Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential rent and the role of landed property

La rente differentielle, dans la theorie marxiste de la rente fonciere capitaliste, est souvent consideree comme l'appropriation, par les proprietaires, des surprofits resultant de la production sur les terres les plus fertiles, surprofits differentiels dont l'existence serait independante de la necessite du paiement de rente. Dans cette perspective, la rente differentielle n'influe pas sur le proces d'accumulation du capital, ni sur la valeur d'echange des marchandises. La these developpee ici est que l'analyse de la rente differentielle (type II) dans Le Capital montre que l'existence de cette rente conduit a des effets opposes, et que la conclusion selon laquelle la rente differentielle n'est qu'une redistribution de surprofit preexistant ne peut decouler que d'une problematique ricardienne ou marginaliste. Apres avoir explicite les differences entre les theories de la rente differentielle de Marx et de Ricardo, il est montre que la theorie marxiste de la valeur constitue un element decisif de la constitution de ces differences. De plus, il resulte du rapport entre la theorie marxiste de la valeur et celle de la rente differentielle que les effets de cette categorie de rente sont distincts selon qu'il s'agit de l'agriculture ou de l'industrie. Et ceci permet, entre autre, de theoriser l'impact des localisations sur le proces de production et sur la valeur des marchandises. Ce qui mene, au bout du compte, a s'interroger sur la pertinence des categories marxistes de rente, rente differentielle comprise, pour l'analyse des mecanismes createurs de rente dans les zones urbaines.
Immune responses of pigs after experimental infection with a European strain of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus.

The purpose of this experiment was to study the immune response of pigs during an experimental infection with a European strain of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). Five pigs were challenged intranasally with PRRSV strain VP21 and another five were kept as controls. Clinical course and humoral and cell-mediated responses were monitored for 70 days post-infection (p.i.). Infected pigs developed mild signs at 24 h p.i. Viraemia was detectable by nested RT-PCR until day 14 p.i. Earliest seroconversions (ELISA) were seen by day 7 p.i. (three of five animals) and, by day 14, all inoculated pigs had seroconverted (ELISA and immunoperoxidase monolayer assay). Virus-neutralizing antibodies were undetectable until day 56 p.i. and, by day 70 p.i. , two inoculated pigs still were negative. Flow-cytometry assays using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) showed an upshift in CD8(+) cells (day 7 p.i.) and a downshift of CD21(+) cells (days 7 and 28 p.i.). Regarding cell-mediated responses, development of PRRSV-specific gamma interferon-secreting cells (IFN-gamma-SC) and interleukin 4-secreting cells (IL4-SC) in PBMC was examined by ELISPOT assay. IFN-gamma-SC were not detected significantly until day 14 p.i. , whereas, for IL4-SC, no differences between groups were seen. Concurrently with the onset of viraemia and the development of clinical signs, serum haptoglobin levels and interleukin 10 (IL10) in PRRSV-stimulated PBMC-culture supernatants increased significantly. These differences disappeared later on. For IL2, IL4, IL8 or transforming growth factor beta, no differences were seen among groups. These results are compatible with a model in which the immune response does not fully control the outcome of the infection.
A role for biomarkers in the screening and diagnosis of breast cancer in younger women

The widespread usage of screening mammography has resulted in an increase in the detection of early-stage disease, particularly in situ (stage 0) and early-stage (stage 1) cancers. However, incidence of stage 2 and 3 disease has not fallen commensurately, suggesting a bias in the detection of indolent cancers rather than aggressive cancers. Improved screening and diagnosis of a broader range of cancers is therefore an important need. Although MRI is a very sensitive breast cancer detection tool that has become standard for women at very high risk, it lacks sufficient specificity and cost–effectiveness for use as a general screen. The greatest opportunity for molecular tools to improve breast cancer outcomes is to better discern biologically aggressive cancers, especially in women under the age of 50 years. In this age group, presentation in stage 2 or 3 is more common and mammographic screening is less efficacious. We propose a multi-tiered triage strategy that uses emerging markers of susceptibility to segment the population for more focused screening with imaging. In particular, it would be helpful to identify a subset of at-risk, younger women who would benefit from intensive surveillance or preventive interventions. It is likely that tests for susceptibility, unless they are highly specific, will need to be combined with indicators of short-term risk. Although the combined sensitivity and specificity of screening must be high, each individual test does not require high specificity. It is important, however, for the susceptibility tests and short-term risk markers to be highly sensitive. If the majority of women under 50 years of age who develop breast cancer are captured with this strategy, then mammography screening for the general population can start at age 50 years. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, biomarkers of susceptibility and short-term risk are likely to provide insight into the biology of tumors that develop, leading to new interventions to support prevention. The most effective preventive strategies will be those where a marker predicts risk for the disease, as well as the benefit from preventive interventions.
Impact of Simulated Hyperopia on Academic-Related Performance in Children

