Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economic Growth and Higher Education in South Asian Countries: Evidence from Econometrics

South Asian economies has witnessed very slow growth over the years and the gap has widened manifold between other nations of Asia particularly East Asian nations and South Asian nations. This paper examines co-integration between the economic growth and reach of higher education in South Asian nations explaining this disparity. The research employed an econometric panel co-integration investigation to analyse the long run relationship of higher education and economic growth among these nations. The research confirmed positive long run causality between the economic growth of the South Asian nations and gross enrolment ratio of higher education. So, if the South Asian nations continue with their existing pattern of paying less attention to higher education by allocating low share of investment on it, poor human capital formation would result in growing further economic disparity between developed and South Asian nations where rich nations would remain richer and poor nations would remain poor with the gap remaining unabridged. This research will serve as an aid to policy makers, educators and financers of South Asian nations to bridge the gap between high- and low-income nations. The focus on the quantum of spending on higher education by the government will help improve the reach of tertiary education and build economic prosperity in these nations.
Malaria parasite resistance vicious cycle

Objective: This paper analyzes the "vicious" cycle of malaria treatment as a consequence of restricted access to anti-malarial drugs. Literature review: Lack of public health policies in affected countries limits access to medicines. This leads patients to acquire drugs in "parallel" markets under the risk of quality deviations or falsified products. The use of these products can aggravate the disease, lead to death, and contribute to parasite resistance to drugs. There are reports of Plasmodium strains resistant to different antimalarial drugs, this creates the need to look for new therapeutic alternatives. These new drugs begin to be counterfeit or people use low quality drugs, selectung resistant strains again, making necessary further research to identify other therapeutic possibilities, restarting this vicious cycle. Final considerations: Therefore, it is important to create conditions for using good quality medicines supervised by health professionals, and ensure research of new alternatives, evaluating their activity on the parasite or the disease.
Interannual Variability of the Global Meridional Overturning Circulation Dominated by Pacific Variability

The most prominent feature of the time-mean global meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is the Atlantic MOC (AMOC). However, interannual variability of the global MOC is shown here to be dominated by Pacific MOC (PMOC) variability over the full depth of the ocean at most latitudes. This dominance of interannual PMOC variability is robust across modern climate models and an observational state estimate. PMOC interannual variability has large-scale organization, its most prominent feature being a cross-equatorial cell spanning the tropics. Idealized experiments show that this variability is almost entirely wind driven. Interannual anomalies of zonal mean zonal wind stress produce zonally integrated Ekman transport anomalies that are larger in the Pacific Ocean than in the Atlantic Ocean, simply because the Pacific is wider than the Atlantic at most latitudes. This contrast in Ekman transport variability implies greater variability in the near-surface branch of the PMOC when compared with the near-surface branch of the AMOC. These near-surface variations in turn drive compensating flow anomalies below the Ekman layer. Because the baroclinic adjustment time is longer than a year at most latitudes, these compensating flow anomalies have baroclinic structure spanning the full depth of the ocean. Additional analysis reveals that interannual PMOC variations are the dominant contribution to interannual variations of the global meridional heat transport. There is also evidence of interaction between interannual PMOC variability and El Niño–Southern Oscillation.
Estudio de caso: atención arteterapéutica a cuidadora primaria, madre de un hijo con leucemia para favorecer su expresión emocional y afrontamiento

Se realizó una intervención psicológica con una cuidadora primaria madre de un hijo con leucemia empleando un modelo arteterapéutico. El objetivo general fue favorecer la expresión y el manejo emocional así como el desarrollo de estrategias de afrontamiento adaptativas ante el padecimiento al que se enfrenta. Se aplicó un programa de intervención mediante arteterapia comprendido en cuatro dimensiones: Diagnóstica, sensibilización-psicoeducación, recorrido simbólico y cierre. Los resultados muestran que durante el proceso arteterapéutico se favoreció un proceso creativo que condujo a la reestructuración de vivencias emocionales derivadas del cáncer infantil y al desarrollo de estrategias de afrontamiento funcionales.
How R&D investment affects bondholder wealth?

