Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Will it happen again? On the possibility of forecasting the risk of genocide

Can genocides be predicted? I present two models (and further robustness tests) to assess the risk of genocide onset one year into the future. The first model is global and includes all country-years for which data are available. While it does a good job at identifying the few cases of genocide onset in the sample, it also generates a high number of false alarms. The second model uses a smaller sample restricted to conflict-years. It correctly identifies nine of the ten cases of genocide onset and the number of false alarms is reduced, although the model needs further improvements before it can be put to practical use. While developing the models in an inductive, iterative way, I identify a number of factors that correlate with genocide onset, adding to existing research. These include direct threats to a government (riots, assassinations and, in one of the robustness tests, anti-government demonstrations) and economic discrimination against ethnic groups.
Extracorporeal life support for support of children with malignancy and respiratory or cardiac failure: The extracorporeal life support experience*

Background: Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is a means of respiratory and hemodynamic support for patients failing conventional therapies. Children with cancer who develop complications during therapy may require ECLS. Methods: The extracorporeal life support organization (ELSO) registry was queried for all patients younger than 21 years with an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnosis of neoplasm. ELSO centers were also asked whether patients with neoplasms should be offered ECLS. Results: From 1994 to 2007, 107 children met inclusion criteria: 73 with hematologic malignancies and 34 with solid tumors. The median age was 3.71 years. Patients had a total of 112 ECLS runs (five patients had two runs). Patients required ECLS primarily for pulmonary support (n = 86). Median duration of ECLS was 6.1 days. Overall, 62 of 107 patients (58%) died while on ECLS because of irreversible organ failure (n = 37), diagnosis incompatible with life (n = 11), hemorrhage (n = 6), and family request (n = 8). Forty-five of 107 patients (42%) survived ECLS. During the remaining hospitalization, eight patients died resulting in 37 of 107 surviving to hospital discharge (35%). Risk factors for death included lower Po2 before ECLS, higher oxygen index, higher positive end-expiratory pressure, and development of renal or cardiopulmonary complications (p < 0.05). No differences in outcomes were noted in patients with either hematologic malignancies or solid tumors. One hundred eighteen of 133 eligible ECLS centers responded to the questionnaire for an 89% response rate. Among those who responded, 112 of 133 would consider placing a child (95%) with a neoplasm on ECLS. Conclusion: Children with cancer and respiratory failure can be offered ECLS with a reasonable expectation for survival. The opinions of the ELSO center suggest that decisions to offer ECLS to a child with malignancy should be made on a case by case basis, with prognosis of the malignancy being an important factor.
Cultural standard research and its implications for managing multinational teams: cooperation with Croatians and Slovenes - the Austrian perspective

This article examines the impact of different cultural variables in the particular contexts of Austrian, Croatian and Slovenian task groups. Referring to the concept of taxonomy of team processes developed by Marks et al. (2001), I analysed about 102 qualitative interviews with managers and identified cultural traits that significantly influence process dimensions relevant in cooperations. In contrast to other culture studies (see e.g., House et al., 2002; Sagiv and Schwartz, 2007; Hall, 2000; Trompenaars, 1997; Hofstede, 2001) the framework of narrative interviews (Thomas, 1993, 1996) focuses on many different cultural variables and on the particular contexts of these variables. I identified the following critical elements relevant for interactions in intercultural teamwork: time concepts in different context situations, level of personal responsibility and importance of social relationships.
Contrasting Effects of Starting Age and Input on the Oral Performance of Foreign Language Learners

