Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toxicity of mono‐ and diesters of o‐phthalic esters to a crustacean, a green alga, and a bacterium

The degradation of phthalic acid diesters may lead to formation of o‐phthalic acid and phthalic acid monoesters. The ecotoxic properties of the monoesters have never been systematically investigated, and concern has been raised that these degradation products may be more toxic than the diesters. Therefore, the aquatic toxicity of phthalic acid, six monoesters, and five diesters of o‐phthalic acid was tested in three standardized toxicity tests using the bacteria Vibrio fischeri, the green algae Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, and the crustacean Daphnia magna. The monoesters tested were monomethyl, monoethyl, monobutyl, monobenzyl, mono(2‐ethylhexyl), and monodecyl phthalate, while the diesters tested were dimethyl, diethyl, dibutyl, butylbentyl, and di(2‐ethylhexyl)phthalate, which were assumed to be below their water solubility. The median effective concentration (EC50) values for the three organisms ranged from 103 mg/L to >4,710 mg/L for phthalic acid, and corresponding values for the monoesters ranged from 2.3 mg/L (monodecyl phthalate in bacteria test) to 4,130 mg/L (monomethyl phthalate in bacteria test). Dimethyl and diethyl phthalate were found to be the least toxic of the diesters (EC50 26.2–377 mg/L), and the toxicity of the other diesters (butylbenzyl and dibutyl phthalate) ranged from 0.96 to 7.74 mg/L. In general, the phthalate monoesters (degradation products) were less toxic than the corresponding diesters (mother compounds).
Assessment of Alcohol Use Patterns among Spanish-Speaking Patients

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess drinking patterns of Spanish-speaking patients using a bilingual computerized alcohol screening and brief intervention (CASI) tablet computer equipped with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary university hospital emergency department (ED) between 2006 and 2010. Data from 1816 Spanish-speaking ED patients were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the chi-square test for independence, and the Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test for comparisons using quantitative variables. Results: Overall, 15% of Spanish-speaking patients were at-risk drinkers, and 5% had an AUDIT score consistent with alcohol dependency (≥20). A higher percentage of Spanish-speaking males than females were at-risk drinkers or likely dependent. Spanish-speaking males exhibited higher frequency of drinking days per week and higher number of drinks per day compared with females. Among older patients, nondrinking behavior increased and at-risk drinkers decreased. The majority of males and females were ready to change their behavior after the CASI intervention; 61% and 69%, respectively, scored 8–10. Conclusions: This study indicated that CASI was an effective tool for detecting at-risk and likely dependent drinking behavior in Spanish-speaking ED patients. The majority of patients were ready to change their drinking behavior. More alcohol screening and brief intervention tools should be tested and become readily accessible for Spanish-speaking patients.
Intonation Variants of Musical Intervals in Isolation and in Musical Contexts

A group of experiments is described concerning production alnd tmc perception of melodic musical intervals by musicians. In some of tht experiments subjects tuned variable-tone oscillators to produce best soundino intervals without or within a tonal context. The presence of the context was effective both in changing the mean values of tuned intervals and in diminishing the dispersion of adjustments. The measure of dispersion in) tuning an isolated interval was correlated with the difficulty of recognising that interval by music students. In other experiments two experienced violinists playcd short ielo(iic sequences and the sizes of intervals were measured. The results arc In agreement with previous findings and allow us to draw turthet coniclusioens. A perspective on melodic intonation is suggested in which factors oP acoustic, psychological and musical origin are considered. Attentioni is drawn to the similarity between the production of intonaition variants of musical intervals and phonetic variants in natural language
Age, Rate and Eventual Attainment in Second Language Acquisition.

(1) Adults proceed through early stages of syntactic and morphological development faster than children (where time and exposure are held constant). (2) Older children acquire faster than younger children (again, in early stages of morphological and syntactic development where time and exposure are held constant). (3) Acquirers who begin natural exposure to second languages during childhood generally achieve higher second language proficiency than those beginning as adults.
Relations entre cohésion et efficacité collective au sein d'équipes professionnelles masculines et féminines de basket-ball

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between cohesion and collective efficacy in professional basketball teams. A total of 66 male and 54 female French-speaking professional players from 20 teams completed Heuze and Fontayne’s (2002) Questionnaire sur l’Ambiance du Groupe and a collective efficacy measure designed to assess the athletes’ perceptions of their team efficacy in offense, defense, and total. Index of agreement, intraclass correlation, and eta-squared statistic supported the existence of group perceptions for the constructs. At group level, several positive correlations were found between the dimensions of cohesion and collective efficacy. However, sequential multiple regression analyses indicated that only Group integration-task was a significant predictor of collective efficacy and explained 38% to 65% of the variance of the collective efficacy scales. The implications of the results are discussed and future studies using multilevel statistical methodologies are recommended.
A “FLP-Out” System for Controlled Gene Expression in Caenorhabditis elegans

