Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Longitudinal Study of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) among Pupils in Relation to SO2, NO2, O3 and PM10 in Schools in China

There are fewer longitudinal studies from China on symptoms as described for the sick building syndrome (SBS). Here, we performed a two-year prospective study and investigated associations between environmental parameters such as room temperature, relative air humidity (RH), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), particulate matter (PM10), and health outcomes including prevalence, incidence and remission of SBS symptoms in junior high schools in Taiyuan, China. Totally 2134 pupils participated at baseline, and 1325 stayed in the same classrooms during the study period (2010–2012). The prevalence of mucosal symptoms, general symptoms and symptoms improved when away from school (school-related symptoms) was 22.7%, 20.4% and 39.2%, respectively, at baseline, and the prevalence increased during follow-up (P<0.001). At baseline, both indoor and outdoor SO2 were found positively associated with prevalence of school-related symptoms. Indoor O3 was shown to be positively associated with prevalence of skin symptoms. At follow-up, indoor PM10 was found to be positively associated with new onset of skin, mucosal and general symptoms. CO2 and RH were positively associated with new onset of mucosal, general and school-related symptoms. Outdoor SO2 was positively associated with new onset of skin symptoms, while outdoor NO2 was positively associated with new onset of skin, general and mucosal symptoms. Outdoor PM10 was found to be positively associated with new onset of skin, general and mucosal symptoms as well as school-related symptoms. In conclusion, symptoms as described for SBS were commonly found in school children in Taiyuan City, China, and increased during the two-year follow-up period. Environmental pollution, including PM10, SO2 and NO2, could increase the prevalence and incidence of SBS and decrease the remission rate. Moreover, parental asthma and allergy (heredity) and pollen or pet allergy (atopy) can be risk factors for SBS.
Preventing Violent Extremism; A Policing Case Study of the West Midlands

In 2006, Britain published its first ever counter terrorism strategy. Entitled 'Countering International Terrorism: The United Kingdom's Strategy' (HM Government 2006) it aimed to enable people to go about their lives free from the risk of terrorism. Included within this strategy were four distinct work streams designed to cover all areas of counter terrorism. This article explores how one of these, the PREVENT work stream, has been implemented 'on the ground' by police officers. Such exploration is achieved through the presentation of the early findings from a recent case study of PREVENT policing conducted by the author with the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit. Language: en
Effect of Temperature on Replication of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease Viruses in Culicoides sonorensis (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

ABSTRACT Replication of arboviruses, including orbiviruses, within the vector has been shown to be temperature dependent. Cooler ambient temperatures slow virus replication in arthropod vectors, whereas viruses replicate faster and to higher titers at warmer ambient temperatures. Previous research with epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) serotype 1 demonstrated that higher temperatures were associated with shorter extrinsic incubation periods in Culicoides sonorensis Wirth & Jones, a confirmed vector of EHDV in North America. To further our understanding of the effect of temperature on replication of EHDV within the vector, C. sonorensis were experimentally infected with one of three EHDV strains representing three serotypes (1, 2, and 7). Midges were fed defibrinated white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) blood spiked with EHDV (≥106.5 TCID50/ml) through a parafilm membrane using an artificial feeding device and were then held at 20, 25, or 30°C. In addition to this in vitro method, a white-tailed deer experimentally infected with EHDV-7 was used to provide an infectious bloodmeal to determine if the results were comparable with those from the in vitro feeding method. Whole midges were processed for virus isolation and titration at regular intervals following feeding; midges with ≥102.7 TCID50 were considered potentially competent to transmit virus. The virus recovery rates were high throughout the study and all three viruses replicated within C. sonorensis to high titer (≥ 102.7 TCID50/ midge). Across all virus strains, the time to detection of potentially competent midges decreased with increasing temperature: 12–16 d postfeeding (dpf) at 20°C, 4–6 dpf at 25°C, and 2–4 dpf at 30°C. Significant differences in replication of the three viruses in C. sonorensis were observed, with EHDV-2 replicating to a high titer in a smaller proportion of midges and with lower peak titers. The findings are consistent with previous studies of related orbiviruses, showing that increasing temperature can shorten the apparent extrinsic incubation period for multiple EHDV strains (endemic and exotic) in C. sonorensis.
Post‐transplantation lymphoproliferative disorder in pediatric kidney‐transplant recipients – A national study

Cleper R, Ben Shalom E, Landau D, Weissman I, Krause I, Konen O, Rahamimov R, Mor E, Bar‐Nathan N, Frishberg Y, Davidovits M. Post‐transplantation lymphoproliferative disorder in pediatric kidney‐transplant recipients – A national study.
Summary based structures with improved sublinear recovery for compressed sensing

