Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Networks to Nerdistan: The Role of Labor Market Intermediaries in the Entry-level IT Labor Market

Although networks have long governed economic relations, they assume even more importance in a knowledge-based economy. Yet, some argue that because of the lack of social networks and human capital, some groups are permanently 'switched off' the networks of the global economy. Evidence presented in this article suggests that instead there is latent potential for access to the network, due to the rise of networked community-based organizations and the increasing accessibility of technology. Based on surveys and in-depth interviews with almost 700 workers and training providers, I show how the switched off are entering jobs in information technology through network ties and the acquisition of soft skills, or communication and interaction skills. Although community-based training providers are best positioned to help disadvantaged jobseekers enter the network society, changes in the US workforce development system are reinforcing network exclusivity, rather than facilitating this upward mobility. Copyright (c) 2006 The Author. Journal Compilation (c) 2006 Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Examining of the effects of aerobic dance and step dance exercises on some hematological parameters and blood lipids

The aim of the study was to examine the the effects of aerobic and step dance exercises on hematological and blood lipids parameters. 32 university students were voluntarily participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to aerobic dance (N=16) and step dances (N=16). All groups were participated an hour aerobic or step dance exercise session 2 times in a week during 3 months. Wilcoxon Sign test was used to analyze pretest and posttest results of variables. As results, significant differences were found in the pre- and post-intervention scores for triglycerides (TC), red blood cell (RBC), and hematocrit (HCT) in Step dance group. Although there were decreases in triglycerides levels for both aerobic dance and step dance groups, only significant reduction was found in step dance group. Step dance exercises was better than aerobic dance in terms of increasing RBC and decreasing cholesterol, low density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol level. Aerobic dance exercises were better than step dance in terms of increasing high density lipoproteins (HDL). Moreover, when comparing the level of decreasing of Hemoglobin (HGB) significantly, aerobic dance group were better than step dance group. HCT increased significantly more in step dance group as compared with aerobic dance group. Step dance cause more increment than aerobic dance in terms of platetes (PLT) level. The data of this study indicates that step dance is more effective than aerobic dance in terms of decreasing LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and cholesterol for university students.
Extremely High-Frequency Flexible Graphene Thin-Film Transistors

We have achieved 140-nm channel length graphene thin-film transistors (TFTs) on flexible glass with a 95-GHz intrinsic cutoff frequency and greater than 30-GHz intrinsic power frequency after standard de-embedding. The flexible glass substrate offers subnanometer surface smoothness as well as high thermal conductivity, 1 W/m · K, which can prevent thermomechanical failure, which is a limitation of plastic and rubber substrates. In addition, we developed a flexible 60-nm polyimide thin film as gate dielectric with low surface roughness less than 0.35 nm for optimal carrier transport and facilitate edge-injection contacts for low contact resistance. The maximum electron (hole) mobility is 4540 (1100) cm2/V · s, and the extracted contact resistance in the electron (hole) branch is 1140 (720) Ω · μm. The intrinsic cutoff frequency is 196% higher than our previous results on polymeric substrates. Importantly, the experimental saturation velocity of the graphene TFT is the highest for any flexible transistor on any material system reported so far.
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Human Intestinal Parasites in Roudehen, Tehran Province, Iran

Background: Intestinal parasitic infections are among the most common infections and health problems worldwide. Due to the lack of epidemiologic information of such infections, the prevalence of, and the risk factors for, enteric parasites were investigated in residents of Roudehen, Tehran Province, Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 561 triple fecal samples were collected through a two-stage cluster-sampling protocol from Jun to Dec 2014. The samples were examined by formalin-ether concentration, culture, and with molecular methods. Results: The prevalence of enteric parasites was 32.7% (95% CI 27.3–38). Blastocystis sp. was the most common intestinal protozoan (28.4%; 95% CI 23.7–33.0). The formalin-ether concentration and culture methods detected Blastocystis sp. , Entamoeba coli, Giardia intestinalis, Dientamoeba fragilis, Iodamoeba butschlii, Entamoeba complex cysts or trophozoite, Chilomastix mesnilii, and Enterobius vermicularis. Single-round PCR assay for Entamoeba complex were identified Entamoeba dispar and E. moshkovskii. E. histolytica was not observed in any specimen. Multivariate analysis showed a significant association of parasites with water source and close animal contact. There was no correlation between infections and gender, age, occupation, education, or travel history. Protozoan infections were more common than helminth infections. Conclusion: This study revealed a high prevalence of enteric protozoan parasite infection among citizens of Rodehen. As most of the species detected are transmitted through a water-resistant cyst, public and individual education on personal hygiene should be considered to reduce transmission of intestinal parasites in the population.
In Vitro Characterization of the Impact of Different Substrates on Metabolite Production, Energy Extraction and Composition of Gut Microbiota from Lean and Obese Subjects

