Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Au th or ' s pe rs on al co py Effective thermal expansivity of Maxwellian oceanic lithosphere

The thermal expansivity of oceanic lithosphere is a key mineral physics parameter that controls the rate of seafloor subsidence. Because of strongly temperature-dependent mantle rheology, effective expansivity for lithosphere as a whole could be substantially lower than indicated by mineral physics data. Viscoelastic modeling indicates that this reduction in expansivity could be as high as ∼15–30% for a plausible range of mantle viscosity. Though brittle relaxation by thermal cracking is likely to alleviate this reduction, tension cracking results in fractured lithosphere with finite crack porosity, thereby prohibiting the recovery of fully equilibrated density. Even with complete brittle relaxation, effective thermal expansivity could still be lower by up to ∼20%. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The Logic of Delegation: Congressional Parties and the Appropriations Process

Why do majority congressional parties seem unable to act as an effective policy-making force? They routinely delegate their power to others internally to standing committees and subcommittees within each chamber, externally to the president and to the bureaucracy. Conventional wisdom in political science insists that such delegation leads inevitably to abdication usually by degrees, sometimes precipitously, but always completely. In "The Logic of Delegation," however, D. Roderick Kiewiet and Mathew D. McCubbins persuasively argue that political scientists have paid far too much attention to what congressional parties can't do. The authors draw on economic and management theory to demonstrate that the effectiveness of delegation is determined not by how much authority is delegated but rather by how well it is delegated. In the context of the appropriations process, the authors show how congressional parties employ committees, subcommittees, and executive agencies to accomplish policy goals. This innovative study will force a complete rethinking of classic issues in American politics: the "autonomy" of congressional committees; the reality of runaway federal bureaucracy; and the supposed dominance of the presidency in legislative-executive relations. "
Human Fetal Skin Development

The stratum corneum is the outermost layer of mature human epidermis. It functions to protect our skin from external invasion and loss of internal fluids. This layer develops from a proliferation of basal cells that go through a pattern of differentiation with eventual formation of squamous cells, granular cells, and finally, cells of the stratum corneum. Human fetal skin has a different pattern of development. Four vî eeks after conception, human fetal skin is composed of periderm and a basal cell layer (1). The periderm continues to overlay the fetal epidermis until the period of interfollicular keratinization. With time, an intermediate cell layer develops and begins to stratify between the periderm and basal cells. With continued development, the basal cell layer develops buds, which are the primitive cells of appendage organ development. These buds eventually invaginate into the dermis yielding the epidermal appendages of hair follicles and sebaceous, apocrine, and eccrine glands. Before the time of interfollicular keratinization the epidermis may be less than 70 |xm thick (Fig. 1).
Ultra-structure characterization of self-etching treated cementum surfaces.

OBJECTIVES to evaluate the effect of different conditioning treatments on surface roughness and topography of dental cementum. STUDY DESIGN Extracted human canines were used for the present study. The mesial surface from the cervical third of the roots were ground flat with wet 600-grit silicon carbide paper. They were polished (up to 1/4 µm diamond paste) and treated as follows: 1) No treatment, 2) 35% H3PO4 during 15 s, 3) Clearfil SE Bond primer (SEB), 4) One-Up Bond F (OUB). The adhesive systems were applied following manufacturer 's instructions. SEB primer and OUB were removed from surfaces by washing and ultrasonic agitation with ascending ethanol solutions. Digital images of treated surfaces (5x5 and 15x15 µm) were obtained by means of an atomic force microscope (AFM) analysis. The average surface roughness (Ra nanometers) of the scanned areas was assessed. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and SNK multiple comparisons tests (p <0.05). RESULTS phosphoric acid treatment produced the highest mean roughness value, at all scan sizes. At 5x5 µm AFM images, for self-etch adhesive systems no differences in roughness were detected. At 15x15 µm, when One-Up Bond F was employed the lowest value was obtained. CONCLUSIONS When phosphoric acid treatment was applied, cementum surface roughness increased and a strong demineralization with exposed collagen fibers could be observed.
Cigarette smoking and mortality. MRFIT Research Group.

