Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do socioeconomic characteristics modify the short term association between air pollution and mortality? Evidence from a zonal time series in Hamilton, Canada

Study objective: To assess the short term association between air pollution and mortality in different zones of an industrial city. An intra-urban study design is used to test the hypothesis that socioeconomic characteristics modify the acute health effects of ambient air pollution exposure. Design: The City of Hamilton, Canada, was divided into five zones based on proximity to fixed site air pollution monitors. Within each zone, daily counts of non-trauma mortality and air pollution estimates were combined. Generalised linear models (GLMs) were used to test mortality associations with sulphur dioxide (SO2) and with particulate air pollution measured by the coefficient of haze (CoH). Main results: Increased mortality was associated with air pollution exposure in a citywide model and in intra-urban zones with lower socioeconomic characteristics. Low educational attainment and high manufacturing employment in the zones significantly and positively modified the acute mortality effects of air pollution exposure. Discussion: Three possible explanations are proposed for the observed effect modification by education and manufacturing: (1) those in manufacturing receive higher workplace exposures that combine with ambient exposures to produce larger health effects; (2) persons with lower education are less mobile and experience less exposure measurement error, which reduces bias toward the null; or (3) manufacturing and education proxy for many social variables representing material deprivation, and poor material conditions increase susceptibility to health risks from air pollution.
Changing Structure, Financial Risks, and Government Policy for the U.S. Dairy Industry

Congress reorganized dairy policy in the Agricultural Act of 2014 when it eliminated three programs and created the Dairy Margin Protection Program. The new program aims to provide farmers with financial protection against risks from increasing vola - tility in milk and feed prices. These developments occurred amid ongoing structural change toward larger dairy farms, as well as ongoing change in dairy product demand, away from fluid milk, and toward manufactured products sold in domestic and export markets. This report focuses on the interrelated topics of structural change in dairy production, changes in dairy product markets, growing price volatility, and dairy policy. It details the major developments in each, traces the linkages among them, and identifies the challenges that structural change, evolving product markets, and price volatility pose for policy. ----- Errata On May 17, the following corrections were made to ERR-205, Changing Structure, Financial Risks, and Government Policy for the U.S. Dairy Industry . Three cells in Table 3 were updated as follows: “Western States, 3,000-3,999 head in 1992" (19), “Traditional States, 1,000-1,999 head in 1997" (54), and “Other States, 1,000-1,999 head in 2002" (56). On page 10, the State in which Shamrock Farms is located was corrected. In addition, Appendix table A-2 was updated to reflect return-on-equity calculations for the full rather than a restricted sample of dairy farms.
Ring-waves generated by water drops impacting on water surfaces at rest

Radar observations of the ocean surface can be affected by impacting raindrops. Ring-wave measurements are presented for drops of 2.2 and 2.8 mm in diameter impacting on fresh and salt water surfaces initially at rest. They are based on the observation of the mirror image of a sharp edge on the perturbed surface. The retrieved wave profiles show a rather stable characteristic wavenumber (0.2 mm/sup -1/) and very small wave amplitudes: the fraction of the incident kinetic energy converted into ring-waves is of the order of 1%.
Design and Implementation of Electronic Controllers and its Automated Vision System

In this paper a model of a two-axis gimbal is revised. Its performance, in front of the external perturbation, is presented for a PD controller, a fuzzy logic controller and a model reference adaptive controller. A robotized gimbal system is implemented in which real and practical experiments are performed. Its dynamic performance, in front of external perturbations, is analyzed, evaluated, and the results are presented.
An immunotoxin with greatly reduced immunogenicity by identification and removal of B cell epitopes

