Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE BIOECONOMICS OF REGULATING NITRATES IN GROUNDWATER FROM AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION THROUGH TAXES, QUANTITY RESTRICTIONS, AND POLLUTION PERMITS

Agricultural production in the United States, through its intensive use of nitrogen fertilizer, has contributed to nitrate accumulation in groundwater. Concern over this contamination has led to increased public interest in schemes designed to reduce nitrate leachate from agricultural lands. This research compares the costs of alternative regulatory policies in an area of the Com Belt with those for an area of the Northeast. The bioeconomic models of agricultural production and nitrate leaching are used to compare alternative policy instruments. They include soil-specific leaching and productivity characteristics, variables for management response, the dynamic nature of nitrogen movement through the soil, and the stochastic influence of precipitation on both net farm revenue and nitrate leaching. The models include state variables for nitrogen levels in the crop root zone and control variables for nitrogen fertilizer application and crop rotations. Nitrate leaching is restricted using a chance constraint, thus in some sense minimizing the probability of worst-case leaching scenarios. Six alternative regulatory policies are compared empirically in two specific regions: Boone County in Iowa and Genesee and Wyoming Counties in New York. The policies, which are designed to reduce expected annual leachate by 10% and 25% in each region, include a tax on nitrogen fertilizer, quantity restrictions on both fertilizer and leachate, and three forms of leachate permits. The three permit schemes are permits sold by a regulatory agency at a fixed price, permits auctioned by a regulatory agency, and tradable permits initially allocated at no cost to farmers with the initial distribution based on historic leachate levels. The empirical analysis shows that costs of achieving a regional reduction in leachate are greater in Iowa than in New York. Within a region, the net cost of reducing regional leachate (the net cost being the cost to farmers less any public revenues generated) is the least under the three permit schemes, although the costs of other policies are generally not substantially greater. The ranking of the net costs of these other policies differs by region and by the percent reduction in leachate. While net costs are the least under all three permit schemes, two of the three schemes result in substantial transfers of money from the farming community to the public treasury. In addition, a case is made for using a tradable permit scheme in targeted areas in and around major groundwater sources that are highly susceptible to contamination.
Rituximab in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common adult leukemia but is currently incurable by conventional therapeutic interventions. Rituximab has proven efficacy and tolerability in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, achieving response rates of 73% and 48% in previously untreated or relapsed/refractory indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, respectively. However, the standard dose and schedule (375 mg/m(2) once-weekly for 4 weeks) may not be optimal for patients with previously treated small lymphocytic lymphoma, the lymphomatous equivalent of CLL. Nevertheless, good response rates have been achieved in untreated CLL and small lymphocytic lymphoma using the standard dose and schedule and also using higher or more frequent dosing, indicating that rituximab is an active agent in this setting. More recently, the combination of rituximab and fludarabine or fludarabine-containing regimens has yielded overall response rates of 95%, with complete response rates up to 66% in previously untreated CLL. These response rates are among the highest achieved by any regimen in CLL. These studies indicate that immunochemotherapy with rituximab may offer improved outcomes for patients with CLL. Semin Oncol 30 (suppl 2):34-39.
Creative Industries: The Regional Dimension?

Creative Industries: The Regional Dimension is one of a series of reports published in recent years by the UK government which outlines the importance of creative industries to economic growth. It is in these terms that central government has promoted the creative industries as a newly recognised and fast-growing sector of the economy, thus seeking to quantify the Cool Britania branding so famously propagated by the then newly elected Labour government. The author unpacks the enthusiasm for the creative industries at the national level, and further investigates how the creative-industries developmental agenda has been unfolding within UK regions. The trajectory of the United Kingdom's creative-industries agenda is contrasted with policy and developmental strategies undertaken elsewhere in the world. It is argued that implementation of a creative-industries agenda at the regional level in the United Kingdom is at best patchy, and there is currently a lack of strategic planning, best-practice models, and empirical research to guide policymakers. The West Midlands is then addressed in more detail, and it is argued that at the regional administrative level, a creative industries development agenda per se is all but lost. The implications of this policy trajectory are discussed.
Experiment and Simulation of Impregnated No-Insulation REBCO Pancake Coil

