Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Images of smokers and willingness to smoke among African American pre-adolescents: an application of the prototype/willingness model of adolescent health risk behavior to smoking initiation.

OBJECTIVE This study used the prototype/willingness model of adolescent health risk behavior to examine factors related to onset of smoking. METHODS Two waves of data were collected from a panel of 742 African American children (mean age=10.5 at Wave 1) and their primary caregivers. Measures included cognitions outlined by the prototype model as well as self-reports of smoking by the parent and child. RESULTS Structural equation modeling revealed a pattern consistent with expectations generated by the prototype model. The relation between contextual, familial, and dispositional factors-including neighborhood risk, parental smoking, and children's academic orientation-and the initiation of smoking at Wave 2, two years later, was mediated by the children's cognitions. Primary among these cognitions were the children's images of smokers and children's willingness to smoke. CONCLUSIONS Smoking cognitions mediate the impact of important distal factors (such as context, family environment, and disposition) on the onset of smoking in children. Perhaps more important, it is possible to predict onset of smoking in African American children as young as age 10 by assessing the cognitive factors suggested by the prototype model.
The effects of psychological contract breach on job outcomes

THE EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT BREACH ON JOB OUTCOMES by Nichole S. Ballou The present study examined the effects of psychological contract breach on attitudinal and behavioral job outcomes including job satisfaction, intention to remain with one’s organization, perceived organizational support, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Additionally, the present study also examined whether the effect of the psychological contract breach on these job outcomes varied based on the type of psychological contract an employee had (i.e., transactional or relational). A total of 89 partand full-time employees participated in this study. Results showed that the breach of one’s psychological contract had a significant effect on one’s job satisfaction, intention to remain, and perceived organizational support. Additionally, there was a significant interaction between psychological contract breach and psychological contract type such that when employees experienced a breach of their psychological contract, the effect of the psychological contract breach on perceived organizational support and organizational citizenship behaviors varied depending on psychological contract type.
IMRT for head and neck cancer: reducing xerostomia and dysphagia

Dysphagia and xerostomia are the main sequellae of chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer, and the main factors in reducing long-term patient quality of life. IMRT uses advanced technology to focus the high radiation doses on the targets and avoid irradiation of non-involved tissues. The decisions about sparing organs and tissues whose damage causes xerostomia and dysphagia depends on the evidence for dose–response relationships for the organs causing these sequellae. This paper discusses the evidence for the contribution of radiotherapy to xerostomia via damage of the major salivary glands (parotid and submandibular) and minor salivary glands within the oral cavity, and the contribution of radiotherapy-related effect on important swallowing structures causing dysphagia. Recommendations for dose limits to these organs, based on measurements of xerostomia and dysphagia following radiotherapy, are provided here.
Fluid Waters and Rigid Livelihoods in the Okavango Delta of Botswana

Current and future impacts of climate change include increasing variability in a number of biophysical processes, such as temperature, precipitation, and flooding. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has suggested that Southern Africa is particularly vulnerable to the anticipated impacts from global climate change and that social and ecological systems in the region will be disrupted and likely transformed in future decades. This article engages with current research within geography and cognate disciplines on the possibilities for responsive livelihoods within socio-ecological systems experiencing biophysical change. The paper draws from an ongoing research project that is evaluating perceptions of environmental change, specifically of precipitation and flooding dynamics, in order to understand social responses. We report on the findings from qualitative interviewing conducted in 2010 and 2011 in the communities of Etsha 1, Etsha 6, and Etsha 13 within the Okavango Delta of Botswana. While flooding and precipitation patterns have been dynamic and spatially differentiated, some livelihood systems have proven rigid in their capacity to enable adaptive responses. We assert this demonstrates the need for detailed research on livelihood dynamics to support adjustments to biophysical variability within socio-ecological systems experiencing change.
Classification and identification of inherited brachydactylies

A search for patterns of malformation in the brachydactylies has resulted in new ways to identify the different types. Type A-1 can be characterised by a proportionate reduction of the middle phalanges. Type B is thought to be an amputation-like defect. In type C the fourth middle phalanx is usually the longest, and type E (Riccardi and Holmes, 1974) is characterised by short metacarpals and short distal phalanges. Short stature is usually present in type A-1 and type E brachydactyly (Riccardi and Holmes, 1974) and it may be present in some individuals with brachydactyly C. As short children have short hands, it is possible that in patients with very mild expressions of brachydactyly the cause of the short stature may be overlooked. It is suggested that in every child with proportionate short stature the hands should be carefully examined. If the hands are disproportionately short, if any distal creases are missing, if there is a shortening, however mild, of any finger, if any metacarpals are short, then it is important to have ϰ-rays to look for brachydactyly A-1, C, or E. Much information is still needed. It is important in future reports to have skeletal surveys, pattern profile analyses, and to note the height of children with brachydactyly C. Most interesting of all will be when fetal limbs of each type become available for study.
Family-based association analysis of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene polymorphisms in high myopia.

