Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SELF-CONCEPT AND LOCUS OF CONTROL IN HISPANIC AND ANGLO THIRD AND FOURTH GRADERS.

Effects of a substance abuse prevention program on the locus of control and self-concept of 148 Hispanic and Anglo third and fourth grade children were evaluated. A 2 x 2 (race x group) multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures was carried out using the Health Resources Inventory, Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, NowickiStrickland Locus of Control Scale, and two roster and rating sociometric questionnaires. The results of the analysis revealed a significant effect of time and interactions between time and race and time and group. Mean scores on the Health Resources Inventory and both sociometric questionnaires increased from pre-test to post-test for all children. In addition, children's scores indicated a change toward an internal direction on the Locus of Control Scale. Only the sociometric questionnaire measuring the children's perception of their popularity showed a significant group effect. The experimental group. those whose teachers had used the prevention curriculum, increased their perception of how well they were 1 iked by their classmates. However, their actual popularity as measured by the average of their classmates' rating did not change. Possible explanations and methodological shortcomings are discussed.
Spectrum of haematologic malignancies and survival outcomes of adult lymphomas in Maiduguri, north eastern Nigeria--a fourteen year review.

BACKGROUND The incidence of Haematologic malignancies has been shown to vary according to gender, age, geographic region, and histologic subtypes, while cure rates can vary according to region and may be impacted by treatment availability and access to care. METHOD This was an institution based review of data from the Medical Records Department, Department of Haematology and Cancer Registry of the Histopathology Department of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital between January 1998 and December 2011. The aim was to study the spectrum of Haematologic malignancies and the survival pattern of adult lymphomas in this region and to compare our findings to studies reported elsewhere. RESULTS The Haematologic malignancies represented 6.05% of all cancer cases seen and 0.31% of hospital admissions. Among the Haematologic malignancies, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (NHL) was the most frequent, constituting 51.3% while others include: Hodgkins Lymphoma (HL), 26.7% Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML), 5.5%, Acute Myeloblastic leukaemia (AML), 4.2% Multiple Myeloma (MM), 4.2% Acute Lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), 3.8%, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL), 3.4% Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), 0.4% and Chronic Myelofibrosis 0.4%. Haematologic malignancies are more common in younger age group and also more common in males than females. Lymphomas are particularly common in young adults and the incidence tends to fall after 70 years. Similarly, the characteristic bimodal age incidence for HL found in western world has not been seen in this study. The histological subtypes for both NHL and HL are similar to the pattern reported elsewhere. Default rate was high and we found a strong association between cycles of chemotherapy given and survival in lymphoma patients. CONCLUSION This study has shown that Haematologic malignancies are not uncommon in our environment. There is need to provide basic facilities and training for immunophenotyping and immunohistochemistry in all cancer treatment centers across the country. Cytotoxic drugs must be subsidized and also be made readily available to all patients with Haematologic malignancies.
Genetic Diversity and Microevolution of Burkholderia pseudomallei in the Environment

Background The soil dwelling Gram-negative pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei is the cause of melioidosis. The diversity and population structure of this organism in the environment is poorly defined. Methods and Findings We undertook a study of B. pseudomallei in soil sampled from 100 equally spaced points within 237.5 m2 of disused land in northeast Thailand. B. pseudomallei was present on direct culture of 77/100 sampling points. Genotyping of 200 primary plate colonies from three independent sampling points was performed using a combination of pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Twelve PFGE types and nine sequence types (STs) were identified, the majority of which were present at only a single sampling point. Two sampling points contained four STs and the third point contained three STs. Although the distance between the three sampling points was low (7.6, 7.9, and 13.3 meters, respectively), only two STs were present in more than one sampling point. Each of the three samples was characterized by the localized expansion of a single B. pseudomallei clone (corresponding to STs 185, 163, and 93). Comparison of PFGE and MLST results demonstrated that two STs contained strains with variable PFGE banding pattern types, indicating geographic structuring even within a single MLST-defined clone. Conclusions We discuss the implications of this extreme structuring of genotype and genotypic frequency in terms of micro-evolutionary dynamics and ecology, and how our results may inform future sampling strategies.
1.28 terabit/s (32x40 Gbit/s) wdm transmission system for free space optical communications

