Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regional Inequality and Convergence in Southern Europe. Evidence from Height in Italy and Spain, 1850-2000

This paper analyses the growth in height and its regional variability in Spain and Italy between the generational cohorts of 1850 and 1980. Using male height data drawn from the military enlistment records of the period between 1870 and 2000, this paper explores inequality and regional convergence in both countries. This long period was characterised by economic growth and the increase of human welfare. Regional inequality and convergence are analysed using sigma and beta convergence, a methodology based on panel data to obtain the speed of convergence. The results show that in 1850 height measurements started at low levels, but the two countries recorded a significant increase in the average height over the long term, which became more intense in Italy from the beginning of the twentieth century and in Spain from 1950. Therefore, there was divergence in the first half of the century and strong convergence at the end of the century. Regional inequality was more significant in the Italian case. Processes of regional convergence can be observed in both countries during the second half of the twentieth century, although inequality was lower in Spain than in Italy at the end of the period.
Speech Emotion Recognition Using Multi-Modal Feature Fusion Network

Speech Emotion recognition (SER) aims to help machines recognize human emotions from utterances. Emotions are usually presented as audio and text in utterances. However, existing SER studies mostly use a single modality or a single feature, ignoring the integration of multiple modalities features. In this paper, we propose a multi-modal feature fusion network using cross-modal attention to extract emotion-related features from audio and text. More specifically, we use both audio and text, where the audio modality utilizes both wav2vec 2.0 features and Mel spectrograms. First, we combine text and wav2vec 2.0 features using the cross-modal fusion attention (CMFA) module. Then, the multi-modal fusion features are produced by concatenating the CMFA module’s multi-modal output with Mel spectrograms across MobileNet. Finally, comprehensive testing on the IEMOCAP dataset has shown that our proposed method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art approaches.
Sub‐lingual Immunotherapy: World Allergy Organization Position Paper 2009

Co-Authors: Wahiduzzaman Akhanda, Raul Castro Almarales, Ignacio Ansotegui, Floriano Bonifazi, Jan Ceuppens, Tomás Chivato, Darina Dimova, Diana Dumitrascu, Luigi Fontana, Constance HKatelaris, Ranbir Kaulsay, Piotr Kuna, Dèsirée Larenas-Linnemann, Manolis Manoussakis, Kristof Nekam, Carlos Nunes, Robyn O’Hehir, José M Olaguibel, Nerin Bahceciler Onder, JungWon Park, Alfred Priftanji, Robert Puy, Luis Sarmiento, Glenis Scadding, Peter Schmid-Grendelmeier, Ester Seberova, Revaz Sepiashvili, Dirceu Solé, Alkis Togias, Carlo Tomino, Elina Toskala, Hugo Van Beever, Stefan Vieths*
SEAWATER INTRUSION AND CROP RESPONSE TO SALINITY IN COASTAL LEBANON

Research conducted between 1999 and 2004 to assess pressure on coastal zone focused on three main objectives: first, the evaluation of seawater intrusion in southern coastal wells, second, the soil salinization in greenhouses irrigated by well waters, and third the management of saline water in two soil textures. Groundwater contamination was assessed by regular sampling of six wells for 30 months. The salinity of water fluctuated around 3 dS m -1 and the Simpson index (Cl/HCO3) indicated levels of moderate to injurious contaminations. The Na/Cl ratios remained < 1, suggesting a seawater intrusion rather than an anthropogenic origin. In all sites, greenhouse growers had to rely on other water sources (e.g. rainwater, domestic) to supply the crop needs. In some cases, the crop had to be interrupted as salinity decreased yields. Improving the management of water and nutrients was studied in a tomato/Jew’s-mallow sequence. Three levels of water salinity (1, 2.5 and 5 dS m -1 ) were tested in sandy and clay soils. Under sound management of fertilizers input and a leaching fraction, the salinity had no obvious negative effect on tomato in the clay soil. The Jew’s mallow had a role in the removal of residual salts.
e-Publications@Marquette e-Publications@Marquette

