Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Drinking Water Sodium and Elevated Blood Pressure of Healthy Pregnant Women in Salinity-Affected Coastal Areas

Coastal areas in Southeast Asia are experiencing high sodium concentrations in drinking water sources that are commonly consumed by local populations. Salinity problems caused by episodic cyclones and subsequent seawater inundations are likely (partly) related to climate change and further exacerbated by changes in upstream river flow and local land-use activities. Dietary (food) sodium plays an important role in the global burden of hypertensive disease. It remains unknown, however, if sodium in drinking water—rather than food—has similar effects on blood pressure and disease risk. In this study, we examined the effect of drinking water sodium on blood pressure of pregnant women: increases in blood pressure in this group could severely affect maternal and fetal health. Data on blood pressure, drinking water source, and personal, lifestyle, and environmental confounders was obtained from 701 normotensive pregnant women residing in coastal Bangladesh. Generalized linear mixed regression models were used to investigate association of systolic and diastolic blood pressure of these—otherwise healthy—women with their water source. After adjustment for confounders, drinkers of tube well and pond water (high saline sources) were found to have significantly higher average systolic (+4.85 and +3.62 mm Hg) and diastolic (+2.30 and +1.72 mm Hg) blood pressures than rainwater drinkers. Drinking water salinity problems are expected to exacerbate in the future, putting millions of coastal people—including pregnant women—at increased risk of hypertension and associated diseases. There is an urgent need to further explore the health risks associated to this understudied environmental health problem and feasibility of possible adaptation strategies.
Goldstone tensor modes

In the context of brane solutions of supergravity, we discuss a general method to introduce collective modes of any spin by exploiting a particular way of breaking symmetries. The method is applied to the D3, M2 and M5 branes and we derive explicit expressions for how the zero-modes enter the target space fields, verify normalisability in the transverse directions and derive the corresponding field equations on the brane. In particular, the method provides a clear understanding of scalar, spinor, and rank r tensorial Goldstone modes, chiral as well as non-chiral, and how they arise from the gravity, Rarita-Schwinger, and rank r+1 Kalb-Ramond tensor gauge fields, respectively. Some additional observations concerning the chiral tensor modes on the M5 brane are discussed.
Fast, flexible, and highly resilient genuine fifo and causal multicast algorithms

We study the fifo and causal multicast problem, two group-communication abstractions that deliver messages in an order consistent with their context. With fifo multicast, the context of a message m at a process p is all messages that were previously multicast by m's sender and addressed to p. Causal multicast extends the notion of context to all messages that are causally linked to m by a chain of multicast and delivery events. We propose multicast algorithms for systems composed of a set of disjoint groups of processes: server racks or data centers. These algorithms offer several desirable properties: (i) the protocols are latency-optimal, (ii) to deliver a message m only m's sender and addressees communicate, (iii) messages can be addressed to any subset of groups, and (iv) these algorithms are highly resilient: an arbitrary number of process failures is tolerated and we only require the network to be quasi-reliable, i.e., a message m is guaranteed to be received only if the sender and receiver of m are always up. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first multicast protocols to offer all of these properties at the same time.
The Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Competitiveness in Mexican SMEs

Our society is changing the way of making business; it is changing the competitiveness rules among the organizations and it is demanding a bigger involvement of the companies in the ethical aspects of businesses. Thus, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility has become important as an approaching strategy between firms and society. For this reason, this paper attempts to analyze the effects of Corporate Social Responsibility at the level of competitiveness in Mexican small and medium-sized enterprises. The empirical analysis was carried with a sample of 397 enterprises. The results obtained show that Corporate Social Responsibility has positive effects at the small and medium-sized enterprises competitiveness level.
Asynchronous Multi-Channel MAC for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