PURPOSE To investigate the association of high myopia with polymorphisms in the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene, a potential candidate for myopia development. METHODS Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were screened and identified in the HGF gene region with denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography, and their linkage disequilibrium pattern was established in a Han Chinese population (n=150). Tag SNPs were selected and genotyped using restriction digestion and fluorescence polarization assays for 128 nuclear families with 133 severely myopic (mean spherical equivalent [MSE]<or=-10.0 D) offspring. A family-based association study was performed using FBAT and GenAssoc (Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK). RESULTS Of three tag SNPs (HGF5-5b, HGFe9, and HGFe10b) selected for association study, HGF5-5b, located in the upstream region, was found to be associated with high myopia considered as a quantitative trait (MSE) in additive, dominant, and recessive models (P=0.0157, 0.0108, and 0.0108, respectively). The genotype relative risk was 2.19 for the genotype C/T, and 2.14 for T/T with reference to C/C of HGF5-5b. Significantly reduced transmission was demonstrated for the haplotypes C-A-C (HGF5-5b, HGFe9, and HGFe10b; P=0.0031) and C-A (HGF5-5b and HGFe9; P=0.0015) in the recessive model, whereas significantly increased transmission was found for haplotype T-C (HGF5-5b and HGFe10b; P=0.0040) under the dominant model. Preferential transmission of haplotypes remained significant even after correction for multiple comparisons. Analysis gave similar results, with myopia considered to be a qualitative trait. CONCLUSIONS HGF is a potential locus associated with high myopia in the Han Chinese population. This is the first study reporting the association of an HGF gene polymorphism with high myopia.
Tester Feedback Driven Fault Localization

Coincidentally correct test cases are those that execute faulty statements but do not cause failures. Such test cases reduce the effectiveness of spectrum-based fault localization techniques, such as Ochiai, because the correlation of failure with the execution of a faulty statement is lowered. Thus, coincidentally correct test cases need to be predicted and removed from the test suite used for fault localization. Techniques for predicting coincidentally correct test cases can produce false positives, such as when one predicts a fixed percentage that is higher than the actual percentage of coincidentally correct test cases. False positives may cause non-faulty statements to be assigned higher suspiciousness scores than the faulty statements. We propose an approach that iteratively predicts and removes coincidentally correct test cases. In each iteration, we present the tester the set of statements that share the highest Ochiai suspiciousness score. If the tester reports that these statements are not faulty, we use that feedback to determine a number that is guaranteed to be less than or equal to the actual number of coincidentally correct test cases. We predict and remove that number of coincidentally correct test cases, recalculate the suspiciousness scores of the remaining statements, and repeat the process. We evaluated our approach with the Siemens benchmark suite and the Unix utilities, grep and gzip. Our approach outperformed an existing approach that predicts a fixed percentage of test cases as coincidentally correct. The results with Ochiai were mixed. In some cases, our approach outperformed Ochiai by up to 67%. In others, Ochiai was more effective.
Effect of RyR2 refractoriness and hypercalcemia on calcium overload, spontaneous release, and calcium alternans

In this work we use a computer model of a ventricular rabbit myocyte to study several factors that affect sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium load, such as hypercalcemia, SR calcium buffering, or ryanodine receptor (RyR2) dynamics. General conditions for the appearance of calcium spontaneous release in situations with calcium overload are obtained. Furthermore, we study the appearance of alternans under these conditions. The presence of calcium alternans may be due to either a steep calcium load release relation, resulting in oscillations in SR Ca content, or to a slow recovery from refractoriness of the RyR2. We find that a change in calsequestrin buffering dynamics or extracellular calcium concentration greatly affects the appearance of the former type of alternans, but not of the latter.
Optimal flux states, reaction replaceability and response to knockouts in the human red blood cell

Characterizing the capabilities, criticalities and response to perturbations of genome-scale metabolic networks is a basic problem with important applications. A key question concerns the identification of the potentially most harmful knockouts. The integration of combinatorial methods with sampling techniques to explore the space of viable flux states may provide crucial insights on this issue. We assess the replaceability of every metabolic conversion in the human red blood cell by enumerating the alternative paths from substrate to product, obtaining a complete map of the potential damage of single enzymopathies. Sampling the space of optimal flux states in the healthy and in the mutated cell reveals both correlations and complementarity between topologic and dynamical aspects.
Political cycles and risk and return in the Australian stock market, Menzies to Howard