ABSTRACT Purpose: This paper focuses on creditors as a key group of stakeholders in corporate finance and governance, and develops a contingency perspective to understand how corporate investment in R&D activities affects creditor value through influencing a firm’s creditworthiness among investors. Design: This study is based on a sample of publicly traded firms in the US. during 1994–2017. Various regression models are applied to analyze the archival data. Findings: This paper shows that a firm’s creditworthiness increases with R&D intensity initially but falls when R&D intensity keeps increasing and surpasses a certain threshold. Moreover, such curvilinear relationship is less pronounced when the firm is of low disclosure quality and is less concerned with financial distress. Originality: Although prior research has intensively studied how corporate R&D activities affect shareholders, less attention has been paid to the impact of corporate R&D on other stakeholders. This study fills this void by examining how R&D activities affect creditors.
Racial Disparities in Federal Sentencing: Evidence from Drug Mandatory Minimums

I test for racial disparities in the criminal justice system by analyzing abnormal bunching in the distribution of crack-cocaine amounts used in federal sentencing. I compare cases sentenced before and after the Fair Sentencing Act, a 2010 law that changed the 10-year mandatory minimum threshold for crack-cocaine from 50g to 280g. First, I find that after 2010, there is a sharp increase in the fraction of cases sentenced at 280g (the point that now triggers a 10-year mandatory minimum), and that this increase is disproportionately large for black and Hispanic offenders. I then explore several possible explanations for the observed racial disparities, including discrimination. I analyze data from multiple stages in the criminal justice system and find that the increased bunching for minority offenders is driven by prosecutorial discretion, specifically as used by about 20-30% of prosecutors. Moreover, the fraction of cases at 280g falls in 2013 when evidentiary standards become stricter. Finally, the racial disparity in the increase cannot be explained by differences in education, sex, age, criminal history, seized drug amount, or other elements of the crime, but it can be almost entirely explained by a measure of state-level racial animus. These results shed light on the role of prosecutorial discretion and potentially racial discrimination as causes of racial disparities in sentencing.
HDL Coder-based FPGA Implementation of a Continuous-Discrete Time Observer for Sensorless Induction Machine

A continuous-discrete time high gain observer (CDHGO) for sensorless control of an induction machine (IM) is proposed in this paper. From only the two undersampled and noisy stator current measurements, an estimation of the IM states variables such as rotor flux, mechanical speed, and the load torque is achieved. Precisely, After a mild change of state coordinates that transform the IM model into the quasi-block triangular form, both observation stages are designed in a cascade structure. A hardware implementation of the CDHGO is carried out in the FPGA target by using advanced Matlab tools namely HDL Coder and Fixed Point Designer. Through the ModelSim software, a validation of the implemented algorithm is performed, where the estimates brings closer the those provided by the model despite the lack of information between the sample instants and the presence of the measurements noise.
Influence of Medial Hamstring Tendon Harvest on Knee Flexor Strength after Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Background The advantages of hamstring tendon autografts for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction are well known; however, concerns have arisen regarding the influence of hamstring tendon harvest on postoperative weakness in knee flexion. Purpose To evaluate the influence of hamstring tendon harvest on knee flexion strength in patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Study Design Prospective randomized study. Methods Ninety patients were randomly assigned at surgery to undergo anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with either a semitendinosus tendon autograft or a semitendinosus and gracilis tendon autograft. Quadriceps and hamstring muscle strength was tested before surgery and at 6, 12, and 18 months after surgery. Results There was no significant difference in clinical results between the groups and neither group showed a significant decrease in isokinetic hamstring muscle strength. However, when the subjects’ knees were at positions of 70° or more of flexion, both isokinetic and isometric measurements revealed a significant decrease in hamstring muscle strength in both groups. The strength in the group with semitendinosus and gracilis tendons was considerably less than that in the group with semitendinosus tendon alone at 18 months. Conclusions Tendon harvest causes significant weakness of hamstring muscle strength at high knee flexion angles, but such weakness can be minimized if the gracilis tendon is preserved.
Abstract 3975: Matrix-depleting anti-hypertensives decompress tumor blood vessels and improve perfusion in patients with glioblastomas receiving anti-angiogenic therapy

