Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Insulin secretion in obesity.

ALTHOUGH hyperinsulinemia has been well established in obese subjects1 , 2 only some demonstrate abnormalities of glucose tolerance. It has been suggested that the ability of the obese subject to maintain normal glucose tolerance is a function of B-cell reserve, implying that insulin secretory rates and plasma insulin levels would be higher in obese subjects with normal glucose tolerance than in those with abnormal glucose tolerance. However, if obese subjects with abnormal glucose tolerance were demonstrated to have higher insulin levels than those with normal glucose tolerance, insulin resistance would be a more suitable explanation. This investigation was undertaken to study the .
Polony Multiplex Analysis of Gene Expression (PMAGE) in Mouse Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

We describe a sensitive mRNA profiling technology, PMAGE (for “polony multiplex analysis of gene expression”), which detects messenger RNAs (mRNAs) as rare as one transcript per three cells. PMAGE incorporates an improved ligation-based method to sequence 14-nucleotide tags derived from individual mRNA molecules. One sequence tag from each mRNA molecule is amplified onto a separate 1-micrometer bead, denoted as a polymerase colony or polony, and about 5 million polonies are arrayed in a flow cell for parallel sequencing. Using PMAGE, we identified early transcriptional changes that preceded pathological manifestations of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in mice carrying a disease-causing mutation. PMAGE provided a comprehensive profile of cardiac mRNAs, including low-abundance mRNAs encoding signaling molecules and transcription factors that are likely to participate in disease pathogenesis.
Using a Contingent, Nonmonetary Incentive to Increase the Response Rate to a Personally-Initiated, Self-Administered Survey among College Students

An experiment was conducted to determine how effective a contingent, nonmonetary incentive would be at inducing college students to participate in a personally-initiated, self-administered survey. A contingent, nonmonetary incentive is a gift that is offered and delivered at the beginning of the survey, but it is offered while making the survey request and delivered only if the potential respondent agrees to complete the survey. The experiment was conducted outside a large public university library in Los Angeles County. As students exited their university library, an interviewer approached them for an interview. Half of those approached were offered a contingent, nonmonetary incentive; the other half were not. The incentive dramatically increased the response rate to the survey. Explanations are offered as to how the incentive increased the survey response rate.
DELONE&MCLEAN SUCCESS MODEL AS A DESCRIPTIVE TOOL IN EVALUATING A VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

This paper contributes the discussion about applying DeLone & McLean success model. Since its introduction in 1992, the model has been widely used and evaluated. In this paper the model is used as a descriptive tool in evaluating a virtual learning environment. The study relies on prior research and does not question the measures. Instead, the model contributes the evaluation and describes the virtual environment. Contrary to earlier use of the success model in virtual learning systems, this study focuses on degree-level studies. The paper shows that the model can be used as a descriptive tool because the six dimensions offer possibilities to explore and describe the environment from several approaches.
A categorical recall strategy does not explain animacy effects in episodic memory

Animate stimuli are better remembered than matched inanimate stimuli in free recall. Three experiments tested the hypothesis that animacy advantages are due to a more efficient use of a categorical retrieval cue. Experiment 1 developed an “embedded list” procedure that was designed to disrupt participants’ ability to perceive category structure at encoding; a strong animacy effect remained. Experiments 2 and 3 employed animate and inanimate word lists consisting of tightly constrained categories (four-footed animals and furniture). Experiment 2 failed to find an animacy advantage when the categorical structure was readily apparent, but the advantage returned in Experiment 3 when the embedded list procedure was employed using the same target words. These results provide strong evidence against an organizational account of the animacy effect, indicating that the animacy effect in episodic memory is probably due to item-specific factors related to animacy.
‘Managing’ disability: early experiences of university students with disabilities

Recent UK legislation, operational from December 2006, places a duty on all public authorities, including higher education institutions, to actively promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities. The university studied here has a number of initiatives in place to develop good practice in this area, but how do students themselves experience that provision? Research about people with disabilities has sometimes alienated them by failing to reflect their own perspectives. This study, explicitly aimed at incorporating students' voices and using interview and video data, offers some insight into students' experiences of the aids and obstacles to an inclusive learning environment at one university.
Academic Zombies: A Failure of Resistance or a Means of Survival?.

Successive waves of neoliberal reforms to higher education have taken their toll on the academy. This paper uses the zombie metaphor to discuss the causes and consequences of organisational change on Australian academics as a background to exploring zombiefication as a form of passive resistance and survival. The paper uses the literature and empirical research to chronicle the disintegration of the academic workforce and with it, the idea of a university as a social institution. The paper concludes with the author's reflection of her own desire to be emancipated from zombiedom.
Early brain trauma and schizophrenia in Nigerian patients.

