Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preliminary results from the Lauder site of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network TCCON

We give a brief description of the Total Carbon Column Observ ing Network (TCCON), a new network of ground-based Fourier Transform spectrometers (FTS ) dedicated to measurement of greenhouse gas absorption (CO 2, CO, N2O, CH4) in the near infrared. We present preliminary retrievals of CO2 total column densities from the TCCON site in Lauder, New Zea land between July 2004 – when routine measurements began – and April 2005, and compar e these retrievals with in-situ CO 2 measurements from the monitoring station at Baring Head, Ne w Z aland. A discussion of how we plan to compare the ground-based FTS retrievals with in-sit u surface observations and greenhouse gas retrievals from satellite radiances follows.
The global race for inventors' brains

The present paper makes two main contributions to the literature on international mobility of skilled labor. First and foremost, we compile and use a new database on international mobility of inventors covering an extensive number of sending and receiving countries for a large period of time in a longitudinal framework (1990-2010). Second, we test the role of immigration policies in receiving countries in selecting the most skilled workers. We start with a typical utility-maximization migration model, augmented to include skill-selective migration policy variables. We also test other hypotheses that have occupied migration economist in recent years, such as the role of income differentials or migration costs. We find our new dataset on migrant inventors appropriate to studying the international mobility patterns of high-tech workers, as well as certain evidence of skill-selection on immigration policies. Moreover, we find economic incentives (migration costs) to positively (resp. negatively) affect inventors’ migration.
Paper stamp checklist tool enhances asthma guidelines knowledge and implementation by primary care physicians.

BACKGROUND The Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) for the management of asthmatic patients were last published in 1999, with updates in 2001 and June 2004. Large disparities exist in the implementation of these guidelines into clinical practice. OBJECTIVE The present study evaluated the knowledge of Quebec-based primary care physicians regarding the CPGs, as well as patient outcomes before and after introducing physicians to a new clinical tool--a memory aid in the form of a self-inking paper stamp checklist summarizing CPG criteria and guidelines for assessing asthmatic patient control and therapy. The primary objective of the present study was to assess whether the stamp would improve physicians' knowledge of the CPGs, and as a secondary objective, to assess whether it would decrease patient emergency room visits and hospitalizations. METHODS A prospective, randomized, controlled study of 104 primary care physicians located in four Quebec regions was conducted. Each physician initially responded to questions on their knowledge of the CPGs, and was then randomly assigned to one of four groups that received information about the CPGs while implementing an intervention (the stamp tool) aimed at supporting their decision-making process at the point of care. Six months later, the physicians were retested, and patient outcomes for approximately one year were obtained from the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec. RESULTS The stamp significantly improved physicians' knowledge of the CPGs in all Quebec regions tested, and reduced emergency room visits and hospitalizations in patients who were followed for at least one year. CONCLUSION A paper stamp summarizing CPGs for asthma can be used effectively to increase the knowledge of physicians and to positively affect patient outcomes.
Volatility filters for FX portfolios trading: the impact of alternative volatility models

Dunis and Miao (2005) find that the addition of volatility filters with RiskMetrics forecasts can improve the performance of moving average convergence and divergence (MACD) models that replicate typical currency fund managers introduced as in Lequeux and Acar (1998). The motivation of this paper is to test whether alternative volatility models forecasts can further improve the models’ performance with such filters. The two alternative volatility forecast models used in this paper are GARCH model as in Bollerslev (1986) and stochastic volatility model with Markov switching (MS) based on Hamilton (1994) and Roche and Rockinger (2003). Our results show that volatility filters using alternative volatility models fail to enhance the performance of the simpler filters using RiskMetrics forecasts in terms of annualized return and Sharpe ratio.
Long short term memory networks for short-term electric load forecasting

Short-term electricity demand forecasting is critical to utility companies. It plays a key role in the operation of power industry. It becomes all the more important and critical with increasing penetration of renewable energy sources. Short-term load forecasting enables power companies to make informed business decisions in real-time. Demand patterns are extremely complex due to market deregulation and other environmental factors. Although there has been extensive research in the area of short-term electrical load forecasting, difficulties in implementation and lack of transparency in results has been cited as a main challenge. Deep neural architectures have recently shown their ability to mine complex underlying patterns in various domains. In our work, we present a deep recurrent neural architecture to unearth the complex patterns underlying the regional demand profiles without specific insights from the utilities. The model learns from historical data patterns. We show that deep recurrent neural network with long-short term memory architecture presents a robust methodology for accurate short term load forecasting with the ability to adapt and learn the underlying complex features over time. In most cases it matches the performance of the latest state-of-the-art techniques and even supercedes it in a few cases.
Analysing the Market–Book Value Relation in Large Australian and US Firms: Implications for Fundamental Analysis and the Market–Book Ratio

