Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parental Incarceration and Child Well-being: Conceptual and Practical Concerns Regarding the Use of Propensity Scores

The aim of the current investigation was to examine the appropriateness of propensity score methods for the study of incarceration effects on children by directing attention to a range of conceptual and practical concerns, including the exclusion of theoretically meaningful covariates, the comparability of treatment and control groups, and potential ambiguities resulting from researcher-driven analytic decisions. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we examined the effects of maternal and paternal incarceration on a range of child well-being outcomes, including internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test scores, and early juvenile delinquency. Our findings suggested that propensity scores and treatment effect estimates are highly sensitive to a number of decisions made by the researcher, including aspects where little consensus exists. In light of the conceptual underpinnings of propensity score analysis and existing data limitations, we suggest the potential utility of different identification methods and specialized data collection efforts.
Emotion and memory in nostalgia sport tourism: examining the attraction to postmodern ballparks through an interdisciplinary lens

Nostalgia sport tourism, one of Gibson's [1998. Sport tourism: A critical analysis of research. Sport Management Review, 1, 45–76] three forms of sport tourism, appears to have received little scholarly attention in contrast to active sport tourism and event sport tourism [Fairley, S. (2003). In search of relived social experience: Group-based nostalgia sport tourism. Journal of Sport Management, 17, 284–304; Gibson, H. J. (2002). Sport tourism at a crossroad? Considerations for the future. In S. Gammon & J. Kurtzman (Eds.), Sport tourism: Principles and practice (pp. 123–140). Eastbourne: Leisure Studies Association; Gibson, H. J. (2003). Sport tourism: An introduction to the special issue. Journal of Sport Management, 17, 205–213; Ritchie, B. W. , & Adair, D. (2004). Sport tourism: An introduction and overview. In B. W. Ritchie & D. Adair (Eds.), Sport tourism: Interrelationships, impacts and issues (pp. 1–29). Buffalo, NY: Channel View]. Despite this apparent lack of research relative to the other two domains, insightful and thought-provoking scholarship has emerged within nostalgia sport tourism. Sociology, which is one of sport tourism's parent disciplines, has influenced much of this scholarship [Gibson, H. J. (2004). Moving beyond the ‘what is and who’ of sport tourism to understanding ‘why’. Journal of Sport Tourism, 9(3), 247–265; Harris, J. (2006). The science of research in sport and tourism: Some reflections upon the promise of the sociological imagination. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 11(2), 153–171]. Among other things, this epistemological orientation has yielded the importance of emotion and memory to nostalgically oriented experiences. This paper considers the emergence of emotion and memory within nostalgia sport tourism and, in so doing, continues this sociological emphasis. In particular, it argues that interaction ritual (IR) theory [Collins, R. (2004). Interaction ritual chains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press], a micro-sociological perspective, can be used to provide scholars with a deep understanding of tourists' and excursionists' motivations for engaging in nostalgically oriented experiences. Three additional constructs from the field of sport geography – place, placelessness [Relph, E. (1976). Place and placelessness. London: Pion], and topophilia [Tuan, Y. -F. (1974). Topophilia: A study of environmental perception, attitudes, and values. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall] – are posited as useful supplements to IR theory that can enable sport tourism scholars to develop a more nuanced conceptualization of those elements inherent within nostalgically oriented sport sites. These theoretical positions are synthesized and used as a framework to examine sport tourists' and excursionists' attraction to the recent ‘throwback’ esthetic of contemporary Major League Baseball park design.
Medication Noncompliance among Patients with Chronic Diseases Attending a Primary Health Facility in a Periurban District in Ghana

Background Despite the growing interest in understanding the aetiology of chronic diseases, limited studies exist on medication noncompliance, especially, among periurban and rural dwellers in Ghana. In this study, we determined the prevalence of medication noncompliance and explored the medication intake behaviour of patients with chronic diseases. The relative influence of cost on medication noncompliance and the risk factors for noncompliance were also assessed. Methods The design was a cross-sectional study of 200 patients from ages below 40 years to ages above 60 years sampled from the Offinso South Municipality, a periurban district of the Ashanti region of Ghana. Data collected through the administration of structured questionnaires was coded, cleaned, and analysed using the SPSS (v20) software programme. Descriptive and multivariate analyses using binary logistic regression were performed. Results Medication noncompliance was high (55.5%), with patients living with HIV/AIDS and those with psychological disorders being the most noncompliant. Majority of patients took at least 2 medications (81.5%), did so twice daily (79.0%), did not experience side effects with intake (67.0%), considered their medication to be effective (88.5%), and were aware of the complications that could arise from noncompliance. The dominant route of medication intake was oral (86.8%) and a lesser proportion of patients (22.5%) took herbal preparation alongside their prescribed medications. The cost of medication did not prevent patients from adhering to their medication regimen as most of these drugs were covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Age, duration of diagnosis and difficulty in remembering medication instructions were identified as significant predictors of noncompliance. Conclusion Educating patients on the need to be compliant with their medication regimen, the complications that could arise from noncompliance and avoidance of intake of herbal medications during their treatment should form part of the clinical sessions organized for patients with chronic conditions.
Chapter 10 Latent Class Models

