Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biotic and abiotic determinants of the ascent behaviour of adult Atlantic salmon transiting passable waterfalls

The spawning migration of Atlantic salmon has been characterized by tracking salmon carrying electronic tags as they ascend rivers, but still little is known about how natural obstacles such as waterfalls influence migratory behaviour and how such behaviours are mediated by various biotic (e.g., fish size) and abiotic (e.g., discharge, water temperature, and barometric pressure) factors. The Norwegian river Numedalslågen is interrupted by natural waterfalls ranging in height from 2 to 6 m. We tagged 113 Atlantic salmon with radio transmitters in the estuary and used stationary radio telemetry stations to track fish. Ninety‐one salmon were recorded in Numedalslågen, 39 of which remained in the river for spawning. Large salmon moved farther and faster upriver but also delayed longer and had lower daily probability to pass the second waterfall. Delay below and passage probability at the final, largest waterfall was affected by water discharge, wherein passage occurred when discharge was declining. Barometric pressure also influenced daily probability of ascent, albeit in opposite directions for each waterfall. Importantly, we also found that salmon with surgically implanted radio transmitters moved farther upriver on average and delayed less time below one of the waterfalls than those with externally attached transmitters. Although there is variance in timing arising from individual decision‐making, we showed that natural waterfalls delay progress of Atlantic salmon on their spawning migration and that both biotic (i.e., size) and abiotic (i.e., barometric pressure and discharge) factors influenced the salmon's decisions to pass waterfalls that they encounter.
Tobacco use and caries risk among adolescents-a longitudinal study in

Background: Smoking and the use of smokeless tobacco have a detrimental impact on general and oral health. The relationship to dental caries is however still unclear. As caries is a multi-factorial disease with clear life-style, socio-economic and socio-demographic gradients, the tobacco use may be a co-variable in this complex rather than a direct etiological factor. Our aim was to analyze the impact of tobacco use on caries incidence among adolescents, with consideration to socio-economic variables by residency, using epidemiological data from a longitudinal study in the region of Halland, Sweden. Methods: The study population consisted of 10,068 adolescents between 16–19 years of age from whom yearly data on caries and tobacco use (cigarette smoking and use of smokeless tobacco) were obtained during the period 2006–2012. Reported DMFS increment between 16 and 19 years of age (ΔDMFS) for an individual was considered as the primary caries outcome. The outcome data were compared for self-reported never vs. ever users of tobacco, with consideration to neighborhood-level socio-economy (4 strata), baseline (i.e., 16 years of age) DMFS and sex. The region consists of 65 parishes with various socio-economic conditions and each study individual was geo-coded with respect to his/her residence parish. Neighborhood (parish-level) socio-economy was assessed by proportion of residing families with low household purchasing power. Results: ΔDMFS differed evidently between ever and never users of tobacco (mean values: 1.8 vs. 1.2; proportion with ΔDMFS > 0: 54.2% vs. 40.5%; p < 0.0001). Significant differences were observed in each neighborhood-level socio-economic stratum. Even after controlling for baseline DMFS and sex, ΔDMFS differed highly significantly between the ever and never users of tobacco (overall p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Tobacco use was clearly associated with increased caries increment during adolescence. Hence, this factor is relevant to consider in the clinical caries risk assessment of the individual patient as well as for community health plans dealing with oral health.
From nonlinearity to causality: statistical testing and inference of physical mechanisms underlying complex dynamics

Principles and applications of statistical testing as a tool for inference of underlying mechanisms from experimental time series are discussed. The computational realizations of the test null hypothesis known as the surrogate data are introduced within the context of discerning nonlinear dynamics from noise, and discussed in examples of testing for nonlinearity in atmospheric dynamics, solar cycle and brain signals. The concept is further generalized for detection of directional interactions, or causality in bivariate time series.
Preserving the biodiversity and ecological services of rivers: new challenges and research opportunities: Preserving the biodiversity and ecological services of rivers

