Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
La Demanda de Dinero en Uruguay: 1980.1-2002.4

The new monetary policy implemented in Uruguay in July 2002, rests on the existence of a stable relationship between the intermediate monetary aggregate and the price level, particularly during rough times, such as financial crises (1982-83; 2001-02). This paper analyzes the stability of transactional money demand and the power of a monetary-aggregates policy. First, the estimation of an error-correction model for real money balances points out a basic long-run relationship and a reasonable dynamic specification that passes standard stability tests. Then, after its evaluation, it seems as if the monetary channel is not the only one in the explanation of the price formation in Uruguay and that, as a result, the monetary-aggregates policy alone cannot guarantee to reach a predetermined price path.
UNIONIZATION AND STRATEGIC TRADE POLICY

This article examines the effect of unionization on welfare and trade policy using a model of duopolists competing in a third market. The traditional result that the presence of a union necessitates a stronger strategic trade policy to reach the optimal level of welfare hinges on the mode of competition. With Bertrand duopolists, a union can be welfare-improving; it can also lead to a weaker trade policy, or even reverse the direction of the optimal policy. Our results highlight the importance for trade policy of understanding the nature of firm behavior and the institutional features of the labor market.
The Liver in Crigler‐Najjar Syndrome, Protoporphyria, and Other Metabolic Disorders

The liver may be involved in metabolic disorders in two ways, (i) Due to its critical role in several metabolic pathways, the liver may be the major site of expression of a biochemical abnormality. For example, in Type I Crigler‐Najjar syndrome, absence of hepatic bilirubin glucuronyl transferase activity causes severe unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia which invariably leads to death from kernicterus. (ii) The liver may also be structurally damaged by the metabolic disorder. Several patients with protoporphyria have died in hepatic failure due to liver damage caused by protoporphyrin deposition. Numerous other metabolic disorders can be sited in which significant liver involvement occurs. In many of these disorders, there is no effective medical therapy.
Proposal of using SWAPs by hard coal mining companies in Poland

Running a business entails various risks which can significantly impact the economic and production results achieved by a given enterprise. One way of hedging certain risks is to use appropriately designed derivatives. This article presents the newest group of these contracts, i.e. swaps, and focuses on how these contracts can be used by Polish mining companies from the hard coal mining sector selling a part of their output on the global market.This article briefly characterises and presents types of swaps as well as the Polish swap market, pioneered by Polski Bank Rozwoju S.A. with the first FX swap of 1992. Since then, other types of transactions have also been included in the offering of domestic banks (assets swaps, cross-currency interest rate swaps). Mining companies producing hard coal have not been active on the swap market yet because of their poor activity on derivative markets. This article proposes a swap as an derivative hedging the hard coal price for a mining company exporting a part of its production to the global market.In the presented example, a mining company, by concluding a forward and an appropriately structured commodity swap, was able to both protect itself from a fall in the price and use additional gains due to prices rising in the global market.Apart from commodity swaps, mining companies can use FX swaps, IRS and other swaps described in the literature and commonly applied in practice by various economic entities, depending on the type of risk that needs hedging. A significant advantage of this kind of contract is that there is no need to freeze funds in security deposits, nor are there fees of other kinds (premiums) like those payable for other derivatives (futures, options).
Structural and Functional Changes With the Aging Kidney.

Senescence or normal physiologic aging portrays the expected age-related changes in the kidney as compared to a disease that occurs in some but not all individuals. The microanatomical structural changes of the kidney with older age include a decreased number of functional glomeruli from an increased prevalence of nephrosclerosis (arteriosclerosis, glomerulosclerosis, and tubular atrophy with interstitial fibrosis), and to some extent, compensatory hypertrophy of remaining nephrons. Among the macroanatomical structural changes, older age associates with smaller cortical volume, larger medullary volume until middle age, and larger and more numerous kidney cysts. Among carefully screened healthy kidney donors, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) declines at a rate of 6.3 mL/min/1.73 m(2) per decade. There is reason to be concerned that the elderly are being misdiagnosed with CKD. Besides this expected kidney function decline, the lowest risk of mortality is at a GFR of ≥75 mL/min/1.73 m(2) for age <55 years but at a lower GFR of 45 to 104 mL/min/1.73 m(2) for age ≥65 years. Changes with normal aging are still of clinical significance. The elderly have less kidney functional reserve when they do actually develop CKD, and they are at higher risk for acute kidney injury.
Psychopathy and personality. An investigation of the relationship between the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) in a hospitalized sample of male offenders with personality disorder.

