Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Twitter ain't without frontiers: economic, social, and cultural boundaries in international communication

With the advent of Twitter and other lightweight social-networking services, one might think that it is easier than ever to maintain geographically dispersed, weaker social ties. By contrast, in this study we show that the international Twitter communication landscape is not only still largely predetermined by physical distance, but that it also depends on countries' social, economic, and cultural attributes. We describe a study of an international Twitter mention network of 13 million users across over 100 countries. We show that the Gravity Model, which hypothesizes that the flow between two areas is proportional to their masses (which we approximate using internet penetration) and inversely proportional to the distance between them, is correlated (r=0.68) with the international communication flow. Using this model, along with other social, economic, and cultural variables, we predict the communication volume at Adjusted R2 of $0.80$, with trade, language and racial intolerance especially impacting communication. We discuss the implications of these barriers to communication in the contexts of collaborative work, software design, and recommendation systems.
Lung cancer following Hodgkin′s disease: A case‐control study

It is recognized that survivors of Hodgkin's disease are at a substantially increased risk of lung cancer. A collaborative group of population‐based cancer registries and major treatment centers carried out a case‐control study, in which 98 cases of lung cancer were identified in patients who had survived at least 1 year following a diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease. A total of 259 matched controls were selected from patients with Hodgkin's disease who did not develop subsequent lung cancer, and for both cases and controls detailed information was abstracted from medical records concerning stage and treatment of Hodgkin's disease. Patients treated with chemotherapy alone had about twice the risk of developing lung cancer than those treated by radiotherapy alone or both modalities. There was no increase in risk with cumulative number of cycles of chemotherapy. Among patients treated with radiotherapy alone, there was an increase in risk related to estimated radiation dose to the lung. There was also a strong association between cigarette smoking and the risk of lung cancer. The finding of a higher risk following chemotherapy than following radiotherapy was unexpected, but could not be explained by any identified methodological flaws. A plausible inference from the study is that all forms of Hodgkin's disease therapy are carcinogenic to the lung and that, in particular, chemotherapy is associated with an increase in risk which is at least comparable to and perhaps higher than the risk produced by radiotherapy. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Specific Sequence Motifs of Mitochondrial Uncoupling Proteins

We have searched for the exclusivity of common sequence motifs of the mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCP1, UCP2, UCP3, UCP4, BMCP1, and plant UCP [PUMP]) within the gene family of mitochondrial anion carrier proteins. The UCP‐specific sequences, “UCP signatures”, were found in the first, second, and fourth alpha helices. First: Ala/Ser‐Cys/Thr/n‐n/Phe‐Ala/Gly‐n/Phe‐n/Cys‐ Thr‐Phe/n; second: Gly/Ala‐Ile/Leu‐Gln/X‐NH‐n/Cys‐Ser/n‐ phi/X‐n/Ser‐OH/Gly‐n‐Ile/Met‐Gly/Val‐n/Thr; fourth: Pro‐Asn/ n‐n/Thr/Pro‐OH/Val (n, nonpolar; phi, aromatic; (charged residue). The second and part of the third signature are also present in the yeast dicarboxylate transporter. The UCP signature excluding BMCP1 was also found in the second matrix segment: ‐(Pro/ del‐Leu/del)‐phi‐X‐Gly/Ser‐Thr/n‐X‐NH/‐Ala‐phi. These UCP signatures are thought to be involved in fatty acid anion binding and translocation.
Purine Metabolism in High- and Low-Uric Acid Lines of Chickens: Hypoxanthine/Guanine Phosphoribosyltransferase Activities 1

Abstract The activity of hypoxanthine/guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) was examined in the livers and kidneys of two genetic lines of chickens selected for different plasma uric acid levels. Previous work demonstrated that the high-uric acid line (HUA) had significantly greater de novo uric acid synthesis rates in kidney tissue compared to the low-uric acid line (LUA). In addition, phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP) synthetase and xanthine dehydrogenase activities in livers and kidneys were significantly higher in the HUA compared to the LUA line. PRPP pool sizes were also significantly higher in both livers and kidneys of HUA birds. HGPRT activities in livers of HUA birds were significantly (P < 0.05) greater than in LUA birds. The mean value of liver HGPRT was 7.36 ± 0.25 pmole inosine-5′-monophosphate (IMP) and 6.05 ± 0.27 pmole IMP produced/μg protein/hr, respectively, for the HUA and LUA lines. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in kidney HGPRT activities between the two groups. The mean value of kidney HGPRT was 52.87 ± 1.62 pmole IMP and 50.72 ± 1.62 pmole IMP produced/μg protein/hr, respectively, for the HUA and LUA line. Elevated liver HGPRT may serve to enhance the regeneration of PRPP in the HUA liver. Elevated liver PRPP synthetase and PRPP pool size suggest an increased flux through the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway in HUA birds. The resulting additional pyrophosphate from the glutamine PRPP ami-dotransferase reaction would stimulate recovery of PRPP and spare the system from a substantial loss of energy.
Age-Related Changes in Bimanual Instrument Playing with Rhythmic Cueing

