Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Radiocarbon Confusion Dating : Problems and Prospects for the Study of Baja California Sur Prehistory

The dating of historic or protohistoric Pericú Indian skeletons from the Cape Region of Baja California Sur yield radiocarbon results that appear younger than their actual age. This pattern appears to result from problems inherent in all radiocarbon dates of marine origin, including the skeletons of ancient people who derived their food from the sea. This paper is an archaeological case study, showing that marine and terrestrial radiocarbon samples of the same depositional age can lead to confusion about patterns of historic versus prehistoric cultural development. Problems of Coastal Radiocarbon Dating No innovation has done more to revolutionize modern archaeology than the advent of radiocarbon dating shortly after World War II (Fagan 2000; Taylor 1987). Before the introduction of 14C (carbon 14) dating, prehistoric archaeologists could construct regional chronologies of cultural development based only on the study of artifact styles. Aside from limiting the time available for study of other topics, these stylistic analyses simply could not be used to develop inter-regional or global cultural chronologies. The universal time scale afforded by 14C dating made possible the outlines of world prehistory that archaeologists take for granted today. Despite these advances, 14C dating has by no means achieved its full potential in archaeological research. The “marine reservoir effect” (MRE) remains a basic challenge to the dating of coastal cultural deposits around the world. A full description of the technical basis of radiocarbon dating is precluded by the space available here (Taylor 1987). Important to the present discussion, however, are differences between the atmospheric and marine 14C reservoirs. Radiocarbon is produced naturally in the earth’s atmosphere, making its way into marine and terrestrial food chains via the uptake of 14C (in carbon dioxide) by plants during photosynthesis. Radiocarbon is rapidly mixed in the earth’s atmosphere, where it readily can be absorbed by terrestrial plants. Marine plants not only receive 14C from the atmosphere, but also take up ancient, 14C-depleted carbonates from considerable depths, resulting from local differences of upwelling and other oceanographic factors. Consequently, organic materials of marine origin tend to be depleted of 14C as compared to terrestrial materials of the same age, and subject to a great deal of variability in the absorption of ancient carbon. When materials
A basic need theory approach to problematic Internet use and the mediating effect of psychological distress

The Internet provides an easily accessible way to meet certain needs. Over-reliance on it leads to problematic use, which studies show can be predicted by psychological distress. Self-determination theory proposes that we all have the basic need for autonomy, competency, and relatedness. This has been shown to explain the motivations behind problematic Internet use. This study hypothesizes that individuals who are psychologically disturbed because their basic needs are not being met are more vulnerable to becoming reliant on the Internet when they seek such needs satisfaction from online activities, and tests a model in which basic needs predict problematic Internet use, fully mediated by psychological distress. Problematic Internet use, psychological distress, and basic needs satisfaction were psychometrically measured in a sample of 229 Hong Kong University students and structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model. All indices showed the model has a good fit. Further, statistical testing supported a mediation effect for psychological distress between needs satisfaction and problematic Internet use. The results extend our understanding of the development and prevention of problematic Internet use based on the framework of self-determination theory. Psychological distress could be used as an early predictor, while preventing and treating problematic Internet use should emphasize the fulfillment of unmet needs.
Feasibility study of combination chemotherapy with paclitaxel, doxorubicin and cisplatin without prophylactic granulocyte colony-stimulating factor injection for intermediate-to-high risk or recurrent endometrial cancer.

OBJECTIVE We evaluated the feasibility of combination chemotherapy with paclitaxel, doxorubicin and cisplatin without prophylactic granulocyte colony-stimulating factor injection for intermediate-to-high-risk or recurrent endometrial cancer. METHODS Women with histologically confirmed FIGO Stages I-II with >1/2 myometrial invasion, Stage III/IV or recurrent endometrial cancer were enrolled. Patients received intravenous doxorubicin (45 mg/m(2)), followed by cisplatin (50 mg/m(2)) on Day 1 and intravenous paclitaxel (160 mg/m(2)) on Day 2. Granisetron (75 µg) was administered depending on neutrophil counts on Days 3 and 8. Treatment was repeated every 21 days for six cycles or until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was the completion rate of the scheduled chemotherapy; secondary endpoints were Grade 3/4 toxicity and response rate in patients with measurable lesions. RESULTS From September 2010 to December 2012, 35 women, including 7 with FIGO Stage I, 4 with Stage II, 13 with Stage III, 10 with Stage IV and 1 with recurrent endometrial cancer, were enrolled. There were 26 endometrial carcinomas (Grade 1, 16; Grade 2, 6; Grade 3, 4), 4 carcinosarcomas, 2 serous adenocarcinomas, 1 neuroendocrine carcinoma, 1 poorly differentiated carcinoma and 1 mixed carcinoma. Twenty-five patients (71%) completed six chemotherapy cycles. Grade 3/4 hematological toxicities included neutrocytopenia (97%), thrombocytopenia (6%) and anemia (34%). Three patients (9%) experienced neutropenic fever. Grade 3/4 non-hematological toxicities were observed in 13 patients. In 15 patients with evaluable lesions, the response rate was 80%. CONCLUSIONS Combination chemotherapy with paclitaxel, doxorubicin and cisplatin without prophylactic granulocyte colony-stimulating factor injection is feasible.
The influence of non‐ionisable excipients on precipitation parameters measured using the CheqSol method