We introduce a new family of continuous distributions and study the mathematical properties of the new family. Some useful characterizations based on the ratio of two truncated moments and hazard function are also presented. We estimate the model parameters by the maximum likelihood method and assess its performance based on biases and mean squared errors in a simulation study framework
UMA METODOLOGIA PARA DETECÇÃO DE SINAIS DE TRÂNSITO EM VÍDEO A METODOLOGY FOR DETECTION OF TRAFFIC SIGN IN VIDEO

In this work is performed the detection of road traffic signs using video frames of high resolution do not considering all the information printed on plate. Plates are searched considering only the information as edges, red circles with or without the diagonal lines representing prohibition, plates with yellow background, and plates with red background. The method used to perform the detection is proposed by Viola and Jones (2001), with a specific training method for traffic signals. To achieve good results, assessments of colors in the color space HSV were performed to eliminate regions that contain plates, and thus decrease the rate of false positives during the detection process. The results obtained from the experiments show that it is possible to detect traffic plates of various shapes in an
Dynamics of magma ascent and lava extrusion at Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat

Abstract Growth of the andesitic lava dome during eruption of Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat involved general increases in discharge rate and dome height with superposed fluctuations on timescales from hours to months. We have modelled magma conduit flow incorporating viscosity variations caused by degassing and crystallization. Gas loss is modelled by permeable flow, with variations of permeability constrained by measurements. Crystallization kinetics is modelled by an Avrami law. Observations and petrological studies constrain conduit diameter (c. 30 m), magma chamber crystal content (c. 60-65%), melt water content (c. 5%), magma temperature (c. 850°C) and chamber depth (c. 5 km). Gas loss and rheological stiffening cause a maximum in magma overpressure (magma pressure minus lithostatic pressure) at depths of a few hundred metres below the dome. This maximum can explain ground deformation patterns, shallow seismicity, and short-lived Vulcanian explosions. Crystallization kinetics causes a strong feedback mechanism and multiple steady solutions for discharge rate. Small changes in chamber pressure, magma viscosity and conduit diameter strongly amplify discharge rate. Multiple solutions allow cyclic variation of discharge rate. Escalation of activity is attributed principally to influx of hot mafic magma into the chamber, resulting in chamber pressure increasing with time. Dome growth can be intrinsically unpredictable due to non-linear effects.
Non-Adrenergic Vasopressors in Patients with or at Risk for Vasodilatory Shock. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials

Introduction Hypotensive state is frequently observed in several critical conditions. If an adequate mean arterial pressure is not promptly restored, insufficient tissue perfusion and organ dysfunction may develop. Fluids and catecholamines are the cornerstone of critical hypotensive states management. Catecholamines side effects such as increased myocardial oxygen consumption and development of arrhythmias are well known. Thus, in recent years, interest in catecholamine-sparing agents such as vasopressin, terlipressin and methylene blue has increased; however, few randomized trials, mostly with small sample sizes, have been performed. We therefore conducted a meta-analysis of randomized trials to investigate the effect of non-catecholaminergic vasopressors on mortality. Methods PubMed, BioMed Central and Embase were searched (update December 31st, 2014) by two independent investigators. Inclusion criteria were: random allocation to treatment, at least one group receiving a non-catecholaminergic vasopressor, patients with or at risk for vasodilatory shock. Exclusion criteria were: crossover studies, pediatric population, non-human studies, studies published as abstract only, lack of data on mortality. Studied drugs were vasopressin, terlipressin and methylene blue. Primary endpoint was mortality at the longest follow-up available. Results A total of 1,608 patients from 20 studies were included in our analysis. The studied settings were sepsis (10/20 studies [50%]), cardiac surgery (7/20 [35%]), vasodilatory shock due to any cause (2/20 [19%]), and acute traumatic injury (1/20 [5%]). Overall, pooled estimates showed that treatment with non-catecholaminergic agents improves survival (278/810 [34.3%] versus 309/798 [38.7%], risk ratio = 0.88, 95% confidence interval = 0.79 to 0.98, p = 0.02). None of the drugs was associated with significant reduction in mortality when analyzed independently. Results were not confirmed when analyzing studies with a low risk of bias. Conclusions Catecholamine-sparing agents in patients with or at risk for vasodilatory shock may improve survival. Further researches on this topic are needed to confirm the finding.
Effectiveness of interceptive treatment of class III malocclusions with skeletal anchorage: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Recently, new strategies for treating class III malocclusions have appeared. Skeletal anchorage appears to reduce the dentoalveolar effects while maximising the orthopaedic effect in growing patients. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to examine the effectiveness of bone anchorage devices for interceptive treatment of skeletal class III malocclusions. Searches were made in the Pubmed, Embase, Scopus and Cochrane databases, as well as in a grey literature database, and were complemented by hand-searching. The criteria for eligibility were: patients who had undergone orthodontic treatment with skeletal anchorage (miniplates and miniscrews). Patients with syndromes or craniofacial deformities or who had undergone maxillofacial surgery were excluded. The following variables were recorded for each article: author, year of publication, type of study, sample size, dropouts, demographic variables, treatment carried out, radiographic study (2D or 3D), follow-up time, and quality of the articles on the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The means and confidence intervals of the following variables were employed: Wits, overjet, ANB, SNA and SNB. Initially, 239 articles were identified. After removing the duplicates and applying the selection criteria, 9 were included in the qualitative synthesis and 7 in the quantitative synthesis (meta-analysis). It may be concluded that skeletal anchorage is an effective treatment for improving skeletal Class III malocclusion, but when compared with other traditional treatments such as disjunction and face mask, there is no clear evidence that skeletal anchorage improves the results.
Three‐dimensional radiative transfer in tropical deep convective clouds

[1] This study focuses on the interaction between short-wave radiation and a field of tropical deep convective clouds generated using a cloud-resolving model to assess the significance of three-dimensional radiative transport. Comparisons with an independent pixel approximation approach and a plane-parallel radiative scheme are used to assess the importance of the subgrid-scale variability and organization of the clouds for their radiative properties. The horizontal transport of radiation is responsible for a significant energy redistribution inside the cloudy and clear regions. Local heating rates in both the cloudy and clear-sky regions can differ by 1 K d−1 or more, with mean heating rates altered by 20% and 15%, respectively. These figures are larger than previously reported for convective scenes, most probably because of the lower cloud fraction of the scene used here. This energy imbalance is mainly controlled by two opposing effects: side illumination and shadowing, whose relative importance is driven by the spatial arrangement of cloud elements in the domain, the Sun position and the aspect ratio of clouds. These effects partially cancel, giving lower mean biases. Nevertheless, comparison between independent pixel approximation and plane-parallel biases shows that for deep convective cloud, geometry-related effects can have a larger influence on radiative transfer calculation than internal optical inhomogeneities.
Quantitative Association between Computed-Tomography-Based L1 Skeletal Muscle Indices and Major Adverse Clinical Events Following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Sarcopenia is as a non-traditional risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Further investigation is required to elucidate the prognostic significance of computed tomography (CT)-based sarcopenia assessment in coronary artery disease (CAD). We prospectively enrolled 475 patients, who underwent coronary stent implantation and peri-procedural CT scans within one month. Skeletal muscle index (SMI) was assessed cross-sectionally at the first lumbar vertebra (L1) level. The participants were grouped based on sex-specific L1 SMI quartiles. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality, and the secondary composite endpoint was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) over a 3-year follow-up period. Three-year all-cause mortality and MACE incidence increased significantly in patients in the lower L1 SMI quartiles compared to those of patients in the higher quartiles (p < 0.001). The individual composite endpoints consistently showed a higher incidence in the lower quartiles of L1 SMI (p < 0.001). In multivariable analysis, the lower L1 SMI quartiles independently predicted 3-year all-cause mortality and MACEs (lowest vs. highest quartiles, respectively: OR 4.90 (95% CI 1.54–15.5), p = 0.007; and OR 12.3 (95% CI 4.99–30.4), p < 0.001). In conclusion, CT-based L1 SMI demonstrated a distinct dose-dependent relationship with future MACEs in CAD patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, thereby enhancing cardiovascular risk stratification.
A changing world: Challenges for landscape research