SUMMARY 1. Natural biogeochemical processes and diverse communities of aquatic biota regulate freshwater quantity and quality in ways that are not sufficiently acknowledged nor appreciated by the water resources management community. The establishment and enforcement of environmental flow requirements offer promising means to improve and care for these critical environmental services. This Special Issue provides new insights and novel techniques to determine, protect and restore ecologically and socially sustainable flow regimes, and thereby help achieve the water-related goals of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2. Whilst alteration of flow, sediment, organic matter and thermal regimes interact to reduce biological diversity and the ecological integrity of freshwater ecosystems – and thereby degrade the properties and ecological services most valued by humans – ‘environmental flows’ left in rivers, or restored to developed rivers, will sustain many ecological and societal values. The success of river protection and rehabilitation ⁄ restoration depends upon understanding and accurately modelling relationships between hydrological patterns, fluvial disturbance and ecological responses in rivers and floodplains. 3. This Special Issue presents new analytical and modelling approaches to support the development of hydro-ecological models and environmental flow standards at multiple spatial scales – applicable to all rivers in any economic and societal setting. Examples include the new framework Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA) founded on hydrological classification and gradient analysis; ecological trait analysis; Bayesian hierarchical modelling; Bayesian Decision Networks; and Integrated Basin Flow Assessment (IBFA). 4. Advances in the allocation of flood flows along the River Murray in Australia, an Ecosystems Function Model (HEC-EFM) for the Bill Williams River restoration programme in Arizona (U.S.A), the European Water Framework Directive, and improved management of hydroelectric dams demonstrate the potential for significant ecological recovery following partial restoration of natural river flow regimes. 5. Based on contributions to this Special Issue, the action agenda of the 2007 Brisbane Declaration on environmental flows and the wider literature, we propose an invigorated global research programme to construct and calibrate hydro-ecological
Strength reduction of till under dynamic pore pressure condition

Cuttings in heavily overconsolidated clays are known to be susceptible to progressive deformation caused by creep and fatigue that usually begins at the toe of the slope. The progressive deformation leads to strength reduction with time at constant stress (or called softening) and could be accelerated by fluctuation of groundwater level associated with more extreme rainfall events predicted through climate change. The purpose of this paper is to assess the mechanism of progressive deformation due to creep and fatigue using element testing on samples of till. The samples were subjected to fully drained loading and the deviator stresses were held constant at various percentages of peak failure stress, while the pore water pressure was kept static or dynamic (fluctuating ±5 kPa) over a period of time. The results have shown that the samples experienced significant deformation even at a higher factor of safety (i.e. the failure deviator stress/deviator stress at which the pore water pressure was fluctuated) u.
STATCONT: A statistical continuum level determination method for line-rich sources

STATCONT is a python-based tool designed to determine the continuum emission level in spectral data, in particular for sources with a line-rich spectrum. The tool inspects the intensity distribution of a given spectrum and automatically determines the continuum level by using different statistical approaches. The different methods included in STATCONT are tested against synthetic data. We conclude that the sigma-clipping algorithm provides the most accurate continuum level determination, together with information on the uncertainty in its determination. This uncertainty can be used to correct the final continuum emission level, resulting in the here called `corrected sigma-clipping method' or c-SCM. The c-SCM has been tested against more than 750 different synthetic spectra reproducing typical conditions found towards astronomical sources. The continuum level is determined with a discrepancy of less than 1% in 50% of the cases, and less than 5% in 90% of the cases, provided at least 10% of the channels are line free. The main products of STATCONT are the continuum emission level, together with a conservative value of its uncertainty, and datacubes containing only spectral line emission, i.e., continuum-subtracted datacubes. STATCONT also includes the option to estimate the spectral index, when different files covering different frequency ranges are provided.
Direct Estimation of Model Parameters in MR Spectroscopic Imaging using Deep Neural Networks

We introduce a deep-learning based framework based on a multilayer perceptron for estimation of the output parameters of a modelbased analysis of MR spectroscopy data. Our proposed framework: (1) learns the spectral features from a training set comprising of different variations of synthetic spectra; (2) uses this learning and performs nonlinear regression for the subsequent metabolite quantification. Experiments involve training and testing on simulated and in-vivo human brain spectra. We estimate parameters such as metabolite-concentration ratios and compare our results with that from the LCModel.
Sustainable supply chain management: current debate and future directions

This paper is a research brief on sustainable supply chain management and covers some of the key elements of literature’s past debate and trends for future directions. It highlights the growth of this research area and reinforces the importance of a full consideration of all three key dimensions of sustainability when managing sustainable supply chains, i.e., the financial, environmental and social dimensions. Therefore, supply chain decision makers need to unequivocally assess the impact of their decisions on the financial, environmental and social performances of their supply chains. This paper also argues that risks and opportunities are the key drivers for supply chain decision makers to adopt sustainability within their operations, and that barriers to sustainability adoption exist. This research highlights that, depending on the focus adopted, supply chains can evolve and shift from more traditional to more sustainable approaches over time. The paper concludes with some promising avenues for future investigation.
International Migration, Population Age Structure and Economic Growth in Asia

