Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
China's Second White Paper on Foreign Aid

On 10 July, China’s Information Office of the State Council released its second White Paper on Foreign Aid [in Mandarin], which has been long-expected since last year (see initial analysis from Devpolicy here). The document comes at the right time. As the rapid growth of Chinese foreign aid has attracted increasing international attention, this new white paper, together with the first white paper [in English] released in April 2011, provide much needed information about Chinese foreign aid.
Interactive panorama video distribution system

When we appreciate sports or music event at the stadium or the concert hall, we can feel atmosphere of the event site and get impressed by the live performance. We have studied visual and sound delivery system to convey the reality as if you enjoyed the event from the premium seat. We propose the interactive panorama video system which consists of panorama video synthesis, panorama video coding and streaming to offer highly sensational user experience through the network, by user's interactive controlling of viewpoint and high-quality visual and sound information.
Strengthening national health laboratories in sub‐Saharan Africa: a decade of remarkable progress

Efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic have underscored the fragile and neglected nature of some national health laboratories in Africa. In response, national and international partners and various governments have worked collaboratively over the last several years to build sustainable laboratory capacities within the continent. Key accomplishments reflecting this successful partnership include the establishment of the African‐based World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO‐AFRO) Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA); development of the Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA) training programme; and launching of a Pan African‐based institution, the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM). These platforms continue to serve as the foundations for national health laboratory infrastructure enhancement, capacity development and overall quality system improvement. Further targeted interventions should encourage countries to aim at integrated tiered referral networks, promote quality system improvement and accreditation, develop laboratory policies and strategic plans, enhance training and laboratory workforce development and a retention strategy, create career paths for laboratory professionals and establish public–private partnerships. Maintaining the gains and ensuring sustainability will require concerted action by all stakeholders with strong leadership and funding from African governments and from the African Union.
Optical Absorption and Radiative Thermal Conductivity of Silicate Perovskite to 125 Gigapascals

Mantle convection and plate tectonics are driven by the heat flow from Earth's core to the surface. The radiative contribution to heat transport is usually assumed to be negligible. Here, we report the near-infrared and optical absorption spectra of silicate perovskite, the main constituent of the lower mantle, to 125 gigapascals. Silicate perovskite remains quite transparent up to the pressures at the core-mantle boundary. Estimates of radiative thermal conductivity derived from these spectra approach 10 watts meter–1 kelvin–1 at lowermost mantle conditions, implying that heat conduction is dominated by radiation. However, the increase in radiative conductivity with temperature (T) is less pronounced than expected from a T3 dependency.
Small, Dense HDL Particles Exert Potent Protection of Atherogenic LDL Against Oxidative Stress

Objectives—The relationship of the structural and functional heterogeneity of HDL particles to protection of LDL against oxidative stress is indeterminate. Methods and Results—HDL subfractions of defined physicochemical properties were isolated by density gradient ultracentrifugation from normolipidemic human serum (n=8), and their capacity to protect LDL from oxidation was evaluated. Under mild oxidative stress induced by AAPH or Cu(II), HDL subfractions (at equal cholesterol or protein concentration or equal particle number) significantly decreased LDL oxidation rate (−20% to −85%) in the propagation phase (234 nm), which was prolonged by up to 82% with decreased maximal diene formation. Antioxidative activity of HDL subfractions increased with increment in density, as follows: HDL2b<HDL2a<HDL3a<HDL3b<HDL3c (confirmed by thiobarbituric acid–reactive substance content and LDL electrophoretic mobility). Concordantly, antioxidative activity of small HDL prepared by FPLC was significantly higher (+56%) than that of large HDL. Antioxidative action of HDL subfractions was primarily associated with inactivation of LDL lipid hydroperoxides. The potent protective activity of small HDL could not be accounted for exclusively by enzymatic activities (PON1, platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase, and lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase). Conclusions—Small, dense HDL exhibit potent antioxidant activity, which may arise from synergy in inactivation of oxidized LDL lipids by enzymatic and nonenzymatic mechanisms, in part reflecting distinct intrinsic physicochemical properties.
Chattering Problem in Sliding Mode Control Systems

In practical applications of sliding mode control, engineers may experience undesirable phenomenon of oscillations having finite frequency and amplitude, which is known as `chattering'. At the first stage of sliding mode control theory development the chattering was the main obstacle for its implementation. The major attention was paid to the systems with motion equations in canonical space - space of a system output and its high order derivatives. Small time constants of real differentiators could not be disregarded, if control actions were discontinuous state functions, and they led to oscillations in the vicinity of discontinuity surfaces in the system state space. Chattering is a harmful phenomenon because it leads to low control accuracy, high wear of moving mechanical parts, and high heat losses in power circuits. There are two reasons which can lead to chattering. Similarly to the systems in canonical space, the chattering can be caused by fast dynamics which were neglected in the ideal model. These `unmodeled' dynamics with small time constants are usually disregarded in models of servomechanisms, sensors and data processors. The second reason of chattering is utilization of digital controllers with finite sampling rate, which causes so called `discretization chatter'. Theoretically the ideal sliding mode implies infinite switching frequency. Since the control is constant within a sampling interval, switching frequency can not exceed that of sampling, which lead to chattering as well
Profile of tuberculous meningitis with or without HIV infection and the predicators of adverse outcome.

