Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Flexibility in Design, Outcomes and Analysis in "Evidence- Based" Drug Prevention Research: The Case of the Midwestern Prevention Project

Flexibility in study designs, definitions, outcomes and analytic models increases the chance that the results reported in an empirical study are untrue. Such flexibility in methodological and analytic practices has been observed in evaluations of a number of drug prevention programs that appear on lists of evidenced-based programs. The current paper examines the evidence base pertaining to one of the most well-established drug prevention programs, namely the Midwestern Prevention Project (MPP; also known as Project STAR). Specifically, it examines the results reported from the quasiexperimental evaluation of the MPP that was conducted in Kansas City and the experimental replication conducted in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the data analysis practices used in producing these findings. It shows there is considerable analytical flexibility evident in the published accounts from these two evaluations studies, notably in the samples used in the data analyses and the manner in which outcome variables were measured. The implications of this for the MPP’s status as an evidenced-based drug prevention program are discussed, along with the means by which flexibility in analytic procedures in drug prevention research could be reduced. The seemingly widespread existence of such analytic flexibility within the field suggests that confirmation bias is part of the general culture of drug prevention research. This impedes the development of a sound scientific base within the discipline and might even lead it to degenerate into a pseudoscience.
Genetics of soybean agronomic traits: I. Comparison of three related recombinant inbred populations

Molecular markers provide a rapid approach to breeding for desired agronomic traits. To use them, it is necessary to determine the linkage between quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and such markers. The objective of this research was to determine such linkage in recombinant inbred (RI) soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] populations. To do this, RI soybean segregants were characterized for molecular genetic markers and traits measured in several different environments. QTLs then were identified by interval mapping. Agronomic traits were measured and compared in large (about 240 segregants) RI populations derived from crosses between the cultivars Minsoy and Noir 1 (MN population), Minsoy and Archer (MA population), and Noir 1 and Archer (NA population). The MA and NA populations were grown together as two replications in each of four environments. Measurements from the MN population were reported previously and were taken from three replications grown in four environments. Traits measured were plant height, lodging, date of flowering, reproductive period, maturity, yield, seed weight, seed oil, seed protein, leaf length, and leaf width. Additional traits were derived from these primary measurements. Each of the three RI populations was also characterized by a large (>400) number of molecular genetic markers including RFI.P (restriction fragment length polymorphism) and SSR (simple sequence repeat polymorphisms). QTLs were identified for all of the primary and derived traits at a significance level ≥LOD 3 on 17 of the 20 linkage groups and tended to be clustered on three. QTLs with major effects (R 2 > 10%) were identified for all traits, and for many, these explained more than half of the heritable variation. Comparison of QTLs between the three RI populations established that for the majority of the traits, only two alleles could be identified. In only a few instances could a third allele be detected. Many of the significant QTLs identified in one population were confirmed in another. However, an almost equal number were found in only one population, suggesting that a dependence on the genetic background for expression (epistasis) was common.
Dust‐induced episodic phytoplankton blooms in the Arabian Sea during winter monsoon

Phytoplankton blooms mediated by the oceanic supply of nutrients is a well understood phenomenon in the Arabian Sea (AS), while the role of dust deposition in enhancing phytoplankton is less explored. In this paper we show that during winter monsoon the central Arabian Sea (CAS), away from the realm of active winter convection, supports episodic phytoplankton blooms. These blooms cannot be fully explained by the oceanic input of nutrients through processes such as advection and mixing in the upper ocean. Using satellite images we tracked about 45 dust storms over the AS during the winter monsoons of 2002-2003 to 2010-2011 of which only 8 were followed by chlorophyll enhancements. We used a regional climate model to get possible fluxes of dust and the amount of nutrients (nitrate, phosphate and iron) that can be derived from the dust depositions. Additionally, we used published in situ nutrients data in conjunction with carbon: nitrogen: phosphorus and iron: carbon molar ratios to compute the potential requirements of different nutrients for the 8 cases of chlorophyll enhancements. It is likely that the deepening of the mixed layer can incorporate nitrate and phosphate, but not enough iron from the subsurface waters leading to potential iron limitation. Although, all the phytoplankton blooms within CAS were observed following episodic dust events, only four blooms can be attributed to dust depositions. Our work shows that phytoplankton blooms fuelled by episodic dust storms are important in driving the inter-annual variability in chlorophyll in a region away from active winter convection.
What Should we do About Motivation Theory? Six Recommendations for the Twenty-First Century

