Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FDI and China's Carbon Emissions

In view of the profound impact of CO2 emissions growth on global climate change,and China's commitment of 40%-45% carbon reduction in the International Climate Conference in Copenhagen at the end of 2009,this paper aims to study how Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) influences CO2 emissions in China.This research examines the impact of FDI on carbon dioxide emissions using data between 1978 and 2008.In a time series regression analysis,we find that foreign capital penetration has a significantly negative effect on the growth of CO2 emissions which is due to the spill-over effect.FDI inflows to some extent improve the environmental quality of China.It does not mean that FDI does no harm to us.We notice that foreign capitals of pollution-intensive industries have poured into China.China must formulate stricter environmental standard regarding inflows of foreign capital.Exports aggravate the pressure on CO2 emissions.This is the evidence of "Pollution Haven" theory.The fundamental way to reduce export-related CO2 emissions is to change the economic growth pattern and to upgrade the industrial structure.We find that increasing agriculture shares help reduce total CO2 emissions over the same period of data.The results again demonstrate the importance of agricultural production.Some agricultural provinces should focus on developing eco-agriculture and agricultural modernization.Economic growth,however,has no systematic effect on carbon emissions.
Accessory olfactory bulb function is modulated by input from the main olfactory epithelium

Although it is now established that sensory neurons in both the main olfactory epithelium and the vomeronasal organ may be activated by both general and pheromonal odorants, it remains unclear what initiates sampling by the vomeronasal organ. Anterograde transport of wheat germ agglutinin–horseradish peroxidase was used to determine that adequate intranasal syringing with zinc sulfate interrupted all inputs to the main olfactory bulb but left intact those to the accessory olfactory bulb. Adult male treated mice were frankly anosmic when tested with pheromonal and non‐pheromonal odors and failed to engage in aggressive behavior. Treated juvenile females failed to show puberty acceleration subsequent to exposure to bedding from adult males. Activation of the immediate early gene c‐Fos and electrovomeronasogram recording confirmed the integrity of the vomeronasal system in zinc sulfate‐treated mice. These results support the hypothesis that odor detection by the main olfactory epithelium is required to initiate sampling by the vomeronasal system.
Neutral Spine Control Exercises in Rehabilitation After Lumbar Spine Fusion

Abstract Tarnanen, SP, Neva, MH, Häkkinen, K, Kankaanpää, M, Ylinen, J, Kraemer, WJ, Newton, RU, and Häkkinen, A. Neutral spine control exercises in rehabilitation after lumbar spine fusion. J Strength Cond Res 28(7): 2018–2025, 2014—Lumbar spine fusion (LSF) has been reported to change the biomechanics of the spine and therefore the rehabilitation after LSF is important. In this study, the effect of selected neutral spine control exercises on activation of trunk muscles after LSF was evaluated. Muscle activity was measured by surface electromyography of the rectus abdominis, external oblique, longissimus, and multifidus muscles during 6 exercises in 22 LSF patients (mean age = 59 years; age range = 25–84 years; 50% women). Muscle activity concurrent with trunk flexion and extension during maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) was used as a reference value. Pain during the effort was assessed with a visual analog scale (VAS). The highest activity in the rectus abdominis muscles was measured during bilateral shoulder extension (51% of MVIC), and in the external oblique, it occurred during unilateral shoulder horizontal adduction (48% of MVIC) and unilateral hip extension (46% of MVIC) exercises. The highest activation of the multifidus and longissimus muscles (60–104%) was measured during bilateral shoulder flexion and modified Roman chair exercises. The mean (SD) self-reported back pain VAS scores during exercises varied from 3 (7) to 16 (26). Neutral spine control exercises activate trunk muscles and cause minimal pain and are therefore feasible exercises for home-based training to improve muscle endurance and postural control after LSF. In addition, the level of muscle activity during bilateral shoulder flexion and modified Roman chair exercises was over 60% of MVIC, justifying their use in training for strength of the trunk extensor muscles.
Evidence of radiographic benefit of treatment with infliximab plus methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis patients who had no clinical improvement: a detailed subanalysis of data from the anti-tumor necrosis factor trial in rheumatoid arthritis with concomitant therapy study.

OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship between inflammation and joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who have not responded clinically to treatment. METHODS Changes from baseline to week 54 in clinical variables and measures of radiographic progression were compared between patients who received infliximab (3 mg/kg or 10 mg/kg every 4 or 8 weeks) plus methotrexate (MTX) and those who received MTX plus placebo in the Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Trial in RA with Concomitant Therapy trial. RESULTS At week 54, patients who did not show 20% improvement by American College of Rheumatology criteria (ACR20 nonresponders) while receiving infliximab plus MTX exhibited mild but statistically significant improvement in clinical variables, including the 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28) (P < 0.001), tender joint count (P = 0.014), swollen joint count (P < 0.001), and C-reactive protein (CRP) level (P < 0.001). Whereas the clinical and CRP changes among ACR20 nonresponders to infliximab plus MTX were small and much lower than among ACR20 responders to this treatment, radiographic progression among ACR20 nonresponders to infliximab plus MTX was significantly inhibited (P < 0.001) compared with ACR20 nonresponders to MTX plus placebo. Radiographic progression was much greater in patients receiving MTX plus placebo than in patients receiving infliximab plus MTX, irrespective of ACR response status (mean change in modified Sharp/van der Heijde score 6.0 in ACR20 responders and 7.2 in ACR20 nonresponders in the MTX plus placebo-treated group, versus 0.1 in ACR20 responders and 1.2 in ACR20 nonresponders in the infliximab plus MTX-treated group). Furthermore, among patients who were ACR20 nonresponders through week 54, patients who were DAS nonresponders at weeks 30 and 54, and patients without any improvement in individual clinical variables, those receiving infliximab plus MTX still demonstrated inhibition of structural damage that was statistically significant compared with inhibition in patients who received MTX plus placebo (P < 0.05 to P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Even in patients without clinical improvement, treatment with infliximab plus MTX provided significant benefit with regard to the destructive process, suggesting that in such patients these 2 measures of disease are dissociated.
Indifferentiability of the Sum of Random Permutations Toward Optimal Security

A natural way of constructing a pseudorandom function from multiple pseudorandom permutations is to simply add the permutations. In the indistinguishability model, it is known that even two random permutations are sufficient to provide security up to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2^{n}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> queries. On the other hand, the indifferentiability has been proved only up to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2^{({2n}/{3})}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> queries for any number of summands. In thispaper, we improve this bound up to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2^{(({(l-1)n})/{l})}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> queries for an even integer <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$l\geq 4$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. This is the first result that shows the indifferentiablity of the sum of random permutations is strengthened towards the optimal bound <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2^{n}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> as the number of summands increases.
Route to Low Parasitic Resistance in MuGFETs with Silicon-Carbon Source/Drain: Integration of Novel Low Barrier Ni(M)Si:C Metal Silicides and Pulsed Laser Annealing

We report the demonstration of two distinct approaches to reduce parasitic resistances in MuGFETs with silicon-carbon (Si:C) S/D. First, the addition of dysprosium (Dy) in NiSi:C contacts reduces the electron barrier height by 38% on SiC. Device integration of the Ni(Dy)Si:C contacts provides a 30% reduction in series resistance leading to improved IDsat performance. Second, we also report the first demonstration of pulsed laser annealing (PLA) for MuGFETs with Si:C S/D for enhanced dopant activation, leading to ~50% lower series resistance. High carbon substitutional concentration (above 1.0%) in Si:C can be achieved with PLA for enhanced strain effects.
Criteria for the Interpretation of Cocaine Levels in Human Biological Samples and Their Relation to the Cause of Death

