Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A review of medical robotics for minimally invasive soft tissue surgery

Abstract This paper provides an overview of recent trends and developments in medical robotics for minimally invasive soft tissue surgery, with a view to highlight some of the issues posed and solutions proposed in the literature. The paper includes a thorough review of the literature, which focuses on soft tissue surgical robots developed and published in the last five years (between 2004 and 2008) in indexed journals and conference proceedings. Only surgical systems were considered; imaging and diagnostic devices were excluded from the review. The systems included in this paper are classified according to the following surgical specialties: neurosurgery; eye surgery and ear, nose, and throat (ENT); general, thoracic, and cardiac surgery; gastrointestinal and colorectal surgery; and urologic surgery. The systems are also cross-classified according to their engineering design and robotics technology, which is included in tabular form at the end of the paper. The review concludes with an overview of the field, along with some statistical considerations about the size, geographical spread, and impact of medical robotics for soft tissue surgery today.
Epidemiology of Incident Spinal Fracture in a Complete Population

Study Design Cross‐sectional observational study of incident spinal fractures using an administrative database. Objectives To identify and define all patients who have spinal fractures within a complete population. Summary of Background Data The true incidence of spinal column and cord injury is not known. Previous studies have been institutional or practice based. Accurate information concerning the magnitude of the spinal injury population and their characteristics may provide a more rational basis for public health decision making and resource allocation. Methods The study dates were April 1, 1981 to March 31, 1984. Using the Manitoba Health Services Insurance Plan database, all patients with ICD‐9‐CM coding of 805.x and 806.x (spinal column fracture with and without spinal cord injury) were identified. Incidence rates, age and gender distribution, and ambulatory and hospital contacts were identified. Hospital discharge abstracts were used to classify mechanisms of injury, associated injuries, and length of stay. Results The annual incidence rate of spinal fracture was 64 per 100,000. Two thousand sixty‐three patients were identified, with 944 being admitted to the hospital. There were two peaks of incidence occurring in young men and elderly women. Of the hospitalized patients, 182 had cervical injury, 286 had thoracic fracture, and 403 had injury in the lumbosacral spine. Associated injuries occurred in 38% of hospitalized patients. Length of stay was an average of 38.5 days. Overall mortality was 4.1%. Neurologic injury occurred in 122 patients. Conclusions Ambulatory care of spine injuries is more common than hospital care. Two peaks of incidence occur‐in young men and elderly women. Future decisions for research, public health policy, and resource allocation can be based on these data.
Emerging Asia's Growth and Policy Developments: Implications for Indonesia's Economy and Trade

This paper projects Indonesia‟s production and trade patterns to 2020 and 2030 in the course of global economic development under various growth and policy scenarios. We employ the GTAP model and Version 8.1 of the GTAP database, along with supplementary data from a range of sources to support projections of the global economy. The baseline projection assumes trade-related policies as of 2007 do not change in each region but that endowments and real GDP change at exogenously selected rates. Because of the long period over which we are projecting, we modify the standard income elasticities of demand for farm products in rapidly growing developing countries so as to more appropriately reflect their likely values over this time-frame. Effects are reported for three policy reforms: an expansion of rice exports associated with the opening of Myanmar; Indonesia‟s recently-imposed export taxes on unprocessed primary products; and implementation of Indonesia‟s new Food Law.
Tourism, Place Identities and Social Relations in the European Rural Periphery

Rural areas in many peripheral areas of Europe have turned to tourism as an alternative development strategy in the face of changes to the agricultural food production system. Particularly in more remote and less agriculturally viable areas, national and European-level policies have often concentrated on trying to encourage ‘bottom-up’ development revolving around the commodification of local cultural resources or ‘knowledges’. The extent to which this occurs, however, varies between places. The aim in this article is to use case-study evidence from two peripheral rural locations in Europe to explore why these variations occur. It is argued that the extent to which tourism is adopted or rejected by actors within rural places is determined by the unique configurations of historically layered and newer social relations which intersect within and between such places. These configurations shape the contested ways in which local knowledges are valorized and contribute to the existence of multiple senses of place identity. Qualitative methods, it is suggested, can lead to a more nuanced understanding of the complex ways in which such identities are constructed, and, in turn, to a deeper appreciation of the factors which promote or hinder tourism development at the local level.
Forecasting the Arab Spring

