Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serum Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (PBDE) Levels Are Higher in Children (2–5 Years of Age) than in Infants and Adults

Background Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are used as flame retardants in many products and have been detected in human samples worldwide. Limited data show that concentrations are elevated in young children. Objectives We investigated the association between PBDEs and age with an emphasis on young children from Australia in 2006–2007. Methods We collected human blood serum samples (n = 2,420), which we stratified by age and sex and pooled for analysis of PBDEs. Results The sum of BDE-47, -99, -100, and -153 concentrations (∑4PBDE) increased from 0–0.5 years (mean ± SD, 14 ± 3.4 ng/g lipid) to peak at 2.6–3 years (51 ± 36 ng/g lipid; p < 0.001) and then decreased until 31–45 years (9.9 ± 1.6 ng/g lipid). We observed no further significant decrease among ages 31–45, 45–60 (p = 0.964), or > 60 years (p = 0.894). The mean ∑4PBDE concentration in cord blood (24 ± 14 ng/g lipid) did not differ significantly from that in adult serum at ages 15–30 (p = 0.198) or 31–45 years (p = 0.140). We found no temporal trend when we compared the present results with Australian PBDE data from 2002–2005. PBDE concentrations were higher in males than in females; however, this difference reached statistical significance only for BDE-153 (p = 0.05). Conclusions The observed peak concentration at 2.6–3 years of age is later than the period when breast-feeding is typically ceased. This suggests that in addition to the exposure via human milk, young children have higher exposure to these chemicals and/or a lower capacity to eliminate them.
To wait or not to wait: Optimal ordering under lead time uncertainty and forecast updating

There has been a dramatic increase over the past decade in the number of firms that source finished product from overseas. Although this has reduced procurement costs, it has increased supply risk; procurement lead times are longer and are often unreliable. In deciding when and how much to order, firms must consider the lead time risk and the demand risk, i.e., the accuracy of their demand forecast. To improve the accuracy of its demand forecast, a firm may update its forecast as the selling season approaches. In this article we consider both forecast updating and lead time uncertainty. We characterize the firm's optimal procurement policy, and we prove that, with multiplicative forecast revisions, the firm's optimal procurement time is independent of the demand forecast evolution but that the optimal procurement quantity is not. This leads to a number of important managerial insights into the firm's planning process. We show that the firm becomes less sensitive to lead time variability as the forecast updating process becomes more efficient. Interestingly, a forecast‐updating firm might procure earlier than a firm with no forecast updating. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2009
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Modify the Gating of Kv Channels

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been reported to exhibit antiarrhythmic properties, which are attributed to their capability to modulate ion channels. This PUFAs ability has been reported to be due to their effects on the gating properties of ion channels. In the present review, we will focus on the role of PUFAs on the gating of two Kv channels, Kv1.5 and Kv11.1. Kv1.5 channels are blocked by n−3 PUFAs of marine [docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid] and plant origin (alpha-linolenic acid, ALA) at physiological concentrations. The blockade of Kv1.5 channels by PUFAs steeply increased in the range of membrane potentials coinciding with those of Kv1.5 channel activation, suggesting that PUFAs-channel binding may derive a significant fraction of its voltage sensitivity through the coupling to channel gating. A similar shift in the activation voltage was noted for the effects of n–6 arachidonic acid (AA) and DHA on Kv1.1, Kv1.2, and Kv11.1 channels. PUFAs-Kv1.5 channel interaction is time-dependent, producing a fast decay of the current upon depolarization. Thus, Kv1.5 channel opening is a prerequisite for the PUFA-channel interaction. Similar to the Kv1.5 channels, the blockade of Kv11.1 channels by AA and DHA steeply increased in the range of membrane potentials that coincided with the range of Kv11.1 channel activation, suggesting that the PUFAs-Kv channel interactions are also coupled to channel gating. Furthermore, AA regulates the inactivation process in other Kv channels, introducing a fast voltage-dependent inactivation in non-inactivating Kv channels. These results have been explained within the framework that AA closes voltage-dependent potassium channels by inducing conformational changes in the selectivity filter, suggesting that Kv channel gating is lipid dependent.
Gravitational quenching in massive galaxies and clusters by clumpy accretion

