Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perinatal outcome of pregnancies complicated with extreme birth weights at term

Abstract Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate whether an abnormal birthweight at term, either small for gestational age (SGA, < 5th centile for gestational age) or large for gestational age (LGA, > 95th centile for gestational age), is a risk factor for perinatal complications as compared with birthweight appropriate for gestational age (AGA). Methods: A population-based retrospective cohort analysis of all singleton pregnancies delivered between 1991 and 2014 at Soroka Medical Center. Congenital malformations and multiple pregnancies were excluded. A multivariable generalized estimating equation regression model was used to control for maternal clusters and other confounders. Results: During the study period, 228,242 births met the inclusion criteria, of them 91% were AGA (n = 207,652), 4.7% SGA, and 4.3% LGA. SGA significantly increased the risk for perinatal mortality (aOR 5.6, 95%CI 4.5–6.8) and low 5-min Apgar scores (aOR 2.2, 95%CI 2.0–2.4), while LGA did not. SGA and LGA were both significant risk factors for cesarean delivery. LGA was significantly associated with shoulder dystocia and post-partum hemorrhage (aOR =13.6, 95%CI 10.9–17.0, and aOR 1.7, 95%CI 1.2–2.6, respectively). Conclusions: Extreme birthweights at term are significantly associated with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. As opposed to SGA, LGA is not independently associated with perinatal mortality.
Worst-Case Backlog Evaluation of Avionics Switched Ethernet Networks with the Trajectory Approach

Worst case backlog evaluation is a key issue to avoid under or over sizing of output port buffers for store-and-forward switches. Typically, the dimensioning of switches in the context of avionics is at least as important as the upper bounding of the end-to-end delays. This paper presents a new method based on the Trajectory approach for backlog evaluation of output ports of AFDX switches. On an industrial AFDX configuration, this new method leads to an average buffer size reduction of 10% compared to the existing Network Calculus approach.
Sparse multicast beamforming for ultra-dense networks with wireless backhaul

This paper considers the multicast service in the Ultra-dense Networks (UDNs) which consists of a set of access points (APs) connected to the base station (BS) through wireless backhaul links. For the access link, a subset of APs are selected to serve the members of each multicast group using joint multicast beamforming technique. For the backhaul link, the orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technology is adopted schedule the transmission from the BS to the set of APs selected by each UE. To account for the wireless backhaul constraints, the problem is formulated as a joint optimization problem of multicast beamformer design in access links and resource allocation in backhaul links, which is a non-convex mixed integer programming problem. This problem is transformed to a tractable form using the successive convex approximation and re-weighted ℓ1-norm techniques, which is solved using an iterative algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that proposed scheme can converge to the stationary point under different network settings.
Using a Spatial Interaction Model to Assess the Accessibility of District Parks in Hong Kong

Urban parks are key elements of the urban landscape. They provide important ecological, environmental, and social value as well as spaces for outdoor activities to contribute to urban sustainability. Reasonable accessibility is fundamental for people to take full advantage of the benefits of parks. Spatial interaction models are useful in many fields, especially in static systems. The proposed model has been validated for analyzing the accessibility of district parks in Hong Kong. The accessibility index was calculated using the population in catchment zones lying within a walking distance of 400 m, considering the population that the parks serve, the distance between residential areas and parks, the park area, and the facilities and current condition of green spaces in the parks. The results indicate that the index is strongly related to the spatial pattern of residential areas and the shape and spatial pattern of district parks. High accessibility is always associated with parks located in centers of population concentration rather than in the geographical centers of built-up areas. The catchment zones of district parks within walking distance only cover one-fourth of residential areas, and most residents do not have convenient access to reach parks on foot. The district parks were established without much concern for increasing accessibility. No districts have enough district parks to meet the needs of their residents. Future parks should preferably be elongated to serve more nearby residents, especially in extremely compact cities like Hong Kong.
How to Achieve Supply Chain Sustainability Efficiently? Taming the Triple Bottom Line Split Business Cycle

