Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Third‐Party Certification and the Effectiveness of Voluntary Pollution Abatement Programs: Evidence from Responsible Care

We analyze whether third‐party certification has been successful in improving the performance of voluntary pollution abatement in the Responsible Care (RC) program which made certification mandatory from 2005 onward. We use facility‐level panel data from 821 plants between 1996 and 2010, and exploit the change in the program requirements to estimate the causal impact of third‐party certification on participating facility emissions compared to non‐RC plants in the U.S. chemical industry. We address endogenous selection into RC via instrumental variables, and explore heterogeneity in the treatment effect. We find that, on average, there is no statistically discernible effect of third‐party certification on facility emissions, and that this result is robust to a variety of models that correspond to different assumptions related to identification. (JEL Q53, Q58, L60) (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
RELIABILITY OF TESTS TO DETERMINE PEAK AEROBIC POWER, ANAEROBIC POWER AND ISOKINETIC MUSCLE STRENGTH IN CHILDREN WITH SPASTIC CEREBRAL PALSY

Test‐retest reliability of measurements of peak aerobic power (cycle ergometer), anaerobic power (cycle ergometer), and isokinetic muscle strength of the knee (Cybex) was established in 12 young children with cerebral palsy (spastic diplegia/tetraplegia; mean age 8.8 years) and in addition in 39 healthy controls (mean age 9.2 years). The cycle ergometer tests were found to be reliable in both the group with CP and the control group (test‐retest correlations varying from 0.72 to 0.96). The isokinetic strength test in the group with CP was only reliable at 30o/s, whereas in the control group high test‐retest correlations were also found at 60%s and 120%.
Kaleido: Network Traffic Attribution using Multifaceted Footprinting

Network traﬃc attribution, namely, inferring users responsible for activities observed on network interfaces, is one fundamental yet challenging task in network security forensics. Compared with other user-system interaction records, network traces are inherently coarse-grained, context-sensitive, and detached from user ends. This paper presents Kaleido , a new network traﬃc attribution tool with a series of key features: a) it adopts a new class of inductive discriminant models to capture user- and context-speciﬁc patterns (“ footprints ”) from diﬀerent aspects of network traﬃc; b) it applies eﬃcient learning methods to extracting and aggregating such footprints from noisy historical traces; c) with the help of novel indexing structures, it is able to perform eﬃcient, runtime traﬃc attribution over high-volume network traces. The eﬃcacy of Kaleido is evaluated with extensive experimental studies using the real network traces collected over three months in a large enterprise network.
Toward a definition of “fresh” whole blood: an in vitro characterization of coagulation properties in refrigerated whole blood for transfusion

BACKGROUND: The hemostatic property of “fresh” whole blood (WB) has been observed in military application and cardiac surgery and is associated with reduced blood loss, transfusion requirements, and donor exposures. The time from donation to transfusion defining “fresh” has not been systematically studied. We undertook an in vitro study of coagulation properties of refrigerated WB stored for 31 days.
Development of industrial service offerings: a process framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a service development process that is adapted to manufacturing companies and to discuss its implications for companies with a traditional focus on product development and product sales.Design/methodology/approach – The paper looks at new service development (NSD) literature and argues for a rationale to study NSD processes in a manufacturing context. Next, a generic NSD framework for manufacturing companies is presented. Examples are given based on an explorative multiple case study (ten companies) with in‐depth interviews and focus groups. The analysis reveals organizational requirements and other critical factors related to each stage of the NSD process.Findings – A four‐stage service offering development framework is presented. Critical aspects of NSD in a manufacturing context are highlighted. The importance of considering both NSD and new product development (NPD) together is also emphasized.Research limitations/implications – The limitations are base.
The Modularity of the Resource Utilization Model in Python

