Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic Detection and Recognition of Engineered Nanoparticles in SEM Images

Engineered nanoparticles have gained importance in recent years and will do so in the future, but their potential toxicity remains an open question. To better understand their effects on the human body, it is necessary to determine their concentration in ambient air. We propose a method to automatically detect nanoparticles in SEM images and differentiate engineered particles from other particles common in ambient air. The method reached Gmeans of 0.985, 0.779 and 0.820 for the classification against non-engineered particles of silver, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide respectively. This is comparable to manual classification.
Obstetrical and Perinatal Outcomes of Adolescent Pregnancies in Cameroon: A Retrospective Cohort Study at the Yaoundé General Hospital

Background: Adolescent pregnancy is a serious health and social problem worldwide as well as in Cameroon. The aim of this study was to determine the obstetrical and perinatal outcomes of nulliparous adolescent pregnancies in a reference hospital in Cameroon. Methods: A retrospective cohort study to compare the outcomes of nulliparous adolescent pregnancies to those of nulliparous women aged 20 to 25 years was carried out at the Yaounde General Hospital between January 1993 and December 2012. Results: Adolescent deliveries represented 2.84% (331 deliveries) of all deliveries registered during the study period. The adolescent mothers had a significantly higher incidence of preeclampsia/eclampsia, preterm delivery and low birth weight babies (<2500 g) when compared to the control group (OR, 3.46; CI 95%, 1.46 - 8.18; OR, 1.94 CI 95%, 1.34 - 2.79; OR, 1.98, CI 95%, 1.39 - 2.46, respectively). However, placenta previa, abruptio placenta, episiotomy, cesarean section, vaginal instrumental delivery, perineal tears and post partum hemorrhage were not significantly different in the two groups. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding fetal distress, low Apgar score (<7 at the 1st and 5th minutes), the rate of admission in the neonatal intensive care unit, stillbirth and neonatal death. Conclusion: Adolescent pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of preeclampsia/ eclampsia, preterm birth and low birth weight.
The determinants of industrial accidents in the Malaysian manufacturing sector

This study analyzes the determinants of industrial accidents across 44 four-digit manufacturing industries in Malaysia from 1993 to 2008 through the business cycle and structural approaches. The results of pooled ordinary least square and fixed-effects estimations revealed that industrial accidents in Malaysian manufacturing sector were negatively influenced by firm size and positively influenced by business cycle. Consistent with the findings of previous studies in other countries, the empirical evidence of this study supports the pro-cyclical behavior of injury rates in manufacturing industries towards business cycle. The analysis demonstrates that both structural and cyclical variation effects are important determinants of industrial accidents in Malaysia.
Organizational Politics and Deviance: Exploring the Role of Political Skill

ABSTRACT Building on social exchange theory, this study examines the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and employee performance and interpersonal skills. We hypothesized that perceptions of organizational politics create an imbalance in the exchange relationship between employee and organization, which leads to organizational deviance. We also hypothesized that supervisors may attempt to rebalance the exchange relationship by providing lower performance and interpersonal skills ratings. Finally, we suggest that politically skilled employees avoid an increase in negative ratings. The present study demonstrates that perceptions of organizational politics may lead to negative employee behaviors and reduced supervisors’ ratings in an effort to rebalance the exchange relationship. In addition, politically skilled employees may avoid increased negative ratings when politics perceptions are high.
Phytoplasma Effector SAP 54 Induces Indeterminate Leaf-Like Flower Development in Arabidopsis Plants 1 [ C ] [ W ] [ OA ]

Phytoplasmas are insect-transmitted bacterial plant pathogens that cause considerable damage to a diverse range of agricultural crops globally. Symptoms induced in infected plants suggest that these phytopathogens may modulate developmental processes within the plant host. We report herein that Aster Yellows phytoplasma strain Witches’ Broom (AY-WB) readily infects the model plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) ecotype Columbia, inducing symptoms that are characteristic of phytoplasma infection, such as the production of green leaf-like flowers (virescence and phyllody) and increased formation of stems and branches (witches’ broom). We found that the majority of genes encoding secreted AY-WB proteins (SAPs), which are candidate effector proteins, are expressed in Arabidopsis and the AY-WB insect vector Macrosteles quadrilineatus (Hemiptera; Cicadellidae). To identify which of these effector proteins induce symptoms of phyllody and virescence, we individually expressed the effector genes in Arabidopsis. From this screen, we have identified a novel AY-WB effector protein, SAP54, that alters floral development, resulting in the production of leaf-like flowers that are similar to those produced by plants infected with this phytoplasma. This study offers novel insight into the effector profile of an insect-transmitted plant pathogen and reports to our knowledge the first example of a microbial pathogen effector protein that targets flower development in a host.
Semen Parameters in Macaca mulatta: Ejaculates from Random and Selected Monkeys 1

