Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relevancia de la heterogeneidad socioeconómica. Estudio comparativo entre América Latina y Europa basado en la adaptación del esquema EGP

Els estudis comparatius internacionals d’estratificacio social i mobilitat de classes es basen en esquemes de classes concebuts per als paisos industrialitzats. L’esquema EGP, desenvolupat per Erikson, Goldthorpe i Portocarero, s’ha convertit en un estandard en el camp de la mobilitat social. Tanmateix, aquest esquema pot no reflectir heterogeneitats en les relacions laborals que s’han agreujat en els ultims anys producte de la flexibilitzacio, la precaritzacio i la pauperitzacio dels contractes, on les ocupacions assalariades i autonomes estan segmentades en sectors d’alta i baixa productivitat, amb condicions de treball i remuneracions desiguals. La hipotesi que guia el nostre treball es la seguent: l’impacte d’heterogeneitat a l’America Llatina es tan fort que aquesta dimensio ha de ser considerada en l’analisi de classe. La nostra hipotesi alternativa es que els paisos del sud d’Europa es troben en una situacio intermedia entre l’America Llatina i l’Europa industrialitzada mes aviat. Proposem una adaptacio de l’esquema EGP per explicar aquesta heterogeneitat. Per fer-ho, utilitzem dades d’enquestes nacionals de llars d’alguns paisos llatinoamericans i tambe de paisos del sud d’Europa, amb la intencio de caracteritzar-ne les estructures de classe i analitzar l’associacio entre la pertinenca a la classe i les condicions de vida. La introduccio de distincions en l’esquema de classes es rellevant en contextos d’alta heterogeneitat, pero no pas en tots els contextos economics, per la qual cosa s’espera que, en societats de major desenvolupament relatiu o viceversa, les classes socials no siguin les mateixes.
The COMFORT project

The COMFORT project, which is intended to automate the performance tuning of database systems, is discussed. The project addresses several important tuning issues of parallel database systems in a multiuser environment, and it aims to develop general architectural principles for a self-tuning database system. The overall goals and the rationale are examined, and a brief overview of the current work is given. <<ETX>>
Cholesteryl ester transfer protein as a protective factor against vascular disease in hemodialysis patients.

Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) may promote reverse cholesterol transport. An elevated concentration of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) is a protective factor against atherosclerosis. However, the effects of CETP itself and its interaction with HDL-C have not been investigated in hemodialysis patients, who are at high risk for atherosclerosis and generally considered to have decreased reverse cholesterol transport. We investigated the independent or synergistic influence of postprandial serum CETP and HDL-C concentrations on apparent atherosclerotic complications in 202 hemodialysis patients aged 40 to 80 years. Patients with vascular disease (n = 39) had significantly lower concentrations of CETP than those without vascular disease (n = 163). When all study subjects were divided into four groups according to CETP and HDL-C concentrations based on median values, we found significant differences in the prevalence of vascular disease (test for trend, P < 0.005): 28.8% in group I (HDL-C < 48 mg/dL; CETP < 2.2 microgram/mL); 25.0% in group II (HDL-C < 48 mg/dL; CETP >/= 2.2 microgram/mL); 17.8% in group III (HDL-C >/= 48 mg/dL; CETP < 2.2 microgram/mL); and 6.9% in group IV (HDL-C >/= 48 mg/dL; CETP >/= 2.2 microgram/mL). Multiple logistic regression analysis retained the interaction term between HDL-C (in milligrams per deciliter) and CETP (in micrograms per milliliter), but not HDL-C or CETP itself, as inversely associated with vascular disease in the entire patient group. In patients with HDL-C levels at the median value or greater, CETP had an independent odds ratio of 0.31 (95% confidence interval, 0.1 to 0.97; P < 0.05) after adjusting for age. These results suggest that CETP may serve as a protective factor against vascular disease in hemodialysis patients, especially those with normal or elevated HDL-C concentrations.
High-Speed Railway Communications: From GSM-R to LTE-R

