Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Macroeconomic Shocks and Racial Labour Market Differences in the U.S.

Using 136 United States macroeconomic indicators from 1973 to 2017, and a factor augmented vector autoregression (FAVAR) framework with sign restrictions, we investigate the effects of three structural macroeconomic shocks - monetary, demand, and supply – on the labour market outcomes of black and white Americans. Our results indicate that adverse macroeconomic shocks have differential effects on labour market outcomes for blacks and whites, hurting blacks disproportionately relative to whites. Black Americans appear to be significantly more sensitive to macroeconomic shocks than white Americans. Evidence from our FAVAR model, which uses information on contractionary initiatives by the Federal Reserve, indicates that the employment-population ratio among black Americans falls close to twice as much as that among white Americans, primarily due to an increase in their unemployment rate and not a decline in labour force participation rate. Policymakers should take account of these heterogeneous effects across racial groups when implementing disinflationary guiding policy.
Knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of the Quebec population toward chronic pain: Where are we now?

ABSTRACT Background: Many chronic pain (CP) awareness and educational initiatives have been achieved, but it is time to take stock of where we are today. Aims: The aim of this study was to describe and identify determinants of knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of different subgroups of the Quebec population regarding CP and especially toward people suffering from this condition. Methods: A web-based, cross-sectional study was conducted between May and June 2014. Results: A total of 1958 participants responded, among whom 70.9% reported suffering from CP and 14.4% reported being a health care professional (HCP). Almost half of the participants were not aware that the risk of developing CP is increased after undergoing surgery or that CP affects approximately one in five adults. A minority (10.30%) agreed that HCP are well trained in CP treatment. The two most frequent negative beliefs were that people suffering from CP become dependent on their medications as do drug addicts (16.7%) and that consulting a psychologist is useless unless the person with CP is depressed (16.9%). Multiple regression analysis showed that being a woman, being born in Canada, being unemployed, suffering from CP, and being an HCP were predictors of better knowledge and more positive attitudes toward people suffering from CP (all P values < 0.05). Older age and residing in a remote region were associated with poorer knowledge and more negative attitudes. Conclusions: Our results underline the importance of continuing the efforts and the need for more education programs, awareness campaigns, and stigma reduction activities about CP for HCP, patients, and the general public.
Revisões sistemáticas da literatura: Uma súmula para as ciências sociais

Este trabalho tem como objetivo fazer uma apresentacao sucinta, embora completa e rigorosa, das varias etapas de uma revisao sistematica da literatura, tendo em vista a sua aplicacao no contexto das ciencias sociais. Para o efeito, propomos a integracao do enquadramento desenvolvido por Cooper (1982, 2010) e Cooper e Hedges (2009) e do conjunto de contributos sugeridos por varios outros autores recentes. As orientacoes apresentadas sao suscetiveis de aplicacao imediata por parte dos investigadores interessados.
Head Movements Control the Activity of Primary Visual Cortex in a Luminance-Dependent Manner

The vestibular system broadcasts head-movement related signals to sensory areas throughout the brain, including visual cortex. These signals are crucial for the brain’s ability to assess whether motion of the visual scene results from the animal’s head-movements. How head-movements impact visual cortical circuits remains, however, poorly understood. Here, we discover that ambient luminance profoundly transforms how mouse primary visual cortex (V1) processes head-movements. While in darkness, head movements result in an overall suppression of neuronal activity, in ambient light the same head movements trigger excitation across all cortical layers. This light-dependent switch in how V1 processes head-movements is controlled by somatostatin expressing (SOM) inhibitory neurons, which are excited by head movements in dark but not in light. This study thus reveals a light-dependent switch in the response of V1 to head-movements and identifies a circuit in which SOM cells are key integrators of vestibular and luminance signals.
Cascaded Form Sparse FIR Filter Design