Semen samples were collected by rectal probe electroejaculation techniques from groups of adult male rhesus monkeys. Mean values for 249 ejaculates from 100 monkeys were a sperm concentration of 419.43 × 106/cm3 with 53.9% of the sperm showing progressive movement. Sperm concentration showed a positive rank correlation coefficient with sperm motility. Significant motility and concentration differences were found among groups. Seasonal differences were noted but were not significant. The study provides data that will aid investigators who are screening animals for studies involving reproductive potential.
INCOME INEQUALITY, MOBILITY, AND THE WELFARE STATE: A POLITICAL ECONOMY MODEL

In this paper, we set up a three-period stochastic overlapping-generations model to analyze the implications of income inequality and mobility for demand for redistribution and social insurance. We model the size of two different public programs under the welfare state. We investigate bidimensional voting on the tax rates that determine the allocation of government revenues among transfer payments and old-age pensions. We show that the coalitions formed, the resulting political equilibria, and the demand for redistribution crucially depend on the level of income inequality and mobility.
Mental health services provided for physically abused children in Sweden. A 4-year follow-up of child and adolescent psychiatric charts

As there has been a considerable increase regarding the number of police reports on physical child abuse in Sweden since the mid-1980s, there should be an increased number of children in need of trauma-focused mental health treatment. During 1986–1996, there were 126 children reported as being physically abused by a parent or equivalent and reported to the police in a police district in Sweden. Fifty-seven of these children (45%) had been the objects of interventions from Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services (CAPS). The aim of this study was to investigate the extent and content of this. Questions addressed were: when did the children receive interventions, were these trauma-focused and could this be reflected in their charts? This group of children was referred to CAPS for different reasons and 35/122 referrals were made under the label of child physical abuse. Overall, interventions were mainly directed toward the parents. Six of 126 physically abused children received individual therapy. Abuse was not mentioned in the charts for 23 of the children, even though eight of them had been referred due to abuse. The results of this study indicate that physically abused children have often been in contact with mental health services prior to the abuse for different reasons, initially due to individual problems and later on regarding family conflict. Individual interventions for physically abused children were rare due to for instance CAPS workloads, poor motivation among parents and children, and maybe due to professionals’ lack of knowledge regarding effective treatment. The introduction of a routine checklist is recommended early on to find indications of abuse, as is the need of exploring methods working with physically abused children in Sweden.
Infants on the edge: Beyond the visual cliff

Eleanor Gibson told her students several stories about the origins of the visual cliff paradigm (also described in Gibson, 1991, 2002). In one rendition, Gibson first began thinking about infants at the edge of a cliff during a family road trip to the Grand Canyon in the mid-1940s. She worried about her two young children playing near the rim, although her husband, perception psychologist James Gibson, assured her that they were sensitive to the visual information for depth. (Later, JJG told the story to students, somewhat gloating that his wife’s research had proven him correct.) In a second rendition, Gibson learned that some species of animals avoid a drop-off shortly after birth. While preparing newborn goats for experimental and control groups at the Cornell Behavior Farm circa 1950, she panicked about where to put the first, carefully washed twin goat while birthing the second one. The farm manager told her to put it on the top of a high camera stand. Gibson worried that it would fall off, but the newborn kid stood upright on the tiny pedestal until she finished birthing and washing the second twin. A third story took place in the mid-1950s. After the grueling process of dark-rearing rats for studies on visual form discrimination with collaborator Richard Walk, Gibson hoped to maximize their efforts by running the animals in a second study. Remembering the Grand Canyon anecdote, Walk suggested depth discrimination, but how to test it? Lashley and Russell’s (1934) famous experiments with dark-reared rats on a jumping stand required days of training in the light. To avoid the training period, Gibson and Walk decided to observe their rats at the edge of a cliff immediately upon emerging into the light. The experiment required a new apparatus they dubbed the “visual cliff”—“cliff” because there was a simulated drop-off and “visual” because they attempted to eliminate all other information for the drop-off (Gibson, 1970). Regardless of the source of inspiration for the paradigm, in the 1950s, rearing animals under altered environmental conditions was a popular method for assessing the role of experience in development. The visual cliff, conceived by Gibson and Walk as a test of visual depth perception in dark-reared rats, seemed an appropriate way of addressing the age-old question of whether perception of space requires visual experience. Their first publication (1957, Science) reported findings from the dark-reared rats, and on its heels came the 1960 Scientific American article with the famous photographs of infants and kittens on a checkerboard surface peering over the edge of a precipice. Their most scholarly work, the 1961 monograph, described all of their comparative studies.
Knowledge source strategy and enterprise innovation performance: dynamic analysis based on machine learning

