Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nonverbal Reasoning in Preschool Children: Investigating the Putative Risk of Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder as a Mediator

Abstract Background: Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) has been found to be associated with cognitive deficits in children. However, relatively little is known about the relationship between SHS exposure, cognitive deficits, and smoking-related psychopathology, specifically attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and externalizing disorders such as conduct disorder (CD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in preschool children. Methods: Children (n = 54) between the ages of 4 and 6 years from a comprehensive, longitudinal study of preschool emotional development were included in this study. Each child’s primary caregiver completed questionnaires and interviews related to childhood psychopathology. SHS exposure was estimated with the use of saliva cotinine values. Results: After adjustment for sociodemographic factors (e.g., age, gender, an income-to-needs ratio) and for ADHD, CD, and ODD symptoms, exposure to SHS was found to be negatively associated with preschool children’s nonverbal reasoning skills. Exposure to SHS continued to be negatively associated with nonverbal reasoning skills after adjustment for maternal education, maternal smoking during pregnancy, and maternal reports of exposure to SHS during pregnancy in separate models. Conclusions: Children who grow up in an environment with adults who smoke are vulnerable to several social and environmental risk factors. The findings of this study suggest that exposure to SHS during early childhood should also be considered as a potential variable in the risk trajectory and as a marker of other associated risks when formulating public health intervention and prevention strategies.
Early-age heat exposure affects skeletal muscle satellite cell proliferation and differentiation in chicks.

Exposure of young chicks to thermal conditioning (TC; i.e., 37 degrees C for 24 h) resulted in significantly improved body and muscle growth at a later age. We hypothesized that TC causes an increase in satellite cell proliferation, necessary for further muscle hypertrophy. An immediate increase was observed in satellite cell DNA synthesis in culture and in vivo in response to TC of 3-day-old chicks to levels that were significantly higher than those of control chicks. This was accompanied by a marked induction of insulin-like growth factor-I (IFG-I), but not hepatocyte growth factor in the breast muscle. No significant difference between treatments in plasma IGF-I levels was observed. A marked elevation in muscle regulatory factors on day 5, followed by a decline in cell proliferation on day 6 together with continuous high levels of IGF-I in the TC chick muscle may indicate accelerated cell differentiation. These data suggest a central role for IGF-I in the immediate stimulation of satellite cell myogenic processes in response to heat exposure.
Market Design when Firms Interact with Inertial Consumers: Evidence from Medicare Part D

I use the Medicare Part D insurance market to examine market design when rms interact with inertial consumers. Enrollment data show enrollees face switching frictions leading to inertia in plan choice, and a regression discontinuity design indicates initial defaults have persistent e¤ects. Theory predicts rms respond to inertia by raising prices on existing enrollees, while introducing cheaper alternative plans. The complete set of enrollment and price data from 2006 through 2010 con rms this prediction: older plans have approximately 10% higher premiums than comparable new plans. I then derive optimal dynamic (switching) defaults for individuals, which depend not only on whether inertia results from real switching costs or psychological factors that lead to inaction, but also on the equilibrium responses of rms. A default that switches individuals away from expensive plans can raise the elasticity of demand of existing enrollees and lower the equilibrium price di¤erential between new and existing plans. I show conditions under which the switching default lowers overall switching costs borne and is socially optimal. I thank Martin Andersen, Raj Chetty, David Cutler, Stefano DellaVigna, Drew Fudenberg, Andreas Fuster, Larry Katz, David Laibson, Michael Grubb, Oliver Hart, Dan McFadden, TomMcGuire, and Amanda Starc for their thoughtful comments. I thank the Williams College Tyng Committee and the National Science Foundation for research support. yAddress: Boston Univeristy, 595 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215. Email: kericson@bu.edu
Requirements on Component Technologies for Heavy Vehicles

Software component technologies have not yet been generally accepted by embedded-systems industries. In order to better understand why this is the case, we present a set of requirements, based on industrial needs, that are deemed decisive for introducing a component technology. The requirements we present can be used to evaluate existing component technologies before introducing them in an industrial context. They can also be used to guide modifications and/or extensions to component technologies, to make them better suited for industrial deployment. One of our findings is that a major source of requirements is non-technical in its nature. For a component technology to become a viable solution in an industrial context, its impact on the overall development process needs to be addressed. This includes issues like component life-cycle management, and support for the ability to gradually migrate into the new technology.
First-principles Calculation on Screw Dislocation Core Properties in BCC Molybdenum