In this paper, a cascaded form sparse finite impulse response (FIR) filter design algorithm is proposed. By decomposing a filter into two subfilters, the sparse filter design problem is reformulated as a quadratic constrained ${l} _{0}$ -norm minimization problem, which is further transformed to a convex problem through the introduction of a binary masking vector. An iterative forth-and-back search with sequence direction and error direction control is proposed to optimize the binary masking vector by minimizing the distance between the minimax approximation error and the specified upper bound. Experimental results show that the proposed design algorithm can improve the sparsity with comparable or even lower effective filter order.
Joinpoint regression analysis with time-on-study as time-scale. Application to three Italian population-based cohort studies

Background: Joinpoint regression analysis is usually applied to study varying trends over time in order to identify the time point(s) in which the trend significantly changes. We illustrate three epidemiological investigations in which this methodology was applied with time-on-study as time-scale. Methods: Data were retrieved from the healthcare utilization databases of Lombardy Region (Italy). We investigated the trend of the: (1) mortality rate among centenarians hospitalized for hip fracture (2004-2011); (2) proportion of persistent patients after the initial prescription of antihypertensive drugs during the first year of treatment according to gender (2005); prescription rate of statins in the year before and after the hospital admission among patients hospitalized for a transient ischemic attack (2008-2009). Results: The following results were obtained: (1) a joinpoint was identified in the fourth month, showing an increased risk of death during the three months after hip fracture hospitalization; (2) the proportion of patients still under antihypertensive treatment falls until the fifth month, remaining stable afterwards; there was evidence that the prevalence of patients who discontinued the treatment was significantly higher among women than men; (3) during the year after the transient ischemic attack episode, monthly rate of available statins was double than the previous year with a significant decrease in the first four months. Conclusions: The joinpoint regression analysis can be a useful tool in epidemiologic framework when a temporal trend is the objective of the investigation since it allows to make inference by means of a quantitative method rather than a qualitative evaluation.
Cancer-Associated Cachexia: A Systemic Consequence of Cancer Progression

Cancer is a life-threatening disease that has plagued humans for centuries. The vast majority of cancer-related mortality results from metastasis. Indeed, the invasive growth of metastatic cancer cells in vital organs causes fatal organ dysfunction, but metastasis-related deaths also result from cachexia, a debilitating wasting syndrome characterized by an involuntary loss of skeletal muscle mass and function. In fact, about 80% of metastatic cancer patients suffer from cachexia, which often renders them too weak to tolerate standard doses of anticancer therapies and makes them susceptible to death from cardiac and respiratory failure. The goals of this review are to highlight important findings that help explain how cancer-induced systemic changes drive the development of cachexia and to discuss unmet challenges and potential therapeutic strategies targeting cachexia to improve the quality of life and survival of cancer patients.
Simplified Collapse Analysis Model for RC Frames with Cyclic Deterioration Behaviors

ABSTRACT Equivalent single-degree-of-freedom (ESDOF) models are widely used to evaluate the collapse capacity of multistory structures, and their rationality is very important because it greatly affects the accuracy of the evaluation results. Prior studies have indicated that obvious cyclic deterioration (CD) behaviors exist before structural collapse, and such deterioration behaviors are the primary sources of collapse for reinforced concrete (RC) frames subjected to long-duration ground motions. Although several ESDOF models have been developed to represent the global mechanical behaviors during the collapse of RC frames, such models cannot reasonably consider CD behaviors. This paper establishes an ESDOF model capable of considering CD behaviors by utilizing the Ibarra-Krawinkler (I-K) model. The ESDOF model includes a monotonic backbone curve with a negative tangent stiffness and a hysteretic rule to consider CD behaviors based on hysteretic energy dissipation. A simple method utilizing the empirical relationship between the monotonic ductility capacity and hysteretic energy dissipation capacity of RC columns to determine the hysteretic energy dissipation capacity of the ESDOF model is proposed. The CD behaviors are simulated by calculating the hysteretic energy dissipation capacity of the ESDOF model using the empirical relationship, which is obtained by the regression analysis of the existing experimental data of the RC column tests. The proposed ESDOF model is validated by pseudo-static collapse experiments and collapse fragility analyses. The results demonstrate that CD behaviors cannot be ignored when performing the collapse analyses of RC frames and that the proposed ESDOF model can adequately predict the collapse capacity of RC frames.
pH and nitric oxide synthase activity and expression in bovine aortic endothelial cells

