Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cured meat consumption increases risk of readmission in COPD patients

Recent studies have shown that a high dietary intake of cured meat increases the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) development. However, its potential effects on COPD evolution have not been tested. We aimed to assess the association between dietary intake of cured meat and risk of COPD readmission in COPD patients. 274 COPD patients were recruited during their first COPD admission between 2004 and 2006, provided information on dietary intake of cured meat during the previous 2 yrs, and were followed until December 31, 2007 (median follow-up 2.6 yrs). Associations between cured meat intake and COPD admissions were assessed using parametric regression survival–time models. Mean±sd age was 68±8 yrs, 93% of patients were male, 42% were current smokers, mean post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) was 53±16% predicted, and median cured meat intake was 23 g·day−1. After adjusting for age, FEV1, and total caloric intake, high cured meat intake (more than median value) increased the risk of COPD readmission (adjusted HR 2.02, 95% CI 1.31–3.12; p=0.001). High cured meat consumption increases the risk of COPD readmission in COPD patients. The assessment of the effectiveness of healthy diet advice should be considered in the future.
The Association of Mean Platelet Volume with Intra Ventricular Hemorrhage and Broncho Pulmonary Dysplasia in Preterm Infants

Background Interventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and Broncho pulmonary dysplasia(BPD) commonly occur in premature infants and they associate with platelet dysfunction. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of MPV and occurrence of IVH and BPD. Materials and methods In this cross sectional study, 3 groups including IVH, BPD and control were compared. All participants were preterm neonates with <35 weeks of gestation. MPV was recorded during the first 48 hours of life for all cases. Data were reported by descriptive statistics and analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient, spearman correlation coefficient, paired T test and multinomial regression analysis in SPSS version 17. Results Higher MPV level was noted in BPD and IVH groups versus control group (9.79±0.73 fl and 10±1.04 fl versus 8.33±0,91 fl p<0.0001). Also, most participants in BPD (93.3%) and IVH (73.3%) groups had MPV >9 fl compared to controls (16.7%) (p<0.0001). Regression analysis showed that only MPV related to the occurrence of IVH (OR=2.200 95%CI p=0.013) and elevated MPV significantly increased duration of O2 therapy (p<0.0001) and mechanical ventilation (p=0.0010). Conclusion MPV value at first 48 hours of life can be noted as a simple biomarker for occurrence of BPD and specially IVH in preterm infants
Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Legume Nodules: Metabolism and Regulatory Mechanisms

The special issue “Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Legume Nodules: Metabolism and Regulatory Mechanisms” aims to investigate the physiological and biochemical advances in the symbiotic process with an emphasis on nodule establishment, development and functioning. The original research articles included in this issue provide important information regarding novel aspects of nodule metabolism and various regulatory pathways, which could have important future implications. This issue also included one review article that highlights the importance of using legume trees in the production of renewable biofuels.
An auto-associative neural network for sparse representations : analysis and application to models of recognition and cued recall

The authors present the results of their analysis of an auto-associator for use with sparse representations. Their recognition model using it exhibits a list-length effect but no list-strength effect, a dissociation that current models have difficulty producing. Data on the effects of similarity and strengthening that indicate a dissociation between recognition and frequency judgments are also addressed. Receiver operating characteristic curves for the model have slopes between 0.5 and 1.0 and achieve this ratio in a novel way. The model can also predict latencies naturally. The authors' cued-recall model uses an architecture similar to that of the recognition model and where applicable the same parameters. It predicts appropriate amounts of retroactive interference, and analysis reveals an output competition process that relies on distributed representations and has not been proposed before.
German-Jewish Emigres and U.S. Invention

Historical accounts suggest that Jewish emigres from Nazi Germany revolutionized US science. To analyze the emigres' effects on chemical innovation in the United States, we compare changes in patenting by US inventors in research fields of emigres with fields of other German chemists. Patenting by US inventors increased by 31 percent in emigre fields. Regressions which instrument for emigre fields with pre-1933 fields of dismissed German chemists confirm a substantial increase in US invention. Inventor-level data indicate that emigres encouraged innovation by attracting new researchers to their fields, rather than by increasing the productivity of incumbent inventors.
Helicobacter pylori infection and pediatric asthma