This paper presents a new multi-channel MAC protocol for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks, namely, Asynchronous Multi-Channel MAC (AMCMAC). The AMCMAC supports simultaneous transmissions on different service channels, as well as, allowing other nodes to make rendezvous with their provider/receiver or broadcast emergency messages on the control channel. We compare the performance of the proposed protocol with that of IEEE 1609.4 and Asynchronous Multichannel Coordination Protocol (AMCP), in terms of throughput on control and service channels, channel utilization, and the penetration rate of successfully broadcast emergency messages. We demonstrate that AMCMAC outperforms IEEE 1609.4 and AMCP in terms of system throughput by increasing the utilization of control channel and service channels. In addition, AMCMAC mitigates both the multi-channel hidden terminal and missing receiver problems which occur in asynchronous multichannel MAC protocols.
Should We Train Alcohol-Dependent Patients to Avoid Alcohol?

Spruyt et al. (2013) report an interesting study in which they compared an alcohol approach-bias, as measured with the Relevant-feature Stimulus Response Compatibility task (R-SRC) in 40 abstaining alcohol-dependent patients and 40 non-dependent controls. While controls had an approach-bias for alcohol as compared to matched control-pictures like water, alcohol-dependent patients showed a relative avoidance bias for alcohol. In the patients group, an avoidance-bias was associated with an increased risk for relapse 3 months later. The authors discuss the relationship of these findings with our training-results, in which alcohol-dependent patients trained to avoid alcohol did better at a 1-year follow-up: "Although initial findings suggest that alcohol-avoidance training could help reduce relapse rates in abstaining alcohol-dependent patients (Wiers et al., 2011), it is still unclear whether changes in automatically approach/avoidance tendencies are directly responsible for the observed changes in treatment outcome. Our findings suggest that actually inducing an avoidance orientation toward alcohol might have harmful effects, at least in a clinical population. "
Ena/VASP proteins contribute to Listeria monocytogenes pathogenesis by controlling temporal and spatial persistence of bacterial actin‐based motility

The Listeria monocytogenes surface protein ActA mediates actin‐based motility by interacting with a number of host cytoskeletal components, including Ena/VASP family proteins, which in turn interact with actin and the actin‐binding protein profilin. We employed a bidirectional genetic approach to study Ena/VASP′s contribution to L. monocytogenes movement and pathogenesis. We generated an ActA allelic series within the defined Ena/VASP‐binding sites and introduced the resulting mutant L. monocytogenes into cell lines expressing different Ena/VASP derivatives. Our findings indicate that Ena/VASP proteins contribute to the persistence of both speed and directionality of L. monocytogenes movement. In the absence of the Ena/VASP proline‐rich central domain, speed consistency decreased by sixfold. In addition, the Ena/VASP F‐actin‐binding region increased directionality of bacterial movement by fourfold. We further show that both regions of Ena/VASP enhanced L. monocytogenes cell‐to‐cell spread to a similar degree, although the Ena/VASP F‐actin‐binding region did so in an ActA‐independent manner. Surprisingly, our ActA allelic series enabled us to uncouple L. monocytogenes speed from directionality although both were controlled by Ena/VASP proteins. Lastly, we showed the pathogenic relevance of these findings by the observation that L. monocytogenes lacking ActA Ena/VASP‐binding sites were up to 400‐fold less virulent during an adaptive immune response.
Fam-On: family shared time tracker to improve their emotional bond

As the number of dual-income household's increases, time spent by parents with children has been decreasing. To solve this issue, we have designed our system, Fam-On Platform. This platform is intended that it has increased the quantity of time by making parents recognized the lack of parenting time through time measurement. On the other hands, showing the amount of parenting time, it tries to decrease the imbalance of parenting time between fathers and mother as well. In this process, we manufactured physical wearable watch devices to promote children's interest and provide direct feedback to the family. Also, we tried to improve family bond by family-sharing time, providing contents to share among family members through application including gamification elements. We have completed a prototype of our platform and conducted pilot test targeting one child. We could gain the results we intended and find issues we need to improve further.
How Disaggregation Enhances the Credibility of Management Earnings Forecasts