The present study focuses on the influence of starting age and input on foreign language learning. In relation to starting age, the study investigates whether early starters in instructional settings achieve the same kind of long-term advantage as learners in naturalistic settings and it complements previous research by using data from oral performance. In relation to input, this study examines and compares the relative impact on learners' oral performance of different input measures: number of years of instruction, number of hours of curricular and extracurricular lessons, number of hours spent abroad in an English-speaking setting, and current contact with the target language. Film-retelling oral narratives from 160 learners of English are analysed in terms of fluency, lexical diversity, and syntactic complexity. Correlational and regression analyses show that input has a stronger association with measures of oral performance than starting age, and that cumulative exposure and, above all, contact with high-quality input are good predictors of learners' oral performance in the foreign language.
Effects of Multimicronutrient Supplementation during Pregnancy on Postnatal Growth of Children under 5 Years of Age: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background The beneficial effect of antenatal multiple micronutrients supplementation on infant birth outcomes has been proposed by previous meta-analyses. However, their benefits on postnatal health of children have not been summarized. A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was conducted to evaluate the effect of maternal multimicronutrient supplementation on postnatal growth of children under 5 years of age. Methods We searched both published and ongoing trials through the PubMed, EMBASE, CENTRAL (OVID platform), Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, Chinese Science Citation Database, Scopus, ProQuest, ClinicalTrials.gov, Chinese Biomedical Database, and WANFANG database for randomized controlled trials. Reference lists of included studies and relevant reviews were also reviewed for eligible studies. Standard mean difference (SMD) was employed as the index for continuous variables by using fixed effects models. Trend analysis by visual inspection was applied to evaluate the change of mean difference of weight and height between the groups over time. Results Nine trials (12 titles) from nine different countries were retrieved for analysis. Pooled results showed that antenatal multimicronutrient supplementation increased child head circumference (SMD = 0.08, 95% CI: 0.00–0.15) compared with supplementation with two micronutrient or less. No evidence was found for the benefits of antenatal multimicronutrient supplementation on weight (P = 0.11), height (P = 0.66), weight-for-age z scores (WAZ) (P = 0.34), height-for-age z scores (HAZ) (P = 0.81) and weight-for-height z scores (WHZ) (P = 0.22). A positive effect was found on chest circumference based on two included studies. Conclusions Antenatal multimicronutrient supplementation has a significant positive effect on head circumference of children under 5 years. No impact of the supplementation was found on weight, height, WAZ, HAZ and WHZ.
Determining Effective Methadone Doses for Individual Opioid-Dependent Patients

Background Randomized clinical trials of methadone maintenance have found that on average high daily doses are more effective for reducing heroin use, and clinical practice guidelines recommend 60 mg/d as a minimum dosage. Nevertheless, many clinicians report that some patients can be stably maintained on lower methadone dosages to optimal effect, and clinic dosing practices vary substantially. Studies of individual responses to methadone treatment may be more easily translated into clinical practice. Methods and Findings A volunteer sample of 222 opioid-dependent US veterans initiating methadone treatment was prospectively observed over the year after treatment entry. In the 168 who achieved at least 1 mo of heroin abstinence, methadone dosages on which patients maintained heroin-free urine samples ranged from 1.5 mg to 191.2 mg (median = 69 mg). Among patients who achieved heroin abstinence, higher methadone dosages were predicted by having a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder or depression, having a greater number of previous opioid detoxifications, living in a region with lower average heroin purity, attending a clinic where counselors discourage dosage reductions, and staying in treatment longer. These factors predicted 42% of the variance in dosage associated with heroin abstinence. Conclusions Effective and ineffective methadone dosages overlap substantially. Dosing guidelines should focus more heavily on appropriate processes of dosage determination rather than solely specifying recommended dosages. To optimize therapy, methadone dosages must be titrated until heroin abstinence is achieved.
A prospective study of the progression of rheumatoid arthritis of the cervical spine.

This prospective study was begun in 1974 to determine the progression of rheumatoid ar thritis of the cervical spine. Of 163 patients with com plaints about the cervical spine followed in the Ar thritis Clinic, 106 were available for study five years later. At the start of this study, forty-six (43 per cent) of these 106 patients already had radiographic evidence of rheumatoid involvement of the cervical spine, con sisting of atlanto-axial subluxation in twenty-eight (61 per cent), atlanto-axial subluxation combined with subaxial subluxation in nine (20 per cent), and subaxial subluxation alone in five (1 1 per cent). The remaining four patients (8 per cent) had combinations of these findings together with superior migration of the odon toid process. At the end of the study, seventy-four (70 per cent) of the patients had radiographic evidence of cervical involvement, primarily of the combined type. Twenty-one patients died during the period of follow-up. None of the known causes of death could be attributed to disease of the cervical spine. Three features of rheumatoid cervical disease were evaluated: pain, neural involvement, and radiographic abnormalities. Although all three features were pro gressive, radiographic deterioration was a more prom inent feature than progressive neural dysfunction. At the final evaluation, the disease in twenty-seven (36 per cent) of the patients was noted to have progressed neu rologically while in sixty patients (80 per cent) it had progressed radiographically. Pain was the only feature of the disease that showed any tendency to improve. The development of subaxial subluxation or superior migration of the odontoid process in a patient with pre-existing atlanto-axial subluxation was found to be a bad prognostic sign.
The Etiology and Outcome of Cerebral Ventriculomegaly at Term in Very Low Birth Weight Preterm Infants