S the December 2010 flight of Tunisian strongman Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali amid demonstrations calling for the “fall of the regime,” and the inspired uprisings among Egyptians, Libyans, Syrians, and others, Western analysts have spilled a wealth of ink interpreting the events of the so-called “Arab Spring. ” Initially, skepticism reigned regarding the prospects for further prodemocracy revolts to follow Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution. Even as the final days approached for the regime of President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, seasoned observers held firmly that political change in Cairo would not come overnight. “Game over,” declared one authority on modern Egypt in early February 2011, affirming that Mubarak had “outsmarted the opposition” and concluding that “the chance for democracy in Egypt is lost. ”1 Nine days later, Mubarak was gone. At first, this cautious take on the Arab Spring’s potential appeared reasonable, especially given the past half-century of modern Arab history. Not since the 1950s had the Arab states, in the form of the radical Arab nationalism inspired by then Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, experienced revolutionary turmoil on a massive scale.2 Since that time, autocracy had, it seemed, planted deep roots in the Arab world. Many experts therefore predicted that the unrest would be quickly squelched—brutally and decisively—as Iran’s prodemocracy Green Movement was after June 2009. Looking back in September 2011, one easily recognizes that the autocrats’ staying power was taken for granted and that the democratic urgings of the Arabs, grown irrepressible, were overlooked. There is at least one scholar, however, who may claim some noteworthy exemption from these oversights. Reuel Marc Gerecht, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, completed The Wave: Man, God, and the Ballot Box in the Middle East in October 2010, a mere two months before the onset of the Arab Spring. Arguing that the Middle East was on the cusp of a democratic transformation, his book focused on how the emergent democratic order would be heavily infused, at least initially, with an unsavory political Islam. Yet despite his very hard-nosed and unsympathetic appreciation of the Islamic fundamentalism he predicted would play a leading role, Gerecht still holds great hope for the
Changes in Physical Fitness and Physical Activity During Puberty Do Not Predict Lipoprotein Profile Changes: The Muscatine Study

To evaluate the effect of changes in aerobic fitness and physical activity on changes in lipoproteins, we measured body composition, peak VO2, vigorous and sedentary activity, maturation, and lipoproteins in 125 children (mean baseline age, 10.5 years) for 5 years. Change in variables was analyzed using the slopes of the regression line obtained by plotting the data for each child. No predictor variables were significant for girls. In boys, predictors of favorable changes in lipoproteins included decreases in fatness, increases in fitness, early maturation, and increases in fat-free body mass (FFM). Multivariable analysis, adjusted for baseline age, indicated that change in FFM explained 21% of the variability in change in LDL-C. Results suggest that during puberty, changes in activity and fitness do not predict changes in lipoproteins.
Education reform and managerialism: comparing the experience of schools and colleges

This paper explores the organizational and management consequences of the changing policy environment facing public sector education in England and Wales over the past 10 years. In particular it considers how far arguments about the replacement of older ‘bureau-professional’ forms of organizational order by more ‘managerialist’ forms in the public sector in general can be applied to the specific case of education. The paper begins by reviewing the major policy changes that have affected schools and colleges since 1988. Drawing on published studies from these sectors, it then considers a number of themes: changing roles of senior and middle managers; changes in managerial and organizational culture; and changes in specific aspects of management. Emphasizing the tentative nature of the evidence, the paper identifies some common trends which imply a movement towards managerialism in many institutions. However, it also identifies areas where the position is less clear and suggests a number of factors which may explain differences of experience. It emphasizes the importance of not reifying a previous ‘golden age’ of collegiality and concludes that what is being experienced is a complex and dynamic process of adjustment between old and new organizational and managerial forms.
The Wolbachia strain wAu provides highly efficient virus transmission blocking in Aedes aegypti

Introduced transinfections of the inherited bacteria Wolbachia can inhibit transmission of viruses by Aedes mosquitoes, and in Ae. aegypti are now being deployed for dengue control in a number of countries. Only three Wolbachia strains from the large number that exist in nature have to date been introduced and characterized in this species. Here novel Ae. aegypti transinfections were generated using the wAlbA and wAu strains. In its native Ae. albopictus, wAlbA is maintained at lower density than the co-infecting wAlbB, but following transfer to Ae. aegypti the relative strain density was reversed, illustrating the strain-specific nature of Wolbachia-host co-adaptation in determining density. The wAu strain also reached high densities in Ae. aegypti, and provided highly efficient transmission blocking of dengue and Zika viruses. Both wAu and wAlbA were less susceptible than wMel to density reduction/incomplete maternal transmission resulting from elevated larval rearing temperatures. Although wAu does not induce cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), it was stably combined with a CI-inducing strain as a superinfection, and this would facilitate its spread into wild populations. Wolbachia wAu provides a very promising new option for arbovirus control, particularly for deployment in hot tropical climates.
Focus and mechanisms of control used by German tour operators in their relationships with hotels