High-speed railways (HSRs) improve the quality of rail services, yield greater customer satisfaction, and help to create socioeconomically balanced societies [1]. This highly efficient transport mode creates significant challenges in terms of investment, technology, industry, and environment. To handle increasing traffic, ensure passenger safety, and provide real-time multimedia information, a new communication system for HSR is required. In the last decade, public networks have been evolving from voice-centric second-generation systems, e.g., Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) with limited capabilities, to fourth-generation (4G) broad-band systems that offer higher data rates, e.g., long-term evolution (LTE). It is thus relevant for HSR to replace the current GSM-railway (GSM-R) technology with the next-generation railway-dedicated communication system providing improved capacity and capability.
[Identifying risk factors for pregnancy amongst Colombian adolescents from urban and rural school populations].

OBJECTIVE Assessing risk factors for pregnancy in an adolescent school population. METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional observational study was carried out on 7,068 adolescents whose ages ranged from 11 to 20 years who were attending 14 public schools in Bogotá and the surrounding municipalities. A self-questionnaire was administered focusing on socio-demographic, family and sentimental factors and the adolescents' knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding sexuality. RESULTS The average age was 15.3 years. 80 % had received family-planning in-formation; 32 % recognised the menstrual cycle. The prevalence of sexual activity was 40 % and 20 % were leading a sexually-active life. The prevalence of pregnancy was 4 % and the declared abortion rate was 1%. The risk factors involved not having received information about family-planning compared to understanding family-planning but with some doubts (OR 0.1: 0.03 to 0.4 95 % CI), previous abortion (OR 7.8: 2.3 to 25.8 95 % CI), not having planned against pregnancy during the first sexual relationship (OR 3.9: 2.2-7 95 % CI). Self-esteem, relationship with parents and perception of the future were not identified as being risk factors. CONCLUSIONS Teenage pregnancy seemed to be an accidental situation due to lack of knowledge rather than occurring because some teenagers were having trouble.
From isotropic to anisotropic superconductors: A scaling approach.

We present a new scaling approach which allows one to map results obtained for isotropic superconductors to anisotropic materials in a simple and direct way. The scaling rules are obtained on the level of Ginzburg-Landau-- or London--type equations and applied directly to the desired phenomenological quantity. We illustrate the method by calculating the elasticity moduli, the depinning and melting temperatures, the critical current densities, and the activation barriers for classical and quantum creep in anisotropic superconductors for an arbitrary angle between the magnetic field and the axes of anisotropy.
E-learning in Price Risk Management

The principal achievement of this paper is the combinative use of two market institutions: public warehousing and commodity exchange and how their joint application is beneficial for the players on the grain market. Based on a theoretical foundation, a calculation model was developed in order to assist short and long-term marketing decisions. This electronically developed and working model allows all the three participants of the market: producers, consumers and traders, to use this model in immediate calculations in price decisions and business transactions. The model can be used to analyze factors influencing the establishment of price; therefore, it can be also used for policy-making decisions and applied in our undergraduate and graduate education.
Beyond Utterance Extraction: Summary Recombination for Speech Summarization

This paper describes a template filling approach for creating conversation summaries. The templates are generated from generalized summary fragments from a training corpus. Necessary pieces of information for filling them are extracted automatically from the conversation transcripts given linguistic features, and drive the fragment selection process. The approach obtains ROUGE-2 scores of 0.08471 on the RATP-DECODA corpus, which represents a significant improvement over extractive baselines and hand-written templates.
Physical activity guidelines.