For sustainable supply chains, specific concepts regarding how to efficiently improve sustainability are needed in a global comprehensive triple bottom line (TBL) approach, especially for forwarders as central actors in supply chain design. Such specific advice is provided by reporting empirical DEA Malmquist index findings from seven large European forwarders regarding a TBL sustainability analysis from 2006 to 2016. A major obstacle in improving sustainability consists in the newly discovered fact that with the business cycle, the three TBL areas of economic, ecologic and social objectives for logistics are undergoing different up- and down-ward trends, making it very hard to improve all three simultaneously. Additional factors are identified in the characteristics of size and government influence regarding the sustainability efficiency of forwarders. This has important impacts on supply chain design like e.g., with selection criteria.
Testicular expression of inhibin and activin subunits and follistatin in the rat and human fetus and neonate and during postnatal development in the rat.

Inhibins, activins, and follistatins are all believed to play roles in the regulation of FSH secretion by the pituitary and in the paracrine regulation of testis function. Previous studies have resulted in conflicting data on the pattern of expression of the inhibin/activin subunits, and little information on expression of follistatin during fetal/neonatal life. We have made use of new, highly specific monoclonal antibodies and fixed tissue sections from fetal, neonatal, and adult rats, and limited amounts of fetal and neonatal human testis, to undertake a detailed immunocytochemical study of the pattern of expression of these regulatory proteins. In the rat, positive immunostaining for the alpha-subunit of inhibin (alpha) was first detectable on day 14.5 post coitum (p.c.), the first day on which the testis could be morphologically distinguished from the ovary. During fetal life, the alpha-immunostaining was most prominent in the fetal Leydig cells. In Sertoli cells, alpha-immunostaining was slightly stronger on days 14.5 and 15.5 p.c. compared with 16.5-20.5. After birth, alpha-immunostaining remained intense in fetal Leydig cells but declined following their replacement with their adult-type counterparts; in contrast, alpha-subunit increased in Sertoli cells immediately after birth. Immunostaining with antibodies specific to betaB-subunit showed a similar pattern to that of the alpha-subunit, except that positive immunostaining was first detectable on day 16.5 p.c. , 2 days later than immunostaining for the alpha-subunit. The pattern of betaB-immunostaining in postnatal samples paralleled that of the alpha-subunit. Immunostaining using antibodies against the betaA-subunit did not produce any significant reaction product in any sample. Follistatin was undetectable in the fetal rat testis but appeared in the Leydig cells immediately after birth and its expression remained intense throughout postnatal development and in adult testis. No evidence was obtained for expression of either the inhibin/activin subunits or follistatin in the germ cells, peritubular myoid cells, or other interstitial cells in any of the sections examined. In the human fetal testis, both alpha- and betaB-subunits were immunodetectable at 16, 18, and 24 weeks gestation in Sertoli and Leydig cells, with stronger immunostaining in Sertoli cells at 24 weeks. Postnatally at 4 months, immunoexpression of the betaB-subunit was no longer detectable, whereas the alpha-immunostaining became weaker but was still present in both Sertoli and Leydig cells. No positive immunostaining for betaA-subunit or follistatin was detectable at any time point studied. In conclusion, we have shown that, in the rat testis, the majority of inhibin alpha-subunit and inhibin/activin betaB-subunit is immunolocalized to the fetal-type Leydig cells during fetal/neonatal life but, following birth, immunoexpression in the Sertoli cells of both subunits increases markedly while follistatin is immunodetectable only postnatally.
Disagreement About Future Inflation: Understanding the Benefits of Inflation Targeting and Transparency

We estimate the determinants of disagreement about future inflation in a large and diverse sample of countries, focusing on the role of monetary policy frameworks. We offer novel insights that allow us to reconcile mixed findings in the literature on the benefits of inflation targeting regimes and central bank transparency. The reduction in disagreement that follows the adoption of inflation targeting is entirely due to increased central bank transparency. Since the benefits of increased transparency are non-linear, the gains from inflation targeting adoption have accrued mainly to countries that started from a low level of transparency. These have tended to be developing countries.
A Radial Concentration Gradient of Indole-3-Acetic Acid Is Related to Secondary Xylem Development in Hybrid Aspen