We review a novel free space optical (FSO) system that represents a significant breakthrough in the area of FSO communications. The system encompasses a pair of novel terminals: these allow direct and transparent optical connection to common single mode fibers and include a dedicated electronic control unit that effectively tracks the signal beam wandering due to atmospheric turbulence and mechanical vibrations. Further improvement in the signal power stabilization is achieved by means of saturated EDFAs. These solutions allow to realize a new FSO system, which is tested in a double-pass FSO link between two buildings in Pisa, Italy. When the terminals are fed by common WDM signals they allow enough power budget and margins to support a record high capacity transmission (32times40 Gbit/s), with a enormous improvement of stability (six hours with no error burst). During day-long transmission, the system behavior has been deeply characterized to correlate any increase of bit error ratio (BER) to the FSO control parameters.
Study of a Two-Step Centrifugation Protocol for Concentrating Cells and Growth Factors in Bovine Platelet-Rich Plasma

There is a lack of information about the methods used for bovine platelet-rich plasma (PRP)/platelet-rich gel (PRG) procurement, including information on platelet (PLT), white blood cell (WBC) in PRP, and growth factor release from PRG supernatants. The aims of this study were to compare and to correlate the PLT, WBC, transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-β1), and platelet-derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB) concentrations in bovine whole blood, plasma, and four PRP layers and their respective PRG supernatants: A and B (obtained by a single centrifugation tube method at 720g/5 min) and C and D (obtained by a double centrifugation tube method, by using two centrifugation episodes at 720g/5 min). PLT and WBC counts were significantly higher in PRP-C, followed by whole blood, PRP-A, PRP-B, and PRP-D. TGF-β1 concentrations were significantly higher in PRG-B supernatants and its correspondent PRP-B lysate when compared to the other PRG supernatants and plasma. Supernatants from PRG-A, PRG-B, and PRG-D had equivalent TGF-β1 concentrations. PDGF-BB concentrations were not statistically different between the hemoderivatives. Significant Pearson correlations were noted between PLT counts and WBC counts (0.8) and between PLT counts and PLT distribution width (0.6). Further studies should be performed to assess the potential clinical applications of these PRPs.
Effects of UGT1A1*6, UGT1A1*28, and ABCB1-3435C>T polymorphisms on irinotecan induced toxicity in Chinese cancer patients.

OBJECT The aim of this study was to investigate whether UGT1A1*6/*28 or ABCB1-3435C>T polymorphisms affect irinotecan-induced severe diarrhea and neutropenia in Chinese cancer patients. METHODS A total of 157 cancer patients was enrolled in this study and the genotypes of UGT1A1*6/*28 and ABCB1-3435C>T polymorphisms were analyzed by PCRSanger sequence. The relationship between UGT1A1*6/*28 and ABCB1-3435C>T polymorphisms and irinotecan induced severe diarrhea and neutropenia were analyzed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION UGT1A1*6 and UGT1A1*28 polymorphisms were associated with severe neutropenia (p = 0.025, p = 0.022, respectively) but not diarrhea (p = 0.343, p = 0.185, respectively), and ABCB1- 3435C>T polymorphism was not associated with irinotecan induced severe toxicities (p = 0.457, p = 0.161, respectively).
Corpus Specificity in LSA and Word2vec: The Role of Out-of-Domain Documents