This study compares the market–book relation of Australian and US firms using firm-level dynamic analysis of using annual data for a long-run period in error correction modelling. This paper contributes to a recent call for alternative ways of estimating Ohlson-type linear valuation models (Ohlson and Kim, 2015). Log transformations of the data are used in this study to improve the statistical properties of the models. This study contributes to the findings on linear valuation model estimation for long-run firms. Based on the returns model estimation, we find evidence of a higher level of co-integration between market and book values for Australian firms.
Measuring the governance in Pakistan: An introduction to KU Index

The governance at the national level has commonly been measured as poor or good governance by researchers in the area of public sector reforms. They have rarely attempted the numeric estimation of the concept but used different socioeconomic indicators as proxies. Governance is a multidimensional concept that cannot be accurately elaborated by a single indicator. In the literature there exists a gap for gauging the governance in the form of an index. The current study has attempted to ameliorate different dimensions of governance by including forty two social, political, economic, demographic and environmental indicators. These indicators are firstly merged into thirteen sub-dimensions and then into five dimensions. The dimensions have been transformed in to governance index. The trend of the index shows that governance has not only progressed very slowly but it remained desperate in the study period. The contribution of this study is to provide governance index named KU index for Pakistan in annual time series for the years 1980-81 to 2010-2011. The index explained the level of governance in different eras and is ultimately connected with public sector reforms. It can be used by researchers as an explanatory factor for various political, socioeconomic and regional strategic phenomenon. Furthermore, the criterion of estimation of governance may be adopted for other economies and comparative analysis may be done.
Nonvolitional assessment of muscle endurance in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: There is no relationship between patient‐reported fatigue and muscle fatigability

Introduction: We investigated whether muscle endurance differs between IIM patients and controls and if a relationship exists between perceived fatigue and poor muscle endurance. Methods: Quadriceps contractility, measured using femoral nerve stimulation (TwQ), and strength, measured using maximal voluntary contraction (MVCQ), were assessed in 20 IIM patients and matched controls. Quadriceps endurance was assessed using repetitive electrical stimulation (3 minutes). Time for force to fall to 70% initial force was determined (T70). Reported fatigue was measured using the FACIT‐F/Fatigue Severity Scales. Results: TwQ and MVCQ were lower and perceived fatigue greater for patients. There was no difference in T70 between groups. No relationships were observed between perceived fatigue and endurance (T70). Conclusions: IIM patients reported more fatigue and were weaker than controls, but there was no difference in muscle endurance. Endurance and strength were unrelated to reported fatigue measures. Mechanisms driving perceived IIM fatigue are likely to be multifactorial. Muscle Nerve 50: 401–406, 2014
A retrospective study of different local treatments in breast cancer patients with synchronous ipsilateral supraclavicular lymph node metastasis.

AIM To evaluate the local treatment outcome and efficacy of supraclavicular lymph node dissection and radical radiotherapy for breast cancer patients with synchronous ipsilateral supraclavicular lymph node metastasis (ISLM). MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 29 patients with ISLM in the absence of distant metastases were retrospectively analyzed. All patients received radical or modified radical mastectomy and systemic therapy. Thirteen patients received supraclavicular lymph node dissection surgery and the other patients were treated with radical radiotherapy. RESULTS At the median follow-up of 47 months, 23 patients had developed distant metastases. The 3-year distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) rates were 46.2% for the supraclavicular lymph node dissection group and 31.3% for the radical radiotherapy group. The 5-year overall survival rates were 46.2% for the supraclavicular lymph node dissection group and 37.5% for the radical radiotherapy group. CONCLUSION Breast cancer with ISLM should be considered as a locoregional disease. Besides systemic therapy, local therapy may be helpful in enhancing local control and correspondingly reducing distant metastasis. In some individual patients, supraclavicular lymph node dissection might get a good prognosis.
Union Activism, Workers' Satisfaction and Organizational Change

This paper investigates the reaction of active union members towards workplace organizational changes. We use micro-data from a large firm and estimate an empirical model which deals explicitly with the potential endogeneity of the union activist status. The data indicate that workers who become union activists are more likely to complain than members. Moreover, after proper allowance is made for the endogeneity of union activism, we find this effect to be reinforced. This result suggests that activists are not inherently against organizational changes, as compared to non-activists, though they report higher dissatisfaction in anticipation of the greater loss in union rents that is likely to be associated with the change. Copyright 2004, CEIS, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Switchable frequency selective surface design for 2.45GHz ISM band

