Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of Medicaid managed care on pregnant women in Ohio: a cohort analysis.

OBJECTIVE To examine the impact of mandatory HMO enrollment for Medicaid-covered pregnant women on prenatal care use, smoking, Cesarean section (C-section) use, and birth weight. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING Linked birth certificate and Medicaid enrollment data from July 1993 to June 1998 in 10 Ohio counties, 6 that implemented mandatory HMO enrollment, and 4 with low levels of voluntary enrollment (under 15 percent). Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) is analyzed separately; the other mandatory counties and the voluntary counties are grouped for analysis, due to small sample sizes. Study Design. Women serve as their own controls, which helps to overcome the bias from unmeasured variables such as health beliefs and behavior. Changes in key outcomes between the first and second birth are compared between women who reside in mandatory HMO enrollment counties and those in voluntary enrollment counties. County of residence is the primary indicator of managed care status, since, in Ohio, women are allowed to "opt out" of HMO enrollment in mandatory counties in certain circumstances, leading to selection. As a secondary analysis, we compare women according to their HMO enrollment status at the first and second birth. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS Linked birth certificate/enrollment data were used to identify 4,917 women with two deliveries covered by Medicaid, one prior to the implementation of mandatory HMO enrollment (mid-1996) and one following implementation. Data for individual births were linked over time using a scrambled maternal Medicaid identification number. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The effects of HMO enrollment on prenatal care use and smoking were confined to Cuyahoga County, Ohio's largest county. In Cuyahoga, the implementation of mandatory enrollment was related to a significant deterioration in the timing of initiation of care, but an improvement in the number of prenatal visits. In that county also, women who smoked in their first pregnancy were less likely to smoke during the second pregnancy, compared to women in voluntary counties. Women residing in all the mandatory counties were less likely to have a repeat C-section. There were no effects on infant birth weight. The effects of women's own managed care status were inconsistent depending on the outcome examined; an interpretation of these results is hampered by selection issues. Changes over time in outcomes, both positive and negative, were more pronounced for African American women. CONCLUSIONS With careful implementation and attention to women's individual differences as in Ohio, outcomes for pregnant women may improve with Medicaid managed care implementation. Quality monitoring should continue as Medicaid managed care becomes more widespread. More research is needed to identify the types of health maintenance organization activities that lead to improved outcomes.
Endovascular Repair of Iatrogenic Subclavian Artery Perforations Using the Hemobahn Stent-Graft

Purpose: To report the use of a new self-expanding endograft for percutaneous treatment of iatrogenic subclavian artery perforations. Case Reports: The subclavian artery of 2 patients was inadvertently cannulated during percutaneous attempts to implant a permanent pacemaker in one and catheterize the subclavian vein in the other. Because both patients had serious comorbidities, endovascular repair of the subclavian perforations was performed using the Hemobahn endograft, a nitinol stent covered internally with expanded polytetrafluoroethylene. The endoprostheses were successfully deployed via an ipsilateral brachial artery access. No signs of endograft occlusion, migration, deformation, or fracture have been observed during follow-up at 12 and 10 months, respectively, in these patients. Conclusions: The Hemobahn stent-graft appears well suited to repairing subclavian artery injuries. Longer follow-up will determine if the design of this endograft will resist compression in this vascular location.
Characterization of Food Physical Properties by the Mastication Parameters Measured by Electromyography of the Jaw-Closing Muscles and Mandibular Kinematics in Young Adults

The relationship between the physical properties of solid food and the masticatory parameters is clarified. Eight solid foods of varying physical properties were chosen. Electromyography of the jaw-closing muscles and mandibular kinematics in eleven young subjects were recorded. The masticatory parameters were derived from the recorded data for the entire mastication process, for the first bite, and in the early, middle, and late stages of mastication. After calculating values relative to the mean value for each subject, nine parameters representing each group were chosen through a cluster analysis. Three principal components were extracted, each of them related to the masticatory time and cycle, minimum jaw opening at the early stage of mastication, and masticatory force. The principal component scores for each food were different, except for one combination in which the physical properties under large and extra-large deformations were similar, despite different breaking properties or small deformation properties. The masticatory parameters did not correlate with the physical properties of food measured for small deformation.
The Important Role of Optimism in a Motivational Investigation of the Education of Gifted Adolescents