We present six recommendations for building theories of work motivation that are more valid, more complete, broader in scope, and more useful to practitioners than existing theories. (1) Integrate extant theories by using existing meta-analyses to build a megatheory of work motivation. (2) Create a boundaryless science of work motivation. (3) Study the various types of relationships that could hold between general (trait) and situationally specific motivation. (4) Study subconscious as well as conscious motivation. (5) Use introspection explicitly in theory building. (6) Acknowledge the role of volition in human action when formulating theories.
Parallel Document Identification using Zipf ’ s Law

Parallel texts are an essential resource in many NLP tasks. One main issue to take advantage of these resources is to distinguish parallel or comparable documents that may have parallel fragments of texts from those that have no corresponding text. In this paper we propose a simple and efficient method to identify parallel documents based on Zipfian frequency distribution of available parallel corpora. In our method, we introduce a score called CumulativeFrequencyLog by which we can measure the similarity of two documents that fit into a simple linear regression model. The regression model is generated based on the word ranks and frequencies of an available parallel corpus. The evaluation of the proposed approach over three language pairs achieve accuracy up to 0.86.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome : A look at physiological processes and therapeutics

History Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), known in Europe as myalgic encephalomyelitis, appears to have been a health issue for at least two centuries. In the 19th century, Dr. George Beard used the term neurasthenia to label a condition resembling CFS. In the 1930s through the 1950s, conditions marked by prolonged fatigue were noted in the United States as well as other countries (Schafer, 2002). From the 1970s after an influenza ridden winter in Incline Village, Nevada, Drs. Paul Cheney and Daniel Peterson observed a cluster of patients who suffered from unrelenting fatigue and were unable to recover (Peterson et al., 1986). Their interest in these patients brought renewed attention to the condition, which was originally thought to be a communicable disease with a viral related etiology. This later proved to be incorrect and the condition become known as CFS.
Molecular Diagnosis of Streptococcus Pneumoniae Acute Meningitis and Profile of Sensitivity of Usual Antibiotics in Bangui , Central African Republic

A study was conducted from June 2012 to May 2013 at the National Clinical Biology and Public Health Laboratory (NCBPHL) in Bangui, Central Africa Republic (CAR), on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) coming from town's hospitals. This study aims to assess the prevalence of Streptococcus pneumoniae strains of and their profile of resistance to antibiotics in CSF. The CSF was collected from patients admitted to the Bangui town's hospitals and suspected of meningitis according to WHO definition of sentinel surveillance protocol (SMR Guide, 2011). On the Basis of number of white blood cells greater than or equal to 5 mL, the CSF was analyzed in the laboratory of the hospital for preliminary tests (cytology, latex agglutination test (LAT) and Gram). An aliquot was transferred into transisolate communities and sent to NCBPHL for confirmation tests by rtPCR, LAT and culture. Susceptibility test was done on strains isolated as recommended by the Antibiogram the Committee of the French Society of Microbiology (CASFM). Microscopic examination after Gram staining performed on 79 samples allowed us to note the presence of germs in 47 samples (25.54%). The bacterial culture has led to the isolation and identification of bacteria in 40 specimens (21.74%). Latex agglutination test was positive for 60 samples (33.33%). The rtPCR performed on the same samples allowed us to register 79 positive samples with a confirmation rate of 42.93%. The report of the biology technique and conventional bacteriology has achieved a score of 50.63%. The results of the antibiogram carried out on S. pneumoniae strains revealed a sensitivity rate of 92.2% to ceftriaxone, 85% to Amoxicillin+clavunique acid, ciprofloxacin and gentamicin. On the contrary, S. pneumoniae strains showed a resistance against Oxacillin (30%) and penicillin (35%). S. pneumoniae is an important cause of invasive disease, especially in children and the elderly. However, the emergence of antibiotic resistant genotypes emphasizes the importance of regulated use of these molecules in order to prevent their evolution.
A supernova distance to the anchor galaxy NGC 4258

The fortuitous occurrence of a type II-Plateau (IIP) supernova, SN 2014bc, in a galaxy for which distance estimates from a number of primary distance indicators are available provides a means with which to cross-calibrate the standardised candle method (SCM) for type IIP SNe. By applying calibrations from the literature we find distance estimates in line with the most precise measurement to NGC 4258 based on the Keplerian motion of masers (7.6$\pm$0.23\,Mpc), albeit with significant scatter. We provide an alternative local SCM calibration by only considering type IIP SNe that have occurred in galaxies for which a Cepheid distance estimate is available. We find a considerable reduction in scatter ($\sigma_I = 0.16$\, mag.), but note that the current sample size is limited. Applying this calibration, we estimate a distance to NGC 4258 of $7.08\pm0.86$ Mpc.
In God We Trust: Images of God and Trust in the United States among the Highly Religious

