Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time Use Impacts of Rural Electrification: Longitudinal Evidence from Guatemala

This paper examines how obtaining a household electric connection affects the time allocation of individuals in Guatemala. Time use data collected as part of a household survey in 2000 is combined with data on the location of hydroelectric dams. Variation in the distance to the nearest operating dam is employed to predict household electrification rates in municipalities, conditional on other infrastructure, local observables and provincial fixed effects. Consistent with a hypothesis that household electrification extends the potential working day, electrification is found to have increase time spent working for money by prime-age individuals of both sexes. Electrification also decreases leisure substantially for this age group. Boys and girls do not, however, spend more time studying as a result of electrification.
Macrophage MHC and T-Cell Receptors Essential for Rejection of Allografted Skin and Lymphoma

Background Skin or organ allograft rejection is dependent on noncytotoxic CD4+ T cells, but the mechanisms of recognition and rejection remain elusive. Previously, we demonstrated C57BL/6 (H-2DbKb) macrophage-mediated, cell-to-cell contact-dependent, d haplotype-specific lysis of allografts (e.g., BALB/c skin and Meth A cells; H-2DdKd) in the rejection site and isolated two cDNA clones encoding receptors on macrophages for H-2Dd and H-2Kd, macrophage major histocompatibility complex receptor (MMR) 1 and 2, respectively. Methods To elucidate the role of MMR2 and T-cell receptors (TCRs) in graft rejection, we generated MMR2 knockout (KO) mice on a C57BL/6 background and transplanted Dd, Kd, or DdKd transgenic C57BL/6 skin or EL-4 lymphoma cells onto or into these KO mice. Results MMR2 KO mice lacking MMR2 mRNA or protein expression in their monocytes had no obvious abnormalities in terms of cell number in or composition of their lymphoid tissues or in T lymphocyte responses to alloantigen or nonalloantigen, whereas they failed to reject Kd transgenic skin grafts. Surprisingly, they also lacked MMR1 mRNA and protein expression in their monocytes and failed to reject Dd or DdKd transgenic skin grafts. However, they did reject skin grafts from mice expressing H-2Id, minor Hd, or third-party major histocompatibility complex. On the contrary, Dd-, Kd-, or DdKd-EL-4 cells injected intradermally or intraperitoneally into MMR2 KO mice were rejected by TCR&agr;&bgr;+/CD8+ T cells in a transgene number-dependent and MMR-independent manner. Conclusions These results demonstrate that MMRs on monocytes/macrophages and TCRs on cytotoxic T lymphocytes in mice were essential for recognition and rejection of allografted skin and lymphoma, respectively.
Adaptive sinkhole detection on wireless ad hoc networks

Wireless ad hoc technology is demanding and continually growing. Its dynamics and flexibility allow the network to be easily set up without the requirement of a predetermined infrastructure. The advancement of the technology itself draws attentions from intruders as well as researchers and developers. Consequently, detecting intrusions on wireless ad hoc network is one of the most challenging issues facing today's researchers. Its dynamic nature permits the existence of a great number of difficulties in implementing its security features. In a highly dynamic ad hoc network, it is inefficient to learn normal behaviours of each node from the network where nodes move in and out all the time. This research introduces an approach for sinkhole countermeasure. Sinkhole attacks occur when malicious nodes do not relay the received data to a destination and finally cause an availability problem to the network in the form of denial-of-services. Here, malicious nodes try to disable any services passing through it. We present a mechanism for adaptively detecting and defending against sinkhole attacks in a dynamic ad hoc system by applying trust-based algorithm on ad hoc nodes. Weights and thresholds are used for separating suspicious behaviours from normal ones
Vacuum-assisted closure therapy increases local interleukin-8 and vascular endothelial growth factor levels in traumatic wounds.

BACKGROUND Clinical observations are suggesting accelerated granulation tissue formation in traumatic wounds treated with vacuum-assisted closure (VAC). Aim of this study was to determine the impact of VAC therapy versus alternative Epigard application on local inflammation and neovascularization in traumatic soft tissue wounds. METHODS Thirty-two patients with traumatic wounds requiring temporary coverage (VAC n = 16; Epigard n = 16) were included. At each change of dressing, samples of wound fluid and serum were collected (n = 80). The cytokines interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and fibroblast growth factor-2 were measured by ELISA. Wound biopsies were examined histologically for inflammatory cells and degree of neovascularization present. RESULTS All cytokines were found to be elevated in wound fluids during both VAC and Epigard treatment, whereas serum concentrations were negligible or not detectable. In wound fluids, significantly higher IL-8 (p < 0.001) and VEGF (p < 0.05) levels were detected during VAC therapy. Furthermore, histologic examination revealed increased neovascularization (p < 0.05) illustrated by CD31 and von Willebrand factor immunohistochemistry in wound biopsies of VAC treatment. In addition, there was an accumulation of neutrophils as well as an augmented expression of VEGF (p < 0.005) in VAC wound biopsies. CONCLUSION This study suggests that VAC therapy of traumatic wounds leads to increased local IL-8 and VEGF concentrations, which may trigger accumulation of neutrophils and angiogenesis and thus, accelerate neovascularization.
Incorporating Exchange Rate Exposure Asymmetries: A Firm Level Study

