Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increases in Fentanyl-Related Overdose Deaths - Florida and Ohio, 2013-2015.

In March and October 2015, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and CDC issued nationwide alerts identifying fentanyl, particularly illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF), as a threat to public health and safety (1,2). IMF is pharmacologically similar to pharmaceutical fentanyl (PF), but is unlawfully produced in clandestine laboratories, obtained via illicit drug markets, and includes fentanyl analogs. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50-100 times more potent than morphine and approved for the management of surgical/postoperative pain, severe chronic pain, and breakthrough cancer pain. * DEA's National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) collects drug identification results from drug cases analyzed by federal, state, and local forensic laboratories throughout the United States. (†) In 2014, 80% of fentanyl submissions (i.e., drug products obtained by law enforcement that tested positive for fentanyl) in NFLIS were identified from 10 states, including Florida and Ohio (2), and seven of these 10 states reported sharp increases in fentanyl-related overdose deaths (fentanyl deaths) (3). This report presents findings of increased fentanyl deaths during 2013-2015 from investigations conducted by the University of Florida and the Ohio Department of Public Health, in collaboration with CDC. Analyses examined the association between trends in fentanyl-related law enforcement submissions and fentanyl deaths and describes groups at risk for fentanyl death using medical examiner and coroner reports. The marked increases in fentanyl death in Florida and Ohio during 2013-2015 were closely associated with parallel increases in fentanyl submissions, with the largest impact on persons who use heroin, consistent with reports that IMF is commonly mixed with or sold as heroin (1,4). In Ohio, circumstances associated with fentanyl deaths included a current diagnosed mental health disorder(§) and recent release from an institution such as a jail, rehabilitation facility, or hospital.
A Simplified Common Stock Valuation Model

A simplified stock valuation model based on the general principle that the price of a common stock equals the present value of its future dividends, the H-model is more practical than the general dividend discount model, yet more realistic than the constant growth rate model. The H-model assumes that a firm's growth rate declines (or increases) in a linear fashion from an above-normal (or below-normal) rate to a normal, long-term rate. Given estimates of these two growth rates, the length of the period of above-normal growth, and the discount rate, an analyst may use the H-model to solve for current stock price. Like the popular three-phase model, the H-model allows for changing dividend growth rates over time. The H-model thus yields results similar to those of the three-phase model. But the H-model is much easier to use, requiring only simple arithmetic. Furthermore, it allows for direct solution of the discount rate, or cost of equity, whereas more complicated models can give numerical solutions only through trial and error.
NBC: An Efficient Hierarchical Clustering Algorithm for Large Datasets

Nearest neighbor search is a key technique used in hierarchical clustering and its computing complexity decides the performance of the hierarchical clustering algorithm. The time complexity of standard agglomerative hierarchical clustering is O(n3), while the time complexity of more advanced hierarchical clustering algorithms (such as nearest neighbor chain, SLINK and CLINK) is O(n2). This paper presents a new nearest neighbor search method called nearest neighbor boundary (NNB), which first divides a large dataset into independent subset and then finds nearest neighbor of each point in subset. When NNB is used, the time complexity of hierarchical clustering can be reduced to O(n log2n). Based on NNB, we propose a fast hierarchical clustering algorithm called nearest-neighbor boundary clustering (NBC), and the proposed algorithm can be adapted to the parallel and distributed computing framework. The experimental results demonstrate that our algorithm is practical for large datasets.
Distributed PCA and Consensus Based Energy Efficient Routing Protocol for WSNs

Routing protocols with consensus approaches are extensively used for realizing distributed algorithms and have recently found many applications along with use of principal component analysis (PCA). Their vigorous implementation to increase network performance in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is of extreme significance. In this work, we present our proposed novel routing algorithm; M-BEHZAD, to maximize system performance, stability period and throughput of nodes deployed in a remote field. Distributed principal component analysis (DPCA) based threshold aware communication and fixed clustering method have been used. Selection of cluster heads (CHs) and division of observation field make our proposed scheme more robust. Mathematical representation of the coverage model and 3-Tier communication design for reducing transmission distance is implemented. This ultimately results in improved system performance and considerably minimizes the coverage and energy holes leading to extended lifespan. Comprehensive simulations results are presented validating the applicability of our approach.
Implementation of wildfire risk management by local governments in Alberta, Canada

