Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of vulnerability to the hydrological effects of climate change in rural communities: evidence from Nepal

The vulnerability of communities in the Himalayas to water stress caused by climate change depends on changes in the availability of water as well as how it is used. There has been little work done to reconcile these drivers of water stress in the Himalayas. This paper evaluates how climate change may affect water availability in two Nepalese mountain communities, Panglin and Tallo Lorpa, and assesses whether these changes drive vulnerability to water stress. First, estimates of hydrological change are made based on climate model output and hydroclimatological theory. Household surveys, focus group discussions and participatory rural appraisal techniques are used to assess vulnerability and adaptive capacity in each community. Finally, the expected effects of climate change on water availability are linked to findings on the communities’ vulnerability to these changes. The results show that both communities are vulnerable to changes in water availability under climate change, but this vulnerability is small in comparison to adaptation opportunities. However, the ability to appropriate benefits from these opportunities is constrained, and it is the extent of this inhibition that determines vulnerability. These findings demonstrate that Malthusian interpretations may be inappropriate in the Himalayas, and highlight the importance of the constraints to climate change adaptation.
Elliptic Constructions: Spotting Patterns in UD Treebanks

The goal of this paper is to survey annotation of ellipsis in Universal Dependencies (UD) 2.0 treebanks. In the long term, knowing the types and frequencies of elliptical constructions is important for parsing experiments focused on ellipsis, which was also our original motivation. However, the current state of annotation is still far from perfect, and thus the main outcome of the present study is a description of errors and inconsistencies; we hope that it will help improve the future releases.
Extent and types of management consulting services to SMEs in Vojvodina

Growth and development of small and medium enterprises depends on many external and internal factors, as well as the volume, type and quality of support available to them. This paper highlights the importance of management knowledge and skills in small business, and the importance of management consulting in their acquisition and development. We have researched and analyzed the extent to management consulting (MC) services, separately in the micro, small and medium enterprises. In addition, we learn which types of MC services are most commonly used by companies of different sizes. In that way, we provided qualitative and quantitative data for each group of enterprises, both in the type and volume of services used. It is observed that micro-enterprises use a small amount MC services, and those of more general type. With the growth of the enterprises, comes an increase in scope, and sophistication of services used. The results may be useful both for small and medium enterprises, as well as for institutional and private providers of management consulting services.
Complete Genome Sequences of Chrysanthemum Stunt Viroid from a Single Chrysanthemum Cultivar

ABSTRACT The chrysanthemum stunt viroid (CSVd), a member of the genus Pospiviroid with a single circular RNA genome, infects many chrysanthemum species. Here, we report 25 complete genome sequences of CSVd in a single chrysanthemum cultivar, revealing 20 variants.
Prevalence and characterization of enteric adenoviruses in the South of Ireland

Enteric adenoviruses have been shown to be a substantial cause of pediatric gastroenteritis in various parts of the world, and are considered to be the second most common cause of viral gastroenteritis, next to rotavirus in young children. Genetic characterization of 95 adenovirus isolates obtained from patients with acute gastroenteritis between 2002 and 2007 from the southern regions of Ireland, were characterized by PCR analysis, restriction endonuclease (RE) analysis and sequencing analysis. All isolates were found to be of adenovirus type 41 origin. Genetic analysis of seven hypervariable regions (HVRs) located within the hexon gene has revealed a high level of amino acid sequence homology in samples over the course of this study, with a very close relationship to the D22 genome type. The D22 genome type has been detected in several other countries, thus suggesting Irish isolates have common genome types with other stains worldwide. This is the first such study undertaken in the south of Ireland, to type and genetically characterize adenoviral gastroenteritis isolates, and has revealed a high level of conservation within the isolated analyzed. J. Med. Virol. 79:1518–1526, 2007. © Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Human immunodeficiency virus treatment-induced adipose tissue pathology and lipoatrophy: prevalence and metabolic consequences.