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of non‐ionisable excipients hydroxypropyl‐β‐cyclodextrin (HPβCD) and poloxamers 407 and 188 on the supersaturation and precipitation kinetics of ibuprofen, gliclazide, propranolol and atenolol induced through solution pH shifts using the CheqSol method.
Examining the usage of feedback vibration in Nintendo DS handheld game console

Feedback vibration is a standard feature in almost every home video game console controller to vibrate in selected circumstances, such as when the user's character kick the ball or hit the opponent, to immerse the player in the game. In the handheld game consoles this feature causes the handheld game consoles to vibrate. But the handheld game consoles are different than home video game consoles. In this paper we examine the suitability of using feedback vibration in the handheld game consoles. We evaluated feedback vibration popularity among the users. We used Nintendo DS handheld game consoles for this evaluation.
A Suffix Tree Approach to Email Filtering

We present an approach to email filtering based on the suffix tr ee data structure. A method for the scoring of emails using the suffix tree is developed and a number of scoring and score normalisation functions are tested. Our results show that the character level represent ation of emails and classes facilitated by the suffix tree can significantly impr ove classification accuracy when compared with the currently popular methods, such as naive Bayes. We believe the method can be extended to the classifica tion of documents in other domains.
Dimensions Driving Business Student Satisfaction in Higher Education.

Purpose – This study aims to identify the dimensions of business student satisfaction in the Malaysian private higher educational environment and evaluate the influence that demographic factors have on satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 1,200 undergraduate business students at four private higher educational (PHE) institutions in Malaysia. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the underlying dimensions that drive student satisfaction. ANOVA and t-tests were conducted to evaluate the influence that demographic factors have on the results. Findings – Factor analysis resulted in the adoption of a 12-factor solution from an original set of 53 satisfaction items. The results also indicated the influence of demographic factors on the level of business student satisfaction. Originality/value – This study identified 12 factors or the underlying dimensions that drive business student satisfaction in the Malaysian PHE. The 12 factors are: professi.
Characterizing pairwise inter-contact patterns in delay tolerant networks

A good understanding of contact patterns in delay tolerant networks (DTNs) is elemental to the design of effective routing or content distribution schemes. Prior work has typically focused on inter-contact time patterns in the aggregate. In this paper, we argue that pairwise inter-contact patterns are a more refined and efficient tool for characterizing DTNs. First, we provide a detailed statistical analysis of pairwise contact and inter-contact times in three reference DTN data sets. We characterize heterogeneities in contact times and inter-contact times, and find that the empirical distributions of inter-contact times tend to be well fitted by log-normal curves, with exponential curves also fitting a significant portion of the distributions. Second, we investigate analytically the relationship between pairwise and aggregate inter-contact times. In particular, we consider both the exponential and log-normal cases and show analytically how the aggregation of pairwise inter-contacts may lead to aggregate inter-contacts with power laws of various degrees.
Fast and simple XML tree differencing by sequence alignment

With the advent of XML we have seen a renewed interest in methods for computing the difference between trees. Methods that include heuristic elements play an important role in practical applications due to the inherent complexity of the problem. We present a method for differencing XML as ordered trees based on mapping the problem to the domain of sequence alignment, applying simple and efficient heuristics in this domain, and transforming back to the tree domain. Our approach provides a method to quickly compute changes that are meaningful transformations on the XML tree level, and includes subtree move as a primitive operation. We evaluate the feasibility of our approach and benchmark it against a selection of existing differencing tools. The results show our approach to be feasible and to have the potential to perform on par with tools of a more complex design in terms of both output size and execution time.
The story model for juror decision making

Introduction The goal of our research over the past ten years has been to understand the cognitive strategies that individual jurors use to process trial information in order to make a decision prior to deliberation. We have approached this goal with the perspective of psychologists who are interested in how people think and behave. First, we have developed a theory that we believe describes the cognitive strategies that jurors use. We call this theory the story model, and it is described in the first section of the paper. Second, we have conducted extensive empirical work to test the theory. This work is summarized in the second section of the paper. The story model has been developed in the context of criminal trials, so it will be presented and discussed in those terms. In the final section of the paper, we discuss some of our current research directions. The story model We call our theory the story model because we propose that a central cognitive process in juror decision making is story construction (Bennett & Feldman, 1981; Pennington, 1981, 1991; Pennington & Hastie, 1980, 1981a, 1981b, 1986, 1988, 1992). Although story construction is central in our theory and has been the focus of most of our empirical research, it is but one of three processes that we propose.
The Formation of Situation Models in Multimedia