OBJECTIVES To compare the clinical, radiological and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings, at hospital admission, among adult patients with tuberculous meningitis (TBM) with or without HIV infection and to identify the factors that predict adverse outcome at six months. METHODS A total of 82 adult patients with TBM were included (40 HIV-positive and 42 HIV-negative). Several clinical (duration of illness, Glasgow Coma Scale score, presence of high temperature, headache, cranial nerve or sphincter abnormality, seizures and endocrine dysfunction), radiological (presence of hydrocephalus, cerebral infarction and oedema, meningeal enhancement, granuloma) and cerebrospinal fluid parameters (glucose, protein, lactate, lymphocytes, neutrophils and adenosine deaminase values) were recorded along with CD4 count in the peripheral blood. Statistical analysis was performed using the chi-square test. Individual variables were evaluated as prognostic factors for adverse outcome in both groups by calculating the relative risk of association for each. RESULTS Temperature more than 38.33 degrees C was more common in the HIV-negative group while seizures, hydrocephalus, cerebral infarction and low CD4 count occurred significantly more commonly in the HIV-positive group. Hydrocephalus had strong association with severe neurological deficit and seizure with death in both the groups. CONCLUSION Several clinical and laboratory features of TBM in patients who are HIV-positive are distinctly different from those without HIV infection; some of these have an association with the probability of adverse outcome.
Patients' and health care professionals' attitudes towards the PINK patient safety video.

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Patients can play an important role in reducing health care harm. Finding strategies to encourage patients to take on an active role in issues related to the quality and safety of their care is therefore essential. The aim of this study was to examine patients' and health care professionals' attitudes towards a video aimed at promoting patient involvement in safety-related behaviours. METHOD A within-subjects design was used where participants were required to complete a questionnaire pre and post screening of a patient safety video. Participants are 201 patients aged 19-103 years (mean 52) and 95 health care professionals aged 23-48 years (mean 32). Main outcome measures include (i) patients' willingness to participate and perceived importance in participating in safety-related behaviours; and (ii) health care professionals' willingness to support patient involvement. RESULTS After watching the video patients elicited more positive attitudes towards asking doctors and nurses if they had washed their hands and notifying them about issues to do with personal hygiene. No significant effects were observed in relation to patients notifying staff if they have not received their medication or if they were in pain or feeling unwell. In relation to health care professionals, doctors and nurses were more willing to support patient involvement in asking about hand hygiene after they had watched the video. CONCLUSION Video may be effective at changing patients' and health care professionals' attitudes towards patient involvement in some, but not all safety-related behaviours. Our findings suggest video may be most effective at encouraging involvement in behaviours patients are less inclined to participate in and health care professionals are less willing to support.
Eco-innovation for sustainable tourism transitions as a process of collaborative co-production: the case of a carbon management calculator for the Dutch travel industry

Abstract Eco-innovations that reduce carbon emissions help advance sustainability transitions in tourism. This article examines the analytical potential of actor-network theory (ANT) to study eco-innovation. ANT assumes that reality consists of actor-networks made of human and non-human elements that perform actors as network effects. We argue that, in a time when climate change is the simultaneous product and producer of human actions, eco-innovation is better understood when research gives the human and non-human elements that perform eco-innovations equal analytical treatment. We therefore develop an ANT-inspired framework, which we apply in a case study to investigate the development of a specific eco-innovation: CARMACAL, a web-based carbon management application in the Dutch travel industry. We find that technological novelty alone is insufficient to instigate transition. CARMACAL affords multiple new practices with opposite implications for socio-economic and environmental sustainability. The practices triggering most industry support are least effective in addressing tourism's climate impacts and vice versa. Examining eco-innovation through ANT helps us put eco-innovation in a different light. Seemingly contradictory practices may be mutually supportive: their individual strengths and weaknesses may help prevent the failure of eco-innovations. This new possibility opens the way for concerted policies strengthening the contribution of eco-innovations to sustainability transitions.
Incidence of subarachnoid haemorrhage: a systematic review with emphasis on region, age, gender and time trends