One proposed method for achieving greener software is the resource utilization model (RUM). To reduce the impact on the complexity of the software, the RUM method aims to modularize the energy optimizers from the rest of the software, separating the functional concerns from the optimization concerns. An implementation of the RUM style had not yet been realized. The goal of this study is to investigate how modular a program is when it is implemented in this style, and what the impact of modularizing the energy optimizers from the rest of the software is. Several languages had already been investigated in order to identify suitable programming mechanisms for the RUM style. Python was found to offer suitable mechanisms. In order to investigate the modularity of a program implemented in the RUM style, first suitable metrics were selected for measuring the modularity of a program. Then an object oriented program was implemented using design patterns. Next, to allow for a functionally similar program to be implemented in the RUM style, a development environment for the RUM style was implemented in Python. Finally these two functionally similar programs were compared on their modularity. The results showed a decreased coupling for functional components, in the RUM style they were no longer coupled to optimizers. At the same time the optimizers showed an increase in coupling, as they are now both coupled to the components which they optimize, and to the RUMs of those components. The separation of the functional concerns from the optimization concerns also allowed for the interjection of optimizers between any two functional components, without coupling those components to the optimizer. Thus the results show that a program in the RUM style in Python is at least as modular as a comparable Object Oriented program, and that the RUM style allows for the interjection of optimizers without coupling functional components to the optimizers.
Sharpening of shadow edges in ultra high resolution SAR images

In this paper, the equations describing the centroid location of target shadow and the terms which cause it to defocus are derived for images formed by spotlight SAR algorithm. Based on the derived equations, a shadow edge sharpening technique is proposed. The proposed technique is tested on real data and results show that it can sharpen and bring out even faintly visible shadow in ultra high resolution SAR images.
The detection of major loci by segregation and linkage analysis: A simulation study

Simulated multigenerational pedigrees were analyzed using the program GENPED and POINTER to examine the 1) limits of segregation analysis for detecting single locus, two‐allele transmission of a dichotomous trait and 2) accuracy of the parameter estimates. Ten data sets of 30 pedigrees each (approximately 25 persons per pedigree) were simulated. The genotypic penetrance values were varied but the population prevalence of the trait was kept constant at 2%. For some data sets a linked marker locus was also simulated. Previous results had shown that a single major locus could be easily detected when the heterozygote penetrance (f1) was high or midway between the two homozygote penetrances. In this study, we found a single major locus could not be consistently detected by either method of segregation analysis when f1 was “low” to “intermediate. ” Accuracy of the parameter estimates depended on assumptions about the population prevalence. In those cases where the major locus could not be detected by segregation analysis, linkage to a marker locus could be detected as long as the marker was closely linked and there were not phenocopies in the population. Owing to the limited number of simulations in this study, we cannot generalize these findings. However, they provide a basis for further testing of methods of segregation analysis when factors such as the parameter values, family structure, and ascertainment scheme are varied.
Norepinephrine Evoked by Potassium Depolarization Increases Interstitial Adenosine Concentration via Activation of ecto-5′-Nucleotidase in Rat Hearts

We examined whether the increase of the extracellular potassium ion concentration, [K+]o, can increase the production of interstitial adenosine in the ventricular myocardium, with the use of microdialysis techniques in in situ rat hearts. A microdialysis probe was implanted in the left ventricular myocardium of anesthetized rat hearts, and the tissue in the vicinity of the dialysis was perfused with Tyrode's solution containing AMP through the dialysis probe at a rate of 1.0 μl/min to assess the activity of ecto-5′-nucleotidase. When the K+ concentration of the perfusate ([K+]o) was increased stepwise from 5.4 mM (control) to up to 140.4 mM, the level of dialysate adenosine significantly increased, in a [K+]o-dependent manner. The presence of CsCl or BaCl2 (20 mM), which markedly depolarized the resting potential, significantly increased the level of adenosine in the dialysate. Equivalent increases in the osmotic concentration of the perfusate, made by adding sucrose (270 mM), did not change the dialysate adenosine concentration. Introduction of high [K+]o (140.4 mM) significantly increased the level of norepinephrine (NE) in the dialysate, and this increase was abolished in the reserpinized rats hearts. In the presence of an antagonist of α1-adrenoceptor (prazosin, 50 μM) or protein kinase C (PKC) (chelerythrine, 10 μM) and in reserpinized rats, an introduction of high [K+]o failed to increase the AMP-primed dialysate adenosine concentration. We conclude that high [K+]o-induced NE release from sympathetic nerve terminals increases adenosine by stimulating the PKC-ecto-5′-nucleotidase cascade through α1-adrenoceptors.
Surface micromachined integrated optic polarization beam splitter

