Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validity of Self‐Reported Sexual Behaviors in Adolescent Women Using Biomarker Outcomes

Objectives: To determine the criterion‐related validity of alternative approaches to the measurement of sexual intercourse using sexually transmitted diseases (STD) as a biomarker (the criterion). Study Design: Analyses are based on an urban sample of 255 adolescent women, 15 to 19 years of age, treated for genitourinary infections with Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis or Trichomonas vaginalis who returned 3 months later for reexamination. Subjects completed self‐administered questionnaires at enrollment and at 3 months. Genitourinary cultures were obtained at enrollment, 2 to 4 weeks later at a test‐of‐treatment visit (TOT), and at 3 months. Results: Two hundred fourteen of the 255 adolescents also returned for a TOT culture; 186 of these 214 (73%) were free of infection 2 to 4 weeks after enrollment and 30% (56/186) acquired a subsequent STD by 3 months. The validity of questions about sexual behavior differed. No adolescent who denied interim intercourse by reporting “0” sexual partners or “0” coitions acquired an interval STD. Adolescents who denied regular intercourse (vaginal sex) or failed to indicate the number of interim coitions were at high risk for new STD—23% and 21%, respectively. A new measure of sexual intercourse using both the number of sexual partners and the number of coitions contained no missing data; adolescents classified as not having had interim sexual intercourse were free of infection at 3 months, whereas 32% of those who reported intercourse acquired an interim infection. Conclusions: These data suggest that high‐risk urban adolescent women can accurately report whether they have engaged in vaginal intercourse. The validity of the report appears sensitive to the wording and content of the questions.
Voltage scheduling problem for dynamically variable voltage processors

This paper presents a model of dynamically variable voltage processors and basic theorems for power-delay optimization. A static voltage scheduling problem is also proposed and formulated as an integer linear programming (ILP) problem. In the problem, we assume that a core processor can vary its supply voltage dynamically, but can use only a single voltage level at a time. For a given application program and a dynamically variable voltage processor, a voltage scheduling which minimizes energy consumption under an execution time constraint can be found.
Health effects of exposure to cyanobacteria (blue–green algae) during recreational water–related activities

Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate effects on health of exposure to cyanobacteria as a result of recreational water activities. Participants, who were aged six years and over, were interviewed at water recreation sites in South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria on selected Sundays during January and February 1995. Telephone follow–up was conducted two and seven days later to record any subsequent diarrhoea, vomiting, flu–like symptoms, skin rashes, mouth ulcers, fevers and eye or ear irritations. On the Sundays of interview, water samples from the sites were collected for cyanobac–terial cell counts and toxin analysis. There were 852 participants, of whom 75 did not have water contact on the day of interview and were considered unexposed. The 777 who had water contact were considered exposed. No significant differences in overall symptoms were found between the unexposed and exposed after two days. At seven days, there was a significant trend to increasing symptom occurrence with duration of exposure (P = 0.03). There was a significant trend to increasing symptom occurrence with increase in cell count (P = 0.04). Participants exposed to more than 5000 cells per mL for more than one hour had a significantly higher symptom occurrence rate than the unexposed. Symptoms were not correlated with the presence of hepatotoxins. These results suggest symptom occurrence was associated with duration of contact with water containing cyanobacteria, and with cyanobacterial cell density. The findings suggest that the current safety threshold for exposure of 20 000 cells per mL may be too high. (Aust N Z J Public Health 1997; 21: 562–6)
Impact of Warehouse Management System in a Supply Chain

In a supply chain, warehousing function is very critical as it acts as a node in linking the material flows between the supplier and customer. In today's competitive market environment companies are continuously forced to improve their warehousing operations. Many companies have also customized their value proposition to increase their customer service levels, which has led to changes in the role of warehouses. This paper highlights the findings of the study carried out to evaluate performance levels and enhance productivity of the manual warehouses by developing a WMS framework and cost benefit analysis.
A variational Bayesian mixture modelling framework for cluster analysis of gene-expression data

MOTIVATION Accurate subcategorization of tumour types through gene-expression profiling requires analytical techniques that estimate the number of categories or clusters rigorously and reliably. Parametric mixture modelling provides a natural setting to address this problem. RESULTS We compare a criterion for model selection that is derived from a variational Bayesian framework with a popular alternative based on the Bayesian information criterion. Using simulated data, we show that the variational Bayesian method is more accurate in finding the true number of clusters in situations that are relevant to current and future microarray studies. We also compare the two criteria using freely available tumour microarray datasets and show that the variational Bayesian method is more sensitive to capturing biologically relevant structure.
Carbon isotope signatures of latest Permian marine successions of the Southern Alps suggest a continental runoff pulse enriched in land plant material

