Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Developing a sustainable water-delivery system in rural El Salvador

Abstract Engineers Without Borders-USA (EWB-USA) consists of over 50 professional chapters throughout the country and over 100 student chapters at engineering universities. The goal of EWB-USA is to assist developing communities implement sustainable engineering projects that foster quality-of-life improvements while developing internationally responsible engineers and engineering students. An EWB-USA chapter at Oregon State University (EWB-OSU) has focused efforts on designing a sustainable water system to provide clean water for two communities in El Salvador. The communities are located in remote and mountainous terrain and have little available data describing local resources. The health of the communities has suffered due to a lack of clean drinking water. Small teams from the EWB-OSU chapter have now twice visited the communities to collect data using global positioning system (GPS) receivers. Financial support for travel costs has come from a variety of sources. The local community has helped field teams locate important resources and verify information to support the design process. Although considerable project progress has occurred, challenges have resulted from working in remote and rugged landscapes and also from land use and ownership considerations in the communities. We describe in this essay EWB-OSU activities to design and implement an engineering project to provide freshwater to rural communities in a remote, rural community.
A New Drain Current Model for a Dual Metal Junctionless Transistor for Enhanced Digital Circuit Performance

The 2-D analytical solution of electrostatic potential and enhanced drain current is modeled for a dual metal surround gate junctionless transistor (DMSGJLT) by solving the Poisson equation using the parabolic approximation technique. The gate engineered DMSGJLT produces an increase in the mobility of electrons in the channel. Enhancement in drain current of 35 μM is obtained than single metal JLT for the same dimension. Due to that, the gain increases, short channel effects and leakage current decreases. The electrostatic potential, threshold voltage, drain current, transconductance, drain-induced barrier lowering, power and delay predicted by the analytical solution have excellent agreement with the simulation results obtained from Technology Computer-Aided Design. The analytical modeling provides useful insight on physics of short channel effects. The inverter circuit is implemented with a DMSGJLT and is compared with that of a single metal device. The noise margin analysis is made for the inverter circuit employing both dual metal and single metal devices. It is found that gate engineering improves the noise margin to a much extend and due to this, the voltage loss is also improved with a DMSGJLT.
Relationship between Circulating Levels of IFN‐γ, IL‐10, CXCL9 and CCL2 in Pulmonary and Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis is Dependent on Disease Severity

Protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is dependent on T cell and macrophage activation regulated by cytokines. Cytokines and chemokines produced at disease sites may be released into circulation. Data available on circulating cytokines in tuberculosis (TB) is mostly on pulmonary TB (PTB) with limited information on extrapulmonary disease (EPul‐TB). We measured interferon‐gamma (IFN‐γ), interkeukin‐10 (IL‐10), CXCL9 and CCL2 in sera of patients (n = 80) including; PTB (n = 42), EPul‐TB (n = 38) and BCG vaccinated healthy endemic controls (EC, n = 42). EPul‐TB patients comprised those with less severe (LNTB) or severe (SevTB) disease. Serum IFN‐γ, IL‐10 and CXCL9 levels were significantly greater while CCL2 was reduced in TB patients as compared with EC. IFN‐γ was significantly greater in PTB as compared with LNTB (P = 0.002) and SevTB (P = 0.029). CXCL9 was greater in PTB as compared with LNTB (P = 0.009). In contrast, CCL2 levels were reduced in PTB as compared with LNTB (P = 0.021) and SevTB (P = 0.024). A Spearman’s rank correlation analysis determined a positive association between IFN‐γ and IL‐10 (rho = 0.473, P = 0.002) and IFN‐γ and CXCL9 (rho = 0.403, P = 0.008) in the PTB group. However, in SevTB, only IFN‐γ and CXCL9 were positively associated (rho = 0.529, P = 0.016). Systemic levels of cytokines are reflective of local responses at disease sites. Therefore, our data suggests that in PTB increased IFN‐γ and CXCL9 balanced by IL‐10 may result in a more effective cell mediated response in the host. However, elevated inflammatory chemokines CXCL9 and CCL2 in severe EPul‐TB without concomitant down modulatory cytokines may exacerbate disease related pathology and hamper restriction of M. tuberculosis infection.
Efficient Frontier, Lognormal Returns, and Shortfall Constraint