OBJECTIVE A number of reports have suggested that early brain trauma, especially obstetric complications, may be associated with schizophrenia. This observation seems at variance with the similar rates of schizophrenia reported for advanced and developing countries when viewed against the high rate of perinatal morbidity in developing countries. Using patients with mania as comparison subjects, the authors investigated the association of early brain trauma with schizophrenia in adult life among Nigerian patients. METHOD The manic (N = 12) and schizophrenic (N = 26) groups, both diagnosed according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria, were compared in respect to the prevalence of events commonly regarded as definite obstetric complications and the prevalence of childhood brain injury for which hospitalization was required. RESULTS A history of early brain trauma was associated with an adult diagnosis of schizophrenia. Schizophrenic patients with a history of early brain trauma were more likely than those without early brain trauma to have shown poor scholastic performance in childhood. They also showed mixed cerebral laterality in adulthood. CONCLUSIONS Early brain trauma may be a specific risk factor for the later development of schizophrenia. Patients with such a history may evidence other features of neurodevelopmental deviance.
Bayesian spatial modelling for high dimensional seismic inverse problems

We study the application of Bayesian spatial modelling to seismic tomography, a geophysical, high dimensional, linearized inverse problem that infers the three‐dimensional structure of the Earth's interior. We develop a spatial dependence model of seismic wave velocity variations in the Earth's mantle based on a Gaussian Matérn field approximation. Using the theory of stochastic partial differential equations, this model quantifies the uncertainties in the parameter space by means of the integrated nested Laplace approximation. In resolution tests using simulated data and in inversions using real data, our model matches the performance of conventional deterministic optimization approaches in retrieving three‐dimensional structure of the Earth's mantle. In addition it delivers estimates of the full parameter covariance matrix. Our model substantially improves on previous work relying on Markov chain Monte Carlo methods in terms of statistical misfits and computing time.
Risk factors for early myocardial infarction in South Asians compared with individuals in other countries.

CONTEXT South Asians have high rates of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) at younger ages compared with individuals from other countries but the reasons for this are unclear. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association of risk factors for AMI in native South Asians, especially at younger ages, compared with individuals from other countries. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Standardized case-control study of 1732 cases with first AMI and 2204 controls matched by age and sex from 15 medical centers in 5 South Asian countries and 10,728 cases and 12,431 controls from other countries. Individuals were recruited to the study between February 1999 and March 2003. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Association of risk factors for AMI. RESULTS The mean (SD) age for first AMI was lower in South Asian countries (53.0 [11.4] years) than in other countries (58.8 [12.2] years; P<.001). Protective factors were lower in South Asian controls than in controls from other countries (moderate- or high-intensity exercise, 6.1% vs 21.6%; daily intake of fruits and vegetables, 26.5% vs 45.2%; alcohol consumption > or =once/wk, 10.7% vs 26.9%). However, some harmful factors were more common in native South Asians than in individuals from other countries (elevated apolipoprotein B(100) /apolipoprotein A-I ratio, 43.8% vs 31.8%; history of diabetes, 9.5% vs 7.2%). Similar relative associations were found in South Asians compared with individuals from other countries for the risk factors of current and former smoking, apolipoprotein B100/apolipoprotein A-I ratio for the top vs lowest tertile, waist-to-hip ratio for the top vs lowest tertile, history of hypertension, history of diabetes, psychosocial factors such as depression and stress at work or home, regular moderate- or high-intensity exercise, and daily intake of fruits and vegetables. Alcohol consumption was not found to be a risk factor for AMI in South Asians. The combined odds ratio for all 9 risk factors was similar in South Asians (123.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 38.7-400.2] and in individuals from other countries (125.7; 95% CI, 88.5-178.4). The similarities in the odds ratios for the risk factors explained a high and similar degree of population attributable risk in both groups (85.8% [95% CI, 78.0%-93.7%] vs 88.2% [95% CI, 86.3%-89.9%], respectively). When stratified by age, South Asians had more risk factors at ages younger than 60 years. After adjusting for all 9 risk factors, the predictive probability of classifying an AMI case as being younger than 40 years was similar in individuals from South Asian countries and those from other countries. CONCLUSION The earlier age of AMI in South Asians can be largely explained by higher risk factor levels at younger ages.
The Efficiency of Frisks in the NYPD, 2004–2010