An integrated polarization beam splitting system composed of one binary phase Fresnel collimating lens and one polarization beam splitter (PBS) has been realized on a single Si chip using a commercially available foundry polysilicon surface micromachining process [Multi-User Mems Process, or (MUMPS)] at Mems Center at North Carolina (MCNC). The polarization extinction ratios of 10 dB for the transmitted light and over 20 dB for the reflected light have been achieved. The whole system is prealigned through computer-aided design on a Si substrate and is lifted up perpendicular to the substrate after structure release. This system opens opportunities for various applications where the light polarization states could be utilized.
Peak-to-average power control for multiple-antenna HIPERLAN/2 and IEEE802.11a systems

A combination of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) signal processing with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is regarded as a promising solution for enhancing the performance of next generation wireless local area network (WLAN) systems. This paper evaluates the peak-to-average power ratio (PAR) performance in a MIMO OFDM-based WLAN system using a space-time block code (STBC). The investigated PAR control schemes, which are originally based on the selective mapping (SLM) and partial transmit sequence (PTS) approaches, select the transmitted sequence with the lowest average PAR over all transmit antennas and retrieve the side information (SI) very accurately at the expense of a slight degradation of the PAR performance. The low probability of false SI can improve the overall detection performance of the MIMO-WLAN system encountered with erroneous SI compared to the ordinary SLM and PTS approaches, respectively.
Ultraviolet-to-far infrared properties of Lyman break galaxies and luminous infrared galaxies at z ∼ 1

We present the first large, unbiased sample of Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) at z ~ 1. Far ultraviolet-dropout (1530 A) galaxies in the Chandra Deep Field South have been selected using GALEX data. This first large sample in the z ~ 1 universe provides us with a high quality reference sample of LBGs. We analyzed the sample from the UV to the IR using GALEX, SPITZER, ESO and HST data. The morphology (obtained from GOODS data) of 75 % of our LBGs is consistent with a disk. The vast majority of LBGs with an IR detection are also Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs). As a class, the galaxies not detected at 24 microns are an order of magnitude fainter relative to the UV compared with those detected individually, suggesting that there may be two types of behavior within the sample. For the IR-bright galaxies, there is an apparent upper limit for the UV dust attenuation and this upper limit is anti-correlated with the observed UV luminosity. Previous estimates of dust attenuations based on the ultraviolet slope are compared to new ones based on the FIR/UV ratio (for LBGs detected at 24 microns), which is usually a more reliable estimator. Depending on the calibration we use to estimate the total IR luminosity, beta-based attenuations A_{FUV} are larger by 0.2 to 0.6 mag. than the ones estimated from FIR/UV ratio. Finally, for IR-bright LBGs, median estimated beta-based SFRs are 2-3 times larger than the total SFRs estimated as SFR_{TOT} = SFR_{UV} + SFR_{IR} while IR-based SFRs provide values below SFR_{TOT} by 15 - 20 %. We use a stacking method to statistically constrain the 24 microns flux of LBGs non individually detected. The results suggest that these LBGs do not contain large amounts of dust.
Commentary: the fading of the dream: widening inequalities in life expectancy in America.

Walt CD, Proctor BD, Mills RJ. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2003. Current Population Reports, P60-226. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau; 2004. 27 Danziger S, Gottschalk P (eds). Uneven Tides: Rising Inequality in America. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 1994. 28 Kawachi I, Subramanian SV, Almeida-Filho N. A glossary for health inequalities. J Epidemiol Community Health 2002;56:647–52. 29 US Census Bureau. County and City Data Book, 2000 CD-ROM. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 2000. 30 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1992–1998. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1999. 31 Williams DR, Neighbors HW, Jackson, JS. Racial/ethnic discrimination and health: findings from community studies. Am J Public Health 2003;93:200–08. 32 Link BG, Phelan JC. Understanding sociodemographic differences in health: the role of fundamental social causes. Am J Public Health 1996;86:471–73.
An ILS Algorithm for the Team Orienteering Problem with Variable Profit

