Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of market uptake of innovation in a situation of uncertainty about environmental and health risks : From BPA to nanotechnology

L’incertitude est presente dans toute innovation. Dans le domaine des nanotechnologies, l’incertitude qui entoure les risques sanitaires et environnementaux dont ces technologies pourraient etre porteuses est si importante que la question de leur succes se pose.En partie du fait du manque de donnees coherentes, il n’existe qu’une litterature empirique limitee sur les determinants de la diffusion des nanotechnologies. Dans le cadre d’un programme de recherche sur les nanotechnologies, cette these a pour but d’investiguer les determinants de l’adoption d’innovations dans une situation d’incertitude sur les risques environnementaux et sanitaires. Dans cette optique, nos travaux visent dans un premier temps a fournir une meilleure comprehension de la diffusion d’un produit qui est present sur le marche depuis longtemps. Nous avons choisi une substance chimique tres utilisee, le bisphenol A (BPA). Differentes methodes econometriques sont appliquees afin de mieux comprendre la relation entre la consommation, la croissance economique, les nouvelles connaissances scientifiques concernant le risque et d’autres variables utilisant les donnees relatives au BPA. Les resultats illustrent un ensemble de facteurs qui influencent la consommation de BPA au niveau international.Dans un second temps, nous montrons dans quelle mesure cette etude permet d’eclairer la reflexion initiee sur la diffusion des nanotechnologies, notamment le nano-argent.Le comportement des differents acteurs en reponse a la production de connaissances scientifiques nouvelles sur les risques est etudie, ce qui nous permet d’aboutir a une comprehension approfondie de “developpement nanoresponsable”.
Effect of mycophenolate mofetil on progression of interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy after kidney transplantation: a retrospective study

Objectives Chronic transplant dysfunction after kidney transplantation is a major reason of kidney graft loss and is caused by immunological and non-immunological factors. There is evidence that mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) may exert a positive effect on renal damage in addition to immunosuppression, by its direct antifibrotic properties. The aim of our study was to retrospectively investigate the role of MMF doses on progression of chronic allograft dysfunction and fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IF/TA). Setting Retrospective, cohort study. Participants Patients with kidney transplant in a tertiary care institution. This is a retrospective cohort study that included 79 patients with kidney and kidney–pancreas transplantation. Immunosuppression consisted of anti-interleukin 2 antibody induction, MMF, a calcineurin inhibitor±steroids. Primary outcome measures An association of average MMF doses over 1 year post-transplant with progression of interstitial fibrosis (Δci), tubular atrophy (Δct) and estimated-creatinine clearance (eCrcl) at 1 year post-transplant was evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results A higher average MMF dose was significantly independently associated with better eCrcl at 1 year post-transplant (b=0.21±0.1, p=0.04). In multiple regression analysis lower Δci (b=−0.2±0.09, p=0.05) and Δct (b=−0.29±0.1, p=0.02) were independently associated with a greater average MMF dose. There was no correlation between average MMF doses and incidence of acute rejection (p=0.68). Conclusions A higher average MMF dose over 1 year is associated with better renal function and slower progression of IF/TA, at least partly independent of its immunosuppressive effects.
Ezrin NH2-terminal domain inhibits the cell extension activity of the COOH-terminal domain

