Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Influence in Child Care Centers: A Test of the Theory of Normative Social Behavior

Child care centers are a unique context for studying communication about the social and personal expectations about health behaviors. The theory of normative social behavior (TNSB; Rimal & Real, 2005) provides a framework for testing the role of social and psychological influences on handwashing behaviors among child care workers. A cross-sectional survey of child care workers in 21 centers indicates that outcome expectations and group identity increase the strength of the relationship between descriptive norms and handwashing behavior. Injunctive norms also moderate the effect of descriptive norms on handwashing behavior such that when strong injunctive norms are reported, descriptive norms are positively related to handwashing, but when weak injunctive norms are reported, descriptive norms are negatively related to handwashing. The findings suggest that communication interventions in child care centers can focus on strengthening injunctive norms in order to increase handwashing behaviors in child care centers. The findings also suggest that the theory of normative social behavior can be useful in organizational contexts.
Skin and heart: une liaison dangereuse

Abstract: Both skin and heart are subject to shear mechanical stress and need to be stress‐resistant in a flexible way. The intercellular connecting structures in skin and heart, the desmosomes, that have to resist these forces show remarkable resemblance in epidermis and myocardium. Mutations in desmosomal proteins lead to inherited desmosomal cardiocutaneous syndromes (DCCS): une liaison dangereuse. This article will critically review the cutaneous and cardiac features as well as the molecular background of DCCS, such as Naxos disease and Carvajal syndrome caused by deficiencies of plakoglobin and desmoplakin respectively. In addition, potential other desmosomal gene candidates for an involvement in cardiocutaneous syndromes are considered. The skin features in these syndromes may be the hallmark for the presence of progressive and ultimately lethal cardiac disease. Knowledge of these skin features and early recognition of such a syndrome may provide opportunities to halt or slow down cardiac disease progression, treat arrhythmias and even prevent sudden death.
Blind identification using second-order statistics: a nonstationarity and nonwhiteness approach

We consider an approach to the blind identification problem of instantaneous mixtures using second-order statistics through the nonstationarity and nonwhiteness properties of signals. We propose the use of natural gradient learning to form off-line/block processing (BP) and on-line processing (OP) algorithms suitable respectively for blind identification with batch data and on-line data and show that the proposed algorithms can be considered as a class of algorithms offering quasi-uniform performance. The identifiability conditions are presented which provide a key insight into these algorithms. The paper shows simulation results and concludes with some connections of the proposed algorithms to other existing algorithms.
The Voltage-Dependent Anion Channel 1 (AtVDAC1) Negatively Regulates Plant Cold Responses during Germination and Seedling Development in Arabidopsis and Interacts with Calcium Sensor CBL1

The voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC), a highly conserved major mitochondrial outer membrane protein, plays crucial roles in energy metabolism and metabolite transport. However, knowledge about the roles of the VDAC family in plants is limited. In this study, we investigated the expression pattern of VDAC1 in Arabidopsis and found that cold stress promoted the accumulation of VDAC1 transcripts in imbibed seeds and mature plants. Overexpression of VDAC1 reduced tolerance to cold stress in Arabidopsis. Phenotype analysis of VDAC1 T-DNA insertion mutant plants indicated that a vdac1 mutant line had faster germination kinetics under cold treatment and showed enhanced tolerance to freezing. The yeast two-hybrid system revealed that VDAC1 interacts with CBL1, a calcium sensor in plants. Like the vdac1, a cbl1 mutant also exhibited a higher seed germination rate. We conclude that both VDAC1 and CBL1 regulate cold stress responses during seed germination and plant development.
Empirical study of redo and undo logging in persistent memory

Atomic and durable transactions are widely used to ensure the crash consistency in persistent memory (PM). However, whether to use redo or undo logging is still a hotly debated topic in persistent memory systems. In this paper, we empirically study the performance of both redo and undo logging using NVML, a persistent memory transactional object store framework. Our results on an NVDIMM server show that redo logging significantly outperforms undo logging for workloads in which a transaction updates large number of different objects, while it underperforms undo logging for workloads with intensive read operations. Furthermore, undo logging is more sensitive to the read-to-write ratios, compared to redo logging. Finally, our experiments also demonstrate that asynchronous log truncation is much helpful in redo logging for log-heavy transactions.
Effects of accidental trauma on cytokine and endotoxin production