It is important to investigate the stability and behavior of an epoxy-resin-impregnated no-insulation (NI) REBCO pancake coil to implement high-field applications, such as ultra-high-field magnetic resonance imaging. We have performed sudden discharging and overcurrent tests for the impregnated NI REBCO pancake coil. From the discharging test, the contact resistivity is estimated, and it changes depending on the initial current. From the overcurrent test, the high thermal stability of the impregnated NI REBCO pancake coil is confirmed. The REBCO pancake coil is charged up to 67 A though the critical current is only 46 A, and no degradation has been found. To investigate in detail the electromagnetic behavior of an impregnated NI REBCO pancake coil, the simulation is performed by means of the partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) model. In the sudden discharging test, the simulation results for the case of lower initial current are in good agreement with the experimental data. As can be inferred from the simulation results, the current drastically decreases from the inside of the impregnated NI REBCO pancake coil. The result of the overcurrent simulation is almost identical to the experimental one. However, since the contact resistivity is presumed to be constant in the simulation, the difference is observed in the high current region.
Anxiety in High-Functioning Children with Autism

High-functioning children with autism were compared with two control groups on measures of anxiety and social worries. Comparison control groups consisted of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and normally developing children. Each group consisted of 15 children between the ages of 8 and 12 years and were matched for age and gender. Children with autism were found to be most anxious on both measures. High anxiety subscale scores for the autism group were separation anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. These findings are discussed within the context of theories of autism and anxiety in the general population of children. Suggestions for future research are made.
Replication of the SH2B1 rs7498665 Association with Obesity in a Belgian Study Population

Objective: SH2B1 has been identified as an interesting candidate gene for complex obesity through genome-wide association studies. Therefore, we set out to replicate the reported association with rs7498665 in our Belgian study population and to extend our study with an additional tagSNP for the SH2B1 gene region. Methods: We genotyped both rs7498665 and rs7201929 in a population of 1,045 obese adults and 317 healthy lean individuals. Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate the role of these polymorphisms in the development of obesity. Results: We found that the rs7498665 minor allele increases obesity risk by 26% (ORage-sex adj = 1.26, 95% CI 1.04–1.52, nominal p = 0.016). Logistic regression showed that the rs7201929 minor allele decreases obesity risk by 24% in the population investigated (ORage-sex adj = 0.76, 95% CI 0.61–0.94, nominal p = 0.011). Conditional analyses showed that both associations represent the same association signal (rs7498665 ORadjusted for rs7201929 = 1.17, 95% CI 0.95–1.45, nominal P = 0.14; rs7201929 ORadjusted for rs7498665 = 0.82, 95% CI 0.65–1.04, nominal p = 0.10). Conclusion: With the current study we were able to replicate and confirm that the SH2B1 gene locus is significantly associated with complex obesity in a Caucasian population.
Joint Transmit and Receive Analog Beamforming in 60 GHz MIMO Multipath Channels

Analog BeamForming (ABF) with one scalar weight per antenna is an attractive technique for low-cost, low-power 60 GHz multi-antenna wireless communication systems. However, the design of the corresponding joint transmit and receive (Tx/Rx) ABF optimization algorithms is still challenging in the case of multipath channels due to the constraint of having only one scalar weight per antenna. In this paper, we aim at maximizing the average Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) at the input of the equalizer and analytically derive close-to-optimal Tx/Rx scalar weights. We show that the required Channel State Information (CSI) for joint Tx/Rx ABF weights computation is the inner product between all Tx/Rx channel impulse response pairs. Taking the channel length into account, a training-based estimation strategy of this CSI is proposed. Simulation results carried out in a typical 60 GHz multipath environment show that the proposed scheme outperforms the existing ABF schemes in term of BER performances.
Development and control of a 3-axis motion simulator for satellite ADCS hardware-in-the-loop simulation

In this paper, the development and control of a 3-axis motion simulator are described. The simulator is used to test and calibrate satellite attitude determination and control system (ADCS) by means of hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) technique. The motion simulator actuators are permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drives. A mathematical model of the simulator is derived and an adaptive nonlinear tracking control law is developed based on Lyapunov stability theory. Furthermore, by analyzing HILS dynamics and using simplified modeling technique, the basic dynamics requirement of the simulator is derived. The simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the successful design of the simulator and efficacy of the proposed control system.
Agricultural Growth and Rural Employment—Some Lessons from China?

The present paper argues that there is an absence of a clear policy of rural industrialization in India to absorb labour from agriculture that can help increase labour productivity and improve rural incomes. Agricultural growth, combined with clear policy of rural industrialization, is important for an equitable rural–urban growth. To this end, equitable land distribution, rural infrastructure and services, human capital development (literacy and health) and governance are very crucial—in the attainment of all of which China attained a fair degree of success. Therefore, these are some of the lessons that Indian policymakers may take from the Chinese model of rural development.
Dominance of the Positive-Part Shrinkage Estimator when Each Individual Regression Coe ffi cient is Estimated ( Preliminary Version )

In this paper we consider a regression model and a general family of shrinkage estimators of regression coefficients. We derive the formula for the mean squared error (MSE) of the estimators for each individual regression coefficient. It is shown analytically that the usual shrinkage estimators are dominated by their positivepart variants in terms of MSE.
Design for three-dimensional sound processor using high-level synthesis