METHODS The relationship of cigarette smoking and smoking cessation to mortality was investigated among men screened for and also among those randomized to the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT). RESULTS Among the 361,662 men screened for the MRFIT, cigarette smoking was an important risk factor for all-cause, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and cancer mortality. These risks, on the log relative scale, were strongest for cancers of the lung, mouth, and larynx. The excess risk associated with cigarette smoking was greatest for death from CHD. Overall, approximately one-half of all deaths were associated with cigarette smoking. Among the 12,866 randomized participants, weak positive associations with duration of cigarette smoking habit and tar and nicotine levels were found with all-cause mortality. For both SI and UC men, substantial differences in subsequent CHD (34-49%) and all-cause (35-47%) mortality were evident for men who reported cigarette smoking cessation by the end of the trial compared with those continuing to smoke. There was no evidence that lung cancer death rates were lower among cigarette smokers who quite compared with those who continued to smoke in this 10-year follow-up period. CONCLUSION The data are consistent with results of previous epidemiologic studies indicating that the benefits of smoking cessation on CHD are rapid, while for lung cancer, the benefit is not evident in a 10-year follow-up period.
DAYLIGHT AND INVESTOR SENTIMENT: A SECOND LOOK AT TWO STOCK MARKET BEHAVIORAL ANOMALIES

Kamstra, Kramer, and Levi (2000, 2003) describe two stock market behavioral anomalies associated with changes in investor sentiment caused by daylight saving time (DST) changes and seasonal affective disorder (SAD). According to the hypothesized effects, DST changes and SAD affect asset prices by changing investors’ risk aversion. Although changes in the timing or amount of daylight are correlated with unusual stock market returns, I present evidence they do not cause those unusual returns. Instead, seasonal patterns in market-related information during the sample period are the likely cause of the correlation between stock market returns and DST changes or SAD.
Pork and Chicken Meals Similarly Impact on Cognitive Function and Strength in Community-Living Older Adults: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT A pilot quasi-experimental study investigated whether provision of pork, a rich source of thiamin, as the main protein source in meals four times/week for 12 weeks resulted in improved muscle mass, body strength, and cognitive function in community-living older adults compared to similar meals containing chicken. Retirement villages were randomized to receive pre-prepared frozen meals containing either pork or chicken. Dietary intake was assessed by three-day food records and cognitive domains assessed using validated tests. Hand grip strength was measured and lower extremity performance assessed by the sit-to-stand test, get-up-and-go test and six-minute walk test. Forty-eight volunteers participated (78.2 ± 6.2 y). In linear mixed models, controlling for baseline physical activity and dietary protein and energy intake, no differences were found between pork (n = 19) and chicken (n = 12) groups. The chicken group had improved Rey Auditory Verbal Learning test scores (verbal learning and memory) at six weeks (p < 0.001). Provision of four pork meals a week did not result in improvements in cognitive function, nor measures of strength or physical function, compared to those receiving chicken meals in healthy older adults. This suggests that merely changing the type of dietary protein provided by meat does not impact physical or cognitive function.
The Family Factor: The Impact of Family Relationship Dynamics on Business-Owning Families during Transitions

This paper presents preliminary findings from three longitudinal case studies forming part of ongoing doctoral research into the activities and dynamics of business-owning families as they address the tasks and issues required during their succession processes. Specifically, the paper qualitatively explores the nature, characteristics, and effects of family relationship dynamics in three family business systems undertaking the transfer of controlling ownership to the next generation (from father to son). A model is presented to describe the sources of anxiety “imperatives” and their management during transition processes. Conclusions are drawn about the characteristics of emotional dynamics in business-owning families and how these can, over time, hinder or help families manage these tasks.
Eclampsia in Scandinavia: incidence, substandard care, and potentially preventable cases

Background. Description of incidence, clinical signs, symptoms, and consequences of eclampsia in Scandinavia, and assessment of substandard care and potential preventability. Methods. A descriptive cohort study including all women giving birth in a 2‐year period (mid‐1998–mid‐2000) in Scandinavia. Notifications of eclampsia cases were obtained from all obstetric units at 3‐monthly intervals. All patient files were reviewed, and systematic audit was performed to identify potentially preventable cases by using predefined criteria. Main outcome measures. Signs and symptoms preceding the eclamptic seizure, the standard of medical care, maternal and perinatal morbidity, and mortality were all recorded. Potentially preventable cases through improved care and cases eligible for primary prophylactic magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) were estimated. Results. The incidence of eclampsia was 5.0/10 000 maternities (CI = 4.3–5.7/10 000). Eighty‐six percent had a diagnosis of pre‐eclampsia before the seizure. Nine of 10 had at least one physical complaint before the first seizure, severe headache being the most common symptom, occurring in two‐thirds. Most seizures (90%) occurred after admission to hospital. By audit, 89 cases (42%) were classified as having received substandard care. Prophylactic use of magnesium sulfate might have reduced the number of eclampsia cases by 35 (17%). Conclusions. Eclampsia occurred mainly in hospital and the majority of women had symptoms heralding the seizure. In retrospect, nearly half of the cases were found potentially preventable by timely intervention, improved medical care, and systematic use of prophylactic treatment with MgSO4.
Direct Regulation of the Microphthalmia Promoter by Sox10 Links Waardenburg-Shah Syndrome (WS4)-associated Hypopigmentation and Deafness to WS2*