Hotels offer a product of strategic interest to tour operators as far as it determines the cost of a package vacation to a great extent, while it also significantly influences the degree of satisfaction of the tourists who purchase such packages. That, together with the increasingly competitive rivalry among German tour operators, suggests how important it is for the tour operators to exercise some control over the hotel companies they deal with. This study identifies the aspects over which German tour operators exercise control in their relationships with hotel companies they do business with, including the mechanisms or tools used to exercise control.
Monopolistic competition and returns to scale

Comments on suggestions and arguments of Demsetz on the theory of monopolistic competition and returns of scale in the United States. Involvement of excess capacity in tangency solution; Inconsistency of the evidence on returns to scale with the notion on the manufacturing industry; Characteristics of average cost curves. (From Ebsco)
GARY BECKER’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE ECONOMICS OF MATCHING AND MARRIAGE

In his seminal, 1973 paper, published in the Journal of Political Economy, Gary Becker emphasizes marriage as a crucial, yet understudied issue to which economic analysis could, therefore should, be applied. In his words: “Yet, one type of behavior has been almost completely ignored by economists, although scarce resources are used and it has been followed in some form by practically all adults in every recorded society. I refer to marriage. ” (p. 814)
Prevalence of vitamin A deficiency and its determinants among the rural pre-school children of Madhya Pradesh, India

Background: Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) continues to be a major public health nutritional problem in India, even though the National Vitamin A Prophylaxis Programme has been in operation for more than three decades. Aim: To assess the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency among rural pre-school children. Subjects and methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in rural Madhya Pradesh. A total of 8777 pre-school children were clinically examined for VAD and blood vitamin A levels were estimated in a sub-sample by dried blood spot method. Results: Prevalence of night blindness and Bitot's spot, an objective sign of VAD, was 0.8% and 1.4%, respectively, and prevalence increased significantly (p < 0.001) with age. The proportion of children with blood vitamin A deficiency ( < 20 μg/dL) was 88% (95% CI: 84.8-91.2). The prevalence of Bitot's spot was significantly (p < 0.001) higher among children of lower socio-economic communities, 3–5-year age group and those of illiterate mothers. Conclusions: VAD is a major public health problem among rural children of Madhya Pradesh. Children of 3–5 years and those belonging to lower socio-economic communities are at high risk of VAD. Therefore, appropriate intervention measures are to be initiated to improve the vitamin A status of children.
Instrument constituencies and the supply side of policy innovation: the social life of emissions trading

We offer a perspective on the making of policy instruments over time. This sheds light on the work that goes into articulating and maintaining instruments as both models and implemented policies, and the social formations that arise therefrom. Drawing on a brief case study of the innovation of emissions trading, we show the role of both functional promises to deliver public-policy outcomes and structural promises concerning new positions for the actors involved. We show how the making of instruments can coincide with the formation of ‘instrument constituencies’, which consist of entangled practices that cultivate an instrument. Constituencies sustain the instrument and are themselves sustained by the instrument as it persists and expands its realm of validity. We conclude that policy instruments can develop social lives of their own with dynamics that should be taken into account by scholars of innovation in governance.
Information, endogeneity, and consumer health behaviour: application to dietary intakes

Due to heightened public health interest, a growing number of consumer health behaviour studies are focusing on the effect of health information on the demand for health inputs and outcomes. Many of these studies, however, have overlooked the potential endogeneity of information variables stemming from unobserved individual heterogeneity. Due to simultaneity bias, ignoring endogeneity may lead to inaccurate estimates of informational effects on health behaviour. Using dietary intake data for fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and fibre, this paper illustrates the pitfalls of treating health information related to these nutrients as exogenous variables in their demand equations. In most of the estimated models, the exogeneity of information is statistically rejected. When the information variables are treated as exogenous variables, their effects on dietary intakes are underestimated. The estimated effects of key intake determinants such as income, education, ethnicity, and race are also different in such a specification compared to a specification which treats information variables as endogenous. Implications for nutrition education policies are discussed.
Fluoride’s Effects on the Formation of Teeth and Bones, and the Influence of Genetics

Fluorides are present in the environment. Excessive systemic exposure to fluorides can lead to disturbances of bone homeostasis (skeletal fluorosis) and enamel development (dental/enamel fluorosis). The severity of dental fluorosis is also dependent upon fluoride dose and the timing and duration of fluoride exposure. Fluoride’s actions on bone cells predominate as anabolic effects both in vitro and in vivo. More recently, fluoride has been shown to induce osteoclastogenesis in mice. Fluorides appear to mediate their actions through the MAPK signaling pathway and can lead to changes in gene expression, cell stress, and cell death. Different strains of inbred mice demonstrate differential physiological responses to ingested fluoride. Genetic studies in mice are capable of identifying and characterizing fluoride-responsive genetic variations. Ultimately, this can lead to the identification of at-risk human populations who are susceptible to the unwanted or potentially adverse effects of fluoride action and to the elucidation of fundamental mechanisms by which fluoride affects biomineralization.
Commercial Policy and the Domestic Carrying Trade