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of galacto-oligosaccharides, lactulose, apple fiber and sugar beet pectin on the composition and activity of human colonic microbiota of lean and obese healthy subjects using an in vitro model of the proximal colon: TIM-2. Substrate fermentation was assessed by measuring the production of short-chain and branched-chain fatty acids, lactate and ammonia and by studying the composition of the bacterial communities over time. The results suggest that energy harvest (in terms of metabolites) of lean and obese microbiotas is different and may depend on the fermentable substrate. For galacto-oligosaccharides and lactulose, the cumulative amount of short-chain fatty acids plus lactate produced in TIM-2 was lower in the fermentation experiments with the lean microbiota (123 and 155 mmol, respectively) compared to the obese (162 and 173 mmol, respectively). This was reversed for the pectin and the fiber. The absolute amount produced of short-chain fatty acids including lactate was higher after 72 h in the fermentation experiments with apple fiber-L (108 mmol) than with apple fiber-O (92 mmol). Sugar beet-L was also higher (130 mmol) compared to sugar beet-O (103 mmol). Galacto-oligosaccharides and lactulose boosted the balance of health-promoting over toxic metabolites produced by the microbiota from obese subjects. Firmicutes were more predominant in the inoculum prepared from feces of obese subjects compared to lean subjects. The average abundance at time zero was 92% and 74%, respectively. On the other hand, Bacteroidetes were more dominant in the microbiota prepared with homogenates from lean subjects with an average abundance of 22% compared with the microbiota prepared with homogenates from obese subjects (3.6%). This study brings evidence that different fermentable carbohydrates are fermented differently by lean and obese microbiotas, which contributes to the understanding of the role of diet and the microbiota in tackling obesity.
BIOCHEMICAL GENETICS OF FUNDULUS HETEROCLITUS (L.). VI. GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATION IN THE GENE FREQUENCIES OF 15 LOCI

Geographic variation in the gene frequencies corresponding to 15 polymorphic enzymes were studied in the common killifish Fundulus heteroclitus. Aat‐A, Est‐B, Fum‐A, H6pdh‐A, Mpi‐A and Pgm‐B showed clinal variation in allelic frequencies along the Atlantic coast of North America, while Aat‐B, Ap‐A, and the EST‐C phenotypes did not. The clinal allelic variation of six previously examined loci (Ldh‐B, Mdh‐A, Gpi‐B, Idh‐A, Pgm‐A, and 6‐Pgdh‐A) was extended to locations farther north. Gene diversity was lowest in the cold waters of northern latitudes and highest in the warmer waters of southern latitudes. The variety of clinal shapes and widths suggests that selection has affected the allelic distributions for at least some of these loci. This hypothesis is discussed with regard to the range contractions and extensions caused by the glacial advances and retreats during the Pleistocene.
Damage Pattern Recognition for Structural Health Monitoring Using Fuzzy Similarity Prescription

Abstract: Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a systematic method for non‐destructive evaluation of a structure's performance by sensing, extracting, patterning, and recognizing features of the structural response. Most SHM approaches focus on statistical analysis for damage identification considering only random uncertainties. This article introduces a method that allows accommodating other types of uncertainties due to ambiguity, vagueness, and fuzziness which are statistically non‐describable. The proposed method deals primarily with epistemic uncertainty. The method improves damage identification by performing damage pattern recognition using fuzzy sets. In this approach, healthy observations are used to construct a fuzzy set representing healthy performance characteristics. Additionally, the bounds on the similarities among the structural damage states are prescribed. Thus, an optimal group of fuzzy sets representing damage states such as little, moderate, and severe damage can be inferred as an inverse problem from healthy observations only. Piecewise linear functions are used as fuzzy membership functions representing the states of healthy and damaged. The optimal group of damage fuzzy sets is used to classify a set of observations at any unknown state of damage using the principles of fuzzy pattern recognition based on maximum approaching degree. A case study for damage pattern recognition of a model steel bridge is presented and discussed. The approach is capable of identifying damage patterns accurately.
Positive, but not negative, facial expressions facilitate 3-month-olds’ recognition of an individual face

The current study examined whether and how the presence of a positive or a negative emotional expression may affect the face recognition process at 3 months of age. Using a familiarization procedure, Experiment 1 demonstrated that positive (i.e., happiness), but not negative (i.e., fear and anger) facial expressions facilitate infants’ ability to recognize an individual face. Experiment 2 showed that the advantage of positive over negative facial expressions is driven by the processing of salient features inherent in the happy expression, rather than by the processing of the configural information conveyed by the entire happy face. Overall, these results support the presence of a mutual interaction between face identity and emotion recognition.
Participation in Liberal Democracy