Overexpression in insect cells of the full coding sequence of the human membrane cytoskeletal linker ezrin (1-586) was compared with that of a NH2-terminal domain (ezrin 1-233) and that of a COOH-terminal domain (ezrin 310-586). Ezrin (1-586), as well as ezrin (1-233) enhanced cell adhesion of infected Sf9 cells without inducing gross morphological changes in the cell structure. Ezrin (310-586) enhanced cell adhesion and elicited membrane spreading followed by microspike and lamellipodia extensions by mobilization of Sf9 cell actin. Moreover some microspikes elongated into thin processes, up to 200 microns in length, resembling neurite outgrowths by a mechanism requiring microtubule assembly. Kinetics of videomicroscopic and drug-interference studies demonstrated that mobilization of actin was required for tubulin assembly to proceed. A similar phenotype was observed in CHO cells when a comparable ezrin domain was transiently overexpressed. The shortest domain promoting cell extension was localized between residues 373-586. Removal of residues 566-586, involved in in vitro actin binding (Turunen, O., T. Wahlstrom, and A. Vaheri. 1994. J. Cell Biol. 126:1445- 1453), suppressed the extension activity. Coexpression of ezrin (1-233) with ezrin (310-586) in the same insect cells blocked the constitutive activity of ezrin COOH-terminal domain. The inhibitory activity was mapped within ezrin 115 first NH2-terminal residues. We conclude that ezrin has properties to promote cell adhesion, and that ezrin NH2- terminal domain negatively regulates membrane spreading and elongation properties of ezrin COOH-terminal domain.
The impact of popular culture on the social identity of young adults: Harry Potter and the search for belonging.

Popular culture has provided consumers with symbols and tools to make sense of the world. Developmentally children’s literature specifically provides the bases for emotional and psychological growth. Studies connecting popular culture and social identity theory (SIT) have demonstrated that popular culture supports social identities, however, research has not explored how or if popular culture creates social identities. Using the Harry Potter books, due to their popular culture dominance during the youth of the millennial generation, this study investigated the lived experience of young adults who had read all of the Harry Potter series. The findings of this study emerged around the usage of the participants of the Harry Potter books to make connections to their own life and their peers, to identify and label themselves and those around them, and to use both the Harry Potter books and other popular culture artifacts to navigate their world. Implications and recommendations are discussed for educational and workplace settings filled with Harry Potter readers, the Harry Potter readers themselves, and for future research. In the classroom, workplace, or individually, the study recommends that knowing the Hogwarts House that someone identifies with can expose their perceived strengths and weaknesses, which is helpful in both individual and teamwork settings.
Validation of Accelerometer-Based Energy Expenditure Prediction Models in Structured and Simulated Free-Living Settings

ABSTRACT This study compared accuracy of energy expenditure (EE) prediction models from accelerometer data collected in structured and simulated free-living settings. Twenty-four adults (mean age 45.8 years, 50% female) performed two sessions of 11 to 21 activities, wearing four ActiGraph GT9X Link activity monitors (right hip, ankle, both wrists) and a metabolic analyzer (EE criterion). Visit 1 (V1) involved structured, 5-min activities dictated by researchers; Visit 2 (V2) allowed participants activity choice and duration (simulated free-living). EE prediction models were developed incorporating data from one setting (V1/V2; V2/V2) or both settings (V1V2/V2). The V1V2/V2 method had the lowest root mean square error (RMSE) for EE prediction (1.04–1.23 vs. 1.10–1.34 METs for V1/V2, V2/V2), and the ankle-worn accelerometer had the lowest RMSE of all accelerometers (1.04–1.18 vs. 1.17–1.34 METs for other placements). The ankle-worn accelerometer and associated EE prediction models developed using data from both structured and simulated free-living settings should be considered for optimal EE prediction accuracy.
Urban Sport-for-Development Initiatives and Young People in Socially Vulnerable Situations: Investigating the ‘Deficit Model’

Critical scholars have indicated that the assumptions underlying most sport-for-development (SFD) initiatives tend to align with a ‘deficit model’ of youth: young people from disadvantaged areas are uniformly deficient and in need of development, which can be achieved through sport (Coakley, 2011; Coalter, 2013). In this article, we investigated these assumptions within six urban SFD initiatives that work with young people in socially vulnerable situations in a ‘first’ world nation, Belgium. We conducted a survey at two moments in time amongst 14- to 25-year-old participants in order to test two assumptions: i) ‘participants are deficient and in need of development’; and ii) ‘participation in SFD initiatives leads to positive personal development’. We operationalised ‘development’ as the commonly used outcomes of perceived self-efficacy and self-esteem. These are ‘household words’ both inside and outside SFD research, practice, and policy and carry the assumption that boosting them will by itself foster positive outcomes. The findings refute the supposition that young people from disadvantaged urban areas are uniformly in need of more perceived self-efficacy and self-esteem and show that there is no simple and predictable change in participants’ ‘development’. We suggest that, in designing and researching programs, SFD stakeholders start from an open-ended bottom-up approach which is tailored to the actual life situations of young people and their individual differences and consider more interpersonal and critical conceptualisations of ‘development’.
An analytical and numerical approach to a bilateral contact problem with nonmonotone friction

