Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parenting and Child Self-Regulation as Mechanisms for the Relationship of Household Food Insecurity with Child Dietary Behavior

Background: Food insecurity is both a nutritional problem and a stressful life experience of adults and children in households dealing with food shortage. Potential mechanisms of the associations between food insecurity and adverse outcomes in children’s health and development are through parenting and child self-regulation. Objectives: We investigated parenting and child self-regulation as potential mechanisms for the relationship of food insecurity with child dietary behaviors with two specific aims. The specific aim 1 was to understand how food insecurity and its change over years influence parenting in early childhood. The specific aim 2 was to understand the relationship of parenting in food-related and non-food-related settings with dietary intake of young children and the role of the child’s self-regulation in this relationship. Methods: Data were from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth Cohort. Parent-child dyads with non-missing outcomes were included into the analysis. Analyses were done separately for boys and girls. Regression models with full information maximum likelihood were used accounting for clusters in Stata. For the specific aim 1, the parenting outcomes were parent-child interaction, difficulty sticking with rules, harsh disciplinary practices, rules about watching television, rules about food, routines of eating evening meals as a family and at a
Role of GeneXpert MTB/Rif Assay in Diagnosing Tuberculosis in Pregnancy and Puerperium

Presentation of tuberculosis (TB) in pregnancy may be atypical with diagnostic challenges. Two patients with complicated pregnancy outcomes, foetal loss and live premature delivery at 5 and 7 months of gestation, respectively, and maternal loss, were diagnosed with pulmonary TB. Chest radiography and computed tomography showed widespread reticuloalveolar infiltrates and consolidation with cavitations, respectively. Both patients were Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) seronegative and sputum smear negative for TB. Sputum GeneXpert MTB/Rif (Xpert MTB/RIF) was positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. To strengthen maternal and childhood TB control, screening with same-day point-of-care Xpert MTB/RIF is advocated among both HIV positive pregnant women and symptomatic HIV negative pregnant women during antenatal care in pregnancy and at puerperium.
Risk of Venous Thromboembolism Among Users of Drospirenone-Containing Oral Contraceptive Pills COMMITTEE OPINION

: Although the risk of venous thromboembolism is increased among oral contraceptive users compared with nonusers who are not pregnant and not taking hormones, and some data have suggested that use of drospirenone-containing pills has a higher risk of venous thromboembolism, this risk is still very low and is much lower than the risk of venous thromboembolism during pregnancy and the immediate postpartum period. When prescribing any oral contraceptive, clinicians should consider a woman’s risk factors for venous thromboembolism and refer to the U.S. Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Patient education materials, including product labeling, should place information regarding oral contraceptive use and venous thromboembolism risks in context by also providing information about overall venous thromboembolism risks and venous thromboembolism risks during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Decisions regarding choice of oral contraceptive should be left to clinicians and their patients, taking into account the possible minimally increased risk of venous thromboembolism, patient preference, and available alternatives.
The Effects of Public R&D Subsidies on Firms' Innovation Activities

This study analyzes the effects of public R&D policy schemes on the innovation activities of firms in Eastern Germany. The main question in this context is whether public funds stimulate R&D activities or simply crowd out privately financed R&D. Empirically, we investigate the average causal effects of all public R&D schemes in Eastern Germany using a nonparametric matching approach. Compared to the case in which no public financial means are provided, it turns out that firms increase their innovation activities by about four percentage points.
Factors in fl uencing technology and knowledge transfer : Con fi gurational recipes for Sub-Saharan Africa ☆

Article history: Received 1 February 2016 Received in revised form 1 March 2016 Accepted 1 April 2016 Available online 17 May 2016 General studies on technology and knowledge (T&K) transfer to developing countries have often adopted methods that yield inconsistent results. Traditional quantitative methods, alone, have limitations in their ability to account for complex interaction between variables. This article adopts configurational recipes, using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to supplement the analysis. This research carefully and systematically selects responses from experts and practitioners in the construction industry in Ghana. The results reveal two configurational recipes for high quality of T&K transfer: effective industry institutions, education effectiveness, and less congestion of firms; and joint presence of high government policy incentives, effective industry institutions, and education effectiveness. This study extends significantly the existing literature regarding T&K transfer in developing countries in general and in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in particular. © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Relations between anhedonia and smoking motivation.