This article compares patterns of participatory behavior in politics among immigrants and ethnic minorities in the United States. Differences in rates of participation in a range of political activities from system-directed acts, such as voting and contacting officials, to more direct forms of participation, such as protesting, are analyzed for Whites, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans, as well as by generation of immigration within groups. The extent to which standard socioeconomic status models of participatory behavior explain variation in political activity across ethnic and racial groups is assessed. In so doing, the article challenges the normative interpretation of the results from these standard models that more participation among minorities and new entrants to the United States is desirable.
ICMU2006 A Heterogeneous Cellular and Ad Hoc Network Architecture for Multipoint Streaming: A detailed performance analysis

The current 3G-Cellular radio access network cannot support many concurrent high data rate unicast or multicast flows due to limited radio resources. We have proposed a heterogeneous wireless network architecture intended for point-to-multipoint services, to improve the availability of such services to mobile users. The architecture consists of a 3G-Cellular network, supported by a number of local ad hoc networks that are established on demand. In this framework the 3G multipoint-channel range is reduced while the unicast and signalling connections are maintained. Local ad hoc networks are used to forward the multicast data onto users located outside the shortened 3G multicast-channel range. In this paper we present a performance analysis of multi-cast streaming on the heterogeneous network architecture. The simulation results are complemented with a sensitivity analysis identifying the impact that parameters like node mobility and traffic patterns will have. The results verify that the architecture and the routing protocol are able to provide multicast services with acceptable quality to the multicast subscribers, while conserving 3G-Cellular radio resources.
MSTBBN: M-way Search Tree Based Base Station to Node Communication Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Inexpensive sensors capable of significant computation and wireless communication with limited energy resources are available. Once deployed, the small sensor nodes are usually inaccessible to the user, and thus replacement of the energy source is not feasible. Hence, energy efficiency is a key design issue that needs to be enhanced in order to improve the life span of network. Several network layer protocols like LEACH, BCDCP, and PEDAP have proved very useful and efficient for Node to Base Station (BS) communication. However, these centralized protocols have no explicit support for BS to Node communication. In some scenarios, BS to Node communication may be very frequent. In such cases trivial solution of flooding may prove to be a very costly solution. We introduce here M-way Search Tree Based Base station to Node communication protocol (MSTBBN) for Wireless Sensor Networks, which can be used to provide Base Station to Node communication. MSTBBN can be used with any of the centralized data-centric protocols (like LEACH-C) without any significant message overhead. Our solution provides efficient communication with time complexity of O(h) hops where h is the height of the BS-rooted tree constructed by the underlying routing protocol.
Bone demineralization and vertebral fractures in endogenous cortisol excess: role of disease etiology and gonadal status.

INTRODUCTION The effects of endogenous cortisol (F) excess on bone mass and vertebral fractures have still not been thoroughly investigated. The aim of this cross-sectional case-control study was to investigate factors influencing bone demineralization and vertebral fractures in different conditions of F excess, i.e. Cushing's disease and adrenal and ectopic Cushing's syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eighty consecutive patients and 80 controls were prospectively enrolled: 37 patients (21 females) with pituitary ACTH-secreting adenoma, 18 (14 females) with adrenocortical adenoma, 15 (11 females) with adrenal carcinoma of mixed secretion, and 10 (three females) with ectopic ACTH secretion. The groups had similar age. At diagnosis, bone mineral density (BMD) was determined by the dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry technique at the lumbar spine (L1-L4) and femoral neck; vertebral fractures were investigated by standard spinal radiographs. RESULTS When comparing the groups with different etiology of F excess, the patients with ectopic ACTH secretion had higher F and lower BMD values than the other subgroups. Morning F (P = 0.03) and testosterone levels (P = 0.04) correlated with lumbar BMD. Vertebral fractures were found in 61 (76%) of the patients, were multiple in 52 (85%) of the cases, and clinically evident in 32 (52%). Only multiple fractures were more frequent in patients with ectopic ACTH hypersecretion (P < 0.05). Lumbar spine BMD was the best predictor of vertebral fractures (P < 0.01). Surprisingly, amenorrheic and eumenorrheic women had similar BMD values and fracture prevalence. CONCLUSION A high prevalence (76%) of vertebral fracture was revealed, regardless of the etiology of the patients' hypercortisolism. The harmful effects of F excess at the spine were partly counterbalanced by the increased androgen production but were not affected by gonadal status in women.
Antigenic and genetic homogeneity of Streptococcus uberis strains from the bovine udder

