Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth and puberty in a prospective cohort of patients with sickle-cell anaemia: an assessment over ten years abstract

Introduction: Hereditary haemoglobinopathies are the most common group of monogenic hereditary diseases in the world. Erythrocytes in sickle form, cellular expression of polymerization of deoxygenated HbS, cause intermittent vascular obstruction, leading to tissue ischaemia and consequent chronic damage in organs and endocrine glands. Objective: The evaluation of the growth pattern and pubertal development of a group of patients with sickle-cell anaemia (SCA) from childhood to adulthood. Methods: Thirty patients with SCA between the ages of 10 and 23 years were evaluated in a prospective longitudinal study at three points in time (Te1: 2005; Te2: 2010 and Te3: 2015) and compared with controls. Anthropometric, pubertal and hormonal evaluations were carried out. Age- and gender-specific Z-scores for weight, height and BMI (body mass index) were calculated according to the reference growth standards. Results: Thirty patients with SCA (mean age = 13.93 years) were evaluated at Te1 and 26 patients (mean age = 25.08 years) at Te3. The SCA group lower showed Z-scores for weight (p = 0.0002), height (p = 0.0184) and BMI (p = 0.0011) than the control group at Te1. At Te3, there was no difference in height, but weight (p = <0.0001) and BMI (p = <0.0001) were lower in the SCA group. Men showed greater weight commitment than women at the three study times (Te1: p = 0.0340, Te2: p = 0.0426 and Te3: p = 0.0387) and lower BMI in Te3 (p = 0.0155) in the SCA group. There was a significant increase in weight when comparing Te1 with Te3 (p = 0.0009) and in height when comparing Te1 with Te2 (p = 0.0292) and with Te3 (p = 0.0003) in the SCA group. There was a significant increase in weight when comparing Te1 and Te3 (p = 0.0009) and in height when comparing Te1 and Te2 (p = 0.0292) and Te3 (p = 0.0003) in the SCA group. At Te1, 14 cases and 2 controls were prepubertal. Bone age was delayed in 12 patients. Age at menarche was delayed and lower in the SCA group (mean = 15 years). Five patients had gestated, but no patient had experienced fatherhood. At Te1, TSH levels were higher (p = 0.0080) and T3 levels were lower (p = 0.0020) in the SCA group. At Te3, LH and FSH levels were higher in men with SCA (p = 0.0014; p; 0.0002). IGF-I levels were lower in cases both at Te1 (p = 0.0002) and at Te3 (p = 0.0032). Conclusions: Patients with SCA showed growth impairment and pubertal delay compared with healthy controls. However, albeit belatedly, they reached normal sexual maturation and height in adulthood. Women with SCA showed no fertility problems. The findings highlight the need to investigate the intention of paternity and fertility among men with SCA.
Modelling Consumer Adoption of Internet Shopping

The study explores consumers’ adoption of Internet shopping in the context of tourism products in Britain. The key objective is to propose a model for the prediction of Internet shopping adoption integrating individual and technology characteristics. Drawing upon Davis’ (1989) Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the proposed model identifies the structural relationships among eight constructs which were examined through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with AMOS. Essentially, this framework helps to explain issues such as reasons of adopting Internet shopping medium and contributing factors to Internet shopping adoption. The study employs an Internet Survey in the data collection stage. The method of analysis via SEM tested the hypothesised relationships among the constructs, as postulated in the model. The results explicitly clarified several key contributions and implications to marketing theory and practice.
Estimating the Effect of In-Store Travel Distance on Unplanned Spending : Applications to Store Layout and Mobile Promotion Strategies