The transcription factor Sox10 is genetically linked with Waardenburg syndrome 4 (WS4) in humans and theDominant megacolon (Dom) mouse model for this disease. The pigmentary defects observed in the Dom mouse and WS4 are reminiscent of those associated with mutations in themicrophthalmia (Mitf) gene, which encodes a transcription factor essential for the development of the melanocyte lineage. We demonstrate here that wild type Sox10 directly binds and activates transcription of the MITF promoter, whereas a mutant form of the Sox10 protein genetically linked with WS4 acts as a dominant-negative repressor of MITF expression and can reduce endogenous MITF protein levels. The ability of Sox10 to activate transcription of the MITF promoter implicates Sox10 in the regulation of melanocyte development and provides a molecular basis for the hypopigmentation and deafness associated with WS4.
Public Capital, Employment and Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from Italian Transport Sector

This paper uses time series methodologies to examine the causal relationship among capital stock, total labour force and Total Factor Productivity (TFP) applied to transport sector for Italy, using annual data for the period 1970-2007. After an introduction, a literature review is carried out, before discussing the econometric methodology and data. Stationarity tests clearly show that the series are I(1) processes. Our estimation results indicate that one cointegrating relationship exists among these variables. Moreover, there is a bidirectional Granger causality flow between real public capital and labour force, as well as between public capital and TFP ; while productivity Granger-causes labour force but not the other. The Forecast Errors Variance Decompositions (FEVD) show that errors in real public capital are mainly due to uncertainty in labour force and in public capital itself, and that labour force errors are due to labour force itself. Forecast errors in productivity instead, are mainly due to TFP itself, although public capital is also important.
Bargaining and nucleolus in Common Cost Allocation

INTRODUCTION There are many studies in which researchers have tried to apply cooperative game solutions to common cost allocation. Many of these studies focus on Shapley value I) and only a few researches discuss nucleolus in common cost allocation. The latter studies compare the properties of nucleolus allocation with Shapley value and other allocation schemes, so they do not examine the properties of nucleolus itself in common cost allocation.2) It is well-known that the nucleolus is a subset of the kernel and the kernel is a subset of the bargaining set. This property is a basic one that specifies these three cooperative game solutions. We should investigate the meaning of this property to examine the properties of the nucleolus in common cost allocation. If we can interpret the nucleolus in the bargaining processes for allocating common cost meaningfully, the nucleolus will be a useful allocation scheme in the case where common cost is allocated through the bargaining of the service users. In Section 1, we describe the model that we will use in this article. This model is proposed in Aoki[ 1997] and specifies the case where we can formulate common cost allocation as a characteristic function form game. We develop our discussions in this article based on this model. We define the cooperative game solutions that are used in the later analysis of this paper in Section 2. These solutions are the core, the bargaining set, the kernel, and the nucleolus. We define these cooperative game solutions along the definitions in game theory as much as possible to interpret the meanings of these solutions correctly in common cost allocation. The game specified in Section 1 is a convex game. 3 ) A convex game has interesting properties and these properties are useful in our analysis. We explain the properties of cooperative game solutions in the convex game in Section 3. We propose numerical examples that describe the common cost allocation in Section
Maxi-Adjustment and Possibilistic Deduction for Adaptive Information Agents

The expressive power of logic is believed to be able to model most of the fundamental aspects of information retrieval (IR). However, it is also understood that classical logic is ineffective for handling partiality and uncertainty in IR. Applying non-classical logics such as the AGM belief revision logic and the possibilistic logic to adaptive information retrieval is appealing since they provide a powerful and rigorous framework to model partiality and uncertainty inherent in any IR processes. The maxi-adjustment method, which is an effective computational apparatus of the AGM paradigm, is applied to develop the learning components of the adaptive information agents. Essentially, maxi-adjustment allows the partial representation K of a user's information needs N to be refined gradually based on the user's relevance feedback t. Generally speaking, learning in adaptive information agents is characterised by the AGM belief revision Kt*. On the other hand, possibilistic logic supports a gradated assessment of the uncertainty arising from matching K with the imperfect characterisation d of an information object D. Information matching in adaptive information agents is underpinned by K ƕ d, where ƕ is the possibilistic inference relation. This paper illustrates how maxi-adjustment and possibilistic deduction can be applied to develop the adaptive information agents. Their impact on the agents learning autonomy and explanatory power is also discussed.
Badminton Stroke Recognition Based on Body Sensor Networks

