Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is coral richness related to community resistance to and recovery from disturbance?

More diverse communities are thought to be more stable—the diversity–stability hypothesis—due to increased resistance to and recovery from disturbances. For example, high diversity can make the presence of resilient or fast growing species and key facilitations among species more likely. How natural, geographic biodiversity patterns and changes in biodiversity due to human activities mediate community-level disturbance dynamics is largely unknown, especially in diverse systems. For example, few studies have explored the role of diversity in tropical marine communities, especially at large scales. We tested the diversity–stability hypothesis by asking whether coral richness is related to resistance to and recovery from disturbances including storms, predator outbreaks, and coral bleaching on tropical coral reefs. We synthesized the results of 41 field studies conducted on 82 reefs, documenting changes in coral cover due to disturbance, across a global gradient of coral richness. Our results indicate that coral reefs in more species-rich regions were marginally less resistant to disturbance and did not recover more quickly. Coral community resistance was also highly dependent on pre-disturbance coral cover, probably due in part to the sensitivity of fast-growing and often dominant plating acroporid corals to disturbance. Our results suggest that coral communities in biodiverse regions, such as the western Pacific, may not be more resistant and resilient to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Further analyses controlling for disturbance intensity and other drivers of coral loss and recovery could improve our understanding of the influence of diversity on community stability in coral reef ecosystems.
Findings from a national survey of job coaches and job developers about job accommodations arranged between employers and people with psychiatric disabilities

This article describes the method and results of a mailed sUNey completed by 194 job coaches and job developers who seNe people with psychiatric disabilities. Job accommodations used most frequently include use of the job coach in facilitating communications, phone access to the job coach, use of positive feedback, option for part-time work and gradual task introduction. Costs for job accommodations for people with psychiatric disabilities are low. Disclosure takes place more often before the job offer where job coaches are involved. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.
The major heat‐modifiable outer membrane protein CD is highly conserved among strains of Branhamella catarrhalis

The outer membrane of Branhamella catarrhalis contains a major, heat‐modifiable outer membrane protein called CD which has epitopes on the surface of the intact bacterium. The gene encoding CD was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The protein migrates in gels as a doublet, indicating that CD is encoded by single gene whose gene product has two stable conformations. The nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding CD was determined and shows homology with the OprF outer membrane protein of Pseudomonas species. The CD protein contains a proline‐rich region, which appears to account for its aberrant migration in gels. Restriction fragment‐length analysis of 30 isolates of B. catarrhalis with oligonucleotide probes corresponding to sequences in the CD gene produced identical patterns in Southern blot assays. The major heat‐modifiable outer membrane protein CD shares homology with the OprF protein and is highly conserved among strains of B. catarrhalis.
Does progressive resistance strength training as additional training have any measured effect on functional outcomes in older hospitalized patients? A single-blinded randomized controlled trial

Objective: To evaluate the effect of progressive resistance strength training as additional training measured on functional outcomes in older hospitalized patients. Design: A single-blinded randomized controlled trial. Setting: Department of Geriatric Rehabilitation in university hospital. Participants: A sample of 71 patients were successively included and randomized either to the treatment group (TG) (n = 36) or the control group (CG) (n = 35). Fifteen participants dropped out (TG n = 7; CG n = 8), leaving 56 participants with a mean age of 79 (SD 7). Intervention: Participants in the treatment group were treated in groups with progressive resistance strength training in addition to standard care. Progressive resistance strength training of the lower extremities was performed in three sets of 12–15 repetitions, intensity 60–70% of one repetition maximum, in four 50-minute sessions per week. Main measures: The effect was evaluated by timed up & go test, 30-second chair-stand test, 10-m walk test, three tasks (transfer, walking, stairs) of the Barthel Index, and use of walking aids. Results: Significant improvements in the 10-m walk test (P < 0.01) and Barthel Index (walking) (P = 0.01) were demonstrated within the treatment group but not in the control group. Both groups had significant improvements in timed up & go, 30-second chair-stand (modified) and Barthel Index (transfer and walking). No significant difference was found between groups except for the Barthel Index (stairs) (P = 0.05). Analysis by the mixed-effects model showed that the treatment group improved more than the control group in all outcome variables. Conclusion: The results indicate that for older hospitalized patients progressive resistance strength training as additional training may have an effect compared to standard care, but no statistically significant effects were demonstrated when measured by functional outcomes.
Risk Factors for Acute Hepatitis A Infection in Korea in 2007 and 2009: A Case-Control Study