Introduction: Impaired tumor perfusion is associated with poor drug delivery, hypoxia and metastatic behavior that effectively make cancers difficult to treat [1]. A main driver of impaired perfusion in permeable and impermeable tumor vessels is solid stress caused by proliferating tumor cells and the extracellular matrix that squeeze vessels shut [2]. Here, we demonstrate improved vascular function in glioblastoma patients who receive hypertension treatments with an anti-cancer cell, matrix-depleting effect as part of anti-angiogenic therapy. Methods: We retrospectively assessed data from 40 patients with newly diagnosed glioblastomas (nGBM) and 30 with recurrent glioblastomas (rGBM) receiving cediranib, an oral pan-VEGFR inhibitor, with- (NCT00662506) and without (NCT00305656) chemoradiation, respectively. After cediranib onset, for nGBM, 12/40 patients received matrix-depleting angiotensin II receptor blockers (Valsartan), β1 receptor antagonists (Atenolol) or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (Lisinopril), while 8/40 patients received non-depleting calcium antagonists (Norvasc, Amlodipine) [3, 4]. For rGBM, 15/30 patients received Atenolol and 7/30 patients Norvasc. Perfusion and vessel caliber MRI were performed at baseline and repeated weekly (nGBM) or monthly (rGBM) [5, 6]. Tumor values were normalized to healthy tissue to account for patient-level systemic effects and variations in hypertension. Results: In the total tumor bed (enhancing + edematous regions), the matrix-depleting alternatives significantly improved the perfused vessel fraction (% of tumor values >½ the value of healthy tissue) from 81% to 93% in nGBM (Wilcoxon: P Conclusion: In line with theoretical [7] and pre-clinical [3] findings, we here present human data demonstrating that adding matrix-depleting anti-hypertensives, safe and inexpensive drugs with decades of use, improve vascular function in glioblastoma patients receiving anti-cancer therapy. Vascular MRI can help refine matrix-depleting drugs by directly assessing mechanisms of action in vivo. References: 1: Science 2005; 307, 58-62 2: PNAS 2012; 109, 15101-8 3: Nat Commun 2013; 4, 2516 4: Blood Press 2006; 15, 198-206 5: PNAS 2013; 110, 19059-64 6: Nat Med 2013; 19, 1178-83 7: PNAS 2013;110:18632-37 Citation Format: Kyrre E. Emblem, Elizabeth R. Gerstner, Gregory Sorensen, Bruce R. Rosen, Patrick Y. Wen, Tracy T. Batchelor, Rakesh K. Jain. Matrix-depleting anti-hypertensives decompress tumor blood vessels and improve perfusion in patients with glioblastomas receiving anti-angiogenic therapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3975.
Obesity: Epidemiologic and aetio-pathological aspects

Obesity has reached epidemic levels in industrialized countries. However, the prevalence of obesity is also rising in other less developed parts of the world, like Asia and Africa. Obesity has significant impact on both physical and psychological health with serious consequences. The mechanism of development of obesity is not fully understood, and it is believed to be a disorder with multiple causes. Genetic factors are pivotal but, diet and lifestyle preferences are equally important. There is strong evidence that the excessive intake of soft drinks, increased portion size, and steady decline in physical activity have been playing major roles in the current obesity epidemic. Prevention, not treatment, is the key strategy for controlling obesity. * azizmin@hotmail.com
Self-Decoupled MIMO Antenna Pair With Shared Radiator for 5G Smartphones

In this article, a novel self-decoupled multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna pair with a shared radiator is proposed for fifth-generation (5G) smartphones. In our approach, a radiator is directly excited by two feeding ports, and interestingly, the two ports are naturally isolated across a wide bandwidth without using any extra decoupling structures. To offer a deep physical insight of the self-decoupling mechanism, a mode-cancellation method based on the synthesis of common and differential modes is developed for the first time. The proposed self-decoupled antenna pair shows a good isolation of better than 11.5 dB across the 5G N77 band (3.3–4.2 GHz) with a radiation pattern diversity property. Based on the self-decoupled antenna pair, an $8 \times 8$ MIMO antenna system, constituted by four sets of antenna pairs, is simulated, fabricated, and measured to validate the concept. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed $8 \times 8$ MIMO system can offer an isolation of better than 10.5 dB between all ports and a high total efficiency of 63.1%–85.1% across 3.3–4.2 GHz. With the advantages of self-decoupling, shared radiator, simple structure, wide bandwidth, and high efficiency, the proposed design scheme exhibits promising potential for the future highly integrated MIMO antennas for 5G smartphones.
Changes of lipid metabolism of Arabidopsis thalianain response to oligochitosan treatment

Lipids are vital cellular constituents in plant, and lipid peroxidation metabolites are critical defence substances in plants. In this study, mass spectrometry along with projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was used to detect lipid metabolism changes in Arabidopsis thaliana in response to oligochitosan (an effective resistance elicitor for the control of plant diseases). The PLS-DA showed that lipid metabolites of Arabidopsis thaliana were influenced by oligochitosan treatment. The total content of oxylipin containing monogalactosyldiacylglycerols, oxylipin-containing digalactosyldiacylglycerols, and oxylipin-containing phosphatidylglycerols increased firstly (after 1 h), and then decreased with the increase of oligochitosan treatment duration. In contrast, the total content of monogalactosyldiacylglycerols, phosphatidylcholines, phosphatidyl-ethanolamine, and phosphatidylglycerols decreased firstly, and then increased with the increase of oligochitosan treatment duration. The amounts of free fatty acids (C16:2, C16:3, C18:2, and C18:3) were lower after treatment with oligochitosan for 1, 3, and 6 h than in the control, while the production of volatile organic compounds such as 2-hexenal (except for 3 h) and nonanal was higher than in the control. In conclusion, lipid metabolites of Arabidopsis thaliana were influenced by oligochitosan treatment, and the synthesized lipids and oxylipin-containing lipids were remodelled and free fatty acids was metabolized to volatile organic compounds.
The role of psychologists in international migration research: Complementing other expertise and an interdisciplinary way forward