Deficits in bimanual coordination of older adults have been demonstrated to significantly limit their functioning in daily life. As a bimanual sensorimotor task, instrument playing has great potential for motor and cognitive training in advanced age. While the process of matching a person’s repetitive movements to auditory rhythmic cueing during instrument playing was documented to involve motor and attentional control, investigation into whether the level of cognitive functioning influences the ability to rhythmically coordinate movement to an external beat in older populations is relatively limited. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine how timing accuracy during bimanual instrument playing with rhythmic cueing differed depending on the degree of participants’ cognitive aging. Twenty one young adults, 20 healthy older adults, and 17 older adults with mild dementia participated in this study. Each participant tapped an electronic drum in time to the rhythmic cueing provided using both hands simultaneously and in alternation. During bimanual instrument playing with rhythmic cueing, mean and variability of synchronization errors were measured and compared across the groups and the tempo of cueing during each type of tapping task. Correlations of such timing parameters with cognitive measures were also analyzed. The results showed that the group factor resulted in significant differences in the synchronization errors-related parameters. During bimanual tapping tasks, cognitive decline resulted in differences in synchronization errors between younger adults and older adults with mild dimentia. Also, in terms of variability of synchronization errors, younger adults showed significant differences in maintaining timing performance from older adults with and without mild dementia, which may be attributed to decreased processing time for bimanual coordination due to aging. Significant correlations were observed between variability of synchronization errors and performance of cognitive tasks involving executive control and cognitive flexibility when asked for bimanual coordination in response to external timing cues at adjusted tempi. Also, significant correlations with cognitive measures were more prevalent in variability of synchronization errors during alternative tapping compared to simultaneous tapping. The current study supports that bimanual tapping may be predictive of cognitive processing of older adults. Also, tempo and type of movement required for instrument playing both involve cognitive and motor loads at different levels, and such variables could be important factors for determining the complexity of the task and the involved task requirements for interventions using instrument playing.
Inspiratory capacity‐to‐total lung capacity ratio and dyspnoea predict exercise capacity decline in COPD

Exercise capacity decline is a predictor of mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Static pulmonary hyperinflation is a key determinant of exercise performance, but its effect on the longitudinal decline in exercise capacity remains unknown. We aimed to study the relationship between the inspiratory capacity‐to‐total lung capacity (IC/TLC) ratio and exercise capacity decline in COPD.
The Association between Completed Suicides and Season of the Year in an Iranian Population

Background The main objective of the present study was to determine the association between completed suicides and season of the year in Iran during 2006–2010. Methods: Data on completed suicides were collected by questionnaires field out by the family members of the victims in Legal Medicine Centers throughout the country over the period from 2006 to 2010. The maximum number of completed suicides (380) was observed in August, while the minimum number (231) was reported in February. Results: Season-wise, completed suicides were most prevalent in summer (1040), whereas least prevalent in winter (726). Mean (SD) age of individuals having committed suicide was 31.5 (14.6) years. This value did not change significantly in different seasons (P=0.051); nor, was a statistically significant difference observed in the educational level and the reason for suicide across different seasons of the year. Self-immolation and toxic poisoning were found to be significantly less common in autumn and winter (P<0.05), respectively. The number of completed suicides was higher in warm seasons Conclusion: Season of the year had significant relationships with gender as well the method of suicide, while no significant association was observed for age, level of education, and reason for suicide.
Merging Research and Practice Agendas to Address Reading and Behavior School-Wide

This paper describes a 4-year project that partnered psychologists based in universities and those in educational service districts to support development and implementation of school-wide academic and behavioral support systems in four elementary schools across four districts, representing different communities with varying demographic characteristics within one state in the north central region of the United States. We describe the methods for capacity building and sustainability embedded within the project, its course, and preliminary evaluation data, with discussion of successes, indicators of increased capacity and sustainability, lessons learned, and future directions for practice and research. Implications for the potential role for school- and university-based child-serving professionals in facilitating organizational change efforts, and subsequent implications for training and professional development of these professionals, are considered.
Nurses and opioids: results of a bi-national survey on mental models regarding opioid administration in hospitals