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv DEDICATION v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning 3 Cognitive Assumptions of Multimedia Learning 3 Dual channels 3 Limited working memory capacity 5 Active processing 6 Limitations of the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning 7 Forming Mental Representations 8 The Importance of Situation Models 10 Situation Models and False Memories 14 An Approach for Understanding Situation Models, Memory, and Multimedia 16 Overview of the Experiments 19 CHAPTER 2: EXPERIMENT 1 21 Hypotheses 22 Correct Recall 22 Session (Day 1 and 2) 22 Presentation (Text-Only, Pictures-Only, vs. Text-Pictures) 23 Session X Presentation 23 Elaborations 24 Session (Day 1 and 2) 24
Prognostic Significance of the Systemic Inflammatory and Immune Balance in Alcoholic Liver Disease with a Focus on Gender-Related Differences

Objectives Mechanisms of immune regulation in alcoholic liver disease (ALD) are still unclear. The aim of our study was to determine an impact of Th17 / regulatory T (Treg) cells balance and its corresponding cytokine profile on the ALD outcome. Possible gender-related differences in the alcohol-induced inflammatory response were also assessed. Materials and Methods 147 patients with ALD were prospectively recruited, assigned to subgroups based on their gender, severity of liver dysfunction and presence of ALD complications at admission, and followed for 90 days. Peripheral blood frequencies of Th17 and Treg cells together with IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-17A, IL-23, and TGF-beta1 levels were investigated. Flow cytometry was used to identify T cell phenotype and immunoenzymatic ELISAs for the corresponding cytokine concentrations assessment. Multivariable logistic regression was applied in order to select independent predictors of advanced liver dysfunction and the disease complications. Results IL-17A, IL-1beta, IL-6 levels were significantly increased, while TGF-beta1 decreased in ALD patients. The imbalance with significantly higher Th17 and lower Treg frequencies was observed in non-survivors. IL-6 and TGF-beta1 levels differed in relation to patient gender in ALD group. Concentrations of IL-6 were associated with the severity of liver dysfunction, development of ALD complications, and turned out to be the only independent immune predictor of 90-day survival in the study cohort. Conclusions We conclude that IL-6 revealed the highest diagnostic and prognostic potential among studied biomarkers and was related to the fatal ALD course. Gender-related differences in immune regulation might influence the susceptibility to alcohol-associated liver injury.
Folate Intake and Risk of Breast Cancer Characterized by Hormone Receptor Status

Folate plays an important role in DNA methylation, and aberrant methylation of the estrogen receptor (ER) gene may be related to the loss of ER gene expression in breast tumors. Thus, deficient folate status has been hypothesized to be associated primarily with ER gene–negative breast tumors, but data relating folate intake to breast cancer risk according to ER status are sparse. We conducted a prospective cohort analysis of folate intake among 88,744 women in the Nurses' Health Study who completed a food frequency questionnaire in 1980 and every 2 to 4 years thereafter. During 20 years of follow-up, 2,812 ER+ and 985 ER− invasive breast cancer cases were documented. Higher total folate intake was significantly associated with lower risk of developing ER− but not ER+ breast cancer; the multivariable relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) comparing the highest to the lowest quintile were 0.81 (0.66-0.99) for ER− tumors and 1.00 (0.89-1.14) for ER+ tumors. The inverse association between total folate intake and ER− breast cancer was mainly present among women consuming at least 15 g/d of alcohol (multivariable RR, 0.46; 95% CI, = 0.25-0.86; top versus bottom quintile). These findings support the hypothesis that higher folate intake reduces the risk of developing ER− breast cancer. Ensuring adequate folate intake seems particularly important for women at higher risk of breast cancer because of alcohol consumption.
Birth dates vary with fixed and dynamic maternal features, offspring sex, and extreme climatic events in a high‐latitude marine mammal

