Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Biofeedback System for Continuous Monitoring of Bone Healing

A telemetric biofeedback concept for continuous monitoring of bone healing is introduced. The system is based on an implantable electronic unit with on-board data processing of deformations or displacements of fracture fixation devices. In contrast to existing solutions, it allows for autonomous long-term data collection over several months. The system enables observing fracture motion and patient activity under daily routine conditions. Feasibility of the approach was proven in an animal experiment with an instrumented plate monitoring axial motion in a transverse osteotomy gap at the sheep tibia. Callus formation and maturation of the repair tissue was indicated by a decline of the interfragmentary motion signal over time and by changes in the animal's activity pattern. For improved understanding and interpretation of such information, extended collection of in-vivo data is the consequent next step.
Dietary habits in a Greek sample of men and women: the ATTICA study.

OBJECTIVE Although there are several dietary guidelines accepted at the international and national level, there are indications that dietary habits in Greece have been changing, moving away from the traditional Mediterranean diet pattern. The aim of this work was to evaluate the dietary habits of a randomly selected sample from the general adult population, in Greece. SUBJECTS The "ATTICA" study is a prospective health and nutrition survey. For the purpose of this study, 3,042 adults, from whom 1514 were men (48%) and 1,528 were women (52%), were selected from the greater Athens area during 2001 and 2002. The assessment of the dietary habits was carried out using a validated food frequency questionnaire. RESULTS Dietary intakes of red meat and sweets were higher (p<0.005), and dietary intakes of fish, poultry, dairy products, vegetables, and cereals were lower (p<0.05) than the ones recommended by the Hellenic Ministry of Health. CONCLUSION The results from the present study indicate a change in the dietary habits towards an unhealthier type of diet.
Dynamic Extensions of the Solow Growth Model (1956): Editorial

The origin of the wealth of nations and the determinants of the long-term prospects of economic evolution were central topics in the classical economics of A. Smith, D. Ricardo, T. R. Malthus and J. S. Mill. Their discussions of the propagation of population, laws of returns (production), capital accumulation and income distributions were concerned with understanding processes for economic progress (development, growth). Although theories of economic growth thus go far back to the beginning of our discipline, growth models as quantitative dynamics appeared late, in the middle of the last century. Since systems of nonlinear differential equations are the dynamic fundamentals of economic growth models with continuous factor (labor and capital) accumulation, it is in retrospect not surprising that the solutions (evolutions) for labor, capital stock, wage and profit rates, and income distributions, were for many years controversial without clear, definite conclusions being established. This state of affairs for growth models and economic dynamics was changed with the breakthrough by Solow (1956): ‘A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth’. The effects in economic science were dramatic. The crucial innovation was the introduction of smooth production functions (linking factor inputs and output) that together with various saving functions provided the differential equations of capital accumulation. Explicit benchmark solutions of the basic dynamic model were rigorously established for CES technology parameter values of the factor substitution elasticity: s5 0, 1, 2 – allowing for steady-state growth or persistent (endogenous) growth per capita. To underline the character of the seminal Solow (1956) article for general readers of economic literature, it may be helpful on this matter here to quote Lucas (1988, p. 5): ‘I prefer to use the term ‘‘theory’’ in a very narrow sense, to refer to an explicit dynamic system, something that can be put on a computer and run. This is what I mean by the ‘‘mechanics’’ of economic development’. Indeed, Solow (1956) presented the ‘mechanics’ (explicit dynamic system) of
Nonlinear Dynamics in Financial Markets: Evidence and Implications