Despite the popularity of word embeddings, the precise way by which they acquire semantic relations between words remain unclear. In the present article, we investigate whether LSA and word2vec capacity to identify relevant semantic relations increases with corpus size. One intuitive hypothesis is that the capacity to identify relevant associations should increase as the amount of data increases. However, if corpus size grows in topics which are not specific to the domain of interest, signal to noise ratio may weaken. Here we investigate the effect of corpus specificity and size in word-embeddings, and for this, we study two ways for progressive elimination of documents: the elimination of random documents vs. the elimination of documents unrelated to a specific task. We show that word2vec can take advantage of all the documents, obtaining its best performance when it is trained with the whole corpus. On the contrary, the specialization (removal of out-of-domain documents) of the training corpus, accompanied by a decrease of dimensionality, can increase LSA word-representation quality while speeding up the processing time. From a cognitive-modeling point of view, we point out that LSA’s word-knowledge acquisitions may not be efficiently exploiting higher-order co-occurrences and global relations, whereas word2vec does.
Body mass index and the risk of Parkinson disease

Objective: To examine the association between body mass index (BMI) and the risk of Parkinson disease (PD). Methods: Study cohorts included 22,367 Finnish men and 23,439 women 25 to 59 years of age without a history of PD at baseline. Hazards ratios (HRs) of incident PD were estimated for different levels of BMI. Results: During a mean follow-up period of 18.8 years, 272 men and 254 women developed incident PD. After adjustment for confounding factors (age, study years, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, education, leisure-time physical activity, smoking, and alcohol, coffee, and tea consumption), the HRs of PD at different levels of BMI (<23, 23 to 24.9, 25 to 26.9, 27 to 29.9, and ≥30 kg/m2) were 1.00, 1.97 (95% CI: 1.21 to 3.22), 1.83 (95% CI: 1.12 to 2.99), 2.34 (95% CI: 1.45 to 3.78), and 2.44 (95% CI: 1.44 to 4.15) in men, and 1.00, 1.50 (95% CI: 0.95 to 2.37), 1.65 (95% CI: 1.05 to 2.59), 1.79 (95% CI: 1.15 to 2.80), and 1.77 (95% CI: 1.12 to 2.78) in women, and 1.00, 1.70 (95% CI: 1.23 to 2.37), 1.70 (95% CI: 1.23 to 2.37), 2.02 (95% CI: 1.46 to 2.79), and 2.03 (95% CI: 1.44 to 2.85) in men and women combined (adjusted also for sex). In both sexes combined, the multivariate-adjusted direct association between BMI and the risk of PD was present both in subjects aged 25 to 49 years and 50 to 59 years, in never smokers and smokers and in participants diagnosed PD before and after 65 years of age. Conclusion: Body mass index is associated with a risk of Parkinson disease. The effect is graded and independent of other risk factors.
Carcinoid Syndrome and Oat-cell Carcinoma of the Bronchus

In 1960 Williams and Azzopardi reported the first case of oat-cell carcinoma of the bronchus associated with the carcinoid syndrome and active production of 5-hydroxyindoles. No similar case has to our knowledge been recorded until recently when Gowenlock, Platt, Campbell, and Wormsley (1964) reported a patient with an oat-cell carcinoma of the bronchus; this secreted 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) in contrast to the conventional 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) secreting carcinoid tumour. Though assay of the tumour for 5-hydroxyindoles was negative, these workers produced evidence that the oat-cell carcinoma in their patient was directly responsible for the endocrine secretion. We now report a third patient with oat-cell carcinoma and associated carcinoid syndrome: this report confirms and extends the original observations. In addition, the relation of oat-cell carcinoma to bronchial carcinoid is discussed.
Study Punching Shear of Steel Fiber Reinforced Self Compacting Concrete Slabs by Nonlinear Analysis

— This paper deals with behavior and capacity of punching shear force for flat slabs produced from steel fiber reinforced self compacting concrete (SFRSCC) by application nonlinear finite element method. Nonlinear finite element analysis on nine slab specimens was achieved by using ANSYS software. A general description of the finite element method, theoretical modeling of concrete and reinforcement are presented. The nonlinear finite element analysis program ANSYS is utilized owing to its capabilities to predict either the response of reinforced concrete slabs in the post elastic range or the ultimate strength of a flat slabs produced from steel fiber reinforced self compacting concrete (SFRSCC). In order to verify the analytical model used in this research using test results of the experimental data, the finite element analysis were performed then a parametric study of the effect ratio of flexural reinforcement, ratio of the upper reinforcement, and volume fraction of steel fibers were investigated. A comparison between the experimental results and those predicted by the existing models are presented. Results and conclusions may be useful for designers, have been raised, and represented.
Parallel dot-products for deep learning on FPGA