This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with acute hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection in the Korean population. Participants were recruited from five referral hospitals across the country in 2007 and from 11 hospitals in 2009. Patients with positive anti-HAV IgM antibody tests became the case group, while patients treated for non-contagious diseases at the same hospitals were recruited as controls. A total of 222 and 548 case-control pairs were studied in the 2007 and 2009 surveys, respectively. Data from the surveys were analyzed jointly. In a multivariate analysis, sharing the household with HAV-infected family members (OR, 6.32; 95% CI, 1.4-29.6), contact with other HAV-infected individuals (OR, 4.73; 95% CI, 2.4-9.4), overseas travel in 2007 (OR, 19.93; 95% CI, 2.3-174.4), consumption of raw shellfish (OR, 2.51; 95% CI, 1.8-3.5), drinking bottled water (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.3-8.4), and occupation that involve handling food (OR, 3.30; 95% CI, 1.3-8.4) increased the risk of HAV infection. Avoiding contact with HAV-infected individuals and avoiding raw foods eating could help minimize the risk of hepatitis A infection. Immunization must be beneficial to individuals who handle food ingredients occupationally or travel overseas to HAV-endemic areas.
Optimal LQG Control over Lossy Packet Networks

This paper is concerned with control applications over lossy data networks. Sensor data is transmitted to a estimation-control unit over a network, and control commands are issued to subsystems over the same network. Sensor and control packets may be lost or delayed. This is modeled by allowing that sensor and control packets are successfully received with certain probabilities. In this context, the discrete-time Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) optimal control problem is considered. The objective of this paper is to understand the system-theoretic implications of using unreliable networks for control and estimation. It is shown that for protocols where successful transmissions of packets are acknowledged at the receiver (e.g. TCP-like protocols), the separation principle holds. For these protocols, the optimal LQG control is a linear function of the estimated state. Further, there exists a critical probability for the successful delivery of packets, below which the optimal controller fails to stabilize the system. In stark contrast, it is shown that when there is no acknowledgement of successful delivery of control packets (e.g. UDP-like protocols), the LQG optimal controller is in general nonlinear.
7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Alterations in Autism Spectrum Disorders – Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a set of complex neurodevelopmental disorders defined behaviorally by impaired social interaction, delayed and disordered language, repetitive or stereotypic behavior and a restricted range of interest (Fombonne, 1999). ASD affect nearly 1 in 110 children, and disproportionally affect four times as many boys as girls. Comorbid symptoms often include seizures, sleep problems, gastrointestinal disorders, and metabolic deregulation (Coury, 2010). As such, ASD are an enormous challenge for parents, medical professionals, and educators. Their treatments put a significant financial strain on healthcare systems worldwide. There is no pharmacotherapy proven effective for treating the core deficits in ASD. There is also a paucity of biomarkers for autism. Both genetic and environmental factors are thought to contribute to autism susceptibility (Courchesne, 2007; Geschwind, 2009; Südhof, 2008; Ramocki & Zoghbi, 2008), but because only some of the genetic factors have been identified unequivocally thus far (Cook & Scherer, 2008; Levitt & Campbell, 2009), finding effective treatments that target the underlying causes of ASD remains a major challenge. Identifying endophenotypes and biomarkers for complex and heterogeneous disorders such as ASD are important not only to elucidate their etiologies, but also to identify suitable biochemical molecules and pathways to target the treatment of core deficits. In this review, we present a rationale that neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) alterations are biomarkers for ASD and that specific nAChRs subtypes are likely to be useful therapeutic targets for the treatment of core deficits. This rationale is based on the synthesis of emerging evidence from multiple types of studies, including our own, using postmortem, genetic, functional, and molecular neurobiological methodologies from two disparate areas of research – autism spectrum disorders and nicotine dependence.
The structure of the genotype–phenotype map strongly constrains the evolution of non-coding RNA

