Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combining theory and wisdom in pragmatic, scenario-based decision support for sustainable development

Researchers have increasingly acknowledged the relative strength of ‘hybrid’ approaches to scenario analysis for exploring the futures of coupled human-nature systems. In this paper, we explain, demonstrate, and provisionally evaluate the usefulness of a simple analytical framework, based on five categories of capital assets, as part of a protocol for overcoming the conversion problem in hybrid scenario analysis. Based on a preliminary application of the framework to a case study in South Africa, we suggest that the five capitals framework has the potential to improve expedience and counter the bias against ‘soft’ drivers in hybrid approaches to scenario analysis. However, in light of the methodological trade-off between rigour and expedience, we suggest that future research needs to compare the available protocols for hybrid scenario analysis by weighing up the relative gain in scenario quality versus the relative cost of scenario construction.
Evolutionary lines among Salmonella enteritidis phage types are identified by insertion sequence IS200 distribution.

A survey was made of the presence, copy number and location of the Salmonella-specific DNA insertion element IS200, within the genomes of the 27 phage type strains of Salmonella enteritidis. All the phage type strains contained copies of IS200 revealed by genomic Southern blot hybridizations with a 300-bp DNA probe internal to the element. Restriction site variation around IS200 insertion sites was examined. Three fundamental patterns of hybridization corresponding to chromosomal IS200 loci were found. In terms of population genetics, these 'IS200 profiles' correspond to clonal lineages of recent evolutionary origin, and underline the phage-typing scheme for epidemiological subdivision of S. enteritidis. The molecular analysis is consistent with genetic selection pressures which are apparent in the observed epidemiological distribution of S. enteritidis, since each clonal lineage contained one of the phage types of major clinical importance in the U.K.
The Association of Cigarette Smoking With High-Frequency Heart Rate Variability: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

Objective Evidence from both laboratory and observational studies suggests that acute and chronic smoking leads to reduced high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), a measure of cardiac vagal regulation. We used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to study the effect of smoking on concurrent HF-HRV in a trial measuring the effects of hostility reduction and compared 24-hour HF-HRV in smokers and nonsmokers. Method Ambulatory electrocardiogram data were collected before randomization from 149 healthy individuals with high hostility levels (20–45 years, body mass index ⩽ 32 kg/m2) and paired with concurrent EMA ratings of smoking and physical position during waking hours. A multilevel mixed model was estimated associating ln(HF-HRV) from smoking status (between-person factor) and person-centered momentary smoking (within-person factor, treated as a random effect), adjusting for momentary physical position, medication use, and consumption of alcohol and caffeine. Results Thirty-five smokers and 114 nonsmokers provided both EMA and HF-HRV data. Within smokers, ln HF-HRV was reduced by 0.31 millisecond2 (p = .04) when participants reported having recently smoked cigarettes, compared with when they had not. The 24-hour HF-HRV was significantly lower in smokers (M [SD] = 5.24 [0.14] milliseconds2) than nonsmokers (5.63 ± 0.07 milliseconds2, p = .01). Conclusions In healthy smokers with high hostility levels used as their own controls during daily living, smoking acutely reduced HF-HRV. HF-HRV was also reduced in smokers as compared with nonsmokers. Although limited by a small sample of individuals with high hostility levels, these findings nonetheless provide additional evidence that cardiac vagal regulation is lowered by cigarette smoking, which may be one of the numerous pathophysiological effects of smoking.
Bilirubin Oxidation by Brain Mitochondrial Membranes Is Not Affected by Hyperosmolality

Brain mitochondrial membranes oxidize bilirubin at a rate that may be biologically significant. Hyperosmolality delays clearance of bilirubin from rat brain. We hypothesized that this might be due to a decrease in brain bilirubin metabolism. Rats were anesthetized and infused with 75 mM/kg urea i.v. over 5 min (n = 7) and sacrificed at 1 h; control rats (n = 7) had no treatment. Crude mitochondrial membrane fractions (‘P2’) were produced by homogenization and differential centrifugation in sucrose. The change in optical density at 440 nM of a 10-μmol/l bilirubin solution was measured after 60 min incubation with mitochondrial membranes. Hyperosmolality did not affect bilirubin oxidation by brain mitochondrial membranes (t = 1.27, p = 0.23 by unpaired t-test). The lack of effect of hyperosmolality on bilirubin oxidation by brain mitochondrial membranes suggests that decreased clearance of bilirubin from brain in hyperosmolality may be related to changes in transfer of bilirubin across the blood-brain barrier.
Depoliticizing adaptation: a critical analysis of EU climate adaptation policy