From receiving countries' point of view, immigration may be an attractive policy option because it may attenuate the pace of aging in countries further along in their demographic transitions. Immigration policy potentially has important economic implications for several reasons. First, solely due to the compositional effects associated with immigration, a larger share of the population could be concentrated in the working ages. Second, immigration, particularly in the form of permanent immigration, may affect transfers and the accumulation of assets. Immigrants pay taxes that support children and the elderly, they have children who are supported by native taxpayers, and they grow old and rely on future generations of taxpayers. In this study, we assess whether cross-border immigration is likely to be an important policy option in response to population aging in Asia. The analysis presented here suggests, however, that realistic immigration policy is not likely to have a substantial influence on population age structure and its economic consequences on both receiving and sending countries are likely to be modest.
Income Inequality in India 2004-2012: Role of Alternative Income Sources

This paper examines the contribution of different income sources to overall income inequality in India, and how the relative importance of each income source has changed between 2004 and 2012. The paper finds that income inequality has increased marginally between 2004 and 2012. Most importantly, the marginal increase is observed in both urban and rural areas. In urban areas, regular salaried income contribute the most in total income and income inequality. In contrast, farm income is the major component in both rural income and rural income inequality followed by salaried income. Regular salaries has an inequality increasing effect while wages from agriculture and nonagricultural casual work has an inequality decreasing effect.
Managing Intelligence: Skilled Experts and Decision Support in Markets for Complex Products∗

New decision support technologies are increasingly being used to augment expert decisions. We study the implementation of a sophisticated ML-based decision support tool in a private Medicare exchange where consumers are randomized to skilled agents over time. We find that agents are able to both use the new information and to effectively incorporate private information, leading to lower enrollee costs and higher ex-post satisfaction. While decision support is a complement to agent skill on average, we find that it is a substitute across the skill distribution. We offer cautionary evidence that adverse selection worsens as a result. ∗We thank Jason Abaluck, Ned Augenblick, Mike Geruso, Gautam Gowrisankaran, Ashley Langer, Tim Layton, Filip Matejka, Justin Sydnor and Robert Town for excellent comments and participants at MIT, Northwestern, University of Arizona, BU/Harvard/MIT health seminar, University of Rochester, National University of Singapore, Western Economic Assoc. Conference, University of North Carolina, Haas, BYU and the NBER workshops on Economics of AI and Machine Learning in Health Care Markets for feedback. All authors hold ownership stakes in Picwell. The findings represent our own views and all errors are our own.
Psychometric Properties of Persian Version of the Bakas Caregiving Outcomes Scale

Background: Caregivers of stroke patients have many problems due to caring for patients. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian Version of the Bakas Caregiving Outcomes Scale (BCOS) in caregivers of stroke patients. Materials and Methods: This methodological study was conducted in 2018 with 191 caregivers of stroke patients. In order to assess the scale validity and reliability, the face, content, internal consistency, stability of the scale, and construct validity (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis) were done. Results: The scale face and content validity qualitatively were checked and confirmed by caregivers' and experts' opinions. In the reliability, Cronbach's alpha was obtained to be 0.93. The test-retest was conducted on 30 participants and showed good stability after 2 weeks. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for the total scores was reported to be 0.94. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin p value was 0.90, Bartlett's sphericity test was significant (p < 0.001), in the exploratory factor analysis, 2 factors with 14 items were extracted. The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the appropriate model with 14 items (removal of item 13) with two factors at the expected level. Conclusions: The Persian version of the 14 items of the BCOS indicates satisfactory reliability, and validity in the Iranian caregivers of stroke patients.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Its Related Factors in Nurses Caring for COVID-19 Patients

Background: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that can result from direct or indirect contact with traumatic events. The current study aimed to evaluate PTSD and its related factors in nurses caring for COVID-19 patients. Materials and Methods: This study was a descriptive correlational study. Using convenience sampling methods, 395 nurses were enrolled in the study. The study instruments included demographic information, Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), and General Health and Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ). Data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation test, t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis. Results: The mean (SD) age and work experience of the participants were 33.79 (6.74) years and 9.47 (6.47) years, respectively. Most nurses (86.60%) experienced PTSD. Multiple linear regression results showed general health (R2 = 0.51, p = 0.001), job insecurity (R2 = 0.51, p = 0.042), decision latitude (R2 = 0.51, p = 0.037), and high age (R2 = 0.51, p = 0.049) to be associated with an increase in PTSD, and having high social support (R2 = 0.51, p = 0.043) was associated with a decrease in PTSD in nurses. Conclusions: Nurses have experienced high levels of PTSD after the fatal outbreak of COVID-19 disease. Stressful conditions associated with an increased likelihood of this disorder should be identified, and coping skills such as decision latitude (control) and social support should be strengthened to prevent the symptoms of this disorder in nurses.
Democratic Inefficiency? Regime Type and Suboptimal Choices in International Politics