Mutual interference between adjacent wireless networks in indoor environment is becoming an important issue due to reducing the communication speed significantly. Isolating the wireless networks by using frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) can be an efficient solution for such interference problems. Isolating and non-isolating features are needed from FSSs due intensive usage of wireless communication systems. As a solution proposal, a novel switchable band stop FSS design is presented in this work. Switching feature is achieved by inclusion PIN diodes on the conducting path of circular loop element geometry. Eight number of PIN diodes are placed 45 degrees intervals in order to achieve polarization stability and desired switching performance. Analyzes of the proposed surfaces are executed with Ansoft HFSS v.15 software. According to the simulation results, desired frequency response is achieved.
A regression method for modelling geometric rates

The occurrence of an event of interest over time is often summarized by the incidence rate, defined as the average number of events per person-time. This type of rate applies to events that may occur repeatedly over time on any given subject, such as infections, and Poisson regression represents a natural regression method for modelling the effect of covariates on it. However, for events that can occur only once, such as death, the geometric rate may be a better summary measure. The geometric rate has long been utilized in demography for studying the growth of populations and in finance to compute compound interest on capital. This type of rate, however, is virtually unknown to medical research. This may be partly a consequence of the lack of a regression method for it. This paper describes a regression method for modelling the effect of covariates on the geometric rate. The described method is based on applying quantile regression to a transform of the time-to-event variable. The proposed method is used to analyze mortality in a randomized clinical trial and in an observational epidemiological study.
Research on Chinese-English Cross-Language Information Retrieval

With the rapid growing amount of available information, an important problem is formed, to match the user queries specified in one language against documents in another different language, i.e. cross-language information retrieval. Based on the work for cross-language information retrieval evaluation task in the 9th Text Retrieval Conference, a Chinese-English cross-language information retrieval pattern has been constructed. In this pattern, Chinese-English query translation is adopted as the dominant strategy, Chinese queries are used as translation objects, and Chinese-English machine readable dictionaries are utilized as the important knowledge source to acquire correct translations. By combining English monolingual information retrieval module constructed, the Chinese-English cross-language information retrieval process can be implemented successfully.
BREAKING THROUGH THE INVISIBLE CEILING TO THE SUPERINTENDENCY FOR BLACK WOMEN IN GEORGIA

The purpose of this general qualitative study was to attempt to understand the lived experiences of black female superintendents, an underrepresented group in the school superintendency. I sought to identify the supportive constructs leading to the superintendency, the barriers to overcome in pursuit of the superintendency, and how the black female superintendent experience has changed over time. We employed a purposive sample in the recruitment of study participants. The six participants of this study are retired and practicing black female superintendents in the state of Georgia. Three are retired and served 1984-1999, the period closest to the year of appointment of the first black female; the other three currently practice in GA, and they accepted their appointments during or after 2000. The primary means of data collection for this study was the use of semi-structured interviews. Through the utilization of coding, I was able to categorize then reduce chunks of data into meaningful units as I looked to connect the codes to provide insight or explain the phenomenon of the black female superintendency in GA. Thematic analysis was conducted to generate a set of themes surrounding the superintendents’ experiences collected from the indepth interviews to attempt to answer the research questions of the study. These themes were: (1) What are the lived experiences of black female superintendents in Georgia? (2) What obstacles or barriers do black female superintendents have to overcome? (3) What are the commonalities among experiences of black female superintendents? (4) How have the experiences of black female superintendents changed over time?
Housing Uncertainty and Childhood Impatience

The study demonstrates a direct link between housing uncertainty and children’s time preferences, or patience. We show that students who face housing uncertainties through mortgage foreclosures and eviction learn impatient behavior and are therefore at greater risk of making poor intertemporal choices such as dropping out of school. We find that large household size and the occurrence of an eviction significantly increases the impatience of children as measured by discount rates. At the same time, we find that living in a single-family home with both parents significantly decreases children’s discount rates and thus impatience.
Effect of the antioxidant TK 12627 (Irganox) on monodeiodination and on the levels of messenger ribonucleic acid of 5'-deiodinase type I and spot 14.