INTRODUCTION A growing literature suggests that anhedonia-an affective dimension related to the inability to experience pleasure-is associated with poor smoking cessation outcomes. Despite these findings, research of the motivational mechanisms linking anhedonia and smoking has been limited. Accordingly, the present study examined (a) relationships between anhedonia and motivationally relevant smoking characteristics and (b) whether anhedonia moderated the effects of tobacco deprivation on appetitive and aversive aspects of smoking urges. METHODS Smokers (N = 212; >or=5 cigarettes/day) first attended a baseline session during which measures of anhedonia and smoking characteristics were completed. Prior to a subsequent experimental session, a portion of participants were randomized to one of two groups: (a) 12-hr tobacco deprivation before the session (n = 51) and (b) ad libitum smoking (n = 69). RESULTS Smokers with higher levels of anhedonia reported a greater number of past failed quit attempts and a higher proportion of quit attempts that ended in rapid relapse within 24 hr, rs > . 20, ps < . 05. Anhedonia did not consistently correlate with smoking heaviness, chronicity, and dependence motives. Anhedonia significantly moderated the influence of tobacco deprivation on appetitive smoking urges, such that deprivation effects on appetitive urges were stronger in high anhedonia smokers (beta = .64) than in low anhedonia smokers (beta = .23). Anhedonia did not moderate deprivation effects on aversive smoking urges. This pattern of results remained robust when controlling for baseline negative affect. DISCUSSION These findings elucidate anhedonia's link with smoking relapse and could be useful for developing cessation interventions for anhedonic smokers.
Long term effects on mineral and bone metabolism by low versus standard calcium dialysate in peritoneal dialysis: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Low calcium dialysate with 1.25 mmol/l calcium concentration has been proposed to replace standard calcium dialysate in peritoneal dialysis patients taking calcium-containing phosphate binder to prevent hypercalcaemia. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate long term effects on mineral and bone metabolism by low versus standard calcium dialysate in peritoneal dialysis. METHOD Clinical studies comparing low versus standard calcium dialysate in peritoneal dialysis patients were identified by searching PubMed (from 1990 to October 2013) and EMBASE (from 1990 to October 2013). Major outcomes extracted for meta-analysis were: serum total and ionized calcium, phosphate, parathyroid hormone and bone metabolism. Statistical analyses were performed using the Review Manager, version 5.1. 0 (Cochrane Collaboration, Oxford, UK). RESULTS Four studies were identified for meta-analysis. A total of 240 peritoneal dialysis patients received standard calcium dialysate and 106 patients were given low calcium dialysate. 1-2 year after peritoneal dialysis, both serum total and ionized calcium were lower in low calcium dialysate patients as compared with standard dialysate patients (Total calcium: MD, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.05 0.13; P < 0.0001; Ionized calcium: MD, 0.04; 95% CI, 0.02 0.06; P < 0.0001). No statistical difference was observed in phosphate level between two groups (MD, -0.05; 95% CI, -0.13 0.02; P = 0.19). Intact parathyroid hormone level was significantly increased in low calcium dialysate patients. No clinically significant long term change of bone metabolism was observed between low and standard calcium dialysate treated patients. CONCLUSION Long term (1-2 year) use of low calcium dialysate with 1.25 mmol/l calcium concentration in peritoneal dialysis patients results in decrease of serum total and ionized calcium level and does not change serum phosphate level. No clinical significance in the change of bone metabolism was observed between low and standard calcium dialysate patients despite the increase of serum parathyroid hormone in low calcium dialysate group.
Is All that Twitters Gold? Social Media Attention, Stock Returns, and the Spread of Information

Measures of information traditionally arise from curated, professional sources such as newspapers, analyst coverage, earnings announcements, and business news wires. We utilize Twitter activity to examine the impact of information shared by individuals. A quasi-natural experiment capturing exogenous Twitter outages allows us to distinguish attention generated through Twitter from other information sources. Increases in Twitter activity are associated with positive abnormal returns and, when occurring in conjunction with traditional information supply events, a large and lasting price impact. Our results identify conditions under which information shared by individuals drives price discovery and trading activity. JEL classification: G10, G12, G14, G23
Bully Busters: A Psychoeducational Intervention for Reducing Bullying Behavior in Middle School Students

The present study examined the effectiveness of a bully prevention program counselors may use to modify teachers' knowledge/use of bullying intervention skills, teachers' self-efficacy, and students' classroom bullying behaviors. Participants attended 3 training sessions and participated on a support team. The findings indicated that the treatment program effectively increased teachers' knowledge/use of intervention skills, teachers' personal self-efficacy, and self-efficacy related to working with specific types of children and reduced classroom bullying as measured by disciplinary referrals.
SETS WHOSE DIFFERENCE SET IS SQUARE-FREE

The purpose of this note is to give an exposition of the best-known bound on the density of sets whose difference set contains no squares which was first derived by Pintz, Steiger and Szemerédi in [PSS88]. We show how their method can be brought in line with the modern view of the energy increment strategy employed in problems such as Szemerédi’s Theorem on arithmetic progressions, and explore the extent to which the particularities of the method are specific to the set of squares.
Perception and production of Mandarin disyllabic tones by German learners