ABSTRACT The ways in which climate adaptation is understood in the European Union is examined via three key policy documents: the Strategy on adaptation and the Green and White Papers that preceded it. Drawing on Poststructuralist Discourse Theory, light is shed on the implicit values and assumptions that underpin this recent policy initiative. The findings demonstrate a tension between the declared ambition to act on adaptation and implicit suggestions that nothing really has to change, and the challenge can be addressed by market and technological innovations, and by mainstreaming adaptation into existing sectoral policies. The policy discourse effectively serves to depoliticize choices societies make in response to climate change, presenting adaptation as a non-political issue. Insight into European adaptation discourse enables deeper understanding of recent policy developments and opens up possible entry points for critique.
Influence of antioxidants on the blood‐brain barrier permeability during epileptic seizures

Pentylenetetrazol‐induced seizures in rats lead to the breakdown of the blood‐brain barrier. We compared the disruption of the blood‐brain barrier during epileptic seizure in untreated rats and in rats treated with vitamin E or selenium. The rats were supplemented with nontoxic doses of sodium selenite (4 pp) in drinking water for 3 months, or vitamin E (70 mg/kg) was given intraperitoneally for 30 min before the pentylenetetrazole injection. Evans‐blue was used as a blood‐brain barrier tracer and was given intravenously at a dose of 4 ml/kg of a 2% solution. The rats were divided into four experimental groups. Group I: control (n = 24); Group II: pentylenetetrazole‐induced seizure (n = 12); Group III: vitamin E injected + seizure (n = 12); Group IV: Selenium supplemented + seizure (n = 12). The rats subjected to epileptic seizures showed Evans‐blue albumin extravasations especially in the thalamic nuclei, brainstem, occipital, and frontal cortex. Mean values for Evans‐blue dye were found to be 0.28 ± 0.04 mg % brain tissue in control rats and 1.6 ± 0.2 mg % brain tissue after epileptic seizures (P < 0.01). The magnitude of distribution of the blood‐brain barrier during epileptic seizures was significantly less in rats treated with vitamin E or selenium. The mean value for Evans‐blue dye was found to be 1.2 ± 0.1 mg % brain tissue in selenium supplemented rats and 1.2 ± 0.1 mg % brain tissue in vitamin E injected rats after epileptic seizures. This difference between treated and untreated animals was found to be significant (P < 0.05). The findings of the present study suggest that free radicals contribute to disruption of the blood‐brain barrier during pentylenetetrazol‐induced seizures. J. Neurosci. Res. 66:674–678, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
(with R. Whitaker) ‘Abortion Governance in the New Northern Ireland’