We present a two-part system for conditional FLP-out of FRT-flanked sequences in Caenorhabditis elegans to control gene activity in a spatially and/or temporally regulated manner. Using reporters, we assess the system for efficacy and demonstrate its use as a cell lineage marking tool. In addition, we construct and test a dominant-negative form of hlh-12, a gene that encodes a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor required for proper distal tip cell (DTC) migration. We show that this allele can be conditionally expressed from a heat-inducible FLP recombinase and can interfere with DTC migration. Using the same DTC assay, we conditionally express an hlh-12 RNAi-hairpin and induce the DTC migration defect. Finally, we introduce a set of traditional and Gateway-compatible vectors to facilitate construction of plasmids for this technology using any promoter, reporter, and gene/hairpin of interest.
Improve the Accuracy of Asymptotic Approximation in Reliability Problems Involving Multimodal Distributions

Asymptotic approximations such as the first- and second-order reliability method (FORM, SORM) are sometimes preferred in reliability analysis due to their efficiency. Bayesian updating for practical engineering problems can produce unnormalized and multimodal distributions, which cannot be directly used in FORM. The Laplace method can approximate such distributions using a weighted multivariate normal distribution. The weighting scheme for different modes must be carefully made in order to achieve accurate results. In this paper, a new weighting scheme and an optimal weighting scheme are proposed to improve the accuracy of Laplace approximation for multimodal distributions. The proposed weighting schemes are compared with existing weighting schemes in detail, and it is shown that the proposed weighting schemes can produce more accurate results in some cases. Based on that, an asymptotic approximation method for reliability estimation and system response predictions involving unnormalized multimodal distributions is proposed. The method integrates the Laplace method, FORM, and inverse FORM to formulate a completely asymptotic analysis cycle. The overall method is applied to two engineering cases: A simplified bridge model and a steam turbine rotor Bayesian analysis with real ultrasonic inspection data. Results are compared with existing simulation-based methods to investigate the efficiency and accuracy of the method.
Students' Perceptions of Peer Evaluation: An Expectancy Perspective

Because of the difficulty of evaluating uneven performance among group members, many researchers suggest incorporating peer evaluations in a grading system that permits an instructor to evaluate and grade individual performance more equitably within a group. In this study, the authors employ expectancy theory to assess key factors that may motivate students to participate in the peer evaluation process of group projects. Results show that students generally thought that the most attractive outcome of peer evaluation is its use in the determination of peers' grades. The second most attractive outcome is its use for reduction of conflict and uneven workload distribution among group members. The authors provide implications for instructors planning to use peer evaluation in group projects.
Surgical treatment of dens fractures in elderly patients.

BACKGROUND A dens fracture is the most common cervical fracture in elderly patients. The purposes of this study were to analyze the functional and radiographic results after surgical treatment of dens fractures in patients over sixty-five years of age and to compare the two methods that were used for operative treatment. METHODS We reviewed the cases of fifty-six patients, with an average age of 71.4 years at the time of surgery, who had undergone surgical treatment of a dens fracture from 1988 to 2002. Thirty-seven fractures were stabilized with anterior screw fixation, and nineteen fractures had posterior cervical arthrodesis. RESULTS Forty-five patients returned to their preinjury activity level and were satisfied with their treatment. Thirty-five patients had a full range of neck movement, and forty-seven patients were free of pain. Technical failures occurred in eight patients. The thirty-seven patients treated with anterior screw fixation had a good clinical outcome, with fracture-healing in thirty-three patients (89%) and technical failure in five patients (14%). All nineteen patients treated with posterior cervical arthrodesis had fracture union, with technical failure in three patients, but the functional results were worse than those after anterior screw fixation. With the inclusion of the six patients who had been excluded from the clinical and radiographic review, the overall morbidity rate was 16% (ten of sixty-two patients) and the overall mortality rate was 6% (four of sixty-two patients). CONCLUSIONS A satisfactory outcome can be achieved with surgical treatment of a dens fracture in geriatric patients. It appears that anterior screw fixation may maintain better mobility of the cervical spine, but it appears to be associated with a higher rate of fracture nonunion and a greater potential for reoperation.
Synthesis of sequential circuits for easy testability through performance-oriented parallel partial scan