This study examined the implementation of wildfire mitigation by local governments in Alberta, Canada. Written surveys and telephone interviews with participants in 18 municipalities were combined with additional in-person interviews within two of these municipalities. Many participating local governments were completing emergency preparedness plans, infrastructure measures, education, wildfire hazard assessments on public and private land, and vegetation management. Few were implementing land-use planning and structural mitigation measures on local government buildings. Factors that influenced implementation of wildfire mitigation measures included issue advocates, communication with internal and external stakeholders, financial and human resources, support from higher levels of government, and biophysical and demographic characteristics. Recommendations for encouraging the implementation of wildfire mitigation by local governments are provided.
Dispersal and Movement Behavior of Neonate European Corn Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) on Non-Bt and Transgenic Bt Corn

ABSTRACT Neonate movement and dispersal behavior of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), were investigated under controlled conditions on Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and non-Bt corn, Zea mays L. , to assess plant abandonment, dispersal from their natal plant, and silking behavior after Bt and non-Bt preexposure. With continuous airflow, neonates on a Bt corn plant for 24 h abandoned that plant 1.78 times more frequently than neonates on a non-Bt corn plant. Indirect evidence indicated that at least one third of the neonates were capable of ballooning within 24 h. In the greenhouse, some neonates were recovered after 24 h from plants 76 and 152 cm away that likely ballooned from their natal plant. After 1 h of preexposure on a Bt corn leaf, neonates placed on a new corn leaf and observed for 10 min began silking off of a new Bt leaf significantly sooner than a new non-Bt leaf. Results suggest that neonates are unable to detect Bt in the corn within 10 min but that they can detect it within the first hour.
Organizational Perspectives of Industrial Symbiosis

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is a collaborative environmental action whereby firms share or exchange by-products, materials, energy, or waste as a way to economically reduce aggregate environmental impact. Research in IS has flourished over the past two decades, and the time is ripe for a coherent review of organizational perspectives on the topic, particularly since the practice of IS is rife with difficulties often attributed to “social” factors. We review the organizational perspectives found in IS literature using a two-dimensional framework considering the antecedents, consequences, lubricants, and limiters of IS assessed through institutional, network/system, organizational, and individual levels of analysis. Our framework highlights what organizational perspectives have been adopted so far and also points to avenues of future scholarship of this unique phenomenon.
Loyalty Rebates and the Competitive Process

The degree of divergence between U.S. and European case law on the proper legal treatment of loyalty rebates is larger than in almost any other field of international antitrust law. Whereas U.S. jurisprudence has traditionally considered loyalty rebates to be a procompetitive business practice, the Court of Justice of the European Union has repeatedly held that loyalty rebates are an illegal means of distorting competition. This article challenges the Community Courts' conviction that loyalty rebates do not constitute competition on the merits and claims the opposite. The adoption of loyalty rebates is a direct consequence and a vital expression of the competitive process. The need for different forms of loyalty rebates naturally emerges from the diverse market conditions that prevail in different industries, which explains the widespread use of diverse loyalty rebates in business practice. It is the heterogeneity of commercial pressures that dominant firms are facing that determines the competitive structure and size of their rebates. By suppressing competition in rebates, orthodox legal doctrine in Europe has distorted the competitive process in a variety of global markets, and thereby caused significant harm to competition and consumers. Since loyalty rebates are an efficient and healthy form of competition, plaintiffs and competition authorities that allege anticompetitive foreclosure as a result of loyalty rebates should generally carry the burden of proving the existence of a restriction of competition. The Court's prevailing interpretation of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), by contrast, is bound to punish successful innovators and to protect less effective rivals from the inconveniences of the competitive process.
Type II diabetes in young subjects. A study of 90 unrelated cases.

Type II, non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus is commonly diagnosed after the age of 45 years. For this reason it was previously called maturity onset diabetes. Type II diabetes occurring in young subjects has generally been described in selected pedigrees. The purpose of this work was to review data from all the unrelated type II diabetics (with fasting hyperglycemia) diagnosed before the age of 45 and observed in our department over the last four years. A total of 90 such patients including 44 men and 46 women were included in this study. Of 43 cases diagnosed before the age of 30, there were 30 women compared to only 16 women out of 47 cases diagnosed between 30 and 45 years (p less than 0.001). At the time of diagnosis 42 patients had a relative body weight lower than 120%. In 66,7% of the cases, one parent was a known diabetic. The rate of diabetes in the sibships was 50%. Differences in family history of diabetes were not observed in relation to age or weight at diagnosis. Comparison with a series of 150 conventional type II diabetics in whom diagnosis was made between 45 and 60 years of age showed a significantly greater frequency of obesity (86%) and fewer diabetic parent (36%). The mean apparent duration of diabetes was 14 years (range 5-42). Microangiopathy was not infrequent in these diabetic patients. Twenty-three patients had retinopathy, proliferative in 8 cases, and 3 were blind. Nine had renal insufficiency, severe in 3 cases. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
U.S. Military Intervention in Crisis, 1945-1994