Intellectually gifted 7th-grade students were surveyed approximately halfway through their 1st year of high school in order to investigate relationships between motivational and affective variables, commitment to schoolwork, and satisfaction with school. The results of the confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling suggest that relationships of mediating variables such as optimism, strain on coping resources, extrinsic motivation, and intrinsic motivation with satisfaction with school and commitment to schoolwork should be considered in the context of the motivational needs of gifted students.
Cohomology operations and algebraic geometry

The manuscript is an overview of the motivations and foundations lying behind Voevodsky’s ideas of constructing categories similar to the ordinary topological homotopy categories. The objects of these categories are strictly related to algebraic varieties and preserve some of their algebraic invariants. 14F42, 18D10; 14F20, 18F10
On Design Method of Lateral-torsional Buckling of Beams: State of the Art and a New Proposal for a General Type Design Method

After introducing the Eurocode standards several theses have been published on the now much-discussed phenomenon of lateral-torsional buckling of steel structural elements under pure bending. According that, researchers are working on the development of such new design methods which can solve the problems of the design formulae given by the EN 1993-1-1. This paper gives a detailed review on the proposals for novel hand calculation procedures for the prediction of LT buckling resistance of beams. Nowadays, the application of structural design softwares in practical engineering becomes more common and widespread. Recognizing this growing interest, the main objective of our research work is the development of a novel, computer-aided design method. In this paper the details of a general type stability design procedure for the determination of the LT buckling resistance of members under pure bending are introduced. Here, the theoretical basis of the proposed method is clarified, the calculation procedure is detailed and some results for the evaluation of the appropriateness of the method is also presented. Based on the evaluations it can be stated that the new, general type design method is properly accurate and has several advantages on the stability check of beams under bending.
Spatial Distribution and Stability of the Eight Microbial Species of the Altered Schaedler Flora in the Mouse Gastrointestinal Tract

ABSTRACT The overall complexity of the microbial communities in the gastrointestinal (GI) tracts of mammals has hindered observations of dynamics and interactions of individual bacterial populations. However, such information is crucial for understanding the diverse disease-causing and protective roles that gut microbiota play in their hosts. Here, we determine the spatial distribution, interanimal variation, and persistence of bacteria in the most complex defined-flora (gnotobiotic) model system to date, viz., mice colonized with the eight strains of the altered Schaedler flora (ASF). Quantitative PCR protocols based on the 16S rRNA sequence of each ASF strain were developed and optimized to specifically detect as few as 10 copies of each target. Total numbers of the ASF strains were determined in the different regions of the GI tracts of three C.B-17 SCID mice. Individual strain abundance was dependent on oxygen sensitivity, with microaerotolerant Lactobacillus murinus ASF361 present at 105 to 107 cells/g of tissue in the upper GI tract and obligate anaerobic ASF strains being predominant in the cecal and colonic flora at 108 to 1010 cells/g of tissue. The variation between the three mice was small for most ASF strains, except for Clostridium sp. strain ASF502 and Bacteroides sp. strain ASF519 in the cecum. A comparison of the relative distribution of the ASF strains in feces and the colon indicated large differences, suggesting that fecal bacterial levels may provide a poor approximation of colonic bacterial levels. All ASF strains were detected by PCR in the feces of C57BL/6 restricted flora mice, which had been maintained in an isolator without sterile food, water, or bedding for several generations, providing evidence for the stability of these strains in the face of potential competition by bacteria introduced into the gut.
Can Movement Tactics Influence Media Coverage?: Health-Care Struggle in the Salvadoran News