Objective Pain remains insufficiently treated in hospitals. Increasing evidence suggests human factors contribute to this, due to nurses failing to administer opioids. This behavior might be the consequence of nurses’ mental models about opioids. As personal experience and conceptions shape these models, the aim of this prospective survey was to identify model-influencing factors. Material and methods A questionnaire was developed comprising of 14 statements concerning ideations about opioids and seven questions concerning demographics, indicators of adult learning, and strength of religious beliefs. Latent variables that may underlie nurses’ mental models were identified using undirected graphical dependence models. Representative items of latent variables were employed for ordinal regression analysis. Questionnaires were distributed to 1,379 nurses in two London, UK, hospitals (n=580) and one German (n=799) hospital between September 2014 and February 2015. Results A total of 511 (37.1%) questionnaires were returned. Mean (standard deviation) age of participants were 37 (11) years; 83.5% participants were female; 45.2% worked in critical care; and 51.5% had more than 10 years experience. Of the nurses, 84% were not scared of opioids, 87% did not regard opioids as drugs to help patients die, and 72% did not view them as drugs of abuse. More English (41%) than German (28%) nurses were afraid of criminal investigations and were constantly aware of side effects (UK, 94%; Germany, 38%) when using opioids. Four latent variables were identified which likely influence nurses’ mental models: “conscious decision-making”; “medication-related fears”; “practice-based observations”; and “risk assessment”. They were predicted by strength of religious beliefs and indicators of informal learning such as experience but not by indicators of formal learning such as conference attendance. Conclusion Nurses in both countries employ analytical and affective mental models when administering the opioids and seem to learn from experience rather than from formal teaching. Additionally, some attitudes and emotions towards opioids are likely the result of nurses’ cultural background.
Significados y vivencias en pacientes adultos sometidos a cirugía bariátrica

Introduccion: La obesidad es un problema de salud publica y en Chile ha ido en aumento en los ultimos anos, observandose mayor porcentaje de sobrepeso en adultos hombres y de obesidad en adultas mujeres. En este contexto, la cirugia bariatrica surge como posible alternativa. Objetivo: Describir los significados y vivencias de pacientes adultos que han sido sometidos a cirugia bariatrica en clinicas privadas. Metodo: Se uso un enfoque cualitativo, basado en la Teoria Fundamentada. La seleccion de la muestra se realizo a traves de informantes clave y bola de nieve, y quedo conformada por 8 mujeres y 3 hombres. Para recoger los datos se utilizaron entrevistas en profundidad semi-estructuradas, y para el analisis se uso la codificacion abierta. Resultados: Del analisis descriptivo se obtuvieron tres categorias: 1) Motivaciones y expectativas en relacion a la cirugia bariatrica; 2) Vivencias en relacion al sobrepeso, y 3) Vivencias en relacion a la comida. Conclusiones: Es necesario continuar investigando desde la subjetividad de los propios pacientes dado el impacto que la obesidad y la cirugia bariatrica tienen en la vida de las personas.
Metaphors and verbal creativity: The role of the right hemisphere

Ample research suggests that the right cerebral hemisphere plays a central role in verbal creativity as well as in novel metaphor comprehension. The aim of the present study was to directly examine the relation between verbal creativity and right hemisphere involvement during novel metaphor comprehension. Thus 30 healthy adults were asked to fill in the Hebrew version of the Remote Association Test to assess their level of creativity. In addition, reaction times and error rates were measured while these participants performed a semantic judgement task on two word expressions presented in a divided visual field paradigm. The word pairs comprised four types of semantic relations: novel metaphors, conventional metaphors, literal word pairs, and meaningless word pairs. Correlations were conducted to assess the relation between level of creativity and processing of the four pair types in the two cerebral hemispheres. The main finding was of a significant negative correlation between degree of creativity and reaction times to novel metaphor processing in the right hemisphere, thus supporting the involvement of this cerebral hemisphere in both tasks. Results are discussed in light of linguistic theories and recent neuroscientific evidence regarding relative hemispheric involvement during semantic processing.
Nanocompression of individual multilayered polyhedral nanoparticles

Inorganic layered materials can form hollow multilayered polyhedral nanoparticles. The size of these multi-wall quasi-spherical structures varies from 4 to 300 nm. These materials exhibit excellent tribological and wear-resisting properties. Measuring and evaluating the stiffness of individual nanoparticle is a non-trivial problem. The current paper presents an in situ technique for stiffness measurements of individual WS2 nanoparticles which are 80 nm or larger using a high resolution scanning electron microscope (HRSEM). Conducting the experiments in the HRSEM allows elucidation of the compression failure strength and the elastic behavior of such nanoparticles under uniaxial compression.
Optimization of Constant Matrix Multiplication with Low Power and High Throughput