This article examines the relationship between regime type and decision makers’ tendency to make suboptimal choices in international crises. To test hypotheses on the optimality of democratic foreign policy, the author uses a novel statistical measure of suboptimality in foreign policy behavior. This estimator builds on Signorino’s statistical strategic models to allow for actor-level variation in deviations from optimal behavior in a strategic setting. An analysis of the international disputes from 1919 to 1999 shows that democratic leaders have a greater tendency to choose policies not optimal for their citizens than do nondemocratic leaders.
Product Flexibility Strategy Under Supply and Demand Risk

Problem definition: With heightened global uncertainty, supply chain managers are under increasing pressure to craft strategies that accommodate both supply and demand risks. While product flexibility is a well-understood strategy to accommodate risk, there is no clear guidance on the optimal flexibility configuration of a supply network that comprises both unreliable primary suppliers and reliable backup suppliers. Academic/Practical relevance: Existing literature examines the value of flexibility with primary and backup suppliers independently. For a risk-neutral firm, research shows that (a) incorporating flexibility in a primary supplier by replacing two dedicated ones (in absence of backup supply) is always beneficial, and (b) adding flexibility to a reliable backup supplier (in absence of product flexibility in primary suppliers) is always valuable. It is unclear, however, how flexibility should be incorporated into a supply network with both unreliable primary suppliers and reliable backup suppliers. This research studies whether flexibility should be incorporated in a primary supplier, a backup supplier, or both. Methodology: We develop a normative model to analyze when flexibility benefits and when it hurts. Results: Compared with a base case of no flexibility, we prove that incorporating flexibility in either primary or backup suppliers is always beneficial. However, incorporating flexibility in both primary and backup suppliers can be counterproductive because the supply chain performance can decline with saturated flexibility, even if flexibility is costless. A key reason is that the risk-aggregation effect of consolidating flexibility in an unreliable supplier becomes more salient when flexibility is already embedded in a backup supplier. Managerial implications: This research refines the existing understanding of flexibility by illustrating that flexibility is not always beneficial. When there is a choice, a firm should prioritize incorporating flexibility in a reliable backup supplier.
Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus ( HTLV-1 ) and Adult T-Cell Leukemia

Introduction The two major recognized pathogenic human retroviruses, the type I human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV-I)' and the type 1 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV1), are distinguished from most other animal retroviruses by their striking genomic complexity. Although only distantly related, HTLV-I and HIVI utilize remarkably similar strategies for the regulation of viral gene expression. Specifically, both viruses encode essential trans-regulatory proteins that markedly increase expression of all viral gene products (HTLV-I Tax and HIV1 Tat) as well as distinct viral polypeptides that selectively activate the expression of viral structural genes (HTLV-I Rex and HIV1 Rev) (1). These different trans-regulatory proteins not only play central roles in the life cycles of HTLV-I and HIV1 but also contribute importantly to the disease processes induced by these viral pathogens. In the following review, we discuss the molecular biology of HTLV-I, highlighting recent studies that provide important insights into the mechanisms of action of the Tax and Rex trans-regulatory proteins. HTLV-I is recognized as the etiologic agent of the adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) (2, 3). ATLL is an often aggressive and fatal malignancy of mature CD4+ T lymphocytes. This neoplasm occurs in geographic regions of the world where HTLV-I infection is endemic, including southern Japan, sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean basin, and the southeastern United States. Clinically, ATLL is characterized by leukemia, lymphadenopathy, tumor infiltrates of the skin, hepatosplenomegaly, hypercalcemia, and lytic bone lesions (4). HTLV-I is transmitted horizontally by sexual intercourse and exposure to contaminated blood or cellular blood products. Vertical transmission from mother to child has also been documented. The period between infection and onset of clinical disease in HTLV-I-infected individuals is typically quite long, often ranging between 10 and 30 years. Further, the rate of HTLV-I associated malignancy among seropositive individuals is rela-