On the basis that the sources of sign and magnitude asymmetries of exchange rate exposure are largely related to each other, this paper attempts to capture both types of exposure asymmetries in tandem. In addition, the overall impact of incorporating exposure asymmetries on returns is also investigated. The study offers several important findings: (a) there is evidence for the presence of both types of asymmetries; (b) measuring overall impact of asymmetries in terms of a combined coefficient is as important as measuring the individual components of asymmetries mainly because the presence/absence of the latter does not necessarily guarantee the presence/absence of the former; (c) as it can work in either direction, it is not appropriate to make generalizations like incorporating asymmetries always leads to more/less exchange rate exposure; and (d) the exposure coefficients estimated by the models that do not capture sign and magnitude asymmetries may seriously under/overestimate the exposure to exchange rate risk.
Modeling and control of expressiveness in music performance

Expression is an important aspect of music performance. It is the added value of a performance and is part of the reason that music is interesting to listen to and sounds alive. Understanding and modeling expressive content communication is important for many engineering applications in information technology. For example, in multimedia products, textual information is enriched by means of graphical and audio objects. In this paper, we present an original approach to modify the expressive content of a performance in a gradual way, both at the symbolic and signal levels. To this purpose, we discuss a model that applies a smooth morphing among performances with different expressive content, adapting the audio expressive character to the user's desires. Morphing can be realized with a wide range of graduality (from abrupt to very smooth), allowing adaptation of the system to different situations. The sound rendering is obtained by interfacing the expressiveness model with a dedicated postprocessing environment, which allows for the transformation of the event cues. The processing is based on the organized control of basic audio effects. Among the basic effects used, an original method for the spectral processing of audio is introduced.
A 512 × 512 SPAD Image Sensor with Built-In Gating for Phasor Based Real-Time siFLIM

Fluorescence imaging is a widely adopted technique in various scientific disciplines for mapping chemical and biological characteristics or molecular interactions in cells by generating high contrast images in a non-invasive way. Recently, fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) has become a practical alternative to fluorescence intensity thanks to affordable pulsed laser sources and counting electronics. FLIM has several advantages over simple intensity imaging. Specifically, fluorescence lifetime is strongly dependent on the molecular environment but very little on concentration or excitation intensity [1]. In most FLIM setups, a histogram of photon arrival times is constructed and fluorescence lifetime is extracted using various fitting algorithms (Fig. 1). This process is time consuming, especially with multiexponential decays, often a bottleneck to realtime imaging.
How open science helps researchers succeed

Open access, open data, open source and other open scholarship practices are growing in popularity and necessity. However, widespread adoption of these practices has not yet been achieved. One reason is that researchers are uncertain about how sharing their work will affect their careers. We review literature demonstrating that open research is associated with increases in citations, media attention, potential collaborators, job opportunities and funding opportunities. These findings are evidence that open research practices bring significant benefits to researchers relative to more traditional closed practices. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.16800. 001
Wheat Yield Improvement in Eroded Semi-Arid Areas of China

The greatest fear from global climate change is drought, and water is the most important factor influencing wheat growth. Soil and water conservation are, therefore, key requirements for sustaining productivity and environmental quality in semi-arid cropping systems. Great attention has been paid to the management of, demand for, and more efficient use of water. The comprehensive technical strategies reviewed in this paper include conserving water to combine both increased agricultural productivity and resource conservation; enquiries into how wheat plants respond to drought through morphological, physiological and metabolic modifications that occur in all plant organs; breeding for drought tolerance where there is a delineated stress environment and genotype × environment interactions are stable; and effective conservation of rainfall and high efficiency of use. Valuable techniques such as conservation tillage, mulch cultivation, limited irrigation, introduction of drought-tolerant varieties and rotation systems can be adjusted to local agricultural practices.
The bidirectional dyadic association between tendency to forgive, self-esteem, social support, and PTSD symptoms among terror-attack survivors and their spouses.