Foreword. - Preface. - 1. Change and transformation: a synthesis F. Kienast et al.- Part 1: Value systems - Major drivers of landscape dynamics. 2. Value systems: drivers of human-landscape interactions M. Buchecker et al.- 3. The role of value systems in biodiversity research P. Duelli et al.- 4. The meaning of 'Landscape' - an exegesis of Swiss government texts P. Longatti, T. Dalang. - 5. Two aspects of the human-landscape relationship M. Hunziker et al.- Part 2: Ecological observations and processes. 6. Modern remote sensing for environmental monitoring of landscape states and trajectories N.E. Zimmermann et al.- 7. A large-scale, long-term view on collecting and sharing of landscape data A. Lanz et al.- 8. On selected issues and challenges in dendroclimatology J. Esper et al.- 9. Using the past to understand the present land use and land cover M. Burgi et al.- 10. Integrating population genetics with landscape ecology to infer spatio-temporal processes R. Holderegger et al.- 11. Landscape permeability: from individual dispersal to population persistence W. Suter et al.- Part 3: Spatial pattern recognition, time series analysis and dynamic modeling. 12. Identifying and quantifying landscape patterns in space and time J. Bolliger et al.- 13. Essay on the study of the vegetation process O. Wildi, L. Orloci. - 14. Statistical analysis of landscape data: space-for-time, probability surfaces and discovering species S. Ghosh, O. Wildi. - 15. Memory, non-stationarity and trend: analysis of environmental time series S. Ghosh et al.- 16. Model up-scaling in landscape research H. Lischke et al.- 17. Dynamic spatio-temporal landscape models H. Lischke et al.-
Network Applications Observability on Hosts: A New SDN Privacy Issue

Software Defined Networking is a relatively new network paradigm that enables unified programmable network control. SDN is still subject to several challenges, such as scalability, availability, security, and reliability. Furthermore, the deployment and expansion of SDN to many specific networks, such as IoT networks, have revealed further challenges, namely privacy issues. Few works in literature have been devoted to certain SDN's privacy problems. In this paper, we highlight a new privacy concern introduced by SDN architecture that has not been considered in the literature. In order to demonstrate the problem and because of the lack of SDN traffic and flow rule datasets, we first implemented Legacy2SDN, a solution for reproducing a legacy network traffic into an SDN environment using PCAP files. We have also implemented a third-party network application that passively collects flow rules and their statistics. Legacy2SDN along with the developed network application are used on a real privacy sensitive network dataset, to conduct experimental case studies to illustrate the privacy issue. Our experimental results prove the observability of network applications on hosts, which can threaten their owners privacy. Finally, we leave the door open for future research in this area by initiating discussion about possible solutions.
Agenesis of the corpus callosum: What to tell expecting parents?

Agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC) is one of the most common brain malformations, with an incidence estimated to range from 0.5 to 70 in 10,000 among the general population. Prenatal diagnosis is made via ultrasound; however, fetal MRI is useful to confirm or exclude the presence of associated cerebral abnormalities–mostly cortical malformations–that may affect postnatal prognosis. When no additional central nervous system (CNS) or extra CNS anomalies are identified and no genetic cause is found, an isolated ACC is diagnosed. Overall, in cases of ACC, an underlying genetic cause can be identified in up to 12.5% with chromosomal microarray (CMA) and up to 47% with whole exome sequencing (WES). In cases where ACC is the only anomaly detected, the yield of WES is 30%. Postnatal outcomes are variable and depend on whether the condition is isolated or not. In truly isolated ACC, outcomes range from normal in 65% of cases through mild to severe neurodevelopmental impairments in 35% of cases. An interdisciplinary team of medical experts is key in guiding parents toward informed decision‐making in pregnancies complicated by ACC. Considering current and expected advancements in genetic testing and imaging technologies in upcoming years, we herein summarize current recommendations for the management and prenatal counseling of expecting parents of fetuses with ACC. Our review pertains primarily to expecting parents of fetuses with complete ACC.
Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Students of Government and Private High Schools in an Indian State With Significant Tribal Population: A Cross-Sectional Analytical Study