ABSTRACT An important problem facing managers is how to enhance the credibility, or believability, of their earnings forecasts. In this paper, we experimentally test whether a characteristic of a management earnings forecast-namely, whether it is disaggregated-can affect its credibility. We also test whether disaggregation moderates the relation between managerial incentives and forecast credibility. Disaggregated forecasts include an earnings forecast as well as forecasts of other key line items comprising that earnings forecast. Our results indicate that disaggregated forecasts are judged to be more credible than aggregated ones and that disaggregation works to counteract the effect of high incentives. We also develop and test an original model that explains "how" disaggregation positively impacts three factors that, in turn, influence forecast credibility: perceived precision of management's beliefs, perceived clarity of the forecast, and perceived financial reporting quality. We show that forecast disaggregation works to remedy incentive problems only via its effect on perceived financial reporting quality. Overall, our study adds to our understanding of how managers can credibly communicate their expectations about the future to market participants. Copyright University of Chicago on behalf of the Institute of Professional Accounting, 2007.
Theory of supercompression of vapor bubbles and nanoscale thermonuclear fusion

HYDRO code model of the spherically symmetric motion for a vapor bubble in an acoustically forced liquid is presented. This model describes cavitation bubble cluster growth during the expansion period, followed by a violent implosion during the compression period of the acoustic cycle. There are two stages of the bubble dynamics process. The first, low Mach number stage, comprises almost all the time of the acoustic cycle. During this stage, the radial velocities are much less than the sound speeds in the vapor and liquid, the vapor pressure is very close to uniform, and the liquid is practically incompressible. This process is characterized by the inertia of the liquid, heat conduction, and the evaporation or condensation of the vapor. The second, very short, high Mach number stage is when the radial velocities are the same order, or higher, than the sound speeds in the vapor and liquid. In this stage high temperatures, pressures, and densities of the vapor and liquid take place. The model presented herein has realistic equations of state for the compressible liquid and vapor phases, and accounts for nonequilibrium evaporation/condensation kinetics at the liquid/ vapor interface. There are interacting shock waves in both phases, which converge toward and reflect from the center of the bubble, causing dissociation, ionization, and other related plasma physics phenomena during the final stage of bubble collapse. For a vapor bubble in a deuterated organic liquid e.g., acetone, during the final stage of collapse there is a nanoscale region diameter 100 nm near the center of the bubble in which, for a fraction of a picosecond, the temperatures and densities are extremely high 10 8 K and 10 g/cm 3 , respectively such that thermonuclear fusion may take place. To quantify this, the kinetics of the local deuterium/deuterium D/D nuclear fusion reactions was used in the HYDRO code to determine the intensity of the fusion reactions. Numerical HYDRO code simulations of the bubble implosion process have been carried out for the experimental conditions used by Taleyarkhan et al. Science 295, 1868 2002; Phys. Rev. E 69, 036109 2004 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The results show good agreement with the experimental data on bubble fusion that was measured in chilled deuterated acetone. © 2005 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2104556
Adjacency Labeling Schemes and Induced-Universal Graphs

We describe a way of assigning labels to the vertices of any undirected graph on up to n vertices, each composed of n/2+O(1) bits, such that given the labels of two vertices, and no other information regarding the graph, it is possible to decide whether or not the vertices are adjacent in the graph. This is optimal, up to an additive constant, and constitutes the first improvement in almost 50 years of an n/2+O(log n) bound of Moon. As a consequence, we obtain an induced-universal graph for n-vertex graphs containing only O(2n/2) vertices, which is optimal up to a multiplicative constant, solving an open problem of Vizing from 1968. We obtain similar tight results for directed graphs, tournaments and bipartite graphs.
Physical Activity Measured With Implanted Devices Predicts Patient Outcome in Chronic Heart Failure