Background. Despite improvements in survival data, the incidence of neurodevelopmental handicaps in preterm infants remains high. To prevent these handicaps, one must understand the pathophysiology behind them. For preterm infants, cerebral ventriculomegaly (VM) may be associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcome. We hypothesized that although the causes of VM are multiple, the incidence of handicap at 4.5 years of age in preterm infants with this ultrasonographic finding at term would be high. Methods. To test this hypothesis, we provided neurodevelopmental follow-up for all 440 very low birth weight survivors of the Multicenter Randomized Indomethacin Intraventricular Hemorrhage (IVH) Prevention Trial. A total of 384 children (87%) were evaluated at 54 months' corrected age (CA), and 257 subjects were living in English-speaking, monolingual households and are included in the following data analysis. Results. Moderate to severe low pressure VM at term was documented in 11 (4%) of the English-speaking, monolingual survivors. High grade IVH and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) were both risk factors for the development of VM. Of 11 (45%) children with VM, 5 suffered grades 3 to 4 IVH, compared with 2/246 (1%) children without VM who experienced grades 3 to 4 IVH. Similarly, 9/11 (82%) children with VM had BPD, compared with 120/246 (49%) children without VM who had BPD. Logistic regression analysis was performed using birth weight, gestational age, gender, Apgar score at 5 minutes, BPD, sepsis, moderate to severe VM, periventricular leukomalacia, grade of IVH, and maternal education to predict IQ <70. Although maternal education was an important and independent predictor of adverse cognitive outcome, in this series of very low birth weight prematurely born children, VM was the most important predictor of IQ <70 (OR: 19.0; 95% CI: 4.5, 80.6). Of children with VM, 6/11 (55%) had an IQ <70, compared with 31/246 (13%) of children without VM. Children with VM had significantly lower verbal and performance scores compared with children without VM. Conclusions. These data suggest that, for preterm neonates, VM at term is a consequence of the vulnerability of the developing brain. Furthermore, its presence is an important and independent predictor of adverse cognitive and motor development at 4.5 years' CA.
Principal component analysis of biometric traits to reveal body confirmation in local hill cattle of Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, India

Aim: In the present study, biometric traits (body length [BL], heart girth [HG], paunch girth (PG), forelimb length (FLL), hind limb length (HLL), face length, forehead width, forehead length, height at hump, hump length (HL), hook to hook distance, pin to pin distance, tail length (TL), TL up to switch, horn length, horn circumference, and ear length were studied in 218 adult hill cattle of Himachal Pradesh for phenotypic characterization. Materials and Methods: Morphological and biometrical observations were recorded on 218 hill cattle randomly selected from different districts within the breeding tract. Multivariate statistics and principal component analysis are used to account for the maximum portion of variation present in the original set of variables with a minimum number of composite variables through Statistical software, SAS 9.2. Result: Five components were extracted which accounted for 65.9% of variance. The first component explained general body confirmation and explained 34.7% variation. It was represented by significant loading for BL, HG, PG, FLL, and HLL. Communality estimate ranged from 0.41 (HL) to 0.88 (TL). Second, third, fourth, and fifth component had a high loading for tail characteristics, horn characteristics, facial biometrics, and rear body, respectively. Conclusion: The result of component analysis of biometric traits suggested that indigenous hill cattle of Himachal Pradesh are small and compact size cattle with a medium hump, horizontally placed short ears, and a long tail. The study also revealed that factors extracted from the present investigation could be used in breeding programs with sufficient reduction in the number of biometric traits to be recorded to explain the body confirmation.
Nonlinear viscoelastic analysis of statistically homogeneous random composites

Owing to the high computational cost in the analysis of large composite structures through a multi-scale or hierarchical modeling an efficient treatment of complex material systems at individual scales is of paramount importance. Limiting the attention to the level of constituents the present paper offers a prosperous modeling strategy for the predictions of nonlinear viscoelastic response of fibrous graphite-epoxy composite systems with possibly random distribution of fibers within a transverse plane section of the composite aggregate. If such a material can be marked as statistically homogeneous and the mechanisms driving the material response fall within the category of first-order homogenization scheme the variational principles of Hashin and Shtrikman emerge as an appealing option in the solution of uncoupled micro-macro computational homogenization. The material statistics up to two-point probability function that are used to describe the morphology of such a microstructure can be then directly incorporated into variational formulations to provide bounds on the effective material response of the assumed composite medium. In the present formulation the Hashin-Shtrikman variational principles are further extended to account for the presence of various transformation fields defined as local eigenstrain or eigenstress distributions in the phases. The evolution of such eigenfields is examined here within the framework of nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of polymeric matrix conveniently described by the Leonov model. Fully implicit integration scheme is implemented to enhance the stability and efficiency of the underlying numerical analysis. In this regard the Fourier transform is called when solving the resulting integral equations, which permits an arbitrary choice of the reference medium so that often encountered anisotropy of individual phases creates no obstacles in the solution procedure. Attention is also paid to the evaluation of the required material statistics. It is shown that replacing the actual microstructure of real world composites with a corresponding digitized image renders a computationally promising numerical approach for their derivation. Apart from application to nonlinear viscoelastic problem the use of the present modeling strategy is further promoted by a good agreement of estimated effective thermoelastic properties with predictions obtained from periodic unit cell models.
Herpesvirus Late Gene Expression: A Viral-Specific Pre-initiation Complex Is Key