Objective Childhood infectious diseases are one of the most known environmental pathogenic causes of childhood asthma. The high prevalence of both Helicobacter pylori infection and asthma in our country prompted us to assess anyprobable association between them in childhood. Methods This cross-sectional study recruited 196 children aged 6 to 12 years old comprising 98 asthmatic (case group) and 98 healthy (control group) individuals. Urea breath test was performed for all of the children and H. pylori infection was compared between the two groups according to the urea breath test results. Results Urea breath test was positive in 18 asthmatic (18.36) and 23 (23.36) healthy subjects but was not significantly different between the case and controls (p = 0.380). Further analysis in the asthmatic group revealed association of H. pylori infection withage (p < 0.001) and duration of asthma (p = 0.010). However, no significant correlation was found between sex, severity of asthma, controled asthma or abnormal pulmonary function tests with H. pylori infection (p= 0.804, 0.512, 0.854 and 0.292, respectively). Conclusion Given the results of the study, H. pylori infection was not significantly different between asthmatic and healthy children. In asthmatic patients, there was no significant association between H. pylori infection and sex, severity of disease, control status of disease and normal or abnormal pulmonary function tests. H. Pylori infection had a significant association with increasing age and duration of asthma.
A high-current electrothermal bistable MEMS relay

This paper reports the design, fabrication and testing of a thermally-actuated bistable MEMS relay. Mechanical bistability ensures zero actuation power in both the on and off states, and permits actuation with a transient thermal actuator. In the off state, this relay stands off more than 200 V. In the on state, it exhibits a minimum total resistance of 60 n/spl Omega/ and a maximum current carrying capacity of 3 A. It switches with a maximum 5 Hz rate.
Warmer ambient temperatures depress liver function in a mammalian herbivore

Diet selection in mammalian herbivores is thought to be mainly influenced by intrinsic factors such as nutrients and plant secondary compounds, yet extrinsic factors like ambient temperature may also play a role. In particular, warmer ambient temperatures could enhance the toxicity of plant defence compounds through decreased liver metabolism of herbivores. Temperature-dependent toxicity has been documented in pharmacology and agriculture science but not in wild mammalian herbivores. Here, we investigated how ambient temperature affects liver metabolism in the desert woodrat, Neotoma lepida. Woodrats (n = 21) were acclimated for 30 days to two ambient temperatures (cool = 21°C, warm = 29°C). In a second experiment, the temperature exposure was reduced to 3.5 h. After temperature treatments, animals were given a hypnotic agent and clearance time of the agent was estimated from the duration of the hypnotic state. The average clearance time of the agent in the long acclimation experiment was 45% longer for animals acclimated to 29°C compared with 21°C. Similarly, after the short exposure experiment, woodrats at 29°C had clearance times 26% longer compared with 21°C. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that liver function is reduced at warmer environmental temperatures and may provide a physiological mechanism through which climate change affects herbivorous mammals.
Effect of Cognitive Demand on Prospective Memory in Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the influence of cognitive demand on prospective-memory in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) using a dual-task paradigm. Fourteen individuals with severe TBI and 14 matched controls were required to undertake two tasks. A lexical-decision task was used as an ongoing task and had two levels of cognitive demand (viz., low and high). The event-based prospective-memory task involved performing a specific action whenever a target stimulus appeared during the ongoing task. The Letter-Number Sequencing Test, the Tower of London and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test were also administered to assess the relationship between prefrontal lobe functions and prospective memory. As hypothesised, participants in the TBI group performed more poorly than participants in the control group on the prospective-memory task in the high but not in the low demand condition. There were significant correlations between prospective-memory task performance and scores on the Letter-Number Sequencing Test and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test. These findings help to clarify the nature of prospective-memory impairment in individuals with TBI and support the involvement of prefrontal processes in prospective remembering.
KEMAMPUAN LITERASI MATEMATIKA SISWA KELAS VIII BERDASARKAN GAYA KOGNITIF