Latent class (LC) modeling was initially introduced by Lazarsfeld and Henry (1968) as a way of formulating latent attitudinal variables from dichotomous survey items. In contrast to factor analysis, which posits continuous latent variables, LC models assume that the latent variable is categorical, and areas of application are more wide-ranging. The methodology was formalized and extended to nominal variables by Goodman (1974a, 1974b), who also developed the maximum likelihood (ML) algorithm that serves as the basis for many of today’s LC software programs. In recent years, LC models have been extended to include observable variables of mixed scale type (nominal, ordinal, continuous, and counts) and covariates, as well as deal with sparse data, boundary solutions, and other problem areas. In this chapter, we describe three important special cases of LC models for applications in cluster, factor, and regression analyses. We begin by introducing the LC cluster model as applied to nominal variables (the traditional LC model), discuss some limitations of this model, and show how recent extensions can be used to overcome them. We then turn to a formal treatment of the LC factor model and an extensive introduction to LC regression models before returning to show how the LC cluster model, as applied to continuous variables, can be used to improve on the K-means approach to cluster analysis. We use the Latent GOLD computer program (Vermunt & Magidson, 2003) to illustrate the use of these models as applied to several data sets.
A no-go theorem for theories that decohere to quantum mechanics

To date, there has been no experimental evidence that invalidates quantum theory. Yet it may only be an effective description of the world, in the same way that classical physics is an effective description of the quantum world. We ask whether there exists an operationally defined theory superseding quantum theory, but which reduces to it via a decoherence-like mechanism. We prove that no such post-quantum theory exists if it is demanded that it satisfy two natural physical principles: causality and purification. Causality formalizes the statement that information propagates from present to future, and purification that each state of incomplete information arises in an essentially unique way due to lack of information about an environment. Hence, our result can be viewed either as evidence that the fundamental theory of Nature is quantum or as showing in a rigorous manner that any post-quantum theory must abandon causality, purification or both.
Information Visualization Evaluation Using Crowdsourcing

Visualization researchers have been increasingly leveraging crowdsourcing approaches to overcome a number of limitations of controlled laboratory experiments, including small participant sample sizes and narrow demographic backgrounds of study participants. However, as a community, we have little understanding on when, where, and how researchers use crowdsourcing approaches for visualization research. In this paper, we review the use of crowdsourcing for evaluation in visualization research. We analyzed 190 crowdsourcing experiments, reported in 82 papers that were published in major visualization conferences and journals between 2006 and 2017. We tagged each experiment along 36 dimensions that we identified for crowdsourcing experiments. We grouped our dimensions into six important aspects: study design & procedure, task type, participants, measures & metrics, quality assurance, and reproducibility. We report on the main findings of our review and discuss challenges and opportunities for improvements in conducting crowdsourcing studies for visualization research.
Effect of Pregnancy and Stage of Lactation on Energy Processes in Isolated Blood Cells of Dairy Cows

Abstract Introduction: The transition period is the most challenging time for dairy cattle, which is characterised not only by negative energy balance but also by fatty tissue mobilisation. Material and Methods: The efficiency of energy pathways, β-oxidation in WBC and glycolysis in RBC (based on deoxyglucose transmembrane transport) were estimated. Insulin in blood plasma was determined using ELISA. Results: After calving and up to one month after delivery, a significant drop in blood plasma level was noticed, simultaneously with a rise in β-oxidation from 18.93 ±3.64 to 30.32 ±5.28 pmol/min/mg protein in WBC. A strong negative correlation between these two indices (r = −0.68) was found. During the period of transition to lactation an increase in glucose cross-membrane transportation from 41.44 ±4.92 to 50.49 ±6.41 μmol/h/g Hb was observed. A strong positive correlation between glucose transportation in RBC and β-oxidation in WBC (r = 0.71) was noticed. These data are in agreement with results of studies on dairy cows using liver slices from dairy cows in late pregnancy and different stages of lactation, in which changes in gene expression were analysed. Conclusion: It seems that measuring fatty acids oxidation and glycolysis using isolated blood cells may be an adequate and relatively simple method for energy state analysis to estimate the state of dairy cow metabolism and animal health.
Does Livestock Ownership Affect Animal Source Foods Consumption and Child Nutritional Status? Evidence from Rural Uganda