Testing of sequential circuits is greatly facilitated by using scan techniques to directly control and observe the latches. Adding scan capability after logic synthesis may incur significant area and delay overheads. For such cases, we present a technique called synthesis for parallel partial scan in which latches are incrementally selected for partial scan based on some new structural analysis criteria that we introduce. Delay overhead is minimized, in most cases made zero or nearly zero, by judiciously selecting the latches in the non-critical paths. A heuristic is used to maximally merge the scan logic with the combinational logic of the sequential circuit to minimize the area overhead. The latches used in our scheme are normal, non-scan latches. Experimental results on ISCAS '89 benchmarks resynthesized by our method indicate that we can, in general, achieve the same level of testability with fewer latches selected for partial scan, as compared to previous methods based on structural analysis. <<ETX>>
Cell Proliferation and Tumors of the Central Nervous System, Part II: Radiolabeling, Cytometric, and Immunohistochemical Techniques

A variety of techniques have been developed to evaluate cell proliferation. Many of these methods provide a more accurate means of assessing the true proliferation rate of a given neoplasm, as compared with the simple assessment of mitotic activity. Similar to the evaluation of mitotic activity, these methods are also subject to limitations associated with tumor heterogeneity and interobserver variability. This paper reviews a variety of methodologies including radiolabeling, flow cytometric, and immunohistochemical that have been used in recent years to evaluate cell proliferation in brain neoplasms. Factors that affect these methodologies and their practical application to routine practice of diagnostic neuropathology will be explored.
‘I like Barney’: Preschoolers’ spontaneous conversational initiations with peers

In the absence of scaffolding provided by adults or a play situation, what topics will preschoolers raise in attempting to begin conversations with each other? This study provides a first in-depth examination of preschoolers’ peer-to-peer conversational initiations. The snack-time conversations of a class of 25 preschool children were videotaped bi-weekly for 21 weeks; 507 conversational initiations were identified and classified according to a detailed coding scheme that included utterance type (e.g., comment, question), person or object referent, person referenced (e.g., self, listener), and, of particular interest, reference to mental states. Of all initiations, 77.5% referenced persons (41.2% listener) and almost 30% referenced mental states, suggesting preschoolers are using their developing understanding of mind in finding common ground with peers.
The Importance of Image Formation Time in Image-Aided Methods for Word Memorization

The present study investigated whether the length of time subjects are allowed for image formation in image-aided word-memorization protocols influences recall. To this end, we selected 363 high-school students who were presented with a list of 24 words to be learned by the rote method, an image-aided method with normal image, or an image-aided method with bizarre image; the time allowed for image formation was 10, 20, or 40 seconds. Recall was then evaluated immediately after the test and 1 day later. Each subject participated in only 1 experimental condition. Our results indicate that both immediate and delayed free recall were significantly better in the image-aided groups than in the rote groups. Considering the image-aided groups, both immediate and delayed recall were affected by image type used and image presentation time, with recall significantly better in the 40-second group than in the other 2 groups. Significant differences were also detected between the image types.
Meta-Stereotypes May Hinder Inter-Racial Contact

Avoidance of intergroup contact occurs not only as a result of prejudice, but also for a myriad of other reasons. Intergroup anxiety has been hypothesised as one central explanatory factor for informal segregation. In this article, Stephan and Stephan's (1985) model of the antecedents and consequences of intergroup anxiety is discussed in the context of the South African situation. The concept of meta-stereotypes is also introduced and proposed as an important contributor to intergroup anxiety. Meta-stereotypes, in interaction with other intergroup attitudes, may act as a barrier or facilitator to intergroup mixing.
Making Connections: The Long-Distance Bus Industry in the USA