Constant matrix multiplication (CMM), i.e., the multiplication of a constant matrix with a vector, is a common operation in digital signal processing. It is a generalization of multiple constant multiplication (MCM) where a single variable is multiplied by a constant vector. Like MCM, CMM can be reduced to additions/subtractions and bit shifts. Finding a circuit with minimal number of add/subtract operations is known as the CMM problem. While this leads to a reduction in circuit area it may be less efficient for power consumption or throughput. It is well studied for the MCM problem that a) reducing the adder depth (AD) leads to a reduced power consumption and b) pipeline resources have to be considered during optimization to enhance throughput without wasting area. This paper addresses the optimization of CMM circuits which considers both adder depth and pipelining for the first time. For that, a heuristic is proposed which evaluates the most attractive graph topologies. It is shown that the proposed method requires 12.5% less adders with min. AD and 38.5% less pipelined operations. Synthesis results for recent FPGAs show that these reductions also translate to superior results in terms of delay and power consumption compared to the state-of-the-art.
Microsatellite diversity and genetic structure of fragmented populations of the rare, fire‐dependent shrub Grevillea macleayana

Recent habitat loss and fragmentation superimposed upon ancient patterns of population subdivision are likely to have produced low levels of neutral genetic diversity and marked genetic structure in many plant species. The genetic effects of habitat fragmentation may be most pronounced in species that form small populations, are fully self‐compatible and have limited seed dispersal. However, long‐lived seed banks, mobile pollinators and long adult lifespans may prevent or delay the accumulation of genetic effects. We studied a rare Australian shrub species, Grevillea macleayana (Proteaceae), that occurs in many small populations, is self‐compatible and has restricted seed dispersal. However, it has a relatively long adult lifespan (c. 30 years), a long‐lived seed bank that germinates after fire and is pollinated by birds that are numerous and highly mobile. These latter characteristics raise the possibility that populations in the past may have been effectively large and genetically homogeneous. Using six microsatellites, we found that G. macleayana may have relatively low within‐population diversity (3.2–4.2 alleles/locus; Hexp= 0.420–0.530), significant population differentiation and moderate genetic structure (FST = 0.218) showing isolation by distance, consistent with historically low gene flow. The frequency distribution of allele sizes suggest that this geographical differentiation is being driven by mutation. We found a lack mutation‐drift equilibrium in some populations that is indicative of population bottlenecks. Combined with evidence for large spatiotemporal variation of selfing rates, this suggests that fluctuating population sizes characterize the demography in this species, promoting genetic drift. We argue that natural patterns of pollen and seed dispersal, coupled with the patchy, fire‐shaped distribution, may have restricted long‐distance gene flow in the past.
Adoption of virtual organization by Taiwanese electronics firms

Purpose – This empirical study aims to examine an organizational response to the needs of e‐business, virtual organization, and associated determinants of its successful adoption in the Taiwanese electronics industry.Design/methodology/approach – The research examined a large sample of Taiwanese electronics companies. A research population of Taiwanese electronics companies was drawn from firms listed on both the TAIEX and the OTC markets and included 305 firms. Questionnaires were sent to firm administrators who were asked the degree to which the company had undertaken virtual organizational structuring that was enabled by information technologies.Findings – The findings of this research reveal significant impacts of individual and organizational factors, but no effect for environmental variables on virtual organization adoption.Research limitations/implications – While the results might provide clues for understanding the adoption of virtual organization structure in the manufacturing sector, there stil.
Magnetic separation techniques in diagnostic microbiology

The principles of magnetic separation aided by antibodies or other specific binding molecules have been used for isolation of specific viable whole organisms, antigens, or nucleic acids. Whereas growth on selective media may be helpful in isolation of a certain bacterial species, immunomagnetic separation (IMS) technology can isolate strains possessing specific and characteristic surface antigens. Further separation, cultivation, and identification of the isolate can be performed by traditional biochemical, immunologic, or molecular methods. PCR can be used for amplification and identification of genes of diagnostic importance for a target organism. The combination of IMS and PCR reduces the assay time to several hours while increasing both specificity and sensitivity. Use of streptavidin-coated magnetic beads for separation of amplified DNA fragments, containing both biotin and a signal molecule, has allowed for the conversion of the traditional PCR into an easy-to-read microtiter plate format. The bead-bound PCR amplicons can also easily be sequenced in an automated DNA sequencer. The latter technique makes it possible to obtain sequence data of 300 to 600 bases from 20 to 30 strains, starting with clinical samples, within 12 to 24 h. Sequence data can be used for both diagnostic and epidemiologic purposes. IMS has been demonstrated to be a useful method in diagnostic microbiology. Most recent publications describe IMS as a method for enhancing the specificity and sensitivity of other detection systems, such as PCR, and providing considerable savings in time compared with traditional diagnostic systems. The relevance to clinical diagnosis has, however, not yet been fully established for all of these new test principles. In the case of PCR, for example, the presence of specific DNA in a food sample does not demonstrate the presence of a live organism capable of inducing a disease. However, all tests offering increased sensitivity and specificity of detection, combined with reduced time of analysis, have to be seriously evaluated.