The prevalence of neutral mutations implies that biological systems typically have many more genotypes than phenotypes. But, can the way that genotypes are distributed over phenotypes determine evolutionary outcomes? Answering such questions is difficult, in part because the number of genotypes can be hyper-astronomically large. By solving the genotype–phenotype (GP) map for RNA secondary structure (SS) for systems up to length L = 126 nucleotides (where the set of all possible RNA strands would weigh more than the mass of the visible universe), we show that the GP map strongly constrains the evolution of non-coding RNA (ncRNA). Simple random sampling over genotypes predicts the distribution of properties such as the mutational robustness or the number of stems per SS found in naturally occurring ncRNA with surprising accuracy. Because we ignore natural selection, this strikingly close correspondence with the mapping suggests that structures allowing for functionality are easily discovered, despite the enormous size of the genetic spaces. The mapping is extremely biased: the majority of genotypes map to an exponentially small portion of the morphospace of all biophysically possible structures. Such strong constraints provide a non-adaptive explanation for the convergent evolution of structures such as the hammerhead ribozyme. These results present a particularly clear example of bias in the arrival of variation strongly shaping evolutionary outcomes and may be relevant to Mayr's distinction between proximate and ultimate causes in evolutionary biology.
An examination of cognitive processing of multimedia information based on viewers' eye movements

This study utilized qualitative and quantitative designs and eye-tracking technology to understand how viewers process multimedia information. Eye movement data were collected from eight college students (non-science majors) while they were viewing web pages containing different types of text and illustrations depicting the mechanism of atmospheric pressure and the formation of sea and land winds. The results showed that participants' eyes were fixated more often on the text than on the illustrations. Breaking the instructional multimedia into small successive segments did not seem to increase the number of eye fixations on the illustrations. Participants alternated their eye fixations on related components of the illustrations while focusing on verbs or sentences representing the kinematics of the weather systems. Text seemed to provide more detailed explanations than pictures and therefore served as the main resource for understanding the content. Scan paths revealed that participants were likely to be distracted by decorative icons in the illustrations. The decorative icons also created a split-attention effect on students' cognitive processing. Eye-tracking technology was found to be a valuable tool for achieving the objectives of this study, and it provided insights into students' cognitive processes during multimedia learning. Discussion and suggestions for instructional designers and future studies are provided.
Racial differences in survival from breast cancer. Results of the National Cancer Institute Black/White Cancer Survival Study.

OBJECTIVE To examine the ability of recognized prognostic factors for breast cancer to account for the observed poorer survival in blacks compared with their white counterparts. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS Subjects included 1130 women (612 blacks and 518 whites) aged 20 to 79 years residing in metropolitan Atlanta, Ga, New Orleans, La, or San Francisco/Oakland, Calif, who were diagnosed with primary invasive breast cancer. Information on stage, tumor characteristics, treatment, comorbid conditions, and sociodemographic factors was obtained from personal interview, physician and hospital records, and a pathology review of biopsy and surgical specimens. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Multivariable survival models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (relative risk of mortality) for blacks compared with whites, adjusting for various combinations of potential explanatory factors. RESULTS After controlling for geographic site and age, the risk of dying was 2.2 times (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.8 to 2.8) greater for blacks than whites. Adjustment for stage reduced the risk from 2.2 to 1.7; further adjustment for sociodemographic variables had no effect. Treatment was not a contributing factor once stage and tumor pathology were in the model. After adjusting for stage, treatment, comorbid illness, and pathologic and sociodemographic variables, blacks continued to demonstrate a slightly increased, but not statistically significant, risk of death (hazard ratio = 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0 to 1.8). Results were similar for all-cause mortality and breast cancer-specific mortality. CONCLUSIONS Approximately 75% of the racial difference in survival was explained by the prognostic factors studied. Sociodemographic variables appeared to act largely through racial differences in stage at diagnosis, which may be amenable to change through improved access to and use of screening for black women.
Impulsivity and Inhibitory Control in Normal Development and Childhood Psychopathology

Two experiments investigated the development and pathology of inhibitory control in children. Inhibitory control was investigated with the stop-signal paradigm, which is based on a formal theory of inhibition and directly measures the mechanism of inhibition. The ability to inhibit developed little after Grade 2, but subjects with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH) showed deficient inhibitory control. Their deficient inhibitory control was attributable to the subgroup of ADDH subjects with pervasive hyperactivity who had a more severe inhibitory deficit than did the situational hyperactive subgroup, the normal group, and the pathological controls. These studies reflect the utility of the stop-signal paradigm as a measure of inhibitory control. The concept of inhibitory control is central in theories of child development and in the definition and explanation of psychopathological disorders of childhood—in particular, of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH; Douglas, 1983; Kogan, 1983; Milich & Kramer, 1984). Inhibitory control is one of several processes that perform the executive functions of the cognitive system. These functions determine how various mental processes (e.g., encoding, recognition, retrieval) will work together in the performance of a task. Children need executive control to choose, construct, execute, and maintain optimal strategies for performing a task, as well as to inhibit strategies that become inappropriate when goals or task demands change or errors occur (Logan, 1985). Deficient inhibitory control is revealed by impulsive behaviors such as responding before the task is understood, answering before sufficient information is available, allowing attention to be captured by irrelevant stimuli (i.e, distractibility), or failing to correct obviously inappropriate responses. Poorly developed inhibitory control might account for impulsive behaviors of younger children and of children with various types of psychopathology. Despite the importance of inhibitory control in theories of child development and psychopathology, no widely accepted
FLOWS AND MOTIONS IN MOSS IN THE CORE OF A FLARING ACTIVE REGION: EVIDENCE FOR STEADY HEATING