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement was widely heralded as a “new beginning” for Northern Ireland. It was to accommodate the conflicting nationalisms of British-identified unionists and Irish nationalists and to end sectarian and political violence and the democratic deficit created by direct rule from Westminster. However, greater political autonomy for Northern Ireland has tightened an already restrictive abortion regime. Women in the rest of the United Kingdom have ready access to publicly funded abortions under Britain’s 1967 Abortion Act. That law does not extend to Northern Ireland, leaving abortion there illegal in all but a few cases. Following Caldeira (2000) and Holston (2008), this paper argues that, insofar as the political potential of democracy rests on its social conditions, abortion governance in the new Northern Ireland reveals an uneven or “disjunctive” character to post-Agreement democracy and citizenship. These are explored through analysis of state policies and political discourses that work to entrench a distinctive moral regime: “privileged standards of morality that … govern intimate behaviours, ethical judgements, and their public manifestations” (Morgan and Roberts 2012: 242). Under the standards of this regime, legitimate sex is tied to reproduction, as exemplified by repeated public statements from the Assembly Justice Committee Chair that Northern Ireland law protects all “children” whether conceived “by choice or by chance. ” Even as it makes the “unborn child” a bearer of rights in its own right, the anti-abortion discourse of governing politicians construes not only “unborn children” but also pregnant women as “vulnerable” and in need of state protection,. In these circumstances, women are left either to continue with an unwanted pregnancy against their will or seek a privatised solution. That solution may be legal - as when women travel to Britain and pay for terminations - or it may be illegal, as in the increasingly common use of abortion drugs purchased online. Either way, it is illicit according to the ethos of the official moral regime. The outworking of abortion politics in the official public sphere in turn reveals a political culture and post-Agreement state that are sectarianized in ways that are particularly challenging for pro-choice activists. These include the rhetorical force of conservatives’ claims to unite former enemies in a shared morality that cuts across national and sectarian boundaries - claims buttressed by the main churches’ active interventions in the politics of sexuality. (The Catholic Church has endorsed the Democratic Unionist Party – long staunchly anti-Catholic and anti-nationalist - for its determined opposition to abortion.) Institutionally, cross-community consent safeguards give greater weight to politicians who register as unionists or nationalists than to those non-aligned on the national question. Finally, the Agreement’s expansive rights and equality provisions have mitigated communal discrimination, but gender and class inequalities remain largely intact (Harvey 2012).
Correlation between the Degree of Periventricular Leukomalacia Diagnosed Using Cranial Ultrasound and MRI Later in Infancy in Children with Cerebral Palsy

During a period of 30 months, 504 infants of 34 weeks gestation or less were enrolled in a prospective cranial ultrasound study. Ninety-two (18.4%) infants developed different degrees of periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), being transient periventricular echogenicities (PVE) in 75, localised cystic lesions in 7 and extensive cysts in 10. Eight of 75 (10.6%) infants with PVE, 4 of the 6 (66.6%) survivors with localised cysts and all 8 survivors with extensive cysts developed cerebral palsy in infancy and MRI studies could be performed in 15 of these 20 infants between 11 and 32 months of age. Neurological sequelae were most severe among the infants with extensive cysts and none were able to walk, while 6 of the 12 who developed cerebral palsy following either PVE or localised cysts had learned to walk independently. There appeared to be a good correlation between the degree of PVL, diagnosed using ultrasound, and the extent of MRI changes noted in infancy. Ventricular enlargement and delay in myelination were more common in infants with cystic lesions and periventricular hyperintensity (PVHI) was present in all infants, but most extensive in the cases with extensive cysts. MRI performed later in infancy may, even in the absence of neonatal cranial ultrasound, provide information about both the presence as well as the degree of leukomalacia, which the child may have suffered in the neonatal or antenatal period.
Regulation of bone morphogenetic protein signalling in human pulmonary vascular development

The bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) type II receptor (BMPR‐II) is predominantly expressed on the vascular endothelium in the adult lung. Although mutations in BMPR‐II are known to underlie many cases of familial pulmonary arterial hypertension (FPAH), little is known regarding the expression of BMPs and their signalling pathways during normal lung development or the impact of BMPR‐II mutations on endothelial cell function. We determined the cellular localization and expression levels of BMP4, BMP receptors, and activation of downstream signalling via phospho‐Smad1 in a developmental series of human embryonic and fetal lungs by immunohistochemistry. The expression of BMP4 and BMP receptors was temporally and spatially regulated during lung development. BMPR‐II expression correlated with phosphorylation of tissue Smad1 and was highest during the late pseudoglandular and early canalicular stage of lung development, when vasculogenesis is intense. Phospho‐Smad1 expression was associated with markers of proliferation in endothelial cells. In vitro studies confirmed that BMPs 2 and 4 induced phosphorylation of Smad1/5 and pulmonary artery endothelial cell (PAEC) migration and proliferation. Adenoviral transfection of PAECs with mutant kinase‐deficient BMPR‐II, or siRNA knockdown of BMPR‐II, inhibited Smad signalling and the proliferative response to BMP4. Our findings support a critical role for BMPs in lung vasculogenesis. Dysfunctional BMP signalling in PAECs during development may lead to abnormal pulmonary vascular development and contribute to the pathogenesis of FPAH. Copyright © 2007 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Analysis of the effects of the random weights of particle swarm optimization

Like other evolutionary optimization algorithms, the particle swarm optimization uses the random parameters/weights to achieve good optimization performance. Since the random parameters play important roles in the optimization procedure, it is necessary to investigate the effects of the random weights on the optimization performance. This paper investigated the effects of the random parameters on the optimization performance based on simulations. The simulation results show that the different choices of random weights have big effects on the optimization performance, especially for high-dimensional optimization problems. For the high-dimensional optimization problems, the optimization performance is better if more components of the random vectors are same with each other.
Erosion der betrieblichen Mitbestimmung – Welche Rolle spielt der Strukturwandel?

