Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Roma and the Transition in Central and Eastern Europe: Trends and Challenges

Poverty among the Roma minority is one of the most challenging development issues facing the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Conditions have deteriorated more severely for Roma than for others, and Roma have been poorly positioned to take advantage of emerging economic and civic opportunities. Poverty among Roma is multi-dimensional and related to a broad range of factors, including poor health and educational status, and limited chances in the labor market, as well as discrimination and unique aspects of the social organization of Roma society, which together contribute to their exclusion. Addressing the challenges facing the Roma is central to the success of economic transition and is an integral part of the process of building cohesive and inclusive societies in the region. In particular, the European Union accession process is focusing attention on the conditions of the Roma and increasing international involvement, providing an unprecedented window of opportunity for tackling issues through programs and projects. This report represents the World Bank's first significant contribution to Roma issues. It was written in the context of a broader study of poverty in the transitional countries and brings together the existing data to develop a picture of the poverty and human development challenges facing the Roma. It also draws upon new qualitative studies of Roma communities to bring the experiences and perspectives of Roma themselves into the discussion.
EC-SVM approach for real-time hydrologic forecasting

This study demonstrates a combined application of chaos theory and support vector machine (SVM) in the analysis of chaotic time series with a very large sample data record. A large data record is often required and causes computational difficulty. The decomposition method is used in this study to circumvent this difficulty. The various parameters inherent in chaos technique and SVM are optimised, with the assistance of an evolutionary algorithm, to yield the minimal prediction error. The performance of the proposed scheme, EC-SVM, is demonstrated on two daily runoff time series: Tryggevaelde catchment, Denmark and the Mississippi River at Vicksburg. The prediction accuracy of the proposed scheme is compared with that of the conventional approach and the recently introduced inverse approach. This comparison shows that EC-SVM yields a significantly lower normalised RMSE value of 0.347 for the Tryggevaelde catchment runoff and 0.0385 for the Mississippi River flow compared to 0.444 and 0.2064, respectively, resulting from the conventional approach. A slight improvement in accuracy was obtained by analysing the first difference or the daily flow difference time series. It should be noted, however, that the computational speed in analysing the daily flow difference time series is significantly much faster than that of the daily flow time series.
Outcome Assessment of Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

Introduction In 1989 a presentation on surgery of the ethmoids was given to the then Section of Laryngology', at a time when few people in the UK had great expertise in the technique of endoscopic sinus surgery. Although reservations, both economic andphilosophical have been expressed about such minimally invasive surgery, during the intervening 4 years there has been a rapid rise in the number of British ENT (ear, nose and throat) surgeons adopting this approach. A recent survey of British ENT surgeons revealed that 37% (146 of 391 respondents) are now performing endoscopic sinus surgery, and this represents an exponential rise since 1985. Any new surgical technique, particularly one which gains rapid popularity, requires careful evaluation to assess its place in the existing surgical armamentarium. However, one of the difficulties in evaluating success in any operation is whether to rely on the subjective criteria of how patients feel or to apply objective measures, each with their own intrinsic inaccuracies. Although the rationale for surgery in the ostiomeatal complex is well-established2 4, there are still few large long-term studies of clinical efficacy in the literature.
Simultaneous Hodgkin's disease in three siblings with identical HLA‐genotype

We report 3 cases of Hodgkin's disease (HD) within a family of seven children. All three children had mixed cellularity type in different stages of the disease (IV‐B, III‐A, and II‐A). The diagnosis was made within a one‐month interval. HLA typing shows an identical genotype in the 3 HD patients, which was different from the rest of the family. One of the patients developed an idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) with temporary response to prednisone and MOPP‐C chemotherapy that subsided after splenectomy. The HLA identity, in addition to the simultaneous onset of the HD, suggests a combination of both genetic and environmental factors in the pathogenesis of this disease.
RIPE: An Object Oriented Robot Independent Programming Environment

An object-oriented Robot Independent Programming Environment (RIPE) developed at Sandia National Laboratories is being used for rapid design and implementation of a variety of applications. A system architecture based on hierarchies of distributed multiprocessors provides the computing platform for a layered programming structure that models the application as a set of software objects. These objects are designed to support model-based automated planning and programming, real-time sensor-based activity, error handling, and robust communication. The object-oriented paradigm provides mechanisms such as inheritance and polymorphism which allow the implementation of the system to satisfy the goals of software, reusability, extensibility, reliability, and portability. By designing a hierarchy of generic parent classes and device-specific subclasses which inherit the same interface, a Robot Independent Programming Language (RIPL) is realized. Work cell tasks demonstrating robotic cask handling operations for nuclear waste facilities are successfully implemented using this object-oriented software environment. 19 refs., 8 figs.
Success and Progression Through Further Education