Recent advances in shopper insights reveal that consumers rarely “shop” the entire store. On average, shoppers’ paths only cover about one-third of the areas in a grocery store and hence are unexposed to the majority of products in the store. Given that shoppers typically use physical products in the store as an external memory cue, encouraging shoppers to travel more of the store may increase unplanned spending. Estimating the direct effect of in-store travel distance on unplanned spending, however, is complicated due to the difficulty of collecting in-store path data and the endogeneity of in-store travel distance. To address both issues, we collect a novel dataset using in-store RFID tracking that measures in-store travel distance accurately, and develop an instrumental variable approach to account for endogeneity. Our estimates suggest that the elasticity of unplanned spending on travel distance is 1.57, which is 57% higher than the uncorrected OLS estimate. Further, we apply our estimates to assess the effectiveness of two strategies that encourage longer shopping paths. We find that changing the locations of three destination categories can increase unplanned spending by 7.2%, while strategically promoting three product categories via mobile promotion may increase unplanned spending by 16.1%.
Reduced Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Current and Recovered Restrictive Anorexia Nervosa

Functional connectivity studies based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) have shown alterations in brain networks associated with self-referential processing, cognitive control, and somatosensory processing in anorexia nervosa (AN). This study aimed to further investigate the functional connectivity of resting-state networks (RSNs) in homogenous subsamples of individuals with restrictive AN (current and recovered) and the relationship this has with core eating disorder psychopathology. rs-fMRI scans were obtained from 12 female individuals with restrictive AN, 14 females recovered from restrictive AN, and 16 female healthy controls. Independent components analysis revealed a set of functionally relevant RSNs, previously reported in the literature. Dual regression analysis showed decreased temporal coherence within the lateral visual and auditory RSNs in individuals with current AN and those recovered from AN compared to healthy individuals. This decreased connectivity was also found in regions associated with somatosensory processing, and is consistent with reduced interoceptive awareness and body image perception, characteristic of AN. Widespread gray matter (GM) reductions were also found in both the AN groups, and differences in functional connectivity were no longer significant when GM maps were added as a covariate in the dual regression analysis. This raises the possibility that deficits in somatosensory and interoceptive processing observed in AN may be in part underpinned or exacerbated by GM reductions.
Stimulus-Response Mappings Shape Inhibition Processes: A Combined EEG-fMRI Study of Contextual Stopping

Humans are rarely faced with one simple task, but are typically confronted with complex stimulus constellations and varying stimulus-relevance in a given situation. Through modifying the prototypical stop-signal task and by combined recording and analysis of electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we studied the effects of stimulus relevance for the generation of a response or its inhibition. Stimulus response mappings were modified by contextual cues, indicating which of two different stimuli following a go stimulus was relevant for stopping. Overall, response inhibition, that is comparing successful stopping to a stop-signal against go-signal related processes, was associated with increased activity in right inferior and left midfrontal regions, as well as increased EEG delta and theta power; however, stimulus-response conditions in which the most infrequent stop-signal was relevant for inhibition, were associated with decreased activity in regions typically involved in response inhibition, as well as decreased activity in the delta and theta bands as compared to conditions wherein the relevant stop-signal frequency was higher. Behaviorally, this (aforementioned) condition, which demanded inhibition only from the most infrequent stimulus, was also associated with reduced reaction times and lower error rates. This pattern of results does not align with typical stimulus frequency-driven findings and suggests interplay between task relevance and stimulus frequency of the stop-signal. Moreover, with a multimodal EEG-fMRI analysis, we demonstrated significant parameterization for response inhibition with delta, theta and beta time-frequency values, which may be interpreted as reflecting conflict monitoring, evaluative and/or motor processes as suggested by previous work (Huster et al., 2013; Aron, 2011). Further multimodal results suggest a possible neurophysiological and behavioral benefit under conditions whereby the most infrequent stimulus demanded inhibition, indicating that the frequency of the stop-signal interacts with the current stimulus-response contingency. These results demonstrate that response inhibition is prone to influence from other cognitive functions, making it difficult to dissociate real inhibitory capabilities from the influence of moderating mechanisms.
The Distribution of Cycle Lengths in Graphical Models for Iterative Decoding