This article analyzes Salvadoran newspaper coverage of a social movement struggle that emerged in 2002 to prevent the privatization of the health-care system. Movement groups pursued their policy goals through both extrainstitutional protest and formal legislative channels. Through an analysis of news content, this article examines whether these different components of the movement's claims-making repertoire influenced the portrayal of the movement's goals, actors, and actions by one of the major Salvadoran news dailies. The analysis reveals that, compared to protest events, legislative processes that the movement set in motion generated coverage that was more sympathetic to the movement and that presented greater interrogation of government and elite plans for health-care reform.
Parallel Monte Carlo Tree Search from Multi-core to Many-core Processors

In recent years there has been much interest in the MCTS algorithm, a new, adaptive, randomized optimization algorithm. In fields as diverse as Artificial Intelligence, Operations Research, and High Energy Physics, research has established that MCTS can find good solutions without domain dependent heuristics. However, practice shows that reaching high performance on large parallel machines is not so successful as expected. So far, the reasons are not well understood. This paper investigates the scalability of two popular parallelization approaches (tree parallelization and root parallelization) of the MCTS algorithm, using the Intel Xeon Phi highly multi-threaded shared-memory system. Moreover, we compare the results on a Xeon CPU and a Xeon Phi to understand the scalability of the parallel MCTS algorithms, and to understand their absolute performance. We find that tree parallelization can achieve near perfect speedup for up to 16 threads on the Xeon CPU and up to 64 threads on the Xeon Phi. For root parallelization we find that the effect of locks is small. Moreover, we establish the overall parallel speedup of the two parallelization methods of the MCTS algorithm is fundamentally limited on the Xeon Phi for games such as Hex or Go. The limiting factor is not, as might be expected, the parallel algorithm, or its implementation, but the high level of sequential calculations in each thread, for which no vectorization method is known.
Reproducibility of a web-based FFQ for 13- to 15-year-old Danish adolescents

Abstract FFQ are widely used in large-scale studies to assess dietary intake. To aid interpretation of diet–disease associations assessment of validity must be performed. Reproducibility is one aspect of validity focusing on the stability of repeated assessment with the same method which may also reveal problems in instrument design or participant instructions. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the reproducibility of a web-based FFQ targeting Danish adolescents within the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC). Data for the present study were obtained from a prospective design nested within the DNBC. Adolescents aged 13 to 15 years old (n 48, 60 % girls) completed the FFQ twice 4 weeks apart. The proportion of adolescents consistently classified into the same tertile according to amount of food intake ranged from 45 % (fish) to 77 % (vegetables), whereas classification into opposite tertiles ranged from 0 % (fruit, oils and dressing) to 15 % (beverages). Overall, no significant differences were observed in intake of food groups or nutrients between the two completions of the FFQ. Mean crude Spearman correlation for all food groups was 0·56 and mean intra-class correlation for all food groups was 0·61. In conclusion, the reproducibility of the FFQ for Danish adolescents was acceptable. The study revealed that adolescents aged 13–15 years seemed capable of recalling consistently overall dietary habits and had some difficulties estimating the frequency of consumption of regularly consumed food items.
A Test of the Temperance Hypothesis: Class, Religiosity, and Tolerance of Prostitution

Public attitudes toward prostitution are a neglected area of study. Temperance theory posits that end-of-the century political culture is characterized by the persistence of moral politics in which personal behavior is moralized and sanctioned. Driving this politics is the economic insecurity of the middle class to reassert status boundaries as markers of respectability in order to clearly separate classes physically and socially. This hypothesis has not been tested empirically and it contradicts hypotheses derived from post materialist theory or revised modernization theory, which proposes that there is a trend toward more tolerance of deviance in contemporary society, and that the traditional class-based cleavages have shifted and now focus more on value cleavages. This article tests these competing hypotheses, examining whether there is a trend toward greater intolerance of prostitution and whether the middle class became more intolerant in the 1990s. In addition, we test the effects of social class and religiosity on tolerance of prostitution. Results show that the U.S. pubic became more tolerant toward prostitution across social classes in the 1990s and that religiosity continues to serve as a powerful counterbalance to social acceptance of prostitution.
Comparative Study of Co-Doped and Non Co-Doped LSO:Ce and LYSO:Ce Scintillators for TOF-PET

