Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between Birth Characteristics and Cardiovascular Autonomic Function at Mid-Life

Background Low birth weight is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. As abnormal cardiac autonomic function is a common feature in cardiovascular diseases, we tested the hypothesis that low birth weight may also be associated with poorer cardiac autonomic function in middle-aged subjects. Methods At the age of 46, the subjects of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 were invited to examinations including questionnaires about health status and life style and measurement of vagally-mediated heart rate variability (rMSSD) from R-R intervals (RRi) and spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in both seated and standing positions. Maternal parameters had been collected in 1965–1966 since the 16th gestational week and birth variables immediately after delivery. For rMSSD, 1,799 men and 2,279 women without cardiorespiratory diseases and diabetes were included and 902 men and 1,020 women for BRS. The analyses were adjusted for maternal (age, anthropometry, socioeconomics, parity, gestational smoking) and adult variables (life style, anthropometry, blood pressure, glycemic and lipid status) potentially confounding the relationship between birth weight and autonomic function. Results In men, birth weight correlated negatively with seated (r = -0.058, p = 0.014) and standing rMSSD (r = -0.090, p<0.001), as well as with standing BRS (r = -0.092, p = 0.006). These observations were verified using relevant birth weight categories (<2,500 g; 2,500–3,999 g; ≥4,000 g). In women, birth weight was positively correlated with seated BRS (r = 0.081, p = 0.010), but none of the other measures of cardiovascular autonomic function. These correlations remained significant after adjustment for potential confounders (p<0.05 for all). Conclusions In men, higher birth weight was independently associated with poorer cardiac autonomic function at mid-life. Same association was not observed in women. Our findings suggest that higher, not lower, birth weight in males may contribute to less favourable cardiovascular autonomic regulation and potentially to an elevated cardiovascular risk in later life.
Change‐oriented leadership, satisfaction and performance in work groups

Purpose – To analyse the impact of change‐oriented leaders on group outcomes. An explanatory model is proposed, in which the team climate (in particular as it relates to innovation) mediates between change‐oriented leadership and group outcomes, while group potency reinforces this relationship.Design/methodology/approach – This study is designed as a correlative and cross‐level research. The sample comprises 318 health‐care professionals in 78 health‐care teams at different public hospitals throughout Spain.Findings – Hierarchical regression analysis was used to evaluate mediating and moderating effects. Results offer considerable empirical support for the proposed model.Research limitations/implications – It would be of interest to increase the sample, differentiate it by service, and to get samples from other sectors, as well as to carry out experimental and longitudinal research. It would also be interesting to further explore the conditions that implement change‐oriented leadership impact, analysing e.
Dimensions of Teleautonomy in Mobile Agents

Teleautonomy, the remote issuing of instructions for control of an agent that is intended to function semi-autonomously while employing those instructions, is an important issue in intelligent agency. In most cases where intelligent agents are employed, we neither wish to directly control every detail, nor trust them to deal completely autonomously with every important task. Similarly, in multi-agent settings, agents must similarly instruct and be instructed by other agents. This paper breaks the concept of Teleautonomy into a spectrum along several dimensions for research purposes, emphasizing the demands each dimension places upon an intelligent agent. We also describe two current approaches to teleautonomy in mobile agents that together cover a breadth of this range.
The concept of mental disorder and the DSM-V

In view of the publication of the DSM-V researchers were asked to discuss the theoretical implications of the definition of mental disorders. The reasons for the use, in the DSM-III, of the term disorder instead of disease are considered. The analysis of these reasons clarifies the distinction between the general definition of disorder and its implicit, technical meaning which arises from concrete use in DSM disorders. The characteristics and limits of this technical meaning are discussed and contrasted to alternative definitions, like Wakefield’s harmful/dysfunction analysis. It is shown that Wakefield’s analysis faces internal theoretical problems in addition to practical limits for its acceptance in the DSM-V. In particular, it is shown that: a) the term dysfunction is not purely factual but intrinsically normative/evaluative; b) it is difficult to clarify what dysfunctions are in the psychiatric context (the dysfunctional mechanism involved being unknown in most cases and the use of evolutionary theory being even more problematic); c) the use of conceptual analysis and commonsense intuition to define dysfunctions leaves unsatisfied empiricists; d) it is unlikely that the authors of the DSM-V will accept Wakefield’s suggestion to revise the diagnostic criteria of any single DSM disorder in accordance with his analysis, because this is an excessively extensive change and also because this would probably reduce DSM reliability. In conclusion, it is pointed up in which sense DSM mental disorders have to be conceived as constructs, and that this undermines the realistic search for a clear-cut demarcation criterion between what is disorder and what is not.
Synthesis and Antiradical/Antioxidant Activities of Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester and Its Related Propionic, Acetic, and Benzoic Acid Analogues

Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) is a bioactive component isolated from propolis. A series of CAPE analogues was synthesized and their antiradical/antioxidant effects analyzed. The effect of the presence of the double bond and of the conjugated system on the antioxidant effect is evaluated with the analogues obtained from 3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl) propanoic acid. Those obtained from 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl) acetic acid and 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid allow the evaluation of the effect of the presence of two carbons between the carbonyl and aromatic system.
The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market

The labor market increasingly rewards social skills. Between 1980 and 2012, jobs requiring high levels of social interaction grew by nearly 12 percentage points as a share of the U.S. labor force. Math-intensive but less social jobs - including many STEM occupations - shrank by 3.3 percentage points over the same period. Employment and wage growth was particularly strong for jobs requiring high levels of both math skill and social skill. To understand these patterns, I develop a model of team production where workers “trade tasks” to exploit their comparative advantage. In the model, social skills reduce coordination costs, allowing workers to specialize and work together more efficiently. The model generates predictions about sorting and the relative returns to skill across occupations, which I investigate using data from the NLSY79 and the NLSY97. Using a comparable set of skill measures and covariates across survey waves, I find that the labor market return to social skills was much greater in the 2000s than in the mid 1980s and 1990s.
Multi-armed bandit problems with dependent arms

We provide a framework to exploit dependencies among arms in multi-armed bandit problems, when the dependencies are in the form of a generative model on clusters of arms. We find an optimal MDP-based policy for the discounted reward case, and also give an approximation of it with formal error guarantee. We discuss lower bounds on regret in the undiscounted reward scenario, and propose a general two-level bandit policy for it. We propose three different instantiations of our general policy and provide theoretical justifications of how the regret of the instantiated policies depend on the characteristics of the clusters. Finally, we empirically demonstrate the efficacy of our policies on large-scale real-world and synthetic data, and show that they significantly outperform classical policies designed for bandits with independent arms.
Inactivation of Adenovirus Type 5, Rotavirus WA and Male Specific Coliphage (MS2) in Biosolids by Lime Stabilization

The use of lime to reduce or eliminate pathogen content is a cost-effective treatment currently employed in many Class B biosolids production plants in the United States. A bench scale model of lime stabilization was designed to evaluate the survival of adenovirus type 5, rotavirus Wa, and the male specific bacteriophage, MS2, in various matrices. Each virus was initially evaluated independently in a reverse osmosis treated water matrix limed with an aqueous solution of calcium hydroxide for 24-hr at 22 ± 5°C. In all R/O water trials, adenovirus type 5, rotavirus Wa and MS2 were below detectable levels (<100.5 TCID50/mL and <1 PFU/mL respectively) following 0.1-hr of liming. Adenovirus type 5, rotavirus Wa, and MS2, were inoculated into composted, raw and previously limed matrices, representative of sludge and biosolids, to achieve a final concentration of approximately 104 PFU or TCID50/mL. Each matrix was limed for 24-hr at 22 ± 5°C and 4 ± 2°C. In all trials virus was below detectable levels following a 24-hr incubation. The time required for viral inactivation varied depending on the temperature and sample matrix. This research demonstrates reduction of adenovirus type 5, rotavirus Wa, and male-specific bacteriophage, in water, sludge and biosolids matrices following addition of an 8% calcium hydroxide slurry to achieve a pH of 12 for 2-hr reduced to 11.5 for 22-hr by addition of 0.1 N HCl. In these trials, MS2 was a conservative indicator of the efficacy of lime stabilization of adenovirus Type 5 and rotavirus Wa and therefore is proposed as a useful indicator organism.
The Relative Importance of Computer anxiety and Attitude toward Computer in predicting University students' Computer achievement

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between computer achievement and computer anxiety and attitude toward computer for university students. Also this study aimed at investigating the relative importance for each of these variables in predicting students' computer achievement. The sample consisted of (162) males and (138) females. The results indicated significant correlations between computer achievement and independent variables (computer anxiety and attitude toward computer). The results also indicated that the computer attitude explained most of the variance in all samples of the study and it worked differently for males and females, for Males this variable explained (36%) of the variance and explained only (25%) for females. Key words: Computer Anxiety, Attitude towards computer, Achievement in computer course, Relative importance.
The Relation between Consistency and Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony: Legal versus Cognitive Explanations

Ten minutes after witnessing a bank robbery, Ms. Barnes is interviewed by the first police officer on the scene. She describes the robber as a white male, clean-shaven, medium height, husky, wearing sunglasses and a baseball hat. Three months later, Ms. Barnes is deposed by the defense attorney, and she is asked again to describe the robber. This time she reports some of the facts she had told the original police officer (white male, medium height, husky, wearing sunglasses), but she omits an earlier mentioned detail (wearing a baseball hat). More important, she now reports some new details that she had not described earlier (the robber wore a red shirt) and she contradicts a state-ment she had made initially (the robber has a beard). Months later the case goes to court, and Ms. Barnes takes the witness stand. Here, on cross-examination, the defense attorney focuses on the apparent inconsistencies in Ms. Barnes’ two earlier descriptions. Specifically, the attorney draws attention and
A Secured Authentication Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks Using Elliptic Curves Cryptography