We consider a simple gravitational heating mechanism for the long-term quenching of cooling flows and star formation in massive dark matter haloes hosting elliptical galaxies and clusters. We showed earlier that the virial shock heating in haloes ≥10 12 M ⊙ triggers natural quenching in 10 12 -10 13 M ⊙ haloes. Our present analytic estimates and simple simulations argue that the long-term quenching in haloes ≥M min ∼ 7 x 1012 M ⊙ could be due to the gravitational energy of cosmological accretion delivered to the inner halo hot gas by cold flows via ram-pressure drag and local shocks. M min is obtained by comparing the gravitational power of infall into the potential well with the overall radiative cooling rate. The heating wins if the gas inner density cusp is not steeper than r -0.5 and if the masses in the cold and hot phases are comparable. The effect is stronger at higher redshifts, making the maintenance easier also at later times. Particular energy carriers into the halo core are cold gas clumps of ∼10 5 -10 8 M ⊙ . Clumps ≥10 5 M ⊙ penetrate to the inner halo with sufficient kinetic energy before they disintegrate, but they have to be ≤10 8 M ⊙ for the drag to do enough work in a Hubble time. Pressure-confined ∼10 4 K clumps are stable against their own gravity and remain gaseous once below the Bonnor-Ebert mass ∼10 8 M ⊙ . Such clumps are also immune to tidal disruption. Clumps in the desired mass range could emerge by thermal instability in the outer halo or in the filaments that feed it if the conductivity is not too high. Alternatively, such clumps may be embedded in dark matter subhaloes if the ionizing flux is ineffective, but they separate from their subhaloes by ram pressure before entering the inner halo. Heating by dynamical friction becomes dominant for massive satellites, which can contribute up to one-third of the total gravitational heating. We conclude that gravitational heating by cosmological accretion is a viable alternative to active galactic nucleus feedback as a long-term quenching mechanism.
Queries for detailed information system selection

In this paper we assume there is a group of connected information systems forming distributed information system (DS). They work under the same ontology. At the same time, each information system has its own knowledge base. Values of attributes in each information system S form atomic expressions of a language used for communication with others. Collaboration among them is initiated when one of information system S is asked by user to resolve a query containing some nonlocal attributes for S. Therefore it has to contact other information systems to obtain additional, helpful knowledge for finding finally objects satisfying given query. Because there is a set of different information systems connected with a given one, we have to decide which of them is the closest with its knowledge, and which one should be selected by user, for further investigation.
White matter lesions are prevalent but differentially related with cognition in aging and early Alzheimer disease.

BACKGROUND White matter lesions (WMLs) are prevalent in nondemented aging and in Alzheimer disease (AD). Their relationship with cognition in the earliest stages of AD is unknown. OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship between WMLs and cognition in nondemented aging and in early-stage AD. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Alzheimer Disease Research Center, St Louis, MO. PARTICIPANTS Participants were nondemented (n = 88) or had very mild (n = 48) or mild (n = 20) AD. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Regression coefficients for deep WMLs and periventricular WMLs (PVWMLs) as predictors of cognition, after controlling for age, educational achievement, brain atrophy, and infarctlike lesions. RESULTS White matter lesions were present in nondemented aging and in early-stage AD, with no group differences in deep WML burden and a modest PVWML burden increase in the AD group. The prevalence of infarctlike lesions was equivalent between groups. Age and hypertension were related to deep WML burden and PVWML burden. Deep WML burden and PVWML burden were associated with reduced global cognition in AD but not in nondemented aging. A PVWML x AD status interaction for global cognition suggests that the relationship between PVWMLs and cognition is modified by AD. In AD, global cognitive reductions were related to impairments in visual memory, processing speed, and executive function. CONCLUSIONS White matter lesions are prevalent in nondemented aging and in early-stage AD, and their presence influences cognitive impairment in the earliest stages of AD. Individuals with early-stage AD may be more vulnerable to the cognitive effect of WMLs than nondemented aging individuals with similar WML burden.
A Study on Preservice Teachers’ Use of Social Networks in Teaching Activities

Lots of technological tool enter into our lives because of rapid development in technology. One of the reasons that technology became part of our lives is the social network. This fast change we lived with technology also caused studies, which searched the tendencies of the individuals in using technology, to occur. One of the focuses of these studies is the professional use of technology and the intentions of the potential users in using technology. The aim of this study is to determine the purpose of teacher candidates’ use of technology and the factors that affect their perceptions of practicality of the use of technology in teaching activities in terms of social networks. In data collection, a scale that was developed on the basis of Technology Acceptance Model was used. The sampling of the study consists of 571 teacher candidates that are studying in different teaching programs. As a result of the study, it was found that the most effective aspect of the intention of the use of technology in teaching activities is the perceived practicality; and the most effective factor of the perceived practicality is the image.
A visual-based shared control architecture for remote telemanipulation

Cleaning up the past half century of nuclear waste represents the largest environmental remediation project in the whole Europe. Nuclear waste must be sorted, segregated and stored according to its radiation level in order to optimize maintenance costs. The objective of this work is to develop a shared control framework for remote manipulation of objects using visual information. In the presented scenario, the human operator must control a system composed of two robotic arms, one equipped with a gripper and the other one with a camera. In order to facilitate the operator's task, a subset of the gripper motion are assumed to be regulated by an autonomous algorithm exploiting the camera view of the scene. At the same time, the operator has control over the remaining null-space motions w.r. t. the primary (autonomous) task by acting on a force feedback device. A novel force feedback algorithm is also proposed with the aim of informing the user about possible constraints of the robotic system such as, for instance, joint limits. Human/hardware-in-the-loop experiments with simulated slave robots and a real master device are finally reported for demonstrating the feasibility and effectiveness of the approach.
Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America Influence of Soil Incorporation of Common Food Legume Stover on the Yield of Maize in Sandy Soils of Moist Savanna Woodland of Nigeria