Objective.To determine the effects of accidental injury of varying severity on interleukin (IL)-lα, IL-6, IL-8, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and endotoxin release. Design.Prospective, multi-unit, longitudinal study. Setting.Emergency Departments and intensive care units of two university hospitals. Patients.Trauma patients after mild, moderate, and severe injury Interventions.None. Measurements and Main Results.Plasma cytokine and endotoxin concentrations were measured over a 5-day period, starting within 2 hrs of accidental injury. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine plasma concentrations of IL-1α, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α. Plasma endotoxin concentrations were measured using a chromogenic limulus amebocyte assay. Preresuscitation samples obtained immediately on arrival in the Emergency Department, and within 2 hrs of injury, demonstrated significant increases of IL-6 and IL-8 concentrations in the severe injury group, in contrast to minimal increases seen after mild or moderate injury. Analysis of serial postresuscitation samples demonstrated rapid increases in IL-6 and IL-8 concentrations within 12 hrs of injury. IL-6 and IL-8 remained increased for 24 hrs after injury, then decreased markedly from their peak values during the next 24 hrs. Increased circulating concentrations of these cytokines continued to be present for >5 days in the severely injured patients. IL-6 and IL-8 concentrations were only minimally increased in patients 8 and 24 hrs after moderate injury. Endotoxin and IL-1α were not found in any samples, including those samples obtained serially from severely injured patients. No patient at any time point had TNF-α concentrations of >35 pg/mL. Conclusions.These results demonstrate that severe injury produces rapid, large increases in circulating concentrations of IL-6 and IL-8 that may contribute to the frequent development of the adult respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ system failure in this clinical setting. (Crit Care Med 1993; 21:839–845)
Compiling self-adjusting programs with continuations

Self-adjusting programs respond automatically and efficiently to input changes by tracking the dynamic data dependences of the computation and incrementally updating the output as needed. In order to identify data dependences, previously proposed approaches require the user to make use of a set of monadic primitives. Rewriting an ordinary program into a self-adjusting program with these primitives, however, can be difficult and error-prone due to various monadic and proper-usage restrictions, some of which cannot be enforced statically. Previous work therefore suggests that self-adjusting computation would benefit from direct language and compiler support. In this paper, we propose a language-based technique for writing and compiling self-adjusting programs from ordinary programs. To compile self-adjusting programs, we use a continuation-passing style (cps) transformation to automatically infer a conservative approximation of the dynamic data dependences. To prevent the inferred, approximate dependences from degrading the performance of change propagation, we generate memoized versions of cps functions that can reuse previous work even when they are invoked with different continuations. The approach offers a natural programming style that requires minimal changes to existing code, while statically enforcing the invariants required by self-adjusting computation. We validate the feasibility of our proposal by extending Standard ML and by integrating the transformation into MLton, a whole-program optimizing compiler for Standard ML. Our experiments indicate that the proposed compilation technique can produce self-adjusting programs whose performance is consistent with the asymptotic bounds and experimental results obtained via manual rewriting (up to a constant factor).
Frequency of Mental Health Disorders in a Sample of Elementary School Students Receiving Special Educational Services for Behavioural Difficulties

Objective: Despite being essential for defining and planning special educational services, very few data are available in Quebec regarding the nature and extent of behavioural difficulties presented by children who receive special educational services at school. This study provides a picture of the frequency of disruptive behaviour disorders (that is, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], oppositional defiant disorder [ODD], and conduct disorder [CD]) and internalized disorders (including generalized anxiety disorder [GAD] and major depressive episode [MDE]) in a sample of elementary school students receiving special educational services for behavioural difficulties (n = 324). Method: In this descriptive study, we established the presence of mental health disorders according to teacher-, parent-, and child-reported data that were obtained using structured diagnostic interviews based on DSM-IV criteria. We also examined prevalence rates by sex and age group. Results: Three-quarters of the students met the criteria for ADHD, one-half for ODD, and one-third for CD. About 14% of the students presented with a GAD or met the criteria for an MDE in the past year. Only 2% of the students presented with an internalized disorder without a comorbid disruptive behaviour disorder. Conclusions: Our results suggest that among students receiving special educational services for behavioural difficulties, a large proportion may have difficulties severe enough to meet the criteria for at least one DSM-IV disruptive behaviour disorder. Such findings may underscore the need to develop more collaboration between the mental health and education sectors in rehabilitating these children.
Miconazole nitrate bearing ultraflexible liposomes for the treatment of fungal infection