New York Police Department (NYPD) stop and frisk policy has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years and has been analyzed exclusively in terms of its equity and effectiveness. This study adds a third approach of policy outcome analysis—technical efficiency—by employing a pooled data envelopment analysis of all Stop, Question, and Frisk data from all NYPD precincts from 2004 through 2010 (3,410,300 total stops resulting in 1,721,955 total frisks). The results reveal that the NYPD is input inefficient in many precincts (mean IOTA score = .40) but slightly more output efficient (mean IOTA score = .50). The most efficient precincts and boroughs are also identified to set performance benchmarks for frisks within the NYPD. According to the input-oriented results (the equity side), there should have been 1,091,846 fewer frisks given the outputs produced (arrests, guns, and contraband), and the output-oriented results (effectiveness side) suggest the NYPD should have produced 179,056 more arrests, found 6,306 more pistols and found 59,883 more instances of contraband to be technically efficient, given the level frisks throughout the NYPD. Though a certain amount of inefficiency is enshrined in the frisk decision, these results are placed in the context of police actions and outcomes in the NYPD over this time period, and are used to inform both sides of the current debate. This research is unique to the police efficiency literature and sets the foundation for future research that fully models efficiency antecedents as well as the outcomes that result from inefficient frisks.
Avid versus struggling readers: co-construed pupil identities in school booktalk

In the present article, we argue for a combination of reader reception studies and discursive psychology that we would like to call discursive reception studies: that is, discursive-psychological analyses of reader reception data. Such approaches provide possibilities to analyse the role of social interaction in the co-construction of the reading of a given book (or talk on a film or other reader reception data). Drawing on detailed analyses of video-recorded teacher-led booktalk sessions in grades 4—7, pupils’ self presentations and other types of co-construed categorizations of readers are examined and discussed in relation to the pupils’ and teachers’ co-construction of two contrasting categories of reader positions: avid readers (bokslukare ; literally, book-devourers), on the one hand, and struggling readers , on the other. These categorizations in turn involve two different sets of continua in terms of the participants’ (pupils’) spontaneous positionings: one based on motivation (willing versus unwilling readers) and one based on reading speed (fast versus slow readers). Both sets of contrasting categories involve implicit local hierarchies, yet these two continua do not necessarily overlap. An important finding is that the position of a fast reader does not imply the position of a book-lover. Through detailed examinations of the participants’ co-construed local hierarchies in booktalk, this study documents ways in which discursive reception studies may contribute to a deeper understanding of reading as a situated social practice. Our findings have implications for teacher training, with respect to the promotion of literary reading among children.
Usability and strength in click-based graphical passwords

Click-based graphical passwords have attractive usability properties, such as cueing and good memorability. However, parameters such as image size and number of click-points in each password significantly affect their security. We investigated the usability of such a graphical password system when its parameters were adjusted to provide security equivalent to (or better than) that of text passwords. We found that manipulating different parameters resulted in similar usability. This suggests that the preferred method for adjusting security can be dictated by the constraints of devices and preferences of users. For example, mobile devices might use smaller image sizes and more click-points.
Variable Rate Infusion of Alfentanil as a Supplement to Nitrous Oxide Anesthesia for General Surgery

In this study we attempted to define the minimal dosage of alfentanil (AF) needed in combination with nitrous oxide to provide satisfactory anesthetic conditions for lower abdominal gynecologic surgery. General anesthesia was induced in 12 women with AF (150 μg·kg−1) and 66% N2O in O2. An infusion of AF was started immediately after the AF induction dose and was varied between 25–150 μg·kg−1·hr−1 as indicated by the patient's responses to stimulation during operations lasting 208 ± 22 (SEM) min. Small bolus doses of AF (7 μg·kg−1) were administered to rapidly suppress precisely defined somatic, hemodynamic, and other sympathetic responses to stimulation. With one exception, all responses in all patients were controlled rapidly by increments of AF. The mean dosages of AF needed during different stages of surgery are reported. The AF infusion was stopped 16.2 ± 1.2 min before discontinuing N2O. Recovery of consciousness along with satisfactory spontaneous ventilation occurred promptly after completion of the operation (4.0 ± 0.5 min after N2O; 20.3 ± 1.4 min after stopping AF infusion). This study demonstrates the feasibility of maintaining general anesthesia with N2O and a continuous AF infusion at a rate varied according to the patient's responses and allowing for prompt recovery of consciousness and satisfactory spontaneous ventilation at the conclusion of operations lasting as long as 5 hr.
Experimental evaluation of evolution and coevolution as agents of ecosystem change in Trinidadian streams

