Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Verbal Expressions of Probability in Informed Consent Litigation

Informed consent litigation provides a forum in which probabilistic evidence is elicited from physicians as parties or as expert witnesses. The authors reviewed over 450 medical in formed consent opinions reported by both trial and appellate courts in all 50 states over 40 years to determine 1) the extent to which verbal expressions of probability were used by testifying physicians to characterize the risks of medical procedures; 2) when such expres sions were used, whether consistent numeric interpretations of the terms were being applied by the physicians; 3) whether the choice of expression was influenced by the severity of the consequences associated with the particular risk, and 4) whether the use of such terms was correlated with trial outcomes, inasmuch as the duty to disclose a risk is said to increase with the magnitude of the risk and probability is one measure of such magnitude. It was found that subjective verbal expressions of probability are used in the litigation setting, and that such expressions represent broad ranges of numeric probabilities. There was some correlation between the expression and the represented numeric probabilities. In general, expressions such as "extremely low" and "low" corresponded to probabilities lower than those represented by terms such as "high" and "very high. " Further, verbal expressions appeared to be influenced by the seventy of the consequences associated with the risks, but whether this increases or decreases the ambiguity of verbal expressions in the com munication process warrants further research. The authors suggest a syntax of verbal expres sions of probability as a means to reduce the numeric ambiguity of these terms Key words: verbal expressions; probability; syntax; communication; medicolegal, litigation; informed con sent. (Med Decis Making 1991;11:273-281)
Shoulder Strength and Range‐Of‐Motion Characteristics in Bodybuilders

The purpose of this study was to compare shoulder range-of-motion (ROM) and strength values between bodybuilders and nonbodybuilders. Fifty-four men (29 bodybuilders and 25 nonbodybuilders) between the ages of 21 and 34 years participated in the study. Goniometric measurements were used to assess shoulder flexion and internal and external rotation ROM. Isometric manual muscle tests were performed using a handheld dynamometer. Shoulder flexion, internal and external rotation, abduction, and prone shoulder retraction and elevation strength were tested. Independent t-tests were used to determine levels of statistical significance between the groups. Bodybuilders showed an overall loss of shoulder rotation ROM (166° vs. 180°) and a significantly decreased internal rotation ROM (-11°) compared with the control group. Bodybuilders were significantly stronger on all isometric shoulder-strength tests than nonbodybuilders, except for the assessment of lower trapezius strength when expressed as a percentage of body weight. The results of this study indicate that bodybuilders have imbalances regarding strength and ROM at the shoulder that may make them susceptible to shoulder pathology.
THE IMPACT OF COLLEGE ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION ON ENTREPRENEURIAL ATTITUDES AND INTENTION TO START A BUSINESS IN UGANDA

This paper reports results of a longitudinal quasi-experimental study that focused on the impact of entrepreneurial education and societal subjective norms on entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions of university students in Uganda to start a business. Data were collected in two waves: wave one before the entrepreneurship course and wave two after the entrepreneurship course — four months later. The sample composed of college students. Analyses included tests of significance of changes in the attitudes and intentions of students after the entrepreneurship course, the mediating role of attitudes and moderating role of employment expectations. The results show small but significant changes in attitudes and a significant mediating role of attitudes — perceived feasibility, perceived desirability and self-efficacy, but non-significant moderating influence of employment expectations. The findings offer lessons for policy makers and more questions for researchers.
Lysophosphatidic acid does not cause blood/lymphatic vessel plasticity in the rat mesentery culture model

Understanding the mechanisms behind endothelial cell identity is crucial for the goal of manipulating microvascular networks. Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and serum stimulation have been suggested to induce a lymphatic identity in blood endothelial cells in vitro. The objective of this study was to determine if LPA or serum induces blood‐to‐lymphatic vessel phenotypic transition in microvascular networks. The rat mesentery culture model was used to observe the effect of stimulation on blood and lymphatic microvascular networks ex vivo. Vascularized mesenteric tissues were harvested from adult Wistar rats and cultured with LPA or 10% serum for up to 5 days. Tissues were then immunolabeled with PECAM to identify blood vessels and LYVE‐1 or Prox1 to identify lymphatic vessels. We show that while LPA caused capillary sprouting and increased vascular length density in adult microvascular networks, LPA did not cause a blood‐to‐lymphatic phenotypic transition. The results suggest that LPA is not sufficient to cause blood endothelial cells to adopt a lymphatic identity in adult microvascular networks. Similarly, serum stimulation caused robust angiogenesis and increased lymphatic/blood vessel connections, yet did not induce a blood‐to‐lymphatic phenotypic transition. Our study highlights an understudied area of lymphatic research and warrants future investigation into the mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of blood and lymphatic vessel identity.
Phenomenological Model of a Magnetorheological Damper