The radial distribution pattern of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) was determined across the developing tissues of the cambial region in the stem of hybrid aspen (Populus tremula L. x Populus tremuloides Michx). IAA content was measured in consecutive tangential cryo-sections using a microscale mass spectrometry technique. Analysis was performed with wild-type and transgenic trees with an ectopic expression of Agrobacterium tumefaciens IAA-biosynthetic genes. In all tested trees IAA was distributed as a steep concentration gradient across the developing tissues of the cambial region. The peak level of IAA was within the cambial zone, where cell division takes place. Low levels were reached in the region where secondary wall formation was initiated. The transgenic trees displayed a lower peak level and a wider radial gradient of IAA compared with the wild type. This alteration was related to a lower rate of cambial cell division and a longer duration of xylem cell expansion in the transgenic trees, resulting in a decreased xylem production and a larger fiber lumen area. The results indicate that IAA has a role in regulating not only the rate of physiological processes such as cell division, but also the duration of developmental processes such as xylem fiber expansion, suggesting that IAA functions as a morphogen, conveying positional information during xylem development.
Will that be cash or credit? Payment preferences and rising VAT in Argentina

ABSTRACT This article studies how Argentina’s value-added tax (VAT) revenue has risen to historic highs since its 2001 sovereign default and continues to grow despite unchanged VAT rates, slow economic growth, stagnant household consumption, and low commodity prices after 2010. In 2015, VAT revenue accounted for one-quarter of all tax revenue in Argentina. We show that Argentina’s banked population went from less than 41.6% in 2003 to 89.6% in 2016. Consequently, there was significant growth in electronic payments via credit cards and debit cards. Using time series regression, the authors show that the rising banked population and card growth is correlated with VAT-to-GDP increases from 2002 to 2015. The authors posit that one reason for these correlations is that some consumption is shifting from informal (harder to tax) markets to formal (easier to tax markets) as cash use declined and card use grew. Also, rising electronic payments likely explains improved VAT compliance as well—the Argentine VAT noncompliance rate averaged 36.4% between 2000 and 2005 but improved to 20.5% between 2006 and 2010 (Trigueros, Longinotti, & Vecorena, 2013).
Adaptive noise energy estimation in pathological speech signals

For pathological voices, spectral noise is closely related to the degree of perceived hoarseness. In this paper, noise variations are tracked during an utterance by means of an adaptive version of the normalized noise energy method (H. Kasuya et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., vol. 80, no. 5, p. 1329-34, 1986). A first step is devoted to pitch estimation, which allows defining the varying optimal time window length for noise retrieval, avoiding empty "dip" regions. The approach Is tested on synthetic data and applied to real data coming from cordectomised adult male patients.
Community energy: a critical review of the literature

We analyze the literature regarding community energy. We investigate the appearance of studies in the literature and the geographical orientation of the case studies, as well as the actual journals where the articles are published. We relate the articles to the theoretical approaches that are being employed. We analyze keywords used by the authors in their study of community energy and reflect on the country specifics of the case studies. We conclude that the study of community energy is still in its infancy as there is little commonality in the terminology and key concepts used. Further, we conclude that the theoretical underpinnings of studying community energy are in progress.
War and the Politics of Ethics