This paper analyzes the distribution of cycle lengths in turbo decoding and low-density parity check (LDPC) graphs. The properties of such cycles are of signi cant interest in the context of iterative decoding algorithms which are based on belief propagation or message passing. We estimate the probability that there exist no simple cycles of length less than or equal to k at a randomly chosen node in a turbo decoding graph using a combination of counting arguments and independence assumptions. For large block lengths n, this probability is approximately e 2k 1 4 n ; k 4. Simulation results validate the accuracy of the various approximations. For example, for turbo codes with a block length of 64000, a randomly chosen node has a less than 1% chance of being on a cycle of length less than or equal to 10, but has a greater than 99:9% chance of being on a cycle of length less than or equal to 20. The e ect of the \S-random" permutation is also analyzed and it is shown that while it eliminates short cycles of length k < 8, it does not signi cantly a ect the overall distribution of cycle lengths. Similar analyses and simulations are also presented for graphs for LDPC codes. The paper concludes by commenting brie y on how these results may provide insight into the practical success of iterative decoding methods.
Instability of plumes driven by localized heating

Abstract Plumes due to localized buoyancy sources are of wide interest owing to their prevalence in many situations. This study investigates the transition from laminar to turbulent dynamics. Several experiments have reported that this transition is sensitive to external perturbations. As such, a well-controlled set-up has been chosen for our numerical study, consisting of a localized heat source at the bottom of an enclosed cylinder whose walls are all maintained at a fixed uniform temperature, except for the localized heat source. At moderate Rayleigh numbers $\mathit{Ra}$ , the flow consists of a steady, axisymmetric purely poloidal plume. On increasing $\mathit{Ra}$ , the flow undergoes a supercritical Hopf bifurcation to an axisymmetric ‘puffing’ plume, where a vortex ring is periodically emitted from the localized heater. At higher $\mathit{Ra}$ , this state becomes unstable to a sequence of symmetry-breaking bifurcations, going through a quasi-periodic ‘fluttering’ stage where the axisymmetric rings are tilted, and other states in which the sequence of tilted rings interact with each other. The sequence of symmetry-breaking bifurcations in the transition to turbulence culminates in a torus breakup event in which all the spatial and spatio-temporal symmetries of the system are broken.
Sea foam as a source of fungal inoculum for the isolation of biologically active natural products

Due to a rate increase in the resistance of microbial pathogens to currently used antibiotics, there is a need in society for the discovery of novel antimicrobials. Historically, fungi are a proven source for antimicrobial compounds. The main goals of this study were to investigate the fungal diversity associated with sea foam collected around the coast of Prince Edward Island and the utility of this resource for the production of antimicrobial natural products. Obtained isolates were identified using ITS and nLSU rDNA sequences, fermented on four media, extracted and fractions enriched in secondary metabolites were screened for antimicrobial activity. The majority of the isolates obtained were ascomycetes, consisting of four recognized marine taxa along with other ubiquitous genera and many ‘unknown’ isolates that could not be identified to the species level using rDNA gene sequences. Secondary metabolite isolation efforts lead to the purification of the metabolites epolones A and B, pycnidione and coniothyrione from a strain of Neosetophoma samarorum; brefeldin A, leptosin J and the metabolite TMC-264 from an unknown fungus (probably representative of an Edenia sp.); and 1-hydroxy-6-methyl-8-hydroxymethylxanthone, chrysophanol and chrysophanol bianthrone from a Phaeospheria spartinae isolate. The biological activity of each of these metabolites was assessed against a panel of microbial pathogens as well as several cell lines.
The Flaring H2O Megamaser and Compact Radio Source in Markarian 348

We report on single-dish monitoring and extremely high angular resolution observations of the flaring H2O megamaser in the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 348. The H2O line is redshifted by ~130 km s-1 with respect to the systemic velocity, is very broad, with an FWHM of 130 km s-1, and has no detectable high-velocity components within 1500 km s-1 on either side of the strong line. Monitoring observations made with the Effelsberg 100 m telescope show that the maser varies significantly on timescales as short as 1 day and that the integrated line flux is loosely correlated with the continuum flux. Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations indicate that the maser emission arises entirely from a region less than 0.25 pc in extent, located toward a continuum component thought to be associated with the receding jet. We also report on integrated flux monitoring with the VLA between 1.4 and 43 GHz, and VLBA continuum observations of the milliarcsecond scale jets at 1.7, 8, 15, and 22 GHz. These observations have allowed us to tentatively pinpoint the location of the core, and also show the ejection of a new jet component during the current radio "flare. "
Entrepreneurial Finance around the World : The Impact of the Business Environment on Financing Constraints