Background— Physical activity (PA) predicts cardiovascular mortality in the population at large. Less is known about its prognostic value in patients with chronic heart failure (HF). Methods and Results— Data from 836 patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillator without or with cardiac resynchronization therapy enrolled in the Sensitivity of the InSync Sentry OptiVol feature for the prediction of Heart Failure (SENSE-HF)1 study and the Diagnostic Outcome Trial in Heart Failure (DOT-HF) were pooled. The devices continuously measured and stored total daily active time (single-axis accelerometer). Early PA (average daily activity over the earliest 30-day study period) was studied as a predictor of time to death or HF-related hospital admission (primary end point). Data from 781 patients were analyzed (65±10 years; 85% men; left ventricular ejection fraction, 26±7%). Older age, shorter height, ischemic cause, peripheral artery disease, atrial fibrillation, diabetes mellitus, rales, peripheral edema, higher New York Heart Association class, lower diastolic blood pressure, and no angiotensin II receptor blocker/angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor use were associated with reduced early PA. The primary end point occurred in 135 patients (15±7 months of follow-up). In multivariable analysis including baseline variables, early PA predicted death or HF hospitalization, with a 4% reduction in risk for each 10 minutes per day additional activity (hazard ratio [HR], 0.96; confidence interval [CI], 0.94–0.98; P=0.0002 compared with a model with the same baseline variables but without PA). PA also predicted death (HR, 0.93; CI, 0.90–0.96; P<0.0001) and HF hospitalization (HR, 0.97; CI, 0.95–0.99; P=0.011). Conclusions— Early PA, averaged over a 30-day window early after defibrillator implantation or cardiac resynchronization therapy in patients with chronic HF, predicted death or HF hospitalization, as well as mortality and HF hospitalization separately, accounting for baseline HF severity. Clinical Trial Registration Information— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifiers: NCT00400985, NCT00480077.
Purification and Characterization of the Escherichia coli Exoribonuclease RNase R

Escherichia coli RNase R, a 3′ → 5′ exoribonuclease homologous to RNase II, was overexpressed and purified to near homogeneity in its native untagged form by a rapid procedure. The purified enzyme was free of nucleic acid. It migrated upon gel filtration chromatography as a monomer with an apparent molecular mass of ∼95 kDa, in close agreement with its expected size based on the sequence of the rnr gene. RNase R was most active at pH 7.5–9.5 in the presence of 0.1–0.5 mm Mg2+and 50–500 mm KCl. The enzyme shares many catalytic properties with RNase II. Both enzymes are nonspecific processive ribonucleases that release 5′-nucleotide monophosphates and leave a short undigested oligonucleotide core. However, whereas RNase R shortens RNA processively to di- and trinucleotides, RNase II becomes more distributive when the length of the substrate reaches ∼10 nucleotides, and it leaves an undigested core of 3–5 nucleotides. Both enzymes work on substrates with a 3′-phosphate group. RNase R and RNase II are most active on synthetic homopolymers such as poly(A), but their substrate specificities differ. RNase II is more active on poly(A), whereas RNase R is much more active on rRNAs. Neither RNase R nor RNase II can degrade a complete RNA-RNA or DNA-RNA hybrid or one with a 4-nucleotide 3′-RNA overhang. RNase R differs from RNase II in that it cannot digest DNA oligomers and is not inhibited by such molecules, suggesting that it does not bind DNA. Although the in vivofunction of RNase R is not known, its ability to digest certain natural RNAs may explain why it is maintained in E. coli together with RNase II.
A Multi-Modal Neuro-Physiological Study of Phishing Detection and Malware Warnings

