Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Natriuretic Peptides Improve Classification of People at Low Risk of Atrial Fibrillation after Stroke

Background Prolonged cardiac monitoring (PCM) increases atrial fibrillation detection after stroke (AFDAS) but access is limited. We aimed to assess the utility of midregional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) to identify people who are unlikely to have AFDAS and improve healthcare resource allocation for PCM. Methods We analysed people from the BIOSIGNAL (Biomarker Signature of Stroke Aetiology) study with ischaemic stroke, no known AF and [≥]3 days cardiac monitoring. External validation was in the PRECISE (Preventing Recurrent Cardioembolic Stroke: Right Approach, Right Patient) study of 28-days cardiac monitoring after stroke. The main outcome is no AFDAS. We assessed the discriminatory value of MR-proANP and NT-proBNP combined with clinical variables to identify people with no AFDAS. We determined the net reduction in people who would undergo PCM using the models with 15% AFDAS threshold probability. Results We included 621 people from BIOSIGNAL. The clinical model included age, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, lipid-lowering therapy, creatinine and smoking status. The AUROC was 0.68 (95%CI 0.62-0.74) with clinical variables, which improved with log10MR-proANP (0.72,0.66-0.78;p=0.001) or log10NT-proBNP (0.71,0.65-0.77;p=0.009). Performance was similar for log10MR-proANP versus log10NT-proBNP (p=0.28). In 239 people from PRECISE, the AUROC for clinical variables was 0.68 (0.59-0.76), which improved with log10NT-proBNP (0.73,0.65-0.82;p<0.001) or log10MR-proANP (0.79,0.72-0.86;p<0.001). Performance was better with log10MR-proANP versus log10NT-proBNP (p=0.03). The models could reduce the number who would undergo PCM by 30% (clinical+log10MR-proANP), 27% (clinical+log10NT-proBNP) or 20% (clinical). Conclusions MR-proANP and NT-proBNP help classify people who are unlikely to have AFDAS and could reduce the number who need PCM by 30%.
Longitudinal study of self-awakening and sleep/wake habits in adolescents

: Self-awakening is the ability to awaken without external assistance at a predetermined time. Cross-sectional studies reported that people who self-awaken have sleep/wake habits different from those of people who use external means to wake from sleep. However, no longitudinal study has examined self-awakening. The present study investigated self- awakening, both habitual and inconsistent, compared to awakening by external means in relation to sleep/wake schedules for five consecutive years in 362 students (starting at mean age 15.1 ± 0.3 years). Students who self-awakened consistently for five consecutive years (5% of all students) went to bed earlier than those who inconsistently self-awakened (mixed group, 40%) or consistently used forced awakening by external means (56%). Awakening during sleep was more frequent and sleep was lighter in the consistently self-awakened group than in the mixed and consistently forced-awakened groups. However, daytime dozing was less frequent and comfort immediately after awakening was greater for the consistently self-awakened group than for the mixed and consistently forced-awakened groups. These results indicate that the three groups have different sleep/wake habits. Previous studies of self-awakening using cross-sectional survey data may have confounded both consistent and inconsistent self-awakening habits. A longitudinal study is necessary to clarify the relationship between the self-awakening
Activist Trading Dynamics∗

Two activists with correlated private positions in a firm’s stock trade sequentially before simultaneously exerting effort to determine the firm’s value. A novel linear equilibrium exists in which trades have positive sensitivity to initial positions but are nonzero on average: the leader strategically moves the price to induce the follower to acquire more shares and thus add more value. We examine this equilibrium’s implications for market outcomes in light of the empirical literature on activism and discuss its connection with the phenomenon of “wolf-pack” activism. We also explore the possibility of equilibria in which activists trade against their initial positions.
Laminate-Like Behavior of An Additively Manufactured Polymer with Underlying Bioinspired Architecture