This study examined the dyadic association of terror attack survivors’ and spouses’ internal resources, tendency to forgive (self, others,and situational forgiveness), self-esteem, and the external resource of social support, as associated with victims’ and spouses’ posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, using the actor–partner interdependence model. Based on lists by the One Family organization in Israel, 108 couples participated in the study. The study results demonstrate that in the dyad relationship, survivors’ tenden cyto forgive others and social support relate both to survivors’ decreased levels of PTSD symptom severity (β = −.20, p = .021;β =−.55 p < .001) and spouses’ decreased levels of PTSD symptom severity (β =−.21, p = .015; β =−.27, p = . 004), whereas spouses’ self-esteem relates to both spouses’ and survivors’ decreased levels of PTSD symptom severity (β =−.57, p < .001; β =−.14, p = .041). The findings underscore the role of the survivor–spouse unit by highlighting the dyad relationship of internal and external resources as associated with both survivors’ and spouses’ PTSD symptoms. Theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.
Intravenous levodopa in hallucinating Parkinson's disease patients

In five nondemented Parkinson's disease patients with daily visual hallucinations, we tested whether high-dose IV levodopa (LD) infusions precipitated hallucinations. Two infusion paradigms were studied, each with 1.5—mg/kg hourly dose for 4 hours—steady infusion and pulse infusion of the full hour dose over 5 minutes each hour. In both protocols, plasma LD levels changed significantly during the infusion protocol. The cumulative area under the curve was equivalent for the two infusions. All patients remained alert, and none developed visual hallucinations. The two patients with peak-dose dyskinesias on oral LD developed prominent dyskinesias during the infusion. Visual hallucinations do not relate simply to high levels of LD or to sudden changes in plasma levels.
The development of the Indian vision function questionnaire: field testing and psychometric evaluation

Objective: To develop and evaluate the acceptability, reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the Indian vision function questionnaire (IND-VFQ). Methods: Problem statements from previous qualitative studies were reduced to a 45 item interviewer administered questionnaire representing three a priori domains (general functioning, psychosocial impact, and visual symptoms) which was evaluated in patients with cataract (n = 420), glaucoma (n = 120), diabetic retinopathy, or age related macular degeneration (n = 120) and normal controls (n = 120). Standard methods were used for item reduction and to evaluate psychometric properties. Results: Psychometric item reduction produced a 33 item questionnaire. Psychometric evaluation showed that two of the three scales (psychosocial impact and visual symptoms) had good acceptability, and that all three scales showed high internal consistency (alpha >0.80; item-total correlations 0.54–0.86) and test-retest reliability (>0.89). All three scales showed moderate evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Responsiveness, assessed in cataract patients (n = 120) before and after surgery, was good for all three scales (effect sizes >1). Conclusions: The IND-VFQ33 is a psychometrically sound measure of vision function addressing a gap in patient defined measures of vision function developed in populations living in low income countries.
Water rate to manage residential water demand with seasonality: peak-load pricing and increasing block rates approach

A strong seasonal demand for water occurs in many tourist areas, which might exacerbate the water shortage problems. Water pricing is a key instrument for water use management; therefore, the objective of this work was to design a variable water rate to examine the seasonal water demand in water-scarce regions. The proposed water rate combines the peak-load pricing (PLP) and increasing block rate (IBR) strategies. PLP results in full cost recovery of urban water services; however, IBRs penalise excessive water consumption. Moreover, the proposed water rate structure allocates the costs among users depending on their consumption. Subsequently, an empirical application was developed for a Spanish tourist town illustrating the usefulness of the water rate proposed. In conclusion, the combination of the PLP and IBR approaches is a useful water-pricing strategy for increasing the sustainability of the urban water supply under the conditions of seasonal water demand and water shortage.
The research on learning guidance system for graduate student based on text mining

Nowadays, the relevance research of information becomes the hotspot in teaching research field, especially the relevance of information can guide students' study effectively and promote their enthusiasm. This paper put forward the design scheme and realization process for graduate study guiding system based on text mining, which include the preparation and selection of data, preprocessing of data, the innovation and realization of mining algorithm, mining result description etc. Results show that this guidance system has certain directive significance and application value.
Prognostic significance of activation and differentiation antigen expression in B‐cell non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma

Immunophenotyping shows heterogeneity of expression of activation and differentiation antigens in B‐cell non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). To investigate whether antigen expression correlates with clinical behaviour we have studied the clinical presentation and follow‐up of a series of 111 B‐cell lymphomas previously phenotyped for a panel of antigens including CD groups 5, 9, 10, 21, 23, 25, 30, 38, 4F2 antigen, and transferrin receptor. CD antigens 5, 10, and 23 were expressed significantly more often by low grade lymphomas whereas CD38, 4F2 antigen, and transferrin receptor were more often expressed by high grade lymphomas. There was a significant correlation with survival and age, stage at presentation, histological grade, and expression of 4F2 antigen and transferrin receptor but not with the other antigens studied. 4F2 antigen and transferrin receptor may identify a poor prognostic group of cases in low grade lymphoma but we conclude that phenotyping B‐cell NHL for many of the antigens expressed at various stages of B‐cell differentiation and activation does not provide clinically useful information in addition to that obtained from standard histological classifications.
Prevalence of chronic diseases according to socioeconomic status measured by wealth index: health survey in Serbia.