Detecting phishing attacks (identifying fake vs. real websites) and heeding security warnings represent classical user-centered security tasks subjected to a series of prior investigations. However, our understanding of user behavior underlying these tasks is still not fully mature, motivating further work concentrating at the neuro-physiological level governing the human processing of such tasks. We pursue a comprehensive three-dimensional study of phishing detection and malware warnings, focusing not only on what users' task performance is but also on how users process these tasks based on: (1) neural activity captured using Electroencephalogram (EEG) cognitive metrics, and (2) eye gaze patterns captured using an eye-tracker. Our primary novelty lies in employing multi-modal neuro-physiological measures in a single study and providing a near realistic set-up (in contrast to a recent neuro-study conducted inside an fMRI scanner). Our work serves to advance, extend and support prior knowledge in several significant ways. Specifically, in the context of phishing detection, we show that users do not spend enough time analyzing key phishing indicators and often fail at detecting these attacks, although they may be mentally engaged in the task and subconsciously processing real sites differently from fake sites. In the malware warning tasks, in contrast, we show that users are frequently reading, possibly comprehending, and eventually heeding the message embedded in the warning. Our study provides an initial foundation for building future mechanisms based on the studied real-time neural and eye gaze features, that can automatically infer a user's "alertness" state, and determine whether or not the user's response should be relied upon.
Distributed cooperative object attitude manipulation

This paper proposes a local information based control law in order to solve the planar manipulation problem of rotating a grasped rigid object to a desired orientation using multiple mobile manipulators. We adopt a multi-agent systems theory approach and assume that: (i) the manipulators (agents) are capable of sensing the relative position to their neighbors at discrete time instances, (ii) neighboring agents may exchange information at discrete time instances, and (iii) the communication topology is connected. Control of the manipulators is carried out at a kinematic level in continuous time and utilizes inverse kinematics. The mobile platforms are assigned trajectory tracking tasks that adjust the positions of the manipulator bases in order to avoid singular arm configurations. Our main result concerns the stability of the proposed control law.
Ventilator weaning outcomes in chronic respiratory failure in children

The purpose of this study was to describe mechanical ventilation weaning outcomes for children with chronic respiratory failure discharged from one of six post-acute rehabilitation facilities. Demographic, clinical and outcome data were collected from the medical record. Forty-four children were included in this prospective series; 20 (45%) were weaned off the ventilator at discharge. Children required significantly lower levels of ventilatory support at discharge than admission. Hourly use on the ventilator decreased from admission to discharge for the full cohort and for the subgroup who required a ventilator at discharge. Seventy-five percent of the children discharged with a ventilator had a portable unit. We conclude that nearly half of the children using mechanical ventilation achieve weaning during a postacute rehabilitation admission, whereas others have positive outcomes in severity, hours off the ventilator or portability of equipment.
BIMA Array Observations of the Highly Unusual SiO Maser Source with a Bipolar Nebulosity IRAS 19312+1950

We report the results of mapping observations of the bipolar nebula with SiO maser emission, IRAS 19312+1950, in the CO (J = 1-0 and 2-1), 13CO (J = 1-0 and 2-1), C18O (J = 1-0), CS (J = 2-1), SO (JK = 32-21), and HCO+ (J = 3-2) lines with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association array. The evolutional status of this source has been evoking a controversy since its discovery, although SiO maser sources are usually identified as late-type stars with active mass loss. In line profiles, two kinematical components are found, as reported in previous single-dish observations: a broad pedestal component and a narrow component. Spatiokinetic properties of a broad-component region traced by 12CO lines are roughly explained by a simple spherical outflow model with an expanding velocity typical of an AGB star, although some properties of the broad-component region still conflict with properties of a typical AGB spherical outflow. A narrow-component region apparently exhibits a bipolar flow. The angular size of the narrow-component region is spatially larger than that of the broad-component region. The intensity distribution of the CS emission avoids the central region of the source, and that of the SO broad-component emission exhibits a small feature peaked exactly at the mapping center. According to the present results, if the broad component really originates in a spherical outflow, an oxygen-rich evolved stellar object seems to be a natural interpretation for the central star of IRAS 19312+1950.