Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measuring and Comparing Well-Being in South American Countries Using Equivalent Incomes

The purpose of this dissertation is to measure well-being in South American countries based on equivalent incomes. This measure of well-being has a multidimensional approach, and it respects preferences between individuals. We calculate equivalent incomes of individuals, using the Gallup World Poll in 2007 for six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Peru. Additionally, we aggregate by country equivalent incomes as well as incomes and life satisfaction level, through a specific social welfare index with different grades of inequality aversion. We find some differences between country rankings made by incomes and equivalent incomes in spite of their strong correlation at individual level; in addition, the results present no correlations between equivalent incomes and life satisfaction level, as expected. The greatest difference in rankings is presented by Chile, which changes from the first in per capita income ranking, to the fourth in equivalent incomes ranking. Adopting equivalent incomes (based in multiple life dimensions and individual preferences) and introducing different inequality aversion parameters in the analysis lead us to better understand the well-being in Latin America.
Market Efficiency in India: An Empirical Study of Random Walk Hypothesis of Indian Stock Market – NSE Midcap

As long as financial markets are concerned, for many years’ economists, statisticians and financial analyst have been interested in developing and testing models of stock price behaviour and their forecast. This study examines whether the Indian stock market is efficient if the stock returns follow a random walk. The study employs daily closing prices of NSE Midcap 50 Index for a time period of 15 Sept 2010 - 28 Nov 2014. The existence of random walk for NSE Midcap Index has been examined through autocorrelation, Q-statistics and the run test and finds that the Indian stock market was not efficient in the weak form during the testing period. The results suggest that the stock prices in India do not reflect all the information in the past stock prices and abnormal returns can be achieved by investors through exploiting the market inefficiency.
High Critical Current YBCO Films Prepared by an MOD Process on RABiTS Templates

The metal organic deposition (MOD) of YBCO high temperature superconducting films on RABiTS (rolling assisted biaxially textured substrates) templates has been developed at American Superconductor as a low-cost, scalable manufacturing process for the commercialization of the second generation (2G) HTS wire. The MOD process is based on the deposition of a triflu-oroacetate (TFA) based metal organic precursor film which is converted, in an ex-situ process, to the superconducting YBCO film. A major goal of the development has been achieving high critical currents. This paper reports the preparation and characterization of MOD-YBCO films with critical currents exceeding 500 A/cm-w (77 K, self-field) using a scaleable thick film approach on RABiTS templates. The high critical current films were obtained through optimization of the precursor composition, nucleation and growth conditions. The through-thickness dependence of the critical current density of MOD Alms as a function of film thickness and a correlation of the through-thickness transport properties and microstructure of the thick MOD/RABiTS samples is reported.
Cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass by the left-handed surgeon.

T HE INCIDENCE of left-handedness in the general population is approximately 10%1-3 The incidence of left-handedness among cardiothoracic surgeons is unknown. A recent survey of 28 staff surgeons at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center showed 3 (10.1%) dominant left-handed surgeons. Traditionally, surgeons operate on the patient's right side. The principle reason for this is that the surgeon's right hand is closest to the scrub nurse and unhampered by the barriers and drapes at the head of the operating table. A dominant lefthanded surgeon has to deal with the awkward head of the table and has to reach across the operating field to exchange instruments. Additionally, it is sometimes tedious and frustrating for a right-handed surgeon to assist a "southpaw. " The following method illustrates some basic techniques that a dominant left-handed surgeon can employ in the routine cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass.
TPA: Fast, Scalable, and Accurate Method for Approximate Random Walk with Restart on Billion Scale Graphs

