Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of Scenarios for Health and Long-Term Care Expenditure in the European Union Member States

Over the next fifty years, the size and age structure of Europe’s population will experience major changes due to low fertility rates, continuous increases in life expectancy due to medical advances and the retirement of the baby boom generation. The main output of this work package is a model which allows the construction of scenarios for health and long-term care expenditure based on the premise that health spending is driven by a number of demographic, economic, social and institutional variables. The projections computed in this study are not forecasts but are instead intended to provide an indication on the potential timing and scale of budgetary challenges that could result from Europe’s ageing population.
Minimum wage noncompliance and the sub-minimum wage rate

The present note examines the effect of minimum wage noncompliance on the sub-minimum wage rate in a competitive labor market. The note shows that noncompliance shifts leftward the demand curve of labor and shifts rightward the supply curve of labor, unambiguously leading to a fall in the equilibrium sub-minimum wage rate. Two implications follow: first, contrary to a major result in the minimum wage literature, noncompliance must not necessarily reduce employment (as compared to the pre-law level) it may even increase employment if the deterrent effect of the expected penalty is more than offset by the inducement effect of a lower wage rate. Secondly, and more importantly, if the minimum wage law aims at improving low wages, workers are better off without a law than with one which is not accompanied with sufficient inducement to ensure compliance.
Distribution of Wild Mammal Assemblages along an Urban–Rural–Forest Landscape Gradient in Warm-Temperate East Asia

Urbanization may alter mammal assemblages via habitat loss, food subsidies, and other factors related to human activities. The general distribution patterns of wild mammal assemblages along urban–rural–forest landscape gradients have not been studied, although many studies have focused on a single species or taxon, such as rodents. We quantitatively evaluated the effects of the urban–rural–forest gradient and spatial scale on the distributions of large and mid-sized mammals in the world's largest metropolitan area in warm-temperate Asia using nonspecific camera-trapping along two linear transects spanning from the urban zone in the Tokyo metropolitan area to surrounding rural and forest landscapes. Many large and mid-sized species generally decreased from forest landscapes to urban cores, although some species preferred anthropogenic landscapes. Sika deer (Cervus nippon), Reeves' muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi), Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata), Japanese squirrel (Sciurus lis), Japanese marten (Martes melampus), Japanese badger (Meles anakuma), and wild boar (Sus scrofa) generally dominated the mammal assemblage of the forest landscape. Raccoon (Procyon lotor), raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), and Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus) dominated the mammal assemblage in the intermediate zone (i.e., rural and suburban landscape). Cats (feral and free-roaming housecats; Felis catus) were common in the urban assemblage. The key spatial scales for forest species were more than 4000-m radius, indicating that conservation and management plans for these mammal assemblages should be considered on large spatial scales. However, small green spaces will also be important for mammal conservation in the urban landscape, because an indigenous omnivore (raccoon dog) had a smaller key spatial scale (500-m radius) than those of forest mammals. Urbanization was generally the most important factor in the distributions of mammals, and it is necessary to consider the spatial scale of management according to the degree of urbanization.
On conditions that prevent steady-state controllability of certain linear partial differential equations

In this paper, we investigate the connections between controllability properties of distributed systems and existence of non zero entire functions subject to restrictions on their growth and on their sets oof zeros. Exploiting these connectioons, we first show that, for generic bounded open domains in dimension n ≥ 2, the steady-state controllability for the heat equation with boundary controls dependent only on time, does not hold. In a second step, we study a model of water tank whose dynamics is given by a wave equation on a two-dimensional bounded open domain. We provide an obstruction for the steady-state controllability of such a system, where the control acts on the boundary and is only dependent on time, and using that obstruction, prove that the steady-state controllability does not hold for generic tank shapes.
A neural network robust controller for real-time control of induction motor

A neural network robust controller (NNRC) to enhance the robustness of the conventional feedback controller is proposed in this paper. The control system consists of an optimal conventional feedback controller and a neural network robust controller in parallel to the controlled system. The optimal controller is used to guarantee the stability of the whole control system and present the optimal tracking performance to the reference input signal. To overcome the uncertainties included in the plant, a neural network robust controller with an on-line learning algorithm is added to the conventional optimal controller for the identiÞcation of uncertainties and adaptive modiÞed control at the same time. The new controller has increased robustness with regard to parameter variations. The new controller also exhibits very good disturbance rejection property. Simulation experiments and real-time control are made to illustrate the quality and robustness of control achieved for the induction motor system.
Adaptive Measurement-based QoS Management in DiffServ Networks for Variable Bit Rate Applications