We introduce a new class of measurement matrices for compressed sensing, using low order summaries over binary sequences of a given length. We prove recovery guarantees for three reconstruction algorithms using the proposed measurements, including l1 minimization and two combinatorial methods. In particular, one of the algorithms recovers k-sparse vectors of length N in sublinear time poly(k log N), and requires at most O(k log N log log N) measurements. The empirical oversampling constant of the algorithm is significantly better than existing sublinear recovery algorithms such as Chaining Pursuit and Sudocodes. In particular, for 103 ≤ N ≤ 1012 and k = 100, the oversampling factor is between 5 to 25. We provide preliminary insight into how the proposed constructions, and the fast recovery scheme can be used in a number of practical applications such as market basket analysis, and real time compressed sensing implementation.
Generating converging eigenenergy bounds for the discrete states of the -ix3 non-Hermitian potential

Recent investigations by Bender and Boettcher and by Mezincescu have argued that the discrete spectrum of the non-Hermitian potential V(x) = -ix3 should be real. We give further evidence for this through a novel formulation which transforms the general one-dimensional Schrodinger equation (with complex potential) into a fourth-order linear differential equation for |Ψ(x)|2. This permits the application of the eigenvalue moment method, developed by Handy, Bessis and coworkers, yielding rapidly converging lower and upper bounds to the low-lying discrete state energies. We adapt this formalism to the pure imaginary cubic potential, generating tight bounds for the first five discrete state energy levels.
Gamblers can discriminate ‘tight’ from ‘loose’ electronic gambling machines

All slot machines make money over time, but the payouts to the players can differ. ‘Loose’ machines pay out more than ‘tight’ machines. Gamblers (n = 1402) at Ontario slots venues were assessed using the Problem Gambling Severity Index. Their beliefs about slots were polled using the Informational Biases Scale. Problem gamblers were more likely than non-problem and at-risk gamblers to endorse the belief that ‘some slot machines keep me from winning because they are programmed to produce fewer wins than normal’. We then showed that after extensive play (60 hours), 9 out of 10 gamblers were able to correctly discriminate a ‘loose’ machine (98% payback) from a ‘tight’ machine (85% payback). Problem gamblers' assertions that there are ‘loose’ and ‘tight’ machines demonstrate a belief rooted in reality. The ability to distinguish ‘loose’ from ‘tight’ machines may be interpreted as a skill by players. Such skill, when overestimated, may lead to erroneous cognitions.
Efficient pH Dependent Drug Delivery to Target Cancer Cells by Gold Nanoparticles Capped with Carboxymethyl Chitosan

Doxorubicin (DOX) was immobilized on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) capped with carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) for effective delivery to cancer cells. The carboxylic group of carboxymethyl chitosan interacts with the amino group of the doxorubicin (DOX) forming stable, non-covalent interactions on the surface of AuNPs. The carboxylic group ionizes at acidic pH, thereby releasing the drug effectively at acidic pH suitable to target cancer cells. The DOX loaded gold nanoparticles were effectively absorbed by cervical cancer cells compared to free DOX and their uptake was further increased at acidic conditions induced by nigericin, an ionophore that causes intracellular acidification. These results suggest that DOX loaded AuNPs with pH-triggered drug releasing properties is a novel nanotheraputic approach to overcome drug resistance in cancer.
Control of insulin gene expression by glucose.

Northern-blot analysis was used to demonstrate that an increase in extracellular glucose concentration increased the content of preproinsulin mRNA 2.3-fold in the beta-cell line HIT T15. A probe for the constitutively expressed glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was used as a control. Mannoheptulose blocked this effect of glucose. A stimulatory effect on preproinsulin mRNA levels was also observed in response to mannose and to 4-methyl-2-oxopentanoate. However, galactose and arginine were ineffective. Glucagon, forskolin and dibutyryl cyclic AMP also elicited an increase in HIT-cell preproinsulin mRNA. The ability of the 5' upstream region of the preproinsulin gene to mediate the effect of glucose and other metabolites on transcription was studied by using a bacterial reporter gene technique. HIT cells were transfected with a plasmid, pOK1, containing the upstream region of the rat insulin-1 gene (-345 to +1) linked to chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT). Co-transfection with a plasmid pRSV beta-gal containing beta-galactosidase driven by the Rous sarcoma virus promoter was used as a control for the efficiency of transfection; expression of CAT activity in transfected HIT cells was normalized by reference to expression of beta-galactosidase. Glucose caused a dose-dependent increase in expression of CAT activity, with a half-maximal effect at 5.5 mM and a maximum response of 4-fold. Mannoheptulose blocked this effect of glucose. Other metabolites (mannose, 4-methyl-2-oxopentanoate and leucine plus glutamine) were also able to increase insulin promoter-driven CAT expression, but galactose and arginine were ineffective. The stimulatory effect of glucose on CAT expression was not blocked by verapamil and was inhibited by increasing extracellular Ca2+ from 0.4 to 5 mM. Both dibutyryl cyclic AMP and forskolin caused an increase in insulin promoter-driven gene expression in the presence of 1 mM-glucose, but neither agent further increased the level of expression occurring in the presence of a maximally stimulating glucose concentration. The phorbol ester phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) also increased insulin promoter-driven CAT expression in the presence of 1 mM-, but not 11 mM-glucose. Staurosporine blocked the stimulatory effect not only of PMA but also of glucose and of dibutyryl cyclic AMP. We conclude that the 5' upstream region of the insulin gene contains sequences responsible for mediating the stimulatory effect of glucose on insulin-gene transcription. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Gender processing in native and nonnative Russian speakers