User authentication is a crucial service in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that is becoming increasingly common in WSNs because wireless sensor nodes are typically deployed in an unattended environment, leaving them open to possible hostile network attack. Because wireless sensor nodes are limited in computing power, data storage and communication capabilities, any user authentication protocol must be designed to operate efficiently in a resource constrained environment. In this paper, we review several proposed WSN user authentication protocols, with a detailed review of the M.L Das protocol and a cryptanalysis of Das’ protocol that shows several security weaknesses. Furthermore, this paper proposes an ECC-based user authentication protocol that resolves these weaknesses. According to our analysis of security of the ECC-based protocol, it is suitable for applications with higher security requirements. Finally, we present a comparison of security, computation, and communication costs and performances for the proposed protocols. The ECC-based protocol is shown to be suitable for higher security WSNs.
Generating Natural-Language Video Descriptions Using Text-Mined Knowledge

We present a holistic data-driven technique that generates natural-language descriptions for videos. We combine the output of state-of-the-art object and activity detectors with "real-world' knowledge to select the most probable subject-verb-object triplet for describing a video. We show that this knowledge, automatically mined from web-scale text corpora, enhances the triplet selection algorithm by providing it contextual information and leads to a four-fold increase in activity identification. Unlike previous methods, our approach can annotate arbitrary videos without requiring the expensive collection and annotation of a similar training video corpus. We evaluate our technique against a baseline that does not use text-mined knowledge and show that humans prefer our descriptions 61% of the time.
Further evidence that not all executive functions are equal

The current study presents a comparison of 2 structural equation models describing the relationship between the executive functions of updating and inhibiting. Although it has been argued that working memory capacity is defined by one’s ability to control the focus of attention, the findings of the current study support a view of the executive control of attention that reflects updating and inhibiting as not entirely dependent on the same resources.
Antibiotic treatment of children with unsuspected meningococcal disease.

BACKGROUND Data from an earlier study suggest that patients with unsuspected meningococcal disease (UMD) cannot be differentiated easily from febrile children with viral syndromes on the basis of physical examinations or peripheral blood counts. Some children with meningococcal disease therefore are treated inadvertently as outpatients. OBJECTIVE To determine whether antibiotic therapy administered at the outpatient visit prevents complications, permanent sequelae, or death in children with UMD. METHODS We reviewed the medical records of patients younger than 20 years with invasive meningococcal disease at 7 pediatric referral centers from January 1, 1981, through December 31, 1996. Patients were considered to have UMD if they underwent evaluation and discharge as outpatients and if blood and/or cerebrospinal fluid cultures obtained at evaluation yielded Neisseria meningitidis. We compared the frequency of development of complications (meningitis, sepsis, and pericarditis), permanent sequelae (limb amputation, skin grafting, and persistent neurologic disability) or death between patients who did and did not receive antibiotics at the outpatient visits. RESULTS Of 58 children with UMD, 19 (33%) received antibiotics and 39 (67%) did not. Complications occurred significantly less frequently in the antibiotic-treated group (7/19 [37%] vs 27/39 [69%]; odds ratio [OR], 0.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.08-0.81; P = .03). There was no significant difference in death or permanent sequelae between groups (0/19 vs 3/39 [8%]; OR, 0; 95% CI, 0-2.61; P=.54). There was insufficient power, however, to exclude the possibility of a clinically meaningful difference between the groups with regard to these latter outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Antibiotic administration to young patients with UMD at the time of the outpatient visit is associated with a reduction in complications from this disease. Although the routine use of antibiotics in febrile outpatients younger than 20 years cannot be advocated, empirical treatment should be considered in the setting of higher probability of meningococcal disease.
Reduction of the Minimum Alveolar Concentration of Isoflurane by Dexmedetomidine