SUMMARY DNA- fingerprints (Hind III) of Streptococcus uberis field isolates from New York State and Europe showed substantial homogeneity, but were different to those of the type strain of the newly proposed psychrophilic species S. parauberis. S. uberis strains had major SDS-heat extracted antigens of molecular masses (Mr) < 14, 40–41, 42–43, 59–61, 80–86 and 118–122 kDa following immunoblotting with rabbit hyperimmune sera. Bovine sera and milk reacted with the 40–41 and 118–122 kDa antigens. Variations in the Mr of particular bands were too unevenly distributed to permit formation of subgroups. Although cross reactive, the sizes of the antigens of S. parauberis strain NCDO 2020 were substantially different to those of S. uberis, the most prominent antigen having a Mr of 50 kDa. The antigenic and genetic data therefore strongly support the introduction of S. parauberis as a distinct species. S. uberis strains reacted with antiserum to Lancefield groups B, E, G and P, their grouping reactions showing no correlation with DNA and immunoblot fingerprints. Lancefield grouping of S. uberis therefore appears to have little value in identification.
Diverse sources of reward value signals in the basal ganglia nuclei transmitted to the lateral habenula in the monkey

The lateral habenula (LHb) plays an important role in motivational decision making. Neurons in the primate LHb signal negative ‘reward prediction errors’ and inhibit midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons. These negative reward prediction error signals in the LHb are, at least partly, provided by a distinct group of neurons in the border region of the globus pallidus internal segment (GPb). However, it is still unclear whether other basal ganglia nuclei provide the LHb with reward signals, either through the GPb or through different circuits. As a first step to answer this question, we electrically stimulated various parts of the basal ganglia and monitored the neural activity in the LHb in the awake monkey. First, we found that low intensity stimulations in the GPb and the internal segment of the globus pallidus (GPi) evoked a short latency (5 ms) excitatory response in LHb neurons. Second, LHb neurons were inhibited by stimulations in the ventral pallidum (VP). These results suggest that reward-related signals are transmitted to the LHb mainly through excitatory connections from the GPb and inhibitory connections from the VP. Finally, excitations or inhibitions are induced in LHb neurons from diverse but patchy regions in the striatum. These effects have considerably longer latencies, suggesting that they may be mediated by the GPb or the VP. The patchy nature of the stimulation effect raises the possibility that the striosomes are the source of reward-related signals transmitted to the LHb.
Does coffee consumption impact on heaviness of smoking?

Abstract Background and Aims Coffee consumption and cigarette smoking are strongly associated, but whether this association is causal remains unclear. We sought to: (1) determine whether coffee consumption influences cigarette smoking causally, (2) estimate the magnitude of any association and (3) explore potential mechanisms. Design We used Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses of observational data, using publicly available summarized data from the Tobacco and Genetics (TAG) consortium, individual‐level data from the UK Biobank and in‐vitro experiments of candidate compounds. Setting The TAG consortium includes data from studies in several countries. The UK Biobank includes data from men and women recruited across England, Wales and Scotland. Participants The TAG consortium provided data on n ≤ 38 181 participants. The UK Biobank provided data on 8072 participants. Measurements In MR analyses, the exposure was coffee consumption (cups/day) and the outcome was heaviness of smoking (cigarettes/day). In our in‐vitro experiments we assessed the effect of caffeic acid, quercetin and p‐coumaric acid on the rate of nicotine metabolism in human liver microsomes and cDNA‐expressed human CYP2A6. Findings Two‐sample MR analyses of TAG consortium data indicated that heavier coffee consumption might lead to reduced heaviness of smoking [beta = −1.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −2.88 to −0.09]. However, in‐vitro experiments found that the compounds investigated are unlikely to inhibit significantly the rate of nicotine metabolism following coffee consumption. Further MR analyses in UK Biobank found no evidence of a causal relationship between coffee consumption and heaviness of smoking (beta = 0.20, 95% CI = –1.72 to 2.12). Conclusions Amount of coffee consumption is unlikely to have a major causal impact upon amount of cigarette smoking. If it does influence smoking, this is not likely to operate via effects of caffeic acid, quercetin or p‐coumaric acid on nicotine metabolism. The observational association between coffee consumption and cigarette smoking may be due to smoking impacting on coffee consumption or confounding.
What type of teachers do we intend to train? An analysis of teacher profiles in MERCOSUR curricula

Over the last decades, teachers have often been identified as ‘key’ players for the improvement of education systems. The successive waves of reform taking place in Latin America since the 1990s have aimed at initial and continuous teacher training. The main changes intended to improve the quality and lengthen the duration of initial teacher training; additionally, the variety of teacher training courses was widened and diversified. This work focuses on the teacher training curricula currently in force for the MERCOSUR member states (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay). Special attention will be paid to the definitions of the profile that is intended for future teachers, as it is believed that this dimension makes it possible to reveal the different types of expected performance, which will allow us to move towards the dimension of the educational practices. The results obtained from the comparative analysis indicate that the abilities/competences put forth by the four countries are relevant and complementary with each other. Studies of this kind are a step forward in the definition of common policies for MERCOSUR countries aimed at strengthening and articulating teacher training and, specifically, at recognizing teacher qualifications and favouring mobility among countries.