Abstract In many developing countries consumption of animal source foods (ASF) among the poor is still at a level where increasing its share in total caloric intake may have many positive nutritional benefits. This paper explores whether ownership of different livestock species increases consumption of ASF and helps improving child nutritional status, finding some evidence that both food consumption patterns and nutritional outcomes may be affected by livestock ownership in rural Uganda. Our results are suggestive that promoting (small) livestock ownership has the potential for affecting human nutrition in rural Uganda, but further research is needed to more precisely estimate the direction and size of these effects.
Evaluation of Konjac Blends and Soy Protein Isolate as Fat Replacements in Low‐fat Bologna

Low-fat bolognas (LFB, < 2.0% fat) were developed with 2 levels (0.5% or 1.0%) of konjac blends (KB, KSS = konjac flour/starch and KNC = konjac flour/carrageenan/starch) and the replacement of meat proteins with 2% soy protein isolate (SPI, DWB). Increased levels of KB decreased (P < 0.05) lightness and yellowness, and most texture profile analysis (TPA) values. LFB containing 1.0% KB with 2% SPI addition had TPA values and sensory flavor/ taste attributes similar to the control (CTL II, 30% fat), whereas LFB formulated with KSS had textural characteristics more similar to CTL II than those with KNC, based on sensory evaluation.
In vitro Production of Benzylisoquinoline from Stephania tetrandra Through Callus Culture under the Influence of Different Additives

Plant secondary metabolites have enormous potential for research and new drug development. Many secondary metabolites have complex and unique structure and their production can be enhanced by introducing different types of additives into the basal media. An efficient in vitro callus induction system in Stephania tetrandra S. Moore (Fan fang ji, an important Chinese medicinal herb) was established on MS medium supplemented with 3% sucrose and different concentrations (0.5 to 2.0 mg/L) of plant growth regulators i.e. auxins (2,4D, IAA and NAA) and cytokinins (BA, kinetin, TDZ and zeatin) in the dark. The effects of various auxins and cytokinin on the growth and accumulation of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids i.e. Fangchinoline (Fan) and Tetrandrine (Tet) were investigated. MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/L BA and 0.5 mg/L TDZ supported callus growth and its proliferation. A maximum amount of dry biomass (7.8 fold) was produced 45 days after culture. High Performance Liquid Chromatographic analysis of methanol extracts from callus revealed an accumulation of Fan and Tet alkaloids. The addition of casein hydrolysate (500 mg/L) and coconut milk (10%), respectively, enhanced Fan and Tet accumulation. The established in vitro callus induction system in S. tetrandra can be utilized for biomass production of pharmaceutically important alkaloids such as Fan and Tet.
Effectiveness of Patient S pecific I nstrumentation for T otal J oint R eplacement and I mplantable S ensing T echnology in O rthopedics : A R eview

For many decades, research has been conducted for total ankle replacement to be established as the optimal surgical treatment for diseased or degenerative ankle joints. However, the development rate has been slow and acceptable mid and long term clinical results have only been published since the year 2000. On the other hand, computer assisted surgery and patient specific instrumentation design have improved the outcomes in total knee and hip replacements. These advances, as well as sensing technology for evaluating stress distribution, have enhanced mechanical design for knees and hips implants and provided valuable input and load condition knowledge that was not previously available. Moreover, while few reports exist regarding computer assisted surgery (CAS) and patient specific instrumentation for total ankle replacement (TAR), no studies regarding instrumented ankle prostheses capable of obtaining stress distribution data exist currently, or related works using sensing technology for improving patient specific instrumentation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to outline the advantages of these two technological approaches, as they are intended to provide potential benefits for component alignment and therefore could be used to enhance TAR final outcomes.
Neural Language Codes for Multilingual Acoustic Models

Multilingual Speech Recognition is one of the most costly AI problems, because each language (7,000+) and even different accents require their own acoustic models to obtain best recognition performance. Even though they all use the same phoneme symbols, each language and accent imposes its own coloring or "twang". Many adaptive approaches have been proposed, but they require further training, additional data and generally are inferior to monolingually trained models. In this paper, we propose a different approach that uses a large multilingual model that is \emph{modulated} by the codes generated by an ancillary network that learns to code useful differences between the "twangs" or human language. We use Meta-Pi networks to have one network (the language code net) gate the activity of neurons in another (the acoustic model nets). Our results show that during recognition multilingual Meta-Pi networks quickly adapt to the proper language coloring without retraining or new data, and perform better than monolingually trained networks. The model was evaluated by training acoustic modeling nets and modulating language code nets jointly and optimize them for best recognition performance.
An algorithm to explore entanglement in small systems

