-driven usability refactoring: Tools and challenges

Usability has long been recognized as an important software quality attribute and it has become essential in web application development and maintenance. However, it is still hard to integrate usability evaluation and improvement practices in the software development process. Moreover, these practices are usually unaffordable for small to medium-sized companies. In this position paper we propose an approach and tools to allow the crowd of web users participate in the process of usability evaluation and repair. Since we use the refactoring technique for usability improvement, we introduce the notion of “data-driven refactoring”: use data from the mass of users to learn about refactoring opportunities, plus also about refactoring effectiveness. This creates an improvement cycle where some refactorings may be discarded while others introduced, depending on their evaluated success. The paper also discusses some of the challenges that we foresee ahead.
Note on Naive Bayes Based on Binary Descriptors in Cheminformatics

A plethora of articles on naive Bayes classifiers, where the chemical compounds to be classified are represented by binary-valued (absent or present type) descriptors, have appeared in the cheminformatics literature over the past decade. The principal goal of this paper is to describe how a naive Bayes classifier based on binary descriptors (NBCBBD) can be employed as a feature selector in an efficient manner suitable for cheminformatics. In the process, we point out a fact well documented in other disciplines that NBCBBD is a linear classifier and is therefore intrinsically suboptimal for classifying compounds that are nonlinearly separable in their binary descriptor space. We investigate the performance of the proposed algorithm on classifying a subset of the MDDR data set, a standard molecular benchmark data set, into active and inactive compounds.
Household Debt and Attitudes Toward Risk

We explore the relationship between attitudes toward risk and the level of debt at the household level for a sample of households drawn from the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) over the period 1984 to 2007. Using a sequence of questions from the 1996 PSID, we analyze the implications of interpersonal differences in attitudes toward risk for the accumulation of unsecured debt, secured debt, and total debt at the household level. Our empirical findings suggest that attitudes toward risk are an important determinant of the level of debt acquired at the household level with risk aversion being inversely related to the level of debt accumulated by households.
Occurrence of Human Adenoviruses at Two Recreational Beaches of the Great Lakes

ABSTRACT Human adenoviruses (HAdVs) have been related to several waterborne diseases such as acute gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis, and respiratory illness, and it has been shown that an important human exposure pathway is through recreational waters. However, HAdV occurrence at recreational freshwater beaches has not been previously investigated. In this study, a total of 58 water samples were collected from two recreational beaches on Lake Michigan (i.e., Silver Beach and Washington Park Beach) during the summer of 2004. Occurrences of HAdVs in these lake samples were determined using two hexon-based real-time PCR assays (one for monitoring all 51 serotypes of HAdVs and another for specifically detecting F species HAdVs, i.e., serotypes 40 and 41) and compared to an integrated cell culture (ICC) PCR method. The real-time PCR results showed that 8 of 30 Silver Beach samples and 6 of 28 Washington Park Beach samples contained HAdVs, and F species HAdVs were detected in three of these positive samples. The concentrations of HAdVs ranged from (1.7 ± 0.7) × 101 to (3.4 ± 0.8) × 102 and from (7 ± 2) × 100 to (3.8 ± 0.3) × 103 virus particles/liter for Silver Beach and Washington Park Beach, respectively. F species HAdVs were detected at levels ranging from (4.8 ± 0.8) × 101 to (4.6 ± 1.5) × 102 virus particles/liter. Approximately 60% of the ICC-PCR analyses agreed with the real-time PCR results. This study revealed the occurrence of HAdVs at Lake Michigan recreational beaches. Given the potential health risks, further assessment regarding sources, virus transport, and survival is needed to improve the safety of the region.
Structural Changes, Housing Price Dynamics and Housing Affordability in Korea

The Korean housing sector offers an interesting case study. It has had a highly regulated market faced with a large demand pressure over an extended period of economic development, has solved the problem of absolute housing shortages within a reasonably short time period, and has maintained an explicit policy goal of achieving housing price stability. This paper documents the evolution of housing policy in Korea, identifying the structural changes that have taken place in the housing market and government intervention in it since the late 1980s. It also traces the trends in housing prices and affordability during the past two decades. An econometric analysis is then conducted to explore the determinants of long-run housing prices and how the structural change in mortgage lending around 2000 has impacted the housing price dynamics in Seoul and several other major cities. Finally, a set of policy implications is drawn from the analysis of housing prices and policy experiences.