Predicting atomistic properties of a dislocation is a first step toward an understanding of plastic behavior of materials, in particular BCC metals. The core structure and Peierls stress of a screw dislocation in BCC metals have been studied over the years using the first-principles and empirical methods, however, their conclusions vary due to the inefficiency of the methods. We have executed first-principles calculations based on the density functional method, employing the most accurate 1 · 1 · 20 k-point samplings, to determine the core structure and Peierls stress of the a0/2(111) screw dislocation of molybdenum. We have concluded that the core has a 6-fold structure, and determined the Peierls stress of 1.8 GPa for the simple shear strain along the (-110) direction.
New Participant Role Scales: comparison between various criteria for assigning roles and indications for their validity

The present study was set up with two aims in mind. First, to assess the psychometric characteristics of a peer-report measure of bullying in a Dutch sample, and second, to compare relative and absolute ways of assigning roles in the bullying process. The sample consisted of 242 children (51% boys; mean age approximately 10 years) at T1. Two years later, there were 247 children (49% boys). We made use of an adaptation of the original Participant Role Scales (PRS) Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Bjorkqvist et al., 1996; Salmivalli, Lappalainen and Lagerspetz, 1998) and of the Aggression and Victimization Scale [Perry, Kusel and Perry, 1988]. This scale, called the New PRS, consisted of 32 items in total. Five highly reliable scales were distinguished with the help of CFA, one for leader-like bullying behavior, one for follower-like bullying behavior, and scales for outsider, defender and victim. We computed the roles according to four criteria, that is, z-scores (a relative measure) and three different percentage scores (10%, 15% and 20%; each an absolute measure). Sociometric status was also assessed. The concordance between the various methods was moderate. Test–retest stability was also moderate. Test–retest coefficients for the scale scores were considerably higher. Links were found between the roles and sociometric status, irrespective of the method used for assigning roles. Victims were rejected, as were bullies, but defenders were popular. Gender differences indicated that boys were more often bullies or followers, and girls were more often outsiders or defenders. Absolute methods for assigning bullying roles produced fewer unclassifiable children and brought to light substantial differences between classes. Aggr. Behav. 32:343–357, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Influence of sulphasalazine, methotrexate, and the combination of both on plasma homocysteine concentrations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

OBJECTIVE To study the influence of sulphasalazine (SSZ), methotrexate (MTX), and the combination (COMBI) of both on plasma homocysteine and to study the relation between plasma homocysteine and their clinical effects. METHODS 105 patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were randomised between SSZ (2–3 g/day), MTX (7.5–15 mg/week), and the COMBI (same dose range) and evaluated double blindly during 52 weeks. Plasma homocysteine, serum folate concentrations, and vitamin B12 were measured. The influence of the C677T mutation of the enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolatereductase (MTHFR) gene was analysed. RESULTS A slight trend towards increased efficacy and an increased occurrence of minor gastrointestinal toxicity was present in the COMBI group, no differences existed clinically between SSZ and MTX. Only a slight and temporary increase in plasma homocysteine was found in the SSZ group, in contrast with the persistent rise in the MTX group and the even greater increase in the COMBI patients. Patients homozygous for the mutation in the MTHFR gene had significantly higher baseline homocysteine, heterozygous MTHFR genotype induced a significantly higher plasma homocysteine at week 52 compared with no mutation. No correlation was found between clinical efficacy variables and homocysteine. Patients with gastrointestinal toxicity had a significantly greater increase in homocysteine. CONCLUSION A persistent increase in plasma homocysteine concentrations was observed in patients treated with MTX alone and more pronounced in combination with SSZ, in contrast with SSZ alone. An increase in plasma homocysteine is related to the C677T mutation in MTHFR. A relation in the change in homocysteine concentrations with (gastrointestinal) toxicity was found, no relation with clinical efficacy existed.
A WIDE-FIELD HIGH-RESOLUTION H i MOSAIC OF MESSIER 31. I. OPAQUE ATOMIC GAS AND STAR FORMATION RATE DENSITY

We have undertaken a deep, wide-field H i imaging survey of M31, reaching a maximum resolution of about 50 pc and 2 km s−1 across a 95 × 48 kpc region. The H i mass and brightness sensitivity at 100 pc resolution for a 25 km s−1 wide spectral feature is 1500 M☉ and 0.28 K. Our study reveals ubiquitous H i self-opacity features, discernible in the first instance as filamentary local minima in images of the peak H i brightness temperature. Local minima are organized into complexes of more than kpc length and are particularly associated with the leading edge of spiral arm features. Just as in the Galaxy, there is only patchy correspondence of self-opaque features with CO(1–0) emission. We have produced images of the best-fit physical parameters: spin temperature, opacity-corrected column density, and nonthermal velocity dispersion, for the brightest spectral feature along each line of sight in the M31 disk. Spectroscopically opaque atomic gas is organized into filamentary complexes and isolated clouds down to 100 pc. Localized opacity corrections to the column density exceed an order of magnitude in many cases and add globally to a 30% increase in the atomic gas mass over that inferred from the integrated brightness under the usual assumption of negligible self-opacity. Opaque atomic gas first increases from 20 to 60 K in spin temperature with radius to 12 kpc but then declines again to 20 K beyond 25 kpc. We have extended the resolved star formation law down to physical scales more than an order of magnitude smaller in area and mass than has been possible previously. The relation between total gas mass and star formation rate density is significantly tighter than that with molecular mass and is fully consistent in both slope and normalization with the power-law index of 1.56 found in the molecule-dominated disk of M51 at 500 pc resolution. Below a gas mass density of about 5 M☉ pc−2, there is a downturn in star formation rate density which may represent a real local threshold for massive star formation at a cloud mass of about 5 × 104 M☉.
Policy mechanisms for supply chain coordination