This book examines the diverse paths of the long-distance bus industry in the United States from its origins in the second decade of the twentieth century to deregulation in 1982. This sector of transport has been much neglected by historians and the book uncovers a range of useful and pertinent information to those who are interested in understanding entrepreneurial endeavors, patterns of mobility and consumer attitudes. The book analyzes the development of the national industry, probes the growth of particular companies and investigates specific aspects of business behavior. The book presents a series of focused essays which offer insight into such topics as regulation, marketing, gender patterns and intermodal competition. The book draws on a broad range of archival materials, government investigations and reports, trade publications, interviews and photographs. An extensive bibliographical essay offers a guide to available sources. This book is a valuable contribution to filling one of the gaps in American economic and social history.
Treatment adherence among low-income children with asthma.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the adherence behaviors (MDI use, MDI/spacer technique, appointment attendance, smoking in the home) of low-income, urban, primarily African American children with asthma. METHOD Participants were 55 children ages 6 to 17 with moderate to severe asthma. Adherence to MDI anti-inflammatory agents was estimated primarily from canister weight at the follow-up appointment. RESULTS The mean use of MDI medication was 44% of prescribed use, with 27% of subjects demonstrating MDI/spacer technique likely to prevent drug delivery. Almost half reported that household members smoked cigarettes, and 21% missed scheduled follow-up appointments. CONCLUSIONS These findings have implications for how clinicians should assess and improve adherence.
Somatosensory evoked potentials of hand muscles in stroke and their modification by botulinum toxin: a preliminary study.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of botulinum toxin A on spasticity and somatosensory evoked potentials of hand muscles in patients who have undergone cerebrovascular accident. DESIGN Preliminary, prospective, before-after study design. PATIENTS Six subjects prospectively followed after application of botulinum toxin A in the rehabilitation department of a university hospital. METHODS All patients underwent botulinum toxin A injection to the upper extremity muscles in varying combinations and carried out a home-based exercise programme. Primary outcome measure was median somatosensory evoked potential of hand muscles (N20). Secondary outcome measures were: spasticity assessed clinically by Modified Ashworth Scales (MAS); functional ability analysis assessed by Physician's Rating Scale (PRS); and functional difficulties reported by patients or their care-givers by patient disability and care-giver burden rating scale (PD & CBRS). RESULTS MAS, PRS and PD & CBRS improved with botulinum toxin A treatment. In the affected limb, N20 potentials were impaired compared with those in the unaffected side. With botulinum toxin A treatment, although improvement in overall N20-P25 amplitudes was significant, as a result of limited sample size, post hoc pair-wise comparisons with Bonferroni correction failed to yield any significant pairs. CONCLUSION The improvement in the median somatosensory evoked potentials following botulinum toxin A treatment suggests that central somatosensory patterns in hemiplegia can be modified by peripheral inputs.
The Role of Personal Values in Determining Tourist Motivations: An Application to the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, a Cultural Special Event

While research surrounding festivals and special events has examined concepts of individuals' personal values and motivations for attending, studies focusing on both are lacking. Using the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival in Manitoba, Canada as the context, the purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between personal values and motivations for attending the festival. More specifically the work had two primary research questions: First, what are the dominant tourist values and tourist motivations for visitors to the Winnipeg Fringe Festival? Second, what is the relationship between visitors' values and their motivations for attending the festival? Treating the top five motivation items as separate dependent variables, a series of stepwise regression analyses were conducted. The nine personal value items explained at most, 13% of the variance in the five motivation items. Belonging explained the most variance across the five regression analyses. Implications for the festival as well as future research endeavors are highlighted.
Beyond QWERTY: augmenting touch screen keyboards with multi-touch gestures for non-alphanumeric input

Although many techniques have been proposed to improve text input on touch screens, the vast majority of this research ignores non-alphanumeric input (i.e., punctuation, symbols, and modifiers). To support this input, widely adopted commercial touch-screen interfaces require mode switches to alternate keyboard layouts for most punctuation and symbols. Our approach is to augment existing ten-finger QWERTY keyboards with multi-touch gestural input that can exist as a complement to the moded-keyboard approach. To inform our design, we conducted a study to elicit user-defined gestures from 20 participants. The final gesture set includes both multi-touch and single-touch gestures for commonly used non-alphanumeric text input. We implemented and conducted a preliminary evaluation of a touch-screen keyboard augmented with this technique. Findings show that using gestures for non-alphanumeric input is no slower than using keys, and that users strongly prefer gestures to a moded-keyboard interface.
Developing Moral Agency through Narrative

This paper poses the following question: When, in spite of knowing that it is wrong, people go on to hurt others, what does this mean for the development of moral agency? We begin by defining moral agency and briefly sketching relations between moral agency and other concepts. We then outline what three extant literatures suggest about this question: social domain theory, moral intuitionist theories, and theories of moral identity development. Building on these literatures, but moving beyond them, we propose that experiences of harming others are catalysts for the development of what we term moral agency. In the remainder of the paper, we outline a model for how moral agency develops that draws on research about the narrative development of self. We close by outlining some of the critical directions for future work that are suggested by our approach.
Gender(ed) Politics in Central and Eastern Europe1

This article examines the role of mainstream political participation in the quest for gender equitable citizenship as a measure of the attainment of democracy. Citizenship stands here as the appropriate measure for the implementation of women's rights as human rights. The article examines citizenship status through the prism of representation in mainstream politics in the context of democratisation in Central and Eastern Europe. Prior to European Union accession negotiations, gender was marginal on the political agenda in most countries in the region. Indeed, what counts as ‘political’ had been narrowed to denote formal party and legislative politics alone. The contradiction between this definition and the discursive validation of civil society involvement is explored, both within the region and by international donor agencies and supranational governments such as the European Union. Some empirical evidence of the barriers hindering women's access to the public sphere of the polity is presented. Finally, strategies such as the introduction of quotas that are designed to overcome the factors curtailing women's capacity to become active citizens in the public sphere of politics are discussed.