Background: Alpha2‐Adrenergic agonists have been shown to reduce anesthetic requirements of other anesthetics, and they may even act as complete anesthetics by themselves at high doses in animal models. The present study was designed to define the interaction of intravenous infusion of dexmedetomidine, an alpha2‐adrenergic agonist, and isoflurane in patients having surgery by using the minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of isoflurane as the measure of anesthetic potency. Methods: Forty‐nine women scheduled for abdominal hysterectomy were randomly allocated to receive either a placebo infusion (n = 16) or a two‐stage infusion of dexmedetomidine with target plasma concentration of 0.3 ng/ml (n = 17) or 0.6 ng/ml (n = 16). The study drug infusion was commenced 15 min before induction of anesthesia with thiopental and alfentanil and was continued until skin incision. The end‐tidal concentration of isoflurane for each patient was predetermined according to the “up‐down” method of Dixon, and it was maintained for at least 15 min before the patient's response to skin incision was assessed. Results: The MAC of isoflurane was 0.85% end‐tidal in the control group, 0.55% end‐tidal with the low dose of dexmedetomidine, and 0.45% end‐tidal with the high dose of dexmedetomidine. Conclusions: The MAC of isoflurane in the control group was lower than that reported previously in similar patients having surgery, probably due to anesthesia induction with thiopental and alfentanil. Nevertheless, with the high dose of dexmedetomidine, the MAC of isoflurane was still 47% less than that without dexmedetomidine.
Elucidation of lignin structure by quantitative 2D NMR.

Quick quantitative HSQC (QQ-HSQC) was applied to quantitative evaluation of different inter-unit linkages in an array of milled softwood and hardwood and technical lignins by using the guaiacyl C2 and syringyl C2-C6 signals as internal standards. The results were found to be highly reproducible and comparable with earlier literature reports. The advantage of QQ-HSQC NMR analysis of lignin is contemporary detection and quantification of lignin inter-unit linkages with a direct, non-destructive method requiring short acquisition times.
The interleukin 1 receptor antagonist gene allele 2 as a predictor of pouchitis following colectomy and IPAA in ulcerative colitis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The interleukin 1 receptor antagonist gene allele 2 has been suggested as a determinant of both disease susceptibility and extent in ulcerative colitis. The aim of this study was to assess the allele as a predictor of both the indication for colectomy and the occurrence of pouchitis after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis formation. METHODS Genotyping for the +2018 single nucleotide polymorphism in the interleukin 1 receptor antagonist gene was performed in 109 patients who had undergone colectomy, including 82 patients who had been followed prospectively after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis formation. RESULTS Patients with pouchitis had a higher allele 2 carriage rate compared with those without pouchitis (72% vs. 45%) and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that allele 2 carriers had a significantly increased incidence of pouchitis compared with noncarriers (log-rank test, 6.5). After adjustment for confounding covariates in a Cox proportional hazards model, the relative hazard was 3.1 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-7.8; P = 0.02). Although there was a higher allele 2 carriage rate in patients with chronic refractory compared with acute severe ulcerative colitis (63% vs. 48%), this difference was not significant (odds ratio, 1.9; 95% CI, 0.9-4.1; P = 0.1). CONCLUSIONS The interleukin 1 receptor antagonist gene allele 2 predicts pouchitis after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis in ulcerative colitis.
Adverse events in health care: issues in measurement

Adverse events—“instances which indicate or may indicate that a patient has received poor quality care”1—are used widely in healthcare quality measurement and improvement activities. Many commonly employed quality improvement mechanisms, such as incident reporting, occurrence screening, significant event auditing, processes for dealing with complaints, and (in the UK) the national confidential enquiries into various areas of clinical care are essentially focused on such adverse events. Even traditional medical quality improvement mechanisms such as mortality and morbidity conferences or death and complications meetings are predicated on the idea that by identifying and examining adverse events, we can learn lessons and change practice in ways that will make such events less likely in future and hence improve the quality of health care. The principle that studying adverse events can produce information which leads to quality improvements is far from new and has been much used outside of health care.2, 3 It has an intuitive power—after all, we all learn much as individuals from our own mistakes, and it seems reasonable to hypothesise that organisations can also learn a great deal from their errors. However, it is easy to overlook the complexities of measurement involved in defining, classifying, identifying, describing, and analysing such adverse events.4 Like any other measurement tools, those used with adverse events need to be tested to ensure that they work. This article presents an analysis of the issues involved in defining adverse events, the sources of data which can be used to identify such events, and the validity and reliability of measures of quality based on adverse events in health care. The idea that it would be useful or important to study the incidence, circumstances, or causes of adverse events in health care arises from various different but related schools of thought. For example, …
Clay Mineralogy

The structures of the clay minerals are reasonably well known, but greater detail and more precision are needed if the properties of clays and soils are to be fully understood. For example, the selective adsorptive and catalytic properties and the reaction with organic materials vary with the character of the clay mineral, but the structural factors that control such properties are not well understood. Research is urgently needed on the structure of pure clay minerals and on the reactions of pure clay minerals with organic and inorganic materials. Much past research on clay-mineral reactions has little fundamental value because the clay that was used was composed of a mixture of minerals which were not well characterized. It is not a simple matter to find pure samples of many of the clay minerals, and to a considerable extent progress depends on finding such pure minerals or preparing them in the laboratory.