An efficient frontier model is derived within a problem of passive management. An aggregate portfolio is rebalanced annually to restore the percent weights of its strategic asset allocation; its annual total returns are assumed to be independently and lognormally distributed. Expanding on previous theoretical results, we show how a minimum-variance set based on ordinary returns turns into a minimum-variance set based on logarithmic returns. According to our theoretical results, which have a general validity, inefficient portfolios based on ordinary returns cannot turn into efficient portfolios based on logarithmic returns, whereas efficient portfolios based on ordinary returns can also turn into inefficient portfolios based on logarithmic returns. In the latter instance, there can be two different qualitative patterns, both of which are portrayed by using historical data. Moreover, the shortfall constraint approach is extended to the case of lognormal portfolio returns. Each threshold return can be turned into a threshold accumulation that has the same shortfall probability; coeteris paribus, the more distant the time horizon, the smaller the shortfall probability. As our procedure is analytically tractable, it might be operationally useful, especially to financial advisors and institutional investors.
Administrative Procedures, Information, and Agency Discretion

This paper investigates the design of administrative procedures when policy consequences are uncertain. In general, when deciding how much discretion to delegate, legislators must trade off informational gains from agency expertise and distributive losses from bureaucratic drift. We show that when Congress has both ex post agenda control and access to information, it will delegate a large degree of discretionary authority to all agencies, regardless of differences in policy preferences. This "discretionary floor" rises as future events become more uncertain. We further show that the possibility of coalitional drift, or changing preferences of the median legislator, may lead either to "hard-wired" agencies with little discretionary authority or "soft-wired" agencies with large discretionary powers to set policy.
Reduced antiplatelet effect of aspirin is associated with low-grade inflammation in patients with coronary artery disease

Summary Inflammation has been proposed to modify platelet function. This may lead to increased platelet reactivity and reduced antiplatelet drug efficacy in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, this hypothesis has not been investigated in stable CAD patients receiving aspirin as mono antiplatelet therapy. It was the objective of this study to investigate the association between platelet reactivity, the inflammatory markers high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), and platelet activation. We performed a cross-sectional study on 524 stable high-risk CAD patients. Among these, 91% had a history of myocardial infarction, 23% had type 2 diabetes, and 13% had both. All patients received 75 mg aspirin daily as mono antiplatelet therapy. Platelet reactivity was assessed by multiple electrode aggregometry (Multiplate®, MEA) and VerifyNow®. Inflammation was evaluated by hs-CRP and IL-6. Platelet activation was assessed by soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin), and cyclooxygenase-1 inhibition was evaluated by measurement of serum thromboxane B2. Hs-CRP levels were significantly higher in upper platelet reactivity tertile patients than in lower platelet reactivity tertile patients (p≤0.02). Similar results were obtained with IL-6, though not statististically significant (p≥0.15). Platelet activation evaluated by sP-selectin was significantly higher in patients with MEA reactivity levels in the upper tertile than in the lower tertile (p=0.0001). Optimal compliance was confirmed by low serum thromboxane B2 levels in all patients. In conclusion, increased levels of hs-CRP were associated with augmented platelet reactivity in stable high-risk CAD patients receiving aspirin as mono antiplatelet therapy. These findings may suggest that chronic low-grade inflammation reduce the antiplatelet effect of aspirin.
Participação política no Brasil no século XXI: mudanças e continuidades Political participation in Brazil in the 21 st century: changes and continuities

This article claims to analyze an association between the changes in the Brazilian political participation channels in the last 15 years and the supposed national political apathy. The motivation is to understand how individuals get oriented and act within the political arena as a explanatory factor of the social dynamics. Using data from the World Values Survey (WVS) we verify that a big change has occurred in the Brazilian channels for political participation: there is a progressive tendency in the participation of citizens in the politics throughout non formal political institutions.Using comparative studies we demonstrate that Brazilian political participation follows the results found in two others nations: USA and France. There's no political apathy in Brazil but rather a lack of attractiveness in the government channels for citizens participation, following the same tendency found in the two other states analysed.
Guidelines for Reporting Articles on Psychiatry and Heart rate variability (GRAPH): recommendations to advance research communication