Evolution has been shown to be a critical determinant of ecological processes in some systems, but its importance relative to traditional ecological effects is not well known. In addition, almost nothing is known about the role of coevolution in shaping ecosystem function. Here, we experimentally evaluated the relative effects of species invasion (a traditional ecological effect), evolution and coevolution on ecosystem processes in Trinidadian streams. We manipulated the presence and population-of-origin of two common fish species, the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) and the killifish (Rivulus hartii). We measured epilithic algal biomass and accrual, aquatic invertebrate biomass, and detrital decomposition. Our results show that, for some ecosystem responses, the effects of evolution and coevolution were larger than the effects of species invasion. Guppy evolution in response to alternative predation regimes significantly influenced algal biomass and accrual rates. Guppies from a high-predation site caused an increase in algae relative to guppies from a low-predation site; algae effects were probably shaped by observed divergence in rates of nutrient excretion and algae consumption. Rivulus–guppy coevolution significantly influenced the biomass of aquatic invertebrates. Locally coevolved populations reduced invertebrate biomass relative to non-coevolved populations. These results challenge the general assumption that intraspecific diversity is a less critical determinant of ecosystem function than is interspecific diversity. Given existing evidence for contemporary evolution in these fish species, our findings suggest considerable potential for eco-evolutionary feedbacks to operate as populations adapt to natural or anthropogenic perturbations.
Self-service technologies and voice intentions : an empirical investigation

Consumer dissatisfaction with self-service technologies (SSTs) has become prevalent. Although consumers’ voice has been studied in the interpersonal services context, in the context of SSTs it has been subject to very little conceptual or empirical scrutiny. To fill this void, this study tests empirically a model of the antecedents of consumers’ voice intentions in the context of unsatisfactory SST encounters. The findings suggest the need to integrate both “new” and “conventional” complaint behaviour management in the SST setting.
Chair of Engineering Mechanics Ifm-publication 2-388 Sensitivity and Uncertainty in Complex Fe-models

tainty in complex fe-models. ABSTRACT: A novel procedure for the estimating the response sensitivity to input parameters of a complex FE model is presented. The method is specifically directed toward problems involving high-dimensional input parameter spaces, as they are encountered during uncertainty analysis with complex, refined FE-models. In these cases one is commonly faced with thousands of uncertain parameters and traditional techniques, e.g. finite difference, are unfeasible. In contrast, the presented method quickly filters out the most influential variables. This is achieved by generating a set of samples with direct MCS, which are closely scattered around the point at which the gradient is sought. From these samples, estimators of the sensitivities are synthesized and the most important ones are refined with a finite difference calculation. The numerical example, illustrating the procedure, involves a refined FE-model of a satellite structure provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). Results are shown which demonstrate the capability of the algorithm to deliver estimates with relatively few samples.
The effects of HMO penetration on preventable hospitalizations.

OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of health maintenance organization (HMO) penetration on preventable hospitalizations. DATA SOURCE Hospital inpatient discharge abstracts for 932 urban counties in 22 states from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) State Inpatient Databases (SID), hospital data from American Hospital Association (AHA) annual survey, and population characteristics and health care capacity data from Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Area Resource File (ARF) for 1998. METHODS Preventable hospitalizations due to 14 ambulatory care sensitive conditions were identified using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Prevention Quality Indicators. Multiple regressions were used to determine the association between preventable hospitalizations and HMO penetration while controlling for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and health care capacity of the counties. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A 10 percent increase in HMO penetration was associated with a 3.8 percent decrease in preventable hospitalizations (95 percent confidence interval, 2.0 percent-5.6 percent). Advanced age, female gender, poor health, poverty, more hospital beds, and fewer primary care physicians per capita were significantly associated with more preventable hospitalizations. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that HMO penetration has significant effects in reducing preventable hospitalizations due to some ambulatory care sensitive conditions.
Fetal outcomes and associated factors of adverse outcomes of pregnancy in southern Chinese women with systemic lupus erythematosus

This study aims to investigate the fetal outcomes and associated factors of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) in pregnant women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Clinical data from 251 SLE patients with 263 pregnancies from 2001 to 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. APOs occurred in 70.0% of pregnancies, in which pregnancy loss occurred in 28.5%; preterm delivery occurred in 21.3%; intrauterine growth retardation occurred in 12.2%; and fetal distress occurred in 8.0%. Over time, the rate of APOs decreased from 82.8% during 2001~2005 to 59.6% during 2011~2015. In multivariate analysis, predictors of APOs included positive antiphospholipid antibodies (OR 8.4, 95% CI 1.7~40.8, P = 0.008), lower complement (OR 3.6, 95% CI 1.3~9.9, P = 0.01), hypoalbuminemia (OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.2~8.3, P = 0.02), and hypertension (OR 14.6, 95% CI 1.5~141.6, P = 0.02). The use of antimalarial medications was associated with lower risk for APOs (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1~0.7, P = 0.01). In total, 109 patients underwent fetal umbilical artery Doppler in the third trimester. The The adjusted systole/diastole (S/D) ratio, pulsatility index (PI) and resistance index (RI) of SLE patients with APOs were higher than that of patients without APOs (2.9±0.9 vs. 2.4±0.5, P = 0.001). Lupus pregnancy was still at high risk of APOs in terms of pregnancy loss and preterm delivery. Umbilical artery Doppler was a good monitor method for APOs in the third trimester.