Until now, most potent inhibitors of monodeiodination are iodinated, propylthiouracil being an exception. We report here studies on a new non-iodinated substance, triethylene glycol bis-3-(3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxy-5-methyl-phenyl) propionate (TK 12627 or Irganox), which is used as a very efficient antioxidant in the chemistry of plastics. The studies were performed with 23 hypothyroid rats that received Irganox in their daily food (8 mg.day-1 x (100 g body wt)-1) for 3 weeks. Thyroxine (T4) metabolism was studied by implanting minipumps delivering 2.3 nmol T4.day-1 x (100 g body wt)-1 for 1 week. On day 1 before sacrifice, another minipump containing [125I]-3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3, 2.6 microCi/day) and [131I]-3,3',5'-triiodothyronine (rT3, 2.1 microCi/day) was implanted. The results showed that with Irganox treatment serum T4 concentrations were higher (p < 0.05). Serum T3 concentrations markedly decreased (1.07 +/- 0.07 vs 0.65 +/- 0.04 nmol/l), accompanied by a decrease of free T3 concentrations (p < 0.001). Serum rT3 concentrations increased by 50% (p < 0.001). Serum thyrotropin levels were mostly unmeasurable. The plasma clearance rate decreased slightly for T4 (19%, p < 0.05) and remarkably for rT3 (46.7%, p < 0.001). The conversion rate of T4 to rT3 did not change. Deiodinase type I (5'D-I) activity decreased in both liver and kidney tissues by 54% and 52%, respectively, and correlated with T3 (r2 = 0.79 and 0.65, respectively). Brain deiodinase type III (5D-III) was unchanged and type II (5'D-II) was unmeasurable. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Formulation and evaluation of mucoadhesive glipizide microspheres

The purpose of this research was to formulate and system-atically evaluate in vitro and in vivo performances of mucoadhesive microspheres of glipizide. Glipizide microspheres containing chitosan were prepared by simple emulsification phase separation technique using glutaraldehyde as a cross-linking agent. Results of preliminary trials indicate that volume of cross-linking agent, time for cross-linking, polymer-to-drug ratio, and speed of rotation affected characteristics of microspheres. Microspheres were discrete, spherical, and free flowing. The microspheres exhibited good mucoadhesive property in the in vitro wash-off test and also showed a high percentage drug entrapment efficiency. A 32 full factorial design was employed to study the effect of independent variables, polymer-to-drug ratio (X1), and stirring speed (X2) on dependent variables percentage mucoadhesion, t80, drug entrapment efficiency, and swelling index. The best batch exhibited a high drug entrapment efficiency of 75% and a swelling index of 1.42; percentage mucoadhesion after 1 hour was 78%. The drug release was also sustained for more than 12 hours. The polymer-to-drug ratio had a more significant effect on the dependent variables. In vivo testing of the mucoadhesive microspheres to albino Wistar rats demonstrated significant hypoglycemic effect of glipizide.
Performance of Older Japanese American Adults on Selected Cognitive Instruments

Abstract This study examined cognitive test performance of second- and third-generation Japanese American (JA) adults, a relatively homogeneous Asian American subgroup. Sixty-five JA and 65 non-Hispanic White (NHW) adults, ages between 45 and 91, were administered the Boston Naming Test-2 (BNT), Letter Fluency Test, Semantic Fluency Test, California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R), and Trail Making Test. Levels of acculturation, quality of educational attainment, and generation status in the United States, were also collected. There were no significant differences in the scores between the two groups on the tests administered. JA and NHW groups, however, differed in the patterns of the associations between some of the test performance and demographic variables. JA adults showed a stronger age-score relationship on BNT, CVLT, and the BVMT-R. Furthermore, second-generation JA adults performed lower than the third-generation adults even after controlling for basic demographic variables on CVLT and Trail Making Test. Acculturation on the other hand did not explain score differences once demographic variables were considered. Our results suggest the importance of considering unique history and characteristics of ethnic groups, and interactions of the aging process and culture on tasks with different cognitive demands. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–9)
DNA Repair and Global Sumoylation Are Regulated by Distinct Ubc9 Noncovalent Complexes

ABSTRACT Global sumoylation, SUMO chain formation, and genome stabilization are all outputs generated by a limited repertoire of enzymes. Mechanisms driving selectivity for each of these processes are largely uncharacterized. Here, through crystallographic analyses we show that the SUMO E2 Ubc9 forms a noncovalent complex with a SUMO-like domain of Rad60 (SLD2). Ubc9:SLD2 and Ubc9:SUMO noncovalent complexes are structurally analogous, suggesting that differential recruitment of Ubc9 by SUMO or Rad60 provides a novel means for such selectivity. Indeed, deconvoluting Ubc9 function by disrupting either the Ubc9:SLD2 or Ubc9:SUMO noncovalent complex reveals distinct roles in facilitating sumoylation. Ubc9:SLD2 acts in the Nse2 SUMO E3 ligase-dependent pathway for DNA repair, whereas Ubc9:SUMO instead promotes global sumoylation and chain formation, via the Pli1 E3 SUMO ligase. Moreover, this Pli1-dependent SUMO chain formation causes the genome instability phenotypes of SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligase (STUbL) mutants. Overall, we determine that, unexpectedly, Ubc9 noncovalent partner choice dictates the role of sumoylation in distinct cellular pathways.