Abstract Traditional computational accounts of gender representation and learning (e.g., Carroll, 1989, 1995) differ radically from cue-based and connectionist accounts. The latter but not the former predicts that access to noun gender will vary depending on the reliability of noun endings (and other sublexical elements and morphological constituents) in marking gender, and that agreement markers can be used strategically to constrain the genders of ambiguously marked nouns. Adult native (L1) speakers of Russian (Experiment 1) and advanced nonnative (L2) speakers (Experiment 2) read Russian sentences on a computer and were asked to choose one of two inflected past tense verbs in a forced choice task. The verbs either matched or mismatched the gender of the subject NP. Half of the target trials used opaque (end-palatalized) subject nouns, which were ambiguously marked for gender, and the other half used transparent (regularly marked) subject nouns. Noun type was crossed with the presence or absence of a gender-marked adjective in the subject NP. When an adjective was present in the subject NP, both L1 and L2 speakers were significantly faster at reading and selecting the correct verb form. L2 but not L1 speakers showed longer reading and choice latencies and made more errors when the subject noun was opaque. The data showed that L2 speakers used adjective inflections to disambiguate the gender of opaque subject nouns and to select gender appropriate verb inflections. The accuracy data for L1 and L2 speakers were tested against several connectionist models. The models' success in accounting for the data suggested that L1 and L2 speakers may depend on a common learning mechanism and thus resemble one another at the computational level, contrary to traditional computational accounts (Carroll, 1989, 1995).
The Effects of News Frames on Readers' Thoughts and Recall

This study investigated whether and how journalistic news frames affect readers' thoughts about and recall of two issues. A sample of 187 participants was randomly assigned to one of four experimental framing conditions, which included (a) conflict, (b) human interest, (c) attribution of responsibility, and (d) economic consequences, as well as a control condition. Each participant was presented with two newspaper stories that dealt with two socially and politically pertinent issues in Europe: crime and the introduction of the euro, the common European currency. Each story had an identical core component, whereas the title, opening paragraph, and closing paragraph were varied to reflect the frame. The study found that frames played a significant role in the readers' thought-listing responses, and they defined the ways that readers presented information about both issues. The results showed that the human interest news frame can have negative consequences for recall.
Fluência verbal semântica e fonêmica em crianças: funções cognitivas e análise temporal

Semantic and phonemic verbal fl uency in children: cognitive functions and temporal analysis Verbal fluency tests are sensitive to different neuropsychological functions used in assessing the integrity of the frontal and temporal lobes. In this study, 120 healthy children (aged 7 to 10 years) were examined through a semantic and a phonemic verbal fluency test. The results of exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and correlation analysis seem to indicate that these two verbal fluency tests depend on different neurocognitive functions. The number of words produced in the phonemic task was significantly lower than the semantic task, indicating that is cognitively more complex. No gender differences were found, but a significant effect was observed for children's age, showing the sensitivity of these verbal fluency tests to neurodevelopmental processes. The analyze of performance over the 60 seconds showed a significant production of words in the first 15 seconds and decrease over the remaining 45 seconds.
Racial Minority and Female Employment in Policing: The Implications of “Glacial” Change

This article reviews the issues surrounding the employment of racial minorities and women by American police departments. It places particular emphasis on the extent to which slow but uneventful change forces a reconsideration of our understanding of the police. The article reviews the available data on police employment and examines the issues surrounding the factors associated with progress toward equal employment opportunity, the impact of changing employment practices on police performance, public attitudes, and the dynamics of the police subculture.
Comparison of Compositional and Morphological Atom-Probe Tomography Analyses for a Multicomponent Fe-Cu Steel

A multicomponent Fe-Cu based steel is studied using atom-probe tomography. The precipitates are identified using two different methodologies and subsequent morphological and compositional results are compared. The precipitates are first identified using a maximum separation distance algorithm, the envelope method, and then by a concentration threshold method, an isoconcentration surface. We discuss in detail the proper selection of the parameters needed to delineate precipitates utilizing both methods. The results of the two methods exhibit a difference of 44 identified precipitates, which can be attributed to differences in the basis of both methods and the sensitivity of our results to user-prescribed parameters. The morphology of the precipitates, characterized by four different precipitate radii and precipitate size distribution functions (PSDs), are compared and evaluated. A variation of less than ∼8% is found between the different radii. Two types of concentration profiles are compared, giving qualitatively similar results. Both profiles show Cu-rich precipitates containing Fe with elevated concentrations of Ni, Al, and Mn near the heterophase interfaces. There are, however, quantitative disagreements due to differences in the basic foundations of the two analysis methods.
Diogenes Syndrome ± how should we manage it?