BACKGROUND Lipoatrophy and metabolic complications of treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection may share common associations with adipose tissue pathology and inflammation. To investigate these relationships, we undertook a large-scale study of adipose tissue, body composition, and metabolic outcomes among HIV-infected adult men at a tertiary hospital HIV cohort during the period 2001-2007. METHODS Assessments included adipose biopsies (n = 211) for investigation of adipocyte mitochondrial DNA content, adipocytokine expression, and adipose macrophage content; and whole-body dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans (n = 225) for objective body composition changes; 138 individuals contributed both biopsy and DEXA data. RESULTS Compared with 78 treatment-naive control subjects, 98 zidovudine recipients (48%) and 49 stavudine recipients (67%) had leg fat measures <10% threshold value. Adipose samples associated with current stavudine or zidovudine (n = 99) revealed significant adipocyte mitochondrial DNA depletion, adipose tissue macrophage infiltration, and elevated proinflammatory cytokine levels, compared with samples from control subjects and nonthymidine nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) recipients (all P < .05). Improvements in adipose pathology after NRTI switching (n = 21 longitudinal samples) correlated with increased preswitch adipose inflammation and less severe fat loss (both P < .05). Elevated ratios of total to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and Homeostatic Metabolic Assessment scores correlated independently with lipoatrophy severity (P < .05) and increased body mass index (P < .05) in thymidine NRTI-experienced individuals. No effect of demographic or HIV-related variables, or HIV protease inhibitor therapy exposure was detected. CONCLUSIONS Adipose tissue pathology and lipoatrophic fat loss are highly prevalent among recipients of stavudine- or zidovudine-based HIV treatment and are associated with adverse metabolic outcomes. Restoring adipose tissue health appears to be an important issue in the long-term treatment of this patient population.
Analysis of 74 kb of DNA located at the right end of the 330-kb chlorella virus PBCV-1 genome.

This report completes a preliminary analysis of the sequence of the 330,740-bp chlorella virus PBCV-1 genome, the largest virus genome to be sequenced to date. The PBCV-1 genome is 57% the size of the genome from the smallest self-replicating organism, Mycoplasma genitalium. Analysis of 74 kb of newly sequenced DNA, from the right terminus of the PBCV-1 genome, revealed 153 open reading frames (ORFs) of 65 codons or longer. Eighty-five of these ORFs, which are evenly distributed on both strands of the DNA, were considered major ORFs. Fifty-nine of the major ORFs were separated by less than 100 bp. The largest intergenic distance was 729 bp, which occurred between two ORFs located in the 2.2-kb inverted terminal repeat region of the PBCV-1 genome. Twenty-seven of the 85 major ORFs resemble proteins in databases, including the large subunit of ribonucleotide diphosphate reductase, ATP-dependent DNA ligase, type II DNA topoisomerase, a helicase, histidine decarboxylase, dCMP deaminase, dUTP pyrophosphatase, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, a transposase, fungal translation elongation factor 3 (EF-3), UDP glucose dehydrogenase, a protein kinase, and an adenine DNA methyltransferase and its corresponding DNA site-specific endonuclease. Seventeen of the 153 ORFs resembled other PBCV-1 ORFs, suggesting that they represent either gene duplications or gene families.
Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite markers in Iberolacerta monticola, and cross‐species amplification in Iberolacerta galani and Zootoca vivipara

Fourteen polymorphic microsatellite loci are described for the Iberian rock lizard, Iberolacerta monticola. Genetic variation in a sample of 20 individuals from Piornedo (northwestern Spain) was quantified both by the number of alleles per locus, which ranged from six to 13, and by the expected frequency of heterozygotes under random mating (heterozygosity), which ranged from 0.761 to 0.902. Single locus and global exclusion probabilities were also computed, and indicate a high power of these markers for paternity assignments and mating system studies of I. monticola. All the analysed loci were also polymorphic in Iberolacerta galani, but only seven in Zootoca vivipara.
A single-chip K-Band CMOS FMCW radar transceiver

This paper presents a K-band FMCW radar transceiver IC, which is integrated in 0.13-μm CMOS technology. In the transmitter part, the class-C topology is adopted in the VCO block to achieve good phase noise performance. In the receiver part, the high gain of the LNA sufficiently suppresses the noise of the next stages to achieve a good noise figure in the receiver and the linearity of the receiver was improved by adoption of a gain control block, thereby achieving a wide dynamic range. As a result, a conversion gain of 35.7 dB, a P1dB of -12.7 dBm, and a DSB noise figure of 5.5 dB are achieved in the receiver part. The tuning range of 23.8~24.5 GHz and the phase noise of -103.1 dBc/Hz @ 1MHz offset are achieved in the transmitter part. The transceiver chip consumes 181.5 mW from a 1.5 V power supply. Using this chip, the K-band FMCW radar module is implemented and verified by measurement of the distance of an object.
The Relationship between Home Market Performance and Internationalization Decisions: Evidence from German Insurance Groups

This study investigates the relationship between home market performance and the choice of foreign market entry mode using survey data and financial statement data for German insurance groups with property–liability business from 1999 to 2011. We develop a dynamic resource‐based perspective and argue that strategic transformation is a major motive driving the decisions of insurance groups to internationalize their businesses. Additionally, the more rapid the strategic transformation, the more intense is the choice of market entry mode. Furthermore, our findings corroborate the notion that internationalization has a positive effect on home market performance when insurance groups are able to decrease home market dependence by extending the degree of internationalization.
Adaptive hybrid brain-computer interaction: Ask a trainer for assistance!