Semi-active control devices have received significant attention in recent years because they offer the adaptability of active control devices without requiring the associated large power sources. Magnetorheological (MR) dampers are semi-active control devices that use MR fluids to produce controllable dampers. They potentially offer highly reliable operation and can be viewed as fail-safe in that they become passive dampers should the control hardware malfunction. To develop control algorithms that take maximum advantage of the unique features of the MR damper, models must be developed that can adequately characterize the damper’s intrinsic nonlinear behavior. Following a review of several idealized mechanical models for controllable fluid dampers, a new model is proposed that can effectively portray the behavior of a typical magnetorheological damper. Comparison with experimental results for a prototype damper indicates that the model is accurate over a wide range of operating conditions and is adequate for control design and analysis.
Local Governments’ Fiscal Balance and Privatization in Transition Countries

Several transition economies have undertaken fiscal decentralization reforms over the past two decades along with liberalization, privatization and stabilization reforms. Theory predicts that decentralization may aggravate fiscal imbalances, unless the right incentives are in place to promote fiscal discipline. This study uses a panel of 20 transition countries over 19 years to address a central question of fact: Did privatization help to promote local governments’ fiscal discipline? The answer is clearly ‘no’ for privatization considered in isolation. However, privatization and subnational fiscal autonomy along with reforms to the banking system – restraining access to soft financing – may prove effective at improving fiscal balances among local governments.
Aristophanes the Democrat: The Politics of Satirical Comedy during the Peloponnesian War

This book provides a new interpretation of the nature of Old Comedy and its place at the heart of Athenian democratic politics. Professor Sidwell argues that Aristophanes and his rivals belonged to opposing political groups, each with their own political agenda. Through disguised caricature and parody of their rivals' work, the poets expressed and fuelled the political conflict between their factions. Professor Sidwell rereads the principal texts of Aristophanes and the fragmented remains of the work of his rivals in the light of these arguments for the political foundations of the genre.
Taking it to the Streets: A New Line of Inquiry for School Communities

Educators must develop effective ways of interacting and working with students of diverse backgrounds. In this 2-year study, home visits were utilized to build a stronger, more impactful learning community for all stakeholders. Participants included 2 school leaders, 1 school social worker, 9 teachers, 2 parents, and 4 elementary children. The theoretical framework involved the funds of knowledge stance and investigated how school leaders and teachers redefined their roles to engage with their school community. Findings indicate the critical influence of people's backgrounds, educational philosophies, and dispositions in building bridges between school and home and establishing meaningful relationships with students and families.
Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Suppression and Iatrogenic Cushing's Syndrome as a Complication of Epidural Steroid Injections

Epidural steroid injections are well accepted as a treatment for radicular back pain in appropriate candidates. While overall incidence of systemic side effects has not been well established, at least five biochemically proven cases of iatrogenic Cushing's Syndrome have been reported as complications of epidural steroid treatment. We present an additional case of iatrogenic Cushing's Syndrome and adrenal suppression in a middle-aged woman who received three epidural steroid injections over a four-month period. We review this case in the context of previous cases and discuss diagnostic and management issues.
Distribution and Genetic Profiles of Campylobacter in Commercial Broiler Production from Breeder to Slaughter in Thailand

Poultry and poultry products are commonly considered as the major vehicle of Campylobacter infection in humans worldwide. To reduce the number of human cases, the epidemiology of Campylobacter in poultry must be better understood. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to determine the distribution and genetic relatedness of Campylobacter in the Thai chicken production industry. During June to October 2012, entire broiler production processes (i.e., breeder flock, hatchery, broiler farm and slaughterhouse) of five broiler production chains were investigated chronologically. Representative isolates of C. jejuni from each production stage were characterized by flaA SVR sequencing and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Amongst 311 selected isolates, 29 flaA SVR alleles and 17 sequence types (STs) were identified. The common clonal complexes (CCs) found in this study were CC-45, CC-353, CC-354 and CC-574. C. jejuni isolated from breeders were distantly related to those isolated from broilers and chicken carcasses, while C. jejuni isolates from the slaughterhouse environment and meat products were similar to those isolated from broiler flocks. Genotypic identification of C. jejuni in slaughterhouses indicated that broilers were the main source of Campylobacter contamination of chicken meat during processing. To effectively reduce Campylobacter in poultry meat products, control and prevention strategies should be aimed at both farm and slaughterhouse levels.
Scaling-Stimulated Salivary Antioxidant Changes and Oral-Health Behavior in an Evaluation of Periodontal Treatment Outcomes