BACKGROUND The concept of psychopathy, as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), has good reliability and validity and there is a small amount of literature relating it to more general personality traits. Such relationships have not, however, been demonstrated across a variety of populations. AIM To examine the relationship between the PCL-R and the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) in a sample of men detained in a secure hospital unit because of personality disorder and having been convicted of at least one criminal offence. METHOD PCL-R and NEO-FFI measures were obtained for 100 men as part of a pre-admission assessment to a specialist personality disorder treatment unit. RESULTS After controlling for Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and scores on the other four NEO-FFI domains, PCL-R total scores were significantly negatively correlated with agreeableness (r = -0.36) and neuroticism (r = -0.22). No other correlations with total scores were significant. PCL-R Factor 1 scores were significantly negatively correlated with agreeableness (r = -0.31) and with neuroticism (r = -0.26) whereas Factor 2 scores were significantly positively correlated with extraversion (r = 0.22) and negatively with agreeableness (r = -0.21). CONCLUSIONS Results were in line with findings from previous studies and were explained in part by considering how facets of the NEO-FFI map onto the concept of psychopathy. Further research is needed to ascertain whether similar relationships also apply among women, and to examine the relationship between psychopathy and specific facets of the five factor model.
Bayesian latent class estimation of the incidence of chest radiograph-confirmed pneumonia in rural Thailand

SUMMARY Pneumonia is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide with radiographically confirmed pneumonia a key disease burden indicator. This is usually determined by a radiology panel which is assumed to be the best available standard; however, this assumption may introduce bias into pneumonia incidence estimates. To improve estimates of radiographic pneumonia incidence, we applied Bayesian latent class modelling (BLCM) to a large database of hospitalized patients with acute lower respiratory tract illness in Sa Kaeo and Nakhon Phanom provinces, Thailand from 2005 to 2010 with chest radiographs read by both a radiology panel and a clinician. We compared these estimates to those from conventional analysis. For children aged <5 years, estimated radiographically confirmed pneumonia incidence by BLCM was 2394/100 000 person-years (95% credible interval 2185–2574) vs. 1736/100 000 person-years (95% confidence interval 1706–1766) from conventional analysis. For persons aged ⩾5 years, estimated radiographically confirmed pneumonia incidence was similar between BLCM and conventional analysis (235 vs. 215/100 000 person-years). BLCM suggests the incidence of radiographically confirmed pneumonia in young children is substantially larger than estimated from the conventional approach using radiology panels as the reference standard.
Time-Hopping Multiple-Access for Backscatter Interference Networks

Future Internet-of-Things (IoT) is expected to wirelessly connect tens of billions of low- complexity devices. Extending the finite battery life of massive number of IoT devices is a crucial challenge. The ultra-low-power backscatter communications (BackCom) with the inherent feature of RF energy harvesting is a promising technology for tackling this challenge. Moreover, many future IoT applications will require the deployment of dense IoT devices, which induces strong interference for wireless information transfer (IT). To tackle these challenges, in this paper, we propose the design of a novel multiple-access scheme based on time-hopping spread-spectrum (TH-SS) to simultaneously suppress interference and enable both two-way wireless IT and one-way wireless energy transfer (ET) in coexisting backscatter reader-tag links. The performance analysis of the BackCom network is presented, including the bit-error rates for forward and backward IT and the expected energy-transfer rate for forward ET, which account for non-coherent and coherent detection at tags and readers, and energy harvesting at tags, respectively. Our analysis demonstrates a tradeoff between energy harvesting and interference performance. Thus, system parameters need to be chosen carefully to satisfy given BackCom system performance requirement.
Influence of surface charge on DC flashover characteristics of epoxy/BN nanocomposites

Epoxy is widely used in electronic and electrical devices because of its excellent insulation properties. The addition of nanoparticles to epoxy could change the material structure and then charge behaviors are altered as a consequence. The accumulation of surface charge may cause electric field distortion, which would lead to surface flashover. In this paper, the samples were made by dispersing nano-scale boron nitride (BN) particles in Epoxy with the weight ratios of 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 wt%. The samples were charged by a dc corona triode system using needle-plate electrodes. The distribution of charges was measured with an electrostatic voltmeter and the effect of nanoparticles on charge accumulation and decay behavior was studied. A flashover test was carried out under a dc stress between two finger-type electrodes. The effect of nanoparticles on flashover characteristics and the relation between surface charging and surface flashover were also investigated. The results showed that the traps between nanoparticles and the polymer, which were introduced by the added nanoparticles, could cause surface charge accumulation. In addition, the flashover occurred at a lower voltage because of the accumulated charge on the sample surface.
Spatial Interaction in Sparsely Populated Regions: An Hierarchical Economic Base Approach

Ideas from the central place literature are applied to the problem of describing the economic interaction that occurs among centers in sparsely settled regions. A method is proposed that allows the impact of an exogenous change in income or employment to be traced through the functional economic hierarchy. The model is estimated from cross section data for a sample of over 100 counties. The results are shown to have operational significance for estimating the size and spatial distribution of induced employment and income effects resulting from any given spatial distribution of basic economic activity. The approach is relevant to the formulation of economic forecasting models and to economic impact assessment, especially in resource based areas in which interindustry transactions within the manufacturing sector are relatively unimportant.
Potential of RADARSAT-2 data on identifying sugarcane lodging caused by typhoon