Recombinant immunotoxins are hybrid proteins composed of an Fv that binds to a tumor antigen fused to a bacterial or plant toxin. Immunotoxin BL22 targets CD22 positive malignancies and is composed of an anti-CD22 Fv fused to a 38-kDa fragment of Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE38). BL22 has produced many complete remissions in drug-resistant Hairy cell leukemia, where many treatment cycles can be given, because neutralizing antibodies do not form. In marked contrast, only minor responses have been observed in trials with immunotoxins targeting solid tumors, because only a single treatment cycle can be given before antibodies develop. To allow more treatment cycles and increase efficacy, we have produced a less immunogenic immunotoxin by identifying and eliminating most of the B cell epitopes on PE38. This was accomplished by mutation of specific large hydrophilic amino acids (Arg, Gln, Glu, Lys) to Ala, Ser, or Gly. The new immunotoxin (HA22–8X) is significantly less immunogenic in three strains of mice, yet retains full cytotoxic and anti-tumor activities. Elimination of B-cell epitopes is a promising approach to the production of less immunogenic proteins for therapeutic purposes.
Imaging of shear waves induced by Lorentz force in soft solids

One of the main challenge in shear wave elastography is the shear wave source. Most of nowadays techniques are using external vibrator or acoustic radiation force. Otherwise, by applying an electrical current in a conductor submitted to a magnetic field, a displacement is induced by Lorentz force. This displacement is propagating as a combination of compressional and shear waves. In this study, we observed for the first time shear waves induced by Lorentz force in a tissue-mimicking phantom. In our experiment, a 10 ms long, 80 V peak-to-peak electrical signal was applied with two electrodes in a gelatin phantom placed in a 300 mT magnetic field. The phantom has an electrical conductivity of 1 S/m, close to the human soft tissue conductivity. An ultrasonic probe was acquiring an image in ultrafast mode at 1000 frames per second with a Verasonics ultrasound scanner. Displacements in the phantom were measured with a speckle-tracking technique based on correlations between each image. Results showed that a displacement of a few micrometers is induced by Lorentz force which results in a shear wave propagation at a speed of 1.4 ± 0.1 m/s. These results could lead to a shear wave elastography technique based on the combination of electrical current and magnetic field.
A Study of the Pre-Attack Behaviors of Active Shooters in the United States Between 2000 and 2013

PLANNING AND PREPARATION 73% of active shooters had a known connection with the attack site. 35% of active shooters age 18 and older targeted their workplace or former workplace. 88% of active shooters age 17 and younger targeted their school or former school. Active shooters with no known connection to the site were more likely to conduct pre-attack site surveillance as compared to those with a connection to the targeted site. 21% of active shooters researched or studied past attacks by others.
The Military Tourniquet

Corresponding Author: Lt Col PJ Parker FIMC FRCSEd FRCSOrth RAMC, Consultant Adviser in Orthopaedics to DGAMS, MDHU(N) Friarage Hospital, Northallerton DL6 1JG The Military Tourniquet Advances in the management of military trauma have focussed on the critical need for early life-threatening haemorrhage control – the C-ABC of BATLS (1). These measures have included the recent liberal re-issuing of tourniquets: The use of tourniquets in conflict has always been controversial, with strong opinions both for and against their use (2,3). Whilst tourniquets may have saved lives, they have also caused un-necessary limb loss (3). It is therefore vital that all available evidence is critically analysed and any resulting treatment protocols constructed without excessive zeal, emotion or bias. Tourniquets are now applied for tactical or dressing, (or a novel haemostatic) applied to control any ensuing bleeding – ‘tactical field care’. This imperative will be a significant challenge in our ‘fog of war’. There are only three significant datasets containing clinical information regarding the field use of military tourniquets. The first describes the Norwegian military experience in Iraq in 1991(4). 109 patients were treated in a Norwegian UN hospital in the demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait. 68 of these patients had suffered major traumatic amputations during UN de-mining operations. There were two observation periods in the study: 31st July to 27th September and 28th September to 14th October. In the first period, tourniquets were liberally used and continuous bleeding distal to the wounds was frequently seen. Field protocols were then changed to a policy of ‘remove any tourniquets and dress the wound with a tight elastic bandage’. 3/18 (17%) died in the first period and 1/50 (2%) in the second (p<0.05). Admission haemoglobin levels were 8.6g/100ml (10/18 – 56% requiring transfusion) in the first period and 10.5g/100ml (13/50 – 27% requiring transfusion) in the second (p<0.05). Criticisms can be made of this paper: The tourniquets were often home-made and there may also have been a learning curve in injury management. The current British Army tourniquet (CAT), whilst not home-made, is certainly not the equivalent of the medical tourniquets used in hospitals today (vide infra). This paper is still clear evidence however that tourniquets may not only be ineffective, but might actually be dangerous when used on traumatic amputations. This is also our opinion based on our own experience of traumatic amputations, which we consider as injuries that rarely bleed, and in which a tourniquet is rarely if ever indicated (Fig 1).
VMMF: Volatile memory management framework