This paper examines the presence of a political cycle in Australian daily stock returns over the forty-seven years from 6 January 1958 to 30 December 2005. The period selected includes nineteen federal elections, twenty-five ministries and five terms of Liberal-National or Labor government. The political cycle is defined in terms of the party in power, the time since the last election and election information effects. The market variables are defined in terms of nominal and real returns and nominal and real return volatility. The results indicate returns are highest during the ministries of Holt-McEwen and Hawke and lowest during Whitlam and Fraser, while risk is highest during Whitlam and Hawke and lowest during Menzies and Holt-McEwen. However, regression analysis shows that Liberal-National and Labor governments more generally differ in the volatility of returns where political cycle-sourced return volatility increases at a decreasing rate with the time in power. Such risk differences potentially arise from the different parties’ economic and social policies, uncertainty among investors about these policies, or doubt among voters concerning future election outcomes.
Getting Institutions “Right” for Whom? Credit Constraints and the Impact of Property Rights on the Quantity and Composition of Investment

The effects of property rights on investment are typically hypothesized to occur through a security-induced investment demand and a collateral-based credit supply. Using a two period model, this paper shows that for farms that are constrained in their access to liquidity, the investment demand effect will itself induce an increase in the endogenous shadow price of liquidity. Other things equal, this induced increase in the price of liquidity will discourage capital accumulation, and that the desired stock of expropriation-immune movable capital may decrease with tenure security. Empirical analysis of farm-level data from Paraguay corroborates this proposition and reveals that the underlying pattern of wealth-biased capital access creates a world in which property rights reform has differential effects across producer wealth classes and gets institutions "right" and agriculture moving for only for a wealthier subset of producers.
Foetal and cancer patient fibroblasts produce an autocrine migration-stimulating factor not made by normal adult cells.

We have previously reported that (1) the migration of foetal and adult fibroblasts into three-dimensional collagen matrices is differentially affected by cell density, and (2) skin fibroblasts from cancer patients commonly display a foetal-like mode of migratory behaviour. Data presented here indicate that differences in the migration of these cell types are particularly apparent in cultures plated at high density (i.e. at cell confluence); under these conditions, foetal fibroblasts and the foetal-like fibroblasts of cancer patients migrate into the three-dimensional collagen matrix to a significantly greater extent than do normal adult cells. In this initial study concerned with the biochemical basis of these observations, we report that medium conditioned by either foetal or cancer patient fibroblasts stimulates the migration of confluent adult cells. This stimulation of migration is specific to confluent cells, as the migration of subconfluent adult fibroblasts is unaffected by these conditioned media. Gel filtration chromatography of foetal fibroblast-conditioned medium indicates that migration-stimulating activity is recovered in a single peak with an apparent molecular mass in the range of 50-60 (X 10(3]. The active migration stimulating factor (MSF) in both foetal and cancer patient fibroblast-conditioned media appears to be a protein stable at acid pH, but inactivated by heat, alkaline pH and reductive alkylation. MSF produced by foetal and cancer patient fibroblasts is presumably responsible for the characteristically elevated levels of migration displayed by these cells in confluent culture, thereby suggesting an autocrine mode of action for this factor. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Is Australia Risk Averse? Some Evidence from the All Ordinaries Index Market

Some previous work has documented a negative and insignificant risk-return relation in the Australian stock market. This study follows a systematic approach to re-examine such relationship in the All Ordinaries Index market and provide some evidence in favor of a positive and significant risk-return trade-off in the Australian market. We employ a modified univariate EGARCH-in-mean model, the MGME model, and two GMM systems with ICAPM of Merton (1973) in estimating conditional simple and partial risk-return relation in the market, considering and controlling for various empirical factors affecting the estimation. It is found that simple risk-return relation can be positive and partial risk-return relation (as in the ICAPM) is positive and significant in the All Ordinaries Index market. We employ alternative risk measures and a different econometrical approach in testing the findings and demonstrate the results to be robust and reasonable. We conclude that this study provides some evidence that the All Ordinaries market has a positive risk-return relationship and the Australian stock market investors are risk-averse.
Neural contributions to the motivational control of appetite in humans

The motivation to eat in humans is a complex process influenced by intrinsic mechanisms relating to the hunger and satiety cascade, and extrinsic mechanisms based on the appetitive incentive value of individual foods, which can themselves induce desire. This study was designed to investigate the neural basis of these two factors contributing to the control of motivation to eat within the same experimental design using positron emission tomography. Using a novel counterbalanced approach, participants were scanned in two separate sessions, once after fasting and once after food intake, in which they imagined themselves in a restaurant and considered a number of items on a menu, and were asked to choose their most preferred. All items were tailored to each individual and varied in their incentive value. No actual foods were presented. In response to a hungry state, increased activation was shown in the hypothalamus, amygdala and insula cortex as predicted, as well as the medulla, striatum and anterior cingulate cortex. Satiety, in contrast, was associated with increased activation in the lateral orbitofrontal and temporal cortex. Only activity in the vicinity of the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex was observed in response to the processing of extrinsic appetitive incentive information. These results suggest that the contributions of intrinsic homeostatic influences, and extrinsic incentive factors to the motivation to eat, are somewhat dissociable neurally, with areas of convergence in the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex. The findings of this study have implications for research into the underlying mechanisms of eating disorders.
Functional Connectivity in the Brain Estimated by Analysis of Gamma Events