During their productive cycle, herpesviruses exhibit a strictly regulated temporal cascade of gene expression that can be divided into three general stages: immediate-early (IE), early (E), and late (L). This expression program is the result of a complex interplay between viral and cellular factors at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels, as well as structural differences within the promoter architecture for each of the three gene classes. Since the cellular enzyme RNA polymerase II (RNAP-II) is responsible for the transcription of herpesvirus genes, most viral promoters contain DNA motifs that are common with those of cellular genes, although promoter complexity decreases from immediate-early to late genes. Immediate-early and early promoters contain numerous cellular and viral cis-regulating sequences upstream of a TATA box, whereas late promoters differ significantly in that they lack cis-acting sequences upstream of the transcription start site (TSS). Moreover, in the case of the β- and γ-herpesviruses, a TATT box motif is frequently found in the position where the consensus TATA box of eukaryotic promoters usually localizes. The mechanisms of transcriptional regulation of the late viral gene promoters appear to be different between α-herpesviruses and the two other herpesvirus subfamilies (β and γ). In this review, we will compare the mechanisms of late gene transcriptional regulation between HSV-1, for which the viral IE transcription factors – especially ICP4 – play an essential role, and the two other subfamilies of herpesviruses, with a particular emphasis on EBV, which has recently been found to code for its own specific TATT-binding protein.
Rhythmanalysing the coach tour: the Ring of Kerry, Ireland

This paper utilises and extends Henri Lefebvre's ideas about rhythmanalysis to explore the rhythmic qualities of taking a coach tour. The paper investigates the Ring of Kerry tour in the West of Ireland and reveals both the reproduction and disturbance, through itinerary and narratives of the coach drivers, of anticipated discourses and visual indexes of commodified Irishness. Central to the paper is the ordering of different rhythmic assemblages, which connect and disconnect in multiple ways. It is argued that the rhythmic multiplicity of coach tours involve entanglements of embodiment, affective registers, technologies and materialities. The paper reveals how the myriad tempos and rhythms of the tour take on different consistencies and intensities at different stages of the journey, and investigates the capacities of these rhythms to affect and be affected by the pulse of the spaces moved through and stopped at. In so doing, a supplemented rhythmanalysis is suggested as a productive approach for apprehending tourist spaces, practices and landscapes.
Over the hill and still "liming": psychological well-being in young, middle-aged and older adult Trinidadians

In 2010 in Trinidad and Tobago individuals over 60 years-old represented 10% of the population. This figure is expected to reach 20% by the year 2025 (World Health Statistics, 2011). Late life is often characterized by decline and disease, but gains in human potential and functioning (i.e., psychological well-being, PWB) in older adulthood are possible (Baltes, 1987). Thus, the goal of the current study was to examine Trinidadian adult age group differences in three components of PWB: self-acceptance, positive relations with others, and purpose in life (Ryff, 1989). Older adults were expected to have higher acceptance of themselves, and relations with others that are as positive, if not better than, other age groups. Lower sense of purpose in one's life was expected in old age. The study sample consisted of 242 participants residing in Trinidad between the ages of 18 and 74 years-old (M = 36.84, SD = 16.35). The country's major ethnic groups were represented. Socio-demographic variables and PWB were assessed with self-report measures as part of a larger study. It was found that older adults reported lower levels of self-acceptance and purpose in life compared to young and middle-aged adults, whom did not differ. There were, however, no age group differences in how positively people viewed relationships with others. Older adults were just as likely as young and middle-aged adults to have healthy, positive relationships. Results remained relatively consistent even when controlling for socio-demographic variables (e.g., education, income, health, etc.) related to age and PWB. No ethnic group differences emerged. The pattern of gains and losses in PWB in late life are discussed, focusing on why older adult Trinidadians do not demonstrate levels of self-acceptance seen in other cultures, and the potential role that positive relations and 'the lime' may have across adulthood for the PWB of Trinidadians.