In this paper we use a unique dataset of over 70,000 firms, most of which are small, in over 100 countries, to systematically study the use of different financing sources for new and young firms. As expected, we find that in all countries younger firms have significantly less reliance on bank financing and more reliance on informal financing. However, we also find that younger firms have better access to bank finance in countries with stronger rule of law and better credit information, and that the reliance of young firms on operations (leasing and trade credit) finance and informal finance decreases with the availability of credit information. Overall, our results suggest that improvements to the legal environment and availability of credit information are disproportionately beneficial for promoting access to formal finance by young firms. * Corresponding author. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent.
MICROBLOGGING IN THE LARGE LECTURE CLASSROOM: FACILITATING PARTICIPATION FOR STUDENTS WITH HIGH COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION

Can the use of social media facilitate student participation in the large lecture class? This paper explores this question by presenting original data collected in the context of a freshman Technology large-lecture course in which microblogging service Yammer was introduced mid-semester and used for student participation. Students were assessed pre- and post-intervention through online surveys that asked about perceptions of classroom interactions and learning, as well as measures of communication apprehension and technology readiness. We analyze the set of 69 pre- and post-intervention survey pairs in order to identify the relationships among communication apprehension, technology readiness, and comfort with classroom participation, both face to face and through microblogging.
Birds and small mammals in kanuka (Kunzea ericoides) and gorse (Ulex europaeus) scrub and the resulting seed rain and seedling dynamics.

Native kanuka (Kunzea ericoides) and adventive gorse (Ulex europaeus) stands aged 10-14 years, and not grazed by domestic stock, were studied near Nelson, New Zealand. The aim was to determine their use by introduced small mammals, and native and adventive birds, and the effects of these animals on seed rain and seedling dynamics as factors influencing vegetation succession. Seed traps were established where they could catch only bird-dispersed or wind-blown seed, and seedling emergence and growth were monitored. Bird abundance was estimated by five-minute bird counts, and small mammal abundance by trapping. The summed frequencies of all birds, and those likely to disperse seeds, were similar in kanuka and gorse. The endemic native bird species, bellbirds (Anthornis melanura) which are omnivorous, brown creepers (Mohoua novaeseelandiae) and grey warblers (Gerygone igata) which are insectivorous, were more frequent in kanuka than in gorse, while fantails (Rhipidura fuliginosa) were equally frequent in both stands. Non-endemic silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis) which are omnivorous were the most abundant seed-dispersing species, and they were significantly more frequent in gorse, as were adventive California quail (Callipepla californica) which are granivorous. Other small adventive granivores and omnivores were either more frequent in kanuka or gorse, or equally common in both stands. Ship rats (Rattus rattus) and possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) were in low numbers throughout. Mice (Mus domesticus) were more frequent in the gorse, probably because of the shelter offered by the dry gorse litter, and food supply, e.g. gorse seed. More seeds of native, fleshy-fruited shrubs fell in the kanuka, largely those of Coprosma spp. and Cyathodes juniperina, which grow in the kanuka. Seed species richness was similar in kanuka and gorse. In both cases, the seed rain appeared more influenced by the local seed source than by the different bird communities. In both kanuka and gorse, the relationship between seed rain and seedling numbers was close only for the most common fleshy-fruited species. Seedling emergence and survival was greater in gorse because of openings in the canopy, and the lower density of the introduced hares and rabbits. Overall, the different morphology and structure of the adventive gorse probably have the greatest influence in seedling dynamics, and ultimately on vegetation succession.
Unseen WEIRD Assumptions: The So-Called Language Gap Discourse and Ideologies of Language, Childhood, and Learning