In den letzten Dekaden bestand Konsens in der Scientific Community, dass die Erosion des dualen Systems der Interessenvertretung in Deutschland wesentlich der Erosion des Flächentarifsystems geschuldet war – wohingegen die betriebliche Mitbestimmung (zumindest in quantitativer Hinsicht) als weitgehend stabile Institution galt. Zwar wurde wiederholt die These vertreten, Betriebsräte seien im Kontext der lang anhaltenden Arbeitsmarktkrise innerbetrieblich zunehmend in die Defensive geraten (vgl. pars pro toto Kotthoff 1998). Gleichwohl schienen die Daten des IABBetriebspanels zu bestätigen, dass es keinen nachhaltigen Trend abnehmender Verbreitung von Betriebsräten in Deutschland gibt – weder in Westnoch in Ostdeutschland: „Die Anteilswerte (der Betriebe mit Betriebsrat [die Verf.]) bewegen sich seit einigen Jahren in beiden Landesteilen zwischen 9 und 10 %“ (Ellguth/Kohaut 2014, S. 291) – auch wenn die entsprechenden Werte 1996 noch 11 % (Ost) bzw. 12 % (West) betragen hatten. Als weit weniger stabil erweist sich die betriebliche Mitbestimmung jedoch, wenn man zum einen die Reichweite betrachtet, also den Anteil der Beschäftigten, die in Betrieben mit Betriebsrat arbeiten, und zum anderen differenziert nach Betriebsgrößenklassen analysiert. So ist die Reichweite in Gesamtdeutschland zwischen 1996 und 2014 – zunächst sehr verhalten, dann aber in den letzten Jahren doch beschleunigt – von 50 auf 41 % der Beschäftigten zurückgegangen, wobei der Rückgang in Ostdeutschland (von einem ohnehin niedrigeren Ausgangsniveau) nochmals stärker ausfiel als in Westdeutschland (Tabelle 1). Auffällig ist zugleich, dass die Veränderungen nicht gleichmäßig über alle Betriebsgrößen hinweg ausfallen, sondern sich markante Unterschiede ergeben: In den mittelgroßen Betrieben mit einer Beschäftigtenanzahl von 51 – 500 sind sie besonders gravierend – das betrifft sowohl die auf Beschäftigte bezogene Reichweite der betrieblichen Mitbestimmung („Abdeckquote“) als auch die Verbreitung von Betriebsräten (Anteil der Betriebe) (vgl. bereits Ellguth/ Kohaut 2012). Während insgesamt in Deutschland der Anteil der Betriebe mit Betriebsrat zwischen 1996 und 2014 um drei Prozentpunkte zurückging, betrug der Rückgang in diesem spezifischen Betriebsgrößensegment 13 Prozentpunkte. Diese Erosionstendenzen werfen natürlich Fragen nach den Ursachen auf. Sind es die Belegschaften, die in zunehmendem Maß auf die Gründung bzw. die Wiederwahl einer betrieblichen Interessenvertretung verzichten? Nimmt mögErosion der betrieblichen Mitbestimmung – Welche Rolle spielt der Strukturwandel?
The prognostic value of primary tumor size in papillary and follicular thyroid carcinoma

A delay in the diagnosis of differentiated thyroid carcinoma often leads to larger tumors, higher prevalence rates of distant metastasis, and earlier cause‐specific deaths. Threshold tumor diameters for extrathyroidal growth, lymph node spread, and distant metastasis in papillary (PTC) and follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) remain to be defined.
Large-scale identification of patients with cerebral aneurysms using natural language processing