The growing size of computer memory offers an opportunity to improve the performance of applications by storing as much data as possible in memory. However, this aggressive memory utilization should be managed carefully, because severe system-wide performance degradation can result from virtual memory (VM) paging activities once a memory shortage occurs. In this study, we propose a volatile memory management framework (VMMF) for such applications. Volatile memory means the owner process desires to use it for better performance but the system can reclaim it asynchronously without saving the content into the swap area. The concept of this framework is similar to that of “weak reference” implemented in several programming languages with the garbage collection (GC) mechanism. We extend the concept to a programming style with explicit memory management, which is adopted by many applications implemented in C/C++. The VMMF can improve performance robustness against fluctuations in memory demand.
Mobile Shopping: An Analysis of Extended Technology Acceptance Model of Indian Consumers

The study integrates two distinct theories for investing the intentions of Indian consumers’ to adopt mobile shopping. Based on existing literature a conceptual model has been proposed, which will explain the integrated effect of flow and TAM theory in the adoption of mobile shopping. Secondary purpose of this study is to check the influence of flow and its dimension (control), on attitude and intentions on mobile shopping experience. Further, the study proposes that flow experience is induced by perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use toward mobile shopping. Current paper also proposed that flow positively affects attitude therefore influencing purchase intentions. To study the above hypotheses structural equation model will be used. Data will be collected from 490 Indian online shoppers for testing the hypotheses. The data will be collected through convenience sampling technique. Likert scale (seven points) ranging from “very strongly agree “(VSA) to very strongly disagree” (VSD) will be used in the study. The items used in the questionnaire will be taken from the prevailing scales. Further the questionnaire will be divided into two parts. First part will predict the perception of consumers towards mobile shopping and second part will record the demographic details of the respondents. This current study will add to the literature of mobile shopping, as there is lack of literature in this field. This is the first study to check the impact of extended technology acceptance model specially by including flow theory in the case of Indian consumers. The paper concludes with managerial implications and future research directions.
Factors Affecting the Earning Response Coefficient with Real Activities Earning Management as Moderator: Evidence from Indonesia Stock Exchange

This study aims to explain the phenomenon of the most active companies traded shares in Indonesian stock exchange. This research is motivated to analyze the response of investors to take a decision after presenting the company's financial statements. This study uses panel data consisting of 20 companies selected by purposive sampling method, using a regression model and data processing via SPSS 24. The results of this study found that the variable leverage and capital expenditure variables significantly influence the response of investors to execute the company's stock, thereby affecting the stock return. The level of leverage and significant positive effect on the response of investors, particularly due to the use of debt to investment would increase earnings per share or at a certain amount of equity can boost earnings per share acquisition. Capital expenditure and significant negative effect on the response of investors for investor tend to speculate on short-term period, which means that companies that invest in the early stages will have difficulties liquidity and rate of return will decline, so investors will shift their investment.
Endogeneity in Strategy-Performance Analysis: An Application to Initial Human Capital Strategy and New Venture Performance