ABSTRACT By employing ergodic theory and applying the most advanced machine-leaning methods, this study exploits the rules of multi-dimensional, phased and non-linear dynamic evolution between the breadth and depth of knowledge sources and the innovation performance. The following conclusions are obtained. First, regarding explorative innovation, when both the breadth and depth of the knowledge source are at a low level, the enhancement of the breadth of the knowledge source may rapidly lift explorative innovation performance; when the knowledge source is at a high level, the theory of ‘ambidexterity balance’ is more applicable to find a balance between the breadth and the depth of the knowledge source for the enhancement of explorative innovation performance. Second, in terms of exploitative innovation, ‘ambidexterity balance’ theory can be applied at all levels. In other words, the balance of the breadth and the depth of the knowledge sources greatly enhances the exploitative innovation performance.
An antibody to VacA of Helicobacter pylori in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome

Objective: To detect antibodies to recombinant vacuolating cytotoxin (r-VacA) of Helicobacter pylori in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). Methods: CSF samples from 13 patients with GBS (electrophysiologically classified as eight acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (AIDP), four acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN), and one unexcitable nerve conduction) and eight disease control patients were studied. The r-VacA protein was separated by SDS/PAGE, and Western blot analysis was carried out. Results: Six of the 13 patients with GBS had a specific IgG antibody to VacA of H pylori, which was confirmed by absorption experiments using r-VacA. Every patient with positive CSF anti-r-VacA IgG had AIDP. Conclusion: The sequence homology previously found between VacA and human (Na++K+)-ATPase A subunit suggests that antibodies to VacA involve ion channels in abaxonal Schwann cell plasmalemma resulting in demyelination in some patients with GBS.
Capacity design of vertical boundary elements in steel plate shear walls

Design requirements now appear in the 2005 AISC Seismic Provisions for Structural Steel Buildings (AISC, 2005b), referred to herein as The Provisions, for steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) that are designed such that their web plates buckle in shear and develop diagonal tension fi eld action when resisting lateral loads. Energy dissipation and ductility during seismic events is principally achieved through yielding of the web plates along the diagonal tension fi eld. Consistent with capacity design principles, The Provisions require that the vertical and horizontal boundary elements (VBEs and HBEs) of SPSWs, as shown in Figure 1, be designed to remain essentially elastic with the exception of plastic hinging at the ends of horizontal boundary elements. The commentary of The Provisions provides some guidance on how to achieve this requirement. However, the methods described in the commentary, as shown in this paper, do not necessarily lead to VBEs that meet the requirement of essentially elastic behavior under the forces generated by fully yielded web plates. This paper reviews the current approaches provided in The Provisions commentary for determination of capacity design loads for the VBEs of SPSWs and also describes how the capacity design objective may be achieved using nonlinear static analysis. Then, a new procedure is proposed that uses a fundamental plastic collapse mechanism and linear beam analysis to approximate the design actions for VBEs of SPSWs for given web plates and horizontal boundary member sizes. The proposed procedure does not involve nonlinear analysis, making it practical for use in design. VBE design loads are estimated using both the current and proposed procedures for two example SPSW confi gurations. The resulting design loads are then compared with the VBE design loads as determined by nonlinear pushover analysis.
A Novel Progressive Visual Cryptography Approach with Chaotic Map for Securing Digital Contents

Progressive Visual Cryptography (PVC) is quite suitable for sharing sensitive digital data where, as the number of stacked share increases, more black regions will be decrypted. Over the past few years, designing of progressive visual recovery technique has been studied by many researchers. Previous research on PVC, such as Fang et al. (2006) and W.P.Fang et al. (2008) were all carrying pixel-expansion problem and also gives a poor visual quality on the recovered stacked image. Recently, Hou et al. have developed a progressive scheme for secret sharing. In Hou et al. scheme, secret object bits are encrypted sequentially by using randomly chosen number from encoding matrices. It is observed that shares generated by the Hou scheme are free from pixel expansion problem, but shares are not fully secure and even discloses secret itself in construction phase of encoding. In this paper, we propose a new robust progressive algorithm based on logistic chaotic map to overcome the said limitation of Hou scheme. The irregular outputs of the logistic map are used to encode a secret digital information carrying image. To provide robustness during the encoding process of the share, noise has been introduced along with chaotic sequences. The performance of the algorithm in the scheme of Hou is critically analyzed and compared with new suggested scheme. Empirical results are presented to showcase the performance of our proposed scheme in terms of its effectiveness (imperceptibility and security) and feasibility.
Cancer mortality and morbidity among Lithuanian asbestos-cement producing workers.