This study investigates the possible deviations related to Mandarin disyllabic tone perception and production by German speakers. Nine German subjects are involved in both perception and production tests. The stimuli of tone perception consist of 40 disyllabic words uttered by a standard professional Chinese speaker. These words are also employed as reading material in the production experiment. Statistical analysis and acoustic measures have been carried out to find out the tonal performance of the German learners. Results show that their perception performance is best with the falling tone and worst with the rising tone, although there are some differences between the first and the second syllables. However the production performance exhibits different patterns, each subject has his or her preferred tonal combination. often independent of the target tones. It is further observed that these German subjects are reluctant to produce the second syllable of a disyllabic word in a falling tone. Findings can provide some implications for cross linguistic study and second language acquisition.
Pathway to Cryogen Free Production of Hyperpolarized Krypton-83 and Xenon-129

Hyperpolarized (hp) 129Xe and hp 83Kr for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are typically obtained through spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP) in gas mixtures with dilute concentrations of the respective noble gas. The usage of dilute noble gases mixtures requires cryogenic gas separation after SEOP, a step that makes clinical and preclinical applications of hp 129Xe MRI cumbersome. For hp 83Kr MRI, cryogenic concentration is not practical due to depolarization that is caused by quadrupolar relaxation in the condensed phase. In this work, the concept of stopped flow SEOP with concentrated noble gas mixtures at low pressures was explored using a laser with 23.3 W of output power and 0.25 nm linewidth. For 129Xe SEOP without cryogenic separation, the highest obtained MR signal intensity from the hp xenon-nitrogen gas mixture was equivalent to that arising from 15.5±1.9% spin polarized 129Xe in pure xenon gas. The production rate of the hp gas mixture, measured at 298 K, was 1.8 cm3/min. For hp 83Kr, the equivalent of 4.4±0.5% spin polarization in pure krypton at a production rate of 2 cm3/min was produced. The general dependency of spin polarization upon gas pressure obtained in stopped flow SEOP is reported for various noble gas concentrations. Aspects of SEOP specific to the two noble gas isotopes are discussed and compared with current theoretical opinions. A non-linear pressure broadening of the Rb D1 transition was observed and taken into account for the qualitative description of the SEOP process.
Influence of Peer Pressure and Self-Efficacy for Alcohol Self-Regulation on Chinese University Physical Education Students’ Drinking Behaviors

This study examined peer group influence on university student drinking in China and the indirect effects of peer pressure and self-efficacy for alcohol self-regulation. A total of 951 undergraduate university students (first, second and third year) from a university in central China completed questionnaires asking about perceived peer pressures, self-efficacy for alcohol self-regulation, and drinking frequency. Analysis of their answers showed that the drinking frequency among physical education (PE) students was higher than among the comparison group (History students). The PE students perceived greater peer pressure, and had lower self-efficacy for alcohol self-regulation, both of which contributed directly to drinking frequency. Path analysis indicated indirect effects of peer pressure and self-efficacy for alcohol self-regulation on the association between peer group membership and drinking frequency. This suggested that skills training to increase self-efficacy for alcohol self-regulation in culturally-specific settings have the potential to both directly and indirectly lower drinking rates in peer groups with high peer pressure and higher than normal drinking.
Quality and Firm Debt Maturity : International Evidence

We examine the importance of Big Four audits to reducing agency costs evident in corporate debt maturity worldwide. Analyzing a large sample of public firms from 42 countries reveals that the fraction of long-term debt in firms’ capital structures rises with the presence of a Big Four auditor, suggesting that higher-quality audits substitute for short-term debt for monitoring purposes. In evidence supporting another two predictions, we find that the role that auditor choice plays in debt maturity is concentrated in firms from countries with strong institutions governing property rights and creditor rights. Collectively, our research implies that Big Four audits matter to corporate debt maturity, although the impact is isolated in firms operating in countries with more protective legal regimes.
The Spatio-temporal Mechanism of ‘Theory of Mind’ in Very Preterm Born and Term Born School Age Children

Very preterm birth (<32 weeks gestation age) has been implicated in social and cognitive deficits throughout development. In this study, we use magnetoencephalography for its excellent spatial and temporal resolution to assess the neural processing of Theory of Mind –the ability to understand the mental states of others to predict their behaviour –in very preterm (VPT) and fullterm (FT) born school age children (7-13 years). Our findings suggest that VPT children employ temporal regions from 100 ms-500 ms such as the inferior temporal gyrus, the right temporal pole and the middle temporal gyrus without recruiting core ToM regions such as the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) or key frontal structures. FT children recruited the TPJ as early as 200 ms in addition to frontal, temporal and parietal regions. We suggest that VPT children use a different strategy that relies on the inferior and temporal gyri in inferring mental states. ii
L2 Learners' Informal Online Interactions in Social Network Communities