In applying mental imagery brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to end users, training is a key part for novice users to get control. In general learning situations, it is an established concept that a trainer assists a trainee to improve his/her aptitude in certain skills. In this work, we want to evaluate whether we can apply this concept in the context of event-related desynchronization (ERD) based, adaptive, hybrid BCIs. Hence, in a first session we merged the features of a high aptitude BCI user, a trainer, and a novice user, the trainee, in a closed-loop BCI feedback task and automatically adapted the classifier over time. In a second session the trainees operated the system unassisted. Twelve healthy participants ran through this protocol. Along with the trainer, the trainees achieved a very high overall peak accuracy of 95.3 %. In the second session, where users operated the BCI unassisted, they still achieved a high overall peak accuracy of 83.6%. Ten of twelve first time BCI users successfully achieved significantly better than chance accuracy. Concluding, we can say that this trainer-trainee approach is very promising. Future research should investigate, whether this approach is superior to conventional training approaches. This trainer-trainee concept could have potential for future application of BCIs to end users.
Improving LDPC decoding performance for ATSC 3.0 LDM profiles

ATSC 3.0 includes Layered Division Multiplexing (LDM) in addition to the traditional Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) technique in order to offer simultaneous stationary and mobile services. At the receiver side, Log-likelihood ratio (LLR) probability density functions are considered in the decoding process. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the performance of using different LLR PDF formulas for LDM signals in order to find the best trade-off between performance and implementation requirements, measuring the performance gain over TDM.
Bronchoscopic Lung Biopsy Using Noninvasive Ventilatory Support: Case Series and Review of Literature of NIV-Assisted Bronchoscopy

BACKGROUND: Fiberoptic bronchoscopy and lung biopsy are important diagnostic tools in patients with diffuse pulmonary infiltrates. However, these patients often have hypoxemic respiratory failure that makes this procedure hazardous. Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has been shown to improve oxygenation in hypoxemic patients. OBJECTIVE: To report the efficacy and safety of an innovative technique of NIV-assisted bronchoscopic lung biopsy in a small case-series of hypoxemic subjects with diffuse parenchymal infiltrates; also to systematically review the literature on NIV-assisted bronchoscopy. METHODS: Subjects with bilateral diffuse parenchymal infiltrates and PaO2/FIO2 < 200 mm Hg underwent bronchoscopic lung biopsy under NIV support. NIV was initiated 10 min before the procedure and continued for 30 min after the procedure. The primary outcomes were performance of successful procedure and episodes of decline in SpO2 < 90%. Secondary end points were the change in the respiratory and hemodynamic parameters during the procedure and occurrence of complications such as pneumothorax, hemorrhage, and endotracheal intubation. RESULTS: Six subjects, with a mean ± SD age of 44.5 ± 11.6 years, were included in the study. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) PaO2/FIO2 prior to lung biopsy was 164.5 mm Hg (146.3–176.3 mm Hg), and the median (IQR) inspiratory and expiratory positive airway pressures were 14 cm H2O (12–15 cm H2O) and 5 cm H2O. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy was well tolerated and all subjects maintained SpO2 > 92% during the procedure. One subject required endotracheal intubation due to hemoptysis. A definite diagnosis was obtained in 5 of the 6 subjects. A repeat procedure was performed in one subject, which again yielded no diagnosis. No other periprocedural complications were encountered. CONCLUSIONS: NIV-assisted bronchoscopic lung biopsy is a novel method for obtaining diagnosis in hypoxemic patients with diffuse lung infiltrates. However, this approach should be reserved for centers with extensive experience in NIV. More studies are required to define the utility of this approach.
The Path of Price Discovery: Trade Time vs Clock Time

I estimate the impulse response function of stock prices to news shocks using quarterly earnings surprises as an instrument for changes in firm value. I find that price discovery occurs through trading, independent of the passage of time. Prices converge to fundamental value faster when markets are more liquid. Nearly all cross-sectional variation in the speed of convergence measured in clock time disappears when measured in trade time. Price discovery requires minimal trading volume when liquidity is low, consistent with uninformed agents learning from order flow. I show that the path of asset prices in response to news is better explained by models of strategic informed trading than by gradual information diffusion.
Engaging Society in the Search for a Sustainable Future

During the past decades there is a growing interest to include a cultural dimension in the debate on sustainable development. In this thesis I explore how culture, and more specifically the Flemish cultural sector, contributes to the transition to a sustainable society. By means of case studies, I examine how cultural organizations perceive their role in the transition process and how they translate this into practice. I gathered data through in-depth interviews with eight cultural organizations and a focus group session in which all organizations were brought together. This helped me to develop a broader picture of how cultural organizations can work on ‘just sustainability’, a term used to stress both the social and ecological dimension of sustainability. The research shows that approaching sustainability from a cultural point of view opens up new perspectives on the search for a sustainable future; it can guide the debate on sustainable development towards a discussion on values, norms, ways thinking about, and acting in the world. Cultural organizations can play an important role in engaging ‘ordinary people’ in this ‘cultural transforming project’. (Less)
Bleomycin Tattooing as a Promising Therapeutic Modality in Large Keloids and Hypertrophic Scars