War and the Politics of Ethics investigates ‘post-Cold War Western war’ as ‘ethical war’ (p. 9). According to Maja Zehfuss, a ‘commitment to and invocation of ethics’ serves to enhance ‘the violence of war’ (p. 9). She thinks ‘ethics can serve this (political) purpose because it is (impossibly) construed as distinct from politics’ (p. 9). Ethics ‘enables and enhances war while obscuring that this is the case’ (p. 12). It is ‘seductive’ (p. 14) and plays a role ‘in the West’s inability to recognize’ its own use of force as violent. This allows ‘the powerful and dangerous illusion that ethics can tame politics (and by implication war)’ (p. 14). Ultimately, Zehfuss argues that ‘the practice of ethical war undermines itself’ (p. 28); that ‘the humanitarian or ethical framing has produced the conditions of possibility for Western war and continues to do so’; and that ‘[e]thical war . reinforces itself by shaping an imaginary within which the practice is supported and sustained’ (p. 35). Drawing on Derrida, Zehfuss goes on to diagnose an ‘aporia’: ‘a situation where there is no right way forward, where the way forward is blocked’, and where the ‘West may wish to protect people from oppression and extermination, but in attempting to do so . will itself oppress and kill’ (p. 41). We cannot do right whatever we do, for ‘[w]e must make a decision, and this decision will not be authorized by or explicable within the rules of ethics’ (p. 47). Zehfuss considers this a ‘genuine dilemma: It is not that we have failed to find a smooth resolution but that there is none, given the structure of the ethico-political challenge’ (p. 47). We have to take responsibility, but ethical rules will not settle how to do so: ‘The issue is, in Derrida’s terms, undecidable, made necessary by contradictory imperatives that cannot be answered’ (p. 50). What is required is ‘‘‘an act of faith’’’ (p. 48). This is how Zehfuss frames her argument in Chapter 1 (‘Introduction’) and Chapter 2 (‘The Paradox of Ethical War and the Politics of Ethics’). She proceeds, in Chapters 3–5, to ‘take the discourse – or rather text – of ethical war as an empirical problem to be investigated’, examining ‘how the text of ethical war works and fails to work – indeed undermines itself – so as to elucidate its effects’ (p. 55). Revealing ‘the liberal conceit that our ever-enhancing violence is in some way better than ‘‘theirs’’’ (p. 178), Zehfuss analyses three practices of allegedly
Effect of Long-Term Periodontal Care on Hemoglobin A1c in Type 2 Diabetes

This was a prospective cohort study evaluating 126,805 individuals with diabetes and periodontal disease receiving care at all Veterans Administration medical centers and clinics in the United States from 2005 through 2012. The exposures were periodontal treatment at baseline (PT0) and at follow-up (PT2). The outcomes were change in HbA1c following initial treatment (ΔHbA1c1) and follow-up treatment (ΔHbA1c2), and diabetes control was defined as HbA1c at <7% and <9% following initial and follow-up treatment, respectively. Marginal structural models were used to account for potential confounding and selection bias. The objective was to evaluate the impact of long-term treatment of periodontal disease on glycemic control among individuals with type 2 diabetes. Participants were 64 y old on average, 97% were men, and 71% were white. At baseline, the average diabetes duration was 4 y, 12% of participants were receiving insulin, and 60% had HbA1c <7%. After an average 1.7 y of follow-up, the mean HbA1c increased from 7.03% to 7.21%. About 29.4% of participants attended their periodontal maintenance visit following baseline. Periodontal treatment at baseline and follow-up reduced HbA1c by −0.02% and −0.074%, respectively. Treatment at follow-up increased the likelihood of individuals achieving diabetes control by 5% and 3% at the HbA1c <7% and HbA1c <9% thresholds, respectively, and was observed even among never smokers. HbA1c reduction after periodontal treatment at follow-up was greater (ΔHbA1c2 = −0.25%) among individuals with higher baseline HbA1c. Long-term periodontal care provided in a clinical setting improved long-term glycemic control among individuals with type 2 diabetes and periodontal disease.
Vertical Mastopexy and Lateral Intercostal Artery Perforator (LICAP) Flap With Pectoralis Muscle Sling for Autologous Tissue Breast Augmentation in the Bariatric Patient