Deep neural networks have recently shown great results in a vast set of image applications. The associated deep learning models are computationally very demanding and, therefore, several hardware solutions have been proposed to accelerate their computation. FPGAs have recently shown very good performances for these kind of applications and so it is considered a promising platform to accelerate the execution of deep learning algorithms. A common operation in these algorithms is multiply-accumulate (MACC) that is used to calculate dot-products. Since many dot products can be calculated in parallel, as long as memory bandwidth is available, it is very important to implement this operation very efficiently to increase the density of MACC units in an FPGA. In this paper, we propose an implementation of parallel MACC units in FPGA for dot-product operations with very high performance/area ratios using a mix of DSP blocks and LUTs. We consider fixed-point representations with 8 bits of size, but the method can be applied to other bit widths. The method allows us to achieve TOPs performances, even for low cost FPGAs.
Memory Speed Analysis of an Optical Flip-Flop Employing a SOA-MZI and a Feedback Loop

We present analytical expressions for the frequency-domain transfer function of an optical flip-flop (O-FF) cell that employs an semiconductor optical amplifier-Mach-Zehnder interferometer gate and a feedback loop. Our analysis relies on first-order perturbation theory approximations applied for the first time to optical switching structures employing feedback-loop, resulting to an O-FF frequency response that allows for a qualitative and quantitative analysis of memory speed and performance characteristics and their dependence on certain device parameters. We show that the transfer function of the O-FF exhibits periodic resonance frequencies resembling the behavior of optical linear cavity configurations and its free spectral range is mainly dictated by the length of the waveguide that forms the feedback loop, revealing this loop length as the main memory speed determining factor. Experimental verification is provided, achieving good agreement with theoretical observations. The presented design guidelines show the way for achieving memory speeds beyond 30 GHz if employing feedback loop lengths lower than 5 mm, while we provide a direct comparison between O-FFs employing feedback loops or coupled switches, giving insight for future optical memories.
Autoantibodies and immunoglobulins in collagenous colitis.

BACKGROUND: The aetiology and pathogenesis of collagenous colitis are unknown. Autoimmunity has been suggested, but no serological findings have supported such a theory. AIMS AND METHODS: Serum from 38 collagenous colitis patients and 38 matched healthy controls was analysed for autoantibodies--that is, antinuclear antibodies, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies, smooth muscle and mitochondrial antibodies, rheumatoid factor and antibodies to thyroglobulin and microsomal antigen, together with antibodies to endomysium, gliadin, and cardiolipin. The serum values of IgA, IgG, IgM, and IgG-subclasses, and complement factors C3 and C4 were also determined. RESULTS: In patients with collagenous colitis the mean value of IgM was significantly increased 2.5 g/l (95% CI; 1.9, 3.2) compared with 1.4 g/l (95% CI; 1.2, 1.7) in controls (p = 0.002). Antinuclear antibodies occurred in nine of 38 patients compared with three of 38 controls, this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.11). The results of all other immunoglobulins, complement factors, and specific antibodies showed no statistical difference between patients and controls. CONCLUSIONS: No firm evidence for an autoimmune genesis in collagenous colitis is found in this study, although the findings of a positive ANA-titre in some patients and an increased IgM level might give some support for this hypothesis.
A Metagenomic Analysis of Pandemic Influenza A (2009 H1N1) Infection in Patients from North America