Given a large graph, how can we determine similarity between nodes in a fast and accurate way? Random walk with restart (RWR) is a popular measure for this purpose and has been exploited in numerous data mining applications including ranking, anomaly detection, link prediction, and community detection. However, previous methods for computing exact RWR require prohibitive storage sizes and computational costs, and alternative methods which avoid such costs by computing approximate RWR have limited accuracy. In this paper, we propose TPA, a fast, scalable, and highly accurate method for computing approximate RWR on large graphs. TPA exploits two important properties in RWR: 1) nodes close to a seed node are likely to be revisited in following steps due to block-wise structure of many real-world graphs, and 2) RWR scores of nodes which reside far from the seed node are proportional to their PageRank scores. Based on these two properties, TPA divides approximate RWR problem into two subproblems called neighbor approximation and stranger approximation. In the neighbor approximation, TPA estimates RWR scores of nodes close to the seed based on scores of few early steps from the seed. In the stranger approximation, TPA estimates RWR scores for nodes far from the seed using their PageRank. The stranger and neighbor approximations are conducted in the preprocessing phase and the online phase, respectively. Through extensive experiments, we show that TPA requires up to 3.5× less time with up to 40× less memory space than other state-of-the-art methods for the preprocessing phase. In the online phase, TPA computes approximate RWR up to 30× faster than existing methods while maintaining high accuracy.
Comparison of the Diagnostic Performance of Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumor 1.0 with Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumor 1.1 on MRI in Advanced Breast Cancer Response Evaluation to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

Objective To compare the diagnostic performance in evaluating the response of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), between the response evaluation criteria in solid tumor (RECIST) 1.0 and RECIST 1.1, on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for advance breast cancer patients. Materials and Methods Breast cancer patients, who underwent NAC between 2005 and 2010, were included. Both prechemotherapy and post-chemotherapy MRIs were performed within 1-4 weeks before and after NAC. Only the patients with subsequent surgery were included. The response to NAC was assessed by using RECIST 1.0 and RECIST 1.1. Patients with a complete or partial response on MRI were considered as responders, and those with stable or progressive disease were considered as non-responders. Tumor necrosis > 50% on pathology was defined as responders and necrosis < 50% was defined as non-responders. The diagnostic accuracy of both RECIST 1.0 and RECIST 1.1 was analyzed and compared by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Results Seventy-nine females (mean age 51.0 ± 9.3 years) were included. Pathology showed 45 responders and 34 non-responders. There were 49 responders and 30 non-responders on RECIST 1.0, and in 55 patients, RECIST 1.0 results agreed with pathologic results (69.6%). RECIST 1.1 showed 52 responders and 27 non-responders. In 60 patients, RECIST 1.1 results were in accordance with pathology results (75.9%). The area under the ROC curve was 0.809 for RECIST 1.0 and 0.853 for RECIST 1.1. Conclusion RECIST 1.1 showed better diagnostic performance than RECIST 1.0, although there was no statistically significant difference between the two.
Pilot study on the spatial and temporal accuracies of hitting a high-speed virtual ball in tennis simulation

We conducted a pilot study to determine if users can accurately perceive the spatial position of a virtual ball traveling at high speed, track and hit it at the correct time with a real racket in a stereoscopic immersive tennis training system. To ensure that the tennis ball appears spatially accurate from the player's view point when projected onto the display walls, the positions of both eyes are obtained using head tracking. The tracker to display latency was determined to be 40 milliseconds. The pilot study with proficient players shows that they are able to accurately intersect the trajectory of the virtual ball with their racket, with an average error of less than 0.1m. This initial finding will be useful for immersive virtual reality applications involving high speed tasks.
On Positioning of Business, Management and Economics Fields of Study in the University Space

Based on available studies on business and management fields of study as upwardly-mobile university field of study choices as a basis, this study seeks to test this hypothesis of upward mobility. In doing so, it endeavours to identify correlations between field of study choice and educational background and between field of study choice and gender. The base data is taken from a survey of all domestic first-time students at Austrian universities in the 2011/12 winter semester (N=27,575). This data was subjected to a correspondence analysis, which allowed us to visualise and interpret the relations between the positions of these fields of study in the university space. The results indicate a clearly structured (stratified) university space. Our supplementary regression analysis shows that the upwardly-mobile higher education choice hypothesis can be confirmed for the fields of study studied. Our analyses also confirm the feminisation hypothesis for the business and management fields of study studied: women significantly more frequently select fields of study which lead to a career in a pedagogic (business education), social (social economy) or language (international business and management) context. In the group of fields of study explored, business education fields of study had both the highest share of first-time students and the highest level of feminisation. In contrast, economics fields of study, which was included in the analysis in addition to the business studies and management fields of study, have a significantly higher share of male students and the lowest share of higher education climbers. (authors' abstract)
Managing competing demands in the implementation of response‐adaptive randomization in a large multicenter phase III acute stroke trial