This paper uses data from all three waves of the eighth cohort of the Youth Cohort Study, to investigate the factors associated with attainment and progression through post-16 vocational education. The results reveal that higher level studies, non-GNVQ or BTEC qualifications, and qualifications studied through work-based training all have lower success rates. Time spent in study can increase success rates, but only for the group with the lowest prior GCSE attainment. With respect to continued study in vocational education, the achievement of the original qualification goal, vocational study at a higher level and study in a full-time college of Further Education are all associated with an increased likelihood of low GCSE-achievers continuing with their training, but a reduced likelihood of high GCSE-achievers doing
Approximating Weak Bisimulation on Basic Process Algebra

The maximal strong and weak bisimulations on any class of processes can be obtained as the limits of decreasing chains of binary relations, approximants. In the case of strong bisimulation and Basic Process Algebras this chain has length at most ! which enables semidecidability of strong bisimilarity. We show that it is not so for weak bisimulation where the chain can grow much longer, and discuss the implications this has for the problem of (semi)decidability of weak bisimilarity.
A recursive technique for computing lower-bound performance of schedules

Presents a fast recursive technique for estimating a lower-bound performance of data path schedules. The method relies on the determination of an ASAPUC (as soon as possible under constraint) time-step value for the root of the DFG (data flow graph) that is based on the ASAPUC values of its predecessor nodes, etc., until the leaf nodes are reached where this value becomes the regular ASAP value. The method computes a tighter lower-bound than the greedy technique and is only two times slower on the same benchmarks. Synthesis methods that depend on the exploration of the solution space directed by a lower-bound estimation, such a local microcode generation and behavioral synthesis, can benefit from our method. This is because bad solutions can be pruned earlier. We illustrate this dramatic effect on the reduction of the search space during the synthesis of an optimal microcode sequence for the elliptic wave filter benchmark and a fixed data path (containing a multiport RAM and a ROM). <<ETX>>
Effect of isosorbide mononitrate on the human optic nerve and choroidal circulations

AIMS To assess the effects of the nitric oxide donor 5-isosorbide mononitrate (ISMO) on blood flow in the optic nerve head (ON flow) and choroid (Ch flow). METHODS Laser Doppler flowmetry was used to measure ON flow and Ch flow in 12 normal subjects by aiming the laser beam at the fovea and at the temporal rim, respectively. In a double masked, randomised, crossover design, each subject received orally on separate days either 20 mg of 5-isosorbide mononitrate (ISMO) or placebo. Ch flow and ON flow were determined monocularly at baseline and 1 hour after dosing. In the last six subjects, additional measurements were obtained at 3 hours. Mean arterial blood pressure (BPm), heart rate, and intraocular pressure (IOP) were monitored, and ocular perfusion pressure (PP) was estimated. RESULTS No significant changes in ON flow, PP, IOP, or BPm were observed following placebo. Following ISMO, ON flow increased from baseline by 19.8% (SEM 9.3%) at 1 hour (paired t test, p= 0.058) and by 33.1% (7.5%) at 3 hours (p= 0.007). Compared with the changes following placebo, statistically significant increases in ON flow were observed both at 1 (p=0.050) and 3 hours (p=0.041) after ISMO treatment. Compared with placebo, PP decreased significantly 1 hour after ISMO dosing (p=0.039), mainly as a function of reduced BPm. A significant inverse correlation (R=−0.618; p=0.032) was observed between the percentage changes in PP and ON flow 1 hour following ISMO administration, but not after placebo. No significant change in foveal Ch flow was documented. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that, in normal subjects, ISMO increases significantly ON flow but not Ch flow. The inverse correlation observed between PP and ON flow suggests that the same mechanism(s) responsible for systemic vasodilatation and blood pressure decrease may also cause the ON flow increase.
Effective Strategies for Monitoring and Regulating Chemical Mixtures and Contaminants Sharing Pathways of Toxicity

Traditionally, hazardous chemicals have been regulated in the U.S. on a one-by-one basis, an approach that is slow, expensive and can be inefficient, as illustrated by a decades-long succession of replacing one type of organohalogen flame retardants (OHFRs) with another one, without addressing the root cause of toxicity and associated public health threats posed. The present article expounds on the need for efficient monitoring strategies and pragmatic steps in reducing environmental pollution and adverse human health impacts. A promising approach is to combine specific bioassays with state-of-the-art chemical screening to identify chemicals and chemical mixtures sharing specific modes of action (MOAs) and pathways of toxicity (PoTs). This approach could be used to identify and regulate hazardous chemicals as classes or compound families, featuring similar biological end-points, such as endocrine disruption and mutagenicity. Opportunities and potential obstacles of implementing this approach are discussed.
Diversity of Opinion and Financing of Innovative Industrial Clusters