In a landmark achievement, the United States Department of Health and Human Services published the first ever Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans in 2008. This science-based guidance helps guide Americans aged 6 and older in efforts to improve and maintain their health and avoid disease through appropriate and regular physical activity and serves as the foundation for federal, state, and local physical activity policy. The Guidelines also help physicians provide advice to their patients and help people learn the health benefits of physical activity, the amount of exercise to do each day to improve or maintain health and how to be physically active, while reducing the risks of injury. Unlike the Dietary Guidelines for Americans that are evaluated every five years for an update, the Physical Activity Guidelines have no such mandate from Congress.
Experimental Analysis of Model-Based Predictive Optimal Control for Active and Passive Building Thermal Storage Inventory

This paper demonstrates model-based predictive optimal control of active and passive building thermal storage inventory in a test facility in real time using time-of-use differentiated electricity prices without demand charges. A novel supervisory controller successfully executed a three-step procedure consisting of (1) short-term weather prediction, (2) optimization of control strategy over the next planning horizon using a calibrated building model, and (3) post-processing of the optimal strategy to yield a control command for the current time step that can be executed in the test facility. All primary and secondary building mechanical systems were effectively orchestrated by the model-based predictive optimal controller in real time while observing comfort and operational constraints. It was determined that even when the optimal controller is given imperfect weather forecasts and when the building model used for planning control strategies does not match the actual building perfectly, measured utility cost savings relative to conventional building operation can be substantial. Central requirements are a facility that lends itself to passive storage utilization and a building model that includes a realistic plant representation. Savings associated with passive building thermal storage inventory proved to be small in this case because the test facility is not an ideal candidate for the investigated control technology. Moreover, the facility's central plant revealed the idiosyncratic behavior that the chiller operation in the ice-making mode was more energy efficient than in the chilled-water mode. Field experimentation is now required in a suitable commercial building with sufficient thermal mass, an active TES system, and a climate conducive to passive storage utilization over a longer testing period to support the laboratory findings presented in this study.
Performance Management in Practice : A Comparative Study of Executive Agencies

This article reports a study of performance management practices in four functions across four European Union member states (Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). The focus is on how and to what extent performance indicators influenced the top management of the agencies concerned and the degree to which performance data were used by ministries as steering instruments. The research uses a historical institutionalist perspective combined with a model that identifies primary task characteristics as a source of significant variation. Thus the design explores both the influence of task characteristics (through contrasts among the four different functions) and embedded national system characteristics (through contrasts among the four countries). I show that both primary task characteristics and national system characteristics had some of the theoretically predicted effects on the management regimes. Equally, however, certain general tendencies embraced all countries and most functions. These include, first, the incremental growth of more sophisticated performance indicator systems and, second, the feebleness of ministries in developing performance-based strategic steering. Over the past two decades the introduction of performance management and the creation of executive agencies have been two of the most widespread international trends in public management (De Bruijn 2002; Holzer and Yang 2004; Ingraham, Joyce, and Donahue 2003; Joustie 2001; Mol and Kruijf 2004; Office of Public Services Reform 2002; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] 2002; Pollitt and Bouckaert 2004; Pollitt and Talbot 2004; Pollitt, Talbot, Caulfield, and Smullen 2004; Van Thiel 2004; Yesilkagit 2004). While these two (linked) types of development have been ‘‘translated,’’ in different ways in different countries and sectors, there can be little doubt of the pervasiveness of the reform rhetoric featuring one, or often both, of these ‘‘solutions. ’’ As yet, however, we are rather short of comparative empirical research into the actual practice of ‘‘agencification’’ and its relationship to performance management. This article is a single-authored derivative of the EUROPAIR project, which was a team effort involving Janice Caulfield, Amanda Smullen, Colin Talbot, and myself. Adrian O’Reilly and Karen Bathgate also assisted in the early stages. EUROPAIR was supported by a grant from the U.K. Economic and Social Research Council and by the Centre for Public Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Address correspondence to the corresponding author at
DBHS proteins affect the circadian clock 1 Distinct roles of DBHS family members in the circadian transcriptional feedback 1 loop