Abstract Miconazole nitrate is a widely used antifungal agent, but its use in topical formulations is not efficacious because deep seated fungal infections are difficult to treat with conventional topical formulation. Miconazole nitrate loaded ultraflexible liposomes have been prepared and their topical performance has been compared with conventional liposomes containing miconazole nitrate. Various ultraflexible liposomal formulations were prepared and extensively characterized for vesicular shape, size, entrapment efficiency, degree of deformability and in-vitro skin permeation through rat skin. Higher rate of drug transfer across the skin with ultraflexible liposomal formulations of miconazole nitrate suggests that the drug in its lipo-solubilized state might have gained facilitated entry into the tough barrier consisting of subcutaneous. In-vivo study showed better antifungal activity as compared to traditional liposomes and plain drug solution. This was confirmed through fluoroscence microscopy. It is concluded that prepared ultraflexible liposomes can facilitate improved and localized drug action in the skin, thus providing a better option to deal with deep seated skin problems.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Emergency department crowding : Factors influencing flow

Background Patients with high emergency department utilization account for a disproportionate number of emergency department visits. The existing research on high emergency department utilization has raised doubts about the homogeneity of the frequent emergency department user. Attention to differences among the subgroups of frequent visitors and highly frequent visitors is necessary in order to plan more effective interventions. In the Netherlands, the incidence of high emergency department utilization is unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the international well-documented high emergency department utilization also exists in the Netherlands and if so, to characterise these patients. Therefore, we assessed the proportion of frequent visitors and highly frequent visitors; compared age, sex, and visit outcomes between patients with high emergency department utilization and patients with single emergency department visits; and explored the factors associated with high emergency department utilization. Methods A 1-year retrospective descriptive correlational study was performed in two Dutch emergency departments, using thresholds of 7 to 17 visits for frequent emergency department use, and greater than or equal to 18 visits for highly frequent emergency department use. Results Frequent visitors and highly frequent visitors (together accounting for 0.5% of total emergency department patients) attended the emergency department 2,338 times (3.3% of the total number of emergency department visits). Frequent visitors and highly frequent visitors were equally likely to be male or female, were less likely to be selfreferred, and they suffered from urgent complaints more often compared to patients with single visits. Frequent visitors were significantly older than patients with single visits and more often admitted than patients with single visits. Several chief complaints were indicative for frequent and highly frequent emergency department use, such as shortness of breath and a psychiatric disorder. Conclusions Based on this study, high emergency department utilization in the Netherlands seems to be less a problem than outlined in international literature. No major differences were found between frequent visitors and highly frequent visitors, they presented with the same, often serious, problems. Our study supports the notion that most patients with high emergency department utilization visit the emergency department for significant medical problems. R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 R12 R13 R14 R15 R16 R17 R18 R19 R20 R21 R22 R23 R24 R25 R26 R27 R28 R29 R30 R31 R32
Just-in-time static type checking for dynamic languages

Dynamic languages such as Ruby, Python, and JavaScript have many compelling benefits, but the lack of static types means subtle errors can remain latent in code for a long time. While many researchers have developed various systems to bring some of the benefits of static types to dynamic languages, prior approaches have trouble dealing with metaprogramming, which generates code as the program executes. In this paper, we propose Hummingbird, a new system that uses a novel technique, just-in-time static type checking, to type check Ruby code even in the presence of metaprogramming. In Hummingbird, method type signatures are gathered dynamically at run-time, as those methods are created. When a method is called, Hummingbird statically type checks the method body against current type signatures. Thus, Hummingbird provides thorough static checks on a per-method basis, while also allowing arbitrarily complex metaprogramming. For performance, Hummingbird memoizes the static type checking pass, invalidating cached checks only if necessary. We formalize Hummingbird using a core, Ruby-like language and prove it sound. To evaluate Hummingbird, we applied it to six apps, including three that use Ruby on Rails, a powerful framework that relies heavily on metaprogramming. We found that all apps typecheck successfully using Hummingbird, and that Hummingbird's performance overhead is reasonable. We applied Hummingbird to earlier versions of one Rails app and found several type errors that had been introduced and then fixed. Lastly, we demonstrate using Hummingbird in Rails development mode to typecheck an app as live updates are applied to it.
Numerical Simulation of Crystallization Morphological Evolution Under Nonisothermal Conditions