We propose a three-dimensional (3D) sound processor architecture that includes super-directional modulation intellectual property (IP) and 3D sound processing IP for consumer applications. This processor can generate realistic small sound fields in arbitrary spaces by using ultrasound. The architecture is designed with high-level synthesis as the design methodology. By inputting a description of several design parameters, such as the number of IPs and the order and coefficients of the filters on SystemC, the processer hardware can be synthesized automatically. The total amount of hardware used for the super-directional modulation IP and the 3D sound processing IP is 6,021 Nets and 1,292 LCs. The 3D sound processor was implemented on a Xilinx FPGA to verify its function and performance.
Introduction to the special section.

Although two of every five births in the United States now occur outside of marriage, family scholars are still working hard to understand ways in which infantfamily dynamics evolve in these “fragile families” led by unmarried parents (both those cohabiting and those living apart). Federal initiatives to promote healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood devoted significant attention to the status and quality of unmarried parents’ romantic unions over the past 10 years, but gave far less consideration to how mothers and fathers in fragile families build coparenting relationships. This was a significant lapse. Gradually, policy experts are beginning to recognize that if positive coparenting alliances can be encouraged, even outside of marital unions, mothers, fathers, and most importantly young children may benefit substantially. This special section features new perspectives on coparenting interventions for fragile families, fresh analyses of national survey data establishing characteristics and consequences of coparenting in representative samples of unmarried families, and original data from field studies of unmarried families where typically overlooked coparenting phenomena were examined qualitatively. The section opens with a review of interventions designed to support coparenting in fragile families, as well as those marriage and relationship enhancement (MRE) and responsible fatherhood initiatives that included any explicit targeting, strengthening, and assessment of fragile family coparenting in their designs. McHale, Waller, and Pearson (2012) examine results from Access and Visitation programs for nonresidential fathers, MRE programs for low-income, unmarried couples, and the first wave
Financial Reforms and Financial Crisis: The Korean Case

We assess the role of financial reforms and liberalization in Korea's financial crisis, which erupted in late 1997. We first examine financial reforms carried out since the early 1980s and their effects on corporate financing as well as on the current account. We then analyze policy issues associated with the current financial crisis. Our main conclusion is that the crisis is due in no small measure to the unbalanced nature of Korea's financial reforms — extensive external liberalization combined with inadequate internal liberalization. The massive inflow of foreign capital associated with external liberalization exacerbated the over-investment problem that already existed in the 1970s. The inefficiencies of Korea's manufacturing corporations and financial institutions mutually reinforced each other, producing a vicious cycle of ever lower productivity of capital. The key to Korea's recovery thus lies in successful restructuring of both its financial and corporate sectors.
Hyperthyroidism: Presenting as Isolated Tricuspid Regurgitation and Right Heart Failure

Although hyperthyroidism has many signs and symptoms, right heart failure can occasionally be the main presenting symptom. We describe the case of a previously healthy 42-year-old woman whose chief complaint was progressive bilateral lower extremity edema. The echocardiogram revealed right atrial dilatation and moderate-to-severe tricuspid regurgitation. Results of laboratory studies were consistent with hyperthyroidism. Thyroid ablation resulted in permanent resolution of symptoms and resolution of tricuspid incompetence on echocardiography. In a case of isolated, unexplained tricuspid regurgitation, it is important to consider indolent hyperthyroidism in the differential diagnosis.
Coordinating Tax Reforms in the Poorest Countries: Can Lost Tariffs Be Recouped?

A revenue-neutral switch from trade taxes to domestic consumption taxes is fraught with implementation challenges in countries with a large informal sector. It is shown for a sample of low-income countries over 25 years that they have had a mixed record of offsetting reductions in trade tax revenue. The paper then analyzes the specific case of Nepal, using a unique data set compiled from unpublished customs records of imports, tariffs and all other taxes levied at the border. It estimates changes to revenue and domestic production associated with two sets of reforms: i) proportional tariff cuts coordinated with a strictly enforced value-added tax; and ii) proposed tariff cuts under a regional free trade agreement. It is shown that a revenue-neutral tax reform is conditional on the effectiveness with which domestic taxes are enforced. Furthermore, loss of revenue as a result of intra-regional free trade can be minimized through judicious use of Sensitive Lists that still cover substantially all the trade as required by Article XXIV of the GATT.
An Enhanced Statistical Analysis Method for I/O Links Considering Supply Voltage Fluctuations and Intersymbol Interference