Daily asset returns exhibit two key statistical properties. Price changes are not autocorrelated, but the absolute values of changes are strongly autocorrelated. Nonlinear processes can generate this type of behavior; linear processes cannot. Additively nonlinear processes are consistent with the view that expected returns are time varying. Although much effort has been applied to modeling expected returns, there has been little evidence to support the view that time-varying expected returns can account for the strong nonlinearity in the observed returns data. Multiplicatively nonlinear models are consistent with the view that expected volatilities are time varying. Evidence from price changes, as well as options' implied volatilities, show that volatility is time varying and mean reverting. In fact, multiplicatively nonlinear models have been able to explain a great deal of the nonlinearity in asset returns. Thus, future volatility can be forecast, even though the direction of price changes is difficult .
Postpollination discrimination between self and outcross pollen covaries with the mating system of a self-compatible flowering plant.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Variation in the mating system of hermaphroditic plant populations is determined by interactions between genetic and environmental factors operating via both pre- and postmating processes. Models predicting the maintenance of intermediate outcrossing rates in animal-pollinated plants often assume that the mating system is primarily controlled by floral morphology and pollinator availability, but rarely has the influence of postpollination processes on variation in outcrossing been examined. METHODS We investigated the influence of stylar discrimination between illegitimate and legitimate pollen-tube growth and the pollen-load capacity of stigmas on mating-system variation in the annual, tristylous species Eichhornia paniculata using controlled crosses and genetic markers. This species exhibits an exceptionally broad range of outcrossing rates in natural populations. KEY RESULTS There was significant variation among populations in the pollen-load capacity of stigmas and the ability of styles to discriminate between illegitimate vs. legitimate pollen. There was strong correspondence between stylar-discrimination ability and variation in outcrossing rate among populations and style morphs. The combination of stigmatic pollen-load capacity and stylar discrimination explained more than 80% of the variation in outcrossing rates among populations. CONCLUSIONS The finding that stigmatic pollen-load capacity and stylar-discrimination ability contributed significantly to explaining the wide range of outcrossing rates in E. paniculata suggests that postpollination mechanisms play an important role in governing mating patterns in this species. The difference in levels of stylar discrimination between outcrossing and selfing populations may reflect a trade-off between selection for increased outcrossing and greater reproductive assurance.
Refining Delay Test Methodology Using Knowledge of Asymmetric Transition Delay

We show that rising and falling delays in gates can differ considerably. Simulation data, using 40 nm and 65 nm process technology, shows an increasing trend and that the slow transition delay could be two times of the faster transition delay. This translates to an asymmetry between the rise and fall delays along a path. Based on this we propose refinements to the following delay test methodology: (i) selection of robust path delay tests for delay characterization; (ii) refinements to small delay defects coverage metric; and (iii) an alternative to the inline resistance fault (IRF) model for selecting TDF tests.
Using On-Line Sensors in Statistical Process Control

As manufacturing technology moves toward more computerized automation, statistical process control SPC techniques must adapt to keep pace with the new environment and take advantage of the development in automated on-line sensors. In this paper, a two-phase procedure is proposed for combining an on-line sensor and a control chart to improve statistical process control decisions. In phase 1 of this procedure, a production process is monitored continually by a sensor. When a sensor warning signal is observed, phase 2 takes place: A sample of items is drawn from the process and inspected. If the sample mean is outside the predetermined control limits, the process is stopped, and a search is initiated to determine the actual process status for possible necessary adjustment. If the sample mean is within the control limits, the process continues. A mathematical model is formulated for jointly determining the sample size and the control limit of the control chart and a decision rule for sending out sensor warning signals. The model is based on the assumption that there is only a weak relationship between the sensor measurement and the process condition. A solution algorithm based on a numerical search is developed. A numerical example is used to show the advantage of the proposed model over the models based separately on the sensor and the control chart, and a sensitivity analysis is used to show the effects of several important model parameters on the optimal solution.
OSTEOCLASTIC TARTRATE-RESISTANT ACID PHOSPHATASE 5b Diagnostic Use and Biological Significance in Bone Physiology

4 Katja Fagerlund OSTEOCLASTIC TARTRATE-RESISTANT ACID PHOSPHATASE 5b Diagnostic use and biological significance in bone physiology Institute of Biomedicine, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of Turku Annales Universitatis Turkuensis, Medica-Odontologica, Turku, Finland, 2009
The evaluation of combined scintimammography and tumor markers in breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in Thai women. Mammography is the method of choice for early detection but scintimammography (SMM) is sometimes helpful. Many tumor markers are important in the follow-up of treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS 47 breast cancer patients (36 for preoperative evaluation, others for postoperative investigation) were studied with SMM using 201Tl and/or 99mTc-MIBI and serum CEA and CA15-3. RESULTS SMM could pick up breast cancer in 91.7% of the patients with intact breast masses and 2/2 cases of local recurrence. The uptake ratio tended to increased from stage 2A through 3B. Sensitivity of SMM to detect axillary node uptake was only 44.4%. SMM had no role in the evaluation of the postoperative period unless there was no evidence of palpable recurrent disease. No definite correlation between serum CEA and CA15-3 levels was observed. Elevated CA15-3 is a good indicator for recurrent and metastatic breast diseases and more specific than CEA in clinical correlations. CONCLUSIONS SMM may be helpful when mammographic results are questionable. SMM can detect primary breast cancers and recurrent lesions that are palpable with high sensitivity. Increased tumor-uptake ratio and rising serum tumor markers, more often seen with elevated CA15-3 rather than CEA, could be useful for the prognosis of breast cancer patients. Even though CA15-3 is not reliable for the early detection of breast cancer, it is very helpful for monitoring therapeutic response since its level correlates with the clinical state better than CEA.
IL-7 in allogeneic transplant: Clinical promise and potential pitfalls