Although metagenomics has been previously employed for pathogen discovery, its cost and complexity have prevented its use as a practical front-line diagnostic for unknown infectious diseases. Here we demonstrate the utility of two metagenomics-based strategies, a pan-viral microarray (Virochip) and deep sequencing, for the identification and characterization of 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza A virus. Using nasopharyngeal swabs collected during the earliest stages of the pandemic in Mexico, Canada, and the United States (n = 17), the Virochip was able to detect a novel virus most closely related to swine influenza viruses without a priori information. Deep sequencing yielded reads corresponding to 2009 H1N1 influenza in each sample (percentage of aligned sequences corresponding to 2009 H1N1 ranging from 0.0011% to 10.9%), with up to 97% coverage of the influenza genome in one sample. Detection of 2009 H1N1 by deep sequencing was possible even at titers near the limits of detection for specific RT-PCR, and the percentage of sequence reads was linearly correlated with virus titer. Deep sequencing also provided insights into the upper respiratory microbiota and host gene expression in response to 2009 H1N1 infection. An unbiased analysis combining sequence data from all 17 outbreak samples revealed that 90% of the 2009 H1N1 genome could be assembled de novo without the use of any reference sequence, including assembly of several near full-length genomic segments. These results indicate that a streamlined metagenomics detection strategy can potentially replace the multiple conventional diagnostic tests required to investigate an outbreak of a novel pathogen, and provide a blueprint for comprehensive diagnosis of unexplained acute illnesses or outbreaks in clinical and public health settings.
Visual testing: searching for guidelines

An experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of the variables "realism" and "context" on the performance of biology students on a visual test about the anatomy of a rat. The instruction was primarily visual with additional verbal information like Latin names and practical information about the learning task: dissecting a rat to gain insight into the anatomy of a mammal. Students were tested on: recognition of anatomical objects; labeling of these objects; and relations between objects. Results indicate that the amount of realism and context used in the text influences test performance depending on the learning tasks. Test results also show a learning hierarchy in the different learning tasks with the recognition task being the easiest and the relations task being the most difficult.
Flying schedule-matching descents to explore flight crews' perceptions of their load and task feasibility

Recent studies at NASA Ames Research Center have investigated the development and use of ground-based (air traffic controller) tools to manage and schedule air traffic in future terminal airspace. No complementary studies have investigated the impacts that such tools (and concepts) could have on the flight-deck (although some independent studies have researched impacts of other ground tools). To begin to redress the balance within the project, an exploratory study investigated the procedures and actions of ten Boeing-747-400 crews as they flew eight continuous descent approaches in the Los Angeles terminal airspace, with the descents being controlled using speed alone. Although the study was exploratory in nature, four variables were manipulated: speed changes, route constraints, clearance phraseology, and winds. Despite flying the same scenarios with the same events and timing, there was at least a 50 second difference in the time it took crews to fly the approaches. This variation is the product of a number of factors but highlights potential difficulties for scheduling tools that would have to accommodate this amount of natural variation in descent times. The primary focus of this paper is the potential impact of ground scheduling tools on the flight crews' performance and procedures. Crews reported “moderate to low” workload, on average; however, short periods of intense and high workload were observed. The non-flying pilot often reported a higher level of workload than the flying-pilot, which may be due to their increased interaction with the Flight Management Computer, when using the aircraft automation to assist with managing the descent clearances. It is concluded that ground-side tools and automation may have a larger impact on the current-day flight-deck than was assumed and that studies investigating this impact should continue in parallel with controller support tool development.
Synergy between Synthetic and Microbial Herbicides for Weed Control

Synthetic herbicides have been investigated as tools to synergize mycoherbicides (fungal bioherbicides) for improved efficacy or management of hard-to-control weed problems. Herbicides may weaken weeds and impair their defence systems, thus making weeds more vulnerable to mycoherbicide infection. Despite many positive results, the practical value of synergy remains elusive. This review will discuss several fundamental aspects of synergy relating to development of this technology based on author’s own experiences in biocontrol of green foxtail and scentless chamomile. These include application timing, dose effect, weed growth stage, and spray retention efficiency. Issues relating to the practicality, non-target risks, and cost of weed control are stumbling blocks to the adoption of synergistic technologies, and some tactics are proposed to address these challenges. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________