One compelling aspect of U.S. foreign policy during the cold war was the propensity of policy makers to seek harmony between the pursuit of security objectives and a stated American belief in enduring values of peace and justice. One need look no further than campaign monikers such as "Operation Just Cause" and "Operation Restore Hope" or declarations of the existence of an "axis of evil" for more recent anecdotal evidence of the moral justifications for U.S. military actions. The question of whether this "rhetoric of justice," which has been pressed into service as a public rationale for U.S. military intervention, might consist of more than mere rhetoric is addressed. The historically grounded, yet timely, theory of the "just war" is applied to a set of U.S. military intervention decisions to assess conditions in which considerations of justice may have driven U.S. decisions to employ military force in international crisis.
The development of social capital through football and running: studying an intervention program for inactive women

This article examines the development of social capital through the use and dynamics of different types of stories (“I,”“we” and “they”) as described by Robert D. Putnam. The data come from a research project in which inactive women participated in a 16‐week intervention program of physical exercise, either in the form of football or running. The study shows a positive development of social capital in the two different types of physical activity. The I‐stories show themselves to be central to bonding within the two groups and bridging outside the groups (developing and/or creating networks). The study also points to the importance of the activity itself for internal bonding illustrated through we‐ and they‐stories. Our data indicate that team sports, such as football, may have an advantage over individual sports in the development of social capital.
The transcriptional response to alkaline pH in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: evidence for calcium‐mediated signalling

The short‐time transcriptional response of yeast cells to a mild increase in external pH (7.6) has been investigated using DNA microarrays. A total of 150 genes increased their mRNA level at least twofold within 45 min. Alkalinization resulted in the repression of 232 genes. The response of four upregulated genes, ENA1 (encoding a Na+‐ATPase also induced by saline stress) and PHO84, PHO89 and PHO12 (encoding genes upregulated by phosphate starvation), was characterized further. The alkaline response of ENA1 was not affected by mutation of relevant genes involved in osmotic or oxidative signalling, but was decreased in calcineurin and rim101 mutants. Mapping of the ENA1 promoter revealed two pH‐responsive regions. The response of the upstream region was fully abolished by the drug FK506 or mutation of CRZ1 (a transcription factor activated by calcium/calcineurin), whereas the response of the downstream region was essentially calcium independent. PHO84 and PHO12 responses were unaffected in crz1 cells, but required the presence of Pho2 and Pho4. In contrast, part of the alkali‐induced expression of PHO89 was maintained in pho4 or pho2 cells, but was fully abolished in a crz1 strain or in the presence of FK506. Heterologous promoters carrying the minimal calcineurin‐dependent response elements found in ENA1 or FKS2 were able to drive alkaline pH‐induced expression. These results demonstrate that the transcriptional response to alkaline pH involves different signalling mechanisms, and that calcium signalling is a relevant component of this response.
An Integrative Review: Instructional Strategies to Improve Nurses’ Retention of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Priorities

Abstract Recognizing and responding to a cardiac arrest in the hospital setting is a high stress, high anxiety event for all healthcare providers. It requires the performance of several basic, but extremely important cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills and response priorities. If not executed correctly and in a timely manner, a bad outcome may result. Poor retention of cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills and priorities is well documented in the literature. An integrative review of the evidence was conducted to answer the question, “Is there a more effective training method to improve nurses’ retention of CPR priorities during an in hospital cardiac arrest as compared to traditional American Heart Association training? “This review evaluated high fidelity and low fidelity simulation training, online or computer-based training and video instruction as potential teaching strategies focusing on CPR priorities. The role of deliberate practice is discussed. The strongest evidence suggests that a teaching plan employing brief, frequent, repetitive or deliberate practice used in collaboration with low fidelity or high fidelity simulation may be a potential strategy to improve nurses’ retention of CPR priorities over time.
Elastic moduli of normal and pathological human breast tissues: an inversion-technique-based investigation of 169 samples

Understanding and quantifying the mechanical properties of breast tissues has been a subject of interest for the past two decades. This has been motivated in part by interest in modelling soft tissue response for surgery planning and virtual-reality-based surgical training. Interpreting elastography images for diagnostic purposes also requires a sound understanding of normal and pathological tissue mechanical properties. Reliable data on tissue elastic properties are very limited and those which are available tend to be inconsistent, in part as a result of measurement methodology. We have developed specialized techniques to measure tissue elasticity of breast normal tissues and tumour specimens and applied them to 169 fresh ex vivo breast tissue samples including fat and fibroglandular tissue as well as a range of benign and malignant breast tumour types. Results show that, under small deformation conditions, the elastic modulus of normal breast fat and fibroglandular tissues are similar while fibroadenomas were approximately twice the stiffness. Fibrocystic disease and malignant tumours exhibited a 3–6-fold increased stiffness with high-grade invasive ductal carcinoma exhibiting up to a 13-fold increase in stiffness compared to fibrogalndular tissue. A statistical analysis showed that differences between the elastic modulus of the majority of those tissues were statistically significant. Implications for the specificity advantages of elastography are reviewed. For more information on this article, see medicalphysicsweb.org
Measuring the value of human capital investments: the SAP case