Purpose To investigate the impact of simulated hyperopia and sustained near work on children’s ability to perform a range of academic-related tasks. Methods Fifteen visually normal children (mean [±SD] age, 10.9 [±0.8] years; 10 male and 5 female) were recruited. Performance on a range of standardized academic-related outcome measures was assessed with and without 2.50 diopters of simulated bilateral hyperopia (administered in a randomized order), before and after 20 minutes of sustained near work, at two separate testing sessions. Academic-related measures included a standardized reading test (the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability), visual information processing tests (the Coding and Symbol Search subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children), and a reading-related eye movement test (the Developmental Eye Movement test). Results Simulated bilateral hyperopia and sustained near work each independently impaired reading, visual information processing, and reading-related eye movement performance (p < 0.001). A significant interaction was also demonstrated between these factors (p < 0.05), with the greatest decrement in performance observed when simulated hyperopia was combined with sustained near work. This combination resulted in performance reductions of between 5 and 24% across the range of academic-related measures. A significant moderate correlation was also found between the change in horizontal near heterophoria and the change in several of the academic-related outcome measures, after the addition of simulated hyperopia. Conclusions A relatively low level of simulated bilateral hyperopia impaired children’s performance on a range of academic-related outcome measures, with sustained near work further exacerbating this effect. Further investigations are required to determine the impact of correcting low levels of hyperopia on academic performance in children.
Genetic population structure of the fairy shrimp Branchinecta coloradensis (Anostraca) in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado

Dispersal rates for freshwater invertebrates are often inferred from population genetic data. Although genetic approaches can indicate the amount of isolation in natural populations, departures from an equilibrium between drift and gene flow often lead to biased gene flow estimates. I investigated the genetic population structure of the pond-dwelling fairy shrimp Branchinecta coloradensis in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, U.S.A. , using allozymes. Glaciation in this area and the availability of direct dispersal estimates from previous work permit inferences regarding the relative impacts of history and contemporary gene flow on population structure. Hierarchical F statistics were used to quantify differentiation within and between valleys (thetaSV and thetaVT, respectively). Between valleys separated by 5-10 km, a high degree of differentiation (thetaVT = 0.77) corresponds to biologically reasonable gene flow estimates of 0.07 individuals per generation, although it is possible that this value represents.
Animal Source Foods to Improve Micronutrient Nutrition and Human Function in Developing Countries

Provision of a snack at school could help alleviate the micronutrient malnutrition that is common among schoolchildren in developing countries. The Child Nutrition Project was designed to compare the efficacy of three school snacks in improving growth and cognitive function of children in rural Kenya. The snacks provided ;20% of the children's energy requirement, and were composed of equicaloric portions of githeri (a vegetable stew) alone (Energy group), githeri plus milk (Milk group) or githeri plus meat (Meat group). A fourth group of children served as Controls. When nutrient intakes from three, 24-h dietary recalls collected before feeding were compared to three, 24-h recalls conducted after feeding began, intakes of vitamin B-12, riboflavin, vitamin A and calcium increased more in the Milk group than in the Control group, whereas intakes of vitamin B-12, vitamin A, calcium, available iron and available zinc increased more than those of Controls for children in the Meat group. At most of the time points examined, total energy intake increased more for the Meat group than for the other two feeding groups, because the additional energy provided by the Milk and Energy snacks was partially balanced by a decrease in the energy content of foods consumed at home. This decrease did not occur to the same extent for the Meat group, so both dietary quantity and dietary quality improved. For the Milk group, only dietary quality improved. For the Energy group, there were no significant changes in the total day's diet compared to the Control group. J. Nutr. 133: 3950S-3956S, 2003.
High Quality Photometric Reconstruction Using a Depth Camera

In this paper we present a depth-guided photometric 3D reconstruction method that works solely with a depth camera like the Kinect. Existing methods that fuse depth with normal estimates use an external RGB camera to obtain photometric information and treat the depth camera as a black box that provides a low quality depth estimate. Our contribution to such methods are two fold. Firstly, instead of using an extra RGB camera, we use the infra-red (IR) camera of the depth camera system itself to directly obtain high resolution photometric information. We believe that ours is the first method to use an IR depth camera system in this manner. Secondly, photometric methods applied to complex objects result in numerous holes in the reconstructed surface due to shadows and self-occlusions. To mitigate this problem, we develop a simple and effective multiview reconstruction approach that fuses depth and normal information from multiple viewpoints to build a complete, consistent and accurate 3D surface representation. We demonstrate the efficacy of our method to generate high quality 3D surface reconstructions for some complex 3D figurines.
Integrating Attachment Theory to Support a Client Coming to Terms with Infidelity.