Objective: To use natural language processing (NLP) in conjunction with the electronic medical record (EMR) to accurately identify patients with cerebral aneurysms and their matched controls. Methods: ICD-9 and Current Procedural Terminology codes were used to obtain an initial data mart of potential aneurysm patients from the EMR. NLP was then used to train a classification algorithm with . 632 bootstrap cross-validation used for correction of overfitting bias. The classification rule was then applied to the full data mart. Additional validation was performed on 300 patients classified as having aneurysms. Controls were obtained by matching age, sex, race, and healthcare use. Results: We identified 55,675 patients of 4.2 million patients with ICD-9 and Current Procedural Terminology codes consistent with cerebral aneurysms. Of those, 16,823 patients had the term aneurysm occur near relevant anatomic terms. After training, a final algorithm consisting of 8 coded and 14 NLP variables was selected, yielding an overall area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of 0.95. After the final algorithm was applied, 5,589 patients were classified as having aneurysms, and 54,952 controls were matched to those patients. The positive predictive value based on a validation cohort of 300 patients was 0.86. Conclusions: We harnessed the power of the EMR by applying NLP to obtain a large cohort of patients with intracranial aneurysms and their matched controls. Such algorithms can be generalized to other diseases for epidemiologic and genetic studies.
The New Triffin Dilemma

According to Pozsar, there is a new kind of “Triffin Dilemma. ” Due to rising inequality, a shrinking numbers of large banks, and a ceiling on Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insured deposits, there is a shortage of “safe assets. ” The private supply of safe assets has occurred through the system of shadow banks, and is based on repos, or Treasury Bonds. But the supply of US Treasury bonds is limited by the ceiling on public debt, and is constrained by neoliberal theories of limits to the size of government. As a result, there is a presumed shortage of safe assets, just when the levels of inequality have increased the order of magnitude of assets under management which are in need of protection. There are also large accumulations of cash pools by large multinational corporations, often held overseas to evade taxes. The private provision of safe assets tends to reduce liquidity and increase costs of information, potentially leading to financial instability. Possible resolutions of this issue include (1) progressive taxes to reduce the size of the cash pools, (2) an increase in the ceiling for insured deposits, and (3) increasing support by the Fed for the role of “market maker of last resort. ” This paper concludes with the implications of each alternative. JEL Classification: B5, E44, G01, P1
Broad Spectrum Anti-Quorum Sensing Activity of Tannin-Rich Crude Extracts of Indian Medicinal Plants

Quorum sensing (QS) mechanisms have been demonstrated to have significance in expression of pathogenicity in infectious bacteria. In Gram negative bacteria the autoinducer molecules that mediate QS are acyl homoserine lactones (AHL) and in Gram positive bacteria they are peptides called autoinducing peptides (AIP). A screening of tannin-rich medicinal plants was attempted to identify extracts that could interrupt the QS mechanisms in both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria over a wide range of concentrations and therefore potentially be potent agents that could act as broad spectrum QS inhibitors. Six out of the twelve Indian medicinal plant extracts that were analyzed exhibited anti-QS activity in Chromobacterium violaceum 12472 and in S. aureus strain with agr:blaZ fusion over a broad range of subinhibitory concentrations, indicating that the extracts contain high concentration of molecules that can interfere with the QS mechanisms mediated by AHL as well as AIP.
A new LC series element for compact bandpass filter design

A new LC series element based on a modified version of the split rings resonator introduced in is proposed. Owing to its small electrical size, the new open split ring resonator (OSRR) is a very attractive element for compact bandpass filter design. As an example, we have designed and fabricated a filter to produce a bandpass around the resonance frequency of the employed OSRRs. The filter bandwidth is controlled by the length of the transmission lines connecting the OSRRs. Sharp and deep out-of-band rejection is achieved by cascading several OSRRs. Circuit theory and electromagnetic based simulations reasonably agree with experiments.
Platform for EEG signal processing for motor imagery - application Brain Computer Interface

Over 2 million people are affected by neural diseases such as multiple Sclerosis, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, and other diseases impairing the neural pathways that control muscles. Indeed, these diseases cause severe paralysis and the persons suffer from what is called “Locked in syndrom”. Consequently, a Brain Computer Interface noted BCI can be used as an alternative communication channel. This project belongs to a Brain Computer Interface research. More precisely, it focuses on the development of noninvasive platform of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals in terms of acquisition, pre-processing, feature extraction for providing an alternative communication or control channel for patient with severe motor disabilities.