Distinct roles of DBHS family members in the circadian transcriptional feedback 1 loop. 2 3 Elzbieta Kowalska, Jürgen A. Ripperger§, Christine Muheim§, Bert Maier, Yasuyuki 4 Kurihara, Archa H. Fox, Achim Kramer, and Steven A. Brown* 5 6 Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 7 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. 8 Department of Biology, Unit for Biochemistry, University of Fribourg, Chemin de Musée 9 5, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland 10 Laboratory of Chronobiology, Institute of Medical Immunology, Charite 11 Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany 12 Department of Natural Environment and Information, Yokohama National University, 13 Tokiwadai 79-7, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501 Japan 14 5 Western Australian Institute for Medical Research and Centre For Medical Research, 15 University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009 Australia. 16 17 *Address correspondence to steven.brown@pharma.uzh. ch 18 §These authors contributed equally to this publication. 19 20
A study on a garbage collector for embedded applications

In general, embedded systems, such as cellular phones and PDAs are provided with small amounts of memory and a low power processor that is slower than desktop ones. Despite these limited resources, present technology allows designers to integrate, in a single chip, an entire system. In this scenario, software development for embedded systems is an error-prone operation. In order to develop better code in less time, Java technology has gained a lot of interest from developers of embedded systems in the last few years, mainly because of its portability, code reuse, and object-oriented paradigm. On the other hand, Java requires an automatic memory management system in Java processors. This paper presents a garbage collection technique based on a software approach for an embedded Java processor. This technique is targeted for applications that are used in portable embedded systems. This paper discusses the most suited algorithm for such applications, showing also some performance overhead results.
Transformerless DC-DC converters with a very high DC line-to-load voltage ratio

By splitting the output capacitor of a basic boost converter, and combining the resulting capacitors with the main switch in the form of a switched-capacitor circuit, a new step-up structure is realized. Without using a transformer, a high line-to-load DC voltage ratio is obtained. An output filter is added as usual in boost converters for getting a free-ripple output. The circuit compares favorably with a quadratic boost converter as regarding the count of devices and efficiency, even if it presents a lower DC gain. A DC analysis of the novel converter is presented. Experimental and simulation results confirm the theoretical expectations. By increasing the number of capacitors in the switched-capacitor circuit, higher gains are obtained. Versatility, high voltage gain and a good transient response are the features of the proposed converter.
Prognostic value of estrogen receptors in primary breast cancer

The estrogen receptor status in 335 primary breast carcinomas was correlated with disease‐free interval, survival and site of recurrent disease. Estrogen receptor positive carcinomas had a longer disease‐free interval, a longer survival (mastectomy‐death) and a longer time interval between recurrence and death. These parameters were also influenced by the lymph node status at mastectomy. Estrogen receptor positive cancers had a significantly better chance of survival independent of lymph node status. Estrogen receptors also delayed recurrence in node‐positive carcinomas, but this advantage gradually disappeared with increasing interval after mastectomy. Estrogen receptor positive or estrogen receptor negative primary carcinomas did not show any predilection for spread to any particular site. Cancer 44:671‐675, 1979.
Effect of omitting one or two milkings weekly on lactational performance in dairy ewes