In this analysis, the authors use Greeley's “religion as poetry” model to frame an analysis of images of God and trust among the highly religious. Using the 2005 Baylor Religion Survey, the authors regress four ordinal measures of social trust on two images of God measures and a bank of religion and demographic controls. The authors find that having a loving image of God creates greater levels of trust in all four measures among the highly religious. They also find that having an image of God as angry creates less trust in all four measures of trust. Implications for theory and research on trust and civic engagement are discussed in the conclusion.
Discontinuity of Straightening in Anti-holomorphic Dynamics: I

Multicorns are the connectedness loci of unicritical antiholomorphic polynomials. Numerical experiments show that `baby multicorns' appear in multicorns, and in parameter spaces of various other families of rational maps. The principal aim of this article is to explain this `universality' property of the multicorns: on the one hand, we give a precise meaning to the notion of `baby multicorns', and on the other hand, we show that the dynamically natural straightening map from a `baby multicorn', either in multicorns of even degree or in the real cubic locus, to the original multicorn is discontinuous at infinitely many explicit parameters. This is the first known example where straightening maps fail to be continuous on a real two-dimensional slice of a holomorphic family of holomorphic polynomials. The proof of discontinuity of straightening maps is carried out by showing that all non-real umbilical cords of the multicorns wiggle, which settles a conjecture made by various people including Hubbard, Milnor, and Schleicher. We also prove some rigidity theorems for polynomial parabolic germs, which state that one can recover unicritical holomorphic and antiholomorphic polynomials from their parabolic germs.
Acceleration and dissipation statistics of numerically simulated isotropic turbulence

Direct numerical simulation (DNS) data at grid resolution up to 20483 in isotropic turbulence are used to investigate the statistics of acceleration in a Eulerian frame. A major emphasis is on the use of conditional averaging to relate the intermittency of acceleration to fluctuations of dissipation, enstrophy, and pseudodissipation representing local relative motion in the flow. Pseudodissipation (the second invariant of the velocity gradient tensor) has the same intermittency exponent as dissipation and is closest to log-normal. Conditional acceleration variances increase with each conditioning variable, consistent with the scenario of rapid changes in velocity for fluid particles moving in local regions of large velocity gradient, but in a manner departing from Kolmogorov’s refined similarity theory. Acceleration conditioned on the pseudodissipation is closest to Gaussian, and well represented by a novel “cubic Gaussian” distribution. Overall the simulation data suggest that, with the aid of appropriat.
LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (LMS) AND E-LEARNING MANAGEMENT: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW AND RESEARCH AGENDA

Information Technology (IT) can be an important component for innovation since enabling e-learning it can provide conditions to which the organization can work with new business and improved processes. In this regard, the Learning Management Systems (LMS) allows communication and interaction between teachers and students in virtual spaces. However the literature indicates that there are gaps in the researches, especially concerning the use of IT for the management of e-learning. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the available literature about the application of LMS for the e-learning management, seeking to present possibilities for researches in the field. An integrative literature review was performed considering the Web of Science, Scopus, Ebsco and Scielo databases, where 78 references were found, of which 25 were full papers. This analysis derives interesting characteristics from scientific studies, highlighting gaps and guidelines for future research.
Acoustic impedance measurement with grazing flow

Lasting increasing of air traffic will only be feasible if noise pollution near airports, due to aircraft flyover, is significantly reduced. Among acoustic emissions from the aircraft, engine noise, and particularly fan noise, is a preponderant source. In order to reduce this noise, the nacelle is lined with absorbing materials made of a thin layer (such as perforated plate) bounded to partitioned air cavities. These treatments are submitted to high sound pressure levels (up to 160 dB) and high flow Mach numbers (up to 0.7). The key design parameter is the acoustic impedance of treatment panels, which depends on sound frequency, sound pressure level and flow Mach number. Acoustic impedance properties are mainly quantified by semi or totally empirical formulas, which depend on the experimental set-up used and are specific for each type of tested layer. Therefore, EADS acoustic laboratory has got an experimental set-up measuring acoustic impedance of liners used on Airbus aircrafts. This paper presents some of existing models for perforated plates impedance, describes the experimental set-up used and shows some results that are compared with empirical models from literature. It is shown that models valid up to Mach 0.2 seem to be valid up to Mach 0.6.
Presence predicts false memories of virtual environment content

False memories can be created by a simple priming manipulation (the Deese-Roediger-McDermott procedure). This phenomenon operates via the strong associative character of declarative memory. If it is true that that content knowledge plays an important role in presence (As some have argued), then a presence experience could prime a subject and create false memories. We tested this notion by repeatedly exposing 47 subjects to a themed VE, and after a 72 hour delay, testing their recall of VE content. As predicted, subjects tended to have higher false memory rates (of VE content) than chance levels for moderately specific false memory items, and lower than chance level rates of false memory for highly specific items. Furthermore, engagement and naturalness (as measured with the ITCSOPI) predicted false memory rates. These findings support the notion that subjects’ semantic knowledge plays a role in the presence experience. Keywords--Presence, Content, Cognition, Memory,
Abrupt watercourse formation in a semiarid sedimentary landscape of central Argentina: the roles of forest clearing, rainfall variability and seismic activity