OBJECTIVES This study investigated the incidence of cancer and cause-specific mortality among workers in the two Lithuanian asbestos-cement factories. METHODS The study included 1887 asbestos-cement workers, 1285 men and 602 women, and 37000 person-years. The two factories were active from 1956 (A) and 1963 (B), and the workers were observed from 1978 to 2000. The analysis was based on a comparison between the observed and expected numbers of cancer and causes of death. The observed numbers of cancer were obtained through linkage with the national cancer registry. The date and causes of death were obtained from two different sources. The expected numbers were calculated on the basis of gender- and age-specific incidence and mortality rates in 5-year periods from the whole country. Standardized incidence ratios (SIR) and standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated. Duration of employment and time since first exposure were used as indicators of exposure. RESULTS During the follow-up, 1978-2000. 473 deaths were observed versus 489 expected. There was no excess risk of deaths from nonmalignant respiratory diseases, except for an elevated risk of mortality in relation to the digestive organs other than cancer, 18 observed versus 12.2 expected (95% CI 0.9-2.3). There was no excess risk for any types of cancer, except for colorectal cancer in men, 17 observed cases (SIR 1.6, 95% CI 1.6-2.6) and one case of mesothelioma in a woman. CONCLUSIONS This study on asbestos-exposed workers did not show any excess risk of respiratory cancer or deaths of pneumoconiosis.
Hyperbaric oxygen does not prevent neurologic sequelae after carbon monoxide poisoning.

UNLABELLED Delayed neurologic sequelae occur in up to 40% of severe carbon monoxide (CO) poisonings. Conflicting clinical data support the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy in the acute treatment of CO poisoning. OBJECTIVE To determine whether oxygen therapy reduces neurologic sequelae after CO poisoning in mice. METHODS Male Swiss-Webster mice were exposed to CO at 1,000 ppm for 40 minutes and then 50,000 ppm until loss of consciousness (LOC) (4-9 additional minutes). Total time of both phases of CO exposure was 40-49 minutes. Treatment included HBO with 3 atmospheres (ATA) 100% oxygen, normobaric oxygen (NBO) with 1 ATA 100% oxygen, or ambient air 15 minutes after LOC. All animals underwent passive avoidance training and memory was assessed by measuring step-down latency (SDL) and step-up latency (SUL) seven days following CO exposure. RESULTS Carbon monoxide poisoning induced significant memory deficits (SDL(CO) = 156 sec; SUL(CO) = 75%) compared with nonpoisoned (NP) animals (SDL(NP) = 272 sec; SUL(NP) = 100%). Both HBO and NBO did not prevent these neurologic sequelae. Furthermore, no significant neurobehavioral differences were found between HBO and NBO. Histologic examination of the CA1 layer of the hippocampus for pyknotic cells showed significant damage from CO in the air-treated animals (9.6%) but not in the nonpoisoned animals (3.8%). No significant neuroprotection was seen histologically with NBO and HBO compared with ambient air. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that HBO is not effective in preventing neurologic sequelae in mice and that there is no benefit of HBO over NBO following severe CO neurotoxicity.
Salvage of Infected Expander Prostheses in Breast Reconstruction

&NA; Periprosthetic infection is a devastating complication following breast reconstruction with prostheses. Traditional surgical principles dictate removal of the prosthesis to control infection. Although successful salvage of prostheses in the presence of periprosthetic infections has been reported in the plastic and other surgical literature, salvage procedures remain seldom practiced. Reports in the plastic surgery literature have been limited to implant salvage following cosmetic breast augmentation and subcutaneous mastectomy with implants. Salvage of salinefilled expander prostheses used in breast reconstruction following mastectomy for cancer has not been previously reported. The authors review their experience with implant salvage in patients with periprosthetic infections following breast reconstruction for a 6‐year period. Fourteen patients (13 with saline‐filled expander prostheses and one with silicone prosthesis) underwent implant salvage. Salvage of the breast reconstruction was successful in nine patients. Staphylococcus aureus infection was associated with poorer salvage rate (p = 0.023). Previous radiotherapy to the chest wall did not affect the salvage outcome (p = 0.50). In selected patients, immediate salvage of a breast reconstruction in the presence of prosthesisrelated infection remains an alternative to implant removal followed by delayed reconstrucion.
Extended Self in a Digital World

The extended self was proposed in 1988. Since it was formulated, many technological changes have dramatically affected the way we consume, present ourselves, and communicate. This conceptual update seeks to revitalize the concept, incorporate the impacts of digitization, and provide an understanding of consumer sense of self in today's technological environment. It is necessarily a work in progress, for the digital environment and our behavior within it continue to evolve. But some important changes are already clear. Five changes with digital consumption are considered that impact the nature of self and the nature of possessions. Needed modifications and additions to the extended self are outlined, and directions for future research are suggested. The digital world opens a host of new means for self-extension, using many new consumption objects to reach a vastly broader audience. Even though this calls for certain reformulations, the basic concept of the extended self remains vital.