We investigated the effects of omitting one or two milkings weekly on milk yield and milk composition in dairy sheep. Ninety Spanish Assaf ewes were allocated to three experimental treatments: T0 (no milking omission; 14 milkings/week), T1 (omission of one evening milking per week; 13 milkings/week) and T2 (omission of two evening milkings per week; 12 milkings/week). The experiment was extended for 11 weeks, from week 7 after lambing to week 17 of lactation. Once a week, daily milk production was recorded just before and after the omission. Milk quality and composition was analysed in lactation weeks 9, 13 and 16. Omission of one or two evening milkings each week resulted in an increase in milk production recorded the day immediately after the omission (27% for T1 and 16% for T2), which can be attributed to accumulation of milk in the udder cisterns. This increase did not compensate completely for the loss of yield in the omitted milking. The lack of significant differences among the three milking strategies in milk production (on average 1903, 2062 and 1833 ml/d for T0, T1 and T2, respectively) recorded before omission throughout the trial, would indicate the absence of residual effects of the omission on production in subsequent weeks. Treatment T2 resulted in a loss of milk production of approximately 39% during those days when milkings were omitted, representing a decrease of approximately 10% of the estimated weekly milk production. In relation to milk composition, milking omission led to significant increases in the fat and protein concentrations of the milk collected after the omission, whereas differences were not significant for the milk obtained before the omission. Despite the slight increase observed in treatment T2 after the milking omission, the somatic cell count was always far below that considered as indicative of possible pathologies. In conclusion, at least one evening milking could be omitted each week in high-producing dairy sheep without adversely affecting milk yield and milk composition.
Fibrin clots obtained from plasma containing heparin show a higher sensitivity to t‐PA-induced lysis

Although heparin is currently used in concomitance with thrombolytic agents to improve their efficacy, its effect on fibrinolysis is controversial. We have evaluated the sensitivity to t-PA-induced lysis of clots prepared from plasma preincubated in vitro with thera-peutic concentrations of heparin. The extent of t-PA-induced lysis was significantly increased by preincubation of plasma with 0.5 and 1.0 U/ml heparin. The concentration of t-PA required to give similar lysis rates were reduced by up to five times after adding 1.0 U/ml heparin to plasma prior to clot formation. Heparin added to the t-PA-containing medium after clot formation did not exert any signifi-cant effect. The effect of heparin was not mediated by the inhibition of thrombin as preincubation of plasma with hirudin did not modify clot sensitivity to t-PA. We also found that heparin significantly modified fibrin assembly and clot structure as assessed by a turbidimetric assay. Pre-incubation of fibrinogen with heparin caused an increase in the speed of fibrin fibre polymerization and in the turbidity of the final fibrin gel; changes known to be associated with the formation of thicker fibrin fibres. Thus the effect of heparin on clot sensitivity to lysis appears to be due to an increased permeability of these clots to fibrinolytic components. This may contribute to the antithrombotic activity and to the haemorrhagic risk of heparin. These findings could be particularly important for clinical thrombolysis. Our data suggest that the concomitant administration of heparin with thrombolytic agents, as well as inhibiting the accretion of new fibrin on the lysing thrombi, could also enhance the lysability of the fibrin eventually accreted on the thrombi.
On sympathetic vasoconstrictor tone in human skeletal muscle

Biulbring & Burn [1935, 1937] have shown that the sympathetic nerves to the skeletal muscles in dogs, cats, hares, rabbits and monkeys have a vasoconstrictor component. Anrep, Blalock & Samaan [1934] and Baetjer [1930] have found sympathetic vasoconstrictor tone in resting dog and cat muscle. In man the position is not clear. Sympathectomy is sometimes performed in the expectation of releasing constrictor tone in muscle and so quickening blood flow. But evidence that it would do so seems lacking, for Woollard & Phillips [1932], Friedlander, Silbert, Bierman & Laskey [1938] and Grant & Holling [1938] blocked human motor nerves but could not detect any rise in temperature in or over the muscles.
Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2015 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association

STRIDE (Stanford Translational Research Integrated Database Environment) is a research and development project at Stanford University to create a standards-based informatics platform supporting clinical and translational research. STRIDE consists of three integrated components: a clinical data warehouse, based on the HL7 Reference Information Model (RIM), containing clinical information on over 1.3 million pediatric and adult patients cared for at Stanford University Medical Center since 1995; an application development framework for building research data management applications on the STRIDE platform and a biospecimen data management system. STRIDE’s semantic model uses standardized terminologies, such as SNOMED, RxNorm, ICD and CPT, to represent important biomedical concepts and their relationships. The system is in daily use at Stanford and is an important component of Stanford University’s CTSA (Clinical and Translational Science Award) Informatics Program.