It is known that gamma activity is generated by local networks. In this paper we introduced a new approach for estimation of functional connectivity between neuronal networks by measuring temporal relations between peaks of gamma event amplitudes. We have shown in freely moving rats that gamma events recorded between electrodes 1.5 mm apart in the majority of cases, are generated by different neuronal modules interfering with each other. The map of functional connectivity between brain areas during the resting state, created based on gamma event temporal relationships is in agreement with anatomical connections and with maps described by fMRI methods during the resting state. The transition from the resting state to exploratory activity is accompanied by decreased functional connectivity between most brain areas. Our data suggest that functional connectivity between interhemispheric areas depends on GABAergic transmission, while intrahemispheric functional connectivity is kainate receptor dependent. This approach presents opportunities for merging electrographic and fMRI data on brain functional connectivity in normal and pathological conditions.
XMM-Newton and Chandra measurements of the AGN intrinsic absorption: dependence on luminosity and redshift

We combine bright XMM-Newton data with the Chandra Deep Field South observations to explore the behavior of the intrinsic AGN absorption, as a function of redshift and luminosity. Our sample consists of 359 sources selected in the hard 2–8 keV band, spanning the flux range 6 $\times$ 10 -16 –3 $\times$ 10 -13 $\rm erg~cm^{-2}~s^{-1}$ with a high rate of spectroscopic or photometric redshift completeness (100 and 85 per cent respectively for the Chandra and XMM-Newton data). We derive the column density values using X-ray spectral fits. We find that the fraction of obscured AGN falls with increasing luminosity in agreement with previous findings. The fraction of obscured AGN shows an apparent increase at high redshifts ($z>2$). Simulations show that this effect can most probably be attributed to the fact that at high redshifts the column densities are overestimated.
Does the Minimum Wage Affect Employment in Mexico

This paper estimates the impact of a more than 50 percent reduction in the minimum to average wage ratio in Mexico between 1970 and 1990 using panel data on minimum wages in thirty-two Mexican states. Minimum wages are found to have little effect on male employment but a negative employment effect on females. Estimated elasticities are between -. 58 and -1.25. Minimum wages do not affect employment of young males but have a small positive impact on the employment of older males, ages 55 to 64. This evidence suggests that increases in minimum wages shift demand away from less skilled workers towards relatively more skilled workers.
Characterization of Linoleate 10-Hydratase of Lactobacillus plantarum and Novel Antifungal Metabolites

Lactobacilli convert linoleic acid to the antifungal compound 10-hydroxy-12-octadecenoic acid (10-HOE) by linoleate 10-hydratase (10-LAH). However, the effect of this conversion on cellular membrane physiology and properties of the cell surface have not been demonstrated. Moreover, Lactobacillus plantarum produces 13-hydroxy-9-octadecenoic acid (13-HOE) in addition to 10-HOE, but the antifungal activity of 13-HOE was unknown. Phylogenetic analyses conducted in this study did not differentiate between 10-LAH and linoleate 13-hydratase (13-LAH). Thus, linoleate hydratases (LAHs) must be characterized through their differences in their activities of linoleate conversion. Four genes encoding putative LAHs from lactobacilli were cloned, heterologous expressed, purified and identified as FAD-dependent 10-LAH. The unsaturated fatty acid substrates stimulated the growth of lactobacilli. We also investigated the role of 10-LAH in ethanol tolerance, membrane fluidity and hydrophobicity of cell surfaces in lactobacilli by disruption of lah. Compared with the L. plantarum lah deficient strain, 10-LAH in wild-type strain did not exert effect on cell survival and membrane fluidity under ethanol stress, but influenced the cell surface hydrophobicity. Moreover, deletion of 10-LAH in L. plantarum facilitated purification of 13-HOE and demonstration of its antifungal activity against Penicillium roqueforti and Aspergillus niger.
Market Microstructure: A Review from Down Under

The early automation of the Australian and New Zealand financial markets provided researchers with access to high-frequency data to undertake extensive empirical market microstructure research. We use this anniversary edition of Accounting and Finance to review some of this research and to discuss the development of the Australian and New Zealand markets since their automation. We identify issues currently facing the markets and highlight potential areas for future research. The paper also provides a review of market microstructure theory on inventory control models and asymmetric information models.