Much progress has been made in the field of allogeneic stem cell transplantation. However, one major barrier is the delay in immune recovery that can persist for months post-transplant and results in increased susceptibility to infection and relapse of malignancy. Strategies to improve immune recovery must be balanced with the potential for those therapies to exacerbate graft vs host disease. Interleukin 7 is a member of the γc cytokine family that is required for T-cell development and maintenance of naïve T-cell populations. In addition, IL-7 plays a major role in the expansion of mature T-cells that occurs during lymphopenia and therapeutic IL-7 can enhance both quantitative and functional immune recovery following T-cell depletion. Thus, this agent holds much promise as an immunorestorative agent and as an adjuvant to vaccines or adoptive immunotherapy. Clinic trials with IL-7 are underway. Murine studies with IL-7 in the allogeneic transplant have demonstrated that the potent immune effects of this agent can also be achieved in this setting. However, these studies have indicated that the potential for IL-7 to worsen GVHD exists and that this effect may abrogate the immune benefits. Thus, careful consideration of how best to incorporate IL-7 into allogeneic trials will be needed if the full potential of this agent is to be realized.
Achievement of home ownership among post‐war Australian cohorts

Abstract Entry costs to home ownership have been rising in Australia since the mid‐1950s but home ownership rates had not fallen by the mid‐1980s. Drawing from a national life history survey carried out in 1986–87, this paper shows that median ages for first time home buying have been declining among successive cohorts over the post‐war era. The paradox of rising entry costs and earlier home buying may be explained by rising labour force participation among women immediately after marriage and awareness of the increasing financial returns from long‐term home ownership. Among the later cohorts, early entry to home ownership appears to have been associated particularly strongly with wives' employment after marriage and husbands' incomes. The findings suggest that access to home ownership in the future may be increasingly limited to young adults having high household incomes.
A general theory of professional sports leagues.

The evolution of free agency in professional sports leagues spans two decades from the 1972 Flood v. Kuhn decision in Major League Baseball (MLB) to the 1992 McNeil, et al. v. NFL decision in the National Football League (NFL). 1 In spite of the apparent relaxation of eligibility requirements for free agency, ancillary institutional arrangements have severely limited player mobility during these two decades in all leagues but MLB. As part of a "revolutionary partnership," National Basketball Association (NBA) players agreed to a league-wide payroll cap for team salaries in 1984 in exchange for a guaranteed 53 percent of NBA designated gross revenues (DGR). 2 The ostensible purpose of the NBA payroll or "salary" cap was to control spiraling salaries and generate competitive balance within the league, but since its inception, the payroll cap has served to limit player mobility under free agency, and its effect on competitive balance is subject to question.3 Although free agency eligibility requirements have been lenient in the NFL, strict compensation rules have thwarted player movement until McNeil. In spite of free agency concessions by NFL owners following McNeil, movement of players among teams will continue to be limited under The Collective Bargaining Agreement of 1993, because of the concurrent imposition of a payroll cap at 64 percent of league-wide DGR beginning with the 1994 season.4
Pre-Electoral Coalition Formation in Parliamentary Democracies

Political parties that wish to exercise executive power in parliamentary democracies are typically forced to enter some form of coalition. Parties can either form a pre-electoral coalition prior to election or they can compete independently and form a government coalition afterwards. While there is a vast literature on government coalitions, little is known about pre-electoral coalitions. A systematic analysis of these coalitions using a new dataset constructed by the author and presented here contains information on all potential pre-electoral coalition dyads in twenty industrialized parliamentary democracies from 1946 to 1998. Pre-electoral coalitions are more likely to form between ideologically compatible parties. They are also more likely to form when the expected coalition size is large (but not too large) and the potential coalition partners are similar in size. Finally, they are more likely to form if the party system is ideologically polarized and the electoral rules are disproportional.
Market segmentation by expenditure: an underutilized methodology in tourism research

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify best practices in the implementation of market segmentation via expenditure in tourism research so that the practical potential of this technique can be realized. Market segmentation on the basis of expenditure has tremendous practical potential for tourism destinations, yet the volume of research remains slim. This article examines 20 studies of market segmentation based on expenditure in tourism research in order to identify issues and challenges which currently impede the growth of this area and its translation to policy. Design/methodology/approach – The studies reviewed are analyzed on four dimensions, namely, the tourism market context, the specification of the expenditure variable, data source and sample size and the methodological approach. Findings – To identify commonalities across big spending tourists, tourism markets should be categorized and the expenditure variable clearly specified. Studies using a relatively simple bivariate statistical a.
Integrin expression in normal, hyperplastic, dysplastic, and malignant oral epithelium