In per-flow based resource reservation techniques, bandwidth allocation for Variable Bit Rate (VBR) applications through real time flow measurements is limited. This limitation is due mainly to scalability problems. In aggregated traffic flow networks such as Differentiated Services (DiffServ), measurement-based bandwidth allocation leads to optimisation of network resources as it links resource allocation to actual usage. With Constant Bit Rate (CBR) applications, simple summation of pre-specified bandwidths is a sufficient solution for resource optimisation in DiffServ networks. However, the pre-specified bandwidth technique is an inefficient approach to DiffServ bandwidth allocation for VBR applications. These applications are generally unaware in advance of their specific bandwidth requirements. This paper describes an adaptive Quality of Service (QoS) management technique that provides an efficient resource allocation scheme for VBR applications in aggregate traffic flows. This method is, in effect, a measurement-based and linearly predicted bandwidth allocation scheme.
Candidates for Bariatric Surgery: Morbidly Obese Patients with Pulmonary Dysfunction

Obesity is a well-known major risk factor of cardiovascular disease and is associated with various comorbidities. The impact of obesity on pulmonary function remains unclear. Reductions in chest wall compliance and respiratory muscle strength due to a high percent body fat and localized fat distribution contributes to impaired pulmonary function and the occurrence of adverse respiratory symptoms. Dietary modifications and pharmaceutical agents are not effective in the long-term treatment of obesity. Treatment of morbidly obese patients using bariatric surgery has increased each year, especially after the introduction of video laparoscopic techniques. Effective weight loss after bariatric surgery may improve cardiovascular disease risk factors, including diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis, inflammation, chronic kidney disease, obstructive sleep apnea, and obesity hypoventilation syndrome. Bariatric surgery has also been associated with significantly improved respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function. We currently present a review of principal studies that evaluated the effects of obesity on pulmonary function and the identification of anthropometric factors of obesity that correspond to the reversal of respiratory symptoms and impaired pulmonary function after bariatric surgery.
Building on-line sales assistance systems with ADVISOR SUITE

Online sales advisory systems guide customers through the decision and buying process and provide added value for online customers, especially in domains where a wide range of comparable products is available and differentiation between the products requires deep technical knowledge. In this paper we present ADVISOR SUITE, an expert system that combines knowledge-based approaches for personalized product recommendation with an adaptive user interface, which is used to guide the customer through the requirements elicitation process according to his personal needs and preferences. A particular focus of the presented system lies on the reduction of costly knowledge engineering and maintenance times, which is addressed by a consistent set of graphical tools, and a personalization approach that enables the automatic generation of large parts of the user interface of the advisory application.
Using Java for Parallel Computing: JCSP versus CTJ, a Comparison

Java provides support for concurrent and parallel programming through threads, monitors and its socket and Remote Method Invocation (RMI) classes. However, there have been many concerns expressed about the way in which this support is provided, e.g., (1)(2), citing problems such as improper implementation of monitors and difficulty of programming with threads. Hoare's Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) (3)(4)(5) model fully specifies thread synchronization and is based on processes, compositions, and channel communication. It provides a mathematical notation for describing patterns of communication using algebraic expressions and contains formal proofs for analyzing, verifying and eliminating undesirable conditions, such as race hazards, deadlocks, livelock, and starvation. Two independent research efforts provide a CSP based process-oriented design pattern for concurrency implemented in Java: Communicating Sequential Processes for Java (JCSP) (6) and Communication Threads in Java (CTJ) (7). In this paper, we compare these two packages, looking at the philosophy behind their development, their similarities, their differences, their performance, and their use.
StreamIt on Fleet

StreamIt is a streaming programming language for signal processing applications [1]. It is designed for communicationexposed architectures, such as Raw [5], in which multiple processing cores are arranged on a grid with network connections between adjacent cores. In this section, we provide an overview of the StreamIt language and some of the compiler techniques used to obtain high performance on Raw.
Antioxidant protection, carotenoids and the costs of immune challenge in greenfinches

SUMMARY Costs accompanying immune challenges are believed to play an important role in life-history trade-offs and warranting the honesty of signal traits. We performed an experiment in captive greenfinches (Carduelis chloris L.) in order to test whether and how humoral immune challenge with non-pathogenic antigen [sheep red blood cells (SRBC)] affects parameters of individual condition including intensity of coccidian infection, estimates of total antioxidant protection, plasma carotenoids and ability to mount a cell-mediated immune response. We also asked whether the potential costs of immune challenge can be alleviated by dietary carotenoid supplementation. None of the treatments affected intensity of coccidiosis. Humoral immune challenge suppressed the cell-mediated response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA), suggesting a trade-off between the uses of different arms of the immune system. Immune challenge reduced body-mass gain, but only among the carotenoid-depleted birds, indicating that certain somatic costs associated with immune system activation can be alleviated by carotenoids. No evidence for oxidative stress-induced immunopathological damages could be found because immune activation did not affect total antioxidant protection or carotenoid levels. Carotenoid supplementation inclined birds to fattening, indicating that lutein interfered with lipid metabolism. Altogether, our results support the hypotheses of biological importance of carotenoids and exemplify the overwhelming complexity of their integrated ecophysiological functions.
Essays in understanding investment