It is well known that competing demands exist between the control of important covariate imbalance and protection of treatment allocation randomness in confirmative clinical trials. When implementing a response‐adaptive randomization algorithm in confirmative clinical trials designed under a frequentist framework, additional competing demands emerge between the shift of the treatment allocation ratio and the preservation of the power. Based on a large multicenter phase III stroke trial, we present a patient randomization scheme that manages these competing demands by applying a newly developed minimal sufficient balancing design for baseline covariates and a cap on the treatment allocation ratio shift in order to protect the allocation randomness and the power. Statistical properties of this randomization plan are studied by computer simulation. Trial operation characteristics, such as patient enrollment rate and primary outcome response delay, are also incorporated into the randomization plan. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A neurochemical signature of visual recovery after extrastriate cortical damage in the adult cat

In adult cats, damage to the extrastriate visual cortex on the banks of the lateral suprasylvian (LS) sulcus causes severe deficits in motion perception that can recover as a result of intensive direction discrimination training. The fact that recovery is restricted to trained visual field locations suggests that the neural circuitry of early visual cortical areas, with their tighter retinotopy, may play an important role in attaining perceptual improvements after damage to higher level visual cortex. The present study tests this hypothesis by comparing the manner in which excitatory and inhibitory components of the supragranular circuitry in an early visual cortical area (area 18) are affected by LS lesions and postlesion training. First, the proportion of LS‐projecting pyramidal cells as well as calbindin‐ and parvalbumin‐positive interneurons expressing each of the four AMPA receptor subunits was estimated in layers II and III of area 18 in intact animals. The degree to which LS lesions and visual retraining altered these expression patterns was then assessed. Both LS‐projecting pyramidal cells and inhibitory interneurons exhibited long‐term, differential reductions in the expression of glutamate receptor (GluR)1, ‐2, ‐2/3, and ‐4 following LS lesions. Intensive visual training post lesion restored normal AMPAR subunit expression in all three cell‐types examined. Furthermore, for LS‐projecting and calbindin‐positive neurons, this restoration occurred only in portions of the ipsi‐lesional area 18 representing trained visual field locations. This supports our hypothesis that stimulation of early visual cortical areas—in this case, area 18—by training is an important factor in restoring visual perception after permanent damage to LS cortex. J. Comp. Neurol. 508:45–61, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Understanding the Effects of Receiving Peer Feedback for Text Revision : Relations between Author and Reviewer Ability

Peer assessment is a technique with many possible benefits for instruction across the curriculum. However, the value obtained from receiving peer feedback may critically depend upon the relative abilities of the author and the reviewer. We develop a new model of such relative ability effects on peer assessment based on the well-supported Flower and Hayes model of revision processes. To test this model across the stages of peer assessment from initial text quality, reviewing content, revision amount, and revision quality, 189 undergraduate students in a large, introductory course context were randomly assigned to consistently receive feedback from higherability or lower-ability peers. Overall, there were few main effects of author ability or reviewer ability. Instead, as predicted, there were many interactions between the two factors, suggesting the new model is useful for understanding ability factors in peer assessment. Often lower-ability writers benefitted more from receiving feedback from lower-ability reviewers, while higher-ability writers benefitted equally from receiving feedback from lower-ability and higher-ability reviewers. This result leads to the practical recommendation of grouping students by ability during peer assessment, contrary to student beliefs that only feedback from high ability peers is worthwhile.
The immunosuppressant FTY720 inhibits tumor angiogenesis via the sphingosine 1‐phosphate receptor 1