Purpose – Over the past three years Accenture developed and applied a new measurement tool that assesses the maturity of an organization's human capital development processes, benchmarks the processes' performance against other organizations, and determines the relationship of each process to bottom line business results. It is designed to help executives make significantly more informed choices about their investments in human capital. This article aims to look at this tool.Design/methodology/approach – The tool, known as the human capital development framework, now has been tested in more than 60 organizations. This case describes how one organization used it to help turn around a struggling division.Findings – Results of the initial implementations of the framework suggest that financial performance improves as a company improves its scoring in those critical human capital processes with strong relationships to financial success. As an organization moves from one benchmarking quartile to the next in th.
Disparate regulation of signaling proteins after exercise and myocardial infarction.

INTRODUCTION The signaling proteins extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) and protein kinase B (PKB) were implicated in the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy. The present study examined whether the progression of physiological eccentric cardiac hypertrophy was associated with ERK1/2 and PKB recruitment. METHODS AND RESULTS Following 1 and 3 wk of voluntary exercise, female Sprague-Dawley rats ran a total distance of 55 +/- 10 and 195 +/- 19 km, respectively. Left ventricular hypertrophy was detected in 3-wk-exercised rats, albeit prepro-ANP protein expression was unchanged. ERK1/2 was not recruited in the left ventricle (LV) of either 1-wk-exercised rats or the hypertrophied LV of 3-wk-exercised rats. In 1-wk-exercised rats, PKB Thr308 and Ser473 phosphorylation were significantly reduced, whereas a selective increase of PKB Ser473 phosphorylation was observed in the hypertrophied LV of 3-wk-exercised rats. In both 1- and 3-wk-exercised rats, an upward electrophoretic mobility band shift of p70 ribosomal S6 kinase (p70 S6K) was detected. In 1-wk post-myocardial-infarcted (MI) female Sprague-Dawley rats, scar formation was associated with increased left ventricular end-diastolic pressure. In the hypertrophied noninfarcted left ventricle (NILV), ERK1/2, p70 S6K, PKB Ser473, and Thr308 phosphorylation were increased. CONCLUSIONS These data support the premise that ERK1/2 and PKB were differentially regulated during the development of eccentric physiological and pathological cardiac hypertrophy. It remains to be determined whether the chronic activation of either ERK1/2 and/or PKB in the NILV of post-MI rats may contribute in part to maladaptive cardiac remodelling.
The Effects of Outcome Uncertainty, Scoring, and Pregame Expectations on Nielsen Ratings for Bowl Championship Series Games

This study utilizes Nielsen ratings to estimate the factors that influence viewership for Bowl Championship Series telecasts. Our modeling demonstrates increased start-of-game ratings for contests of higher absolute quality, but not of anticipated higher relative quality. Little support is generated for the notion of consumer preference for scoring. However, the relationship between outcome uncertainty and television ratings is dynamic as consumers initially prefer more certain games, but ratings increase systematically throughout a contest when the outcome of that contest becomes more uncertain. Preferences also exist for games in which actual outcomes match pregame expectations.
The Information Content of Institutional Trades on the London Stock Exchange

Abstract We construct a unique data set that includes all reported institutional block trades on the London Stock Exchange and analyze the market reaction to buy and sell trades. We find that the type of investors behind the trade and the combination of the trade's size and the trader's resulting level of ownership are the major determinants of the information effects and the asymmetry between price impacts of buy and sell trades. In particular, large trades undertaken by fund managers, the most active investors in our sample, have strong information content, while, for the remaining trades, we report limited support for the information and the price impact asymmetry hypotheses. These results hold even after accounting for trade complexity and volatility effects in the regressions.
Cost structure and capacity in the Norwegian pelagic fisheries

The parameters of the short-run cost function are estimated for three vessel types taking part in the Norwegian pelagic fisheries: purse seine vessels, trawlers, and coastal vessels. The generalized translog functional form is used. Estimates of returns to scale are calculated and the results indicate that there are substantial economies of scale in all vessel classes. It is further investigated whether excess capacity varies with vessel size and age. The analysis suggests increased quotas per vessel to avoid rent dissipation. With the total allowable catch given, the number of participating vessels must be reduced.