BACKGROUND Cryotherapy combined with intralesional triamcinolon injection is the most common traditional therapy for hypertrophic scars and keloids. The literature contains few articles on the use of bleomycin tattoo for treatment of these conditions. OBJECTIVE This study compares the efficacy of bleomycin tattoo with that of cryotherapy combined with intralesional triamcinolon injection for the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic scars. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-five patients with hypertrophic scars or keloids were randomly divided into two groups. Group A was treated with bleomycin tattoo, and group B, with cryotherapy combined with intralesional triamcinolon injection. There were four therapeutic sessions at 1-month intervals. All patients were followed for 3 months after the end of treatment. RESULTS Therapeutic response in lesions less than 100 mm2 was higher than 88% in both groups, but in larger lesions, the therapeutic response to bleomycin was significantly better than cryotherapy combined with intralesional triamcinolon injection (p=.03). In group A, no relationship was observed between therapeutic response and lesion size (p=.58); however, in group B smaller lesions (<100 mm2) displayed better therapeutic response (p=.007). CONCLUSIONS Bleomycin tattoo may be more effective than cryotherapy combined with intralesional triamcinolon injection in treatment of larger keloids and hypertrophic scars (size>100 mm2).
City Size, Distance and Formal Employment

Cities thrive through the diversity of their occupants because the availability of complementary skills enables firms in the formal sector to grow, delivering increasingly sophisticated products and services. The appearance of new industries is path dependent in that new economic activities build on existing strengths, leading cities to both diversify and specialize in distinct areas. Hence, the location of necessary capabilities, and in particular the distance between firms and people with the skills they need, is key to the success of urban agglomerations. Using data for Colombia, this paper assesses the extent to which cities benefit from skills and capabilities available in their surrounding catchment areas. Without assuming a prioria a definition for cities, we sequentially agglomerate the 96 urban municipalities larger than 50,000 people based on commuting time. We show that a level of agglomeration equivalent to between 45 and 75 minutes of commuting time, corresponding to between 62 and 43 cities, maximizes the impact that the availability of skills has on the ability of agglomerations to generate formal employment. Smaller urban municipalities stand to gain more in the process of agglomeration. A range of policy implications are discussed.
Exploring Different Matching / Attention Mechanism for Machine Comprehension Task on SQuAD dataset

For our default final project, we implemented a model for machine reading comprehension through the use of Deep learning. We trained our model using the SQuAD dataset. The aim of our model is to create a high-performance question answering tool through the incorporation of different techniques proposed by recent literatures, two in particular, and our own modifications of each layer in the pipeline.
Degree-preserving trees

We consider the degree-preserving spanning tree (DPST) problem: Given a connected graph G, find a spanning tree T of G such that as many vertices of T as possible have the same degree in T as in G. This problem is a graph-theoretical translation of a problem arising in the system-theoretical context of identifiability in networks, a concept which has applications in, for example, water distribution networks and electrical networks. We show that the DPST problem is NP-complete, even when restricted to split graphs or bipartite planar graphs, but that it can be solved in polynomial time for graphs with a bounded asteroidal number and for graphs with a bounded treewidth. For the class of interval graphs, we give a linear time algorithm. For the class of cocomparability graphs, we give an O(n4) algorithm. Furthermore, we present linear time approximation algorithms for planar graphs of a worst-case performance ratio of 1 - e for every e > 0.
Strength, diversity and plasticity of postmating reproductive barriers between two hybridizing oak species (Quercus robur L. and Quercus petraea (Matt) Liebl.)

Very little is known about the nature and strength of reproductive isolation (RI) in Quercus species, despite extensive research on the estimation and evolutionary significance of hybridization rates. We characterized postmating pre‐ and postzygotic RI between two hybridizing oak species, Quercus robur and Quercus petraea, using a large set of controlled crosses between different genotypes. Various traits potentially associated with reproductive barriers were quantified at several life history stages, from pollen–pistil interactions to seed set and progeny fitness‐related traits. Results indicate strong intrinsic postmating prezygotic barriers, with significant barriers also at the postzygotic level, but relatively weaker extrinsic barriers on early hybrid fitness measures assessed in controlled conditions. Using general linear modelling of common garden data with clonal replicates, we showed that most traits exhibited important genotypic differences, as well as different levels of sensitivity to micro‐environmental heterogeneity. These new findings suggest a large potential genetic diversity and plasticity of reproductive barriers and are confronted with hybridization evidence in these oak species.