The number of publications investigating heart rate variability (HRV) in psychiatry and the behavioral sciences has increased markedly in the last decade. In addition to the significant debates surrounding ideal methods to collect and interpret measures of HRV, standardized reporting of methodology in this field is lacking. Commonly cited recommendations were designed well before recent calls to improve research communication and reproducibility across disciplines. In an effort to standardize reporting, we propose the Guidelines for Reporting Articles on Psychiatry and Heart rate variability (GRAPH), a checklist with four domains: participant selection, interbeat interval collection, data preparation and HRV calculation. This paper provides an overview of these four domains and why their standardized reporting is necessary to suitably evaluate HRV research in psychiatry and related disciplines. Adherence to these communication guidelines will help expedite the translation of HRV research into a potential psychiatric biomarker by improving interpretation, reproducibility and future meta-analyses.
Arrhythmias in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Chronic hyperglycaemia of Type 2 diabetes mellitus causes long term damage to heart resulting in coronary artery disease (CAD), myocardial infarction (MI), congestive heart failure (CHF), and sudden death from arrhythmias. AIMS: To study the prevalence of different types of arrhythmias in T2DM, particularly in association with Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy (CAN). METHODS: A cross-sectional study including 100 patients of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) presenting with cardiac arrhythmias, was done at our hospital over 2 years. Detailed history along with physical examination and tests for CAN were done. Routine investigations along with echocardiography, stress test, Holter monitoring were done. RESULTS: Sinus Tachycardia (ST) was the commonest arrhythmia, found in 32% of patients. 20% had Complete Heart Block (CHB), 15% had Sinus Bradycardia (SB), and 15% had Atrial Fibrillation (AF). Ventricular Premature Complex (VPC) was found in 10% and 3% had Atrial Premature Complex (APC). 3% had first degree AV block, whereas 1% had Paroxysmal Supra Ventricular Tachycardia (PSVT), and another 1% had Ventricular Tachycardia (VT). Poorly controlled diabetes and co-morbidities was associated with higher incidence of arrhythmias. 62% of patients had prolonged QTc, majority of which had CAN. Most of the patients responded to standard therapy.
Hic Sunt Leones! The role of national identity on aggressiveness between national football teams

This paper examines the role of national identity in explaining on field aggression during soccer competitions between national teams. In particular, this paper empirically investigates whether differences in macro identity markers such as: the economy, religion, education, governance and power between nation-states influence football players’ aggressiveness across a range of international FIFA competitions. We analyse the finals of the FIFA World, Confederations and Under 20’s World Cups as well as the Olympic tournaments from 1994 to 2012, resulting in 1088 individual matches. Our aggression focus is derived from both the (i) weighted measure of penalties (red and yellow cards) and; (ii) the count of sanctions (fouls) issued during a game as a proxy measure for on field aggression. We generate national identity factors from a set of macro level variables in order to estimate the size of national differences, from which we determine the impact that national identity has on the emergence of on field aggression between rival countries. Our results show that these national identity factors are significant predictors of aggression, while the match specific variables seem to be of less importance. Interestingly, our results also show that these aggression factors disappear once we include referee fixed effects, indicating that while national differences are played out on the football pitch the referees are effective at controlling the aggression.
Numerical modeling of internal transmission dynamics of dengue virus

Numerical Modeling involves construction, implementation and analysis of reliable numerical schemes to solve continuous models. These schemes are constructed with the aim that discrete model exhibits the same behavior as the continuous model. Discrete models must preserve some very important properties like dynamical consistency, positivity and boundedness of the solution. In this paper, a dynamical model for the transmission dynamics of Dengue virus in the body is analyzed numerically. An unconditionally convergent numerical model has been proposed and analyzed for the same problem. Results are compared with well-known numerical schemes i.e. Euler and Runge-Kutta method of order four (RK-4). Unlike Euler and RK-4 which fail for certain step sizes, the proposed numerical scheme preserves all the essential properties of continuous model and converged to true steady states of the model for any step size used.
Transient alterations in transmural repolarization gradients and arrhythmogenicity in hypokalaemic Langendorff‐perfused murine hearts