FTY720, a sphingosine 1‐phosphate (S1P) analog, acts as an immunosuppressant through trapping of T cells in secondary lymphoid tissues. FTY720 was also shown to prevent tumor growth and to inhibit vascular permeability. The MTT proliferation assay illustrated that endothelial cells are more susceptible to the anti‐proliferative effect of FTY720 than Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC1) cells. In a spheroid angiogenesis model, FTY720 potently inhibited the sprouting activity of VEGF‐A‐stimulated endothelial cells even at concentrations that apparently had no anti‐proliferative effect. Mechanistically, the anti‐angiogenic effect of the general S1P receptor agonist FTY720 was mimicked by the specific S1P1 receptor agonist SEW2871. Moreover, the anti‐angiogenic effect of FTY720 was abrogated in the presence of CXCR4‐neutralizing antibodies. This indicates that the effect was at least in part mediated by the S1P1 receptor and involved transactivation of the CXCR4 chemokine receptor. Additionally, we could illustrate in a coculture spheroid model, employing endothelial and smooth muscle cells (SMCs), that the latter confer a strong protective effect regarding the action of FTY720 upon the endothelial cells. In a subcutaneous LLC1 tumor model, the anti‐angiogenic capacity translated into a reduced tumor size in syngeneic C57BL/6 mice. Consistently, in the Matrigel™ plug in vivo assay, 10 mg/kg/d FTY720 resulted in a strong inhibition of angiogenesis as demonstrated by a reduced capillary density. Thus, in organ transplant patients, FTY720 may prove efficacious in preventing graft rejection as well as tumor development. J. Cell. Biochem. 101: 259–270, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Isolating highly enriched populations of circulating epithelial cells and other rare cells from blood using a magnetic sweeper device

The enumeration of rare circulating epithelial cells (CEpCs) in the peripheral blood of metastatic cancer patients has shown promise for improved cancer prognosis. Moving beyond enumeration, molecular analysis of CEpCs may provide candidate surrogate endpoints to diagnose, treat, and monitor malignancy directly from the blood samples. Thorough molecular analysis of CEpCs requires the development of new sample preparation methods that yield easily accessible and purified CEpCs for downstream biochemical assays. Here, we describe a new immunomagnetic cell separator, the MagSweeper, which gently enriches target cells and eliminates cells that are not bound to magnetic particles. The isolated cells are easily accessible and can be extracted individually based on their physical characteristics to deplete any cells nonspecifically bound to beads. We have shown that our device can process 9 mL of blood per hour and captures >50% of CEpCs as measured in spiking experiments. We have shown that the separation process does not perturb the gene expression of rare cells. To determine the efficiency of our platform in isolating CEpCs from patients, we have isolated CEpCs from all 47 tubes of 9-mL blood samples collected from 17 women with metastatic breast cancer. In contrast, we could not find any circulating epithelial cells in samples from 5 healthy donors. The isolated CEpCs are all stored individually for further molecular analysis.
Guidelines for developing an online learning strategy for your subject

In the academics' quest for curriculum implementation of flexible learning and flexible delivery methods, the tendency is simply to reformat subject materials and learning strategies to fit the technology and present them thus online. Attention is too often focused on the technology rather than the educational underpinnings, which eventually leads to compromising both the students and the subject. A multifaceted approach, integrating technological, disciplinary and pedagogical expertise, was found essential in solving this problem. Using this approach and the experience gained during the conversion of a subject taught face-to-face through an online distance mode, this paper aims to focus on the processes that characterize the design and development of educationally sound online subjects. The guidelines include: identifying the target group, consideration of the five stages of developmental cycles, implementation of the subject, and evaluation. Favourable responses from participants, together with a 10% increase in graded passes, suggest that the guidelines are sound.
Assessment of Anthropogenic Ecological Systems in the Apold Depression to a Sustainable Management