Aim: Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in the transition from intrauterine to extrauterine life. If this transition fails, a condition called persistent pulmonary hypertension of the neonate (PPHN) may develop. The current treatment modalities for this disease include induction of alkalosis by hyperventilation or alkali infusion, inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. There is evidence from animal studies that the elevated pH, not the low pCO2 is responsible for the resultant pulmonary vasodilatation. In this study, we examined the effect of pH on the activity and expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) as a possible explanation for the pH dependent drop in pulmonary vascular resistance.
The Impact of Co-opetition on the Challenges of Internationalisation for SMEs on the Chinese market

The world’s economy is approaching to be integrated as a whole and the interactions between companies from different countries are closer and easier than ever. Under such a context, SMEs are evolved from local actors into international players. During the process of internationalisation, SMEs are benefited from international opportunities in developing their competitiveness and improving their overall performances. At the same time, a number of challenges are accompanied creating obstacles for SMEs in achieving their business targets. The degree of challenges is found to be increasing while the international operations spread into emerging markets like China. It is advised to overcome the challenges of internationalisation through forming cooperative alliances with other companies. Among different types of cooperation, co-opetition, a relationship consists of simultaneous cooperation and competition, receives scarce attention. Whether co-opetition could positively impact on solving the challenges of internationalisation for SMEs has not widely studied and then becomes the interest of this work. A qualitative research was conducted on four case organisations that are all SMEs from European automotive industry and involved in co-opetitive relationships on the Chinese market. A conclusion is arguably drawn to evidence that a list of benefits of co-opetition can positively solving numerous challenges that SMEs confront during their internationalisation.
Verb Intergroup Bias: Verbs Are Used More Often in Reference to In-Groups than Out-Groups

Agency is a basic dimension of evaluations of social groups. More agency is assigned to in-groups than to out-groups, and verb intergroup bias (VIB) captures this tendency in language use. Four studies that performed large-scale quantitative analysis of natural language use, which covered more than 200 billion words, 20 countries, and various time spans, support the VIB model. Verbs, which are prototypically associated with actions, serve as agency indicators, and thus generic in-groups are more often described with verbs (we vs. they). Moreover, VIB is present in specific between-group comparisons: for Americans as an in-group reference and various out-groups (e.g., Mexicans, Russians, and Palestinians), as well as for Americans, Canadians, Britons, and Australians as in-group references and immigrants as a generic out-group. VIB is a useful tool in diagnosing intergroup discourses. Furthermore, VIB attests to the importance of analyzing language’s role in the formation and maintenance of social biases.
Checking the Plentitude of (BLA-SHV) ß-lactamase Gene in Separated E. Colis in Children under 6 Years-Old Infected with Urinary Tract Infection Referring to Tehran Central Pathobiology Laboratory (2014)