Clinical hypokalaemia is associated with acquired electrocardiographic QT prolongation and arrhythmic activity initiated by premature ventricular depolarizations and suppressed by lidocaine (lignocaine). Nevertheless, regular (S1) pacing at a 125 ms interstimulus interval resulted in stable waveforms and rhythm studied using epicardial and endocardial monophasic action potential (MAP) electrodes in Langendorff‐perfused murine hearts whether under normokalaemic (5.2 mm K+) or hypokalaemic (3.0 mm K+) conditions, in both the presence and absence of lidocaine (10 μm). Furthermore, the transmural gradient in repolarization time, known to be altered in the congenital long‐QT syndromes, and reflected in the difference between endocardial and epicardial MAP duration at 90% repolarization (ΔAPD90), did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) between normokalaemic (5.5 ± 4.5 ms, n= 8, five hearts), hypokalaemic (n= 8, five hearts), or lidocaine‐treated normokalaemic (n= 8, five hearts) or hypokalaemic (n= 8, five hearts) hearts. However, premature ventricular depolarizations occurring in response to extrasystolic (S2) stimulation delivered at S1S2 intervals between 0 and 22 ± 6 ms following recovery from refractoriness initiated arrhythmic activity specifically in hypokalaemic (n= 8, five hearts) as opposed to normokalaemic (n= 25, 14 hearts), or lidocaine‐treated hypokalaemic (n= 8, five hearts) or normokalaemic hearts (n= 8, five hearts). This was associated with sharp but transient reversals in ΔAPD90 in MAPs initiated within the 250 ms interval directly succeeding premature ventricular depolarizations, from 3.3 ± 5.6 ms to −31.8 ± 11.8 ms (P < 0.05) when they were initiated immediately after recovery from refractoriness. In contrast the corresponding latency differences consistently remained close to the normokalaemic value (−1.6 ± 1.4 ms, P > 0.05). These findings empirically associate arrhythmogenesis in hypokalaemic hearts with transient alterations in transmural repolarization gradients resulting from premature ventricular depolarizations. This is in contrast to sustained alterations in transmural repolarization gradients present on regular stimulation in long‐QT syndrome models.
Qualitative and quantitative analysis of glycine‐ and GABA‐immunoreactive nerve terminals on motoneuron cell bodies in the cat spinal cord: A postembedding electron microscopic study

The distribution of glycine‐ and gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)‐like immunoreactivity (LI) in nerve terminals on the cell soma of motoneurons in the aldehyde‐fixed cat L7 spinal cord was examined using postembedding immunogold histochemistry in serial ultrathin sections.
Long-Term Unemployment and the Great Recession: The Role of Composition, Duration Dependence, and Non-Participation

We explore the extent to which composition, duration dependence, and labor force non-participation can account for the sharp increase in the incidence of long-term unemployment (LTU) during the Great Recession. We first show that compositional shifts in demographics, occupation, industry, region, and the reason for unemployment jointly account for very little of the observed increase in LTU. Next, using panel data from the Current Population Survey for 2002-2007, we calibrate a matching model that allows for duration dependence in the exit rate from unemployment and for transitions between employment (E), unemployment (U), and non-participation (N). We model the job-finding rates for the unemployed and non-participants, and we use observed vacancy rates and the transition rates from E-to-U, E-to-N, N-to-U, and U-to-N as the exogenous "forcing variables'' of the model. The calibrated model can account for almost all of the increase in the incidence of LTU and much of the observed outward shift in the Beveridge curve between 2008 and 2013. Both negative duration dependence in the job-finding rate for the unemployed and transitions to and from non-participation contribute significantly to the ability of the model to match the data after 2008.
Endogenous endothelin increases gallbladder tone and leads to acute cholecystitis in the Australian possum