We have examined the distribution of a range of integrin subunits in normal and lesional oral mucosa. The α2, α3, α6, β1β, and β4 subunits were highly expressed in normal epithelium, and there was weaker, more variable expression of α5 and αv. Expression of all subunits was highest in the basal layer of normal epithelium, but extensive staining above the basal layer was also observed, particularly in the floor of the mouth and the lateral margin of the tongue. In dysplastic lesions and hyperplastic epithelium adjacent to ulcers, suprabasal staining was even more pronounced. Staining patterns in squamous cell carcinomas showed considerable variation, both within and between individual tumours: in some areas there was staining reminiscent of normal epithelium, but uniform staining throughout tumour islands, and patchy and variable cytoplasmic and pericellular staining were also seen. Thirteen out of 17 carcinomas showed some loss of integrin expression: six out of ten moderately well differentiated tumours and all the poorly differentiated tumours. Focal loss of a6 and β4 was most commonly observed, but loss of α2 and β3 also occurred. Since integrins regulate not only keratinocyte adhesion, but also the initiation of terminal differentiation, the changes in integrin expression that we have observed may have significance for the behaviour of individual tumours.
Strategic Responses by a Nonprofit When a Donor Becomes Tainted

What should a not-for-profit do when a benefactor whom the not-for-profit has voluntarily and publicly honored becomes tainted as a result of a scandal? This article outlines a typology of donors and donations and using stakeholder theory and resource dependency identifies three external pressures (value incongruence, coalescence, and visibility) and two internal constraints (economic need and organizational commitment) that would entice a not-for-profit to adopt any one of three strategies: return the money and remove the public acknowledgment, keep the money but remove the acknowledgment, or keep the money and continue to honor the donor.
Risk management and Basel-Accord-implementation in Pakistan

Purpose - Recent events demonstrate that problems in the banking system pose a significant threat to the health of the global economy. Despite several shortcomings the Basel Accord thus emerges as an attempt to protect banking systems. The purpose of this study is to shed light on potential barriers to implementation of the Basel Accord in emerging countries. Several issues of wider interest to risk management and financial regulation also emerge. Design/methodology/approach - The paper maps implementation of the Basel Accord against the wider regulatory context. Against this backdrop, the Basel Accord appears well-motivated but is limited by several practical considerations. These factors, amidst other practical implications, are identified as the paper applies rigorous statistical methods to novel primary survey data from risk managers. Findings - The Basel Accord is generally well-received due its dual aims of improved capital administration and scientific risk management. Operational risk is a significant barrier to implementation, with a number of further issues only partially addressed (see below). Equally supported by both public and private sector banks the reasons for delay appear due to lack of technical expertise and the level of preparation. Results highlight credit risk, practical implementation issues (IT and HR), minimal capital requirements, data security and operational risk as issues of critical importance. Originality/value - The originality of the contribution lies in the scientific treatment of novel primary data from risk managers tasked with implementation of the Basel Accord. Findings suggest several important practical implications discussed above.
Examining Fundamental Quality on the Frontier of Equity Investing

In order to examine the fundamental quality of companies with listed equities in the frontier markets relative to the emerging markets, a Quality Z-score was constructed of four commonly used financial metrics applicable in each sector. The frontier markets have shown above-average fundamental quality, as defined by these measures in terms of higher capital efficiency, lower indebtedness, and greater balance sheet strength and capitalization relative to the mainstream emerging markets. The fundamental quality of the frontier market universe as defined by these measures has declined relative to the emerging markets over the period from 2001 to 2012. Fundamental quality is less priced-in to the frontier markets than it is in the emerging markets, as demonstrated by a lesser premium in terms of price-to-book ratios between the higher and lower quintiles of the Quality Z-score. By the end of October 2014, above-average quality companies in the frontier markets traded at lower price-to-book ratios than below-average-quality companies in the emerging markets. While higher-quality companies did not achieve greater market returns in the full period of study in emerging markets, quality companies did outperform in the frontier. In addition, quality companies outperformed in both categories during the high volatility period post-2008, suggesting that fundamental quality may provide some degree of protection from market declines. The outperformance of higher-quality companies in the frontier markets, combined with the relatively low valuation premium for higher fundamental quality, may continue to drive active portfolio managers into higher-quality frontier stocks.
Multiport impedance testing of antennas for MIMO systems

In this paper, this technique is illustrated by the measurement of two different four-port PIFA arrays using a multiport test system. The correlations of the array elements are discussed from the measured mutual coupling in impedance matrix. The following section of this paper will introduce the antenna arrays to be measured, the measurement system and the calculations methodology. The measurement results will be presented and discussed in the third section, and a summary and conclusion follow at the end.