Scintillation properties of LSO:Ce, LSO:Ce,0.2%Ca, LYSO:Ce, LYSO:0.11%Ce,0.2%Mg, and LYSO:0.2%Ce,0.2%Ca were studied for application in time-of-flight positron emission tomography. To find the scintillation material with the best timing performance among those, we measured intrinsic scintillation pulse shapes-defined as the number of photons emitted per unit time at the ionization track as a function of time - by means of 100 ps x-ray excitation in the temperature range from 193 K to 373 K, from which intrinsic rise and decay time constants were derived. Photoelectron yields were measured by 662 keV gamma excitation. From these scintillation properties we calculated the corresponding lower bound on the timing resolution for each material.
Effects of low‐frequency whole‐body vibration on motor‐evoked potentials in healthy men

The aim of this study was to determine whether low‐frequency whole‐body vibration (WBV) modulates the excitability of the corticospinal and intracortical pathways related to tibialis anterior (TA) muscle activity, thus contributing to the observed changes in neuromuscular function during and after WBV exercise. Motor‐evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited in response to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the leg area of the motor cortex were recorded in TA and soleus (SOL) muscles of seven healthy male subjects whilst performing 330 s continuous static squat exercise. Each subject completed two conditions: control (no WBV) and WBV (30 Hz, 1.5 mm vibration applied from 111 to 220 s). Five single suprathreshold and five paired TMS were delivered during each squat period lasting 110 s (pre‐, during and post‐WBV). Two interstimulus intervals (ISIs) between the conditioning and the testing stimuli were employed in order to study the effects of WBV on short‐interval intracortical inhibition (SICI, ISI = 3 ms) and intracortical facilitation (ICF, ISI = 13 ms). During vibration relative to squat exercise alone, single‐pulse TMS provoked significantly higher TA MEP amplitude (56 ± 14%, P= 0.003) and total area (71 ± 19%, P= 0.04), and paired TMS with ISI = 13 ms provoked smaller MEP amplitude (−21 ± 4%, P= 0.01) but not in SOL. Paired‐pulse TMS with ISI = 3 ms elicited significantly lower MEP amplitude (TA, −19 ± 4%, P= 0.009; and SOL, −13 ± 4%, P= 0.03) and total area (SOL, −17 ± 6%, P= 0.02) during vibration relative to squat exercise alone in both muscles. Tibialis anterior MEP facilitation in response to single‐pulse TMS suggests that WBV increased corticospinal pathway excitability. Increased TA and SOL SICI and decreased TA ICF in response to paired‐pulse TMS during WBV indicate vibration‐induced alteration of the intracortical processes as well.
Epigenetic fingerprint in endometrial carcinogenesis: The hypothesis of a uterine field cancerization

Transcriptional silencing by CpG island hypermethylation plays a critical role in endometrial carcinogenesis. In a collection of benign, premalignant and malignant endometrial lesions, a methylation profile of a complete gene panel, such steroid receptors (ERα, PR), DNA mismatch repair (hMLH1), tumor-suppressor genes (CDKN2A/P16 and CDH1/E-CADHERIN) and WNT pathway inhibitors (SFRP1, SFRP2, SFRP4, SFRP5) was investigated in order to demonstrate their pathogenetic role in endometrial lesions. Our results indicate that gene hypermethylation may be an early event in endometrial endometrioid tumorigenesis. Particularly, ERα, PR, hMLH1, CDKN2A/P16, SFRP1, SFRP2 and SFRP5 revealed a promoter methylation status in endometrioid carcinoma, whereas SFRP4 showed demethylation in cancer. P53 immunostaining showed weak-focal protein expression level both in hyperplasic lesions and in endometrioid cancer. Non-endometrioid cancers showed very low levels of epigenetic methylations, but strong P53 protein positivity. Fisher exact test revealed a statistically significant association between hMLH1, CDKN2A/P16 and SFRP1 genes methylation and endometrioid carcinomas and between hMLH1 gene methylation and peritumoral endometrium (p < 0.05). Our data confirm that the methylation profile of the peritumoral endometrium is different from the altered molecular background of benign endometrial polyps and hyperplasias. Therefore, our findings suggest that the methylation of hMLH1, CDKN2A/P16 and SFRP1 may clearly distinguish between benign and malignant lesions. Finally, this study assessed that the use of an epigenetic fingerprint may improve the current diagnostic tools for a better clinical management of endometrial lesions.
Intergroup and intragroup processing in self-stereotyping: The moderating effect of group status