The determination that cocaine is directly responsible for the immediate cause of death should be considered only when there is a reasonably complete understanding of the circumstances or facts surrounding the death. Another, more obvious and immediate cause of death must be absent, or, at least cocaine must be shown to be a significant contributing factor in the chain of medical findings that lead directly to the immediate cause of death. Not all death investigation requires the sequential steps described in this paper, but these steps must be considered early on in the investigation whenever there is scene, investigational, medical or a historical basis to believe that cocaine is directly related to the cause of death. A relatively high profile death when cocaine is known to be involved, or a death involving unusual behavior on the part of the deceased with police involvement are examples where these considerations may well apply. Information needs to be obtained as soon as possible to have the highest chance of successfully documenting the toxicologic basis for the diagnosis. These facts would include, but would not necessarily be limited to, a scene investigation (whenever possible), a careful review of the investigative reports from all involved agencies, the initial core temperature of the body as well as that of the environment at the time of the collapse or death, the past medical history of the individual, and the results of a complete forensic autopsy and toxicologic studies. Knowledge of and an understanding of the current relevant forensic literature on this subject should be available to the reviewer prior to any interpretation of the significance of cocaine upon a specific death.
Re: Disconnection of the ascending arousal system in traumatic coma. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 2013;72: 505-523.

In the June issue, Edlow et al used a cutting edge imaging tool to demonstrate tracts in the autopsied brain of a victim of traumatic coma (1). Histologic study of the same brain showed widespread axonal damage in keeping with the long-standing understanding that closed head injury results in diffuse axonal injury throughout the brain (2). The imaging analysis showed however, that only 1 set of pathways, that is, the “arousal” pathways connecting brainstem nuclei to the basal forebrain and to thalamic intmkminar and reticular nuclei, was completely disrupted. They proposed that traumatic coma is specifically related to this disconnection …
Alleviation of pain in painful diabetic neuropathy

ABSTRACT Introduction: Painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) is a disabling pain condition. Its pathomechanism remains unknown, but a sensitization and neuronal hyperexcitabilty have been suggested. Only symptomatic pharmacological pain management treatment is currently available. Areas covered: The origin of PDN is enigmatic, and the evidence-based therapeutic guidelines therefore consist only of antidepressants and antiepileptics as first-line recommended drugs. This article relates to a MEDLINE/PubMed systematic search (2005-2015). Expert opinion: The results of the meta-analysis from the aspect of the efficacy of amitriptyline, duloxetine, venlafaxine, gabapentin and pregabalin are favorable, but the placebo response rate is relatively high in patients with neuropathic pain. For personalization of the medication of PDN patients, the optimum dosing, the genotyping of the metabolizing enzymes and optimum biomarkers are needed. As concerns the future perspectives, specific sodium channel subtype inhibitors acting on peripheral nociceptive neurons or modified T-type voltage-gated calcium channel blockers may be promising targets for pharmaceutical innovations. Another attractive strategy for the treatment is based on the effects of monoclonal antibodies against nerve growth factor, sodium channels, specific receptor and cytokines. Botulinum toxin A, capsaicin patch and spinal cord stimulation therapies are the nearest future therapeutic options for the treatment of PDN patients.
SDN policy-driven service chain placement in OpenStack

Network functions virtualization requires automatic deployment and scaling of components. This raises the question of where to place instances of a function, for instance in the OpenStack cloud system. Data plane functions can forward large amounts of traffic. In this case, network-aware placement can avoid an inefficient use of host bandwidth, and a chain of functions can benefit from co-locating instances on a host. However, a practical challenge is that the bandwidth utilization or traffic demand matrix is not always known before the deployment of an instance. A promising remedy is to leverage existing Software Defined Networking (SDN) policies to derive connectivity weights between components. In this paper, we present this novel solution to the online instance placement problem. We have developed an extension of the OpenStack scheduler that uses SDN forwarding policies to rank potential hosts. For a given type of virtual machine, the corresponding forwarding policies can be retrieved from an SDN controller prior to the placement decision. Our prototype identifies potential communication peers and weighs the forwarding rules to prefer hosts that already run communication peers. We present heuristics for such weighing, and we also discuss limitations of the approach. A testbed implementation proofs that even in a simple example our solution can double the service chain throughput.
Quantitation of the pathways of hepatic glycogen formation on ingesting a glucose load.