Managers engage in a variety of strategies, not randomly, but having in mind their performance implications. Therefore, strategic choices are endogenous in performance equations. Despite increasing efforts by various scholars in solving endogeneity bias, prior attempts have almost exclusively focused on single, one-sided, and discrete (binary) organizational decisions. Yet, in reality, managers often face multiple, simultaneous, and interdependent decisions, possibly including a continuous choice set. These choices may further entail a two-sided process between managers and others, such as employees, strategic partners, customers, or investors, whose choices and preferences also affect the final decision. We discuss how endogeneity can plague the measurement of the performance effects of these two-sided strategic decisions—which are more complex, but more realistic, than prior representations of organizational decision making. We provide an empirical demonstration of possible methods to deal with three different sources of bias, by analyzing the performance effects of two human capital choices made by founders at startup: the size and average quality of the initial workforce.
Can Interventions to Increase Schooling and Incomes Reduce HIV Incidence Among Young Women in Sub-Saharan Africa?

This chapter provides insights into resolving the social issues that have led to the pre-existent disparity of young females are far more likely than young males to be infected by HIV. In this case, the structural-level problem is centered on inequitable access to education in sub-Saharan Africa. The chapter examines the impact of conditional and unconditional cash transfers on risk factors related to HIV among girls. After summarizing the existing evidence, the chapter provides a detailed description of two studies: the Schooling, Income and Health Risk study in Malawi and the Empowerment and Livelihood study in Uganda. A final section of the chapter gives recommendations for policy and future research.
The Influence of Trust and Brand Image on Purchase Intention in Online Shopping: A Comparative Study between Amazon and Flipkart

Internet is changing the way customers shop and buy goods and has rapidly evolved into a Worldwide phenomenon and India is not far behind. It has become a tool for cutting the marketing cost thereby reducing theprice of the product and keeping a company ahead in a highly competitive market situation.In India, the internet shopping has catapulted into a new league with the advent of 4G connectivity. With having only 150 million internet users in 2012, the numbers have largely increased in the last five years with India becoming the third largest population in terms of Internet usage. With a change in the nature of work and various government ini t ia t ives to s t rengthen infrastructure and internet connectivity,number of internet users especially on the mobile phones has grown astronomically.
Public health and therapeutic aspects of smoking bans in mental health and addiction settings.

OBJECTIVE Health care facilities are increasingly implementing policies that ban smoking. A concern has been raised that these policies may have a negative impact on smokers who are mentally ill or substance dependent. The authors conducted a literature review to analyze the relevant empirical evidence. METHODS Major health care databases were searched. Major search terms included smoking, smoking cessation, nicotine, health policy, hospital policy, smoke-free policy, psychiatric disorders, and substance use disorders. The search was limited to empirical studies, which were analyzed on the basis of design, the behavioral indicators monitored, and the results of questionnaires. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS A total of 22 investigations of the impact of total or partial smoking bans suggest that the policies have had no major longstanding untoward effect in terms of behavioral indicators of unrest or compliance. However, the policies appear to have had little or no effect on smoking cessation. Smoking cessation strategies should be an inherent component of policies that ban smoking.
SHOT: Scenario-Type Hypothesis Object Tracking with Indoor Sensor Networks

In the present paper, we propose an object tracking method called scenario-type hypothesis object tracking. In the proposed method, an indoor monitoring region is divided into multiple closed micro-cells using sensor nodes that can detect objects and their moving directions. Sensor information is accumulated in a tracking server through wireless multihop networks, and object tracking is performed at the tracking server. In order to estimate the trajectory of objects from sensor information, we introduce a novel concept of the virtual world, which consists of virtual micro-cells and virtual objects. Virtual objects are generated, transferred, and deleted in virtual micro-cells according to sensor information. In order to handle specific movements of objects in micro-cells, such as slowdown of passing objects in a narrow passageway, we also consider the generation of virtual objects according to interactions among virtual objects. In addition, virtual objects are generated when the tracking server estimates loss of sensor information in order to decrease the number of object tracking failures. Through simulations, we confirm that the ratio of successful tracking is improved by up to 29% by considering interactions among virtual objects. Furthermore, the tracking performance is improved up to 6% by considering loss of sensor information.
Interference Protection in Cognitive Radio Networks