We consider a mathematical model which describes the contact between a linearly elastic body and an obstacle, the so-called foundation. The process is static and the contact is bilateral, i.e., there is no loss of contact. The friction is modeled with a nonmotonone law. The purpose of this work is to provide an error estimate for the Galerkin method as well as to present and compare two numerical methods for solving the resulting nonsmooth and nonconvex frictional contact problem. The first approach is based on the nonconvex proximal bundle method, whereas the second one deals with the approximation of a nonconvex problem by a sequence of nonsmooth convex programming problems. Some numerical experiments are realized to compare the two numerical approaches.
Blood meal sources and sporozoite rates of Anophelines in Gilgel-Gibe dam area , Southwestern Ethiopia

1Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia. 2Biotechnology Institute, Addis Ababa University. P.O. Box 1176 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 3Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Addis Ababa University, P.O. box 1176 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 4Department of Biomedical Science, Adama Science and Technology University, Ethiopia. 5Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University, P. O. Box G-L168 185 Meeting Street Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA.
Advancing Quality Improvement in Public Health Departments Through a Statewide Training Program.

OBJECTIVES To examine the effectiveness of an ongoing statewide public health quality improvement training program (PH QI 101) among 4 cohorts of training participants. DESIGN We conducted a mixed-method evaluation of the PH QI 101 training program that included measures of participants' satisfaction, learning, behavior change, and participants' translation and spread to their organizations what was learned. Data analysis included descriptive quantitative statistics and qualitative reviews. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to examine changes in participants' confidence to conduct a QI project from pre- to posttraining and 6 months posttraining. PARTICIPANTS Two hundred two staff members from 37 North Carolina local health departments. INTERVENTION An 8-month experiential learning process in which participants learn to use QI methods by applying them to a specific project. RESULTS More than 90% of participants reported satisfaction with the program. Median scores on perceived self-confidence to conduct a QI project significantly increased for all training waves. At least 85% of participants reported spreading QI tools to coworkers posttraining. Two-thirds of participants in 3 waves reported that the QI project conducted during the training was at the sustaining results stage. Most participants in 3 of the training waves reported initiating new QI projects at their health department following training. Facilitators to implementation included interest and support from managers and leaders. Lack of interest and competing priorities among other staff were key barriers to implementation. CONCLUSIONS This program successfully trained 4 waves of public health professionals in QI tools and methods. Leader training and involvement was a key addition to the adapted model. This statewide approach may serve as a model to other states as they seek to achieve national accreditation standards.
Examining the Impacts of Land Use on Air Quality from a Spatio-Temporal Perspective in Wuhan, China

Air pollution is one of the key environmental problems associated with urbanization and land use. Taking Wuhan city, Central China, as a case example, we explore the quantitative relationship between land use (built-up land, water bodies, and vegetation) and air quality (SO2, NO2, and PM10) based on nine ground-level monitoring sites from a long-term spatio-temporal perspective in 2007–2014. Five buffers with radiuses from 0.5 to 4 km are created at each site in geographical information system (GIS) and areas of land use categories within different buffers at each site are calculated. Socio-economic development, energy use, traffic emission, industrial emission, and meteorological condition are taken into consideration to control the influences of those factors on air quality. Results of bivariate correlation analysis between land use variables and annual average concentrations of air pollutants indicate that land use categories have discriminatory effects on different air pollutants, whether for the direction of correlation, the magnitude of correlation or the spatial scale effect of correlation. Stepwise linear regressions are used to quantitatively model their relationships and the results reveal that land use significantly influence air quality. Built-up land with one standard deviation growth will cause 2% increases in NO2 concentration while vegetation will cause 5% decreases. The increases of water bodies with one standard deviation are associated with 3%–6% decreases of SO2 or PM10 concentration, which is comparable to the mitigation effect of meteorology factor such as precipitation. Land use strategies should be paid much more attention while making air pollution reduction policies.
Vertical profiling of aerosol hygroscopic properties in the planetary boundary layer during the PEGASOS campaigns