Sugarcane lodging monitoring in large area is a fundamental requirement for damage reduction, yield prediction and loss evaluation. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), regardless of meteorological conditions, provides a promising tool to monitor the status of agricultural crops. The polarimetric features extracted from Polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) have proved to be sensitive to wheat lodging, but for sugarcane lodging monitoring, there are three influences that make it more complicated: heterogeneity of sugarcane scattering, variations of sugarcane growing conditions, and sugarcane growth. In this paper, a new process was proposed to identify sugarcane lodging. Firstly, object-based image segmentation was operated to reduce the heterogeneity of sugarcane scattering. Complex Wishart classifier was used to identify sugarcane field from other land cover types, and 18 polarimetric features were extracted from 6 consecutive RADARSAT-2 data. Then time-series trends of the polarimetric features were used to overcome the influence of variations of sugarcane growing conditions. We found that it was impossible to identify the lodging sugarcane based on a single-time data. At last, the influence of sugarcane growth was reduced by finding the polarimetric features, for which the time-series trends before and after lodging happened were opposite. The study area was located in Leizhou Peninsula, China. During the observation period, large areas of sugarcane fields were in lodging situation when two strong typhoons passed. This study indicated great potential capability of C-band RADARSAT-2 data for monitoring sugarcane lodging.
Voltage sensorless predictive direct power control for renewable energy integration under grid fault conditions

With the increasing penetration of distributed generation (DG) systems based on renewable energies into the power grid, the fault ride-through capability of them is stressed by recent grid codes. Aiming to adapting this requirement, this paper proposes a voltage sensorless predictive direct power control (PDPC) for the grid-interactive DC/AC converter utilized in DG systems. In order to realize a voltage sensorless operation independent of the grid frequency deviation, a second order generalized integrator (SOGI)-based virtual flux (VF) observer is adopted. Moreover, through specific fluctuating power compensations calculated base on the estimated VF, the proposed control strategy offers positive sequence current, constant active and reactive power behaviors, respectively. Simulation studies were conducted in MATLAB/Simulink under gird fault conditions, including the grid frequency deviation, distorted grid voltage by negative sequence voltage and higher harmonics. The simulation results verify that the proposed voltage sensorless PDPC presents superior steady-state and transient performance against the foregoing grid faults.
Certain high molecular weight heparin chains have high affinity for vitronectin.

Vitronectin is a 70-kDa protein that is found in both the extracellular matrix as well as serum. Vitronectin is one of the few proteins that regulates both the complement and the coagulation systems. Heparin is known to bind to vitronectin. Review of the literature reveals apparently conflicting outcomes of the interaction of heparin, vitronectin, and the complement system. Previous studies demonstrated that heparin diminishes vitronectin inhibition of complement activity. Numerous studies have also demonstrated that heparin exerts a net inhibitory effect on complement. We used two dimensional affinity resolution electrophoresis (2DARE) to examine this apparent paradox. 2DARE allowed simultaneous determination of binding affinity of heparin for vitronectin as well as the M(r) of the heparin species. In the 2DARE experiment, the interaction of heparin with vitronectin caused retardation of the movement of the heparin through the tube gel in the first dimension. The degree of the retardation of movement was used to calculate the approximate K(d) of that interaction. The heparin from the tube gel was then subjected to a second dimension electrophoresis to determine the M(r) of the heparin. 2DARE analysis of the interaction of heparin with vitronectin clearly demonstrated that a sub-population of heparin chains with M(r) > 8000 bound vitronectin with high affinity whereas most high M(r) chains and all lower M(r) chains showed little to no affinity for vitronectin. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that a unique binding domain exists in certain heparin chains for vitronectin.
Association between initial vascular access and survival in hemodialysis according to age

Background/Aims This study aims to demonstrate whether the association between initial vascular access and mortality among hemodialysis patients varies by age. Methods We conducted a retrospective study that included 2,552 patients who started hemodialysis. Vascular access was divided into three categories: percutaneous catheter, tunneled cuffed catheter, and arteriovenous (AV) access. Results Survival rates for patients who received a central venous catheter, such as percutaneous or tunneled cuffed catheter, aged 65 to 74 years and those ≥ 75 years were reduced, but not for those aged < 65 years (log-rank test; p < 0.001, p = 0.007, and p = 0.278). After fully adjusting for potential confounding factors in the patients aged < 65 years, percutaneous and tunneled cuffed catheter were not associated with 5-year mortality. On the other hand, for patients aged 65 to 74 or ≥ 75 years, percutaneous catheter and tunneled cuffed catheter were associated with higher 5-year mortality rates. As age increased, the conversion rate from central venous catheter, including percutaneous catheter and tunneled cuffed catheter, to AV access decreased (94.1%, 90.5%, and 80.3% for patients aged < 65, 65 to 74, and ≥ 75 years, respectively; p < 0.001). Conclusions In patients aged ≥ 65 years, initial vascular access was associated with long-term mortality. We suggest that a “fistula first” strategy is superior for elderly patients and demonstrates that it is desirable to change to AV access, and not maintain an initial central vascular catheter.
Creative Destruction in Industries