Breast contouring surgery after massive weight loss is challenging because of unfavorable features such as inelastic skin, volume depletion, loss of upper pole fullness, and significant ptosis.An approach is presented for autoaugmentation using a lateral intercostal artery perforator (LICAP) flap secured with a pectoralis muscle sling, along with mastopexy based on vertical scar principles.In a total of 8 patients (average age: 39.3 years, range: 29–57; average body mass index: 30.8 kg/m2, range: 25.7–39.1) with breast ptosis and volume depletion after a mean weight loss of 121.9 pounds (range: 80–210), LICAP flap (n = 16) was used with turnover flap design to increase breast volume under a pectoralis muscle sling. Vertical design mastopexy (n = 16) was achieved at the same time, resulting in an L-shaped final scar.All the patients were followed for at least 1 year after the surgery. Patient satisfaction was high at long-term follow-up (average: 16.8 months, range: 12–24), with stable and pleasing breast shape and a mean patient ranking for aesthetic outcome of 4.2 (of 5). None of the patients developed any flap necrosis or fat necrosis.An alternative approach is described for the combined treatment of breast ptosis and volume loss in the bariatric patient, with promising long-term results. The muscle sling seems to help prevent tissue descent, without evidence of pseudoptosis at long term. It is shown that vertical scar techniques can be successfully used even in bariatric patients.
Tolerance controls for open-switch fault in a grid-connected T-type rectifier at low modulation index

Multi-level rectifier topologies are widely used in applications of the wide-power range. T-type topology, which is one of many three-level topologies, has an advantage in terms of an efficiency compared to a neutral-point clamped (NPC)-type. In applications using T-type rectifier topology, the interest in reliability has been increased recently. Therefore, a tolerance control for T-type rectifiers is necessary to improve reliability of applications. When an open-switch fault of switches connected to the neutral-point occurs, the NPC-type rectifier cannot restore distorted input currents; however, the T-type rectifier is able to eliminate input current distortion completely. In this paper, two tolerance controls for the T-type rectifier at low modulation index are proposed and their characteristics are analyzed. The effectiveness and performance of two proposed tolerance controls are verified by simulations results.
A phase II study of neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy followed by Surgery for locally advanced cervical cancer

Objective: We investigate the feasibility of chemoradiotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin before surgery and assess the response rate of the treatment regimen. Methods: This is a single-arm phase II trial of 52 patients, with locally advanced cervical cancer (stage Ib2-IIIB). Patients received radiotherapy (20Gy/10 fractions during Weeks 2) using a three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy or intensity-modulated radiation therapy technique plus brachytherapy (7Gy/fraction during Weeks 2) together with docetaxel: 20 mg/m2i.v. , cisplatin: 40 mg/ m2i.v. on Days 1, 8 and 15. The primary end point was response rate 12 weeks post-chemoradiotherapy. Results: Baseline characteristics were: median age at diagnosis 43 years old; 86.5% squamous, 13.5% adenocarcinoma; FIGO stage I-II (63.5%), III (36.15%). Complete or partial response rate was 69.2%, CRT showed potential benefit for CR+PR rate enhancement rate in all 52 cases (22/28, 78.6% vs 14/24, 58.3%; P=0.115). The median follow-up was 24 months. Overall and progression-free survivals at 3 years were 84.6% (44/52, 95% CI: 44-52) and 90.4% (47/52, 95% CI: 56-63), respectively. Survival status showed obvious differences in the positive of postoperative lymph-node group in comparison with negative of postoperative lymph-node group (66.7% vs 94.7%; P=0.039 for 3-year OS; P=0.049, 75.0% vs 92.8% for 3-year PFS) and showed obvious differences in the tumor diameters ≥5 cm group in comparison with tumor diameters ≤5 cm group(80.0% vs 96.9%; P=0.045 for 3-year OS; P=0.021, 70.0% vs 93.8% for 3-year PFS). The complications were observed without significant differences between the CRT and RT-alone groups (21.4% vs 20.8%, P=0.782). Conclusion: This study confirms good response rate in locally advanced cervical cancer patients after chemoradiotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin. Our results indicate that this treatment regimen is feasible as evidenced by the acceptable toxicity of chemoradiotherapy and by the high compliance to radiotherapy.