Aim. Our goal was to investigate associations among scaling-stimulated changes in salivary antioxidants, oral-health-related behaviors and attitudes, and periodontal treatment outcomes. Materials and Methods. Thirty periodontitis patients with at least 6 pockets with pocket depths of >5 mm and more than 16 functional teeth were enrolled in the study. Patients were divided into three groups: an abandoned group (AB group), a nonprogress outcome group (NP group), and an effective treatment group (ET group). Nonstimulated saliva was collected before and after scaling were received to determine superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the total antioxidant capacity (TAOC). Results. Salivary SOD following scaling significantly increased from 83.09 to 194.30 U/g protein in patients who had irregular dental visit patterns (<1 visit per year). After scaling, the TAOC was significantly higher in patients who had regular dental visits than in patients who had irregular dental visits (3.52 versus 0.70 mmole/g protein, P < 0.01). The scaling-stimulated increase in SOD was related to a higher severity of periodontitis in the NP group, while the scaling-stimulated increase in the TAOC was inversely related to the severity of periodontitis in the AB group. Conclusions. These results demonstrate the importance of scaling-stimulated salivary antioxidants as prognostic biomarkers of periodontal treatment.
Microstructure and velocity fluctuations in sheared suspensions

The velocity fluctuations present in macroscopically homogeneous suspensions of neutrally buoyant non-Brownian spheres undergoing simple shear flow, and their dependence on the microstructure developed by the suspensions, are investigated in the limit of vanishingly small Reynolds numbers using Stokesian dynamics simulations. We show that, in the dilute limit, the standard deviation of the velocity fluctuations (the so-called suspension temperature) is proportional to the volume fraction, in both the transverse and the flow directions, and that a theoretical prediction, which considers only the hydrodynamic interactions between isolated pairs of spheres, is in good agreement with the numerical results at low concentrations. We also simulate the velocity fluctuations that would result from a random hard-sphere distribution of spheres in simple shear flow, and thereby investigate the effects of the microstructure on the velocity fluctuations. Analogous results are discussed for the fluctuations in the angular velocity of the suspended spheres. In addition, we present the probability density functions for all the linear and angular velocity components, and for three different concentrations, showing a transition from a Gaussian to an exponential and finally to a stretched exponential functional form as the volume fraction is decreased. The simulations include a non-hydrodynamic repulsive force between the spheres which, although extremely short range, leads to the development of fore–aft asymmetric distributions for large enough volume fractions, if the range of that force is kept unchanged. On the other hand, we show that, although the pair distribution function recovers its fore–aft symmetry in dilute suspensions, it remains anisotropic and that this anisotropy can be accurately predicted theoretically from the two-sphere solution by assuming the complete absence of any permanent doublets of spheres. We also present a simple correction to the analysis of laser-Doppler velocimetry measurements, which substantially improves the interpretation of these measurements at low volume fractions even though it involves only the angular velocity of a single sphere in the vorticity direction. Finally, in an Appendix, we show that, in the dilute limit, the whole velocity autocorrelation function can be predicted using again only two-particle encounters.
Design of Rectangular Microstrip 4x2 Patch Array Antenna at 2.4 GHz for WLAN Application

An array of Rectangular Micro strip Antenna (RMSA) is designed and compared with single patch RMSA and optimized for observing an increase in directivity along with achieving expected radiating parameters such as S11 <; 10dB and Side Lobe Level (SLL) <; -20dB using IE3D simulator. Maximum directivity of 13.058dBi is obtained by implementing four by two (4×2) array of eight patches as compared to 6.74dBi for single patch for the application of WLAN at 2.4 GHz centre frequency. The parametric variations are done for obtaining desired results.
Entropy based SYN flooding detection

In this paper we present a novel approach for detecting SYN flooding attacks by investigating the entropy of SYN packet inter-arrival times as a measure of randomness. We argue that normal SYN packets are almost independent leading to higher values of entropy while SYN flooding attacks consist of a high volume of related SYN packets and so the entropy of their inter-arrival times would be less than normal. We apply this entropy-based method on different data sets of network traffic both in off-line and real-time modes.
Out of Options ? Blacks and Support for the Democratic Party