The latest Permian mass extinction, the most severe Phanerozoic biotic crisis, is marked by dramatic changes in palaeoenvironments. These changes significantly disrupted the global carbon cycle, reflected by a prominent and well known negative carbon isotope excursion recorded in marine and continental sediments. Carbon isotope trends of bulk carbonate and bulk organic matter in marine deposits of the European Southern Alps near the low-latitude marine event horizon deviate from each other. A positive excursion of several permil in d 13 Corg starts earlier and is much more pronounced than the short-term positive d 13 Ccarb excursion; both excursions interrupt the general negative trend. Throughout the entire period investigated, d 13 Corg values become lighter with increasing distance from the palaeocoastline. Changing d 13 Corg values may be due to the influx of comparatively isotopically heavy land plant material. The stronger influence of land plant material on the d 13 Corg during the positive isotope excursion indicates a temporarily enhanced continental runoff that may either reflect increased precipitation, possibly triggered by aerosols originating from Siberian Trap volcanism, or indicate higher erosion rate in the face of reduced land vegetation cover.
Effects of a Social Skill Instruction Program on the Social Skill Acquisition of African American High School Students with Mild Intellectual Disabilities and Challenging Behaviors.

ALICIA AMANDA BROPHY. Effects of a social skill instruction progra m on the social skill acquisition of african american high school students with mild inte llec ual disabilities and challenging behaviors. (Under direction of DR. YA-YU LO) Disproportionality and the poor post-school outcomes for African American youth with disabilities have been ongoing issues in special education. Limited opportunities to engage in social interactions may exacerbate these poor post-s cho l outcomes for African American students with mild intellectual disabilitie s and challenging behaviors. African American students per population consistent ly receive more office referrals, out-of-school suspensions, and expulsions than other students. Effective interventions that can offset social skill deficits or aggressive behaviors of African American students are important. One way to increase the social competence of African American youth with aggression who frequently display social skill deficits may be social skill instruction with anger management. By increasing students’ social competence it may f acilitate students’ success within the school environment and enhance their post-school outcomes. A difficulty researchers have experienced is in getting social be haviors taught to generalize to more than one place and maintain over time. A way to facilitate the generaliz ation of social skills may be to employ multiple exemplar training (i.e., training across different settings, varied role-play scenarios, training by different people). Research supports the idea that parent collaboration may help facilitate stu dent ’ learning of social skills and increase the likelihood of generalization of these s kill from the instructional small group to the classroom setting. Furthermore, when pare nts ar informed that social skills are being taught at schools, they are more likel y to prompt
A monozygotic twin design to investigate etiological factors for DCD and ADHD

Abstract The high level of comorbidity between Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) suggests that these disorders may have a shared etiology. We used a co-twin control design to study monozygotic (MZ) twins concordant and discordant for DCD and ADHD. In a total of 922 sets of MZ twins, 866 sets were eligible. We found equal numbers of DCD concordant and discordant sets; more ADHD concordant than discordant sets; nine sets in which both twins met criteria for DCD+ADHD; 773 sets of twins did not meet criteria for either DCD or ADHD. The only significant sex difference between groups was for ADHD discordant sets, with more males than females. For DCD groups there were no significant sex differences, with slightly more girls than boys affected in both groups. There was a greater number of oxygen perfusion complications in DCD affected than unaffected twins, suggesting that, given equal numbers of DCD concordant and discordant sets and a similar number of DCD girls and boys, the role of pre- and perinatal environmental factors is stronger in the etiology of DCD than in ADHD. Factors such as placental difficulties and hypoxia have also been related to cerebral palsy, which suggests that DCD may fall on the upper end of a continuum of movement disorder that includes cerebral palsy. The results suggest different etiological pathways for DCD and ADHD. Second born twins were at greater risk for oxygen perfusion difficulties in sets concordant for DCD, ADHD, and unaffected for either.
Hot Deformation Behaviour and Processing Maps of an as-Cast Mg-6.8Y-2.5Zn-0.4Zr Alloy

Deformation behavior of an as-cast Mg-6.8Y-2.5Zn-0.4Zr alloy during plane strain compression was characterized in present work by high-temperature testing. Based on the experimental data, the values of strain rate sensitivity, efficiency of power dissipation and the instability parameter under the condition of various hot working parameters were investigated. Processing maps were established by superimposing the instability map over the power dissipation map, this being connected with microstructural evolution analysis in the hot deformation processes. Accompanied microstructure characterization of the binary α-Mg/ Long Period Stacking Ordered (LPSO) microstructure reveals that the flow behavior is related to the deformation mechanisms. At lower temperatures (350 – 400 °C) formation of kink bands is observed, which normally occur when deformation twinning is inhibited and other slip systems are strongly hindered by the complex LPSO structures. Dynamic recrystallization (DRX) was initiated at higher temperatures above 400 °C, influencing the softening behavior of the material significantly. DRX was the main softening mechanism when deformation takes place at 500 °C and the kink band deformation decreased.
Modality and Redundancy Effects on Music Theory Learning Among Pupils of Different Anxiety Levels