LAMINATE-LIKE BEHAVIOR OF AN ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED POLYMER WITH UNDERLYING BIOINSPIRED ARCHITECTURE Flavio Jonuzaj, M.S. Department of Mechanical Engineering Northern Illinois University, 2020 Robert Sinko, Director Laminates are a class of composite materials in which several unidirectional laminae are stacked together to create a material with a clear layer-by-layer architecture. Traditionally, each lamina is itself a composite consisting of aligned fibers, such as cellulose, graphite, or glass, embedded within a polymer, ceramic, or metal host matrix. These materials are unique in the sense that their engineering properties can be greatly varied simply by changing the stacking order of lamina within the laminate. While there are several traditional manufacturing approaches for laminates, recent research has focused on assessing the feasibility of using additive manufacturing techniques to create these materials. Additive manufacturing, commonly referred to as 3D printing, is one of the most innovative technologies for manufacturing polymer and metal components. Replicating a traditional laminate using these manufacturing approaches, however, would require 3D printing two materials simultaneously. Although this is possible, in this work we instead aim to investigate the ability to impart laminate-like behavior (i.e. tunability of mechanical properties through changing internal material architecture) to a homopolymer sample. Our hypothesis is that the tunable mechanical properties of laminates are inherent to the underlying layer-by-layer structure rather than the composite nature and can thereby be captured using 3D printing of a single material. In order to evaluate the hypothesis, this work tests the mechanical properties of a 3D-printed dog-bone samples with an underlying bioinspired, layer-by-layer architecture fabricated from polylactic acid (PLA). Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is used to create the PLA samples, which focuses on determining the effect of pitch angle and infill percentage on the resulting mechanical properties. The pitch angles, here referring to the relative angle between alignments of “fibers” in adjacent layers, tested here range from 0° 180° while the infill percentages examined are 30% and 50%. Tensile tests were performed on the samples up to the failure point to obtain values of the elastic modulus, ultimate tensile strength, and toughness. Experimental results have shown that there is a clear relationship between the mechanical properties and pitch angle as well as a clear dependence on pitch angle. Further, we demonstrate that these experimental trends are in good agreement with classical lamination theory and provide evidence that we can effectively create a structure that exhibits laminate-like mechanical behavior using additive manufacturing techniques of a single material. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DEKALB, ILLINOIS
Ground-penetrating radar surveys on rock glaciers in the Vanoise Massif (Northern French Alps): methodological issues

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) coupled with surface morphology analysis was used to depict the stratigraphic features and the architecture of rock glaciers in the Vanoise Massif, northern French Alps. GPR data were collected using a PulseEKKO 100 unit with 50 MHz antennas, then processed and interpreted. Two longitudinal GPR profiles acquired on the Planette and Sachette rock glaciers, respectively, are presented as examples. The interpretation of the GPR data is based on the differential application of several standard gain functions (constant gain, automatic gain control) on the GPR profiles in order to enhance the images and to discriminate reflection events. On the whole, the stratigraphy of the rock glaciers appears complex with prominent internal boundaries that often correlate with geomorphological surface boundaries. The architecture of the Planette and Sachette rock glaciers is therefore multi-unit, which calls into question their sequential way of deposition.
Impact of Pollutants on Coastal and Benthic Marine Communities

In recent years, sources, types and levels of contaminants in the marine environment have increased as a consequence of anthropogenic activities worldwide. Chemical substances are usually present in the marine environment at different concentrations. They are accumulated in the tissues of marine organisms exerting damaging effects at different levels of organization, from organisms to communities and ecosystems. The understanding of their effects and distribution has increased substantially since the early reports on the biological effects of marine pollution and associated monitoring problems. This Chapter has been divided into five main sections: (i) molecular, cellular and tissue level biomarkers in assessing effects, reviewing the use of biomarkers in monitoring effects; (ii) biological effects at organism and population level; (iii) bioassay studies at organism level, focusing on ecotoxicology and discussing toxicity estimation and bioassay limitations; (iv) ecological effects at community level, including structural parameters, such as richness, diversity, etc., but also the proportion of opportunistic and sensitive species, discussing the multiple pressure interactions; and (v) measuring pollutant effects in integrative assessments, both in evaluating risk and assessing the ecological status of the ecosystems. The main objective of the Chapter is to bring together the knowledge on the biological effects of pollution, developed in recent years, at different biological levels of organization.
Modeling ice shelf cavities in a z coordinate ocean general circulation model

[1] Processes at the ice shelf-ocean interface and in particular in ice shelf cavities around Antarctica have an observable effect on the solutions of basin scale to global coupled ice-ocean models. Despite this, these processes are not routinely represented in global ocean and climate models. It is shown that a new ice shelf cavity model for z coordinate models can reproduce results from an intercomparison project of earlier approaches with vertical σ or isopycnic coordinates. As a proof of concept, ice shelves are incorporated in a 100-year global integration of a z coordinate model. In this simulation, glacial meltwater can be traced as far as north as 15°S. The observed effects of processes in the ice shelf cavities agree with previous results from a σ coordinate model, notably the increase in sea ice thickness. However, melt rates are overestimated probably because the parameterization of basal melting does not suit the low resolution of this configuration.
Complexity-guided Slimmable Decoder for Efficient Deep Video Compression (Supplementary Materials)

in which the Rm and Rr denote the bit-rate cost for entropy coding the motion and residual information, respectively. D(X̂t, Xt) denotes the distortion between the output frame X̂t and the input frame Xt. λ is the hyper-parameter to control the trade-off between the bit-rate cost and the distortion. For the second stage, we add the complexity penalty for achieving different complexity constraints. N complexity targets are predefined as C 1 , C tar 2 , . , C tar N . For each training step, we randomly select a complexity target C i and feed the corresponding one-hot complexity vector to the network. For the i complexity target C i , the optimization function is formulated as follows,
Robust Mahalanobis K-Means Algorithm in Comparison with Other Existing Clustering Methods