African Americans have, for at least a generation, represented the most Democratic voting bloc in the electorate. Typically, support for the Democratic Party and Democratic presidential candidates ranges somewhere between 85-95%. But what accounts for such unprecedented levels of political homogeneity? In this paper, we review the extant literature on this question and explore several possible explanations. These accounts primarily center on various indicators of racial identity, and political ideology. In the case of racial identity, the literature primarily relies on the groundbreaking scholarship of Michael Dawson in his 1994 book, Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African American Politics. Dawson argues that Black political unity is a legacy of the particular historical circumstances that have confronted Black America. He maintains that it was both logical and efficient for Blacks to perceive the political world through a racial lens and consequently to make political judgments on the basis of how Blacks as a group would be affected. Much of the literature on Black public opinion has embraced the Black Utility Heuristic and sought either to extend it or critique its normative implications. Few, however, have sought to challenge it by testing alternative explanations for Black political unity. We do not dispute the central role that racial group considerations play in Black public opinion. Nevertheless, we believe that it remains unclear whether this particular manifestation of group identity (i.e., linked fate) is most influential or if alternate forms of identity might also shape African American's political views. Additionally, we argue that the literature has neglected the potential role of ideology in accounting for African Americans' nearly unanimous Democratic identification. We explore each of these ideas by analyzing the 2012 American National Election Study survey. We find that alternate measures of racial identity fare as well as some measures of political ideology best account for Black partisan identities.
Interaction of Osteopontin with IL-18 in Obese Individuals: Implications for Insulin Resistance

Background/Objective Osteopontin (OPN) and IL-18 are known inflammatory mediators and both participate in a wide range of biological processes linked to immunological disorders. Since an interaction between OPN and IL-18 has not been studied in obesity, we investigated whether: (i) their levels were simultaneously elevated in obese individuals; (ii) OPN was associated with IL-18 in obese individuals and (iii) their levels associated with fasting blood glucose (FBG) and BMI. Subjects and Methods PBMCs and plasma samples were isolated from 60 individuals including lean as well as overweight and obese individuals. Subcutaneous adipose tissue samples were obtained. OPN and IL-18 were measured by ELISA. OPN and IL-18 mRNA expression was quantified by real time quantitative RT-PCR. Results Obese individuals exhibited significantly increased circulating OPN levels as compared with lean individuals (obese 2865±101; lean 1681±116 pg/ml; P<0.0001). IL-18 levels were also high in obese individuals (obese 491±39, lean 301±26 pg/ml; P = 0.0009). OPN and IL-18 expression were simultaneously up-regulated (OPN: 5.4-Fold; IL-18: 8.9-Fold; P<0.05) in PBMCs from obese individuals compared to lean group. Adipose tissue from obese individuals had high expression of OPN (7.3-Fold) and IL-18 (9.6-Fold). Plasma OPN levels correlated positively with FBG levels (r = 0.32, P = 0.02). Similarly, IL-18 correlated positively with FBG levels (r = 0.406, P = 0.0042). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed an independent association of BMI with OPN and IL-18. Interestingly, OPN levels increased progressively with an increase in IL-18 levels (r = 0.52, P = 0.0004). We also examined the regulatory role of IL-18 in OPN secretion from PBMCs. Neutralizing anti-IL-18Rα mAb reduced OPN secretion. Conclusion These findings represent the first observation that plasma, PBMC and adipose tissue OPN and IL-18 are simultaneously increased and correlate with each other in overweight/obese individuals which may trigger the development of obesity-associated insulin resistance. Moreover, these results provide the direct evidence that IL-18 regulates OPN production in PBMCs.
School leavers in Australia : profiles and pathways

The characteristics and pathways of school leavers in Australia were examined by analyzing data on the cohort of Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) young people who were in year 9 in 1995 along with data on previous cohorts of teenagers. Only 79% of members of the study cohort remained in secondary school until the end of year 12. In some respects, during the late teenage years, noncompleters fared better than completers who did not enter higher education. Noncompleters were more likely to be in full-time employment, receive higher hourly earnings, display greater job stability, and report being in the type of job they would like as a career. On other counts, however, noncompleters experienced less successful transitions from school than those of completers. Compared with completers not in higher education, male noncompleters were more likely to be unemployed and female noncompleters were more likely to be outside the labor force. It was emphasized that analyses at later points in time might reveal different and more substantial differences between the labor market activities of noncompleters and completers. (Fifty-eight tables/figures are included. The bibliography lists 62 references. The following items are appended: background information about the LSAY and other estimates of school noncompletion rates; descriptions of the study variables; and supplemental tables and figures.) (MN) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Longitudinal Surveys of Aust alian Youth Research R rt Number 31 School Leavers in Australia: Profiles and Pathways Julie McMillan Gary N. Marks