Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between Dietary Patterns during Pregnancy and Birth Size Measures in a Diverse Population in Southern US

Despite increased interest in promoting nutrition during pregnancy, the association between maternal dietary patterns and birth outcomes has been equivocal. We examined maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy as a determinant of offspring’s birth weight-for-length (WLZ), weight-for-age (WAZ), length-for-age (LAZ), and head circumference (HCZ) Z-scores in Southern United States (n = 1151). Maternal diet during pregnancy was assessed by seven dietary patterns. Multivariable linear regression models described the association of WLZ, WAZ, LAZ, and HCZ with diet patterns controlling for other maternal and child characteristics. In bivariate analyses, WAZ and HCZ were significantly lower for processed and processed-Southern compared to healthy dietary patterns, whereas LAZ was significantly higher for these patterns. In the multivariate models, mothers who consumed a healthy-processed dietary pattern had children with significantly higher HCZ compared to the ones who consumed a healthy dietary pattern (HCZ β: 0.36; p = 0.019). No other dietary pattern was significantly associated with any of the birth outcomes. Instead, the major outcome determinants were: African American race, pre-pregnancy BMI, and gestational weight gain. These findings justify further investigation about socio-environmental and genetic factors related to race and birth outcomes in this population.
Genetic deletion of osteopontin in TRAMP mice skews prostate carcinogenesis from adenocarcinoma to aggressive human-like neuroendocrine cancers

Osteopontin (OPN) is a secreted glycoprotein, that belongs to the non-structural extracellular matrix (ECM), and its over expression in human prostate cancer has been associated with disease progression, androgen independence and metastatic ability. Nevertheless, the pathophysiology of OPN in prostate tumorigenesis has never been studied. We crossed TRansgenic Adenocarcinoma of the Mouse Prostate (TRAMP) mice with OPN deficient (OPN−/−) mice and followed tumor onset and progression in these double mutants. Ultrasound examination detected the early onset of a rapidly growing, homogeneous and spherical tumor in about 60% of OPN−/− TRAMP mice. Such neoplasms seldom occurred in parental TRAMP mice otherwise prone to adenocarcinomas and were characterized for being androgen receptor negative, highly proliferative and endowed with neuroendocrine (NE) features. Gene expression profiling showed up-regulation of genes involved in tumor progression, cell cycle and neuronal differentiation in OPN-deficient versus wild type TRAMP tumors. Down-regulated genes included key genes of TGFa pathway, including SMAD3 and Filamin, which were confirmed at the protein level. Furthermore, NE genes and particularly those characterizing early prostatic lesions of OPN-deficient mice were found to correlate with those of human prostate NE tumours. These data underscore a novel role of OPN in the early stages of prostate cancer growth, protecting against the development of aggressive NE tumors.
Magnetic resonance imaging of the ovaries of healthy women: determination of normal values

Purpose: To establish normal values for the volume and maximal diameter of ovaries and ovarian follicles and for the number of ovarian follicles in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based on menstrual cycle phase and age. Material and Methods: We performed MRI of the pelvis on 100 healthy women. Volume of the ovaries and largest ovarian follicles and the number of ovarian follicles were determined by menstrual cycle phase and age. Results: The mean volume of the ovaries significantly increased with age and reached its peak between 31 and 40 years, and subsequently decreased. The mean volume of the largest ovarian follicles also significantly increased with age to reach its peak at 41–50 years. The highest mean numbers of ovarian follicles were found at 20–40 years. When the volumes of ovaries and of the largest ovarian follicles, and the number of ovarian follicles were compared between the first and second phase of the menstrual cycle, no significant differences were found. Conclusion: The volume and maximal diameter of ovaries and ovarian follicles and the number of ovarian follicles differ significantly with age, but not between the two phases of the menstrual cycle. Knowledge of MRI-related normal values can be expected to aid the early identification of ovarian pathologies.
LINDA - Longitudinal INdividual DAta for Sweden

This paper presents LINDA - a register-based longitudinal data set for Sweden. LINDA consists of a large panel of individuals, and their household members, which is representative for the population during the period 1960 to 1998. As future years become available, this information will be added to the data set. LINDA also includes a specific sample of immigrants. This sample has the same design and covers the same time period as the population sample. We provide a description of the sources of data, the sampling frame as well as the sampling procedure. Moreover, to illustrate the usefulness and particular features of LINDA, we give the development of some of the key variables in the data set.
Relations between affective music and speech: evidence from dynamics of affective piano performance and speech production