Abstract. Vertical profiles of the aerosol particles hygroscopic properties, their mixing state as well as chemical composition were measured above northern Italy and the Netherlands. An aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS; for chemical composition) and a white-light humidified optical particle spectrometer (WHOPS; for hygroscopic growth) were deployed on a Zeppelin NT airship within the PEGASOS project. This allowed one to investigate the development of the different layers within the planetary boundary layer (PBL), providing a unique in situ data set for airborne aerosol particles properties in the first kilometre of the atmosphere. Profiles measured during the morning hours on 20 June 2012 in the Po Valley, Italy, showed an increased nitrate fraction at ∼ 100 m above ground level (a.g.l.) coupled with enhanced hygroscopic growth compared to ∼ 700 m a. g. l. This result was derived from both measurements of the aerosol composition and direct measurements of the hygroscopicity, yielding hygroscopicity parameters (κ) of 0.34 ± 0.12 and 0.19 ± 0.07 for 500 nm particles, at ∼ 100 and ∼ 700 m a. g. l. , respectively. The difference is attributed to the structure of the PBL at this time of day which featured several independent sub-layers with different types of aerosols. Later in the day the vertical structures disappeared due to the mixing of the layers and similar aerosol particle properties were found at all probed altitudes (mean κ ≈ 0.18 ± 0.07). The aerosol properties observed at the lowest flight level (100 m a. g. l.) were consistent with parallel measurements at a ground site, both in the morning and afternoon. Overall, the aerosol particles were found to be externally mixed, with a prevailing hygroscopic fraction. The flights near Cabauw in the Netherlands in the fully mixed PBL did not feature altitude-dependent characteristics. Particles were also externally mixed and had an even larger hygroscopic fraction compared to the results in Italy. The mean κ from direct measurements was 0.28 ± 0.10, thus considerably higher than κ values measured in Italy in the fully mixed PBL.
A double main-sequence turn-off in the rich star cluster NGC 1846 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We report on Hubble Space Telescope/ACS photometry of the rich intermediate-age star cluster NGC 1846 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which clearly reveals the presence of a double main-sequence turn-off in this object. Despite this, the main-sequence, subgiant branch and red giant branch are all narrow and well defined, and the red clump is compact. We examine the spatial distribution of turn-off stars and demonstrate that all belong to NGC 1846 rather than to any field star population. In addition, the spatial distributions of the two sets of turn-off stars may exhibit different central concentrations and some asymmetries. By fitting isochrones, we show that the properties of the colour-magnitude diagram can be explained if there are two stellar populations of equivalent metal abundance in NGC 1846, differing in age by ≈300 Myr. The absolute ages of the two populations are ∼1.9 and ∼2.2 Gyr, although there may be a systematic error of up to ±0.4 Gyr in these values. The metal abundance inferred from isochrone fitting is [M/H] ≈-0.40, consistent with spectroscopic measurements of [Fe/H]. We propose that the observed properties of NGC 1846 can be explained if this object originated via the tidal capture of two star clusters formed separately in a star cluster group in a single giant molecular cloud. This scenario accounts naturally for the age difference and uniform metallicity of the two member populations, as well as the differences in their spatial distributions.
The e ect of the selective 5-HT 1 A agonists alnespirone ( S-20499 ) and 8-OH-DPAT on extracellular 5-hydroxytryptamine in di erent regions of rat brain