This paper reports on a study on the use of SNSs designed for L2 learning, such as Livemocha and Busuu , where learners autonomously seek opportunities for authentic interaction in spontaneous ways. The study consists in a longitudinal multiple case study approach to investigate learners’ informal online interactions taking place in the SNSs. This paper will focus on the results related to the analysis of learners’ interactions and to whether the construction of learning opportunities is fostered or impeded by the social dimension that is intrinsic in these communities. In other words, it explores how and if learners are able to cope with both the social and the learning trajectory during their online interactions. The objectives are to learn more about the dynamics and the behaviours enacted by learners with reference to the online interaction with peers, and to explore the role played by the social aspect and its relationship with the learning aspect. To attain these objectives, the paper analyses intercultural, open-ended, dyadic conversations occurring between learners and native speakers (NSs), and learners and non-native speakers (NNSs) in the semi-instructional context of these learning communities and in the absence of teachers and pedagogical tasks. Drawing on socio-cultural approaches, the paper also raises central issues that are related to the surrounding environment of online language learners, such as roles’ definition, learners’ identity, scaffolding and peer-assistance (macro-level). It then applies these issues to key-concepts in SLA, such as turn-taking, language selection, language alternation, repair strategies and noticing (micro-level). The data collection includes semi-structured interaction interviews and a wide and variegated corpus data consisting of textual private messages and emails, audio and video recordings and textual chats analysed respectively through virtual ethnography and Conversation Analysis (CA). The preliminary results provide insights on learners’ ability or inability to manage both the social and the pedagogical trajectories simultaneously. These deliveries are expected to shed more light on their interaction patterns and to provide a better understanding of nowadays’ lifelong L2 learning practices in the naturalistic and out-of-class contexts of online communities.
Evaluating Symbolic Execution-Based Test Tools

In recent years several symbolic execution-based tools have been developed to automatically select relevant test inputs from the source code of the system under test. However, each of these tools has different advantages, and there is no detailed feedback available on the actual capabilities of the various tools. In order to evaluate test input generators we collected a representative set of programming language concepts that should be handled by the tools, mapped them to 300 code snippets that would serve as inputs for the tools, created an automated framework to execute and evaluate these snippets, and performed experiments on four Java and one . NET test generator tools. The results highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each tool, and identify hard code parts that are difficult to tackle for most of the tools. We hope that our research could serve as actionable feedback to tool developers and help practitioners assess the readiness of test input generation.
Modelled effects of precipitation on ecosystem carbon and water dynamics in different climatic zones

The ongoing changes in the global climate expose the world's ecosystems not only to increasing CO2 concentrations and temperatures but also to altered precipitation (P) regimes. Using four well‐established process‐based ecosystem models (LPJ, DayCent, ORCHIDEE, TECO), we explored effects of potential P changes on water limitation and net primary production (NPP) in seven terrestrial ecosystems with distinctive vegetation types in different hydroclimatic zones. We found that NPP responses to P changes differed not only among sites but also within a year at a given site. The magnitudes of NPP change were basically determined by the degree of ecosystem water limitation, which was quantified here using the ratio between atmospheric transpirational demand and soil water supply. Humid sites and/or periods were least responsive to any change in P as compared with moderately humid or dry sites/periods. We also found that NPP responded more strongly to doubling or halving of P amount and a seasonal shift in P occurrence than that to altered P frequency and intensity at constant annual amounts. The findings were highly robust across the four models especially in terms of the direction of changes and largely consistent with earlier P manipulation experiments and modelling results. Overall, this study underscores the widespread importance of P as a driver of change in ecosystems, although the ultimate response of a particular site will depend on the detailed nature and seasonal timing of P change.
BDNF val66met Polymorphism Impairs Hippocampal Long-Term Depression by Down-Regulation of 5-HT3 Receptors

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a key regulator of neuronal plasticity and cognitive functions. BDNF val66met polymorphism, a human single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the pro-domain of BDNF gene, is associated with deficits in activity-dependent BDNF secretion and hippocampus-dependent memory. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here we show that in the BDNFMet/Met mouse line mimicking the human SNP, BDNF expression in the hippocampus was decreased. There was a reduction in the total number of cells in hippocampal CA1 region, while hippocampal expression of mRNAs for NR2a, 2b, GluR1, 2 and GABAARβ3 subunits were up-regulated. Although basal glutamatergic neurotransmission was unaltered, hippocampal long-term depression (LTD) induced by low-frequency stimulation was impaired, which was partially rescued by exogenous application of BDNF. Interestingly, 5-HT3a receptors were down-regulated in the hippocampus of BDNFMet/Met mice, whereas 5-HT2c receptors were up-regulated. Moreover, impaired LTD in BDNFMet/Met mice was reversed by 5-HT3aR agonist. Thus, these observations indicate that BDNF val66met polymorphism changes hippocampal synaptic plasticity via down-regulation of 5-HT3a receptors, which may underlie cognition dysfunction of Met allele carriers.