A badminton training system based on body sensor networks has been proposed. The system may recognize different badminton strokes of badminton players. A two-layer hidden Markov model (HMM) classification algorithm is proposed to recognize 14 types of badminton strokes. In the first layer, we use acceleration magnitude of the right wrist to determine a threshold to detect strokes, and then, the HMM is applied to filter out nonstroke motions. In the second layer, we adopt the HMM to classify all the strokes into 14 categories. Experimental results show that the two-layer HMM can achieve good recognition accuracy. The effectiveness and feasibility of the two-layer HMM classification algorithm have been verified in a comparison.
Personality and Cardiac Risk ype D Personality Predicts Death or yocardial Infarction After Bare Metal tent or Sirolimus-Eluting Stent Implantation Rapamycin-Eluting Stent

OBJECTIVES We investigated the effect of Type D personality on the occurrence of adverse events at nine months in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with sirolimus-eluting stents (SESs) or bare stents. Type D patients experience increased negative emotions and tend not to express these emotions in social interactions. BACKGROUND The SES is a new advent in interventional cardiology that reduces the restenosis rate and the risk of a major adverse cardiac event, but the SES has not been shown to confer any benefits on death or myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS Consecutive patients with IHD (n 875) enrolled in the Rapamycin-Eluting Stent Evaluated At Rotterdam Cardiology Hospital (RESEARCH) registry completed the Type D Personality Scale (DS14) six months after PCI. The end point was a composite of death and MI. Events occurring before administration of the DS14 were excluded from analyses. RESULTS At nine months’ follow-up, there were 20 events. Type D patients were at a cumulative increased risk of adverse outcome compared with non-Type D patients: 5.6% versus 1.3% (p 0.002). Type D personality (odds ratio [OR] 5.31; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.06 to 13.66) remained an independent predictor of adverse outcome adjusting for all other variables, including SES versus bare-stent implantation. CONCLUSIONS Type D personality was an independent predictor of adverse events in patients optimally treated with the latest advent in interventional cardiology. The DS14 could be used as a screening instrument in routine clinical practice to optimize risk stratification in IHD patients. (J Am Coll Cardiol 2004;44:997–1001) © 2004 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation
Co-integração entre os mercados spot e futuro: evidências dos mercados de boi gordo e soja

One of the measures of future markets’ efficiency is its linkage with the spot market. The objective of this paper is to verify the existence of a statistical linkage between spot market and the Brazilian Mercantile & Future Exchange (BM&F) live cattle future market and between spot market and the BM&F and Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean future market. In addition, an efficiency indicator for the BM&F live cattle future market was estimated. With regard to live cattle, the daily time series used was price of the future contracts with maturity month between January/05 and November/05 and for soybean, the price of the future contracts used was with maturity between March 2005 until September 2005 and November 2005. Concerning live cattle, evidences of co-integration on contracts with maturity month on March, April, September, October and November of 2005 were found. As for the BM&F soybean future contract, co-integration was detected for contracts with maturity at April, May and November, 2005. Co-integration evidence was identified for the CBOT soybean future with maturity at January, March, September and November of 2005. The efficiency indicator for live cattle future contract was higher, indicating that this market may be useful for price discovery of live cattle.
Stock Trading Point Decision with Petri Nets

Stock trading signal decision is an important approach for investors in financial investment. Most previous studies focus on the precise price prediction, but trading point decision is more practical than price prediction. This paper proposes a novel approach using Petri nets to discover the relationships between various technical indicators, and exploring the rules of trading points hidden in historical data. Experiment results show that stock trading point decision with proposed Petri nets model can make a considerable return in investment.
Disability due to maternal common mental disorders (CMDs) as a risk factor for chronic childhood malnutrition: cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: The disability associated with maternal common mental disorders (CMDs) is among the possible explanations for the association between chronic childhood malnutrition and CMDs. CMDs may impair the mother’s ability to perform her role, particularly in deprived environments. The present study aimed to evaluate whether disability relating to CMDs could be part of the pathway of the association between childhood malnutrition and maternal CMDs. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study conducted in two institutions: one for malnourished children and another for eutrophic children living in a low-income community in the state of Alagoas, Brazil. METHOD: The cases consisted of 55 malnourished children aged from 12 to 60 months who were attending a nutritional rehabilitation center, with height-for-age z-scores < 2. The controls were 70 eutrophic children of the same age who were attending a day care center in the same area as the cases. The Self-Report Questionnaire made it possible to identify likely cases of maternal CMD. The Sheehan Disability Scale enabled evaluation of the associated disability. RESULTS: Chronic childhood malnutrition was significantly associated with maternal disability relating to CMDs (OR = 2.28; 95% CI: 1.02-5.1). The best logistic regression model using chronic childhood malnutrition as the dependent variable included the following independent variables: higher number of people living in the household; absence of the biological father from the household; and maternal disability relating to CMDs. CONCLUSIONS: If confirmed, the association between chronic childhood malnutrition and maternal disability relating to CMDs may be useful in helping to identify the causal chain between childhood malnutrition and maternal CMDs and to indicate environmental risk factors associated with chronic childhood malnutrition.