The Orienteering Problem (OP) is a routing problem that has numerous applications in various fields such as logistics and tourism. The objective is to determine a subset of nodes to visit so that the total collected score is maximized and a given time budget is not exceeded. The extensive application of OP has led to many different variants, including the Team Orienteering Problem (TOP) and the Orienteering Problem with Time Windows (OPTW). In this paper, the TOP with Variable Profits (TOPVP) is studied. The main characteristic of the TOPVP is that the amount of score collected from a particular node depends on the duration of stay on that node. We first propose a mathematical model for the TOPVP. We use the AIMMS Outer Approximation (AOA) algorithm to solve modified benchmark instances. We then propose a simple algorithm based on Iterated Local Search in order to solve some modified benchmark instances. Finally, we conclude that ILS is able to produce results which are comparable to those solved by the AOA algorithm.
A Comprehensive Model to Predict the Timing Resolution of SiPM-Based Scintillation Detectors: Theory and Experimental Validation

Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are expected to replace photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) in several applications that require scintillation detectors with excellent timing resolution, such as time-of-flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET). However, the theory about the timing resolution of SiPM-based detectors is not yet fully understood. Here we propose a comprehensive statistical model to predict the timing resolution of SiPM-based scintillation detectors. It incorporates the relevant SiPM-related parameters (viz. the single cell electronic response, the single cell gain, the charge carrier transit time spread, and crosstalk) as well as the scintillation pulse rise and decay times, light yield, and energy resolution. It is shown that the proposed model reduces to the well-established Hyman model for timing with PMTs if the number of primary triggers (photoelectrons in case of a PMT) is Poisson distributed and crosstalk and electronic noise are negligible. The model predictions are validated by measurements of the coincidence resolving times (CRT) for 511 keV photons of two identical detectors as a function of SiPM bias voltage, for two different kinds of scintillators, namely LYSO:Ce and LaBr3:5%Ce. CRTs as low as 138 ps ± 2 ps FWHM for LYSO:Ce and 95 ps ± 3 ps FWHM for LaBr3:5%Ce were obtained, demonstrating the outstanding timing potential of SiPM-based scintillation detectors. These values were found to be in good agreement with the predicted CRTs of 140 ps FWHM and 95 ps FWHM, respectively. Utilizing the proposed model, it can be shown that the CRTs obtained in our experiments are mainly limited by photon statistics while crosstalk, electronic noise and signal bandwidth have relatively little influence.
Lymphangiogenesis Is Upregulated in Kidneys of Patients With Multiple Myeloma

Neolymphangiogenesis has recently been demonstrated in transplanted kidneys as well as in chronic interstitial nephritis and IgA nephropathy. However, its significance in kidney disease remains to be defined and a systematic study of renal lymphangiogenesis is warranted. We investigated patients with multiple myeloma (MM) presenting in the great majority with acute renal insufficiency. Controls were allograft kidney donors and patients with renal insufficiency due to acute renal failure (ARF). Lymph vessel length density (LVD) was quantified immunohistochemically by means of antipodoplanin staining followed by computer‐assisted stereology. The mean LVD in kidneys of patients with MM (23.19 mm−2) was higher when compared with allograft donors (7.42 mm−2, P = 0.0003) and patients with ARF (6.78 mm−2, P = 0.0002). The higher LVD was significantly associated with interstitial inflammation, and the newly formed lymph vessels were accompanied by diffuse and nodular interstitial infiltrates composed mainly of CD20+ B cells and CD27+ plasma cells. The infiltrates in patients with MM also displayed a higher expression of the B‐cell chemoattractant CXCL13. These results demonstrate for the first time that lymphangiogenesis is a prominent feature in MM kidneys and that it is associated with a significant accumulation of macrophages, CD20+ and CD27+ B lymphocytes. Further studies should clarify whether these changes represent a beneficial or detrimental factor in the progression of the myeloma‐related kidney damage. Anat Rec 293:1497–1505, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cytotoxicity and Apoptosis Produced by Arachidonic Acid in Hep G2 Cells Overexpressing Human Cytochrome P4502E1*