Kemampuan literasi matematika adalah kemampuan seseorang untuk memahami dan menerapkan pengetahuan dasar matematika dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Perbedaan gaya kognitif siswa sebagai bagian dari karakteristik individu yang menyebabkan perbedaan pada kemampuan literasi setiap siswa perlu diperhatikan pada kegiatan pembelajaran. PMRI merupakan salah satu pembelajaran yang dapat mendukung aktivitas siswa dalam mengembangkan kemampuan literasi matematika. Sebanyak 36 siswa ditentukan gaya kognitifnya dengan menggunakan Matching Familiar Figure Test (MFFT) sehingga diperoleh empat kategori: 2 siswa reflektif, 11 siswa impulsif, 2 siswa fast accurate, dan 21 siswa slow innaccurate. Pencapaian aspek literasi matematika siswa reflektif, impulsif, fast accurate, dan slow innaccurate berbeda-beda dengan siswa fast accurate yang menonjol pada aspek representation dan devising strategies for solving problems. Hal ini didukung oleh adanya peningkatan kemampuan literasi matematika pada siswa dengan nilai peningkatan terbesar dicapai siswa fast accurate. Guru dapat menerapkan pembelajaran PMRI untuk meningkatkan kemampuan literasi matematika siswa dengan tipe gaya kognitif yang berbeda-beda. Mathematics literacy is an indiviudal’s ability to understand and apply basic mathematical capabilities in daily life. Learning process should pay attention to the difference of students’ cognitive style as a part of individual characteristics that make difference to students’ mathematics literacy ability. PMRI learning activites may help students in developing their mathematics literacy ability. Matching Familiar Figure Test are tested to 36 students which results four categories: 2 reflective students, 11 impulsive students, 2 fast accurate students, and 21 slow innaccurate students. Students’ different cognitive styles affect their different mathematics ability, fast accurate students gained best score at representation and devising strategies for solving problems. It is also supported by their highest improvement of mathematics literacy ability. Teachers may apply PMRI learning for every students whose different cognitive style to improve their mathematics literacy ability.
First-Person Perspective Virtual Body Posture Influences Stress: A Virtual Reality Body Ownership Study

In immersive virtual reality (IVR) it is possible to replace a person’s real body by a life-sized virtual body that is seen from first person perspective to visually substitute their own. Multisensory feedback from the virtual to the real body (such as the correspondence of touch and also movement) can also be present. Under these conditions participants typically experience a subjective body ownership illusion (BOI) over the virtual body, even though they know that it is not their real one. In most studies and applications the posture of the real and virtual bodies are as similar as possible. Here we were interested in whether the BOI is diminished when there are gross discrepancies between the real and virtual body postures. We also explored whether a comfortable or uncomfortable virtual body posture would induce feelings and physiological responses commensurate with the posture. We carried out an experiment with 31 participants in IVR realized with a wide field-of-view head-mounted display. All participants were comfortably seated. Sixteen of them were embodied in a virtual body designed to be in a comfortable posture, and the remainder in an uncomfortable posture. The results suggest that the uncomfortable body posture led to lesser subjective BOI than the comfortable one, but that participants in the uncomfortable posture experienced greater awareness of their autonomic physiological responses. Moreover their heart rate, heart rate variability, and the number of mistakes in a cognitive task were associated with the strength of their BOI in the uncomfortable posture: greater heart rate, lower heart rate variability and more mistakes were associated with higher levels of the BOI. These findings point in a consistent direction—that the BOI over a body that is in an uncomfortable posture can lead to subjective, physiological and cognitive effects consistent with discomfort that do not occur with the BOI over a body in a comfortable posture.
Incomplete Contracts and the Product Cycle

I present a model in which the incomplete nature of contracts governing international transactions limits the extent to which the production process can be fragmented across borders. Because of contractual frictions, goods are initially manufactured in the same country where product development takes place. Only when the good becomes sufficiently standardized is the manufacturing stage of production shifted to a low-wage foreign location. Solving for the optimal organizational structure, I develop a new version of the product cycle hypothesis in which manufacturing is shifted abroad first within firm boundaries, and only at a later stage to independent foreign firms. (JEL D23, F12, F14, F21, F23, L22, L33)
Rural Poverty, Food Insecurity and Environmental Degradation in Ethiopia: A Case Study from South Central Ethiopia

This paper addresses the challenge of reducing poverty, food insecurity, and natural resource degradation, and abolishing recurrent famines in Ethiopia. With a population of about 65 million, Ethiopia is one of the largest and most populated countries in Africa. Ethiopia can be regarded as a microcosm of Africa due to its vast and diverse agro-ecology and population. Physically, it ranges from 200 meters to over 4000 meters above sea level. It has about 18 agro-ecological, zones and diverse population of some 85 ethnic or linguistic groups. The paper begins by addressing the conceptual relationship among food insecurity, poverty and natural resource degradation based on an extensive review of pertinent literature. The basic challenges of food insecurity-poverty-natural resource degradation discussed include: The challenge of developing and managing human resource and population growth, the challenge of developing and reforming institutions of governance, and the challenge of adopting poverty-focused economic growth policies. The relevance of agricultural and employment based development strategy is emphasized, given the fact that 85 percent of the population is currently engaged in agriculture and related activities. But, for such a strategy to succeed there is a need to adopt productive and sustainable technologies and institutions. One of the key points made is that farmers must find technologies to be profitable in order to adopt them successfully, and that such technologies can also improve sustainability. The paper further emphasizes the need to develop institutions that are incentive compatible, such as land tenure, agricultural research, and credit markets to enable and to complement the successful adoption of appropriate technologies by farmers. The paper finally draws some broad policy implications by pointing out the critical need to adopt institutions and policies that have a positive-sum or win-win outcome. These policies include investment in agricultural research and technology; the development of institutions that provide access to modern inputs and extension services; the removal of marketing and related policy distortions; and the promotion of policies that counter externalities or spillover effects of production or those that minimize environmental costs by reducing natural resource degradation. The need to adopt a land tenure system that provides security by vesting property or legal ownership rights to farmers aimed agricultural development is one of the key policy implications of the study.
Physical functioning and mental well-being in association with health outcome in patients enrolled in the Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial II.