We present new measurements of the time variability of intensity, Doppler, and nonthermal velocities in moss in an active region core observed by the EUV Imaging Spectrometer on Hinode in 2007 June. The measurements are derived from spectral profiles of the Fe xii 195 Å line. Using the 2″ slit, we repeatedly scanned 150″ by 150″ in a few minutes. This is the first time it has been possible to make such velocity measurements in the moss, and the data presented are the highest cadence spatially resolved maps of moss Doppler and nonthermal velocities ever obtained in the corona. The observed region produced numerous C- and M-class flares with several occurring in the core close to the moss. The magnetic field was therefore clearly changing in the active region core, so we ought to be able to detect dynamic signatures in the moss if they exist. Our measurements of moss intensities agree with previous studies in that a less than 15% variability is seen over a period of 16 hr. Our new measurements of Doppler and nonthermal velocities reveal no strong flows or motions in the moss, nor any significant variability in these quantities. The results confirm that moss at the bases of high temperature coronal loops is heated quasi-steadily. They also show that quasi-steady heating can contribute significantly even in the core of a flare productive active region. Such heating may be impulsive at high frequency, but if so it does not give rise to large flows or motions.
Characterization of 802.11n wireless LAN performance via testbed measurements and statistical analysis

The 802.11n standard introduces a number of new MAC and PHY features to achieve high throughput and reliability. We conduct a comprehensive characterization of 802.11n performance with respect to its constituent features across a wide variety of scenarios with the aid of 802.11n wireless LAN testbed based measurements and statistical techniques including regression analysis. Our results show that different 802.11n features are interdependent when optimizing performance metrics such as throughput; the nature of interdependence as well as their relative impact are scenario dependent. We show the feasibility of online sender-side interference type detection, a key part of identifying the operational scenario for comprehensive 802.11n link adaptation, via a supervised machine learning based classifier. Finally, we highlight the unfairness problem of 802.11n networks that is linked to the frame aggregation feature.
Soybean meal or cotton by-products associated with urea as source of nitrogen in the diet of lactating goats

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of sources of nitrogen on the intake and digestibility of nutrients and production and chemical composition of goat milk. Soybean meal (SBM), soybean meal + urea (SBM+U), cottonseed meal + urea (CM+U), cottonseed cake + urea (CC+U) and whole cottonseed + urea (WC+U) were used, representing the different sources of nitrogen in the diet. Ten crossbred goats were used (Alpine + Saanen), weighing on average 47.90±1.94 kg of body weight at 30 days of lactation, distributed in a double Latin square (5 × 5) with five treatments and five periods. There was influence of the different sources of nitrogen on the intakes of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC) of animals, with the lowest values found in most of the variables studied for animals that received CC+U and WC+U. There was an effect of diets on the DM, OM, CP and NFC digestibility coefficients. The diet with sole addition of SBM presented the best result regarding the amount of milk produced, followed by animals fed SBM+U and CM+U and values of 2.05 kg/day; 1.92 kg/day; 1.73 kg/day; 1.47 kg/day; and 1.24 kg/day of milk for diets with SBM, SBM+U, CM+U, CC+U and WC+U, respectively. Milk composition was also changed, and the diet with WC+U showed higher percentages: 0.1208 and 0.0041 percent, for total solids and fat, respectively. There was no difference in nitrogen balance between treatments. The use of SBM+U and CM+U did not compromise the milk performance and characteristics, but the use of CC+U and WC+U is indicated in periods of low milk production.
Unsafe Sexual Behavior, Reasons for Consequences and Preventive Methods Among College Students

The study presets the findings of a survey of risky sexual behaviours, attitudes and beliefs among university students attending a historically black university. Ninety-nine participants (male = 36; female =63) were randomly selected from third psychology students at an institution of higher learning. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the results. The study results show that most of the students were sexually active and practiced safe sex, including use of barriers. However, the students perceived dislike of condom use partner, which raised their risk for unsafe sexual practices.