Increasing consumption of Antibiotics like β-lactam antibiotics including Penicillins and Cephalosporins has resulted in the creation of refractory E. coli levels to these antibiotics. The aim of this study is investigating the presence of resistant gene to β-lactam antibiotics and third-generation Cephalosporins among separated E. coli levels from urine sample of the referring children under 6 infected with urinary tract infection to Tehran central pathobiology laboratory. 130 s E.coli sample were collected from urine sample of the children. Sensitivity of the collected levels to β-lactam antibiotics including Ampicillin, Amoxicillin and third generation Cephalosporins was measured. Also, PCR was implemented for finding BLA-SHV gen. Among 130 samples under study, 45 samples comported BLA-SHV gen. 100 samples (77%) were resistant toward Amoxicillin and Ampicillin antibiotics and 30 samples (23%) were sensitive to these antibiotics. In this study, resistant percentage rate to non-s-lactam antibiotics like Amikacin, Gentamicin, Cotrimoxazole, and Ciprofloxacin was respectively 0%, 14%, 66% and 23%. This study has shown the presence of BLA-SHV gen with an abundance of 35% in E. coli bacteria and it also confirms the importance of awareness of growing increase of Antibiotic resistance and reduction and change in antibiotics’ consumption strategy.
Characterisation of Listeria monocytogenes from Food and Human Clinical Samples at Duhok, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Listeria monocytogenes is one of the most important foodborne pathogens in human worldwide. In present study, this bacterium was isolated from different animal products and human clinical samples. The isolates were characterized by antibiotic susceptibility tests, serotyping, virulence genes and 16SrRNA sequencing. Out of 1362 investigated samples, Listeria monocytogenes were identified in 48(3.5%) of samples. Seven samples 1.1% were from human, while 41(5.7%) were from food samples. The majority of food isolates were resistant to penicillin, cephalexin, doxycycline, ampicillin and vancomycin; while variable resistance to the other antibiotics was observed. Serotyping of food and human isolates found that 7 of human isolates and 28 of food isolates belonged to serogroup 1/2a (3a). While, 8 isolates from food samples belonged to the serogroup 4b. Five fresh red meat isolates belonged to the serogroup 1/2b. All food and human isolates contained virulence genes actA, hlyA, plcA and iap genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16SrRNA sequencing showed that the L. monocytogenes isolated from milk were not closely related to the meat and human isolates. This data suggests that the antibacterial resistant Listeria monocytogenes are widely spread within the animal products rather than the clinical samples. The most common serogroup within the isolated strains was 1/2a (3a). Surprisingly, all isolates found to be virulent strains depending on the virulence genes detection. Therefore, it is highly recommended to apply strict biosecurity measurements on food and food processing environment to avoid or to maintain the spread of the bacterial infection within the area.
Significant Value of Construction Waste Management Variable Using Structural Equation Model

It has been decided by existing writing that a part of investigate endeavors have been made to the execution of construction waste management (CWM), but less consideration is paid to examination of the worth of CWM. The reason of the particular show created in this investigation is to clarity how to improve the worth of construction waste management. This consider built upon observation of field and earlier research. This consider in this manner endeavors to create a show for quantitatively assessing the esteem of CWM by using a Structural Equation Model (SEM) approach with the aid of Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) measurable bundle to overcome these issues. The outcome of analysis, which used data collected from 383 respondents on construction project by instrument questionnaire. Base on SEM-AMOS analysis, the result of analysis showed that policy have highest score significant value is 0.751 on construction waste management rules. Second, asset indicator on equipment asset is 0.741. Third, Technology indicator on equipment innovations is 0.645. Fourth, Knowledge indicator on knowledge of construction waste. Fifth, human resources indicator on education level is 0.672. Through measurement model of construction waste management, it gives way better understanding to reduce construction waste for prospective management project. Significant Value of Construction Waste Management Variable Using Structural Equation Model
Addressing Elder Sexual Abuse: The Critical Role for Integrated Care