In order to obtain more information about the process of crystallization, the Monte Carlo method was used to simulate crystallization morphological evolution of semicrystalline polymers, such as isotactic polypropylene (iPP), and calculate the development of crystallinity. With remarkable progress, the morphological evolution of crystallization and development of crystallinity were obtained simultaneously during the process of the simulation. The simulated results are in good agreement with the experimental results under nonisothermal quiescent conditions when the induce time is explicitly considered during the process of simulation.
Robust Abandoned Object Detection Using Dual Foregrounds

As an alternative to the tracking-based approaches that heavily depend on accurate detection of moving objects, which often fail for crowded scenarios, we present a pixelwise method that employs dual foregrounds to extract temporally static image regions. Depending on the application, these regions indicate objects that do not constitute the original background but were brought into the scene at a subsequent time, such as abandoned and removed items, illegally parked vehicles. We construct separate long- and short-term backgrounds that are implemented as pixelwise multivariate Gaussian models. Background parameters are adapted online using a Bayesian update mechanism imposed at different learning rates. By comparing each frame with these models, we estimate two foregrounds. We infer an evidence score at each pixel by applying a set of hypotheses on the foreground responses, and then aggregate the evidence in time to provide temporal consistency. Unlike optical flow-based approaches that smear boundaries, our method can accurately segment out objects even if they are fully occluded. It does not require on-site training to compensate for particular imaging conditions. While having a low-computational load, it readily lends itself to parallelization if further speed improvement is necessary.
The antagonism between botulinum toxin and calcium in motor nerve terminals

The effects of tetraethylammonium and manganese, which modify calcium entry into motor nerve terminals, have been studied during advanced stages of botulinum paralysis. Evidence has been obtained that the voltage-activated calcium current in the nerve endings is not significantly reduced by botulinum toxin. The depression of transmitter release that the toxin produces must arise at a later stage, at an intracellular site of the release mechanism.
Asking the right question in collaborative q&a systems

Collaborative Question Answering (cQA) platforms are a very popular repository of crowd-generated knowledge. By formulating questions, users express needs that other members of the cQA community try to collaboratively satisfy. Poorly formulated questions are less likely to receive useful responses, thus hindering the overall knowledge generation process. Users are often asked to reformulate their needs, adding specific details, providing examples, or simply clarifying the context of their requests. Formulating a good question is a task that might require several interactions between the asker and other community members, thus delaying the actual answering and, possibly, decreasing the interest of the community in the issue. This paper contributes new insights to the study of cQA platforms by investigating the editing behaviour of users. We identify a number of editing actions, and provide a two-step approach for the automatic suggestion of the most likely editing actions to be performed for a newly created question. We evaluated our approach in the context of the Stack Overflow cQA , demonstrating how, for given types of editing actions, it is possible to provide accurate reformulation suggestions.
Inventory Management: A Tool of Optimizing Resources in a Manufacturing Industry A Case Study of Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Ilorin Plant

Abstract Inventory constitutes the most significant part of current assets of larger majority of Nigerian manufacturing industries. Because of the relative largeness of inventories maintained by most firms, a considerable sum of an organization’s fund is being committed to them. It thus becomes absolutely imperative to manage inventories efficiently so as to avoid the costs of changing production rates, overtime, sub-contracting, unnecessary cost of sales and back order penalties during periods of peak demand. The main objective of this study is to determine whether or not inventories in the Nigeria Bottling Company, Ilorin Plant can be evaluated and understood using the various existing tools of optimization in inventory management. The study methods employed include the variance analysis, Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) Model and the Chi-square method. The answer to the fundamental question of how best an organization which handles inventory can be efficiently run is provided for in the analysis and findings of the study. Consequently, recommendations on the right quantity, quality and timing of material, at the most favourable price conclude the research study.
A Tunable Dispersion Waveguide Based on Graphene–Silicon Lateral Slot Geometric Structure

The dispersion profiles of a hybrid graphene–silicon (HyGS) slot waveguide with trilayers of graphene are investigated in this paper. By tuning the bias voltage on graphene layer, the zero dispersion wavelengths (ZDW) of HyGS slot waveguide can be tailored dynamically and effectively. With small disturbed voltage (6 V), a large ZDW tuning amount (200 nm) is achieved, without the need for changing the geometric structure of the waveguide, which has been verified with numerical simulation. Moreover, the dispersion curve of HyGS slot waveguide is flat enough (group velocity dispersion slope less than 2 ps/nm2·km), in the vicinity of ZDW. This waveguide is highly beneficial to such applications as integrated optics and graphene-related active optical devices.