Diflunisal, 5-(2',4'-difluorophenyl)salicylic acid, excreted in urine as its glucuronide, was given to normal humans (n = 6) along with a glucose load specifically labeled with 14C. Glucuronide excreted by each subject was reduced to its glucoside and glucose from it degraded to yield the distribution of 14 C in its six carbons. Randomization of the 14C from the specifically labeled glucose was taken as a measure of the extent to which glucose was deposited indirectly (i.e., glucose----lactate----glucose----6-P----glycogen), rather than directly (i.e., glucose----glucose-6-P----glycogen). The maximum contribution to glycogen formation by the direct pathway was estimated to be 65 +/- 1%, on the assumption that glucuronide and glycogen are derived from the same hepatic pool of glucose-6-P in liver. Evidence that supports that assumption was obtained by comparing the randomization of 14C in the urinary glucuronide with that in glucose in blood from the hepatic vein of four of the subjects before and after they were given glucagon. Other evidence supporting the assumption was obtained by comparing in two subjects 3H/14C ratios in glucose from hepatic vein blood before and after glucagon administration with that in urinary glucuronide, having labeled the uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucose in their livers with 14C by giving them 1-[14C]galactose and their circulating glucose with 3H by giving a 5-[3H]glucose-labeled load. It is concluded that glucuronide formation in humans can be used to trace glucose metabolism in the liver, and that in humans the indirect pathway of glucose metabolism is active.
Prognostic Value of Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction: Superiority of Longitudinal Strain Over Tricuspid Annular Plane Systolic Excursion

Background— In heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction, right ventricular (RV) impairment, as defined by reduced tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, is a predictor of poor outcome. However, peak longitudinal strain of RV free wall (RVFWS) has been recently proposed as a more accurate and sensitive tool to evaluate RV function. Accordingly, we investigated whether RVFWS could help refine prognosis of patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction in whom tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion is still preserved. Methods and Results— A total of 200 patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (age, 66±11 years; ejection fraction, 30±7%) with preserved tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (>16 mm) underwent RV function assessment using speckle-tracking echocardiography to measure peak RVFWS. After a median follow-up period of 28 months, 62 (31%) patients reached the primary composite end point of all-cause death/HF rehospitalization. Median RVFWS was −19.3% (interquartile range, −23.3% to −15.0%). By lasso-penalized Cox-hazard model, RVFWS was an independent predictor of outcome, along with Eplerenone in Mild Patients Hospitalization and Survival Study in Heart Failure-HF score, Echo-HF score, and severe mitral regurgitation. The best cutoff value of RVFWS for prediction of outcome was −15.3% (area under the curve, 0.68; P<0.001; sensitivity, 50%; specificity, 80%). In 50 patients (25%), RVFWS was impaired (ie, ≥−15.3%); event rate (per 100 patients per year) was greater in them than in patients with RVFWS <−15.3% (29.5% [95% confidence interval, 20.4–42.7] versus 9.4% [95% confidence interval, 6.7–13.1]; P<0.001). RVFWS yielded a significant net reclassification improvement (0.584 at 3 years; P<0.001), with 68% of nonevents correctly reclassified. Conclusions— In patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction with preserved tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, RV free-wall strain provides incremental prognostic information and improved risk stratification.
Applying PBL approach to improve the teaching effect of IS Project Management unit