ABSRACT: Two separate field experiments were conducted between 2006 and 2008 to evaluate the influence of soil incorporation of common food legumes on the yield and yield related parameters of maize grown on sandy soil environment of Odoba-Otukpa in the Moist Savanna Woodland of Nigeria. Five most commonly planted traditional food legume crops[groundnut (Arachis hypogea var. ' Camerun'),bambaranut (Vigna subterranean var'.Ikpeyiole'),cowpea (Vigna unguiculata var.'adoka white'),pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan var.'igbongbo') and soybean (Glycine max var.Samsoy 2) were incorporated as green manure after 12 weeks of field growth and also as stover after harvest into the soil in two separate experiments.NPK:15:15:15 applied at 45 kg/ha (NPK 45) and natural fallow were included as checks. The experiments were laid out in Completely Randomized Block Design. The results indicated that particle size distribution of soil in the experimental site was altered, levels of organic carbon, organic matter, total nitrogen, phosphorus and the exchangeable bases (except Na+) also increased with the addition of both the food legume and the natural fallow materials. The incorporated food legume treatments had 56-76% (when incorporated at 12 weeks of field growth) and 42.5-61.49%(when incorporated as stover) of the total grain yield of maize produced by the inorganic fertilizer treatment, but gave significantly higher grain yield of maize than the natural fallow check. Soil incorporation of food legume plant parts also produced significant effects on hundred-seed weight and nitrogen yield of maize and soil nitrogen after harvest of maize. Although NPK 45 treatment plots gave higher grain yield and other yield related parameters than the food legume treated plots, the net benefits values were higher for most of the legumes as compared to NPK 45, indicating higher profitability of food legume incorporation than the inorganic fertilizer option. INTRODUCTION: A sandy soil will support very little plant life, unless organic matter of some kind is added to it. Organic matter contributes to plant life through its effect on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil. It serves as a source of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), profoundly affects the activities of microflora and microfaunal organisms, promotes good soil structure, thereby improving tilth,aeration, and retention of moisture and increasing buffering and exchange capacity of soils(Cornell University,2009). Organic matter consists of materials derived from plants(straw, leaves, aborted floral parts, dead roots) and includes such other materials as animal manures,compost,native peat, sawdust, garden refuse and sod(Williams,2009). The only way for a soil to acquire …
Japanese First-Year Engineering Students’ Motivation to Learn English

The goal of this study was to measure, examine, and attempt to explain the motivation to learn English of first-year engineering students in Japan within the theoretical framework of Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 1 Motivational Self System (L2MSS), using the L2MSS instrument (Dörnyei & Taguchi, 2010), with additional scales by Ryan (2008). Correlation and regression analyses of the data provided empirical support for the validity of two of the three main components of the L2 Motivational Self System in the Japanese context. Attitudes Toward Learning English and the Ideal L2 Self were both found to be predictors of the criterion measure, Intended Learning Effort, but the third component, the Ought-to L2 Self, was not. Four predictors of Intended Learning Effort were found: Attitudes Toward Learning English, Linguistic Self-Confidence, the Ideal L2 Self, and Integrativeness. A model based on regression analyses was constructed and shows two reciprocal interrelationships among the four predictors of Intended Learning Effort. Pedagogical implications of the results are considered and suggestions are made for how to possibly increase the L2 motivation for this population of students.
The effects of a multiple schedule and RIRD intervention on the vocal stereotypy of a student with autism spectrum disorder

v List of Figures . ix List of Tables . x Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 Statement of Problem . 1 Significance of the Study . 5 Purpose of the Study . 6 Research Questions . 6 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature . 8 Vocal Stereotypy & ASD. 8 Impact of Stereotypy on Socialization . 9 Impact of Stereotypy on Learning . 10 Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) . 10 RIRD . 11 RIRD as an Evidence-Based Practice . 14 Multiple Schedule . 14 Summary . 16 Chapter 3: Method . 18 Setting . 18 School . 18 Classroom . 18
Multi-$V_{T}$ UTBB FDSOI Device Architectures for Low-Power CMOS Circuit

This paper analyzes the potential of fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) technology as a multiple threshold voltage VT platform for digital circuits compatible with bulk complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS). Various technology options, such as gate materials, buried oxide thickness, back plane doping type, and back biasing, were investigated in order to achieve a technology platform that offers at least three distinct VT options (high-VT, standard- VT, and low-VT ). The multi-VT technology platform highlighted in this paper was developed with standard CMOS circuit design constraints in mind; its compatibility in terms of design and power management techniques, as well as its superior performance with regard to bulk CMOS, are described. Finally, it is shown that a multi-VT technology platform based on two gate materials offers additional advantages as a competitive solution. The proposed approach enables excellent channel electrostatic control and low VT variability of the FDSOI process. The viability of the proposed concept has been studied through technology computer-aided design simulations and demonstrated through experimental measurements on 30-nm gate length devices.
Does Corporate Social Responsibility Benefit Society ?