The problem is to determine a review period and stocking policy that are mutually beneficial to a producer and a retailer. In our model, the retailer uses a periodic review, base stock policy for ordering the item from the producer's Distribution Center (DC). Excess customer demand is assumed to be lost. A make-to-order production system supplies to the DC. We show that given a review period, unless the manufacturer agrees to share the cost of carrying a fraction of the safety stocks at the retailer, the two will not agree upon the level of stocks to be carried in the store. We prove that there is an equilibrium value for this fraction, such that the retailer and the manufacturer are always in agreement with regard to the stocking level. We then show that complete coordination on the stocking level as well as the review period can be achieved solely through carrying out negotiations on credit terms. These theoretical results are used to construct an algorithm for calculating the optimal policy parameters for a supply chain. As part of the analysis we suggest a modification of the base stock policy for the positive lag lost sales case of periodic review inventory models that consistently outperforms the base stock policy in our numerical studies.
Rho-Kinase Inhibition Enhances Axonal Plasticity and Attenuates Cold Hyperalgesia after Dorsal Rhizotomy

Dorsal rhizotomy results in primary deafferentation of the dorsal horn with concomitant sprouting of spared intraspinal monoaminergic axons. Because descending monoaminergic systems are thought to mitigate nociceptive transmission from the periphery and because dorsal rhizotomy can result in neuropathic pain, we sought to determine whether the rhizotomy-induced sprouting response could be further augmented. Because myelin-derived molecules mask endogenous plasticity of CNS axons and because myelin-inhibitory signaling occurs through the Rho-GTPase pathway, we inhibited Rho-pathway signaling after cervical dorsal rhizotomy in rats. An increase in the density of serotonergic- and tyrosine hydroxylase-positive fibers was seen in the dorsal horn 1 week after septuple rhizotomy, and axon density continued to increase for at least 1 month. One week after septuple rhizotomy, administration of intrathecal Y-27632, an antagonist of Rho-kinase (ROCK), increased the density of both fiber types over vehicle-treated controls. To examine behavioral effects of both cervical rhizotomy and ROCK inhibition, we examined responses to evoked pain: mechanical and thermal allodynia and cold hyperalgesia in the forepaw were examined after single, double, and quadruple rhizotomies of dorsal roots of the brachial plexus. The most notable behavioral outcome was the development of cold hyperalgesia in the affected forepaw after rhizotomies of the C7 and C8 dorsal roots. Application of Y-27632 both attenuated cold hyperalgesia and induced monoaminergic plasticity after C7/8 rhizotomy. Thus, inhibition of Rho-pathway signaling both promoted the sprouting of intact supraspinal monoaminergic fibers and alleviated pain after dorsal rhizotomy.
Low income urban youth exposed to violence who are diagnosed with comorbid Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

With all of the recent chronic exposure to violence in Milwaukee, Wisconsin central city, it is becoming increasingly common for urban children to be at risk of developing psychopathology. Many of the youth victims and survivors that I work with who are exposed to chronic violence, two common diagnoses are Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Most studies looking at the comorbidity between ADHD and PTSD have focused only on maltreated children. This is a study to look at comorbid rates of ADHD and PTSD for children exposed to chronic violence (who have witnessed or who have been a victim of a traumatic event) not limited to maltreatment. Specifically, this study evaluated rates of PTSD symptoms in children with and without ADHD, to examine the rates of ADHD and PTSD symptomatology among children from low income urban environments. Contrary to the hypothesis, children diagnosed with ADHD were not significantly more likely to meet criteria for PTSD nor did they exhibit more symptoms of PTSD than children without ADHD.
Observational bounds on the cosmic radiation density