Business investment accounts for around 10 per cent of GDP, but is one of the most volatile components of demand. Despite a large volume of work developing investment theories and testing them, their empirical performance is generally poor and the effectiveness of tax policy remains unclear. Chapter 1 relaxes the common assumption of capital homogeneity by estimating a Q model with multiple assets. This is done using a detailed establishment level panel. The main findings are: (a) the dataset shows clear evidence of inaction, irreversibility and heterogeneity; (b) the Q model assuming quadratic adjustment costs performs slightly better than in most previous literature; (c) the performance of the Q model is significantly improved when applied asset-by-asset; (d) asset-by-asset estimation avoids autocorrelation problems; and (e) for most asset-by-asset regressions Q is found to be a sufficient statistic. Chapter 2 investigates whether the poor empirical performance of the aggregate Q model can be explained by the exclusion of intangibles. The inclusion of intangibles improves the empirical performance of the Q model in a number of ways: (a) estimated adjustment costs are lower; (b) explanatory power is greater; (c) predictive power and parameter stability is improved; and (d) average q remains significant in a Q model with intangibles that has additional regressors but not in a standard Q model. Chapter 3 considers whether tax policy can be used to boost the long-run level of investment. The main findings are: (a) tax changes have had large impacts on the user cost of capital; (b) aggregate regressions give estimates of the user cost elasticity in the range -0.14 to -0.27; (c) tax policy can have significant impacts on the long-run level of the capital stock and investment; and (d) a natural experiment approach supports this finding by showing strong impacts of taxation following major reforms.
Non-rigid-motion recognition using a moving mono camera

The focus of this contribution is the detection of moving objects and the classification of their motion as rigid or non-rigid. A new processing approach for analyzing video data of a moving monocular camera is introduced. It is mainly based on the evaluation of the optical flow in two different processing steps: Detection and classification. First, the ego motion is evaluated in order to separate moving objects from the background clearly. The implemented corresponding algorithm features both, the extraction of wrongly estimated displacement vectors and the ego motion compensation. The processing step applied after that deals with the classification of the detected objects. It will be shown that a reliable distinction between rigid and non-rigid objects is well realizable using some features derived from the motion orientation histogram. For a corresponding evaluation, the case of the pedestrian recognition was taken into account.
5S Ribosomal RNA Database

Ribosomal 5S RNA (5S rRNA) is an integral component of the large ribosomal subunit in all known organisms with the exception only of mitochondrial ribosomes of fungi and animals. It is thought to enhance protein synthesis by stabilization of a ribosome structure. This paper presents the updated database of 5S rRNA and their genes (5S rDNA). Its short characteristics are presented in the Introduction. The database contains 2280 primary structures of 5S rRNA and 5S rRNA genes. These include 536 eubacterial, 61 archaebacterial, 1611 eukaryotic and 72 organelle sequences. The database is available on line through the World Wide Web at http://biobases.ibch. poznan.pl/5SData/.
Intestinal Parasitic Infections in HIV-Infected Patients, Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Background HIV infection is an emerging problem in Laos. We conducted the first prospective study on intestinal parasites, including opportunistic protozoa, in newly diagnosed HIV infected patients, with or without diarrhea. The aims were to describe the spectrum of infections, to determine their prevalence and to assess their associations with diarrhea, CD4 cell count, place of residence and living conditions. Methodology One to three stool samples over consecutive days were obtained from 137 patients. The Kato thick smear method, formalin-ethyl concentration and specific stains for coccidia and microsporidia diagnosis were performed on 260 stool samples. Baseline characteristics regarding relevant demographics, place of residence and living conditions, clinical features including diarrhea, were collected using a standardized questionnaire. Principal Findings The 137 patients were young (median age: 36 years) and severely immunocompromised (83.9% at WHO stage 3 or 4, median CD4 cell count: 41/mm3). Diarrhea was present in 43.0% of patients. Parasite infection was found in 78.8% of patients, infection with at least two species in 49.6%. Prevalence rates of protozoan and helminth infections were similar (54.7% and 58.4% respectively). Blastocystis sp. was the most frequent protozoa (26.3%). Cryptosporidium sp. , Cytoisospora belli and microsporidia, found at low prevalence rates (6.6%, 4.4%, 2.9%, respectively), were described for the first time in Laos. Cryptosporidium sp. was associated with persistent diarrhea. Strongyloides stercoralis was the most prevalent helminth following Opisthorchis viverrini (20.4% and 47.5% respectively). The most immunocompromised patients, as assessed by a CD4 count ≤ 50 cells/mm3, were more likely to be infected with intestinal parasites. Conclusions/Significance HIV infection was mainly diagnosed at an advanced stage of immunosuppression in Lao patients. Intestinal parasite infections were highly prevalent regardless of their diarrheal status. Opportunistic infections were reported. Improving the laboratory diagnosis of intestinal parasite infections and the knowledge on their local risk factors is warranted.
Alpha‐fetoprotein has no prognostic role in small hepatocellular carcinoma identified during surveillance in compensated cirrhosis