Background and aim: To update our 1996 review on the incidence of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and assess the relation of incidence with region, age, gender and time period. Methods: We searched for studies on the incidence of SAH published until October 2005. The overall incidences with corresponding 95% confidence intervals were calculated. We determined the relationship between the incidence of SAH and determinants by means of univariate Poisson regression. Results: We included 51 studies (33 new), describing 58 study populations in 21 countries, observing 45 821 896 person-years. Incidences per 100 000 person-years were 22.7 (95% CI 21.9 to 23.5) in Japan, 19.7 (18.1 to 21.3) in Finland, 4.2 (3.1 to 5.7) in South and Central America, and 9.1 (8.8 to 9.5) in the other regions. With age category 45–55 years as the reference, incidence ratios increased from 0.10 (0.08 to 0.14) for age groups younger than 25 years to 1.61 (1.24 to 2.07) for age groups older than 85 years. The incidence in women was 1.24 (1.09 to 1.42) times higher than in men; this gender difference started at age 55 years and increased thereafter. Between 1950 and 2005, the incidence decreased by 0.6% (1.3% decrease to 0.1% increase) per year. Conclusions: The overall incidence of SAH is approximately 9 per 100 000 person-years. Rates are higher in Japan and Finland and increase with age. The preponderance of women starts only in the sixth decade. The decline in incidence of SAH over the past 45 years is relatively moderate compared with that for stroke in general.
Graded silicon-germanium channel tunnel field effect transistor (G-TFET), an approach to increase ION without compromising IOFF

As we move towards building low power and more energy efficient devices along with scaling channel length, leakage current and standby power dissipation are becoming major issues. Many alternative device structures have been proposed in the recent years and TFET is one of the promising candidate which has been studied extensively using not only numerical simulations [1], [2] but prototypes have also been fabricated [3]. TFETs can compete with conventional MOSFETs owing to their excellent sub threshold characteristics, reduced short channel effects and low OFF state current. Superior sub threshold swing characteristics below 60mV/decade make TFET a suitable candidate for low power design in comparison to conventional CMOS devices, that have a theoretical subthreshold swing limit of 60mV/decade. One of the biggest challenges in the TFET research is to improve their ON state current without compromising on OFF state current. In recent past, several groups have proposed several modification in TFET structure for improving their performance, such as using double gates, high-k gate materials and high-k spacers for effective gate control, Si1−xGex channel with uniform composition and small Si1−xGex pocket near the source to improve tunneling probability by having better band to band alignment.
Investigating the role of the superior colliculus in active vision with the visual search paradigm

We review here both the evidence that the functional visuomotor organization of the optic tectum is conserved in the primate superior colliculus (SC) and the evidence for the linking proposition that SC discriminating activity instantiates saccade target selection. We also present new data in response to questions that arose from recent SC visual search studies. First, we observed that SC discriminating activity predicts saccade initiation when monkeys perform an unconstrained search for a target defined by either a single visual feature or a conjunction of two features. Quantitative differences between the results in these two search tasks suggest, however, that SC discriminating activity does not only reflect saccade programming. This finding concurs with visual search studies conducted in posterior parietal cortex and the idea that, during natural active vision, visual attention is shifted concomitantly with saccade programming. Second, the analysis of a large neuronal sample recorded during feature search revealed that visual neurons in the superficial layers do possess discriminating activity. In addition, the hypotheses that there are distinct types of SC neurons in the deeper layers and that they are differently involved in saccade target selection were not substantiated. Third, we found that the discriminating quality of single‐neuron activity substantially surpasses the ability of the monkeys to discriminate the target from distracters, raising the possibility that saccade target selection is a noisy process. We discuss these new findings in light of the visual search literature and the view that the SC is a visual salience map for orienting eye movements.
Convection-enhanced delivery of paclitaxel for the treatment of recurrent malignant glioma: a phase I/II clinical study.

OBJECT A minority of patients with recurrent glioblastomas multiforme (GBMs) responds to systemic chemotherapy. The authors investigated the safety and efficacy of intratumoral convection-enhanced delivery (CED) of paclitaxel in patients harboring histologically confirmed recurrent GBMs and anaplastic astrocytomas. METHODS Fifteen patients received a total of 20 cycles of intratumoral CED of paclitaxel. The patients were observed daily by performing diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to assess the convective process and routine diagnostic MR imaging to identify the tumor response. Effective convection was determined by the progression of the hyperintense signal within the tumor on DW MR images, which corresponded to a subsequent lytic tumor response displayed on conventional MR images. Of the 15 patients, five complete responses and six partial responses were observed, giving a response rate of 73%. The antitumor effect was confirmed by one biopsy and three en bloc resections of tumors, which showed a complete response, and by one tumor resection, which demonstrated a partial response. Lack of convection and a poor tumor response was associated with leakage of the convected drug into the subarachnoid space, ventricles, and cavities formed by previous resections, and was seen in tumors containing widespread necrosis. Complications included transient chemical meningitis in six patients, infectious complications in three patients, and transient neurological deterioration in four patients (presumably due to increased peritumoral edema). CONCLUSIONS On the basis of our data we suggest that CED of paclitaxel in patients with recurrent malignant gliomas is associated with a high antitumor response rate, although it is associated with a significant incidence of treatment-associated complications. Diffusion-weighted MR images may be used to predict a response by demonstrating the extent of convection during treatment. Optimization of this therapeutic approach to enhance its efficacy and reduce its toxicity should be explored further.
Actividad emprendedora e instituciones: un estudio cuantitativo para el periodo 2005-2010