This study compares affective piano performance with speech production from the perspective of dynamics: unlike previous research, this study uses finger force and articulatory effort as indexes reflecting the dynamics of affective piano performance and speech production respectively. Moreover, for the first time physical constraints such as piano fingerings and speech articulatory constraints are included due to their potential contribution to different patterns of dynamics. A piano performance experiment and speech production experiment were conducted in four emotions: anger, fear, happiness and sadness. The results show that in both piano performance and speech production, anger and happiness generally have high dynamics while sadness has the lowest dynamics. Fingerings interact with fear in the piano experiment and articulatory constraints interact with anger in the speech experiment, i.e., large physical constraints produce significantly higher dynamics than small physical constraints in piano performance under the condition of fear and in speech production under the condition of anger. Using production experiments, this study firstly supports previous perception studies on relations between affective music and speech. Moreover, this is the first study to show quantitative evidence for the importance of considering motor aspects such as dynamics in comparing music performance and speech production in which motor mechanisms play a crucial role.
Transient response following frequency or amplitude switching in a cesium beam tube

The transient responses of an optically pumped cesium beam tube to square wave frequency and amplitude modulation is considered. The frequency transient is computed assuming a phase difference /spl phi/ of either 0 or /spl pi/ between the two oscillatory fields. We present theoretical and experimental data showing that, contrary to the frequency transient, the amplitude transient depends on the direction of switching. The knowledge of this property is useful for the design of the servo-loop controlling the amplitude of the microwave signal applied to the atomic resonator. A justification of this asymmetrical behavior is given. Experimental results confirm the theoretical predictions in the case /spl phi/=/spl pi/.
Homicide-suicide offences: description, classification and short case studies

Purpose – Although homicide-suicide (H-S) offences are rare, they have remarkably tragic consequences. The purposes of this paper are to: examine the background characteristics of H-S offenders (including previous offending history and psychiatric elements); describe the crime-scene behavior and examine the motivational aspects of the offences; and to establish the reliability in the outlined typologies. Design/methodology/approach – The study consists of case series of all H-S offenders in Sweden, January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2009 (n=13), and data was collected from medico-legal autopsy reports, police investigations and three national databases. Findings – Of all Swedish homicides, 5.5 percent consisted of H-S cases, and the rate of H-S was 0.05 per 100,000 inhabitants. Seven of the offenders had had previous contact with a psychiatric service, however, the average time between the last contact and the offence was slightly more than four years. Three of the offenders had previously been convicted of .
Attitude Scale Methodology

Many methodological issues of importance to cross-cultural research have been cited in the past. This cross-cultural research design includes four countries: China (PRC), South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Statistical analysis revealed significant main effects due to country and type of scale used (Likert and semantic differential). IN addition, interactive effects were also significant for seven of the ten variables under considerations. These findings indicate that the instruments used have emic (culture bound), as opposed to etic (culture free), properties. Therefore, researchers must regard attitude measures such s the Likert and semantic differential scales as culture specific instruments.
A Location and Movement Dependent GNSS Multipath Error Model for Pedestrian Applications

In 2002 the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) performed a measurement campaign of the land mobile multipath channel in and around the city of Munich. From this data a channel model was derived that is synthesising the measured channel impulse response. It allows the realistic simulation of the multipath channel by approximating every single reflection. This model includes time variant reflectors approaching and receding in dependency of the azimuth and elevation of the satellite. All the signal processing had been realised independently of the transmitted signal. Therefore the usability for both, navigation systems (GPS as well as GALILEO) and wideband communication systems is given.
The acquisition of syntactic categories : the case of the count/mass distinction

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Predictors of father‐son communication about sexuality

Examining the factors that influence adolescents’ sexual behaviors is crucial for understanding why they often engage in risky sexual behaviors. Using social cognitive theory, we examined predictors of father‐son communication about sexuality. Fathers (N = 155) of adolescent sons completed a survey measuring 12 variables, including self‐efficacy and outcome expectations. We found that (a) son's pubertal development, father's sex‐based values, father's education, father's communication with his father, outcome expectations, and general communication accounted for 36% of the variance in information sharing communication and (b) son's pubertal development, outcome expectations, general communication, and father‐son contact accounted for 20% of the variance in values sharing communication. Study findings can aid professionals in designing guidelines and programs to promote father‐son general communication and sex‐based communication.
La deontología periodística: praxis, disfunciones y retos desde la perspectiva de los profesionales de la comunicación en la Comunidad de Madrid (2006-2009)