Abstract The Apold Depression and especially the locality of Apoldu de Jos are mentioned in historical writings from the earliest times. It was mentioned in official documents as early as 1288 by the king of Hungary, Ladislaus IV the Cuman (1272- 1290). A community of free people, they harnessed their natural resources in such a way that they still have a good reputation. Sustainable management of this area is very important for viticulture and agriculture. Due to its geographical position, the Apold Depression was always a favorable place for the cultivation of grapevine. The crops recorded the mark of a redox environment which favors the accumulation of free and bonded aromas in grapes. The research studies have shown that these aromas are clearly influenced by the geological structure of the area, soil composition, climate, exposure, slope, abundance of precipitations. All these give typicality to the wines of a vineyard (goût de terroir).
INFLUENCE OF MOLECULAR AND CRYSTAL STRUCTURE ON NONLINEAR OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF HYDRATED AND ANHYDROUS POTASSIUM L-2-NITRIMINO-1,3-DIAZEPANE-4-CARBOXYLATE CRYSTALS

Физические свойства кристаллов зависят от их химического состава, молекулярной и кристаллической структуры. Присутствие донорных аминогрупп (NH 2 ) и акцепторных нитрогрупп (NO 2 ) в молекуле может повысить нелинейно-оптические (NLO) свойства молекулы. L- нитроаргинин в сильнощелочной среде (МЗ (М = Li, Na, K) кристаллизуется с образованием L – 2 – нитримино – 1,3 – диазепан – 4 – карбоновой кислоты ( L –NIDCA.H 2 O и L). -NIDCA). Мы обнаружили, что медленное испарение раствора L- нитроарганина и щелочи в эквимолярных количествах приводит к образованию соли металла с L–2 – нитримино – 1,3 – диазепан – 4 – карбоксилат-анионы (K ( L –NIDC) . H 2 O, Na ( L –NIDC), L –NaNIDC, Li ( L –NIDC); эта соль демонстрирует сильный NLO В этом исследовании также рассматривались вопросы генерации кристаллов L –KNIDC.H 2 O и L –KNIDC во второй гармонике и влияние их кристаллической и молекулярной структуры на свойства NLO. Инфракрасный и комбинационный спектры K ( L –NIDC) . H Кристаллы 2 O и K ( L –NIDC) были изучены с учетом этих структурных особенностей. Мы обнаружили, что интенсивность генерации второй гармоники в K ( L–NIDC) в 2,75 раза выше, чем в стандартном кристалле KDP, а интенсивность в K ( L –NIDC) . H 2 O значительно ниже.
Normal heart: evaluation with echo-planar MR imaging.

PURPOSE To evaluate the appearance of the heart on spin-echo (SE) and gradient-echo (GRE) echo-planar magnetic resonance (MR) images. MATERIALS AND METHODS Nine healthy volunteers were examined with an MR imager with transaxial echo-planar imaging (EPI) capabilities. SE EPI and GRE EPI sequences were used. Full k-space signal was obtained with readout time of 40 msec per image, and total image acquisition time was 72 and 52 msec, respectively, for SE EPI and GRE EPI. RESULTS Delineation of cardiac structures was superior with SE EPI, reflective of significantly higher contrast between myocardial and intraluminal signal intensity (SI) (P < .001). The higher (P < .01) and more homogeneous (P < .001) intraluminal SI with GRE EPI allowed better assessment of intracardiac flow. Septal SI was significantly higher for GRE EPI (P < .01), but signal homogeneity was similar for both sequences (P > .2). CONCLUSION Diagnostic images of the heart were obtained with both SE EPI and GRE EPI. GRE EPI is more suitable for flow studies because of the higher and more homogeneous intravascular SI.
Linear tapered slot antenna with substrate integrated waveguide feed

Tapered slot antennas (TSA) are lightweight, and low cost per element but retain directivity close to horn antennas. They are planar elements, so they can be integrated on the same substrate as an appropriate feed. The TSA design presented in this paper utilizes antipodal flares and the backwards extension match technique. However the design investigates techniques to increase element gain using high permittivity substrates and demonstrates the TSA capability at high frequency (18-24 GHz).