Diogenes Syndrome, or self neglect in the elderly, is discussed, including description, history and management. It is proposed that it is often a positive reaction rather than a passive deterioration. The rights of the individual must be considered and in the absence of illness, management must be by persuasion and consensus. The number of people involved in support must be kept to a minimum, to avoid further alienation of the patient from society.
(Re)creating citizenship: Saskatchewan high school students’ understandings of the ‘good’ citizen

Citizenship education is of central importance in curriculum and schooling, as evidenced by the proliferation of research and writing in the area over the last 20 years. Building on existing citizenship literature, this paper discusses one aspect of a larger project exploring the ways in which citizenship is discursively produced in officially mandated school curriculum and the ways in which students themselves understand and take up narratives of ‘good’ citizenship in light of their diverse experiences and social locations. Using an image-based approach to research, students visually represented and then discussed with researchers their perceptions of good citizenship. What became apparent through the analysis of images and focus group transcripts was the ease with which students, regardless of their social locations, reproduced commonsense narratives of ‘good’ citizenship, including socially sanctioned concern for the environment, a sense of nationalism and national pride, respect for relationships and a communal ethos, and the official discourse of multiculturalism. Missing from students’ understandings of ‘good’ citizenship was any kind of social analysis, suggesting that they largely accepted citizenship as universally realized and experienced by individuals.
Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors on liver regeneration in rats.

BACKGROUND/AIMS We previously reported that bradykinin augments liver regeneration in rats. The angiotensin-converting enzyme is also a powerful bradykinin-degrading enzyme. METHODOLOGY Adult rats received lisinopril, captopril, enalaprilat, or saline solution, intraperitoneally, for 5 days before 70% partial hepatectomy, and daily after surgery. They received also losartan and bradykinin. Rats were sacrificed at 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, and 120 hours after hepatectomy. Liver regeneration was evaluated in terms of the restoration of liver weight in proportion to body weight, liver DNA content and immunostaining for proliferating cell nuclear antigen. RESULTS The proliferating cell nuclear antigen labeling index was higher in the lisinopril-treated group than in the control group at all time points after hepatectomy, except 120 hours. The remnant liver dry weight was higher in lisinopril-treated rats than in control rats at early time points after surgery. The liver DNA content was higher in three angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor-treated groups than in the control group at 36 hours after hepatectomy. The bradykinin-induced regenerative response was similar to the lisinopril-induced response, and losartan induced a lower hepatocyte labeling index in comparison to the control group at 36 hours after hepatectomy. CONCLUSIONS The present results provide evidence that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors remarkably enhance liver regeneration.
Daily work contexts and resistance to organisational change : the role of leader-member exchange, development climate, and change process characteristics.

In the last decade, researchers have started to investigate the psychological processes that are involved in employees’ experiences of organisational change. The present study examined how characteristics of the daily work context related to employees’ resistance to change through aspects of the change process. The results supported the research model, showing that the relationships of leader–member exchange and perceived development climate with employees’ resistance to a merger were fully mediated by three change process characteristics (i.e. information, participation, and trust in management). In addition, two individual-level characteristics (i.e. openness to job changes, and organisational tenure) showed significant relationships with resistance to change. Employees’ role breadth self-efficacy was not related to resistance. Together, the results suggest a number of ways in which organisations can increase the effectiveness of their change efforts. Au cours de la derniere decennie, les chercheurs ont commenceaetudier les processus psychologiques a l’œvre dans les experiences des employes lors d’un changement organisationnel. La presente etude examine la facon dont les caracteristiques d’un contexte de travail quotidien sont en lien avec la resistance au changement des salaries a travers certains aspects du processus de changement. Les resultats confirment le modele de recherche en montrant que les relations de LMX (Leader–Member Exchange) et du climat de developpement percu avec la resistance des salaries a une fusion etaient totalement mediees par trois caracteristiques processuelles de changement (l’information, la participation et la confiance dans la direction). De plus, les caracteristiques individuelles (ouverture aux changements de travail et titularisation au sein de l’organisation) sont significativement liees a la resistance au changement. L’efficacite de l’ampleur du role des salaries n’est pas liee a la resistance. Ensemble, ces resultats ouvrent quelques voies que les organisations peuvent utiliser pour augmenter l’efficacite de leurs efforts de changement.