In a semiarid sedimentary catchment of central Argentina, we describe a recent process of landscape dissection, abrupt canyon and watercourse formation and soil salinization. We link these adverse hydrological and geomorphological transformations to three potentially important drivers: precipitation increase, seismic activity and deforestation. Remote sensing imagery in the last 48 years showed an exponential increase in the length of streams, with drainage density values tripling to reach 0.22 km km2. During the same period, forest area declined from 47% to 10%, at the expense of agriculture expansion. A 3.4‐fold expansion of surface water bodies and water table level raise of 0.15 m y−1 over the last 35 years was observed. Discharge of a new stream at the middle of the basin ranged between 0.25 and 0.45 m3 s−1 accompanied by a large and stable load of salts (~0.7 g l−1). Nil recharge and large vadose accumulation of salts in dry forests stands contrasted with recharge rates of ~16 mm y−1 and salt‐leached profiles under agriculture. Although the process of landscape dissection occurred during decades of higher than average precipitation, extreme rainfall events and seismic activity were not exceptional in that period. Results suggest that the replacement of forests by annual crops played a more important role, reducing evapotranspiration, triggering the onset of groundwater recharge and favouring subsurface through piping/sapping processes. The abrupt landscape dissection shows no signs of stabilization at the present and may only be ameliorated through changes in vegetation that restore the original non‐flow condition of the forest. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A New Quantitative Description of Membrane Properties Underlying the Action Potential and the Axon Electric Field.

In a succession of research articles published over 65 years ago, Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin and Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley discovered what now forms our contemporary understanding of excitation in nerve, and how axons conduct the action potential. Hodgkin and Huxley demonstrated that the nerve action potential is the result of a depolarizing event across a cell membrane. They established that when this depolarization event is complete, an abrupt increase in voltage gets produced that propagates longitudinally along the axon, accompanied by changes in axial conductance. In an elegant theoretical framework, they rigorously described fundamental properties of the sodium (Na) and potassium (K) conductances intrinsic to the action potential. Notwithstanding the elegance of Hodgkin and Huxley's incisive and explicative series of discoveries, their model is relatively complex, relies on no small number of stochastic factors, and has no analytical solution, solving for the membrane action potential and the ionic currents requires integrations approximated using numerical methods. In this article I present an analytical (i.e., closed-form) formalism of the nerve action potential Vm and that of the accompanying cell membrane electric field Em. To conclude this article, I'll present a quantitative description of Vm in terms of a single, nonlinear differential equation. This is an original stand-alone article: it unifies, and brings into a clearer focus two preceding papers concerned with the analytical description of the nerve action potential Vm and the accompanying cell membrane electric field Em.
Distribution of human B-defensin 2, TNF-alpha, IL-1 alpha, IL-6 and IL-8 in psoriatic skin

Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory, proliferative condition of the skin, clinically characterized by red, scaly plaques. Psoriasis has a large and heterogenous genetic and immunologic background with the dysregulation of the host defense system. The human keratinocytes obtained from psoriasis lesions are a very rich source to various antimicrobial peptides. Both Th 17 and Th 1 pathways play a role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Our aim of the study was to evaluate the expression of human beta defensin 2 and TNF alpha in correlation with interleukins 1 alpha, 6 and 8 in the skin biopsies of psoriatic lesions. We evaluated 14 Psoriasis vulgaris patients’ skin samples. Skin biopsies were obtained using a routine punch method. All the tissue specimens were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and by immunohistochemistry for human beta defensin 2, TNF-alpha, IL-1 alpha, IL-6 and IL-8. We graded the intensity of staining semiquantitatively. We observed intraepithelial lymphocytes, marked the diffuse intradermal infiltrates of inflammatory cells, the inflammatory cells in the hair follicle, surrounding sweat glands and subepithelial blood vessels. Defensin-containing and TNF-alpha positive cells were found in all the skin samples: defensin-containing cells varied from few to abundant positive structures in the visual field and TNF-alpha positive cells varied from few to numerous positive structures in the visual field. IL-1 alpha expressed poorly, while IL-6 positive cells were found in the range from few positive to the abundance of positive structures in the visual field and IL-8 positive structures varied from numerous positive structures to the abundance of positive structures in the visual field. We conclude that IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-alpha are most common cytokines for psoriatic skin lesions. A moderate number of structures expresses the antimicrobial protein defensin in the psoriatic skin.