This study enhances K-means Mahalanobis clustering using Density Power Divergence (DPD) for outlier handling and detection. Through the utilization of simulations and the analysis of real-world data, our approach consistently outperforms standard K-means, Mahalanobis K-means, Fuzzy C-means, and others in clustering datasets with outliers. While our method performs similarly to others on spherical datasets, it ranks second to DBSCAN for arbitrary shapes. We showcase its superiority on real-life datasets (Iris flower and wheat seed), demonstrating resilient outlier identification. By navigating various structures and cluster characteristics, our Modified Mahalanobis K-means method proves adaptable and robust, offering insights into diverse clustering scenarios. The study explores robust clustering to mitigate outlier impact in statistical analysis, contributing to improved clustering in outlier-prone datasets.
Impact of Short-Term Management on Portuguese and Spanish Firms’ Performance

An effective and efficient working capital management ensures companies a greater ability to survive in an increasingly competitive and challenging business world and therefore plays a key role in the manager’s operational and financial decisions. Thus, the main objective of this chapter is to show empirically the extent to which working capital management influences the measures of business performance evaluation. To achieve the proposed objective, the ROA, ROE, and Tobin’s Q were used as measures of performance. For this study, data from Portuguese and Spanish companies were used, which are listed on Euronext Lisbon and the Madrid Stock Exchange, respectively, resulting in a final sample of 106 companies. The methodology used to test the hypotheses formulated was dynamic panel data methodology (with GMM system) for a period between 2010 and 2016. The results obtained in this research show, in a general way, that there are significant differences in the determinants of performance depending on the samples used, whether they are the Spanish Sample or the Portuguese Sample.
effects of tai chi qigong on psychosocial well-being among hidden elderly, using elderly neighborhood volunteer approach: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Purpose: To test the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of a tai chi qigong program with the assistance of elderly neighborhood volunteers in strengthening social networks and enhancing the psychosocial well-being of hidden elderly. Patients and methods: “Hidden elderly” is a term used to describe older adults who are socially isolated and refuse social participation. This pilot randomized controlled trial recruited 48 older adults aged 60 or above who did not engage in any social activity. They were randomized into tai chi qigong (n = 24) and standard care control (n = 24) groups. The former group underwent a three-month program of two 60-minute sessions each week, with the socially active volunteers paired up with them during practice. Standard care included regular home visits by social workers. Primary outcomes were assessed by means of the Lubben social network and De Jong Gieveld loneliness scales, and by a revised social support questionnaire. Secondary outcomes were covered by a mental health inventory and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, and quality of life by using the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey. Data was collected at baseline, and at three and six months thereafter. Results: The generalized estimating equations model revealed general improvement in outcomes among participants on the tai chi qigong program. In particular, participants reported a significantly greater improvement on the loneliness scale ( B =− 1.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] − 2.54 to − 0.11, P = 0.033) and the satisfaction component of the social support questionnaire ( B = 3.43, 95% CI 0.10–6.76, P = 0.044) than the control group. Conclusion: The pilot study confirmed that tai chi qigong with elderly neighborhood volunteers is a safe and feasible social intervention for hidden elderly. Its potential benefits in improving social and psychological health suggest the need for a full-scale randomized controlled trial to reveal its empirical effects.
Determinants of Financial Stress and Recovery During the Great Recession

In this paper, we explore the link between stress in the domestic financial sector and the capital flight faced by countries in the 2008-9 global crisis. Both the timing of emergence of internal financial stress in developing economies, and the size of the peak-trough declines in the stock price indices was comparable to that in high income countries. The main difference was the greater dispersion of the decline in low and middle countries, with standard deviation that was twice that of the high income countries. Deleveraging of OECD positions seemed to dominate the patterns of capital flows during the crisis. While high income countries on average saw net capital inflows and net portfolio inflows during the crisis quarters, compared to net outflows for developing economies, the indicators of banking sector stress were higher for high income economies on average than for developing economies. De-facto openness was associated with greater capital outflows and greater portfolio outflows. Larger total external debt minus reserves, external portfolio assets/GDP and external portfolio liabilities/GDP were also associated with greater internal financial stress. Countries with better banking supervision and higher bank capital to assets ratio saw smaller declines in banking sector stock prices. Countries with more concentrated banking sectors also had more stable banking sectors in this crisis. Intriguingly, the same was true for more competitive but better supervised banking sectors. Central banks also seem to have responded more in countries with greater de-facto openness.
Enforcement and air pollution: an environmental justice case study