In the course of financing of innovative industrial clusters, it is the informational move that investors finance enterprises or projects. Investors have difference in priori probabilities, which will lead to the diversity of opinion among investors. The degree of the diversity has determined investors choose to take decentralized action or collective action. The difference of market finance and intermediated finance in reducing the cost of collecting and processing information determines that the difference of the performance in financing of innovative industrial clusters among different methods of financing.
Filled pauses as markers of discourse structure

The study aims to test quantitatively whether filled pauses (FPs) may highlight discourse structure. More specifically it is first investigated whether FPs are more typical in the vicinity of major discourse boundaries. Secondly, the FPs are analyzed acoustically, to check whether those occurring at major discourse boundaries are segmentally and prosodically different from those at shallower breaks. Analyses of twelve spontaneous monologues (Dutch) show that phrases following major discourse boundaries more often contain FPs. Additionally, FPs after stronger breaks tend to occur phrase-initially, whereas the majority of the FPs after weak boundaries are in phrase-internal position. Also, acoustic observations reveal that FPs at major discourse boundaries are both segmentally and prosodically distinct. They also differ with respect to the distribution of neighbouring silent pauses.
MUI Cancellation for Uplink BS-CDMA in Broadband Mobile Communication Systems

A CDMA scheme employing block processing (BS-CDMA) had been proposed earlier as an effective multiple access scheme that is robust against multiuser interference (MUI) during uplink transmission where conventional CDMA schemes fail due to orthogonality destruction. However, residual MUI arises in BS-CDMA and its degradation impact becomes severe when high mobility users are present. Two interference cancellation techniques are proposed in this paper that utilizes the users' mobility condition to determine the detection ordering sequence. Based on extensive simulation studies, results show that the proposed techniques perform well in the presence of high number of users with high mobility.
Mechanisms of nanoparticle-mediated photomechanical cell damage

Laser-assisted killing of gold nanoparticle targeted macrophages was investigated. Using pressure transient detection, flash photography and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging, we studied the mechanism of single cell damage by vapor bubble formation around gold nanospheres induced by nanosecond laser pulses. The influence of the number of irradiating laser pulses and of particle size and concentration on the threshold for acute cell damage was determined. While the single pulse damage threshold is independent of the particle size, the threshold decreases with increasing particle size when using trains of pulses. The dependence of the cell damage threshold on the nanoparticle concentration during incubation reveals that particle accumulation and distribution inside the cell plays a key role in tissue imaging or cell damaging.
Novel phenomena in planar and layered, photonic and microwave metamaterials

This work is related to the investigation and development of novel concepts to utilise planar nanostructures in optics, aided by complementary research in the microwave domain—in particular: Strong polarisation conversion capabilities are shown for planar chiral nanoholes in the near-infrared part of the spectrum. The efficiency is found to depend strongly on the mutual orientation of the chiral hole and the polarisation of the incident light. Polarisation-dependent nano-focusing is seen for these nanoholes. Light is concentrated to a spot size of 42% of the wavelength in the proximity of a nanohole. Broken enantiomeric symmetry is discovered for planar chiral structures excited with circularly polarised light, it is explained numerically and analytically for optics. Non-paraxial contributions are analytically proven to be crucial to the description of the nonlocal response of planar chiral structures. Asymmetric optical transmission in anisotropically nanostructured planar chiral metamaterials is demonstrated, for the first time. This phenomenon is mediated by a new type of excitation: an enantiomerically sensitive plasmon. The normal incidence transmission of circularly polarised light displays a difference exceeding 25% for opposite propagation directions. Giant gyrotropy in bilayered chiral structures is shown for both optical and microwave spectral regions, for the first time. The maximum relative polarisation rotatory power in the microwave domain is found to be 5 orders of magnitude stronger than in a gyrotropic crystal of quartz; for optical frequencies it exceeds 2500 °/mm. The first demonstration of an optical magnetic mirror is reported. The phase change for the electric field of a wave reflected by a nanostructured metal surface is found to be smaller than 90° (the signature of magnetic mirror behaviour) for a broad spectral range from 550 to 750 nm, reaching values below 25°. A unit of planar chirality is proposed, for the first time. Normalisation procedures for the class of triple-integrated and -summated measures of planar chirality are introduced. A new type of multiplicative measure is defined and its properties and applicability are demonstrated. A process for nanoimprint lithography at room temperature is developed. The production of planar chiral metamaterials for optical applications is validated to be reliable and reproducible and to provide a strong polarisation effect.
Successful living donor liver transplantation for severe hepatic GVHD histologically resembling autoimmune hepatitis after bone marrow transplantation from the same sibling donor