Abstract Endothelins are bioactive peptides produced by gallbladder epithelial cells. We aimed to determine the role of endothelins in acute cholecystitis. Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide vs saline (sham) was instilled into the gallbladder lumen of Australian possums. Some animals received the non‐selective endothelin antagonist, tezosentan. At 4 or 24 h, plasma and gallbladder endothelins and white blood cell count (WBCC) were determined. Acute cholecystitis was assessed using a histopathology score. In other animals gallbladder tone was determined. At 4h, a dose‐dependent 60‐fold increase in gallbladder endothelin level occurred (P = 0.001) but other parameters remained comparable with sham animals. Epithelial cells were endothelin‐immunoreactive. At 24 h, the WBCC rose (P < 0.007), and severe cholecystitis developed. Gallbladder but not plasma endothelin levels remained elevated. Tezosentan pre‐treatment resulted in a histologically normal gallbladder, but the WBCC and gallbladder endothelin levels were elevated. Lipopolysaccharide or saline instillation also caused a time‐dependent increase in gallbladder tone over 4 h (P < 0.001), but not in control animals. This increase was reduced by tezosentan treatment. Gallbladder endothelin production is an early event in acute cholecystitis, increases gallbladder tone and plays a crucial role in the inflammatory process.
Fibroblast Growth Factor Inducible 14 (Fn14) Is Required for the Expression of Myogenic Regulatory Factors and Differentiation of Myoblasts into Myotubes

Fibroblast growth factor-inducible 14 (Fn14), distantly related to tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily and a receptor for TWEAK cytokine, has been implicated in several biological responses. In this study, we have investigated the role of Fn14 in skeletal muscle formation in vitro. Flow cytometric and Western blot analysis revealed that Fn14 is highly expressed on myoblastic cell line C2C12 and mouse primary myoblasts. The expression of Fn14 was decreased upon differentiation of myoblasts into myotubes. Suppression of Fn14 expression using RNA interference inhibited the myotube formation in both C2C12 and primary myoblast cultures. Fn14 was required for the transactivation of skeletal α-actin promoter and the expression of specific muscle proteins such as myosin heavy chain fast type and creatine kinase. RNA interference-mediated knockdown of Fn14 receptor in C2C12 myoblasts decreased the levels of myogenic regulatory factors MyoD and myogenin upon induction of differentiation. Conversely, overexpression of MyoD increased differentiation in Fn14-knockdown C2C12 cultures. Suppression of Fn14 expression in C2C12 myoblasts also inhibited the differentiation-associated increase in the activity of serum response factor and RhoA GTPase. In addition, our data suggest that the role of Fn14 during myogenic differentiation could be independent of TWEAK cytokine. Collectively, our study suggests that the Fn14 receptor is required for the expression of myogenic regulatory factors and differentiation of myoblasts into myotubes.
Safety Climate in Organizations

Safety climate is a collective construct derived from individuals' shared perceptions of the various ways that safety is valued in the workplace. Research over the past 35 years shows that safety climate is an important predictor of safety behavior and safety outcomes such as accidents and injury. We first review the conceptual foundations of safety climate and explore how the construct can be applied to different levels of analysis. We then review ways that safety climate influences individual processes of sense making, motivation, and work behavior. Next, we explore the impact of safety climate on organization-level outcomes related to both safety and productivity. We conclude with suggestions for future research and practice to support the overall safety of people and organizations.
Large genomic deletions: A novel cause of Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy

Two mutational mechanisms are known to underlie Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy (UCMD): heterozygous dominant negatively‐acting mutations and recessively‐acting loss‐of‐function mutations. We describe large genomic deletions on chromosome 21q22.3 as a novel type of mutation underlying recessively inherited UCMD in 2 families. Clinically unaffected parents carrying large genomic deletions of COL6A1and COL6A2also provide conclusive evidence that haploinsufficiency for COL6A1and COL6A2is not a disease mechanism for Bethlem myopathy. Our findings have important implications for the genetic evaluation of patients with collagen VI–related myopathies as well as for potential therapeutic interventions for this patient population. Ann Neurol 2011;69:206–211