We consider the inference of the cosmic radiation density, traditionally parametrized as the effective number of neutrino species Neff, from precision cosmological data. Paying particular attention to systematic effects, notably scale-dependent biasing in the galaxy power spectrum, we find no evidence for a significant deviation of Neff from the standard value of Neff0 = 3.046 in any combination of cosmological data sets, in contrast to some recent conclusions of other authors. The combination of all available data in the linear regime favours, in the context of a ‘vanilla+Neff’ cosmological model, 1.1<Neff<4.8 (95% CL) with a best-fit value of 2.6. Adding data at smaller scales, notably the Lyman-α forest, we find 2.2<Neff<5.8 (95% CL) with 3.8 as the best fit. Inclusion of the Lyman-α data shifts the preferred Neff upwards because the σ8 value derived from the SDSS (Sloan Digital Sky Survey) Lyman-α data is inconsistent with that inferred from the cosmic microwave background. In an extended cosmological model that includes a non-zero mass for Neff neutrino flavours, a running scalar spectral index and a w parameter for the dark energy, we find 0.8<Neff<6.1 (95% CL) with 3.0 as the best fit.
Knocking Out P2X Receptors Reduces Transmitter Secretion in Taste Buds

In response to gustatory stimulation, taste bud cells release a transmitter, ATP, that activates P2X2 and P2X3 receptors on gustatory afferent fibers. Taste behavior and gustatory neural responses are largely abolished in mice lacking P2X2 and P2X3 receptors [P2X2 and P2X3 double knock-out (DKO) mice]. The assumption has been that eliminating P2X2 and P2X3 receptors only removes postsynaptic targets but that transmitter secretion in mice is normal. Using functional imaging, ATP biosensor cells, and a cell-free assay for ATP, we tested this assumption. Surprisingly, although gustatory stimulation mobilizes Ca2+ in taste Receptor (Type II) cells from DKO mice, as from wild-type (WT) mice, taste cells from DKO mice fail to release ATP when stimulated with tastants. ATP release could be elicited by depolarizing DKO Receptor cells with KCl, suggesting that ATP-release machinery remains functional in DKO taste buds. To explore the difference in ATP release across genotypes, we used reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR, immunostaining, and histochemistry for key proteins underlying ATP secretion and degradation: Pannexin1, TRPM5, and NTPDase2 (ecto-ATPase) are indistinguishable between WT and DKO mice. The ultrastructure of contacts between taste cells and nerve fibers is also normal in the DKO mice. Finally, quantitative RT-PCR show that P2X4 and P2X7, potential modulators of ATP secretion, are similarly expressed in taste buds in WT and DKO taste buds. Importantly, we find that P2X2 is expressed in WT taste buds and appears to function as an autocrine, positive feedback signal to amplify taste-evoked ATP secretion.
NOVA-LIKE CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES IN THE INFRARED

Nova-like (NL) cataclysmic variables have persistently high mass transfer rates and prominent steady state accretion disks. We present an analysis of infrared observations of 12 NLs obtained from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer All Sky Survey. The presence of an infrared excess at λ ≳ 3–5 μm over the expectation of a theoretical steady state accretion disk is ubiquitous in our sample. The strength of the infrared excess is not correlated with orbital period, but shows a statistically significant correlation (but shallow trend) with system inclination that might be partially (but not completely) linked to the increasing view of the cooler outer accretion disk and disk rim at higher inclinations. We discuss the possible origin of the infrared excess in terms of emission from bremsstrahlung or circumbinary dust, with either mechanism facilitated by the mass outflows (e.g., disk wind/corona, accretion stream overflow, and so on) present in NLs. Our comparison of the relative advantages and disadvantages of either mechanism for explaining the observations suggests that the situation is rather ambiguous, largely circumstantial, and in need of stricter observational constraints.
Interdisciplinary Studies: A Site for Bridging the Skills Divide.

This study explores student learning outcomes from an Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies course. The article focuses on students’ perceptions of cognitive abilities, skills and attributes developed through participation in an interdisciplinary research and design project. Participants were 50 students enrolled in the course. A pre-post survey matched pairs design was used to analyze data generated from Likert scale responses. Content analysis was used to analyze responses to open-ended survey questions. The study’s findings illustrate the potential interdisciplinary studies programs have for fostering the development of skills required for success in the workplace and for good citizenship.
Dynamics of solar coronal loops I. Condensation in cool loops and its effect on transition region lines

We report numerical calculations of the condensation of plasma in short coronal loops, which have several interesting physical consequences. Firstly, we propose a connection between small, cool loops (T < 10 6 K), which constitute one of the basic components of the solar transition region, and prominences, in the sense that the same physical mechanism governs their dynamics: Namely the onset of instability and runaway cooling due to strong radiative losses. Secondly, we show that the temporal evolution of these loop models exhibits a cyclic pattern of chromospheric evaporation, condensation, motion of the condensation region to either side of the loop, and finally loop reheating with a period of 4000-8000 s for a loop of 10 Mm length. Thirdly, we have synthesized transition region lines from these calculations which show strong periodic intensity variations, making condensation in loops a candidate to account for observed transient brightenings of solar transition region lines. Remarkably, all these dynamic processes take place for a heating function which is constant in time and has a simple exponential height dependence.