Alpha‐fetoprotein is a tumor marker that has been used for surveillance and diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with cirrhosis. The prognostic capability of this marker in patients with HCC has not been clearly defined. In this study our aim was to evaluate the prognostic usefulness of serum alpha‐fetoprotein in patients with well‐compensated cirrhosis, optimal performance status, and small HCC identified during periodic surveillance ultrasound who were treated with curative intent. Among the 3,027 patients included in the Italian Liver Cancer study group database, we selected 205 Child‐Pugh class A and Eastern Cooperative Group Performance Status 0 patients with cirrhosis with a single HCC ≤3 cm of diameter diagnosed during surveillance who were treated with curative intent (hepatic resection, liver transplantation, percutaneous ethanol injection, radiofrequency thermal ablation). Patients were subdivided according to alpha‐fetoprotein serum levels (i.e., normal ≤20 ng/mL; mildly elevated 21‐200 ng/mL; markedly elevated >200 ng/mL). Patient survival, as assessed by the Kaplan‐Meier method, was not significantly different among the three alpha‐fetoprotein classes (P = 0.493). The same result was obtained in the subgroup of patients with a single HCC ≤2 cm (P = 0.714). An alpha‐fetoprotein serum level of 100 ng/mL identified by receiver operating characteristic curve had inadequate accuracy (area under the curve = 0.536, 95% confidence interval = 0.465‐0.606) to discriminate between survivors and deceased patients. Conclusion: Alpha‐fetoprotein serum levels have no prognostic meaning in well‐compensated cirrhosis patients with single, small HCC treated with curative intent. (HEPATOLOGY 2012)
Neuropathologic outcome of mild cognitive impairment following progression to clinical dementia.

BACKGROUND The pathologic outcome of patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) following progression to dementia is poorly understood. OBJECTIVE To determine the pathologic substrates of dementia in cases with prior diagnosis of amnestic MCI. DESIGN AND SETTING Community-based cohort. PATIENTS Thirty-four subjects followed up prospectively as part of a community-based study who were diagnosed with amnestic MCI, progressed to clinical dementia, and underwent subsequent postmortem brain analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Neuropathologic analyses resulted in assignment of a primary pathologic diagnosis and included staging of Alzheimer pathologic abnormalities and identification of contributing vascular disease, Lewy bodies, and argyrophilic grains. RESULTS Although the majority of subjects progressed both clinically and pathologically to Alzheimer disease (AD), 10 (29%) of them developed non-AD primary pathologic abnormalities. All of the cases were found to have sufficient pathologic abnormalities in mesial temporal lobe structures to account for their amnestic symptoms regardless of the cause. Most subjects were found to have secondary contributing pathologic abnormalities in addition to primary pathologic diagnoses. No significant differences between subjects with and without neuropathologically proven AD were detected in demographic variables, apolipoprotein E genotype, or cognitive test measures at onset of MCI, onset of dementia, or last clinical evaluation. CONCLUSIONS The neuropathologic outcome of amnestic MCI following progression to dementia is heterogeneous, and it includes AD at a high frequency. Complex neuropathologic findings including 2 or more distinct pathologic entities contributing to dementia may be common in community-based cohorts. Neither demographic variables nor cognitive measures had predictive value in determining which patients diagnosed with MCI will develop the neuropathologic features of AD.
Lepton Flavour Violation in a Left-Right Symmetric Model

We consider in this paper a Left-Right symmetric gauge model in which a global lepton-number-like symmetry is introduced and broken spontaneously at a scale ω that could be as low as 104 GeV or so. The corresponding physical Nambu-Goldstone boson, which we call majoron and denote J, can have tree-level flavour-violating couplings to the charged fermions, leading to sizeable majoron-emitting lepton-flavour-violating weak decays. We consider explicitly a leptonic variant of the model and show that the branching ratios for μ→e+J, τ→e+J and τ→μ+J decays can be large enough to fall within the sensitivities of future μ and τ factories. On the other hand the left-right gauge symmetry breaking scale may be as low as few TeV.