In this paper, the authors examine the economic consequences of existing U.S. restrictions on trade in domestic water transportation (cabotage) services. They briefly trace the history of U.S. policy on cabotage. The authors also use an applied general equilibrium model of the United States to analyze the effects of the Jones Act on welfare and on production, trade, and employment in important upstream and downstream sectors. The economic effects of U.S. maritime policies rank them with U.S. trade policies like the MFA, the automobile and steel quotas of the mid-1980s, and agricultural import restraints. Coauthors are Hugh M. Arce, Kenneth A. Reinert, and Joseph E. Flynn.
On the relationship between concentration and competition: evidence from the Chilean private pension system

I use Panzar and Rosse (1987) methodology to estimate the degree of competition among Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) in the Chilean private pension system for the period 1996 to 2008. The results indicate that the industry can be described as a cartel (or monopoly) during this period. There is evidence that in this industry there is a negative, and statistically significant, correlation between concentration and competition.
Trace-Driven Extension for Noxim Simulator

Simulation is one of the main tools used to analyze new proposals in the Network-on-Chip (NoC) field. Among these simulators for analyzing and testing new ideas in NoC architectures, the Noxim simulator stands out, being used by many researchers due to the wireless support and open-source availability. An important issue at the simulation phase is the choice of workload, as it may affect testing the system and its features. The correct workload can lead to rapid and efficient system development, while the wrong one may compromise the entire system evaluation. To ensure a more realistic simulation, simulators usually relies on real workloads by using a tracedriven approach. Although Noxim provides a simple support for input traces, it is very limited to a general behavior of the system, accepting only a generic injection rate parameter over time. We propose in this paper an extension of the Noxim simulator to address these issues. This extension enables Noxim to easily receive and process a real workload traces from real applications, considering each message sent by each processing element over the NoC. This extension was demonstrated and evaluated using the NAS-NPB workload. Our results show that Noxim still generating trusty results when using our trace extension.
Lombard effect onset times reveal the speed of vocal plasticity in a songbird

ABSTRACT Animals that use vocal signals to communicate often compensate for interference and masking from background noise by raising the amplitude of their vocalisations. This response has been termed the Lombard effect. However, despite more than a century of research, little is known how quickly animals can adjust the amplitude of their vocalisations after the onset of noise. The ability to respond quickly to increases in noise levels would allow animals to avoid signal masking and ensure their calls continue to be heard, even if they are interrupted by sudden bursts of high-amplitude noise. We tested how quickly singing male canaries (Serinus canaria) exhibit the Lombard effect by exposing them to short playbacks of white noise and measuring the speed of their responses. We show that canaries exhibit the Lombard effect in as little as 300 ms after the onset of noise and are also able to increase the amplitude of their songs mid-song and mid-phrase without pausing. Our results demonstrate high vocal plasticity in this species and suggest that birds are able to adjust the amplitude of their vocalisations very rapidly to ensure they can still be heard even during sudden changes in background noise levels. Summary: Canaries are able to rapidly increase the amplitude of their songs to mitigate signal masking by noise, demonstrating high vocal plasticity in this species.
Isolation and characterization of Kit‐independent melanocyte precursors induced in the skin of Steel factor transgenic mice

Steel factor (SLF, also called KIT‐ligand, mast cell growth factor, or stem cell factor) acting through the tyrosine kinase receptor KIT is thought to be indispensable for the early phase of melanocyte development both in vivo and in vitro. In the present study, Kit‐independent precursor cells were generated in mice expressing exogenous SLF in their skin keratinocytes and were detected as pigmented spots after administration of Kit function‐blocking antibody. We successfully purified these precursor or stem cells as Kit+CD45− cells by flow cytometry. The purified cells showed normal but delayed differentiation into mature melanocytes, indicating the immature nature of Kit‐independent precursors. The Kit‐independent interfollicular population generated in SLF transgenic mice was suggested to be the counterpart of the follicular melanocyte stem cell based on the Kit‐independent nature for their survival.
An Empirical Investigation of Faculty Members' Organizational Commitmentin the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The present study utilizes the Meyer and Allen three–component model of organizational commitment to measure commitment among faculty members in Saudi Arabia. The study further investigates the relationship between the faculty's demographic variables (gender, academic rank, college cluster, years of experience, and nationality) and their organizational commitment. A survey research design was used to measure 185 faculty members’ commitment to their organizations. This study’s results demonstrate high levels of effective organizational commitment among respondents. Academic rank was found to be significantly related to organizational commitment among other demographic variables. The implications of the study could be used to improve organizational commitment among faculty members in Saudi Arabia.