Finding it difficult to overcome the emotional distress experienced when considering her husband’s infidelity, a client seeks counselling support. The client’s goal was to learn about herself and to use the experience as an opportunity for self transformation. The case study utilizes Attachment Theory and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to help the client develop self-awareness and come to terms with the experience.
Singapore's global schoolhouse strategy: retreat or recalibration?

In 2002 a high-level economic review committee recommended that Singapore position itself as a ‘global schoolhouse’. An ambitious target was set to attract 150,000 international students to Singapore by 2015 and to lift the education sector's contribution to GDP from 1.9% to 5% in the same timeframe. The global schoolhouse was viewed as producing a number of policy complementarities including addressing population, labour market and economic priorities. This article reviews the last 10 years of Singapore's global schoolhouse strategy from its inception until the present time. It examines the policy successes and setbacks, and present statistical evidence of its performance. In particular, the article examine the development of both the public and private higher education sectors in Singapore, the growth of the tuition grant scheme in the public universities and the introduction of the Private Education Act of 2009 in the private sector. It is argued that the 2011 general election in Singapore has proved to be an historic watershed and exposed considerable tensions between local needs and global ambitions in higher education.
Indexical understanding of instructions

Background knowledge is essential for understanding. Our question concerns the nature of that knowledge: Is background knowledge solely descriptive and abstract, that is, consisting of propositions, schemas, and rules, or is there room for experiential and perceptual components? The indexical hypothesis suggests that experiential components are crucial for language comprehension. On this hypothesis, indexing, that is, referring words and phrases to objects (or analogical representations of objects), is required for comprehension. Once a phrase is indexed to an object, then affordances derived from the object are used to guide the interpretation of the language. We demonstrate support for the indexical hypothesis by manipulating the opportunity to index words to objects while acquiring background information about how to use a compass and map to identify landmarks. The participants acquired similar levels of abstract knowledge as assessed by a verbal test. Nonetheless, participants given the opportunity to.
The effectiveness of random selection for IGA-based texture search

This paper provides a novel texture search method for texture images. Creating a computer graphics (CG) is a popular task in many media creations. However, CG creators require their abundant time and effort. In addition, it is difficult for non-professional creators to make a 3D CG scene. This is because that they have to choose appropriate colors, textures, and lighting patterns in addition to 3D CG modeling. To reduce creators' work time and effort, some prior studies have tried to support for 3D CG creations by procedural modeling, texture synthesis, or automatic parameter setting technique. However, there are no supporting systems for choosing textures. Thus, this study addresses the problem. The proposed method enables to choose an appropriate texture image easily and quickly. The method uses an interactive genetic algorithm (IGA) with random selection (RS) system. This paper describes a framework of the proposed method using IGA with RS.
Transaction level error susceptibility model for bus based SoC architectures

System on Chip architectures have traditionally relied upon bus based interconnect for their communication needs. However, increasing bus frequencies and the load on the bus calls for focus on reliability issues in such bus based systems. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of different kinds of errors and the susceptibility of such systems to such errors on various components that the bus comprises of. With elaborate experiments we determine the effect of a single bit error on the bus system during the course of different transactions. The work demonstrates the fact that only a few signals in a bus system are really critical and need to be guarded. Such transaction based analysis helps us to develop an effective prediction methodology to predict the effect of a single bit error on any application running on a bus based architecture. We demonstrate that our transaction based prediction scheme works with an average accuracy of 92% over all the benchmarks when compared with the actual simulation results
A Pooled Analysis of Body Mass Index and Pancreatic Cancer Mortality in African Americans

Background: Pancreatic cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States and both incidence and mortality are highest in African Americans. Obesity is also disproportionately high in African Americans, but limited data are available on the relation of obesity to pancreatic cancer in this population. Methods: Seven large prospective cohort studies pooled data from African American participants. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from self-reported height and weight at baseline. Cox regression was used to calculate HRs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for levels of BMI relative to BMI 18.5–24.9, with adjustment for covariates. Primary analyses were restricted to participants with ≥5 years of follow-up because weight loss before diagnosis may have influenced baseline BMI in cases who died during early follow-up. Results: In follow-up of 239,597 participants, 897 pancreatic cancer deaths occurred. HRs were 1.08 (95% CI, 0.90–1.31) for BMI 25.0 to 29.9, 1.25 (95% CI, 0.99–1.57) for BMI 30.0 to 34.9, and 1.31 (95% CI, 0.97–1.77) for BMI ≥35.0 among those with ≥5 years of follow-up (Ptrend = 0.03). The association was evident among both sexes and was independent of a history of diabetes. A stronger association was observed among never-smokers (BMI ≥30 vs. referent: HR = 1.44; 95% CI, 1.02–2.03) than among smokers (HR = 1.16; 95% CI, 0.87–1.54; Pinteraction = 0.02). Conclusion: The findings suggest that obesity is independently associated with increased pancreatic cancer mortality in African Americans. Impact: Interventions to reduce obesity may also reduce risk of pancreatic cancer mortality, particularly among never-smokers. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(10); 2119–25. ©2014 AACR.
Performance Analysis of Gamma–Gamma Fading FSO MIMO Links With Pointing Errors