ABSTRACT Claiming to rely on “science,” many well-intentioned “experts” offer advice on how to “close the gap”—word gap, language gap, achievement gap—between disadvantaged and advantaged children. Based on both research and personal experience, this advice promises magic solutions to apparently complex and intractable problems by coaching disadvantaged parents in how best to speak to their young children. One significant shortcoming, however, is that the research is often circular, mistaking correlation and causation, and it is based on limited populations—what Henrich et al. (2010) termed WEIRD populations of Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic people, often majority undergraduate college students in North America. The unseen assumptions about what is “natural” or “optimal” may be evident when cross-cultural evidence is brought to contrast with the assumed proper way to socialize children into language—ways familiar to White, middle-class, professional North American practitioners. This article reveals three of the dominant ideologies governing the “gaps” discourse: parochial understandings of language, childhood, and learning. Ultimately, I argue that accepting diverse aspects of all these concepts can give rise to flourishing human beings.
Physician Payments and Infant Mortality: Evidence from Medicaid Fee Policy

While efforts to improve the health of the uninsured have focused on demand side policies such as increasing insurance coverage, supply side changes may be equally important. Yet there is little direct evidence on the effect of policies designed to increase the supply of Medicaid services to the poor. We provide such evidence by examining the relationship between infant mortality and the ratio of Medicaid fees to private fees for obstetrician/gynecologists. We build a state and year specific index of the fee ratio for 1979-1992, a period of substantial variation in relative Medicaid fees. We find that increases in fee ratios are associated with significant declines in the infant mortality rate. We also find that higher fees raise payments made to physicians and clinics under the Medicaid program, but reduce payments to hospitals. Finally, we compare the cost effectiveness of reducing infant mortality by increasing fee ratios to the efficacy of reducing mortality by expanding the Medicaid eligibility of pregnant women. Although our results are sensitive to the time period used, we conclude that raising fee ratios is at least as cost effective as increasing eligibility.
Tracking referents : markedness, world knowledge and pronoun resolution

Dit proefschrift rapporteert onderzoek naar het verwerken van anaforen (persoonlijke voornaamwoorden zoals 'hij' en 'zij'), in het bijzonder de invloed van gemarkeerdheid van de anaforische uitdrukking (in termen van prosodische en/of morfologische kenmerken) en plausibiliteit van de antecedent (gebaseerd op wereldkennis). Een van de belangrijkste vragen in dit soort onderzoek is hoe de menselijke taalverwerker verschillende bronnen van informatie combineert bij het begrijpen van taal. Dit is onderzocht met behulp van uiteenlopende psycholinguistische methoden en paradigma’s, zoals leestijdregistratie, off-line keuze taken, en ERP (Event Related brain Potentials) registratie. De resultaten laten zien dat bij het begrijpen van persoonlijke voornaamwoorden alle informatiebronnen parallel gebruikt worden. Het werd echter ook duidelijk dat de taak die de proefpersoon tijdens het lezen moest uitvoeren van groot belang is voor de effectsterkte. Bij de keuze welke referent door het voornaamwoord aangeduid wordt, wogen gemarkeerdheid en wereldkennis duidelijk zwaarder dan ‘order-of-mention’ of syntactische informatie. Wereldkennis was bij uitstek een bepalende factor bij de keuze tussen de twee mogelijke referenten. De neurale processen die aan het begrijpen van voornaamwoorden ten grondslag liggen zijn ook onderzocht, waarbij met name gekeken werd naar de interactie tussen gemarkeerdheid en wereldkennis. Zowel accentuering als wereldkennis hadden effect op de amplitude van de ‘P600’, een positieve verschuiving in het ERP signaal. Accentuering van een voornaamwoord met een onverwachte referent leidde tot een kleinere P600, wellicht doordat de interpretatiemoeilijkheid vermindert door het beklemtonen van het verrassende element.