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of modality and redundancy principles on music theory learning among pupils of different anxiety levels. The lesson of music theory was developed in three different modes, audio and image (AI), text with image (TI) and audio with image and text (AIT). The independent variables were the three modes of courseware. The moderator variable was the anxiety level, while the dependent variable was the post test score. The study sample consisted of 405 third-grade pupils. Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted to analyze the collected data. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) and Post hoc were carried out to examine the main effects as well as the interaction effects of the independent variables on the dependent variable. The findings of this study showed that medium anxiety pupils performed significantly better than low and high anxiety pupils in all the three treatment modes. The AI mode was found to help pupils with high anxiety significantly more than the TI and AIT modes. Keywords—Modality, Redundancy, Music theory, Cognitive theory of multimedia learning, Cognitive load theory, Anxiety.
Jonathan Franzen at the End of Postmodernism

Jonathan Franzen is one of the most influential, critically-significant and popular contemporary American novelists. This book is the first full-length study of his work and attempts to articulate where American fiction is headed after postmodernism. Stephen Burn provides a comprehensive analysis of each of Franzen's novels - from his early work to the major success of The Corrections - identifying key sources, delineating important narrative strategies, and revealing how Franzen's themes are reinforced by each novel's structure. Supplementing this analysis with comparisons to key contemporaries, David Foster Wallace and Richard Powers, Burn suggests how Franzen's work is indicative of the direction of experimental American fiction in the wake of the so-called end of postmodernism.
Inflammatory markers and exercise: differences related to exercise type.

PURPOSE To examine the relationship between elevated inflammatory markers (CRP, fibrinogen, and white blood cell levels) and various forms of exercise for the adult U.S. population while controlling for factors that might influence the relationship. METHODS An analysis of the adults age 17 and over who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III was conducted. The main goal of the analysis was to determine whether exercise type was associated with systemic markers of inflammation. Bivariate statistics using chi-square to evaluate different types of exercise according to the presence of elevated and nonelevated inflammatory markers was initially performed. In addition, multivariate models were constructed using each type of exercise activity as the predictor variable and each inflammatory marker as the dependent variable. RESULTS A total of 4072 people were included in the analysis. In bivariate analyses, compared with nonexercisers in a specific exercise type, a significant lower likelihood of elevated inflammatory markers was found among regular participants in jogging, swimming, cycling, aerobic dancing, calisthenics, and weight lifting but not for gardening. After controlling for possible confounding factors including age, race, sex, body mass index, smoking, and health status in logistic regression analysis, only regular participants in jogging and aerobic dancing remained significantly less likely to have elevated cardiovascular markers. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study indicate that some forms of physical activity are associated with a lower likelihood of elevation of inflammatory markers, although we cannot exclude the possibility that differences may be due to exercise intensity or duration. Future research should be directed toward further exploration of the effects of different types of exercise activity on inflammatory markers and the role of exercise in the prevention of cardiovascular disease.
The evolutionary origin of the mammalian isocortex: Towards an integrated developmental and functional approach

The isocortex is a distinctive feature of mammalian brains, which has no clear counterpart in the cerebral hemispheres of other amniotes. This paper speculates on the evolutionary processes giving rise to the isocortex. As a first step, we intend to identify what structure may be ancestral to the isocortex in the reptilian brain. Then, it is necessary to account for the transformations (developmental, connectional, and functional) of this ancestral structure, which resulted in the origin of the isocortex. One long-held perspective argues that part of the isocortex derives from the ventral pallium of reptiles, whereas another view proposes that the isocortex originated mostly from the dorsal pallium. We consider that, at this point, evidence tends to favor correspondence of the isocortex with the dorsal cortex of reptiles. In any case, the isocortex may have originated partly as a consequence of an overall “dorsalizing” effect (that is, an expansion of the territories expressing dorsal-specific genes) during pallial development. Furthermore, expansion of the dorsal pallium may have been driven by selective pressures favoring the development of associative networks between the dorsal cortex, the olfactory cortex, and the hippocampus, which participated in spatial or episodic memory in the early mammals. In this context, sensory projections that in reptiles end in the ventral pallium, are observed to terminate in the isocortex (dorsal pallium) of mammals, perhaps owing to their participation in these associative networks.
A network on chip architecture and design methodology