The aim of this article is to analyze the influence that institutions have had on entrepreneurial activity. This study was carried out for 34 countries in the period 2005-2010. It is based on the institutionalist theory, more specifically the approaches of North (1993), who affirms that there are institutions that are understood as the rules of the game that shape our interaction as individuals, building incentives for economic exchange. The work methodology is quantitative and the fixed-effect data panel model was used to analyze the data. The results show that there is a strong link between institutions and entrepreneurial activity, although it is paradoxical that better access laws to credit go in the opposite way to the TEA.
Increased Steady-State Mutant Huntingtin mRNA in Huntington's Disease Brain.

BACKGROUND Huntington's disease is caused by expansion of CAG trinucleotide repeats in the first exon of the huntingtin gene, which is essential for both development and neurogenesis. Huntington's disease is autosomal dominant. The normal allele contains 6 to 35 CAG triplets (average, 18) and the mutant, disease-causing allele contains >36 CAG triplets (average, 42). OBJECTIVE We examined 279 postmortem brain samples, including 148 HD and 131 non-HD controls. A total of 108 samples from 87 HD patients that are heterozygous at SNP rs362307, with a normal allele (18 to 27 CAG repeats) and a mutant allele (39 to 73 CAG repeats) were used to measure relative abundance of mutant and wild-type huntingtin mRNA. METHODS We used allele-specific, quantitative RT-PCR based on SNP heterozygosity to estimate the relative amount of mutant versus normal huntingtin mRNA in postmortem brain samples from patients with Huntington's disease. RESULTS In the cortex and striatum, the amount of mRNA from the mutant allele exceeds that from the normal allele in 75% of patients. In the cerebellum, no significant difference between the two alleles was evident. Brain tissues from non-HD controls show no significant difference between two alleles of huntingtin mRNAs. Allelic differences were more pronounced at early neuropathological grades (grades 1 and 2) than at late grades (grades 3 and 4). CONCLUSION More mutant HTT than normal could arise from increased transcription of mutant HTT allele, or decreased clearance of mutant HTT mRNA, or both. An implication is that equimolar silencing of both alleles would increase the mutant HTT to normal HTT ratio.
HIV‐1 coreceptor usage in perinatally infected Thai children

HIV‐1 coreceptor usage in children who were born to HIV‐1 infected mothers in Thailand is not well characterized. Here, the prevalence of coreceptor usage and genotype among HIV‐1 infected children in Thailand were observed. Proviral DNA from 284 HIV‐1 infected children who received HIV‐1 early infant diagnosis between 2007 and 2013 under the National AIDS Program were studied. Genotypic tropism testing was performed based on amplification of the V3 region in a triplicate nested‐PCR following by DNA sequencing. HIV‐1 coreceptor usage was determined using Geno2pheno[coreceptor] with a false positive rate of 10%. Samples from 267 children were successfully amplified and coreceptor usage could be determined. Two hundred and thirty‐seven (89%) children were infected with CRF01_AE, 29 (11%) were subtype B and 1 was subtype C. CCR5‐using variants were found in 148 (55%) children and CXCR4‐using variants were observed in 119 (45%) children. No significant differences in coreceptor usage and age, gender, signs of HIV infection, children's or maternal ARV receiving were observed. The only significant difference was found in N‐linked glycosylation characteristic. This evidence showed that X4 viruses can be highly observed at an early age of children which has important clinical implications and may limit usage of CCR5 antagonist family.
Diffserv Conditionalized Handover for HMIPv6

As mobile devices and wireless network are become popular, real-time and data streaming applications on mobile network gain more attention from application developers and users. These kinds of applications all need seamless mobility and QoS provisioning in order to guarantee the service. Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6) was proposed in order to improve mobile performance by reducing latency during the handoff period. In this paper, we propose a mechanism to control network resources on mobile access routers by extending Differentiated Services (Diffserv) to HMIPv6 architecture. Our framework includes a Diffserv edge function and extending router advertisement daemon (radvd) to advertise current resource available on an Access Router (AR). Whenever multiple access routers exist in the same area, Mobile Node (MN) can select to handover to a new access router with the best QoS condition. We implement and evaluate our proposed work on the Linux kernel, and also extend new ICMPv6 options on Neighbor Discovery message.