AIM To examine socioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of chronic diseases in Serbia, using the data from 2006 national health survey. METHOD A stratified sample of 7673 households was selected and 14522 household members older than 20 years were interviewed (response rate 80.5%). Wealth index was used as a measure of socioeconomic status. Standardized morbidity prevalence ratios were computed using the poorest category as reference. Odds ratios for the prevalence of the selected chronic diseases and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated by multivariate logistic analysis adjusted for age, education, smoking status, and body mass index. RESULTS Hypertension was the most prevalent disease in all socioeconomic categories; standardized morbidity prevalence ratios were higher in richer men (151.3 in the richest) and lower in richer women (86.1 in the richest). Rheumatism/arthritis was the second most prevalent disease in both sexes, with the highest prevalence in the poorest group; the pattern remained the same after standardization (standardized morbidity prevalence ratio in the richest: 86.4 in men and 74.0 in women). The prevalence of hyperlipidemia was associated with wealth index in both men and women and was highest in the richest group; the pattern remained the same after standardization (standardized morbidity prevalence ratio in the richest: 275.9 in men and 138.4 in women). Logistic regression models showed that higher wealth index was associated with higher prevalence of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and allergy, while lower wealth index was associated with higher prevalence of rheumatism/arthritis. CONCLUSION There were considerable socioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of chronic diseases in Serbia. These results indicate an opportunity to reduce inequalities and show a need for further investigation on the determinants of chronic diseases.
Overexpression of E2F1 in astrocytes leads to neoplastic transformation and changes in expression of retinoblastoma family members

Overexpression of mouse E2F1 full‐length but not truncated forms results in neoplastic transformation of astrocytes in vitro. This neoplastic transformation is accompanied with changes in cell morphology and expression of cell cycle regulators. Transformed astrocytes have higher expression of cdk2, pRb, and p107 than control astrocytes. However, expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and p130 is reduced in transformed astrocytes. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Nephrotoxic Effects of X‐Ray Contrast Media

The annual sale of x‐ray contrast media (CM) now represents 60 million doses, and contrast nephropathy (CN) has been the third‐leading cause of hospital‐acquired acute renal failure. In this review article, physicochemical, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic properties of CM are surveyed. The definition of CN is presented, as well as the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis. Low osmolar monomeric CM (LOCM) are less nephrotoxic than the older ionic high osmolar CM (HOCM), but in risk patients the incidence of CN is still high after intravascular administration of LOCM. Non‐ionic dimeric CM are iso‐osmolar to plasma (IOCM), and they have reduced the nephrotoxicity even more than LOCM. The most important risk factors for CN are diabetes mellitus and impaired renal function. Selection of patients, hydration, and type of CM are essential for prevention and prophylaxis of CN. We do not recommend routine prophylaxis with N‐acetylcysteine (NAC) during CM investigations, but its use in high‐risk patients should be considered.
Activation of the α3 Integrin Affects TRAF6 Function In The IL-1 Signaling Pathway of CACO-2 Epithelial Cells

Intestinal epithelial cells express the α3β1 integrin which binds to laminin-5. We have previously shown that activation of the α3 integrin through laminin-5 binding or a cross-linking antibody results in a suppression of IL-1 induced cytokine secretion and intracellular signaling through IKK to NF-κB and JNK to AP-1 in Caco-2 cells. In the present study, the effects of α3 integrin activation on the proximal events of IL-1 induced signaling were examined. Monoclonal antibody activation of the α3 integrin on Caco-2 cells prior to IL-1 stimulation had no effect on the association of the adapter protein TAB2 with TAK1. However, the association of TRAF6 with TAK1, and TRAF6 with the IL-1 receptor I was significantly suppressed. Activation of the α3 integrin had no effect on total levels of TRAF6. Finally, the IL-1 induced formation of higher molecular weight, presumably phosphorylated, forms of IRAK-1 were not altered by α3 integrin activation, suggesting that signaling events leading up to IRAK-1 were unaffected. These results suggest that the suppressive effects of α3 integrin activation on IL-1 signaling may be due to an effect on the function of TRAF6, preventing the transmission of the signal from the IL-1RI complex to the TAK1 complex.