Los resultados de 30 entrevistas en profundidad y 410 encuestas realizadas a periodistas de prensa, radio, television, medios digitales y gabinetes de comunicacion que ejercen en la Comunidad de Madrid (Espana) revelan que sigue persiguiendose el ideal de la objetividad, el contraste informativo como camino a la verdad y la exigencia del respeto a los protagonistas de la informacion. El disenso sobre el tratamiento de los colectivos desfavorecidos, la acusada presion del anunciante sobre los contenidos y la creciente ideologizacion y poderosa ascendencia de la politica en los medios se destacan tambien por los profesionales como senas de identidad propias de nuestros dias. En este contexto, la independencia, la responsabilidad y la etica personales se consideran cardinales para enfrentar a diario los dilemas deontologicos.
Narcissism Distorts the Fading Affect Bias in Autobiographical Memory

The Fading Affect Bias (FAB) occurs when the affect associated with personal events fades differentially across time: Positive affect fades slower than negative affect. Three studies examined whether the magnitude of the FAB is moderated by narcissism. Results from Study 1 (diary method, N = 26) showed that low narcissism participants evidenced a large FAB, but high narcissism participants evidenced a reversed FAB. Results from Study 2 (retrospective recall method, N = 110) showed that low narcissism participants evinced a large FAB, and that the FAB diminished or dissipated as narcissism increased. Results from Study 3 (retrospective recall method, N = 83) showed that high narcissists evinced a FAB when they recalled achievement-themed autobiographical events, but evinced a reversed FAB when they recalled communal-themed events. These findings occurred independently of event rehearsal frequency. Results are discussed in terms of the idea that emotion regulation efforts may be disrupted in narcissists.
Improving Light Distribution by Zoom Lens for Electricity Savings in a Plant Factory with Light-Emitting Diodes

The high energy consumption of a plant factory is the biggest issue in its rapid expansion, especially for lighting electricity, which has been solved to a large extent by light-emitting diodes (LED). However, the remarkable potential for further energy savings remains to be further investigated. In this study, an optical system applied just below the LED was designed. The effects of the system on the growth and photosynthesis of butterhead lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. capitata) were examined, and the performance of the optical improvement in energy savings was evaluated by comparison with the traditional LED illumination mode. The irradiation patterns used were LED with zoom lenses (Z-LED) and conventional non-lenses LED (C-LED). The seedlings in both treatments were exposed to the same light environment over the entire growth period. The improvement saved over half of the light source electricity, while prominently lowering the temperature. Influenced by this, the rate of photosynthesis sharply decreased, causing reductions in plant yield and nitrate content, while having no negative effects on morphological parameters and photosynthetic pigment contents. Nevertheless, the much higher light use efficiency of Z-LEDs makes this system a better approach to illumination in a plant factory with artificial lighting.
ABwE :A Practical Approach to Available Bandwidth Estimation

We report on a new tool developed for monitoring available bandwidth in the range from several Mbps to 1000 Mbps. The tool is based on the packet pair dispersion technique . It has been in experimental use at SLAC for several months and it has been demonstrated at iGrid2002 and SC2002. It can b e used for detecting bandwidth changes caused by routing or congestions. We have studied the influence of cross traffic and the behavior of routers on the delay of the probing packets . The paper presents part of these analyses together with results from monitoring of 12 paths in US, Japan and in Europe. Index Terms—available bandwidth, dispersion technique, high- throughput, measurement tools, monitoring, networks, tuning, TCP.
Childhood maltreatment and later adult functioning: An examination of the roles of personal resiliency and psychological distress

Childhood maltreatment has been and continues to be a disconcerting public health concern worldwide. Over three decades of research indicates a gamut of negative long-term physical and mental health correlates of childhood maltreatment. However, there is limited knowledge on potential mediating factors in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and later adult functioning. This study examined the potential impact of childhood maltreatment on later adult functioning, specifically interpersonal functioning and protective sexual behaviors. The study also investigated the potential mediating roles of psychological distress and personal resiliency within this relationship. A college-based sample of 415 heterosexually active men and women, aged 18-25 years, completed survey measures on the model variables. Using structural equation analyses, personal resiliency partially mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and interpersonal functioning across the entire sample. Separate models for women indicated that personal resiliency completely mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and interpersonal functioning, while personal resiliency did not appear to be a mediator for men. Psychological distress was not a mediator across the entire sample or for men and women separately. Childhood maltreatment, personal resiliency, psychological distress did not predict protective sexual behaviors across the entire sample and for men and women separately.
Earthquake clusters in southern California I: Identification and stability