This research note addresses the current and potential future role of psychologists in the study of international migration. We review ways in which psychologists have contributed to the study of migration, as well as ways in which psychological scholarship could be integrated with work from other social science fields. Broadly, we discuss four major contributions that psychology brings to the study of international migration—studying migrants’ internal psychological experiences, incorporating a developmental perspective, conducting experimental studies, and integrating across levels of analysis. Given the position of psychology as a ‘hub science’ connecting more traditional social sciences with health and medical sciences, we argue for a more prominent role for psychologists within the study of international migration. Such a role is intended to complement the roles of other social scientists and to create a more interdisciplinary way forward for the field of migration studies. The research note concludes with an agenda for further scholarship on migration.
ViFi-MobiScanner: Observe Human Mobility via Vehicular Internet Service

Exploring human mobility is essential for urban applications. To observe human mobility, various data-driven techniques based on different data sources, such as cell phone and transportation data, have been proposed. This paper investigates human mobility through the emerging vehicular Internet service on public bus system. The key idea is that if a passenger is using WiFi on the bus or his/her WiFi device is activated in the background, we know that the passenger is traveling on the bus. By fusing the network events generated by WiFi devices with the data from the automatic fare collection (AFC) system, and the bus GPS information, we exploit not only the origin but also the destination of a passenger. Based on this idea, we develop a novel system called ViFi-MobiScanner which consists of about 4, 800 mobile routers distributed in a city with 1, 992 KM2 urban area. We develop an ID matching algorithm that matches part of the users’ network identities and their smartcard identities anonymously. As a result, we have built a set of labeled samples with the reference of observation from smartcard data and use them to train a classifier to infer users mobility from their network activities. We evaluate ViFi-MobiScanner with both field tests and collected datasets associated with 168 million network events, 3.6 million trips, and 1.4 million users. The evaluation results show that ViFi-MobiScanner increases the observability on the passengers and trips by about 53.9% and 48.1% over the smartcard observations. ViFi-MobiScanner also helps to estimate the passengers’ destination that cannot be observed by current smartcard systems and the estimation can be accomplished in minutes. Thus it expands the observability of mobility in object, temporal and spatial dimensions and provides unique insights on human mobility at metropolitan scales.
Nurse Practitioner Screening Practices for Mild Cognitive Impairment in the Older Adult

Nurse practitioners (NPs/APRNs) who provide primary care services may be the first line providers in situations where adults present with symptoms of memory loss and forgetfulness. Though protocols are available for evaluating dementia, specific guidelines for evaluating early cognitive changes, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), are lacking. This descriptive research project assesses the knowledge, current screening methods, and barriers to screening for MCI by nurse practitioners (APRNs) in the state of Georgia. One hundred and thirty two NPs participated in the survey. Forty-five percent of the participants were unfamiliar with the diagnostic category of MCI. Of the major barriers identified, fifty eight percent of APRNs identified not having enough time, thirty-four percent were unsure of the best screening methods, and twenty percent of participants were unsure of protocols. Using Spearman rho correlation, MCI screening was significantly correlated with completion of continuing education (CEUs) for both MCI (rs = .245, p < .006) and dementia (rs = .243, p < .006). The Spearman’s rho revealed a statistically significant relationship between MCI screening and routinely screening for depression (rs = .478, p <.000). The second stage of this project was to develop practice protocols for MCI. A practitioner panel was recruited from the participants in the initial survey. The protocol and evaluation algorithm is presented and discussed. NP SCREENING PRACTICES FOR MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT 6 Chapter 1 Background and Significance of Proposed project/Intervention
Object Reidentification via Joint Quadruple Decorrelation Directional Deep Networks in Smart Transportation

Object reidentification with the goal of matching pedestrian or vehicle images captured from different camera viewpoints is of considerable significance to public security. Quadruple directional deep learning features (QD-DLFs) can comprehensively describe object images. However, the correlation among QD-DLFs is an unavoidable problem, since QD-DLFs are learned with quadruple independent directional deep networks (QIDDNs) driven with the same training data, and each network holds the same basic deep feature learning architecture (BDFLA). The correlation among QD-DLFs is harmful to the complementarity of QD-DLFs, restricting the object reidentification performance. For that, we propose joint quadruple decorrelation directional deep networks (JQD3Ns) to reduce the correlation among the learned QD-DLFs. In order to jointly train JQD3Ns, besides the softmax loss functions, a parameter correlation cost function is proposed to indirectly reduce the correlation among QD-DLFs by enlarging the dissimilarity among the parameters of JQD3Ns. Extensive experiments on three publicly available large-scale data sets demonstrate that the proposed JQD3Ns approach is superior to multiple state-of-the-art object reidentification methods.