Protection of interference on the primary system is the key requirement for deployment of a cognitive radio system. Typically, spectrum sensing is interleaved in the transmission process of a secondary user to detect the return of primary user for quick evacuation, resulting in frequent stopping of transmission. In this paper, we introduce a novel method of agile spectrum evacuation that ensures continuous transmission by the secondary user until the primary user actually returns. The sensing process goes on simultaneously by a dedicated set of users working in a cooperative manner. The proposed method is evaluated under fading and shadowing conditions and better interference protection and improved utilization of RF spectrum is obtained.
Cleaning and Disinfection of Biofilms Composed of Listeria monocytogenes and Background Microbiota from Meat Processing Surfaces

ABSTRACT Surfaces of food processing premises are exposed to regular cleaning and disinfection (C&D) regimes, using biocides that are highly effective against bacteria growing as planktonic cells. However, bacteria growing in surface-associated communities (biofilms) are typically more tolerant toward C&D than their individual free-cell counterparts, and survival of pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes may be affected by interspecies interactions within biofilms. In this study, Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter were the most frequently isolated genera surviving on conveyor belts subjected to C&D in meat processing plants. In the laboratory, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and L. monocytogenes dominated the community, both in suspensions and in biofilms formed on conveyor belts, when cultures were inoculated with eleven-genus cocktails of representative bacterial strains from the identified background flora. When biofilms were exposed to daily C&D cycles mimicking treatments used in food industry, the levels of Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas mandelii diminished, and biofilms were instead dominated by Pseudomonas putida (65 to 76%), Pseudomonas fluorescens (11 to 15%) and L. monocytogenes (3 to 11%). The dominance of certain species after daily C&D correlated with high planktonic growth rates at 12°C and tolerance to C&D. In single-species biofilms, L. monocytogenes developed higher tolerance to C&D over time, for both the peracetic acid and quaternary ammonium disinfectants, indicating that a broad-spectrum mechanism was involved. Survival after C&D appeared to be a common property of L. monocytogenes strains, as persistent and sporadic subtypes showed equal survival rates in complex biofilms. Biofilms established preferentially in surface irregularities of conveyor belts, potentially constituting harborage sites for persistent contamination. IMPORTANCE In the food industry, efficient production hygiene is a key measure to avoid the accumulation of spoilage bacteria and eliminate pathogens. However, the persistence of bacteria is an enduring problem in food processing environments. This study demonstrated that environmental bacteria can survive foam cleaning and disinfection (C&D) at concentrations used in the industrial environment. The phenomenon was replicated in laboratory experiments. Important characteristics of persisting bacteria were a high growth rate at low temperature, a tolerance to the cleaning agent, and the ability to form biofilms. This study also supports other recent research suggesting that strain-to-strain variation cannot explain why certain subtypes of Listeria monocytogenes persist in food processing environments while others are found only sporadically. The present investigation highlights the failure of regular C&D and a need for research on improved agents that efficiently detach the biofilm matrix.
Unusual amyloid polyneuropathy with predominant lurnbosacral nerve roots and plexus involvement

We report a 25-year-old patient with a progressive asymmetric peripheral neuropathy of the distal lower limbs. Imaging studies showed enlargement of lumbosacral roots, plexus, and proximal sciatic nerve. Sacral plexus biopsy revealed amyloidosis associated with endoneurial edema. Immunohistochemistry with anti-prealbumin, serum amyloid A, and immunoglobulin light chain antisera failed to label the amyloid.