1 We have examined the eects of the systemic administration of the selective 5-HT1A agonist alnespirone (S-20499) on in vivo 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) release in the dorsal raphe nucleus, the median raphe nucleus and four forebrain areas innervated dierentially by both (dorsal striatum, frontal cortex, ventral hippocampus and dorsal hippocampus). 2 Alnespirone (0.1 ± 3 mg kg, s.c.) dose-dependently reduced extracellular 5-HT in the six areas examined. In forebrain, the maximal reductions occurred in striatum and frontal cortex (maximal reduction to 23 and 29% of baseline, respectively). Those in dorsal and ventral hippocampus were more moderate (to ca 65% of baseline). In contrast, the decrease in 5-HT elicited in the median raphe nucleus was more marked than that in the dorsal raphe nucleus (to ca 30 and 60% of baseline, respectively). The selective 5-HT1A antagonist WAY-100635 (0.5 mg kg , s.c.) prevented the decrease in 5-HT induced by alnespirone (0.3 mg kg, s.c.) in frontal cortex. 3 8-OH-DPAT (0.025, 0.1 and 0.3 mg kg, s.c.) also reduced extracellular 5-HT in a regionallyselective manner (e.g., to 32% of baseline in striatum and to 69% in dorsal hippocampus at 0.1 mg kg, s.c.). In midbrain, 8-OH-DPAT reduced the dialysate 5-HT slightly more in the median than in the dorsal raphe nucleus at all doses examined. 4 Doses of both compounds close to their respective ED50 values (0.3 mg kg 71 alnespirone, 0.025 mg kg 8-OH-DPAT) reduced 5-HT to a comparable extent in all regions examined. However, the reductions attained at higher doses were more pronounced for 8-OH-DPAT. 5 These data show that the reduction of 5-HT release elicited by alnespirone and 8-OH-DPAT is more important in forebrain areas innervated by 5-hydroxytryptaminergic neurones of the dorsal raphe nucleus. This regional selectivity seems unlikely to be accounted for by dierences in the sensitivity of 5HT1A autoreceptors controlling 5-HT release, given the dissimilar eects of these two 5-HT1A agonists in regions rich in cell bodies and nerve terminals. This suggests the presence of complex mechanisms of control of 5-HT release by 5-HT1A receptors.
The Effects of Previous Athletic Experience on Error Detection and Identification Abilities in Novice and Experienced Coaches

Qualitative research exploring the development of coaching skills and knowledge suggests that this development begins with early athletic involvement. Unfortunately, the quantitative research exploring the association between athletic involvement and coaching abilities has not been able to identify a clear and causal relationship. This thesis investigates the relationship between previous athletic experience and current perceptual-cognitive coaching skills in novice and experienced gymnastics coaches using a quantitative experimental paradigm. Novice and experienced provincial and national level gymnastics coaches with and without experience competing at the provincial or national level participated in this study. In Experiment 1, twenty-three coaches completed a Knowledgebase Task and an Error Identification task. The data demonstrated that experienced coaches performed better on the knowledgebase task (F(1,19)=7.113,p. =0.016) and the Error Identification task than the novice coaches (F(1,18)=14.916, p. =0.001). While there were no performance differences on either task for experienced coaches with either significant or minimal athletic histories, novice coaches without previous athletic experience outperformed the novice coaches with previous athletic experience when asked to identify the initial error in a flawed gymnastics sequence (F(1,18)=5.338,p. =0.03). This counterintuitive result was further explored in Experiment 2. It was hypothesized that the nature of the knowledge on which the novice coaches rely differed based on their athletic histories. Specifically, novice coaches without athletic experience would rely to a
A sufficient condition for the existence of k-kernels in digraphs

In this paper, we prove the following sufficient condition for the existence of k-kernels in digraphs: Let D be a digraph whose asymmetrical part is strongly conneted and such that every directed triangle has at least two symmetrical arcs. If every directed cycle γ of D with `(γ) 6≡ 0(mod k), k ≥ 2 satisfies at least one of the following properties: (a) γ has two symmetrical arcs, (b) γ has four short chords. Then D has a k-kernel. This result generalizes some previous results on the existence of kernels and k-kernels in digraphs. In particular, it generalizes the following Theorem of M. Kwaśnik [5]: Let D be a strongly connected digraph, if every directed cycle of D has length ≡ 0(mod k), k ≥ 2. Then D has a k-kernel.