A quantum state’s entanglement across a bipartite cut can be quantified with entanglement entropy or, more generally, Schmidt norms. Using only Schmidt decompositions, we present a simple iterative algorithm to maximize Schmidt norms. Depending on the choice of norm, the optimizing states maximize or minimize entanglement, possibly across several bipartite cuts at the same time and possibly only among states in a specified subspace. Recognizing that convergence but not success is certain, we use the algorithm to explore topics ranging from fermionic reduced density matrices and varieties of pure quantum states to absolutely maximally entangled states and minimal output entropy of channels.
Posterolateral percutaneous endoscopic discectomy with free-running electromyography monitoring under general anesthesia

Aim: Posterolateral percutaneous endoscopic discectomy (PLPED) is commonly performed under local anesthesia, but patients and surgeons are concerned about intraoperative uncontrolled pain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety of the PLPED under general anesthesia with free-running electromyography (EMG) monitoring. Methods: The clinical outcomes of consecutive 48 cases of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) were evaluated by numeric rating scale (NRS) score and MacNab’s criteria. Hospital stay and time to ambulation and return to work were also assessed. Results: NRS score for the affected leg significantly improved from 6.4 to 0.9 immediately after the operation. MacNab’s criteria were 91.5% for a follow-up period of 13.5 months. Although no serious complication occurred, 3 patients (6.3%) had transient paresis that completely disappeared by 3 months. No recurrences were observed during the follow-up period. Conclusion: PLPED combined with EMG monitoring under general anesthesia is a safe and efficacious procedure for the treatment of LDH.
Elicitation of foliar resistance mechanisms transiently impairs root association with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

1. Plants possess numerous mechanisms to control infections by deleterious organisms. Unspecific resistance mechanisms may, however, also exert ecological costs when they have a negative effect on beneficial plant–microbe interactions. Such negative effects may even cross the border between a plant’s aerial parts and its roots and then affect very central functions such as nutrient uptake and root resistance to micro‐organisms. Whereas an impaired nodulation indeed appears common after resistance expression in the leaves, contradictory results have been published for the case of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi.
Using Mixed-Measurement Item Response Theory With Covariates (MM-IRT-C) to Ascertain Observed and Unobserved Measurement Equivalence

Traditional item response theory (IRT) measurement invariance approaches examine measurement equivalence (ME) between observed groups (e.g., race, gender, culture). By contrast, mixed-measurement item response theory (MM-IRT) ascertains ME among unobserved groups (i.e., latent classes [LC] of respondents distinguished by differences in scale use). Both approaches can be integrated by using the Mixed-Measurement Item Response Theory with Covariates (MM-IRT-C) model, in which covariates (i.e., observed characteristics) are modeled in conjunction with LCs, thereby elucidating if ME is attributable to observed and/or unobserved groupings. We first show how this technique can be used to ascertain ME over multiple observed characteristics (categorical and/or continuous) concomitantly, thereby advancing a more general approach to observed ME. Next, we illustrate how the full MM-IRT-C can be used to: (a) infer underlying latent measurement classes (LCs), (b) determine associations of LC membership with observed characteristics, and (c) determine if observed measurement nonequivalence occurs predominantly within a particular latent measurement class. This method is demonstrated using a measure of union citizenship behavior, with years of work experience and gender as covariates. The proposed framework extends organizational ME research from considering a single question (i.e., Is there ME between categorical observed groups? ) to addressing eight, separate questions about observed and unobserved ME. The substantive and methodological contributions of this model for rethinking ME and its use in organizational research are discussed.
Spatial Variation in Feeding Habits and Carbon Source of Cutlassfish Trichiurus japonicus in the Western Seto Inland Sea, Japan

To identify spatial variations in the feeding habits of Trichiurus japonicus in the western Seto Inland Sea, Japan, we examined the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios and the stomach contents of 256 specimens collected from four different sea areas. Stomach content analysis showed that the feeding habits of T. japonicus differed among sea areas, which may have been caused by spatial and temporal bias in the stomach contents. Additionally, trophic levels based on stable isotope analysis and the expected trophic niche by stomach content analysis did not agree. Greater sampling effort is needed to understand the feeding habits of fish considering spatio-temporal variations in the stomach contents of specimens. Using stable isotope analysis, we detected variations in the efficiencies of benthic and pelagic trophic carbon pathways, which were not detected by stomach content analysis, among sea areas. This result coincides with that of a previous study for primary production structure in the western Seto Inland Sea. Stable isotope analysis helps us effectively understand the feeding habits of fish with fewer efforts. These results will probably be useful in understanding the feeding ecology of T. japonicus.