We use recent results on statistical analysis of seismicity to present a robust method for comprehensive detection and analysis of earthquake clusters. The method is based on nearest‐neighbor distances of events in space‐time‐energy domain. The method is applied to a 1981–2011 relocated seismicity catalog of southern California having 111,981 events with magnitudes m ≥ 2 and corresponding synthetic catalogs produced by the Epidemic Type Aftershock Sequence (ETAS) model. Analysis of the ETAS model demonstrates that the cluster detection results are accurate and stable with respect to (1) three numerical parameters of the method, (2) variations of the minimal reported magnitude, (3) catalog incompleteness, and (4) location errors. Application of the method to the observed catalog separates the 111,981 examined earthquakes into 41,393 statistically significant clusters comprised of foreshocks, mainshocks, and aftershocks. The results reproduce the essential known statistical properties of earthquake clusters, which provide overall support for the proposed technique. In addition, systematic analysis with our method allows us to detect several new features of seismicity that include (1) existence of a significant population of single‐event clusters, (2) existence of foreshock activity in natural seismicity that exceeds expectation based on the ETAS model, and (3) dependence of all cluster properties, except area, on the magnitude difference of events from mainshocks but not on their absolute values. The classification of detected clusters into several major types, generally corresponding to singles, burst‐like and swarm‐like sequences, and correlations between different cluster types and geographic locations is addressed in a companion paper.
Human Peritoneal Mesothelial Cells Produce Nitric Oxide: Induction by Cytokines

Objective To investigate the induction of nitric oxide synthase type II (iNOS) in human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMC) using cytokines and bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Design Confluent monolayers of HPMC were exposed to cytokines [tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interferon gamma (IFNγ)] or LPS, individually or in various double and triple combinations, for 24 – 72 hours. Concentrations of nitrate and nitrite in the media were quantified using the Griess reaction and used as indirect indices of nitric oxide (NO) production. The expression of iNOS was assessed using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot. Results Neither single cytokines nor LPS was able to induce iNOS mRNA or NO production. Both double combinations of TNFα+ IFNγ and IL-1β + IFNγ were able to induce iNOS mRNA expression, but only TNFα + IFNγ induced significant NO production. The triple combination of TNFα + IFNγ + IL-1β induced even more NO production than TNFα + IFNγ. There was no constitutive NO synthase type III (eNOS) expression in HPMC. Conclusions Certain combinations of cytokines could stimulate cultured HPMC to produce NO, and HPMC might be a source of intraperitoneal NO production during peritonitis.
Towards a sociology of happiness : examining social capital and subjective well-being across subgroups of society

This dissertation contributes to a Sociology of Happiness by examining the social context of subjective well-being. It follows in Emile Durkheim’s footsteps, whose study Le Suicide initially proposed that being connected is beneficial for human beings. The empirical evidence on the relationship between social capital and subjective well-being has indeed grown considerably over the last years. However, the academic literature has a major shortcoming, as studies usually assume the importance of social capital for subjective well-being to be exactly the same between individuals. Interestingly, though, sociological theory gives reasons to expect the association between the two concepts to vary between societal subgroups based on the idea that people have different roles and find themselves in different circumstances. Hence, this thesis responds to a need to examine a new level of complexity and fills a research gap by investigating how social capital is correlated in different ways with life satisfaction by gender, age, parental status, and marital status. OLS and ordered logit regression analyses are conducted in order to systematically examine slope heterogeneity, using data from the European Social Survey for the UK. It turns out that the social context of well-being varies considerably between the subgroups studied here. For example, while among childless women volunteering is positively and very strongly associated with subjective wellbeing, the relationship is slightly negative for mothers. Consequently, this dissertation adds significant value to the happiness literature by looking beyond population means when studying the relationship between certain explanatory variables and a well-being response variable. Moreover, the thesis contributes to a much-needed theory building in research on subjective well-being by resorting to sociological theories. Important implications for current policy issues around well-being arise from the study, and it paves the way for a new wave of research which goes beyond a unitary ‘happiness formula’.