Most industries go through a "shakeout" phase during which the number of producers in the industry declines. Industry output generally continues to rise, however, which implies a reallocation of capacity from exiting firms to incumbents and new entrants. Thus shakeouts seem to be classic creative destruction episodes. Shakeouts of firms tend to occur sooner in industries where technological progress is rapid. Existing models do not explain this. Yet the relation emerges naturally in a vintage-capital model in which shakeouts of firms accompany the replacement of capital, and in which a shakeout is the first replacement echo of the capital created when the industry is born. We fit the model to the Gort-Klepper data and to Agarwal's update of those data.
Wireless vision-based fuzzy controllers for moving object tracking using a quadcopter

During the last few decades, the utilization of unmanned aerial vehicles has grown in military and has seen new civil applications because of their reduced cost and hovering capabilities. This article presents a visual servoing system for detecting and tracking a moving object using an unmanned aerial vehicle. The system consists of two sequential components. The first component addresses the detection of a moving object, using the unmanned aerial vehicle based on color features. The second component addresses the visual servoing control that is designed to guide the unmanned aerial vehicle according to the target position and inclination. Three fuzzy logic modules are implemented in order to control the unmanned aerial vehicle in tracking a moving object. The proposed method is validated on a real flight using an AR.Drone 2.0 quadcopter. The obtained results show that the performance of the proposed method is suitable for object-following tasks in surveillance applications. This research investigates the use of unmanned aerial vehicle technology for crowd monitoring during Hajj and it could also be used for border surveillance to monitor Saudi Arabia’s borders.
Interest in Intrauterine Contraception Among Seekers of Emergency Contraception and Pregnancy Testing

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the interest in using intrauterine contraception among women and adolescent girls seeking emergency contraception or walk-in pregnancy testing. METHODS: We surveyed 412 women and adolescent girls who requested emergency contraception or pregnancy testing at four family planning clinics in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The 41-item survey assessed knowledge of, attitudes toward, and interest in using an intrauterine device (IUD). Data were analyzed using &khgr;2 and Fisher exact tests and multivariable logistic regression methods. RESULTS: The response rate was 85%. Twelve percent (95% confidence interval [CI] 9–15) of women and adolescent girls surveyed expressed interest in same-day insertion of an IUD, and 22% (95% CI 18–26) wanted more information about IUDs. Interest in same-day IUD insertion increased with higher education level, prior unwanted pregnancy, and experience with barriers to use of contraception. CONCLUSION: Same-day IUD insertion may be a reasonable way to increase the use of highly-effective contraception among women and adolescent girls seeking emergency contraception or walk-in pregnancy testing. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II
Distance Decay and the Impact of Effective Tourism Exclusion Zones on International Travel Flows

This article examines the decaying effect of distance decay in outbound air travel from Hong Kong. Distance decay theory predicts that demand will peak at some distance relatively close to a source market and then decline exponentially as distance increases. The standard distance decay relationship is predicated on the assumption of a uniform distribution of tourism products over space. However, as discussed in the article, supply is not distributed evenly, with large areas representing Effective Tourism Exclusion Zones (ETEZ). The effect of these tourism exclusion zones is to distort the standard distance decay curve, accelerating decay rates between the source markets and the inner boundary of the ETEZ and producing a concentration of higher demand at points beyond its outer boundary. In addition, for the Hong Kong market, the ETEZ formed a behavioral barrier between short haul and long travel behavior patterns.
Improved automatic face detection technique in color images

This paper presents an automatic face detection method based on feature invariant and knowledge-based approaches. The proposed method can segment out a person's face from a given image that consists of a head-and-shoulders view of the person and a complex background scene. It involves an algorithm that exploits the feature invariant approach based on the spatial distribution characteristics of human skin color. Only skin color regions with faces or facial regions are segmented out from the background. Non-facial regions that fall within the same chrominance range is segmented. The method can differentiate non-facial facial regions based on the knowledge-based approach. It also informs users automatically if no facial region presents in the image. The performance of the face detection technique is illustrated by simulation results carried out on various test images database in Son Lam Phung (2002). Comparison with existing technique in Douglas Chai et al. (1999)-Melaine P.L. et al. (2003) is included to reveal the good performance of the proposed scheme.