AIMS The association of psychosocial and physical factors with health outcome in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) has not been fully explored. The aim of this study was to assess the physical and mental health in relationship to health outcome in post-infarction patients with advanced left ventricular dysfunction. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 1058 patients enrolled in the Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial II (MADIT II) completed the Medical Outcome Trust Short Form (SF-12) at baseline. Physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) of SF-12 were analysed in relationship to survival, hospitalization due to CHF, and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy. Both baseline PCS and MCS were significantly associated with death (P < 0.001 and P < 0.016, respectively) and hospitalization due to CHF (P <or= 0.001). After adjustment for significant clinical covariates and treatment group, low PCS and low MCS groups remained significant predictors of mortality and CHF hospitalization. Neither PCS nor MCS was associated with appropriate ICD therapy for ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Patients who experienced appropriate ICD shocks had a statistically significant deterioration of PCS but not MCS from baseline to 12 months. CONCLUSION Lower baseline PCS and MCS are associated with unfavourable health outcome in MADIT II patients, but not with appropriate ICD therapy for ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Patients who experience ICD shock reported a decrease in PCS, but little or no changes in MCS.
Strategy, autonomy, planning mode and effectiveness: a contingency study of business schools

The aim of this project was to investigate whether combinations of strategies, planning modes and levels of autonomy are associated with superior college effectiveness relative to other combinations of these variables. It was hypothesized that a college pursuing a prospector strategy ‐ with an emphasis on continuously seeking new client segments and/or developing new offerings ‐ would be more effective with longer‐term and more externally oriented planning, and with more autonomy for its dean. Conversely, a college pursuing a defender strategy ‐ relying on traditional client segments and offerings ‐ would be more effective with shorter‐term and more internally oriented planning, and with less autonomy for its dean. Generally, the hypotheses pertaining to the prospector‐type strategy were supported, while those involving the defender strategy were not supported. Discusses implications for practitioners and researchers.
Quality of life in schizophrenic patients

In the last decades, there has been increased interest in the field of quality of life in mental disorders in general, and particularly in schizophrenia. In addition, the appearance of the atypical antipsychotic drugs (amisul pride, aripiprazole, clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, and ziprasidone) with different therapeutic and side-effect profiles, has promoted a greater interest in assessing the quality of life of schizophrenic patients. In this paper we will briefly summarize the difficulties in assessing quality of life in schizophrenic patients, as well as the results concerning their quality of life and the influence of psychopathology, especially negative and depressive symptoms, on it. We will also review data from recent clinical trials showing the impact of antipsychotic treatments and their side effects upon quality of life.
The Influence of Teacher’s Competence towards the Motivation of Students in Learning English

This study is intended to find out the influence of the teacher’s competence towards the motivation of students in learning English. A questionnaire was given to 24 students at a sports school in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The five (5) closed and open questions were adapted from Zhao (2012). The results from this study show that the competences of the teacher including cognitive, affective, and psychomotor competence (Syah, 2013) enhance the motivation of students to learn English. The teacher’s personality also has a strong influence on the students’ perceptions of their teacher. The teacher’s cognitive abilities which include the teacher’s competence at teaching English motivate the students to like English as a subject. Next, the teacher’s affection for the students also influences the students’ motivations who do not only like the subject but to like the teacher. Lastly, the teacher’s way of presenting lessons (psychomotor) affect the motivation of the students to learn English. Thus, it can be concluded that the teacher, as one of the external factors, should be able to maximize his/her competence in teaching to motivate the students more when learning English.
Investigating Longitudinal Relationships Between Sexy Self-Presentations on Social Network Sites and Adolescents’ Sexual Self-Concept

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