A 30‐year‐old woman developed severe liver dysfunction 1 year after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from an HLA‐identical sibling donor for B lymphoblastic leukemia (B‐ALL) during the tapering of cyclosporin A. The histologic picture resembled autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), although neither autoantibody nor hypergammaglobulinemia was detected. She entered hepatic coma, and underwent living donor liver transplantation from the same donor on day 421 after BMT. She is well 18 months after the procedure, showing normal liver function and hematopoiesis. AIH‐like hepatic graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD) has not been documented. This patient is the second case of living donor liver transplantation for hepatic GVHD from the same donor.
Collective Design of Robot Locomotion

It has been shown that the collective action of non-experts can compete favorably with an individual expert or an optimization method on a given problem. However, the best method for organizing collective problem solving is still an open question. Using the domain of robotics, we examine whether cooperative search for design strategies is superior to individual search. We use a web-based robot simulation to determine whether groups of human users can leverage design intuition from others to focus search on relevant parts of a complex design space. We show that individuals that work cooperatively with the aid of a simple optimization algorithm are better able to improve the design of robot locomotion than if they were to work individually with the aid of the optimization algorithm. This result suggests that groups of designers may more effectively work in tandem with optimization algorithms than individuals working in isolation.
On the performance of multi-tier heterogeneous cellular networks with idle mode capability

This paper studies the impact of the base station (BS) idle mode capability (IMC) on the network performance of multi-tier and dense heterogeneous cellular networks (HCNs). Different from most existing works that investigated network scenarios with an infinite number of user equipments (UEs), we consider a more practical setup with a finite number of UEs in our analysis. More specifically, we derive the probability of which BS tier a typical UE should associate to and the expression of the activated BS density in each tier. Based on such results, analytical expressions for the coverage probability and the area spectral efficiency (ASE) in each tier are also obtained. The impact of the IMC on the performance of all BS tiers is shown to be significant. In particular, there will be a surplus of BSs when the BS density in each tier exceeds the UE density, and the overall coverage probability as well as the ASE continuously increase when the BS IMC is applied. Such finding is distinctively different from that in existing work. Thus, our result sheds new light on the design and deployment of the future 5G HCNs.
Regulation of Adaptive Immunity; The Role of Interleukin-10

Since the discovery of interleukin-10 (IL-10) in the 1980s, a large body of work has led to its recognition as a pleiotropic immunomodulatory cytokine that affects both the innate and adaptive immune systems. IL-10 is produced by a wide range of cell types, but for the purposes of this review we shall focus on IL-10 secreted by CD4+ T cells. Here we describe the importance of IL-10 as a mediator of suppression used by both FoxP3+ and FoxP3− T regulatory cells. Moreover, we discuss the molecular events leading to the induction of IL-10 secretion in T helper cell subsets, where it acts as a pivotal negative feedback mechanism. Finally we discuss how a greater understanding of this principle has allowed for the design of more efficient, antigen-specific immunotherapy strategies to exploit this natural phenomenon clinically.
Parallax-Free Registration of Aerial Video

Aerial video registration is traditionally performed using 2-d transforms in the image space. For scenes with large 3-d relief, this approach causes parallax motions which may be detrimental to image processing and vision algorithms further down the pipeline. A novel, automatic, and online video registration system is proposed which renders the scene from a fixed viewpoint, eliminating motion parallax from the registered video. The 3-d scene is represented with a probabilistic voxel model, and camera pose at each frame is estimated using an Extended Kalman Filter and a refinement procedure based on a popular visual servoing technique.
Yersinia enterocolitica Infection with Multiple Liver Abscesses Uncovering a Primary Hemochromatosis

A 60-year-old man, although treated with antibiotics, suffered from a severe pyrexial illness of unknown origin, weight loss and intermittent abdominal pain. There was no history of diarrhea or common infections. Computed tomography and ultrasound imaging showed uncharacteristic multiple small lesions of the entire liver parenchyma. These lesions were histologically pyogenic abscesses. In addition, an unexpected, pronounced accumulation of iron pigment in hepatocytes and second degree fibrotic changes of the liver were detected. Serum iron and serum transferrin were low, but serum ferritin concentration and transferrin saturation were increased to the maximum. The demonstration of the cysteine-282-tyrosine mutation confirmed underlying primary hemochromatosis. Bacteriological cultures of the abscess material yielded Yersinia enterocolitica serotype O:3, while stool and blood cultures were negative. Antibiotic therapy with piperacillin/tazobactam and tobramycin was successful within a few days. A repeat CT scan and ultrasound imaging demonstrated complete regression of the pathologic liver morphology. The patient was discharged and treated with an orally administered fluoroquinolone for an additional 6 months. After this time the patient had no morphological residues of the infection except one enlarged lymph node near the portal vein but still was so weak that he was unable to work again. In conclusion, severe septic forms of yersiniosis are mainly found in patients with iron overload, due to a handicapped iron metabolism of the Yersinia bacteria. Mortality is high despite treatment.