Elder abuse is a significant public health issue encompassing neglect, financial exploitation, physical and sexual abuse, and affecting about 10% of adults over age 60 (Acierno et al., 2010). While elder sexual abuse (ESA) is the least common form of elder abuse, its impact can be devastating (Dong, 2015). Though the American Medical Association has long held for the routine screening of elder abuse (Aravanis et al., 1993), there are substantial barriers and challenges in identifying and addressing maltreatment among ESA survivors (Burgess, 2006). This brief commentary provides an overview of the risk factors for ESA, survivors and offender characteristics, as well as signs of abuse health care providers should be aware of in the older population. Given that older adults frequently interface with health care professionals, these providers are in a unique position to screen and address this underrecognized issue. The introduction of the integrated behavioral health model provides additional resources for this domain. We discuss how components of other interprofessional and integrated care programs, which have successfully targeted unique psychosocial needs of the elderly, can be used to address ESA. Primary care psychologists can be a valuable resource providing direct clinical services and training medical providers to sensitively and appropriately assess abuse and intervene when necessary. To highlight this, we discuss the model of trauma-informed primary care and the need for education and communication training for medical providers to address ESA.
Gut mucosa in the rats exposed temporary mechanical obstruction fed with probiotic.

BACKGROUND Created a model in the rats, to prevent mucosal damage and related effects in the patients, who were operated due to mechanical obstruction. Some groups fed fodder with probiotics, some groups fed with standard fodder. It is objected that the damage of gut mucosa and related effects on how to expose the differences of the groups. METHODS In this study, 48 female Wistar-albino type rats are separated into five groups randomly. In the first operation, rats' terminal ileum was tied up with silk except for the control group. Two groups 24, the other two groups 48 hours later operated again and terminal ileum obstructions were removed. During that time, each one of those 24 and 48 hours of obstructed groups were fed with probiotic. Twenty-four hours later, the control group and other groups were operated for the third time for sampling. Terminal ileum, liver, spleen, MLN (Mesenteric lymph node) and blood samples were taken. RESULTS The research group, which was obstructed and fed with probiotics during 48 hours, was significantly observed in increased mucosa cell loss and mucosal edema. Bacterial translocation was found more common in groups without probiotics. Tissue GR (Glutathione reductase) and erythrocyte CAT (Catalase) were lower in the group of 24 hours obstructed and given probiotics. CONCLUSION The findings suggest that the high rate of mucosal edemas in the groups that are fed with probiotics can be seen as damage, but we think that probiotics are consonant with the strength of the mucosal barrier. Thus, in the groups fed with probiotics, it is possible that bacterial translocation is seen less, and some antioxidative enzymes are found less. Further studies are needed to investigate the benefits of probiotics in patients operated for obstruction.
Correlating predicted epigenetic marks with expression data to find interactions between SNPs and genes

Despite all the work done, mapping GWAS SNPs in non-coding regions to their target genes remains a challenge. The SNP can be associated with target genes by eQTL analysis. Here we introduce a method to make these eQTLs more robust. Instead of correlating the gene expression with the SNP value like in eQTLs, we correlate it with epigenomic data. This epigenomic data is very expensive and noisy. We therefore predict the epigenomic data from the DNA sequence using the deep learning framework DeepSEA (Zhou and Troyanskaya, 2015).
Comparative analysis of Naïve Bayes, K Nearest Neighbor and C.45 method in weather forecast

Weather forecast in an area is unpredictable. This is due to the fact that human factors cannot predict it. The weather forecast is by applying data mining using the algorithm Naive Bayes, K-nearest Neighbor (K-NN), and C.45. Bayesian Classification is a statistical classification method that is useful for the process of determining the probability of a class membership. KNN Algorithm is a classification algorithm based on the similarity between one data and another data. C4.5 algorithms is an easy-to-use classification method interpreted. The best level of accuracy between the three algorithms can be determined by comparison. Comparison of algorithm aims to get the algorithm that is considered accurate, precision, recall and f-measure to make a prediction of a problem. the results of the comparison of the k-Nearest Neighbor, Naïve Bayes and C4.5 classification algorithms used in weather prediction case studies stating that the KNN classification algorithm is a classification algorithm that has the highest accuracy with k = 7 and fold = 5 in predicting the weather compared to Naïve Bayes classification algorithm with fold = 3 and C.45 which reached 71.58% followed by C.45 with fold = 20 having an accuracy of 69.83%. and finally Naïve Bayes 68.77%.