The moderating effect of group status on intragroup and intergroup processing and self-stereotyping is examined. Self-stereotyping is “the perceptual interchangeability or perceptual identity of oneself and others in the same group on relevant dimensions” (Turner, 1984). The current argument is that membership in groups marked by low status is conducive to intergroup processing (comparison between groups) and therefore higher levels of self-stereotyping, while membership in groups marked by high status is conducive to intragroup processing (comparison within group), and in turn less self-stereotyping. Four studies examined “default” processing and self-stereotyping in the context of gender and sexual orientation (Study 1 and 2) and by directly manipulating the comparative context (Study 3 and 4). Overall the results provide only limited support for the key predictions. Methodological and theoretical explanations are discussed.
PipeCNN: An OpenCL-Based FPGA Accelerator for Large-Scale Convolution Neuron Networks

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been widely employed in many applications such as image classification, video analysis and speech recognition. Being compute-intensive, CNN computations are mainly accelerated by GPUs with high power dissipations. Recently, studies were carried out exploiting FPGA as CNN accelerator because of its reconfigurability and energy efficiency advantage over GPU, especially when OpenCL-based high-level synthesis tools are now available providing fast verification and implementation flows. Previous OpenCL-based design only focused on creating a generic framework to identify performance-related hardware parameters, without utilizing FPGA's special capability of pipelining kernel functions to minimize memory bandwidth requirement. In this work, we propose an FPGA accelerator with a new architecture of deeply pipelined OpenCL kernels. Data reuse and task mapping techniques are also presented to improve design efficiency. The proposed schemes are verified by implementing two representative large-scale CNNs, AlexNet and VGG on Altera Stratix-V A7 FPGA. We have achieved a similar peak performance of 33.9 GOPS with a 34% resource reduction on DSP blocks compared to previous work. Our design is openly accessible and thus can be reused to explore new architectures for neural network accelerators.
Effects of Provocation on Emotions and Aggression: An Experimental Study with Aggressive Children

In this study, the effects of an experimental-induced provocation on emotions and aggression were examined in 34 aggressive conduct-disordered children using a competitive reaction time paradigm. Two experimental conditions were created, an increasing provocation and a low constant provocation condition. Self-rated anger was assessed directly after provocation on a 5-point-visual scale. In addition, negative and positive emotions as well as physiological measures (heart rate and skin conductance level) were measured at baseline and after provocation. Results revealed that participants’ aggressive behaviour and subjective emotions differed as a function of the opponent’s level of provocation. Concerning physiological parameters, no significant differences were found between the experimental conditions. These results suggest that affective, but not physiological variables characterize reactive aggression in conduct-disordered children.
Multiwell Rigidity in Nonlinear Elasticity

We derive a quantitative rigidity estimate for a multiwell problem in nonlinear elasticity. Precisely, we show that if a gradient field is $L^1$-close to a set of the form $SO(n)U_1\cup\dots\cup SO(n)U_l$ and an appropriate bound on the length of the interfaces holds, then the gradient field is actually close to only one of the wells $SO(n)U_i$. The estimate holds for any connected subdomain and has the optimal scaling.