In short, it depends on the ownership type. We construct an event-based outcome measure of firm-level environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impact for public and private firms globally from 2007 to 2015 using data from RepRisk. Then, we measure the societal impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagements using participation in the United Nations Global Compact as a proxy. We demonstrate a striking difference between public and private firms: while private firms significantly reduce their negative ESG incident levels after CSR engagements, public firms fail to do so. We attribute this difference to the conflicts of interest between shareholders and stakeholders, which are more pronounced in public firms than private firms. We empirically validate this interpretation through examination of scenarios with varying levels of conflict intensity. We find that for issues types with higher conflict intensity such as collective bargaining, supply-chain-related issues, and controversial products and services, the performance gap between public and private firms is even more severe. For issue types with lower conflict intensity such as tax evasion, executive compensation, and overuse and wasting of resources, the performance gap is smaller and even public companies may do better post-commitment. Moreover, the performance gap is also wider for upstream firms than for downstream firms in supply chains. We also rule out a host of alternative interpretations related to time trends and endogeneity issues. Our results show that existing CSR engagements may not necessarily lead to better societal outcomes, and that policy interventions aimed at aligning the interests of different parties can potentially improve the overall outcome.
Checks and Balances, Private Information, and the Credibility of Monetary Commitments

In this article, we argue that the effectiveness of central bank independence and exchange-rate pegs in solving credibility problems is contingent on two factors: political institutions and information asymmetries. However, the impact of these two factors differs. We argue that the presence of one institution—multiple political veto players—should be crucial for the effectiveness of central bank independence, but should have no impact on the efficacy of exchange-rate pegs. In contrast, exchange-rate pegs should have a greater anti-inflationary impact when it is difficult for the public to distinguish between inflation generated by policy choice and inflation resulting from exogenous shocks to the economy. Such information asymmetries between the public and the government, however, do not increase the efficacy of central bank independence. Empirical tests using newly developed data on political institutions provide strong support for our hypotheses.
Sign Pattern Matrices That Require Almost Unique Rank

A sign pattern matrix is a matrix whose entries are from the set {+,−, 0}. For a real matrix B, sgn(B) is the sign pattern matrix obtained by replacing each positive (respectively, negative, zero) entry of B by + (respectively, −, 0). For a sign pattern matrix A, the sign pattern class of A, denoted Q(A), is defined as {B : sgn(B) = A }. The minimum rank mr(A) (maximum rank MR(A)) of a sign pattern matrix A is the minimum (maximum) of the ranks of the real matrices in Q(A). Several results concerning sign patterns A that require almost unique rank, that is to say, the sign patterns A such that MR(A) = mr(A)+1 are established. In particular, a complete characterization of these sign patterns is obtained. Further, the results on sign patterns that require almost unique rank are extended to sign patterns A for which the spread is d = MR(A)−mr(A) ≥ 2.
C-reactive protein enhances macrophage lipoprotein lipase expression Published, JLR Papers in Press, 14 May 2008. This study was supported by Diabète Québec.

High serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a strong predictor of cardiovascular events, are documented in patients with type 2 diabetes. Accumulating evidence suggests that CRP could directly promote arterial damage. To determine the role of CRP in diabetic atherosclerosis, we examined the effect of CRP on the expression of macrophage lipoprotein lipase (LPL), a proatherogenic molecule upregulated in type 2 diabetes. Treatment of human macrophages with native CRP increased, in a dose- and time-dependent manner, LPL protein expression and secretion. Modified CRP reproduced these effects. Preincubation of human macrophages with antioxidants, protein kinase C (PKC), and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitors prevented CRP-induced LPL expression. Exposure of human macrophages to CRP further increased intracellular reactive oxygen species generation, classic PKC isozymes expression, and extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 phosphorylation. In CRP-treated J774 macrophages, increased macrophage LPL mRNA levels and enhanced binding of nuclear proteins to the activated protein-1 (AP-1)-enhancing element were observed. These effects were prevented by antioxidants, as well as by PKC, MAPK, and AP-1 inhibitors. These data show for the first time that CRP directly increases macrophage LPL expression and secretion. Given the predominant role of macrophage LPL in atherogenesis, LPL might represent a novel factor underlying the adverse effect of CRP on the diabetic vasculature.