Abstract Reproductive synchrony tends to be widespread in diverse species of plants and animals, especially at higher latitudes. However, for long‐lived mammals, birth dates for different individuals can vary by weeks within a population. A mother's birth timing can reveal useful information about her reproductive abilities and have important implications for the characteristics and survival of her offspring. Despite this, our current knowledge of factors associated with variation in birth dates is modest. We used long‐term data for known‐age Weddell seals in Antarctica and a Bayesian hierarchical modeling approach to study how birth dates varied with fixed and temporally varying features of mothers, whether sex allocation varied with birth timing, and annual variation in birth dates. Based on birth dates for 4465 pups born to 1117 mothers aged 4–31, we found that diverse features of mothers were associated with variation in birth dates. Maternal identity was the most important among these. Unlike most studies, which have reported that birth dates occur earlier as mothers age, we found that birth dates progressively occurred earlier in the year in the early part of a mother's reproductive life, reached a minimum at age 16, and then occurred later at later ages. Birth dates were positively related to a mother's age at primiparity and recent reproductive effort. The earliest birth dates were for pups born to prime‐age mothers who did not reproduce in the previous year but began reproduction early in life, suggesting that females in the best condition gave birth earlier than others. If so, our finding that male pups tended to be born earlier than females provides support for the Trivers–Willard sex‐allocation model. Average birth dates were quite consistent across years, except for 2 years that had notable delays and occurred during the period when massive icebergs were present and disrupted the ecosystem.
RAD54 controls access to the invading 3′-OH end after RAD51-mediated DNA strand invasion in homologous recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Rad51 is a key protein in homologous recombination performing homology search and DNA strand invasion. After DNA strand exchange Rad51 protein is stuck on the double-stranded heteroduplex DNA product of DNA strand invasion. This is a problem, because DNA polymerase requires access to the invading 3′-OH end to initiate DNA synthesis. Here we show that, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae dsDNA motor protein Rad54 solves this problem by dissociating yeast Rad51 protein bound to the heteroduplex DNA after DNA strand invasion. The reaction required species-specific interaction between both proteins and the ATPase activity of Rad54 protein. This mechanism rationalizes the in vivo requirement of Rad54 protein for the turnover of Rad51 foci and explains the observed dependence of the transition from homologous pairing to DNA synthesis on Rad54 protein in vegetative and meiotic yeast cells.
Targeted Selected Reaction Monitoring Mass Spectrometric Immunoassay for Insulin-like Growth Factor 1

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) is an important biomarker of human growth disorders that is routinely analyzed in clinical laboratories. Mass spectrometry-based workflows offer a viable alternative to standard IGF1 immunoassays, which utilize various pre-analytical preparation strategies. In this work we developed an assay that incorporates a novel sample preparation method for dissociating IGF1 from its binding proteins. The workflow also includes an immunoaffinity step using antibody-derivatized pipette tips, followed by elution, trypsin digestion, and LC-MS/MS separation and detection of the signature peptides in a selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The resulting quantitative mass spectrometric immunoassay (MSIA) exhibited good linearity in the range of 1 to 1,500 ng/mL IGF1, intra- and inter-assay precision with CVs of less than 10%, and lowest limits of detection of 1 ng/mL. The linearity and recovery characteristics of the assay were also established, and the new method compared to a commercially available immunoassay using a large cohort of human serum samples. The IGF1 SRM MSIA is well suited for use in clinical laboratories.
Identification and Localization of a Rickettsia sp. in Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae)

ABSTRACT Whiteflies (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) are sap-sucking insects that harbor “Candidatus Portiera aleyrodidarum,” an obligatory symbiotic bacterium which is housed in a special organ called the bacteriome. These insects are also home for a diverse facultative microbial community which may include Hamiltonella, Arsenophonus, Fritchea, Wolbachia, and Cardinium spp. In this study, the bacteria associated with a B biotype of the sweet potato whitefly Bemisia tabaci were characterized using molecular fingerprinting techniques, and a Rickettsia sp. was detected for the first time in this insect family. Rickettsia sp. distribution, transmission and localization were studied using PCR and fluorescence in situ hybridizations (FISH). Rickettsia was found in all 20 Israeli B. tabaci populations screened but not in all individuals within each population. A FISH analysis of B. tabaci eggs, nymphs, and adults revealed a unique concentration of Rickettsia around the gut and follicle cells, as well as a random distribution in the hemolymph. We postulate that the Rickettsia enters the oocyte together with the bacteriocytes, leaves these symbiont-housing cells when the egg is laid, multiplies and spreads throughout the egg during embryogenesis and, subsequently, disperses throughout the body of the hatching nymph, excluding the bacteriomes. Although the role Rickettsia plays in the biology of the whitefly is currently unknown, the vertical transmission on the one hand and the partial within-population infection on the other suggest a phenotype that is advantageous under certain conditions but may be deleterious enough to prevent fixation under others.
Tuberculosis-HIV Co-infection in Kiev City, Ukraine

In 2004, we tested all patients with newly diagnosed tuberculosis (TB) for HIV in Kiev City. The results were compared to information from medical records of 2002, when co-infection prevalence was 6.3%. Of 968 TB patients, 98 (10.1%) were HIV infected. TB-HIV co-infection is increasing, especially in injecting drug users.