IS Project Management is the core unit for Information Systems students and is a capstone unit to build students' professional skills. This unit embraces a large set of theory of knowledge and involves nine knowledge modules of project management. The teaching effect used to be unsatisfactory among students in the traditional teaching method as students would find it boring and difficulty to learn. This paper proposes to apply PBL (Problem Based Learning) approach in the teaching and learning process by having students explore the potential problems hiding behind the typical failed cases associated with each knowledge module. This teaching reform has been proven to be very effective through highly motivating students' interests in learning and spontaneous study.
On the Predictive Power of Interest Rates and Interest Rate Spreads

A number of interest rates and interest rate spreads have been found to be useful in prediction the course of the economy. We compare the predictive power of some of these suggested interest rate variables for nine indicators of real activity and the inflation rate. Our results are consistent with those of Stock and Watson (1989) and Friedman and Kuttner (1989), who found that the spread between the commercial paper rate and the Treasury bill rate has been a particularly good predictor. We present evidence that this spread is informative not so much because it is a measure of default risk (which has been the usual presumption), but because it is an indicator of the stance of monetary policy; for example, during the "credit crunches" of the l960s aid the 1970s, the commercial paper -- Treasury bill spread typically rose significantly. We also show that, possibly because of charges in monetary policy operating procedures aid in financial markets, this spread appears r to be a less reliable predictor than it used to be.
Evidence for Biased Holliday Junction Cleavage and Mismatch Repair Directed by Junction Cuts during Double-Strand-Break Repair in Mammalian Cells

ABSTRACT In mammalian cells, several features of the way homologous recombination occurs between transferred and chromosomal DNA are consistent with the double-strand-break repair (DSBR) model of recombination. In this study, we examined the segregation patterns of small palindrome markers, which frequently escape mismatch repair when encompassed within heteroduplex DNA formed in vivo during mammalian homologous recombination, to test predictions of the DSBR model, in particular as they relate to the mechanism of crossover resolution. According to the canonical DSBR model, crossover between the vector and chromosome results from cleavage of the joint molecule in two alternate sense modes. The two crossover modes lead to different predicted marker configurations in the recombinants, and assuming no bias in the mode of Holliday junction cleavage, the two types of recombinants are expected in equal frequency. However, we propose a revision to the canonical model, as our results suggest that the mode of crossover resolution is biased in favor of cutting the DNA strands upon which DNA synthesis is occurring during formation of the joint molecule. The bias in junction resolution permitted us to examine the potential consequences of mismatch repair acting on the DNA breaks generated by junction cutting. The combination of biased junction resolution with both early and late rounds of mismatch repair can explain the marker patterns in the recombinants.
Fault Tolerant Control Allowing Sensor Healthy-to-Faulty and Faulty-to-Healthy Transitions

In this paper, we present a new sensor fault tolerant control scheme for linear, discrete-time systems. The scheme consists of a bank of estimators, each associated with a sensor or group of sensors, a mechanism for the detection and identification of sensor transitions from healthy-to-faulty and faulty-to-healthy operation, an estimate reconfiguration module, and an estimate-based feedback controller with reference tracking. The detection and identification approach is based on the separation of “healthy” and “faulty” sets, where appropriately selected residual variables remain under healthy or faulty operation, from “after-fault” and “after-recovery” sets, towards which the residual variables “jump” when abrupt sensor faults or recoveries occur in one or more groups of sensors. This “set-separation” approach provides pre-checkable fault tolerance guarantees whenever certain conditions, given in terms of system's known data such as plant and estimator dynamics and bounds on reference and disturbance signals, are satisfied.
Methods and Measures: Growth mixture modeling: A method for identifying differences in longitudinal change among unobserved groups

Growth mixture modeling (GMM) is a method for identifying multiple unobserved sub-populations, describing longitudinal change within each unobserved sub-population, and examining differences in change among unobserved sub-populations. We provide a practical primer that may be useful for researchers beginning to incorporate GMM analysis into their research. We briefly review basic elements of the standard latent basis growth curve model, introduce GMM as an extension of multiple-group growth modeling, and describe a four-step approach to conducting a GMM analysis. Example data from a cortisol stress-response paradigm are used to illustrate the suggested procedures.