The bit error rate (BER) performance of the free space optical (FSO) link suffers from the atmospheric turbulence. By employing additional transmit and receive apertures at the transmitter and receiver, respectively, the error rate of the FSO communication system can be significantly improved. However, the pointing errors (PEs), generated because of the building sway, have the potential to eradicate the benefits of the multiple transmit and/or receive apertures-based FSO communication system. Therefore, for a general and realistic study of the FSO multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, the effect of PEs in the Gamma-Gamma (GG) fading atmospheric fluctuations is considered in this paper. We study two schemes for the FSO MIMO systems: 1) equal gain combining (EGC), and 2) maximal ratio combining (MRC). A new power series-based representation is proposed for the probability density function of the GG fading FSO links with PEs. This new series representation contains only the terms with exponent of the random variable (RV) as compared to the closed-form representation, which contains the Meijer-G function of the RV. Then, we derive the average BER for both combining schemes over the GG fading FSO links with PEs. By using the derived BER expressions, we derive the asymptotic BER for both schemes. The analytical diversity order and combining gains for both systems are also obtained. The effect of PEs over the performance of the schemes is analyzed under different scenarios and it is observed that the PEs significantly degrade the diversity of the FSO MIMO system. It is deduced by simulation and analysis that though the EGC scheme is simpler to implement in practice but the MRC scheme is more rugged to the large PEs.
Predicting Criminal Recidivism in Adult Male Offenders

In an attempt to bridge the gap between research and practice in the domain of criminal risk assessment, this study compared the predictive accuracy of dynamic risk assessments attained via an exhaustive research protocol to that achieved by the proxy ratings generated by parole officers. After an initial prerelease assessment, 127 male offenders under community supervision in Ontario, Canada, were assessed by parole officers and researchers at three different intervals (i.e., 1, 3, and 6 months postrelease). Cox regression survival analyses with time-dependent covariates and receiver operating characteristic analyses revealed moderate to high levels of predictive accuracy in both research-based and parole officer ratings (area under the curve [AUC] = .79 and .76, respectively). The strongest prediction model combined the research-based time-dependent dynamic factors with static items (AUC = .86), thus offering provisional support for the inclusion of prospectively rated dynamic factors in risk assessment protocols.
The efficacy of intensive dietary therapy alone or combined with lovastatin in outpatients with hypercholesterolemia.

BACKGROUND A diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol is the standard initial treatment for hypercholesterolemia. However, little quantitative information is available about the efficacy of dietary therapy in clinical practice or about the combined effects of diet and drug therapy. METHODS One hundred eleven outpatients with moderate hypercholesterolemia were treated at five lipid clinics with the National Cholesterol Education Program Step 2 diet (which is low in fat and cholesterol) and lovastatin (20 mg once daily), both alone and together. A diet high in fat and cholesterol and a placebo identical in appearance to the lovastatin were used as the respective controls. Each of the 97 patients completing the study (58 men and 39 women) underwent four consecutive nine-week periods of treatment according to a randomized, balanced design: a high-fat diet-placebo period, a low-fat diet-placebo period, a high-fat diet-lovastatin period, and a low-fat diet-lovastatin period. RESULTS The level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was a mean of 5 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 3 to 7 percent) lower during the low-fat diet than during the high-fat diet (P < 0.001). With lovastatin therapy as compared with placebo, the reduction was 27 percent. Together, the low-fat diet and lovastatin led to a mean reduction of 32 percent in the level of LDL cholesterol. The level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol fell by 6 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 4 to 8 percent) during the low-fat diet (P < 0.001) and rose by 4 percent during treatment with lovastatin (P < 0.001). The ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol and the level of total triglycerides were reduced by lovastatin (P < 0.001), but not by the low-fat diet. CONCLUSIONS The effects of the low-fat-low-cholesterol diet and lovastatin on lipoprotein levels were independent and additive. However, the reduction in LDL cholesterol produced by the diet was small, and its benefit was possibly offset by the accompanying reduction in the level of HDL cholesterol.