Background: Overweight and obesity among school-going children is an emerging public health problem in the country. The information available on the true extent of obesity and overweight among school-aged children is limited. Hence, the present study has been conducted to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among high school students in Jharkhand, India. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 1162 students of government and private schools of Ormanjhi block, Ranchi district, from July 2022 to December 2022. A predesigned, semi-structured, pre-tested questionnaire containing different sections namely sociodemographic characteristics, and health parameters were used for the study subjects. Clinical examination and anthropometric measurements of height, weight, and waist and hip circumferences were taken using standard equipment to calculate body mass index (BMI) and central obesity (waist-hip ratio). Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was more at 14 years of age (30.2%), among boys (18.1%), and among students practicing the Islam religion (51.1%). Moreover, the prevalence of overweight and obesity was found to be highest in private schools (66.2%), and that was statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was found to be significant with respect to age, gender, and religion. The findings from this study would be helpful in raising awareness among students, parents, teachers, and health professionals about the influence of overweight and obesity on a child’s physical, social, and psychological well-being, and this, in turn, would facilitate parents, students, and teachers in the adoption of a healthy lifestyle.
Entrainment of free tropospheric aerosols as a regulating mechanism for cloud condensation nuclei in the remote marine boundary layer

A box model has been developed to study the formation of cloud condensation nuclei from dimethyl sulfide (DMS), in the unpolluted marine boundary layer (MBL). Chemical and microphysical processes include gas phase chemistry of DMS and SO2, formation and growth of H2SO4-H2O aerosols, in-cloud SO2 oxidation, and scavenging of SO2 and H2SO4 molecules by sea salt, cloud drops, and precipitation. Meteorological processes include exchange between the MBL and the overlying free troposphere (FT) and horizontal mixing after particle removal by precipitation. The description of the FT aerosol is based on the notion of new particle production in the upper troposphere (for which there is experimental evidence) and the notion that these particles evolve into a self-preserving aerosol (for which there is no clear experimental evidence yet). We argue that FT aerosols are expected to be self-preserving in areas of large-scale subsidence such as the subtropics. The model results are in reasonable agreement with summer observations of DMS, SO2, non-sea-salt (nss) SO4, condensation nuclei (CN), and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) at Cape Grim. They show that entrainment of FT aerosols in the MBL quenches new particle formation within the MBL. A sensitivity/uncertainty analysis shows that most of the variation in themore » number concentration of MBL aerosols is due to the variation in parameters linked to the FT aerosol, whereas most of the variations in the MBL nss-sulfate mass is due to variations in the DMS flux. We conclude that FT-MBL exchange is likely to be an important mechanism that can explain both the observed levels of CN and CCN (active in straitform clouds) in the MBL and their lack of short-term variability. « less
Understanding coordination in the Bali irrigation system

The question on the level of coordination in irrigation systems has occupied generations of social scientists. This paper provides a small step in a more general understanding how governance is related to characteristics of social-ecological systems. This paper analyses the robustness of Steve Lansing's insight that the best coordination level of irrigation at Bali is at the temple level containing a group of irrigation villages. Using the original Lansing-Kremer model we find this coordination level can only be explained for very particular growth rates and dispersal rates of pests. Acknowledgements Thanks to Steve Lansing and Jim Kremer for providing the original source code of the Bali irrigation model. Marty Anderies provided helpful feedback on earlier versions of the paper, and Shade Schutters is acknowledged for his discovery of some critical errors in my recoding of the Bali-irrigation model. Finally, I gratefully acknowledge support from the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change at Indiana University through National Science Foundation grants SBR9521918 and SES0083511.