Statistical link analysis methods were previously developed for effective computation of bit error rate due to intersymbol interference (ISI). In addition to ISI, supply voltage fluctuations at output drivers can cause jitter and amplitude uncertainty in I/O links. In this paper, the enhanced statistical link analysis method considering both ISI and supply voltage fluctuations is clearly reformulated and experimentally validated step by step by various measurements. A silicon integrated circuit (IC) is designed, fabricated, and assembled on a manufactured printed circuit board (PCB). The supply voltage fluctuations on the IC with regard to the receiver reference voltage are extracted from measurements at the IC and PCB. Also, the impulse response of the total output channel is extracted from the measurements of the driver and channel characteristics. The statistical eye diagrams of the channel output including both ISI effects and the supply voltage fluctuations are then calculated and validated by comparison with the direct eye measurements.
The Limits to Wage Growth: Measuring the Growth Rate of Wages for Recent Welfare Leavers

We study the rate of wage growth among welfare leavers in the Self Sufficiency Program (SSP), an experimental earnings subsidy offered to long-term welfare recipients in Canada. Single parents who started working in response to the SSP incentive are younger, less educated, and have more young children than those who would have been working regardless of the program. They also earn relatively low wages in their first few months of work: typically within $1 of the minimum wage. Despite these differences, their rate of wage growth is similar to other welfare leavers. We estimate that people who were induced to work by SSP experienced real wage growth of about 2.5 - 3 percent per year - a rate consistent with conventional measures of the return to experience for similar workers.
The role of probiotics in children with autism spectrum disorder: A prospective, open-label study

Objective: There are limited data on the efficacy of probiotics in children with ASD, therefore, this study aims to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of probiotics in an Egyptian cohort of children with ASD. Methods: Gastrointestinal (GI) flora were assessed by quantitative real-time PCR of stool samples of 30 autistic children from 5 to 9 years old. GI symptoms of autistic children were assessed with a modified six-item Gastrointestinal Severity Index (6-GSI) questionnaire, and autistic symptoms were assessed with Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) before and after 3 months of supplementation of probiotics nutritional supplement formula (each gram contains 100 × 106 colony forming units of three probiotic strains; Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacteria longum). Results: After probiotic supplementation, the stool PCR of autistic children showed increases in the colony counts of Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli levels, with a significant reduction in their body weight as well as significant improvements in the severity of autism (assessed by the ATEC), and gastrointestinal symptoms (assessed by the 6-GSI) compared to the baseline evaluated at the start of the study. Conclusions: We concluded that probiotics have beneficial effects on both behavioral and GI manifestations of ASD. Probiotics (a non-pharmacological and relatively risk-free option) could be recommended for children with ASD as an adjuvant therapy. At this stage, this study is a single center with a small number of patients and a great deal of additional wide-scale randomized controlled trials are needed to critically confirm the efficacy of probiotics in ASD. Trial registration number: UMIN-CTR Study Design: Trial Number UMIN000026157
Sharing Power: Public Governance and Private Markets

Reformers from both Left and Right have urged the US Govenment to turn as many functions as possible over to the private sector and to allow market competition to instil efficiency and choice. In fact, the Government has been doing just this for years: every major policy initiative launched since World War II has been managed through public-private partnerships. Yet such privatization has not solved government's problems. Kettl shows that the conditions essential for competitive markets usually do not apply to the kinds of programmes the Government assigns to the private sector. He uses case studies to demonstrate that as market imperfections increase, so do problems in governance and management. Extreme examples are Superfund programme and the Department of Energy's production of nuclear weapons. When competition does not exist, the Government must act as a "smart buyer", knowing what it wants and being able to judge what it has bought. If it does not do so, the Government risks losing its sovereignty to the private suppliers. The author concludes that the issue is not more government bureaucracy, but a smarter bureaucracy, which, in turn, requires strong political leadership to build support for the resources needed and to change the bureaucratic culture.
Characterization and Stability of Tanshinone IIA Solid Dispersions with Hydroxyapatite

Solid dispersions of tanshinone IIA (TanIIA) using hydroxyapatite (HAp) as the dispersing carrier (TanIIA-HAp SDs) were prepared by the solvent evaporation method. The formed solid dispersions were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry analysis (DSC), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The in vitro dissolution rate and the stability of TanIIA-HAp SDs were also evaluated. DSC and XRPD showed that TanIIA was changed from a crystalline to an amorphous form. FTIR suggested the presence of interactions between TanIIA and HAp in solid dispersions. The result of an in vitro dissolution study showed that the dissolution rate of TanIIA-HAp SDs was nearly 7.11-folds faster than free TanIIA. Data from stability studies for over one year of TanIIA-HAp SDs performed under room temperature revealed no significant differences in drug content and dissolution behavior. All these results indicated that HAp may be a promising carrier for improving the oral absorption of TanIIA.