We propose a packet switched platform for single chip systems which scales well to an arbitrary number of processor like resources. The platform, which we call Network-on-Chip (NOC), includes both the architecture and the design methodology. The NOC architecture is a m/spl times/n mesh of switches and resources are placed on the slots formed by the switches. We assume a direct layout of the 2-D mesh of switches and resources providing physical- and architectural-level design integration. Each switch is connected to one resource and four neighboring switches, and each resource is connected to one switch. A resource can be a processor core, memory, an FPGA, a custom hardware block or any other intellectual property (IP) block, which fits into the available slot and complies with the interface of the NOC. The NOC architecture essentially is the onchip communication infrastructure comprising the physical layer, the data link layer and the network layer of the OSI protocol stack. We define the concept of a region, which occupies an area of any number of resources and switches. This concept allows the NOC to accommodate large resources such as large memory banks, FPGA areas, or special purpose computation resources such as high performance multi-processors. The NOC design methodology consists of two phases. In the first phase a concrete architecture is derived from the general NOC template. The concrete architecture defines the number of switches and shape of the network, the kind and shape of regions and the number and kind of resources. The second phase maps the application onto the concrete architecture to form a concrete product.
Saccades and Vergence Performance in a Population of Children with Vertigo and Clinically Assessed Abnormal Vergence Capabilities

Purpose Early studies reported some abnormalities in saccade and vergence eye movements in children with vertigo and vergence deficiencies. The purpose of this study was to further examine saccade and vergence performance in a population of 44 children (mean age: 12.3±1.6 years) with vertigo symptoms and with different levels of vergence abnormalities, as assessed by static orthoptic examination (near point of convergence, prism bar and cover-uncover test). Methods Three groups were identified on the basis of the orthoptic tests: group 1 (n = 13) with vergence spasms and mildly perturbed orthoptic scores, group 2 (n = 14) with moderately perturbed orthoptic scores, and group 3 (n = 17) with severely perturbed orthoptic scores. Data were compared to those recorded from 28 healthy children of similar ages. Latency, accuracy and peak velocity of saccades and vergence movements were measured in two different conditions: gap (fixation offset 200 ms prior to target onset) and simultaneous paradigms. Binocular horizontal movements were recorded by a photoelectric device. Results Group 2 of children with vergence abnormalities showed significantly longer latency than normal children in several types of eye movements recorded. For all three groups of children with vergence abnormalities, the gain was poor, particularly for vergence movement. The peak velocity values did not differ between the different groups of children examined. Interpretation Eye movement measures together with static orthoptic evaluation allowed us to better identify children with vergence abnormalities based on their slow initiation of eye movements. Overall, these findings support the hypothesis of a central deficit in the programming and triggering of saccades and vergence in these children.
You get what you pay for: reward-specific trade-offs among direct and ant-mediated defences in plants

Plant defences against herbivores include direct defences such as secondary metabolites or physical structures (e.g. trichomes) as well as indirect defences mediated via mutualistic interactions with other organisms including ants. Production of both direct defences and rewards for mutualistic ants may be costly for a plant, and it has been suggested that trade-offs may exist between direct and ant-mediated defences. We have conducted a meta-analysis of 25 studies testing the above hypothesis and found a significant negative correlation between plant allocation to direct and ant-mediated defences. The strength of correlation was similar for across- and within-species comparisons, and for chemical and physical direct defences. However, trade-offs with direct defences were significant only in plants which offered to ants more costly rewards such as food bodies and/or domatia, but not in plants which attracted ants with relatively cheap extrafloral nectaries. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that plant investment in ant-mediated defences may reduce the requirement for direct chemical and physical defences, but only in plants which offer more costly rewards to their bodyguards.
An Investigation of the Characteristics of K–12 Students with Comorbid Emotional Disturbance and Significant Language Deficits Served in Public School Settings

A plethora of research has indicated that emotional disturbance (ED) and language deficits frequently co-occur. Scant research, however, has examined the characteristics of public school students with comorbid ED and language deficits. Furthermore, researchers have not studied children with IQ and language skill discrepancies. The overall purpose of this cross-sectional study conducted with students in grades K through 12 (N = 69) with ED and comorbid language deficits was to detail the academic and social adjustment characteristics of students with an IQ/language skill discrepancy (i.e., a negative standard deviation difference or greater between IQ and total language score). In addition, the types of dimensional behaviors that predict the language skills of these students was explored. Forty-five percent (n = 69) of the original 152 randomly selected students with ED evinced a language deficit. Students with language deficits were likely to exhibit comorbid written language (46%), reading (41%), and math deficits (31%). Delinquent behavior predicted total and receptive language discrepancy scores of students. Results and limitations are discussed.