This paper provides an environmental justice empirical analysis on the relationship between income, demographic characteristics and concentrations of air industrial pollutants within the Italian provinces. Two general conclusions can be drawn from the empirical results. First, the estimates obtained are consistent with an inverse U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve: air pollution releases increase with income up to a turning point, where the relation reverts. Second, there is evidence that air releases tend to be higher in provinces with high concentration of females as households’ head and with high concentration of children. Since our findings do not point to environmental discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, this suggests that environmental justice issues in Italy are not likely to manifest themselves along racial and ethnic terms but instead in terms of social categories and gender composition. We also find that judicial inefficiency (a measure of the inefficiency of law enforcement) is associated with higher levels of pollution. In terms of policy implications, this result suggests the need to strengthen, all through the territory, the local enforcement of environmental laws in order to possibly reduce the negative effects on ambient air pollution.
Double graph correlation encryption based on hyperchaos

Preventing unauthorized access to sensitive data has always been one of the main concerns in the field of information security. Accordingly, various solutions have been proposed to meet this requirement, among which encryption can be considered as one of the first and most effective solutions. The continuous increase in the computational power of computers and the rapid development of artificial intelligence techniques have made many previous encryption solutions not secure enough to protect data. Therefore, there is always a need to provide new and more efficient strategies for encrypting information. In this article, a two-way approach for information encryption based on chaos theory is presented. To this end, a new chaos model is first proposed. This model, in addition to having a larger key space and high sensitivity to slight key changes, can demonstrate a higher level of chaotic behavior compared to previous models. In the proposed method, first, the input is converted to a vector of bytes and first diffusion is applied on it. Then, the permutation order of chaotic sequence is used for diffusing bytes of data. In the next step, the chaotic sequence is used for applying second diffusion on confused data. Finally, to further reduce the data correlation, an iterative reversible rule-based model is used to apply final diffusion on data. The performance of the proposed method in encrypting image, text, and audio data was evaluated. The analysis of the test results showed that the proposed encryption strategy can demonstrate a pattern close to a random state by reducing data correlation at least 28.57% compared to previous works. Also, the data encrypted by proposed method, show at least 14.15% and 1.79% increment in terms of MSE and BER, respectively. In addition, key sensitivity of 10−28 and average entropy of 7.9993 in the proposed model, indicate its high resistance to brute-force, statistical, plaintext and differential attacks.
An ethogram of acute pain behaviors in cats based on expert consensus

An improved understanding of behaviors reflecting acute pain in cats is a priority for feline welfare. The aim of this study was to create and validate a comprehensive ethogram of acute pain behaviors in cats that can discriminate painful versus non-painful individuals. An inventory of behaviors (ethogram) with their respective descriptors was created based on a literature review of PubMed, Web of Science and CAB Abstracts databases. The ethogram was divided into ten behavior categories that could be evaluated by duration and/or frequency: position in the cage, exploratory behaviors, activity, posture and body position, affective-emotional states, vocalization, playing (with an object), feeding, post-feeding and facial expressions/features. Thirty-six behaviors were analyzed independently by four veterinarians with postgraduate qualifications in feline medicine and/or behavior as (1) not relevant, (2) somewhat relevant, (3) quite relevant or (4) highly relevant and used for content (I-CVI) and face validity. Items with I-CVI scores > 0.67 were included. Twenty-four behaviors were included in the final ethogram. Thirteen items presented full agreement (i.e., I-CVI = 1): positioned in the back of the cage, no attention to surroundings, feigned sleep, grooming, attention to wound, crouched/hunched, abnormal gait, depressed, difficulty grasping food, head shaking, eye squinting, blepharospasm and lowered head position. Seven descriptors were reworded according to expert suggestions. The final ethogram provides a detailed description of acute pain behaviors in cats after content and face validity and can be applied to the characterization of different acute painful conditions in hospitalized cats.
The consequences of a trade collapse: Economics and politics in Weimar Germany

Germany suffered a severe decline of exports during the Great Depression (8.3% of GDP). What were the economic and political effects of this trade collapse? Using novel micro-level data we find causal evidence that the decline in German exports considerably contributed to the decline in economic activity and employment during the Great Depression. This shock was severe enough to indirectly impact agricultural hinterlands due to declining urban food demand. The political response we uncover is nuanced and dependent on the proposed Nazi economic policies. We document that direct exposure to the export shock decreased support for the Nazi party. The proposed replacement of unemployment benefits with public work programs gained them some support among blue-collar manufacturing workers, while it severely alienated white-collar manufacturing workers exposed to the export shock. The indirect repercussions of the export shock in the agricultural sector led to a rise in the Nazi party’s vote share. This effect was particularly strong were Jewish middlemen facilitated the rural-urban agricultural trade. JEL Classifications: F14, F44, N14, N44