The goal of the current study was to evaluate the effects of arachidonic acid, as a representative polyunsaturated fatty acid, on the viability of a Hep G2 cell line, which has been transduced to express human cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1). Arachidonic acid produced a concentration- and time-dependent toxicity to Hep G2-MV2E1-9 cells, which express CYP2E1, but little or no toxicity was found with control Hep G2-MV-5 cells, which were infected with retrovirus lacking human CYP2E1 cDNA. In contrast to arachidonic acid, oleic acid was not toxic to the Hep G2-MV2E1-9 cells. The cytotoxicity of arachidonic acid appeared to involve a lipid peroxidation type of mechanism since toxicity was enhanced after depletion of cellular glutathione; formation of malondialdehyde and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal was markedly elevated in the cells expressing CYP2E1, and toxicity was prevented by antioxidants such as α-tocopherol phosphate, 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid (trolox), propylgallate, ascorbate, and diphenylphenylenediamine, and the iron chelator desferrioxamine. Transfection of the Hep G2-MV2E1-9 cells with plasmid containing CYP2E1 in the sense orientation enhanced the arachidonic acid toxicity, whereas transfection with plasmid containing CYP2E1 in the antisense orientation decreased toxicity. The CYP2E1-dependent arachidonic acid toxicity appeared to involve apoptosis, as demonstrated by terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling and DNA laddering experiments. Trolox, which prevented toxicity of arachidonic acid, also prevented the apoptosis. Transfection with a plasmid containing bcl-2 resulted in complete protection against the CYP2E1-dependent arachidonic acid toxicity. It is proposed that elevated production of reactive oxygen intermediates by cells expressing CYP2E1 can cause lipid peroxidation, which subsequently promotes apoptosis and cell toxicity when the cells are enriched with polyunsaturated fatty acids such as arachidonic acid. The Hep G2-MV2E1-9 cells appear to be a valuable model to study interaction between CYP2E1, polyunsaturated fatty acids, reactive radicals, and the consequence of these interactions on cell viability and to reproduce several of the key features associated with ethanol hepatotoxicity in the intragastric infusion model of ethanol treatment.
Modified Discontinuous PWM for Size Reduction of the Circulating Current Filter in Parallel Interleaved Converters

Parallel voltage-source converters (VSCs) require an inductive filter to suppress the circulating current. The size of this filter can be minimized by reducing either the maximum value of the flux linkage or the core losses. This paper presents a modified discontinuous pulsewidth modulation (DPWM) scheme to reduce the maximum value of the flux linkage and the core losses in the circulating current filter. In the proposed PWM scheme, the dwell time of an active vector is divided within a half-carrier cycle to ensure simultaneous occurrence of the same zero vectors in both VSCs. A function to decide the ratio of the dwell time of the divided active vector is also presented. The effect of the proposed PWM scheme on the maximum value of the flux linkage and the core losses is analyzed and compared with that of the space vector modulation and 60$^\circ$ clamped DPWM schemes. The analytical expressions for the maximum value of the flux linkage are derived for each of these PWM schemes. In addition, the effect of the proposed PWM scheme on the line current ripple and the switching losses is also analyzed and compared. To verify the analysis, experimental results are presented, which prove the effectiveness of the proposed PWM scheme.
Characterization of a CRM1-Dependent Nuclear Export Signal in the C Terminus of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Tegument Protein UL47

ABSTRACT The herpes simplex virus type 1 tegument protein known as VP13/14, or hUL47, localizes to the nucleus and binds RNA. Using fluorescence loss in photobleaching analysis, we show that hUL47 undergoes nucleocytoplasmic shuttling during infection. We identify the hUL47 nuclear export signal (NES) as a C-terminal 10-residue hydrophobic peptide and measure its efficiency relative to that of the classical human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Rev NES. Finally, we show that the hUL47 NES is sensitive to the inhibitor of CRM1-mediated nuclear export leptomycin B. Hence, hUL47 joins a growing list of virus-encoded RNA-binding proteins that use CRM1 to exit the nucleus.